The Crystal Pen from Farmers

I have forgotten about this post which I didn't finish before, from our trip to Cairns, but was reminded of it with the purple crystal pen from Farmers. We drove into the Tablelands and went to a crystal museum. Its was a reconstruction so you put your hard hat on with your light beaming and walked through a series of

tunnels

Where a variety of exhibits were displayed. As a Geology 1 student I was thrilled to see these fossils that I had only read about on books - the ammonites, an extinct marine snail, and the trilobites an extinct marine - probablity a prerunner of insects. What was so amazing was the recall I had on this information whereas I forget so many peoples names!!

The main standout was the gems - geodes of amethysts - just like the giveaway pen in Farmers, however I think  theirs was synthetic!

As you can see some of the exhibits were huge, and very spectacular.

We also went to the Mango farm and tried some of their mango wine - it was suprisingly good! Then we went to a coffee plantation, unfortuntely it was just about to close, but Duncan can still recall the REALLY fresh coffee we had there. We looked for platypus in the wild but didn't spot any and did a short walk to see this Fig Tree Curtain which was huge. Lots of interesting places like Mareewa "where the sun shines 360 days a year"

Santa Toes are coming to town!

 Here are the fruits of my labours - wouldn't you know it - done on the day we got to 30 degrees. Still the taste is magnificent and it is very difficult to get tins of nectarines whereas it is easy to get apricots and peaches.

 And the best thing of all is that out of two buckets of fruit this is all the waste we had.

Had my yearly pedicure indulgence this morning and now I am all ready to join Santa in the merry red outfits! I have just made the mint and pecan stuffing for the lamb and I'm off to the butchers so that he can organise that with better knife and knotting skills than I have. Holidays must be soon as even Duncan has written a list of what clothes he wants to take up (so that they can be washed in time to take them up clean)

Stoned

I saw an ad in the paper for PYO nectarines, so this afternnon we went out to do just that! I said to Duncan "Just the one bucket" but of course we came back with two. As I was leaving I said to the lady "I hope the stones come out easily" . "Oh" she replied.
Yes, Oh, indeed - I cant even twist them in half.
Fortunately they are not large - mostly the size of large plums, so I will experiment with cutting off the "cheeks" and bottling the stone parts separately, but as well - or maybe just do them whole. Thoughts as I assembled my jars and bottles take me back to Grandma sitting at our kitchen table in Wylie Street peeling away - even though her mind was going she still managed to peel. Then often Mum would come down at bottling time to give me a hand. And I remember Phyl (101 today - Happy Birthday, Nana) and Alf sitting at the breakfast bar in Stout Street peeling pears.
Still I am all prepared to start early tomorrow morning. Our peacharine tree seems to have succumbed to the incredibly wet winter and I dont think we are going to be able to keep it alive. I was a wonderful crop last year, but we are struggling to keep the leaves on the tree this year

Thoughts on a wedding

Yesterday we went to a wedding. It was Julie Mettrick - the daughter of a golfing mate of Duncan's. The ceremony was in Holy Trinity church then out to the beautiful gardens at Bushmere Arms. There were quite a lot of young people in the congregation and I was a little taken aback by their lack of church ettiquette. Phones beeped, people took photos during the prayers, they didn't know when to stand - eg for the hymn, which very few even attempted to sing. Even bowing your head for a prayer - and only a few seemed to know the Lords Prayer. However the marriage was successfully concluded. The brides dress was white lace in a 60's style with afitted bodice, satin belt and flared skirt. She had also done her hair in a bouffant style with a little chignon at the back. It was a brilliant concept and so different from anything else I've seen lately.
A good night was had by all, and now Duncan and I have just had little naps - midnight is getting late for us old codgers!!

Our Big Back Yard

Yes! we have budburst in the one row of grapes that we now own, but the more impressive changes have occured further up the paddock. All the Back Block has been plowed up ready for sowing of the watermelons.

The loam looks rich and moist as it glistens in the sun.

The pile of posts - about 4,000 I reckon are slowly being farmed out for a pittance. Farmers are using them by putting them in upside down so that they dont have to spend hours taking the nails out. Because they are treated they cant be burned, and they decompose very slowly in land fills so they are expensive to dump.

But the vines can be burned. Here they are in two huge piles - I'm glad we didn't have to get rid of them all ourselves - 11,000 vines is a lot to have to pull out, and given that each one cost between $3 and $5 each it's sad to see them go.

The last part to be ploughed up will be the main block by the house - its all gone ahead quite painlessly for us (although we have had to remortgage - which should keep us here for another 8years!)

I'm addicted

Every morning I rush up and turn the computer on to see what the picture is today. Sometimes there isn't a picture, and I check every few minutes until I go off to school. Then I have to rush home and see if they were VERY late putting it on. The day is not complete without my boy. Here he is with the new chair in his bedroom. However this seems to have changed its format and is a bit blurry. But the cuteness still shines through. Its tough being long distance grandparents but this does ease the pain.

Out to the reef

The next morning was quite cloudy with a bit of a breeze. We drove into Cairns and joined the line for the catamaran. Lots of Asian tourists on board - and soon a collection of people were throwing up as the winds became more brisk as we headed to Green Island which is the island of the Great Barrier which is closest. Our promised morning tea was not allowed as the seas were too rough, so it was with relief that we arrived at the long wharf. We were whisked off to do the glass bottom boat trip, and I must say the fish were huge, but what I loved the most was the turtles. This is a picture of a turtle just out of view. They were massive too. The coral was very varied, but quite muted in colour. And massive too.

Next we set off to do the snorkelling off the beach. Unfortunately the fish close in weren't as spectacular and as soon as you ventured out the water became quite hazy with the disturbance of the wind.

Here's Duncan just setting off. He has the confidence to go a bit deeper than me, but there's nothing better when you are relaxed into a steady breathing rhythm with the seafloor and lots of fish - mainly small (but I was massive) swimming around you.

By this stage we had worked up a good apetite and headed to the food court which was inundated with birds. I had to be very brave. We then went for a walk around the resort part. It was lovely in the bush area with a good path, but as soon as you poked your nose out onto the beach area the wind was whistling.

The trip back was much smoother however and once back in the car we decided to investigate Port Douglas. It was a much longer and more testing drive than we thought and we were pleased we had not stayed there as it would have been quite a trip to get to the sights that we had done. We quite liked the look of Palm Cove, so maybe in a few years we might go there.

It was with very high hopes that we set out to the Blue Moon Cafe for dinner (that's what Jill and Simon always called their cafe) as it is regularly booked out. However the lighting was not good, the service was not good, but all the same I was dumbfounded when the waitress asked Duncan how his meal was and he replied "Its dry and its tasteless" It was Kangaroo - although we've had very tasty Kangaroo before. My crocodile puffs were fine. But the whole experience was a disappointment! Maybe I feed him too well.