Signs of Spring!

Hello friends,

This is the first time in ages since I have been able to sit down and do a little blog post.  I am finding that it is so much easier to post a photo on Instagram these days. 

I love Springtime when some of my favourite flowers are around. A white camellia I picked yesterday and a bunch of freesias which smell beautiful.

Bluebell, this sweet little dog of ours, seems to take up so much of our time. She will be coming up a year on the 27th of October and how fast this year seems to be going!
Every morning we go for a lovely walk along the beach and she gets to socialise with all the other dogs there.

Also have been doing some work in our daughter Victoria's old bedroom - giving that a makeover and the plasterer has skimmed the walls and will soon be able to paint them.
It has been slow progress but hopefully one day will be finished and I will be able to share some photos.
 

Overlooking Four mile beach at Port Douglas

Back in September, we had a wonderful holiday away in Port Douglas and our son Marcel came along with us. 

Marcel feeding the kangaroos

This crocodile was huge and glad there was a barrier between us

 

 

Stayed in a Balinese style villa and had a lovely swimming pool

It was great to go to tropical Queensland and see lots of sunshine.
Went out to the Great Barrier Reef and spent the day snorkeling around tropical fish and coral which was amazing. Also took a short helicopter ride to view the reef from above which was spectacular.

Also have been working on a new Bear and it has been so long since the last one. I have a friend who is doing a new website for me, so one day will have that up and running.

Have been thinking of you all and look forward to coming over to say hello and see what you are up to.
Blogging friends, are the best and have missed you.
hugs
Carolyn 

Port Douglas holiday

I'm back home again after having a lovely vacation
Port Douglas is a great place to escape from our winter and see a little sunshine and here are a few photos I took to show you around. We did have a few wet days also, as the photo taken from the lookout shows.


We rented a house through Airbnb at Niramaya Villas and Spa - Villa 64 was a lovely place to stay and pavilion like rooms made it a restful and a relaxing place, in a Balinese style.

A bubble bath here ~  luxury!

 The fragrance of sweet frangipani floats everywhere and there is a light breeze which keeps the place cool and out the front is a lake dotted with lily-pads.
Bird life here was wonderful to watch and they made a very good alarm clock every morning with the ducks, geese, herons and some funny little brown birds that had a mohawk and do not know what they were, but they made a loud racket.

The pool was heated at a warm temperature of 20 degrees, which made it lovely to swim some lengths. Even on a few rainy days we got in and was fun to swim in the rain

Situated at the top part of Queensland and near the equator which makes it tropical, hence the abundance of delicious fruit, sweet juicy pineapples, melons, passionfruit and strawberries. Every morning to start the day I would make a large bowl of fruit salad which was so good

The trip to the Coles supermarket shopping for food was fun and then go home and cook up something on the Barbecue with a salad.

We strolled around the small town, ate out at some nice restaurants and a favourite pastime to get in the rental car and go out and explore.

The rock sculpture must have taken a long time to install

On Tuesday night we had a chef come and cook us a wonderful banquet meal and this was very special.  Tried  Mud Crab which was a first for us. 

He was telling us that he had put the Crab in a box in the garage and when his wife went to go out there, she was surprised when it had escaped and was loose and getting around - gave her a big fright with its large pinchers.

A special treat one afternoon was to be pampered at the Spa and have a facial and manicure - the treatment rooms are set in a lush tropical garden and encircled by native rainforest. Had to pinch myself that I was not dreaming as this was a lovely way to end the holiday.
Hope you have a happy week
hugs
Carolyn