Saturday, March 23

Today we are going to the Scenic Rim with Bill and Colette.  There is supposed to be a lovely winery and lavender field around the town of Boonah.  I say supposed to be because sometimes where there should be something, there is nothing or the address is weird in some way.  It's always an adventure though and that's why we're here!

We actually do find the winery and restaurant and it was filled with two huge bus loads of Asian tourists, but luckily they were having their dessert by the time we got there.  We decided to eat outside right by the lavender field.  The view was terrific and a kangaroo hopped right by us in the field.  We weren't fast enough with our cameras to catch that picture!

Fantastic food....lovely view...great conversation.  While the guys pay, Colette and I go into the lavender shop and pick up some lavender soap and lavender oil.  On to the wine tasting....there were a couple of good ones we liked and the gentleman that was serving us was the owner.  Older gentleman and we got the feeling this was all a out having a hobby, not a career.

On to the dam where there was supposed to be a wedding....okay we have not turned into wedding crashers, just heard at the winery that the wedding was there and coming to the winery for the reception.  We thought it must be pretty impressive in order for someone to have their wedding there.  I was thinking Hoover Dam....mmmm, more like my grandparents dam at their farm.  Perhaps a little taller, but seriously a sad place to have a wedding.  We didn't see anyone there so we snapped a picture and drove on.

Next winery...cars there, dog there, no people.  Odd, but not uncommon so we drive on.

Next winery...Normanby wines in Harrisville.  We sat outside on the patio at dusk....and the gentleman that served us sat down with us.  He had some stories to tell and we were his designated audience.  He had been in WWII and how that and the actor Errol Flynn and his start in movies related to wine is a long and somewhat roundabout story...EPIC really.  Wines were good and he did serve us two plates of appetizers for free, but with the mossies (mosquitoes) buzzing around we paid in another way!  Lol.

Friday, March 22

French event tonight at 6:30.   Katrina organized an event for all of her students/spouses.  It's the French Film Festival and we are going to James Street to watch Les Adieux a la Reine (Farewell, My Queen).  I caught a ride with Katrina and Debra who were going really early to get things all set up, however they introduced me to their friend, Tracey who was there having a glass of wine beforehand.  So I sat and chatted with her.  The cinema is very nice and serves "beverages" in glass...nice food also, although I didn't have time to get anything before the movie started.  I sat by a really nice girl, Diana that is also a beginner.  We were both happy to have the subtitles!

After the movie we all crossed the street to Vroom Bistro for a Kir Royale and some appetizers.  Karen and her husband, Jeff  saved me a seat and along with Tracey and Murray we all had a great time!  There were 26 of us there that night.

Stitch and Craft Expo

Thursday was the start of this extravaganza and I went with Lyl. It was a little different than the one I went to in October, although still at the Brisbane Convention Centre.

We left at 9am hoping to get there and lined up to go in by the time it opened at 10. Public transportation and Lyl's bum leg makes the travel time not as fast.

Lined up with the other hundreds of women and ready to sign up for a class or two. You have to go to each individual booth to sign up and pay, which means you have to locate it on the map and walk down aisles upon aisles of booths and a wall of women. Lol

I signed up for just one class, a miniature coin purse. I think maybe I can put about 75 cents worth of quarters in it! I'm talking small!! So while Lyl was signing up for her classes, I started walking down each aisle.....scrap booking, sewing machines, quilting, cross stitch, beads, ribbon, the guilds were there and 3 yarn booths. I'm sure I'm missing a craft..oh yes, doll making and more.

I go into the first booth and see some lovely yarn and the most fantastic crocheted blanket. But it's early yet and I walk on. I buy a few odds and ends, little things and meet Lyl for an early lunch. I have my coin purse class and keep looking around. I go back to the first yarn booth and buy a pattern, look lovingly at the crocheted blanket and walk away. I look at the challenge quilts and talk to a lady from the lace making guild for at least half an hour....I'm in awe at the absolute gorgeous lace they are making!

Then it's 3pm and Lyl needs to go have her physio. I go back and lovingly look at the blanket ONE MORE TIME...when I show up, the man that is working the booth starts laughing at me and says he knew I would be back. So as I'm buying this crochet blanket kit for an outrageous amount of money, we are entertaining the crowd with the fact that I don't know how to crochet and he wants me to stay and have a free lesson with the designer and on and on it goes. Lol. As I'm walking out of the booth, a small group of girls approach me and introduce themselves. They are in an expat group and want me to join....who wouldn't? I do crazy things!! So we are meeting next week and they are going to tell me about this group and all the fun things they do (movies, yoga, bunko, dinners, walks,etc). They seem really quite nice!

Lyl by now is patiently waiting at the front door and when we walk out we smell the greatest aroma of coffee. We walk over to South Bank and have mochas with our $10 slice of cheesecake! Highway robbery is what that is!! Then home.....


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday 17th of March

Dave went golfing with Dale at the crack of dawn and I had a late breakfast with Ria. We went to a very small nursery that had a cafe to one side. The food was really good and we'll be going back. We also shopped for some herbs and strawberry plants. On the way back to the apartment we stopped at the new Hawthorne market where I talked her into buying a pair of shoes in 5 minutes flat! I really wanted them, but they didn't have them in my size. Ria said she had never bought anything so quick and I replied to stick with me sister cause I can shop! Lol.

Home to throw on more casual clothes and head out for some Sunday barefoot bowling. Oh what fun!!! A short distance away, a mere $5 each for two hours of play and a pitcher of hard apple cider which was ice cold and refreshing! They have a gentleman who tells you the rules and scoring and a few wee tips, then off you go for the afternoon. Dave and Bill were great right off the bat, but Colette and I came back to make it a close game. This is absolutely something we will be doing again! After we played, we sat on the patio overlooking the river.....

Pictures will be coming soon!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday the 16th

Mid-morning we took a bus to the Morningside Tennis Centre. It was very hot and steamy, but there was an open court available and Dave had the desire to run me around for an hour. He on the other hand had to barely move to hit my shots! Annoying to say the least. Clouds rolled by to give us an infrequent break from the intense sun and heat.

For a late lunch we walked over to French Twist for the best turkey, sweet potato, Brie and chutney sandwich. We also had their pomegranate green tea which they put in a mason jar and fill it with blueberries, raspberries, kiwi and a half of pomegranate.  Addicting!  It's gave us the energy to run the errands that needed to get done.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday the 15th

Over to New Farm to a new bar for happy hour. It's called Bitter Suite and the beers on tap were good. There were seven of us and so we decided to stay there for dinner. Not such a great move. The dinner was ok, but not something we would go back for.

While there we had a little bit of excitement....a girl fainted off her bar stool. Huge bang and she was out. Colette, being a nurse, ran over and they called an ambulance. The girl woke up, adjusted her ponytail and left the bar after about 30 minutes. No ambulance showed up in that time! Appalling!

Pics of our group when I figure out how to load them from my iPad.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

March

This past weekend we had friends to dinner. Dale plays golf with Dave, and Ria and I are starting a fortnightly knitting group starting this week.  I made US lasagna with Aussie ingredients...sigh. They do not have mild sausage at the grocery like I'm used to, so I bought their version of pork sausage. It doesn't break apart...it was cooking in strips although I took it out of links. So I had to dice it up.  The mozzarella seemed a little funky also.  However, it did turn out good, if different.

Saturday we got a late start to Mt. Tamborine with Bill and Colette.  It's a National Park made up of rainforest and considered the most developed region of the Gold Coast Hinterland and also made up of smaller parks.  We went to Witches Falls which is  Queensland's first national park.  Beautiful....  They also have wineries there, but we just made it to one wine tasting before they closed.  Great wines at this winery called, Witches Falls Winery.  Clever name, huh?  They are the only winery that actually makes their wine on site on this mountain.  It was a very quaint place with the Ivy growing over the doorway and the rustic decor. We would have taken more pictures, but like I said we just squeaked into the door as they were closing.

We asked about where to have dinner and they all agreed that The Old Church was the place to go. So they called in a reservation and said we were on the way.  We Americans tend to eat earlier than anyone else here. I don't know why, but we do. So although there were cars in the parking lot, we were the first ones there and come to find out from the hostess who was surprised to see us this early, they weren't even open yet!  She was very nice and seated us on some sofas at one end of this large dining room and gave us a bottle of wine from the Witches Falls winery to pass the time.   For dinner we had Atlantic salmon, risotto, duck, scallops and veg.  The portions of these four meals wasn't a lot, but oh so good!  We all split a chocolate parfait and chocolate tart for dessert.

On Sunday Dave, Dale and James were up and out to play golf at 5:30 am. Very wet on the course since it has been raining here for 3 1/2 weeks straight.  The weather has cooled down and we just passed their first day of fall a week ago.  Nice, but wet.