Wishing I was back on Kangaroo Island

We have gone right back into hot summer and that is ok if you dont mind getting burnt at the beach but with both of us having had nasties cut out and John's actually being a melanoma we are both a lot more cautious about being out in the sun.
Of course it is also sticky and the evaporitive airconditioner isnt so good when its like that, so apart from yesterday when I had a drawing lesson (which was fabulous and is on my other blog) I havent done as much as I would like but I was up early this morning getting stuff done and have been sitting in front of a fan doing some stitching.
Out here where my computer is is a bit like an oven.
So a few more photos I took while we were away, to remind me of the sea breezes and the blue of the sea.
I have made the cold cucumber and leek soup for tonight.
On New Years Eve 7 of us get together each year, and we all do a course, mine was entree this year but I decided a cold soup would be fresher. We head over to Parawa tonight on the back roads, Victor has been a nightmare to get around, the tourists, well they are tourists and one tends to go in very early to avoid them.
We are having a cool change which is along the coast but is trying to push in so I hope tonight will be cooler.
I have to do the feeds, the other night there was a large black snake in the chook shed so I am having to be extra cautious.
The phots, at the top the road home from Willson River, the rocks on the beach at the mouth of Willson River, then Hanson Bay, and finally the view of the mainland from the front of the cottage at Penneshaw, the one we sat outside each night and saw as we had our evening drinks and nibbles.
I would like to thank all who have visited in the past year and hope you come back for more.
Happy New Year to you all.

Leaving Penneshaw and home

After packing up, getting home and unpacking I was too tired to blog.
I think the 5 km hike the day before may have hd something to do with it.
Today I have washed floors and generally tried to get the house sort of clean, but in this weather, hot and a bit windy I am afraid it wont stay that way for long.
The photos first show the beach and our little cottage is on the second tier, 2nd from the lef
Then from the ferry just as we were about to leave and the third one is of the ferry unloading on the mainland.
I have been meaning to play with my flower stitcher and twin needles, as I broke the last lot I had I moved over to my more sophisticated Pfaff which I can get the flower stitcher onto and it has a button for use with twin needles. Once I got going it was great, reminds me of the rock pools I saw on the Island with sea anemones and odd bits of shell etc.
Finally a small box of some of my collections while we were away, shells and rocks and bits of wood, floats and that really nasty poly twine and some leaves.
I havent unpacked the skulls yet and a couple are still out waiting for the ants to get to them.
Talking of skulls I really wanted a possum skull and John nearly had a fit as I made him stop the car by another bit of road kill, no he was saying as I picked up a freshly killed possum, but I stashed it behind a log and I hope that next year when we come over I can remember where it was and nothing will have taken the skull too far and it will all be clean and lovely.
Sorry but I think it is the scientists daughter coming out in me.

Mouth of the Willson River, KI

I got these a bit out of order, but this afternoon we walked through the scrub and along kangaroo tracks next to the Willson River and down to the beach. Not an easy walk, and I was very tired by the time we had done the round trip.
We did this walk about 12 years ago, may well have been longer and at the time it wasnt easy, but a much hotter day and there had been a fire through. This time the scrub was much thicker so the walk down along the river was slower, and the second photo is of some young black swans on the river, this was what it was like all the way along.
The first, 3rd and 4th photos are of the small bay at the mouth, the mouth was sanded up and not flowing out. The tracks are ours and no one else had been there for a while.
John of course was fishing and he did catch one small salmon trout, which we brought home for entree.
This is the 3rd beach we have walked that has had a pair of hooded plovers on it, I think with babies, but although I found broken egg shells I wasnt going to disturb them by looking.
Sorry, I dont seem to be able to get out of the Italics!
Walking through thick scrub with a fishing rod and bucket is not easy, but then crawling through thick scrub with a back pack on isnt either, and as one of the skulls I had was a bit 'ripe' the flies loved me too, even if it was in a plastic bag.
I collected some bird and wallaby skulls, some need a bit more time out with the ants. (Weird? yes!)
There is a house on the top of the cliffs but no one was there, I know because we walked much further than we needed to on the way home and finally had to back track to the house to find the track out.
I have to say I felt terribly pleased that I managed it, but everything is now stiff! I dont like it when my back spasms.
I think if you enlarge the last photo you will see a Kangaroo Island wallaby, there were lots as we walked back, not terribly frightened of us but usually hidden under the bushes so a clear photo was not possible.
Our last night for another year, I could live here permanently but know it is not possible.

Hanson Bay and a bit of Flinders Chase

This morning we set off with a sandwich for lunch and headed down to the other end of the Island.
We stopped first at Hanson Bay, a lovely bay with the sea an incredible color. Every so often we try to fish here but today we walked the beach and I took loads of photos and then went on down to Flinders Chase, where we managed to get an infringement notice! All rather silly as we were legally parked and were looking at the koala and some Cape Barren Geese not far from it.
What with being told off for walking where we have always walked by a shack renter (not owner) with a very nasty dog, and told not to feed the sea gulls when I was trying to feed the wrens it has not been a stress free few days!
The tiny blue scaveola flowers were so pretty I had to take their photos, then three photos of Hanson Bay and finally some of the Cape Barren Geese.
Click on all photos to enlarge.

Koala in a gum tree

Today we went wandering and found this Koala up in a gum tree, not the best photo but the best my little camera will do

A quiet Christmas

John walking an amost empty beach, we had gone down to get some sea water to defrost the oysters we had for lunch in and did some walking looking for shells, I found a cowrie, always special.
The table set up for lunch and it will be the same for dinner tonight when we have roast duck, always used to be goose, I really am not sure when turkeys became the thing for dinner but now there are only two of us it is duck.
The ferry which has been so busy all week has one day off and is tied up, tomorrow it will be all go again.
I am listening to cd's, first the lovely Bryn Terfel one John gave me for Christmas, Scarborough rair and now an old one of Katherine Jenkins, La Diva, I hope some one has dot me her ultimate collection for Christmas and it is waiting at home.
I have them turned up rather as in the house over the road we have a collection of young playing dud duf music.
The final photo is of the line of shells on the beach this morning.
I am about to put the duck on and then go for another walk,
I hope you all had a day full of fun and laughter and no stress.

Antechamber Bay

A lovely cool day today and a good morning for me to walk and John to fish not that anything more than a sandcrab was caught which he ate for lunch (I was wicked and had his pate on a rice cracker, with a glass of white.)
So here are some of the roly poly seed heads of marrum grass (Ithink, not sure) on the side of the path to the beach.
Then the incredible blue of the water here, even on a cloudy day like today.
As I walked I could see thes black dots which turned out to be black swans swimming in the sea, they are more often seen in fresh water.
This place is so lovely I couldnt help taking photos, the clouds were very paintable, if only I could, and there was no one else to be seen, one day perhaps I will be able to paint clouds.
Then on the way home this wonderful and very typical avenue of mallee over the road.
I really love this place.
Tomorrow is Christmas day and to all who read my blog I hope you have a lovely day with health and happiness, laughter and good cheer.

Reeves Cottage

This little cottage sitting on a point over looking the
Bay of Shoals is being lived in by friends of ours, a lovely place and the garden is wonderful.
The sheds and old boats etc are some of the winery on whose land it is, and some is her partners workshop/studio, full of wonderful things but he wasnt home when we visited.
Then some of the spurge that grows in the sandhills and was flowering magnificently, I took this as I walked down to the beach, which is the last photo and as you can see it was rather stormy looking, it has been odd weather all day as we have tropical cyclone coming down from the west coast, we hoped for rain but it seems to have dropped most of it in the north west.
I am sorry this will be a short post but we have visitors for dinner tonight, had some last night too and I seem to be rather on Island time so I had better get on with crumbing the fish.

Kangaroo Island day 1

Last night I raced out and took these photo at well after 8 pm, over Backstairs Passage to the mainland from the front door. We do have a roof infront and power lines but one tends to forget them.
Today was Johns 72nd Birthday and we will go out to dinner tonight but really we celebrated it here on our favorite beach, Pennington Bay.
He fished and I walked and took photos.
The sea was the most incredible color, it was not too hot, and a low surf was running.
I dont have my normal photo manipulator on this little notebook and I cant get my head around picasa, I think I have edited, or rotated photos and then cant find them wretched thing, I think I am just used to adobe but John wont have it.
I managed the steep descent to the beach but had trouble getting back up with my knee. Grrrr.
Thinking of you who have snow, the photos have been wonderful, but I can imagine that in the lead up to Christmas it must get frustrating.
Virginia, J tells me your temperatures have been cold, cold hope you are coping.
Here it is so lovely although warming up, and I am finally relaxed! Although I think rain forcast for later in the week, remnants of a tropical cyclone off Western Ausralia. Maybe a damp Christmas.

Cape Jervis to Penneshaw

I have managed to upload these in the incorrect order, again!
We were up very early this morning packing and loading the red ute for the 3/4 hour drive to Cape Jervis, the last not the first photo, taken from the ferry as we waited to leave, another almost an hour for the crossing, very windy and quite cold but thank goodness not rough and arrived at Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island.
I forgot to take photos of the farmers market which was on as we arrived, we rushed in to buy the yummy lamb chops that they produce here and a jar of fig chutney, that went well with the lunch ham.
Greeted lots of friends and up to our rental house, also owned by friends, they hadnt quite finished cleaning so we went off to visit a fantastic glass artist friend we know to tell him we were here and to come in for a drink, I also bought some wonderful beads from him while I was there and wished I could afford some of his wonderfully exotic stuff he is producing.
No photos of course, I wasnt thinking very straight, but these photos are of what we can see from our little house.
I am now trying to relax and enjoy it all.

Strange dolls

Every so often I love making strange looking dolls and these are a couple I have made. Sometimes I wonder what exactly makes me tick!
Not much to report, we have again been busy, Adelaide in the heat yesterday, and then some lovely rain overnight and this morning.
I am wrapping presents and hope I have stuff for most of those I give them to.
Yesterday some were delivered and tonight and tomorrow some more then I can clear the tables a bit and think about what I need to take for the Island. Usually I buy myself a small present, usually from The Thread Studio but not this year as money has suddenly got very tight.
John tells me we have been selling our milk for less than the cost of production for the last 6 months. That just cannot go on. We have to buy hay and grain to feed the cows and at this time of the year no one will sell unless they are paid up front.
We have had lots of enquiries for ponies but no actual sales there either.
At least we have had rain so the dams are full which is better than last year but of course the downside of that is that the dry feed has gone down! I am afraid farming is a very hand to mouth exercise in Australia, droughts, floods or fires and governments, the four curses of farmers.

On my work table

I have nearly finished the urgent stuff, and am trying to sort out what I take with me to Adelaide to leave with family and friends for their Christmas presents.
A basket of hearts and felted tree ornaments, I had fun making these, and a collection of earrings and necklaces and bracelets I have made.
I have wrapped some up and am on the down ward side of getting it all done I think. I have got dates to see friends and drop in presents and have a drink before the major packing for the trip to the Island.
I have to get through Adelaide tomorrow first.
My knee is apparently more swollen than when my physio saw me last week which is a bit of a worry, a bit more rest and ice packs are required.
I had a busy morning this morning as I had to collect Gaby and Mason to get them to the Doctor early, so some shopping and get me to my appointment and then collect them and take them home. I didnt do terribly well over my shopping and forgot a few things but I will get it all done by the end of the week.
Very hot and humid today, hotter in Adelaide tomorrow but thank goodness a change. There is also a tropical cyclone off northern Western Australia.
Hope my knee holds out tomorrow.

An early morning walk in the garden

I thought as we will be away and there is sure to be more hot weather it would be nice to wander around the garden this morning and see what was out.
The red bouganvillia was showing some lovely flowers, it shouldnt grow here as we have frosty winters sometimes but if I place things in the right place they sometimes seem to grow and this one is as tough as tough but doesnt get as rampant as it would in a wetter and more tropical climate.
Then the sun giving a halo to the pencil pine that is now surrounded by shrubbery, once a pony ate half of it and I didnt think it would ever recover but as you see...
The dark blue plumbago is just starting to flower, this is deeper than the original and has such a lovely colour of blue, again here it is as tough as tough, and of course it is another South African plant.
As is the miniature blue agapanthus near the bedroom door, my big old ones got badly burnt by the over 4-degree C day a month ago but this one is more sheltered.
And finally this bit of garden is straight out of the bedroom door, a heap of bits and pieces and pots and is one of my favorite bits of the garden.
Weaver in her blog was talking about getting old, and I think this little bit is possibly my idea of what I can do in a tiny garden if the time comes to leave here.
Talking of getting old we watched the very sweet film last night called Albert's Memorial on tv, a rather nice little portrayal of old age. My joints ache and I felt for Weaver when she said she couldnt or rather didnt get up on chairs any more to sweep away cobwebs but then she couldnt see the cobwebs any way and that is rather my attitude.
Another blog with a lovely and beautifully done bit on her parents aging is Nina Bagley's
whose blog is on my side bar, I only hope one of my children feels about me as she does about her parents.
Having a mother still alive at 97 but not enjoying life makes me want to do as much as I can and enjoy life as much as I can while I can, then probably jump off a cliff when I cant!