Enjoying the outside....

How do you like my office?  It is the most glorious day with the temperature sitting on 21 degrees celsius as I type.

I'm waiting for Philip to arrive home from his ride to Mt Lewis this morning with another cycling friend.  It is quite the ride so he will be looking for some pool time when he gets home.  Thank goodness for heated pools!

On the home front it has been relatively quiet.  The marketing of the property is moving in the right direction with lots of online interest.  I shared drone footage that our agent had posted on Facebook and from that one share we have had almost a thousand views.  It is amazing what a few shares can do. 

The garden is looking spectacular and it was great to see it through somebody else's eyes this week.  They loved it and told us we should host an open garden day.  We'll see.  We really love our privacy...... 😌

My mum is now back in Toowoomba and the day before she left we had lunch at our local pub - The Highlander.  There was a very big crowd there to listen to the live music and to enjoy the "Sunday Roast". This week it was roast pork that Mum ordered and it was huge with no less than six vegetables sitting along side the meat.  A doggie bag was in order.  

I had the pork belly sitting on a potato rosti accompanied by a very tasty pear and apple salad. 

As anyone who knows me well would know, I love cooking and trying out new recipes. These Peanut Butter Biscuits were very delicious for minimal ingredients and work.  

You simply combine 1 cup sugar (I used coconut sugar), 1 cup peanut butter (I used half PB and half Tahini because I didn't have enough PB) and 1 egg.  Shape into rounds and cook in 180 degree oven for 12 minutes.  I cooked for 15 minutes and they were slightly over cooked.

The other thing I made is Nigella Lawsons Sambuca Kisses.  Another very quick and easy recipe that was perfect with a cup of espresso that had a teaspoon of Sambuca added to it.  

The last thing I want to mention is this flower arrangement that has been sitting on the outside table now for over a month.  It is simply Coleus and Azaleas.  I just keep topping up the water and adding new Azaleas when the old ones have finished flowering.  The Coleus is growing in the water. 

An everlasting flower arrangement if you please.....

So slack.....

The blog posts of late have been very hit and miss.  I will blame it on being very busy.
The last post I wrote was just before we had a night at Thala Beach with our dear friends Kate and Mike.  It was, and is always, a lovely place to stay for a quick getaway and I highly recommend it.  We all arrived around the same time....4ish....and popped the cork on a bottle (or two) of Champagne, just because we could.  In reality two bottles of Champagne is two glasses each so we didn't overindulge.  After we finished the Champers we decided to go for a short walk to Pebbly Beach.  It is a very pretty cove and we sticky beaked on all the lucky people that have multi million dollar homes right on the waters edge.  After a quick couple of photos it was time to head back to our rooms to change for our dinner reservation at 7.00pm.

The girls

and the boys

Our room at Thala Beach

We all decided on different things from the menu and each and every dish was beautifully presented and very delicious.  The restaurant is superbly situated with open air views right across the ocean. We were lucky enough to be there for the full moon and had a birds eye view of it rising over the Coral Sea. After a few too many glasses of red wine we all made our way back to our respective cottages for a very solid sleep. The next morning, and all too soon, we had a quick bite of breakfast before heading in different directions to our homes.

That same week we also had friends visit us from Geelong.  We met Lyn and David on the last cruise and straight away hit it off.  It was no surprise to find that they were heading this way to get some relief from the bitterly cold winter they were experiencing in Victoria.  They came to our place for lunch one day and after a bbq lunch we took them for a bit of a drive around the property.  They loved it as do most of our friends that come for a visit and were surprised at how large it was.  We always secretly smile to ourselves because this property is 220 acres and our Julia Creek properties were 110,000 acres and we were small compared to most!
Lyn and David also arranged for us all to have dinner at Nautilus Restaurant while they were here.  I love this restaurant very much and everything we ate from the seven course tasting menu was absolutely delicious.  This restaurant is one of Port Douglas's original restaurants and it is incredible that it is still as great as the first time we ate here in 1980.  It has had a few renovations over the years but each change has been for the better.  We really must eat here more often.  Perhaps when we are living in Port.....

After our friends returned to Victoria, we loaded up the camper and headed south to Toowoomba to pick up mum to bring her here for a mini holiday.  We always love a road trip and this one passed all too quickly.  We drove more than 4000 kilometres in ten days that was a bit too much but our schedule was tight.  It took us three days to reach Toowoomba.  We picked up mum and drove straight to Caloundra where we had a couple of property inspections lined up. Then it was on to Gundiah to have a couple of days with Marco and Suzie before heading north again.  It took us another three days to finally get home and poor mum was exhausted.  Even thought we tried to be at our destination by 4.00pm each day it is still a very long day.

Wattle was in full bloom 

Many, many cattle were being driven along the road and many more tourists!

All together we counted four different droving camps

Took a sunset walk along the boardwalk at Caloundra

Burrum Heads

So, mum is now with us until Monday when she then flies back to Brisbane and buses to Toowoomba.  We have been lazing around and chatting and just enjoying each others company,  and the only outing we have planned is tomorrow when we will go to our local tavern for lunch.

This has been a much longer post than I intended my friends but that's what I get from not posting regularly.
Take care..
xx Judi

Down Time

We've been fortunate enough to have had friends visit us in the past few weeks and new friends that we met on the cruise are going to be in Port Douglas this week.  They are going to have lunch with us here at Kuramar on Wednesday and then we are all going to the fabulous Nautilus Restaurant on Thursday evening.  I promise (will try to remember) to get some foodie photos....
Philip and I are driving down to Thala Beach Lodge this afternoon for a night with our Palm Cove friends and intend arriving in time to have sundowners on the beach.  Thala Beach Lodge is a hidden gem just ten minutes south of Port Douglas and the accommodation villas are set out over many hectares of tropical land.
The first time I visited Thala was with the photography group and we arrived via the beach.  We were all to meet at the lodge for coffee but I became totally lost!  There are many paths leading off in different directions to the  private villas so believe me it is easy to become disorientated.
On the home front, apart from having our lovely friends visit, it has been quiet.  Philip has been weed spraying but the weather has been so inclement that it has been a bit hit and miss.  It has been so wet this year but I can finally say that today is absolutely magnificent with not a cloud in the sky.  The tourists will love it.
Next Sunday we are hitting the road again with our camper on board.  We are heading south to pick up my mum and bring her here for a couple of weeks.  We will be driving via Leyburn to visit friends and then on to Caloundra for a couple of unit inspections.  After that we will once again head north to stay a couple of nights with our son and DIL and during that time will head to Burrum Heads to meet up with friends (can't wait Roz!).
Then we will slowly make our way back up the coast.  Having mum with us means that we will stay in van parks that have units.  No bush camping I'm afraid although we will be doing that on the way to Toowoomba.
The advertising of our property has been moving along nicely with still plenty of interest but no formal offers.  We were featured in the Weekend Australian Magazine this week in the Home Hunt section.  We really feel honoured that we have been chosen again and there aren't nothing like a bit of free advertising!

The garden is looking lovely after all the rain and my roses that were heavily pruned in June are now covered again in magnificent flowers.  I have been picking them and bringing them inside as they give me great joy.  I am indeed my mothers daughter as we both share the love of roses.
On that note I will sign off and wish you all love and kindness.

Busy Bees

We have had a very good response to the marketing of our property in the past three weeks and have even been chosen by the Weekend Australian newspaper as one of the Top 5 Prestige Properties across Australia.  We were  just a little chuffed and even more surprised to find out that they want to feature us again in next weeks Weekend Australian Magazine.  We don't know exactly what this means but it is still exciting and can't wait to see it.

In response to all this attention, I have had a cleaning bug.  I have washed every wall inside the house and Philip and I together have washed all the outside walls.  The painters were here last week and re-painted all the trim so the house is really sparkling.
As a "pat on the back" for all our hard work in the past couple of weeks we treated ourselves to a night at the Sheraton Mirage in Port Douglas for the "Chefs in Paradise" degustation.

We arrived at the Sheraton around 4.30 pm and after checking in and walking the short distance to our room we opened the doors to this lovely room.  The complete renovation of the complex was completed a couple of years ago and they have done a great job.  The only complaint I had with the rooms was the over-use of mirrors.  I startled myself a dozen times during our overnight stay thinking someone else was in the room!

The dinner at Harrisons Restaurant inside the Sheraton complex commenced at 6.30pm with canapés and Champagne.  Our chefs tonight were Manu Feildel and Adam D'Sylva and the owner of Harrisons, Patrick Spencer.

L to R, Chefs Spencer Patrick, Manu Feildel and Adam D'Sylva

Harrisons Restaurant

From the very first bite of our first canapés we knew we were going to be in for a treat and not one course let us down.  Every single morsel was delicious. We were also served matching wines that, I must admit, are a bit wasted on me but in my humble opinion they were well matched with the food.
We were seated at a communal table and were lucky enough to be seated with some great people and the night was very enjoyable.

The four canapés

The four courses

We finally left the table around 10.30 and were tucked up in bed by 11.30 but, had it not been raining we would have gone for a stroll to walk off some of that food!
The next morning we once again headed to Harrisons for breakfast by the pool.  It is such a lovely setting and we are so lucky to have this right on our doorstep.

 I wasn't very hungry (obviously!) so I ordered the bacon "sanga".  Oh my goodness.  Just look at the size of this!  I humbly admit I ate the lot....

Philip woke early this morning and went for a bike ride before breakfast so he was famished when he returned but the breakfast he ordered was much healthier than mine.  I think we should have swapped.

Anyway folks that's a wrap for this week.
xx Judi

It's official.....

...we are on the market!
We bought our property "Kur-A-Mar" in 2002 and moved here Christmas 2006 when our new house was finished.  It has been the best thing we have ever done.  Living here is such a joy and it will be hard to leave but we have made the decision.
Owning 220 acres is a big responsibility and it is a responsibility that we just don't want or need in this stage of our life.  It really brought it home to us how much a responsibility it is when we went on holidays for two months.  The time I spent organising someone to look after the agistment cattle, someone to mow the lawns, someone to service the pool and someone to look after the house and dog really brought it home to us how much easier it would be to live in an apartment and just close the door behind us.  So that is the direction we are headed.
We feel it is going to take a very long time to find the right person to buy our place but I'm sure that whoever buys it will love it as much as we do. So, the photographers have been and gone and the advertisements have now been finalised.  We are running advertisements on both domain.com and realestate.com  and for the next two weeks we will be running an advertisement in the Weekend Australian.  The property sign will go up when the weather clears and also the drone operator will do his footage when there are no clouds.
Hasn't it been a funny old year rain wise.  It has not stopped raining here for six months albeit light falls and I actually love it but it does hinder property maintenance.  With us being away for all that time, the weeds have really got a hold on and Philip is anxious to get out there and start spraying.  If we did nothing at all our property would be back to rainforest so we have to keep it all in check.
After the dreadful jet lag we are now back into our regular exercise regime.  Philip cycles at least five times a week and I manage to get a walk in most mornings  I have only been attending the Julatten yoga classes but hopefully will get to Port Douglas class this week as well.
Meals have been healthy with lots of soup entering our diet.  It really has been the weather for it. We have feasted on Chicken, Freekah and Vegetable Soup, Curried Cauliflower Soup and Tomato Soup.  I have some ham hocks in the freezer ready to make a batch of Pea and Ham next week.  We did have a break away from the healthy on Sunday when we had friends over for a Pizza Lunch.  I made four types of pizza, Ham and Pineapple, Margarita, Meatlovers and Vegetarian.  I also made an unusual garlic bread that I wish I had taken a photo of.  I had a  Pane Di Casa loaf and I cut a circle out of the top and placed a Camembert wheel inside.  I sliced the top off the Camembert and topped it with dried apricots and rosemary.  I replaced the top.  The rest of the bread loaf I sliced and spread garlic butter between the slices.  I popped the whole thing in the oven for 10 minutes and presented it to my friends.  It was really, REALLY delicious.  (We won't talk about calories).
Well folks that's all my news for this week. Wish us luck with the property sale.

xx Judi

Slowly back to normal.....

After suffering the worst jet lag I have ever experienced I am now, I think, on top of it.  It was our own fault not breaking our return flight into segments.  When we think back we certainly should have had a day or two in Dubai before the long haul back to Brisbane but hindsight is a great thing!
It has been go Go GO though in the last three weeks. We are selling our property and the marketing of it takes a great deal of time (and money).  We had to give the place a good spruce up before we would allow photographers in.
We started with the gurney and washed the outside of the house until it looked like new but we have decided to call in the painter to give the handrails a bit of love.  For very little money I know the place will look so much better.
We continued with the gurney and hosed down all the paving.  That in itself took another full day.  And then the mowing.  Apparently it has not stopped raining the whole two months that we were away.  Although we had organised someone to come in and do the mowing it was just too wet.  They did manage to come a few times but everything needed a bit of Philip and Judi love.
So the house was prepared for the photographers, both still and drone, to come here on Wednesday last week.  Alas, the weather was not clear enough for the drone so he will have to come back another day but the photographers had more success.  There was a bit of a misunderstanding however between the agent and me because I thought they were only photographing outside.  To my complete horror they also did inside!
Look, my house is never untidy or unclean but if I had realised or known what they were going to do I would have put a lot of things away to give the house clean lines.  Now I just have to be satisfied with the photographs having a "homely" feel......
Other than that I have either been in the office or the garden.  The Rosella bushes were loaded with Rosella's so I have picked them and have turned them into Rosella Jam. I now have 14 bottles of Rosella Jam sitting in the cupboard. Many of those will be handed out to friends and family.
We have also been harvesting lots of oranges, lemons, mandarins and grapefruit.  Marmalade Jam is also on the agenda of this weeks job list.

We took a day off on Sunday for a movie date.  There was not a lot of choice at Smithfield and with me not liking any violent movies it narrows it down even further.  We settled on Hustle with Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson.  It was not much of a movie but we did get a laugh in places.  The best laugh came at the end of the movie when Rebel Wilson was pronouncing Phuket and I'll leave it to your imagine how she pronounced it!
Anyway, short post and I promise I will improve over the coming weeks.
Take care my loyal readers,
Judi xx

Luxor Part 2

Our guide asked that we be ready by 7 am for today's tour as the temperature would rise to 40 degrees by the middle of the day and he wanted to take us to the West Bank of Luxor first, have a break during the middle of the day and then continue our tour when the temperature dropped in the afternoon.  Wise thinking....

The first thing that comes to any ones mind when you mention Luxor is Valley of the Kings, or Thebes as it is known also, where the Kings (Pharoahs) built their tombs.  Most of the tombs there were cut into the limestone following a similar pattern: three corridors, an antechamber and a sunken sarcophagus chamber where the mummified body was laid to rest.  Of lesser renown is the Valley of the Queens where wives of the Kings were buried.  Both of these places are on the West Bank as well as the Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut.  We visited all three of these places.

The first was the temple.  I was once again speechless as we approached this magnificent multi-tied temple with its grand terraces.  The approach to the temple was via long ramps that in ancient times were lined with Sphinx.  It was originally many buildings but the main building is all that remains. This photo gives you an idea of what it would have looked like in 1490 BC......

Hatshepsut, who built the temple, was the second female Pharaoh (the Egyptians were way ahead of time!) and ruled for two decades until her step-son, Thutmose III, would come of age to succeed her.  It is not known how she died but almost all images of her were destroyed by Thutmose when he came into power. In the surviving images however, she appears as male with the royal headdress and kilt and false beard. Some inscriptions even refer to her as male.

The Valleys of the King and Queens are on the other side of the temple in a very hidden place.  To date 64 burial sites have been excavated with Tutenkanam’s being number 62.  We travelled by vehicle to the sites and our ticket gave us admission to three of the tombs. Our tour guide suggested Ramsses III, IV and VIIII (3,4,9 and please forgive me if my roman numerals are not correct). No photography is allowed inside the tombs without a special licence but take my word for it they are very special places.  You enter the tombs by a wide corridor that are lined with magnificent coloured drawings and stories.  The reason we know so much about the history of the ancient Egyptians is because of the details they included in their stories.  

After the Valley of the Kings we stopped for a photo shoot at Colossi of Memnon.  The remains now are about 23 metres high and weigh a thousand ton.  Though damaged by nature and ancient tourists the statues are still impressive.

In the late afternoon we stayed on the East Bank and visited Karnak Temple of Amon that is situated on 247 acres of land.  Though badly ruined, the site is impressive.  Massive columns still stand as a testament to the building ability of the Egyptians and the site has a central lake with stairs leading to the waters edge that provided a place to bath.

Our last place, and saving the best until last, was the Luxor Temple.  We arrived just on dusk and it was the perfect place to watch the sunset.  The avenue of the Sphinx links the Luxor Temple to Karnak Temple and is almost 3kms long.  Many sphinx still stand and there is ongoing work to repair this magnificent avenue.

This has been a long post but there is just so much to tell! We have only touched the surface of Luxor and you would need at least a week to see and do everything.  We left Luxor with a heavy heart (and aching feet!) but god willing we will return.