What I made, by Sharon

 We have been saying for year that we should go to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, but we are often there in March for Fringe, and it just hadn't happened yet. This year it did and it was so much fun. Four nights of nothing but cabaret, each night ending with a Dr Trevor Jones piano bar! During the days we did the things we like to do in Adelaide (and elsewhere) ate good food, slept in, sat in the sun and relaxed. We went to the port, and specifically Yarn Trader , where I bought some locally dyed possum merino to make a Noosa Scarf from the Bendigo Project. We took our traditional selfie with the Rundle Balls We also found a giant metal pigion, which has allegedly been there since 2020, but we don't recall ever seeing before. We went to the beach and ate oysters. But mostly, talented people sang at us and told stories, which is about my favourite way to spend time. I had plenty of time to knit and a reasonable amount of time to read while we were away. Come back tomorrow and I...

  This past weekend we went to Queensland to see Leon's family, catch up with Tony and Ingrid and get some sunshine. The GoldCoast wouldn't be our choice of holiday destination, except for all those things. It's overdeveloped. My mother always called Surfer's Paradise "Sufferer's Paradise", because it's all high buildings and the sun goes behind them and casts shadows on the beach in the afternoon: Anyway, enough of my whinging. It was lovely to see Leon's family (two of his sisters and one of his brothers live there). It was fantastic to see the sun,and sit on the back deck with this view. We even had a pelican come to visit. Crafted Beer Festival  was great. The sun shone, the beer was from different breweries than we get in Victoria, the food was tasty. Tony and Ingrid were their usual cheerful selves.  To top of the trip on Sunday we went out in the boat. Fiona had casually said we would go look for some whales. We saw so many whales. They were...

 We borrowed Katie' car and headed off into the mountains - the Australian Alps, to be precise. There is a trail that runs from Walhalla all the way to Canberra (about 650 kms). Our intention was to walk from Walhalla to Baw Baw ski resort, spend a night in a lodge and then come back down. Day one went to plan, and we spent the night in a lovely campsite next to a stream. Day two was very steep, and it was 36 degrees and a total fire ban. We decided to head back down the mountain - where we had a wonderful cooked lunch, and coffee - and then drive to where we were originally planning to walk to that day.  Unfortunately there was a tree the size of Katie's car blocking the road, so we ended up driving back to where we had walked into the day before. The next  day we drove to the top of the mountain and  had a fairly easy day, just walking the tracks of the resort without packs. Then on day four we headed down from the top of the mountain. It's all dispersed camping, s...

 Last weekend we went to the Grampians, the mountains in the west of Victoria. this weekend e went to Marysville, which is in the Cathedral ranges to the East of Melbourne. We went, as we often do in the second weekend of November, to participate in the Marysville Marathon Festival, hand out at my parents holiday house and also with my parents. This year we had a bonus. Josh (an American friend who has featured on the blog quite a lot - he used to work in Antarctica and come visit on the way back to the USA) was coming for a lightening fast trip. He was happy to hire a car at the airport and come and see us in Marysville. that wasn't weird, we're friends because our fathers are friends, so he was glad to catch up with my folks and us. We did the things you do in Marysville. Eat good food: Walk up to the falls at night and take really bad selfies. And look at birds - I don't meant birdwatching, the birds are scavengers and hang out at the cafe and bakery! On Sunday we ran th...

 We had a four day weekend - Tuesday was Melbourne cup-day so, like most of Melbourne, we took Monday off and made a holiday of it. On Friday after work, Skip and Bee came and got us, and we drove down to Skip's parent's place in Portarlington to borrow their caravan. In the morning Leon and I did our last long run before the half marathon we are doing in Marysville next Sunday. We ran along the foreshore and it was beautiful. Then we drove up to Dick and Carly's place. they live at the foot of the Gariwerd (Grampians) on a great big property and it's beautiful.  A bunch of us camped there. That's Skip and Bee's caravan in the forground, and our little tent in the background. The weather was perfect, and we ate good food and drank good wine. Mostly we relaxed, hung out and breathed fresh air. I visited the sheep: We finally climbed Mt Zero, which is a walk the other way from the Grampians Peak Track. I got a lot of knitting done, and not quite as much reading as...

I have two bags I take away with me - my hiking pack and my Country Road Kit bag. Prior to my hiking pack, I borrowed Elise's backpacking pack. I've never had proper luggage. I bought my Country Road bag in about 1996. Anna had one, and I wanted to be like Anna. It cost around 100 dollars. It's been everywhere with me. It comes on planes as carryon, it goes car camping, it's great. Here's it packed for Thailand in 2017: It's got two problems - it's starting to tear at the handles and it's not that comfy to carry full - it cuts off the circulation to my arms. After our last trip to Bendigo I decided to upgrade to a bag that could also be carried on the shoulders. I'm lucky enough to work very near Little Bourke Street, where there are a lot of travel shops, and I went looking for the perfect bag. Which I found at One Planet , who not only made my hiking pack and sleeping bag but actually manufacture in Melbourne. Its a convertible kit bag, that can al...

Two Fridays ago we went to Pomonal, near Halls gap, for Carly's 40th birthday party. They have 500 acres out  there, and we camped on their block, and just generally hung about, had a bon-fire and enjoyed the company of friends old and new.  On brand, the only photo I got was of their sheep, which they let wander around, and one of them came and sniffed my hand! Then, on Sunday around lunch time Skip and Bee dropped us on the third last day of the Grampian Peaks Trail, exactly where my parents picked us up this time last year .  Off we trotted, through the wonderful bushlands to camp - where we were the only people in the campsite. We knew it was going rain that night, so we ensured all our gear was under cover, and enjoyed the sound of the rain in the night. We didn't expect it to keep raining all the next day! Apparently that day has amazing views, but we got a lot of mist.  We didn't know for sure whether there was a shelter at the next and final camp site and was...

We got back from Hobart a couple of hours ago, and it was a fantastic weekend. I don't know if I can actually call it a weekend, we left on Thursday and came back on Tuesday! Just like in 2017 we went with Leon's choir Glee Plus for the Festival of Voices.  Leon and I stayed with Kris and Elise in a lovely cottage (that seemed to be a converted garage or something). It's always so nice to have a place with shared space where you can hang out and drink tea.  Kris and I met up with Nat , and this is my attempt at a selfie! Elise went selfie mad  (and a little silly)  at Mona, and then was kind enough to share the photos.  We had a trivia night were everyone I knew was involved in singing the question, so it was just Kris and me on  a team. We do better when we have more of our team there! I went to my first Glee singalong night, and I couldn't sing and knit at the same time. it was ok, but not my thing - I'd definitly rather be listening and singing....