Magic time away ...

We packed some of my fancy firelighters, a box of kindling and a couple of bags of firewood for our Byron Bay trip.  

There was a firepit on site, which we really appreciated!  

Nick was in charge of lighting the fire and gave my firelighters a great review.  (He lit them from both ends). 

As you can see the colour-changing flame powder was an excellent inclusion and made for superb fire gazing! We have used this or a similar product previously but these packs were extra magical - lots of colours, which continued for ages.  We were very impressed!

My initial plan had been to stay in Lismore because the focus of the trip was to view the Max Dupain exhibition at the Lismore gallery.  When looking for accommodation though, I spotted this lovely old van set-up in Byron Bay - so we booked it instead (and then discovered we were right next door to friends)!

Nick had received a leg injection earlier in the week and suffered an adverse reaction, which caused a lot of pain.  We managed a few activities but not as much walking as we'd usually do - though he very determinedly hobbled around the Lighthouse and down to the most easterly point of Australia's mainland!

Firelighter fun!

Vaughan and I made basic firelighters when we lived at Clarkefield.  They worked well, all made from materials already on hand.

Kerry and I made far more beautiful versions when I visited New Zealand in 2016.  We'd gone for a lovely ramble first, picking up little pinecones, seed pods and various other interesting dry vegetation. 

It was a wonderfully peaceful, meditative activity arranging our finds into muffin cases - held in place with melted wax.

Nick and I have booked a few nights away at the end of the month.  Our accommodation has a firepit but we'll need to take wood.  I decided I'd like to bring some special firelighters (along with sparklers and colour-changing flame powder)!

I picked up dry grasses and bark yesterday, then found pine needles and pine cones once home again.  We had dried jacaranda in the backyard.

In more recent times Kerry made larger firelighters using paper cups.  

When I checked at home, there were heaps of Christmas cups which had red chevron stripes.  Some of our old address cards had the fire motif, so I trimmed those and used some double-sided tape to cover the "Merry Christmas" wishes.  Of course, the cups will be burned so it didn't matter that they were out of season but I like the revamped version better!

The method was simple.  I broke a small commercial firelighter into the bottom of each cup.  Most had a bit of bulrush fluff as well.  Some had some scrunched honeycomb packing paper.  The dried arrangements varied but I noticed they became larger and more elaborate as I went along!  When I started to get too precious about placement, I reminded myself that they were all going to go up in smoke anyway!  

We have a lot of cake candles, so I decided to give each firelighter one of those also.  I'm liking the end result.  Cheap entertainment for sure!

I don't know if I'm wearing the same jeans as I was in 2016.  The top is different but very similar.  Obviously great options for firelighter construction!

Two-up on ANZAC Day!

Nissa flew in the day before ANZAC Day and one of our first morning's missions was to make ANZAC biccies together.

Our free-standing oven had some issues, so we baked about 65 biscuits in the benchtop turbo oven - seven in a batch. Each group only needed about 12 minutes cooking time, so swapping out trays was a bit fiddly but otherwise all worked well.

I've just checked and our Yowah fuel stove ANZAC biccies were made using smaller "trays", though we could fit several trays in the oven at once.

Once all the biccies were baked, we packed up some to take with us for a later lunch picnic.  

Given the public holiday, I planned to pick up some picnic supplies at a large IGA in Boonah, en route to Lake Maroon.

Not long before departure I thought to ask Nick for some pennies.  He was able to find some as well as a scrap of wood - and I printed off two-up rules from the internet.  I printed off two sets of rules, cos the first set talked of three pennies which seemed like three-up, not two-up! 

I'd never played before and neither had anyone else.  We modified the rules a bit, so as to play at our picnic table.  

No money changed hands, only buttons!

Erin wasn't keen to play, so watched our antics while doing her knitting.  

Bandit didn't play either but tried hard  to join in - and his noisy barking added to the hilarity!

Life's a picnic (or a cafe lunch)!

After our splendid January adventures, February was busy getting back into our normal work and school routines.  As always, there were outings but those were not really in keeping with the scope of this blog.  

Nick and I also enjoyed a lovely weekend away - though the focus of that break was his performance at the Songwriters Showcase.

There was lots of rain in March and we took advantage of a dry day for a school hours picnic, fairly close to home.  We dined well on wraps made with leftover roast dinner meat and vegies - and Bandit was happy we'd packed a treat for him also!

A few days later I made scones and packed another lunch for some exploring further afield.  I had thought we might try to see somewhere new but after huge hilarity at the GPS "assistance" we ended up back at Atkinson Dam where we've visited on a few other occasions.  There was a bit more water after all the rain and it was very pleasant to sit watching the little birds flit about.

In contrast to those organised picnic outings we had a wonderful, impromptu adventure this week.  We headed to our local Bunnings (less than 10km up the road), made a small purchase - and then decided it was too nice a day to spend at home, so continued in a westerly direction! 

We didn't have a plan but enjoyed blue sky, sunshine and lots of pretty scenery as we drove along. We chanced on a wonderful lunch spot, the Nash Gallery & Cafe at Esk, with many birds chattering away (and stealing leftovers when they could).

There were a couple of local art exhibitions at the two information centres we stopped at.  We'd called in at Esk at other times but hadn't previously visited The Condensary at Toogoolawah, which caused some discussion as we parked.  It really was a former condensed milk factory - Australia's first!  As well as the exhibition there was a small history display in a former bomb shelter inside the shed - and we looked at that also.

We headed back slowly, poking about in a few opshops and finding a few bargains.  By the time we arrived home in the later afternoon we'd made a 180 km round trip, substantially bigger than our original/planned 18 km quick loop to Bunnings!  

Sew Civilised!

There's sometimes a cross-over between here and my other blog, Hamby Home(in)stead. 

I made two padded drawstring bags the week before we came away, as well as a set of simple laundry bags. Our bunker trip was their first outing - and all four worked very well!

We'd stopped at a great bakery in Toowoomba on the way out to Miles, so enjoyed specialty croissants on arrival, using our owl mugs and mug rugs.  (The spotted saucers and orange milk jug were at the bunker).  

The owl mugs were used again for the next morning's late brekkie, with more excellent croissants - and often during our stay, sans croissants!

We'd used dry bags for our washing on last year's wing-it wanderings tour (and a grocery bag while on our anniversary splurge!) but I wanted something smaller/nicer for our shorter road-trips.  We'd originally packed for a four-night stay and I wasn't sure if the bags would be large enough but they seemed a good size. (They are intended for light and dark, rather than his and hers).

When we extended to an extra night, we took our washing up to the laundry.  The dark bag was full and we did that load, then went out for some more exploring.  There had been a few spots of rain as we drove back but when we reached the clothesline, most of our washing had been retrieved for us.  How good is that?!

Chinchilla Cactoblastis Monument

The Boonarga Cactoblastis Memorial Hall was built in 1936 by local farmers, to recognise the success of the moth in eradicating the prickly pear plague throughout rural Australia.  

You can read an excellent history of prickly pear, here).

We made a very quick stop at the Cactoblastis Memorial Hall on the way out to Miles.  It had been on my list since reading about it at Dalby in 2017, while visiting the cactoblastis monument.  

Usually we spot the hall as we zip past but we were more on-the-ball this time.

We detoured into Chinchilla on the way home, keen to view the "Bug Farm" replica shed, which was detailed in our "Explore Chinchilla" brochure.  

The two sites are quite separate from each other, about 17.5km apart.

It was such a great display and we were very happy to have made a visit.  

(And there was a geocache nearby also - which was another bonus, bringing our tally to 677 finds)!

"The cactoblastis moth and its larvae eradicated the nuisance plant, the "prickly pear" which covered much of Queensland's farm land in the early 1900s.  A monument and replica shed is located near the entrance to the property "The Shanti" on Clarkee's Road which operated as a Field Station to breed the moth in the early 1930s."

We hadn't previously visited Chinchilla, though we camped at the Weir on the way home from Roma in 2018.  We had a bit of a wander around the town after leaving the bug shed.  It seemed a good time to have lunch, so we did that under some trees near the art gallery - and then viewed the current exhibition when we finished our pastries.  I'm thinking we'll return to Chinchilla for a few days, hopefully soon - and have a better look around the area.

Miles Historical Village

The town's premier attraction is the excellent Miles Historical Village and Museum in Murilla Street  ..."

We've made a few rest stops at Miles on other trips, parking beside or across from the museum (top pic is from our Roma roaming in 2018) - but we hadn't visited due to time constraints.

When speaking with a tourist information volunteer (after visiting Chinaman's Lagoon), she advised the museum opened at 8:30am and an early morning visit was best, before temperatures rose.  

We liked that plan and arrived the next day, not long after the doors opened. Lots of interesting stuff to see and we spent a couple of hours looking at various displays before deciding we'd like a break in some air-conditioning!

The Historical Village is " ... an accurate recreation of a Queensland country town's main street at the turn of the century, which contains over thirty buildings including a bootery, post office, a general store, bakery, the Union Hotel, a butcher's shop and a dairy. The complex also features the old Australian Bank of Commerce, the Dalwogan siding with a steam locomotive, the Red Rose cafe (a replica of the first Greek cafe in the town which opened in 1925) and Andersen's Smithy where the famous Condamine Bell was first made."