Wide Open Spaces...

One of the places I have always wanted to visit is Uluru (or Ayres Rock as it is also known) in the Northern Territory.

Uluru - Northern Territory

That's where I've been.

I couldn't help but take a photo of my first view of it as we left the airport to drive to Yulara  - the resort outside the National Park.

The outback is Red. Red rock. Red ground. Red dust.

The "rock" looks like it has been painted on a background. Nearly every photo I took with family in the foreground looks like they have been superimposed - the kids keep refering to it as looking like they were standing in front of a "green screen" (that's the TV generation for you!)

 It's true too that the colour of Uluru changes with the light of day. I've now seen it chocolate brown, dusty orange, bright orange, purple...and a mixture of all of those. These two photos are taken about 5 minutes apart.

 I knew it was big, but until I saw it I really didn't comprehend just how big.
This photo is of the 4 girls sitting only about 10 or 12 metres above the ground where I was standing!

Just when you think that all you'll feel is 30something°C heat and all you will see is red earth and rocks, then you walk around the next bend and come to a lush area where a waterhole is located.
It hadn't rained in the area for 150 days (all the locals were counting!), but look how green and cooling it is!

In the photo below, you can see the part where tourists can climb the rock - that white trail from the middle peak down towards the tree. That's the wear from all the visitors feet over the last 50 or so years. There is a chain to hold on to but it doesn't begin till the the steep part above the tree and where the "cracked" rocks are.
The traditional owners allow climbing, but the request that you don't because of their cultural traditions. In any case it is closed if there are high winds (over 25knots), or temperatures are forecast to be over 36°C - it was actually closed the three days we were there - first day because of the wind and the next two because of the temperature - 37°C and 38°C on the following two days.

Not that I would have climbed anyway out of respect of the Anangu culture...also, this is on the last page of the visitors guide :

Kata Tjuta is also immense and I didn't understand the scale till I saw it. One of the girls is in the foreground...but if you look at the line of trees, halfway along you will see the MaTH and another of the girls...the tiny speck of red and blue...that's them...as I said massive!

Even though the two formations are in the same park, they are so very different - a bit of geology and history from here:  http://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/about-uluru-katatjuta/

Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park

 The National Park has an area over 311,000 acres and comprises two main significant sites:

• Uluru (sometimes called Ayers Rock) - is one of the largest monoliths in the world. Made of arkosic sandstone, Uluru rises 348 metres above the desert floor and has a circumference of 9.4 kilometres.
• Kata Tjuta, known also as The Olgas. Kata Tjuta is the Aboriginal name, which means "many heads'. It is a group of more than 36 rounded red domes rising from the desert floor. The tallest is said to be around 546 metres high. Kata Tjuta is about 30 kilometres west of Uluru.

Sunset and sunrise over Uluru and Kata Tjuta are spectacular, with the colours at both sites becoming more vibrant and even changing. Uluru and Kata Tjuta have significant meaning to Aboriginal people. They both form an important focus of their spiritual life.

Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park is Aboriginal land. The park is jointly managed by its Anangu traditional owners and Parks Australia. The park is recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Area for both its natural and cultural values.

There will probably be a lot more travel photos in the next few blog posts, especially because our favourite month is approaching...

It's happening here and you can sign up with Kat @ http://isawyoudancing.blogspot.com.au/p/blogtoberfest-2012.html

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

300

...no not the movie...or how many days it feels like I've been on holidays..
It's the number of blog posts I've blurted out over the last few years!

This calls for a celebration...of some sort...

But this post isn't just about a number...it's also about the lazy days of summer, where things get done at a very slow pace and the days turn into weeks without trying.

Since the market a little over a week ago, we've have been away for a few days up at Tea Gardens...a cute little hideaway on the mid north coast of NSW. The apartment looked over the river. Peaceful is an understatement.

...so laid back the kids are allowed to steer the ferry on the trip across to Nelson Bay

Spent time with my newest obsession...

The starfish is finished and the snail well on the way to being done. It's funny how these reduce even the most hardened adult to mushy squeezers and huggers of woollen toys! The are really, really, really cute!!
This book is brilliant...I've seen some mixed reviews, but as a novice/not very good knitter, I found the techniques really clearly explained...and I'm pretty chuffed with my new skills...

Of course I found a quilt shop...or two...
Blackpossum in Tea Gardens and  Belmont Patchwork Heart (just south of Newcastle)
I found a thing called "shrinky" which was new to me, but has apparently been around for a while. It feels like a nylon and after quilting it to your fabric, you carefully hold an iron above it and it 'melts' and pulls the fabric in along the sewing lines. I'm going to have a go at making a bag with these...the pattern in the shop looked great and after my success with amigurumi...I'm game to try any new technique (famous last words indeed!).

 I found a fence button and some other cute fabrics and a couple of patterns

 
 and there may or may not have been a secondhand bookshop with an old magazine...

...with the perfect idea for what I want to do with my charm squares from the rainbow swap...

Well that's a long enough catch up...
...so what am I going to do about my 300th post...well you'll have to come back for the 301st to find out!!

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

A Country Break...

 A quick school holiday trip to the Southern Highlands with Minky, Miss Bee and the MaTH.

We found ourselves at the Twin Falls cabins hidden in the bush near Fitzroy Falls.

They were basic but warm and comfortable, Miss Bee made herself at home…

(the ripple has grown by another 7 rows since Tuesday!)

I took my camera and am a bit pleased with some of the photos I took too.

Nothing like a bit of scenery…

…and greenery to help you relax and unwind.

I can tell Autumn has set in with the colours of the leaves

Although, I thought the wattle seemed to think otherwise…

 ...however as on all nature walks, I actually learned a thing or two - did you know that this wattle (Acacia terminalis) flowers in spring and again in autumn? - no, I had no idea either! 

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

A Relaxing Holiday...

Home from holidays. Rested and relaxed? Not quite...

Yes that is the hot afternoon sun beating down...yes that is the bonnet of the car up...and yes that is an almost totally deserted street in a country town on a Sunday.

We waited for 3 ½ hours for the “ABC Man” (that's what one of our littlies thought was the NRMA) to come. Can I just say it was hot…and boring (well I wasn’t - I had my cross stitch 'milky way' quilt pattern - how good is that? Two crafts in one!)…there was bickering of the “she looked at me” "her feet are on my side of the seat", “why was she born” kind that always surfaces in stressful situations - either that or it’s their version of boredom busting.

Did I mention how hot it was with the sun beating down on a dark grey Tarago?

I think we gave the takeaway shop in Moss Vale their weekly takings in one afternoon.

This is the little beach cottage where we ended up and you can't stay 'unrelaxed' easily when this is the view you look out on and wake up to every morning.

The beach at Green Patch

This is on Jervis Bay and the water and the weather were pretty well fabulous the whole time we were there.

We had a few attempts at solving the overheating problem with the car, and managed to get around the area to get to different beaches, Husskinson, Booderee National Park and Sussex Inlet, without a repeat of the ordeal of driving down.

Murrays Beach

I'll leave you with the illusion that I am still relaxed and I won't even mention that the car played up all the way home and an overheated car on a hot day is not a pretty sight...nor a relaxing one either.

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

What I might be up to...Blogtoberfest 2010 - Day 6

You may not know this (because technology will come to my rescue and post automatically for me)...but I am still away in Mittagong.
I am probably at this very minute being rained on in the middle of Corbett Gardens in Bowral...
Maybe sitting on the floor playing a DEAFENINGLY LOUD game of snap with several adults and a dozen children...
Maybe wandering happily over hill and dale in dazzling sunshine, enjoying the happy chatter of children being rambunctious in the great outdoors...
Or I may be guiltily sneaking off to the back verandah with these, that I got for a song (Lindcraft book sale anyone?)...

for more blogtoberfest feast of blogs go here

for my giveaway the post is here

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

Rush, rush, rush...Blogtoberfest 2010 - Day 4

So it's Monday and we are going away for 3 days with the kids and I'm doing the usual pack at the last minute trick - only because I can't drag myself away from that denim quilt (um...or the computer!).
It's not quite as bad as it sounds and really isn't too hectic - only 3 come away with us now.
The older ones have Uni and jobs to go to- way more important than going away with the olds.
We are heading to Mittagong and it's only an hours drive south of where we are. The new camera is sure to get a work out - and that will give me lots of blogtoberfest posts later in the month!
*Fingers crossed* there will be seamless blogging for Days 5 & 6.
I'm going to schedule posts  - I hope that's in the spirit and honour of blogtoberfest!

This is coming with me - look how it is growing! I just love the raspberry pink - there is no real plan - just what comes out when I put my hand in the bag!

Here is a bit of a denim quilt update:

Check out giveaway at CurlyPops page and look for all the blogtoberfest-ers (sorry fellow bloggers, but it's such a great collective noun!) at Tinniegirl.
I have a little Fall into Fall giveaway here too.

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

Spur of the Moment

You know how I said I was going to make gingerbread? Well this is what happened instead...
There aren't many things we do on the spur of the moment. Having six kids will do that to you. Two weeks of Easter holidays requires a calendar page printed out so that days can be planned: who has a birthday party to go to, movies, visits and visitors, a day out here and camping trip there...with a few 'unplanned' days for sewing, resting etc.

So when I realised that the "Masterpieces from Paris" exhibition was due to end on April 18, we urgently had to find a day (or 2) to flee to Canberra. Luckily the big C is only a two and a half hour trip away for us.

Anyway to cut a long story short, we booked our accommodation at about 10.30am on Wednedsay morning, told the kids, Princess, Minky and Miss Bee, we were going and to pack an overnight bag and left at 2pm for the Capital. Ms Diva (19) and Master Bath (18) were left a note to say we'd gone, we'd be back tomorrow at around 7pm and please make sure you feed the guinea pigs.
And this is what I saw

IN REAL LIFE WITHOUT GOING TO PARIS...YET

Thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

*If you are wondering what happened to the sixth kid - she is "all growed up" (21) and has her own little flat 'n everything...

My Place & Yours - What I'm reading

Yippee 'My place and yours' is back. I do like a good peek at what others are doing - and of course you're always invited to take a peek over this fence!
Summer holidays are at an end. I went back to work and Princess and Miss Bee returned to Yr 11 and Yr 5. Minky doesn't start Yr 8 till tomorrow. MATH (man about the house) will have the place to himself and BATH (boy about the house) is off to enrol in uni. Oh wait. I have Friday off too! Maybe I'll just finish the chapter...
The best thing about holidays is the uninterrupted read read  reading that I finally get to do, so this MP&Y's is perfectly timed.
What was I reading? Left over quilt magazines that got ignored through the year. Christmas presents from last, last year. Books belonging to the kids. My own indulgences ( the new Jasper Fforde cost $32.00 *gasp* that's nearly 1.5 metres of fabric!).

Arty b&w photo because of the book and because I can!
Hop on over to Punky & Me to find some other great reads.


Thanks for taking a peek over the fence...