December 2, 2018

There's no place like home

Hubby and I have been on a two week holiday adventure. Some of the adventures were planned but others weren't! Along with nine of our friends, we hopped on the train for our 1600 kilometer journey to Cairns. It's a long way, but we really enjoy train travel with its spacious leg room, dining car and plenty of room to walk around. And at the princely sum of $25 each way, thanks to the Government gift, it sure is a great way to travel!


We get on so well with the others in the group and it was wonderful to spend a week with caring friends, seeing the wonders of our amazing country - beautiful beaches like the one above at Palm Cove.

Lush rain forests: 



Metallic starlings building their communal nests:



The turquoise water of the Great Barrier Reef:


A Bush Stone-Curlew nesting in a Park right in the centre of town:


On the trip back, we spent a great week with our younger daughter and her family with a few surprise celebrations thrown in. We had an early Christmas with them and included some gifts I had made. Now that plastic bags are a thing of the past in our State, I made some shoe travel bags for them.


They're definitely nicer than plastic bags!


They were colour-coded for family preferences!


I think they are a great way to separate shoes from the rest of the packing.




One of our unplanned adventures was trying to get home again! Travel was severely disrupted because of catastrophic fires throughout Queensland. We eventually arrived home a day late, with the trip taking 7 hours longer than normal. God looked after us amazingly - the train we were originally booked on was held up for 15 hours, so we were thankful to avoid the 29 hours sitting around on that journey. Other services were replaced by Coach so we were also glad we didn't have to endure that with their comparatively small seats and nowhere to walk around. Then of course we were delighted to spend another day with our family ... and even did all the washing so that we came home with clean clothes! The holiday was wonderful, but there sure is no place like home!

The focus for me this week is a stall I am sharing at the Abbey Museum Open Day and Boutique Christmas Markets next Saturday near Caboolture.  Come and say hello if you live nearby! 

Val

4 comments:

Grandma said...

Thank you for the pictures, beautiful and the shoe bags gift ideal.

Kate said...

Val, your trip sounds fun and adventurous. I really like those shoe bags.

Little Penpen said...

What an adventure! I'm happy you've made it home safely. Lovely photo's and I like the shoe bags you made. Merry Christmas!

Vesuviusmama said...

One day I hope to explore your country, too! Looks like a great trip!