MIA

I have had a very busy few weeks and apologise for making the blog my last priority.  I keep saying to myself that things will slow down but that just seems an elusive dream.  I guess as women we don't really retire.  We still have all the same chores that we have had all our married lives. .....wash....clean.....rinse....repeat....

My last post was the 2nd January and here were are at almost the last day of January.  Back then we were tripping around in the van and just loving it.  Gosh it seems a lifetime ago.  We arrived home on the 10th of January.  Was that really only three weeks ago?  We always had a timeline to be home because Philip was booked in for his knee replacement on the 19th January.  I am pleased to report that it went well and he is now home.  He spent ten days in hospital so that he could get a good grip on the exercises that he has to complete twice a day and also so that he could be monitored for any potential infection.  He spent his 65th birthday in hospital and four of our dearest friends came to join us for cake and coffee to celebrate this milestone.  I received a letter in the mail this week to say that he is now eligible for a Seniors Card!

While Philip was in hospital I had almost daily visits from our Interior Designer (Selena).  The two bathrooms were 99% complete when we arrived home but silly things like towel rails, toilet holders and a glass shower screen had to be installed and the en-suite shower water was not running away (a piece of broken tile in the drain).   This entailed five different trades that all come at different times and days.  Selena always likes to be here when they arrive so that there are no mistakes.  She is worth her weight in gold and how lovely are the flowers she brought me....

While Philip was in hospital I drove in to see him each day.  It is an hour long round trip from Palm Cove to Cairns city and if you don't time it right and get caught in peak hour (as I did a couple of times) it can double your time.  But still I would never have missed seeing my hubby each day (and keeping the washing up to date).  We have become very tech savvy and used FaceTime in between visits.  We love the technology and it was a good way to fill in the hours in the day from Philips perspective.  Hospital can be very boring.

So what have we got planned for the next few weeks.  Well there will be twice weekly trips into the city for Philips gym sessions.  They run for three hours each session so I will be looking to visit friends to fill in my time (hello Jane!).  We will keep doing that for as long as it takes to get that knee absolutely working as it should.  It will be six weeks before Philip can get behind the wheel so I will be doing all of the driving in that time, and they say that full recovery will take at least 3 months and in some cases longer.  Philip is fit and strong so I don't doubt it will be a shorter period for him.

Well friends its time to prepare lunch.  I will probably bombard you all with posts now that my days are not quite so full.  I have so many photos from our holiday that I want to show you all so be prepared...

Where, What, How and Why.....

 First let me wish you all a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  We spent Christmas in Toowoomba with my mum and family and New Year at our sons place, "Evergreen".  Christmas lunch was at a local hotel and New Year's Eve simply spent shooting the breeze over a giant cheese platter and drinks.

But what I really want to tell you about in this post is the time we spent leading up to Christmas and after we left Byron Bay.

From Byron we decided to spend a night with my sister and her husband at Beaudesert.  As are many properties in this area, their farm is devoted to horse training.  They have gallopers and trotters and spend long hours getting the horses ready for racing.  Their day begins at 5.00 am when they feed up and they come in around lunch after they have given all the horses a good work-out.  They head back over to the stables around 3.00 pm for another round of feeding. Sometimes they simply swim the horses in the dam for exercise that is a very strenuous work-out for the horses.  The photo below shows how they do this.  The horses only need 2-3 times around the pontoon. Robyn and Neil have employed another couple to lighten the workload a little and this couple just love it! 

We love visiting Rob and Neil and always look forward to the next visit.

From Beaudesert we turned the car and van west towards Leyburn where our longtime friends were waiting.  On our way to their place we stopped at Glengallon Homestead for our lunch break.  It is a place that we have driven past many times but always said "next time we will stop".  So it has taken me 63 years but I finally got there.  The homestead and surrounding property has had a colourful history with many owners and many upturns and downturns.  It is on prime Darling Downs land that supports a vast array of primary production but in its heyday it was a sheep grazing property.  Sadly the homestead fell into a bad state of disrepair and was almost on the point of no return when a committee was set up in Warwick to start restoration of this grand old homestead.  People were asked to donate and my mother tells me that she was one of the ones who donated and is now a life long member.  One of the first jobs was to re-roof and my brother-in-law was given this job.  The original roof was slate and Marc told me that when  he started removing the slate to make way for the iron roof he was told to stop.  The building was heritage listed and nothing could be removed.  He had to place the iron roof over the slate.  The building still needs further restoration but to bring it back to its former glory will take many more years and hard work.

We arrived into Leyburn late that afternoon and settled into Michael and Wendys shed "Bar" for a great night of catching up.  The following day Wendy and I drove into Toowoomba for some last minute Christmas shopping and window shopping.  We also caught up with another old friend for some more news exchange.  We had lunch at Wendy's favourite restaurant and were home in time for a quick nanny nap before heading to the local winery for Micheals birthday party.  I forgot to get photos but, take it from me this winery is spectacular and their wine is pretty damn good too.  The cellar door looks out over the vineyard and beyond and we have vowed to return here for possibly New Year's Eve 2021. We will just have to wait and see.

We didn't want to stay too long with Michael and Wendy as they were preparing to head north to Mackay, with their Caravan for Christmas and New Year.  We will undoubtably catch up with them during 2021 as they begin the big lap.

We were trying to decide where to head too next when I remembered my Aunty telling me that they had a fantastic holiday at the Bunya Mountains, so Bunya Mountains it is.  More about that in the next post.