CHRISTMAS 2015

Well that's Christmas over for another year !

It's been a very busy one this year.

Tony's mother did not come home for Christmas this year for the first time

But the family visited her on Christmas morning for presents and Christmas nibbles. 

Meanwhile we whipped up to Hervey Bay for Christmas in the Retirement Village with my Mum and Dad and brother.

You can see from these photos that our family are very partial to silly hats at Christmas time !

Chicken, ham and all the trimmings despite the 30 degree heat.

And Plum pudding and trifle for dessert !

Two days later we were back in Brisbane and lining up to do it all again with Tony's side of the family.

This time it was Turkey cooked on the BBQ.

With leg ham and lots of lovely salads.

Brett and Sarah joined us from Sydney.

 It was so nice to have all the family together for Christmas again, the first time in several years.

You'll notice there are silly hats once again.

More wonderful food followed by spectacular desserts

some cold and some hot !

There was plenty of this

Which led to more silly hats ! !

All in all it was a very good Christmas.

Hope yours was too.

Cheers.

Aussie Christmas Poem

Tonight was a pleasant warm ( not hot ) night so we decided to go into the city to see the Christmas procession and the tree and light display in the city square.

So did everyone else who lives in Brisbane !

They all decided to have dinner in town too !

Then we waited about an hour for a City Cat ferry to go home.

Been there , done that !

Roll on Christmas

HO HUM

I'm trying very had to get into the spirit !

REMEMBERING :- COTTAGE STAY IN MARTINSTOWN, DORSET in MAY 2011

More memories of Dorset in 2011.

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Our cottage was lovely and had everything we needed. It was in the small village of Martinstown which has a farm shop, a post office, a church and a pub.

Roses and wisteria climb up the front of many of the little cottages and both were blooming, so it was very pretty. Our cottage is the second one in a terrace and the only one with a thatched roof. 

                           Inside it was very comfortable with a fully equiped kitchen,

                    book  shelves with novels as well as information about the area

 

                              and comfy lounges with warming fire if needed .

 A tiny "creek" ( well that's what we would call it in Oz ) runs along the edge of the road that passes through the centre of the village and several houses are built right up to the edge of this tiny stream, entered from the road by little bridges over the creek. 

                  There is a very old " wool wash" which makes use of the creek,

                                     

                                     no longer used but still in great condition.

After a short visit to Dorchester this morning we walked up to our local pub, the Brewers Arms, for a Sunday roast.

 

 

Seated at the table next to us were a local couple, farmers who breed Hereford cattle, and we started chatting with them. 

We really enjoyed their company and chatted on .. and on till three hours had passed ! 

The roast pork was lovely ( Yorkshire pudding too ), followed by Sticky Date pudding .  

 Later we walked up through the fields towards the next village along a pathway lined with some white flowering wild flower which I now know is cow parsley. 

  

      

It was very windy up there but the hedge gave us shelter and the views across the countryside were lovely.

 

 

 

  

                          A delightful spot to settle in for our week long stay in Dorset.

REMEMBERING : - LULWORTH BAY AND DURDLE DOOR

I'm in the process of closing down my Helsies Travels blog and so I'm moving some posts from there to here as I like to look back on our past holidays. 

This post is from a holiday way back in May 2011when we spent a lovely week in Dorset, England.

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Bright blue skies greeted us this morning accompanied by quite strong, cold winds but undaunted we set off towards Lulworth Bay through the lovely Dorset countryside. Dorset is very rural, dotted with small settlements  each with their own little pub. 

We wound our way through all this till we came down a hill and suddenly the sea was there in front of us.

Lulworth is a tiny village perched on the edge of an almost circular bay. 

There was a large parking lot which testifies to its popularity as a holiday/ daytrip destination especially for walkers.

 And it wasn’t long before we were toiling up the path towards Durdle Door – a distance of 1¼miles. 

The climb was long and steep and there were lots of pauses for a rest and the view from the top was delightful. Then came the long downward trek to Durdle Door.

This rock formation  is a bit like a natural arch and guards a lovely sheltered bay. 

 

The beach is crescent shaped and looks a delightful place to swim if the water is ever warm enough to allow that. 

 

There was one brave soul swimming today and while the sun was quite warm, the wind was very strong and cold. 

There were quite a few people around and an ice cream man selling a variety of ice creams.

 

We then headed back to Lulworth along the chalk cliffs.

 Our first outing to the Devon Coast was a spectacular introduction to this beautiful part of England.

WELL SAID - a cartoon with a message.

CARCASSONNE

The Medieval walled town of Carcassonne sits high above its present day namesake and its strategic position  is very obvious as you gaze down on the sizeable town below on the other side of the river.

It is the largest walled town in Europe with its walls intact 

 

 

and once again we have to thank Napoleon III who recognised the importance of this historical site to the French people and ordered that it be completely restored.

 

Today thousands of people flock to see this mighty construction. When you first arrive you are bowled over by its size.

Walking through the entrance, it towers above you and you wonder at construction that today would need cranes and scaffolding, hard hats and steel toed boots and flocks of cement trucks churning out cement.

Wonderful views of the surrounding countryside can be seen through the windows

and the walls are wonderful to walk..... and climb up and down turrets and watch towers.

Inside the walls are shops and houses,

even this huge church with lovely stained glass windows

and this huge amphitheatre which is still used for performances during the Summer season.

The visit was a strenuous day out with all the walking and climbing 

but we rewarded ourselves with a lunch of the specialty of the area

Cassoulet !

We both eventually had to admit defeat but it was delicious !

Cheers.