Paperific

Over 3 days August 26-28 Paperific was held at the Showgrounds in Melbourne. An annual craft fair for stampers and paper crafters (started by the late Stacey Apeitos) it has become the mecca for crafters from around the country. This year as we were headed off on holiday on saturday I could only attend on friday which of course I managed even though my suitcase was calling me to pack it...LOL It is a time each year when I catch up with stamping friends from around the country, this year the Tasmanian and West Australian contingent were missing but the girls from NSW made it and we had a great day at the fair then in the evening we went out to dinner.

Lesley (owner of Little Bits Craft Shop in Keysborough) is busy demonstrating products to one and all.

Here Kerri and Marion are sprung doing some major damage to their credit cards...LOL Cheryl does not mind in the least.

Saturday and Sunday

After a great night at Bistro C on friday we slept in saturday then wandered down to Noosa Woods to hear more music on the Tingirana Stage. School bands mixed with professionals, including Charlie Horse Funk Band. A wander back through town had us stopping to listen to Jan Preston on the honky tonk piano. Home to freshen up then back in to Lindoni's for dinner and more jazz. Great dinner, music act rather late turning up. Slow paced jazz for a change from Willy Qua and Wil Sargassion. On our way back to the car we stopped to listen to Jeff Duff livening up the town as only he can.
Another sleep in sunday morning then a walk down to the local fresh food market. Ah what delights to behold shame we can't take anything home with us so we just bought some fresh strawberries and tomatoes to go with our bread and cheese for lunch. A relaxing afternoon reading and puddling on the internet oh and a few more games of Yahtzee before we headed off to Bicentenial Hall for the big last night Jazz Party, 6 hours of solid music from a stunning line up of musicians young and old. Boy can they rock that place!
Another late night but well worth it.
Monday time to pack and meander down to Maroochydore to return the car. First we stopped in town to pick up our annual holiday Tattslotto winnings...a whole $17.50 this year! One day we will hit the jackpot.
Our plane was delayed by about 10 mins no big dramas we were back in Melbourne around 3.15pm. Collected our baggage and rang "Busy Beaver" to pick us up so we could collect our car from them. Did I mention we had had a very early start to our holiday with a 3am rising to get out to Tullamarine and drop off the car before being taken to the airport to catch a 6.15 am plane!
Great service and very economical.
After a slight detour through the back streets missing most of the peak hour traffic we made it home to Gardenvale. Unpack..."what's for tea? Take away of course , no one wanted to cook on this last day of our holiday...hehe
Can't wait for next year to do it all again...well maybe we won't try and fit both side of the country in on the same trip next time !

PS. Mike headed off to work on tuesday with his flowing locks and beard...he returned after his first professional shave and a number 5 all over haircut!!
I laid low all day with a runny nose and hacking cough..bummer babe.

Friday Jazz

A beautiful sunny day in Noosa for the Jazz Festival.

Getting ready to march down Hastings Street Noosa.

Young and old musicians marched together in the street parade.

A young student from a Qld high school singing with the confidence of an old pro!

This bird was trying very hard to get any hundreds and thousands from the container outside the ice cream parlour in Hastings St. He looked at me as if to say "these are mine, don't even think about having any!"

Thursday night Day 1 Jazz Festival

Thursday night saw us being entertained up close and personal by James Morrison and his band along with singers Evelyn Duprai and Glenn Cunningham. What a fabulous night's entertainment and great food to go with it.
James Morrison blowing his horn!

James Muller lead guitar, Gordon Rytmeister drums and ?Brent Hurst on bass.
Evelyn Duprai in full voice.

Glenn Cunningham singing up a storm.

Thursday in Noosa

A bush turkey common enough around Noosa but hard to get a good picture of as they rarely stand still!

Hell's Gate itself. Alexandria Bay from Hell's Gate.

Views toward Tewantin and down the river from Leguna Lookout above Noosa.

Day 5

Wednesday in Noosa was set aside to catch up with some current and ex-neighbours from Melbourne. David and Diana now live up here and Georgie has a holiday house at Coolum Beach. David and Diana showed us round there home among the trees and took us for a walk in the park that their house backs onto. Where we saw lots of birdlife, Bush Turkey nests and plants that looked like "Cousin It". Tea was had at the Coolum Surf Life Saving Club in Coolum. Nice view with the sun setting over the water.

Day 4

Our great hopes of meeting Emily in Fremantle were dashed when she phoned from onboard her ship at 9pm to say it would be another 1/2 hour before she was on land and we had to head to the airport in Perth by then..phooey.
We flew out of Perth at about midnight made good speed cross country and landing in Melbourne at around 5am. 5 hours to kill before we took off again for Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast! I read a book, Mike wandered around looking for somewhere to print our boarding passes, unsuccessful in his mission he returned and we had some breakfast before checking our baggage in. We had tried when we first arrived but were told to come back at 8am!
Our plane trip to Noosa was uneventful though there was a sprinkle of rain on landing. We collected our hire car and headed up the road to Yandina where we have developed the habit of stopping at the Nut Factory Cafe for lunch before continuing on to Noosa. NOT this year the cafe has closed. So we stopped at the local bakery for some bread and a cream bun! We had stopped at Dunethin Rock for a birds eye view of the hinterland arriving in Noosa about 3pm. Another stop at local supermarket for a few supplies. Weyba Gardens Resort was to be our home for the next 6 days as has been the case the last 4 times we have been here. We were both pretty tired by this stage but still managed to drive over to the local shopping mall to get Mike some shorts. Back to our apartment and feet up time. After looking at the local food delivery menu...a tad expensive so we opted for peanut butter sandwiches and a cup of tea/coffee. An early night after a game of Yahtzee on Mike's tablet.

Day 3 Cape Leeuwin

After a pleasant meal and a comfortable night at the Margaret River Hotel we headed to the south western most point of Australia where we climbed Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. This is the spot where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet.

Day 2 part 2

We stopped for a quick break at Dunsborough... a favourite diving location of Emily's before continuing on to Margaret River for the night.

Day 2

Hmm actually Bunbury was first then Bussleton. We stopped in Bussleton where the jetty is nearly 2 kms long!! There is even a little train to take you out to the end.

We drove south from Rockingham and stopped in Bunbury for lunch. Here we received a phone call from Emily to say there was a chance we could actually see her monday night in Fremantle before we flew out at 1150pm. She being put ashore early to attend some appointments before rejoining her ship on wednesday...Yippee

Day 1 part 2

This is us enjoying ourselves with good food, good wine and good friends at Jane Brook Winery.

Our little holiday to Wa and Qld

Around Father's day each year we head north to sunny Queensland for the Noosa Jazz Festival. This year we decided on a quick 3 day visit to Western Australia to visit our daughter first. She is in the Navy stationed in Rockingham. Our plans went astray when we heard they were going to be at sea that weekend but too late to change so off we went. We still stayed at her house...Big "mum hugs" to Irish Dave.
On our arrival in Perth we were unexpectedly met by our friend Alice who had made a mad dash to the airport after being woken only about 10 mins earlier with the news that we were arriving!! Woohoo how special does that make one feel. She took us home for a wonderful home cooked breakfast then. While Rod did some chores Alice took us to the Les Murdie Falls for a walk. Great views of the city of Perth from here. We returned to collect Rod and were driven out to the Swan Valley and Jane Brook winery for a leisurely lunch among the vines. About 5pm we decided we really needed to head for Emily's house in Rockingham (about an hours drive south). Where we stayed the night .