tick tock...

...ten days left!

We had a big garage sale over the weekend and sold a lot of bits 'n pieces though none of the bigger things.  We do have some people interested in different pieces, and are waiting to hear back from them.  If we hear nothing within the next few days, then we'll put them on consignment somewhere. 

Sometimes after a sale I experience a little tinge of sadness, grief maybe, for some particular things I have sold.  I actually don't feel that at all this time.  I parted with some things that I'd had since I was a teenager, and I am happy that they have gone to other people.  It just all felt right, and so good to release those things.

Today we are going to start moving things into our new storage unit.  I think once the boxes that are ready to go, are out of here, it won't look so chaotic in here and it will help me focus on what still needs to be packed or donated.

I sat outside in the beautiful winter sunshine yesterday and looked through a guide to the campgrounds for this state that we'll be travelling in, very very soon!  We are currently in the subtropics, which has beautiful days, but the nights are chilly.  We're not fond of the cold so we are heading north for the tropical, dry winter.  Super excited!!  So many places are pet friendly too! 

We are so ready for this!  Well, mentally...physically we have lots to do still so I should get going...!

Road Trip!

The kids and I enjoyed our little road trip.  Over 1600km in one week, visiting family and friends, celebrating birthdays and Easter, seeing beautiful autumn colours, camping, sapphire fossicking, visiting the grave site and rocky hideout of one of Australia's most famous bushrangers, enjoying beautiful sunshine and rain, driving through green country fields and thick, lush, misty rainforest.

This pic shows all the kids, including Gypsy, checking out some of the sapphire wash.  They found a few little bits of sapphire which was pretty exciting for them.  We got chatting to some other people there...turns out they live in the same little suburb as us!  Small world!

Autumn glory!

AJ standing in front of 'Thunderbolt's rock'. ..he's a little hard to see, but he is standing next to a bunch of graffiti.  He and I climbed around it.  The last time we drove down the New England Hwy, we stopped off at Thunderbolt's cave (another hideout).  I just love stories of the bushrangers.  Thunderbolt was pretty well liked and a gentleman towards the ladies, but he was a bit of a bad boy and was shot dead at age 36.   AJ and I got into some of the crevices and imagined what it would be like for Thunderbolt there.  We saw a perfect place that his horse probably hid in and took in the 360 degree view which would have given the bushranger a good vantage point of the entire area.

Gypsy made a new friend in my sister's cat.  The kids and I slept in the tent in the backyard so that Gypsy could sleep with us.  The nights were cool, but not as cold as the first place we had camped on our trip.  Even though, Gypsy thought the best place to sleep was right at the bottom of AJ's sleeping bag...yes, IN the bag.  AJ loved that!

The Golden Guitar in the country music capital, Tamworth.

We stopped off at the little park across the road from the house we lived in when we first moved back to Oz.  AJ was thrilled to catch up with some friends!

Beautiful rainbow lorikeets.

We were mostly unplugged on our trip which was refreshing.  I just loved traveling and would have taken longer to get home if it hadn't been raining so much along the coast.  The kids and I listened to audio books along the way, and just chatted a lot about all kinds of things.  I love those close times in the car!  Gypsy was very relaxed in the car and an excellent traveller.  She was very mellow whenever we stopped anywhere and seemed very content to go along with whatever we were doing.

It was so special for us to spend time with family, I hope it won't be so long before we see them all again! 

When we returned,  I felt no attachment to the house and the stuff in it, and I can't wait to be traveling again!

Road trip photos..

AJ at "Captain Thunderbolts" cave:

Beautiful country sunset:

'Helping' cousin Katie and Uncle Bob set up their new pool. It turned into a very fun water fight for all, including those of us out of the pool, but some water did manage to stay in the pool so it could fill up:


On our way from my sister's place to my Mum's place, AJ saw a sign for a small chocolate factory. Which we just had to investigate. The kids enjoyed the free samples but the factory itself was not actually producing anything at the time. The best thing about the stop was the fantastic little museum just next door. The gentleman on duty there was very happy to explain different pieces to the kids and even encouraged them to play with the things!!!!!! They wrote with old pens that needed to be dipped in ink, they tapped messages in morse code and they particularly loved playing with the old telephone exchange in the photo below. This exchange was used in the town of Bagnoo at the post office. It opened in 1928 with one subscriber and was used for 50 years. The museum had two other telephones set up around the place that were connected to the exchange and the kids had a blast calling each other on the old phones.

On a drive with my Mum, we stopped for a play at Rainbow Beach. It was a bit crowded though - must have been 3 people on the beach at the time (!).

The boys loved the spider web...Nicholas climbed all the way to the top too.

There is this lovely big grassy hill in the town where my Mum lives:

which is great fun to run and roll down:

View from the top of the hill at sunset:

And now we are back home, safe and sound. The kids and the car all traveled well. We are getting back into our rhythm here, always on the lookout for new adventures and detours along the way!

a little trip...

Life has been rolling along merrily for us lately. I love this time of the year with few clothes on and warm weather and tropical fruits and playing with friends and swimming in the ocean.

Cary is still in Vegas and the kids and I decided to take a little road trip to visit family. So often when I have taken trips, I wonder what it would be like to live in different areas I drive through. This time though, I was aware of deeply appreciating the beauty and the changing landscapes, but feeling no desire to move anywhere. I was enjoying being on the road, on an adventure. And I'm looking forward to going home again. We recently decided to extend our lease by another 6 months and I am very glad. I don't think we could find a better area to live in. At least for now. I don't want to stop taking trips, whether they are a few days or a few months or more. I think I've just found a nice balance within myself. And I've accepted our area as "home".

Our trip took several hours more than it should have due to some car trouble, but we ended up getting to my sisters house with the children and I happy and in one piece. The car however, had lost it's muffler and wasn't so happy. As we were part way over the Great Dividing Range, we lost one of the supports that holds the muffler up. I rigged it back up with a bungy cord. Knowing that would have a limited life span due to the heat, I was keen to get to my sisters house as soon as possible. But I could not resist a turnoff for "Thunderbolts cave". Captain Thunderbolt was a famous Australian bushranger and I just love that part of Australian history. We took the 3.4km round trip detour. It was a country area with just a few cows along the way so we could well imagine Captain Thunderbolt riding through there and we tried to imagine what he looked like and what he thought about and how he lived. I was fascinated by the cave, even though it was obviously not in the condition it was when C.T. hid there. There was a sign nearby saying that the cave had been deeper. Still, the fact that he had been there, was rather exciting to me.

A bit further down the road we lost the other muffler support so I used a belt to tie that end up. I noticed that the bungy was beginning to fray so I braided some hemp yarn and Summer finger knitted some cotton yarn and I used those little ropes to add to the support. Because we were delayed, we got to enjoy a magnificent sunset over pasture land. If we'd been further along, the sunset would have been hidden by trees. Such a beautiful gift! With 10kms to go to, thinking we would make it OK, I came to some recent roadworks, slowed down but hit a bump I just couldn't see in the dark. Crash...off came the muffler except it did hang on where the belt was supporting it. I dragged it down the highway until I could find a safe place to stop. I pulled over and thought I should just let it cool off and then put it in the back of the car and go the rest of the way. The stars were coming out and they were so pretty! Another gift! We had stopped in front of a house set back a little way on a country property. After a while, the man of the house must have noticed me sitting there with the emergency flashers on and came out to ask if we were OK. I told him what had happened and he agreed that it would be OK to drive and helped me put the muffler in the car. My brother in law had already insisted on coming out to help me so I needed to wait for him. The country man offered us a drink. AJ said that we were out of water so he took one of our water bottles and filled that and brought us about 20 big oranges from his orchard...another gift!

If we had not taken the detour to the cave, we probably would have made it to my sisters house with the muffler still on, but we would not have had that adventure. Or all of those gifts! What happened to the car is a minor inconvenience. But it actually increased our joy of the day.

Road trip to Grandmas

We just got back from a little trip to my Mums place. Before we left, I was a bit nervous about leaving. It was a security concern. We have insurance on it all, but it only covers things in the actual caravan, it won't cover anything left in the annexe. So I put a lot of our stuff in the caravan before we left. I was also concerned about rain & strong winds while we were away so I just tightened everything up and asked some friends here to keep an eye on the place while we were gone. Then I put a Reiki protection circle around the entire place before we left and let go of any concerns. I took with me the most valuable things we have - our children. Everything else can be replaced.

I was curious how it would be staying in a house again. It felt a bit strange at first but I did come to enjoy the convenience of having running water, a dishwasher, space to spread our stuff out, and a bath. I also felt a bit confined and really missed just living outdoors, feeling closer to nature and each other.

While we were there, we visited with my 91 yr old grandmother. She started telling me that the kids miss their school. I said "no they don't". I told her some of the ways that our children are getting a real life education and added in "they certainly aren't missing out on the social aspect". A lot of people seem concerned that homeschooled kids miss out on the social side of school. Ha! I love that my children have friends of all ages, instead of just that of their own age group. Living this way, they are meeting people from all over the world and playing with children who may not speak the same language they do. They get more time to play freely instead of a limited 30 minutes twice a day, 5 days a week. They learn from life. On the drive down to my Mums, Sami kept asking me "give me a sum". We did that for quite a while as the boys slept. I couldn't hold her back - she, as is the case with all children - has such a strong urge to learn and I love that we honour that urge when it is present. When she's begging to learn about math (or anything else) is when she's going to retain that knowledge. When she's being force-fed, it's just going to spew out again. Also on the way to Mums, Sami read lots of the road signs and billboards and we discussed what some of the advertising was about. She had a compass and kept an eye on the direction we were going and noticed how sometimes you have to go west (or east or even north) to get to your destination which was actually south. My Grandmother - who is very spirited and set in her opinions - was not convinced and ended with "I'm just concerned about their schooling". I replied with "thank you" and a smile and let it go.

AJ had been feeling a bit off for a few days with a bit of a cough. He rested most of the way, played his DS, helped Nicholas with snacks and water, did some finger-knitting of a black and orange garland for Halloween, played I-spy, looked at books, told us stories and pointed out the different farm animals to Nicholas.

Nicholas was a great traveller. He told me when he needed to go to the bathroom and happily got back into his seat each time. The trip took 4 hours there with having to stop 3 times and getting held up at roadworks. On the way back, it took 3 hours and a few minutes with only 2 stops and less roadworks.

I enjoyed the journey so much. I almost wanted to keep driving as it was such a great time of feeling and being close to my kids and enjoying the moment and not being concerned with the day to day details of life. Well, I kind of live life that way anyway. I must remember to appreciate it more.