Succulents at Edenvalle

Last year on our visit to Australia, Patricia planted a little succulent garden at Lorrischka's Hannam Vale property, Edenvale.
There was a spot with nothing on it.

Let me clean this up and see what I can do.

Ok Lorrischka, I cleaned up this spot; the boys added some dirt,
and now I am going to plant some succulents here.

Nice job and the first plants are in the ground

 Now,  10 months later, Lorrischka has sent pictures of the
fruits of Patricia's labor.

An abundance of succulent flowers

Succulents in bloom

It looks so nice next to the cistern.

Patricia is very happy

This is what a lot of rain can do, even to succulents.

Last Weekend

This is it. Things have changed a bit.  Patricia just found out that her mother broke her hip and had a replacement, so we are going home 55 days earlier than expected. Patricia spent the day changing our bookings and informing all concerned that we are on the way.

I did spend a little time with Michaela in her studio watching her making a teapot and some cups and trying to be of some help.

Another beautiful Teapot

Then I went out with Dieter to get some sand for the chicken coop, so we cleaned that out

After we cleaned it it looked like a Hilton

and soon it was time to visit Arni and Urs at their home for dinner, and what a dinner it was, lots of food and more laughs.

Arni, Evelin, Dieter, Michael, Urs & Patricia. Michaela takes the picture

What a Paella

This is Urs's office

Time to eat and make conversation

 This was a great final day here in Surfers Paradise.

Now we are on our way back to Sydney, staying another night with Annette in Coffs Harbour. Then we pick up more of our luggage in Port Maquarie and say good-by to Mary White and to Rosie’s and head to Sydney to stay two nights with Neal and Pam.

Mary White. Patricia & I love this lady

Moving a long

After spending Christmas and more time than originally intended at Rosie's and the farm in Hannam Vale, it was time for us to leave the place of rural peace and tranquility and start moving north to see some sites and visit friends. We’ve had a great time at Johns River and Hannam Vale.  I got to play at Rosie's Cafe just like in the old days when we had restaurants in Sydney, and Patricia helped to set up the Gallery with her donated photographs of the local birdlife, which look great and are very much admired by the visitors.

Part of the Gallery

 The Cafe is starting to pick up, and Luke and Lorri will make it a place for people to come and enjoy an hour of relaxing with great food and coffee and browsing through the Gallery and the gift-shop. 

Our first destination is Port Macquarie where we are staying with my aunt, Janet, and Eric.  Mal was generous enough to drive us here, which is about 30 miles north of Johns River.  Because we arrived a bit early and no one was home, we dropped our suitcases in the garage and walked to the beach. We just love the ocean, and the beaches here are so beautiful and seemingly endless.  At the beach, we encountered an unfamiliar site and wondered if we could get away with telling everyone that we made a quick stopover in Dubai.

What a great idea

After walking for a while along the beach, we found a coffee shop (Bitter Sweet) and treated ourselves to a cup of tea and some eggs for breakfast.

Back at the house, we spent the afternoon with Eric and his daughter, Sue.

After Sue left this morning, Eric took us to Ricardoes, a hydroponic farm with 2 acres of tomatoes under roof. Apparently, around here, every shop has tomatoes from Ricardoes, so what follows are pictures from our visit there. 

You don't have to bend down to pick the strawberry s

Eric & Patricia being good students 

Beehive is attached to the building for pollinating the strawberry's 

Great crop of  tomatoes 

I was exited to see the same products as we have at Roie's

My favorite display in the shop 

You can not get it any frescher than this

Patricia thinks she has gone to haven

Some Excitement @ Johns River

Johns River was buzzing with activity today.  This morning, a once-a-month market was on.  Then at 1:30, a panel of politicians, a farmers’ group and one scientist assembled in the Community Hall for a Q & A with the local population about the issue of coal seam gas exploration in the area, and in the evening, we had the Camden Brass Band playing Christmas Songs. A rousing good time was had by all.

When the town of Johns River was bypassed by the new highway a year ago, the market vendors initially stayed away, but they are now coming back as more people come to the once-a-month market to buy local handicrafts and produce.

Nice day to have a coffee and cake at the Market

The vendor on the phone, properly talking to his mom

A big deal at the moment is the coal seam gas exploration proposed for the larger area, and as with most things, there are people for and against, and some of the opinions are based on not enough information or information that is not relevant to the area.

Upper panel of experts and dignitaries and Lorri and David; lower panel Dr. Mary White and an opposition representative

Everyone is listening very attentively

Patricia debriefing, and Roy seems to be the only one listening 

The meeting was very well attended, and when the question: “who has learned something new today” almost everyone put the hands up, and the next question: “how many have changed there minds?” No hands went up.

The Hall is still empty, but soon the Christmas lights will be up

Then it was time to get ready for the Carols by Candlelight performance. The organizer put in a lot of work getting the right atmosphere going for Christmas; after all, it is the middle of summer here.

The band is playing jollily along

While the kids make an indoor picnic.

The kids loved father Xmas giving them little presents.

Luke kept busy grilling sausages and onions for sandwiches with beer in hand 

and the rest are standing around having a beer, a good Australia custom.

And then it is all over and the town goes back to its quietness.

Maximilian

Max has the right idea about everything and life.

Then there is Patricia working in the midday sun and loving it.

I think I know what I am coming back as next time around.
But things are getting done, and the courtyard is looking good.

Tomorrow the benches will go out, so keep tuned.

Rosie's Backyard is next

Today we are starting to put the finishing touches on Rosie's backyard. Luke got his new truck and fetched some gravel to make the back look nice.
We were lucky the truck just fit into the outside sitting area, so we didn't have to carry the stuff very far.

Not an inch to spare on either side

Once in, we could start dumping the stuff

Then we had to spread it out

Week eight

Today, Sunday, I am back at Hannam Vale and working in the Café.

There is an antique auction going on next door at the Community Hall, and we are sitting here waiting for customers to come in.

Patricia has her first pictures up in the gallery, and they look great.

Is this straight Michael? I can't see your head is in the way

The introductory part of the Gallery is up for everyone to see.

Most of this past week I spent in Sydney, not doing very much. It was raining and miserable, so I stayed at Malcolm’s place and cleaned up a bit.

On Thursday night, we took the engine that Ian had brought down from Queensland off the trailer. That was an adventure in itself.

One side came loose, and Mal was just about to catch it.

Greg and Mal are pleased with themselves; they got the motor safely on the ground.

My main reason for going to Sydney came on Friday.  I took a bus into Sydney from Narrabeen where we I meet up with some of the old Opera House crew; some of them I had not seen for over 25 years.

We had a great time catching up and reminiscing about the good old days.

We all got a few years older and not necessarily wiser.

Mind you, some of us think we have not changed at all. Olga & Werner

Saturday was another boat day. One of Malcolm’s two boats is stored at the farm in Hannam Valle on blocks, and it needed to go onto a trailer to be moved again. The problem was that when it went in there two years ago, there was more room.  Now more things have accumulated around it, and there is not that much. It took quit an effort to get the trailer under the boat; this thing is heavy.

Lots of calculating going on, I stay well out of it.

In the meantime, Malcolm found one of the boat residents.

We think the reason for it being there were the other residents, the Rats.

In the meantime, Roy and Luke cleaned some of the yard around the kitchen at the Café and made more picnic style table & benches, and we made the courtyard look more like a German Biergarten. I just can’t get away from it.

Ein Prosit der Gemuetlichkeit