A rare treasure

Long time, no blogging. Long story why but I wont bore you all with it now.

I want to share a great give-away draw in another blog. Jan has designed this fantastic cross stitch chart and is giving one away to a lucky person. Below is a picture of the stitched design.

I think I will buy this one anyway :)

A short stay in Melbourne

I flew from Cairns to Melbourne today as I am attending a conference for the next three days. The photo above is the hotel I am staying at but this is not a photo I have taken as the weather today was quite dull and awful. I have a very comfortable king room with all the luxury fittings, its a joy to stay at such a lush establishment.

ANZAC Day

LEST WE FORGET

A quiet day for Robert and I. We don't go to any services or parades - Robert has been there and done that during his Navy days and does not feel any need to go back and experience as a civilian.

Running out of time to get ready for our New Zealand trip. 9 sleeps to go and we are off. I see that some stores are open after 1:00pm today, I think I need to buy some warmer clothes.

Stitching projects sent

My first mattress pincushion has been received by my Swapbot partner. The theme was a Lizzie Kate flip it word. I chose "create" for my partner as she is a teacher and I always see teachers as creative types - maybe its because they help create futures. Anyway my partner was very happy to receive the piece.

In another swap I was to put together a green biscornu - my partner for that swap liked deep greens so I chose a dark green aida and used a DMC variations floss. I used a bead in the centre rather than a button as I found a great one with gold scroll work around the bead.

I am quite pleased with both these projects.

Shores of Hawk Run Hollow - progress

While we are on a lighthouse theme (refer posts below) I thought I would post an update on my progress on the Shores of Hawk Run Hollow. Above is my progress on block 1 of 12. Each block is approximately 5 inches square and I was hoping to get one block per month finished - so far I am running behind but I should have expected that. I am supervising an exam tonight so I will take the project along to see if I can get some extra stitching in.

Windy and squally Easter break

As predicted, the weather in Cooktown was quite foul for the Easter holiday. Fortunately for us we were staying in a cabin which meant that looking over the rain soaked camping grounds at huddles of wet and miserable campers really did not really place us in any mood to go out and have some fun.

Robert didn't like the look of any of the fishing options on offer so we limited ourselves to a few driving day trips.

Day 1 was a journey south of Cooktown to explore the hidden bays and jungle about. Robert really wanted to visit Archer Point as it was written up in the guide books as worth a visit and wow it did not disappoint. Archer point is an exposed headland with not one BUT TWO cute little light houses! One light house is located on a small island just off the coast and the other is on the headland. You may notice in the background of the photo below the haze - well that's actually a squally storm making its way straight towards us!!

Lighthouse on island off Archer Point

Mainland lighthouse at Archer Point.

The red and green panels in front of the lighthouse globe is meant to convey to ships at sea whether they are in a safe position - if the skipper can see a red light then that's not a good spot to be in and the boat needs to move further out to sea. If the ship's crew can see green from the light then they are in a safe position to pass by the rocks.

I won't make this post too long but I thought I would also share a photo of the crossing over the Bloomfield River which is on the way back to Cairns (via the coast road). There was only about 15cm of water over the causeway but even a simple slip if you walked over could be dangerous.

Its Raining - must be time for an Easter Camping Trip

In a long held tradition - the Easter long weekend is when Cairns locals try to go camping and traditionally when it pours with rain. This year is no different and everyone in our office is planning a damp weekend away.

Robert and I are planning a long weekend in Cooktown. It's a four hour drive north of Cairns and we are staying in cabins at one of the local caravan parks. Cooktown is a great little spot - its where Captain Cook beached the Endeavour to repair the hull after he ran into the reef on his travels north along the east coast of Australia in 1770.

We plan to do a bit of fishing, exploring and relaxing over the weekend.

Everyone else in our office is doing the real camping bit - hopefully the rain holds off for long enough to get tents set up at least - its really too much to hope for a completely dry Easter weekend :)

Happy Easter everyone, stay safe on the roads and don't eat too much chocolate (your own body's weight is enough).

Jacinta