Ever heard of Geocaching?

I hadn't.  Not until recently.  You?  Now, with my family peeps, we are official geocachers, along with the other 5 million worldwide!!

It all began about 12 years ago.  How did I not know about this?  Let me explain exactly what geocaching is, just in case you are where I was just a week or so ago.  Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunt where you use your global positioning system (GPS) to find caches hidden by other players.  These caches are hidden in over 200 countries all over the world and even in our little country town!  And I've been walking around in blissful ignorance.

A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook where the geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name and may also contain items for trading, usually trinkets of little value.

We set out the other day on our first geocaching expedition, just a quick little drive from where we live and we found our first cache!!  It was such a thrill.  And look, this is what we found.  Inside was all sorts of tiny treasures.  We took a couple, and left a couple for the next geocachers to find.

What a fabulous way to spend time outdoors, going to far flung corners of your neighbourhood, playing sleuth, revelling in the thrill of the hunt and finding treasures in the cache if you're lucky.

There are difficulty ratings, apparently some caches are underwater and others can be 50 feet up a tree!!  Think we'll be sticking to the easy ratings for a while.

Are you a geocacher?  Do you have some great stories to tell, to share with a novice?

Cheers, Trudy

Milly and Romeo

Two dogs.  Milly, a cheeky, little "very low tum" daschund and Romeo a beautiful, big german shepherd gave their names to the 'Artisan Bakery and Cooking School' at Koonwarra, just up the road from us, in South Gippsland.

It's a favourite place of ours to celebrate special events and we had a lovely lunch there last Saturday.  The food is exquisite, just take a look at the sweet treats on offer.  Sometimes I just want to skip straight to dessert!

Beautiful camellias on the tables make everything even sweeter.

Anyway, back to the story of Milly and Romeo.  Apparently Milly can be a little bit naughty so is always left at home as she can't be trusted to behave while guests are about, while Romeo is allowed to sleep peacefully in the sunshine around the back, on the verandah.  Isn't he gorgeous?  We had two beautiful german shepherds while I was growing up, so I have a special soft spot for them.

Our lunch out was to celebrate this girl's birthday.  This one with the very long hair, the plait and the pink felt flower in her hair.  She felt very grown up, being ten now, as you do.

If you find yourself driving along the South Gippsland Highway, heading towards The Prom, and are feeling a bit peckish, do stop for a while at Milly & Romeo's.  I'm sure you'll enjoy!

Trudy

Bushwalking

At the very end of our street, up a steep, steep hill that has you puffing and panting at the top, is a lovely nature reserve which is well deserving of a good explore on a sunny, autumn day at the end of the school holidays.

Moments into our walk we discovered a native resident across our path.  We literally stopped in our tracks and held our breaths until further investigation when we noticed our friend had legs ... not a snakey-snakey, phew.

On we trekked through the bush, sometimes staying on the tracks, sometimes going deep into the bush climbing over fallen trees or under scrub, this was not a relaxing, easy walk, this was a serious bush expedition.  We found lots of red mushrooms, a new water hole we'd never come across before and beautiful bottle brush.

Now it's ready, steady, go back to all the routines that a school term brings.

Hope you've had a lovely holiday, break, weekend!

See you soon,

Trudy

Boxing Kangaroos

On an impulse we packed a picnic tea and drove to The Prom for a walk along the beach and in the hope of spotting some native wildlife, and we weren't disappointed.  We saw wombats, wallabies and kangaroos.

It's always such a thrill, and yes I still squeal like a little girl, when I see animals in their natural setting going about their business.  Okay, maybe they had a bit of an idea that they were being watched by people with zoom lenses, but they certainly weren't too concerned.

And this is something I've never seen before, except on sporting flags and memorabilia, the boxing kangaroo!  They looked to be young 'roos, and therefore just having a bit of fun, I think ...  I certainly wasn't going any closer to find out!!

On we drove to our destination point, Squeaky Beach.  I love this beach, because of it's quirky squeakiness (the rounded quartz sand makes a squeak as you walk along) and for the amazing rock formations on the beach.

It was 7.00 p.m. by the time we settled ourselves on our picnic rug, with the rocks behind our backs and the roar of the sea in our ears, pretending we were the last family on the planet, eating pork pies, mini quiches, Nobby's nuts and rock cakes (well, that seems appropriate!!)

We always come away from The Prom wondering why we don't visit more often.  There is so much to explore, so many walks to be walked, animals to spot, fabulous beaches and so many wonderful photo opportunities.  We will be back, and soon.
Hope you're all enjoying your Long Weekend.
Cheers, Trudy

The Show came to Town

Early Saturday morning, in the hope of missing the scorching heat of the day, the girls and I ventured out to the local show.  There were ducks and llamas and pigs and cows to be viewed!  We saw our feathered friends, ready for judging.

There was a successful manoeuvre away from the showbag stalls (well done me, I say!) and into the pavillion filled with local produce, cut flowers and crafts of all kinds.  We saw oodles of local student artwork which was fabulous, from paintings to cardboard constructions, hand-writing and prize-winning woven placemats!

We watched beautifully groomed horses going through their paces, and proud owners with matching braided hair.

And there were rides to be had!  As official photographer I was able to keep my two feet firmly on the ground as I watched my girls whizzing by on the Cha-Cha, or being lifted high into the air on the Midnight Madness.  Three wilting flowers, we walked home and tried to keep cool for the remainder of what was a very hot weekend.

How was your weekend?  Were you able to keep cool?

Trudy

Charleston Inspired

Charleston was the home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, and a meeting place for the writers, painters and intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury group.  It sits in Sussex, England, and I had the joy of visiting there a number of years ago.

Every corner of the house oozes with examples of the decorative art of the Bloomsbury artists.  There are murals on doors and walls, painted furniture, textiles and ceramics.  All of which was fabulous and I was in my element!!

After visiting Charleston, I came home with visions of painting my own walls in some variation of their decorative style, but somewhere along the way I fell in love with China White, and also I completely lost my nerve.

I also came home from Charleston with two treasured pieces, one a beautiful linen top in a soft orange colour (which is currently hanging on the outside of my wardrobe as an incentive to minus out a few nasties from my diet and therefore fit into it again!), the other is a pottery jug.

I adore the colours and patterns on this jug and have been inspired to create a small applique stitchery, which will form part of a dolly-sized quilt.

While I didn't paint my walls, I did find inspiration from the little jug I purchased at Charleston which will always trigger memories of that wonderful day spent mooching through the house.

Have a lovely day.
Trudy

Picnickers at the Bird Hide

We love a good picnic in our family!  It's all about getting out the special set of colourful mugs that only get used at picnic-time, the Bessemer plates circa 1960s, the picnic basket, the ever-so-indulgent picnic food that gets packaged up into multitudes of different sized plastic boxes, and then the big one ... deciding where to go.

One of our favourite places is a short drive away from us, at a secluded bird hide.  It is a beautiful, remote little wooden hut overlooking Corner Inlet.

Inside the hut, we open the little windows, get out the binoculars and look for birdlife.  Such an adventure for two young explorers!  We see graceful black swans and lots of seagulls.

Hope you have a special picnic place you love to visit.

Trudy