Back from Queensland - family friends and (of course) beer

We got back from our Queensland holiday yesterday and it was quite marvellous. We spent the first night with Fiona (Leon's middle sister and her family), and the next four days hiking in Green Mountain.

with Geoff (Leon's oldest brother) and his family. We stayed in O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat which meant we got the best of both worlds - long hikes, and then nice dry accommodation at the end, and views, views, views.

The rainforest was amazing - ancient trees, interesting birds and numerous, stunning waterfalls. There were trees with tiny vines that reminded me of lace:

And giant vines that fed my ever-growing cable obsession:

We did a little guided walk which showed us the birds and taught us to identify them by their calls, but the birds were not shy and came and visited us on our balcony, and other places too!

There were so many beautiful waterfalls, river crossings and leaches - but lets not talk about the leaches...

I used a hiking pole for the first time, and found it very useful. I think I'll be buying some to take on our next outdoor adventure.

After four days of hiking we spent one more night on the Gold Coast, we headed to Brisbane, where we met up with Kris. We went to Brisbane GABS, caught up with Tony and Ingrid and I completely failed to take any photos at all!

We got home yesterday, and I finished the body of the Rainbow Cardi on the plane.

It was such a perfect project to have with me, simple and satisfying, and now I'm blocking it before I start the fun, multi-coloured fronts. When we booked the trip, we hadn't realised that today (Monday) in a public holiday, and today has felt like such a luxury, having a day at home to clean up and get organised.

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What I made, by Sharon

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