How can it possibly be the end of May?

/ susiecameron / Leave a comment

It’s been three months since I last posted and some of you may have wondered where I had gone!! This year has really flown and our 5 week trip to Europe took up a big chunk of it. Prior to leaving we had a lovely week in Hobart with Loz and the girls where we loved walking them to school every day as they skipped and chatted and sang songs! Myla would throw in a cartwheel or two (backpack and all) just to keep us on our toes and 99% of the time we were given little sprays of flowers that they picked en route – so sweet and gloriously old fashioned! Pick up time meant a treat at the bakery as we were regaled with tales of their day, it only seems like a blink of an eye since it was MY kids doing the same thing!

Our week was a pleasant blur of cuddles, reading stories, colouring in and feeding ducks! Loz and I treated the girls to a high tea in Hobart for which they were very excited and Loz had also bought tickets to a festival in The Huon where Mental as Anything were performing and the girls got to enjoy holiday food whilst the adults sipped on gin spritzes! Berry had an overnight fishing trip with a mate and came home bearing a couple of beautiful crayfish which we thoroughly enjoyed!

We had a wonderful day out with our friends Paul and Sharon on their boat which is moored not far from Lauren’s place. We pottered over to north Bruny Island and put down anchor in a delightful bay where the trees and clouds were perfectly mirrored on the glass like water. Sharon whipped up a delicious salad which we enjoyed with bbqd delights courtesy of Paul and we felt like the luckiest of intrepid explorers!! It was great to catch up with them and experience their new life in Tassie.

Once we returned home it was a full on preparation of our house and garden before leaving for Europe. Our wonderful friend Smutzer had graciously agreed to house sit for us which was a huge relief as that meant Bailey and the chooks would be in good hands. Easter weekend meant a last hurrah with Sam and Stacy with some nice food and wine before we were packing and leaving for the airport! We were finally off on our European adventure!

First stop was Hong Kong which we hadn’t visited for 10 years! We decided to have an overnight stopover to break the trip and reacquaint ourselves with the Island. It was as vibrant as ever and as we were staying in Central it was easy to get around. A trip on the Star Ferry was quite nostalgic – it has been a mainstay of life in HK for decades and I love that nothing much has changed. We decided to hop on the HOHO bus which is always good value in a big city. It takes you to places that a) you might never have heard of and b) is way too far to walk to and c) there is a commentary telling you all about the various locations that you would never know otherwise! It’s a great way to get a bit of an overview of a place and of course you can always hop on and off when you want to explore somewhere in more depth. This together with a bit of shopping and some eating filled in our day beautifully and tired us out for our overnight flight to London….

We arrived feeling relatively refreshed and went straight to Tom’s house in Notting Hill. It was SO good to see him, his new house and neighbourhood and we dropped everything to go in search of coffee and a walk in the Spring sunshine to Portobello Road. The blossoms were in full throttle and together with the pastel painted houses it all looked like a movie set! We had a fabulous Japanese lunch before checking into our studio apartment – home for the next 5 nights. After a couple of welcome drinks at the local pub we had a lovely dinner with Tom’s flat mate Conor and tumbled into bed feeling sleepy but happy. It was so nice to have Tommy just around the corner from us and get to experience life as a local for a little while! One thing that wasn’t so good was the COST of everything. London is through the roof price wise, we were paying 5 pounds for a coffee and 11 for a glass of wine, which in Aussie dollars is okay but in pounds it’s DOUBLE. Crazy and on average if we were having a nice meal whether it was lunch or dinner it came in at $400 including wine so on a good day it was $800 without factoring in accommodation! I’m never going to say Australia is expensive ever again!

With Kensington Gardens basically at the end of Tommy’s street it was just a walk to some of London’s attractions. Daunts bookstore in Marylebone had been on my list for a while and it didn’t disappoint, making me feel warm and fuzzy that these kind of places still exist and gave me hope there is still a screen free future if you want one! We visited The Royal Albert Hall (where my Grandad used to play with the LSO) and then popped into The Victoria and Albert Museum for a couple of hours – so much to see in there that you could literally spend hours and hours there (good for a rainy day perhaps?) before walking back through the park watching the squirrels dashing everywhere and back to Notting Hill to meet Toms friends at The Cock and Bottle – a great bunch of people and a fun night.

Our final day of sightseeing and we played tourists big time! We caught a ferry down The Thames getting out at The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben and going to Churchills War Rooms, all set up just as it was back in the day and a bit of a glimpse into the hardships they all endured underground with no natural light for days and weeks at a time in a very small space. Then we went back a few hundred years with a visit to The Tower of London which was really very interesting with a palpable sense of its history. The ravens are still very much part of the place and it is rumoured that if they ever leave, London will fall!!

Our last night was spent (in what is becoming a tradition) at Canteen enjoying some delicious Italian food cooked over fire and in a cosy yet vibrant atmosphere. The worst part is there are no bookings and it was FREEZING waiting outside – I’ve never been happier to get inside a place and even the $88 lamb loin chops didn’t put us off (needless to say we didn’t order them) It was a perfect last night with Tommy and I tried not to get sad when we said goodbye but it’s always hard. I fully realise now what it must have been like for my Mum when I moved to Australia 43 years ago when there were no smartphones or WhatsApp – just the old blue aerogram letters keeping us in touch!! Luckily I had the rest of my trip to look forward to which helped me feel better….next stop France!

A galloping start to 2026

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After the craziness of Christmas it was nice to draw breath and relax into some easy summer days spent at the beach, the pool and catching up with friends. Lauren and family left for their planned holiday at Callala Bay for 5 nights and the house became eerily quiet. The dog slept. We read and pottered in the garden. The MOTH golfed. And suddenly it was time for their return. Little India had become ill on their last day of the holiday with a fever and vomiting and had basically slept the previous 36 hours. Now anyone that knows Indi knows that is NOT her normal but as with most 4 year olds we presumed she would improve quickly and be back to her old self imminently. She did seem to pick up a bit and even managed some food but the next day she became worse again and when we noticed blood in her poo it was time to get her to the hospital. Back to our favourite Emergency Room and as per usual we had wonderful care. They are so good with the kids and know all the tricks to try and get them to take medicine or make it easier for them to accept needles etc. Indi needed to go onto an IV drip and they cleverly prepped her with 4 “magic” spots with numbing cream for an hour or so before inserting what she called a “straw” into her vein. They needed 2 of those spots in the end so it was worth doubling up! Indi has a VERY strong stubborn streak and as she had vomited up the panadol meds 2 days earlier she refused to take any more as she was completely convinced it would happen again. Lots of cajoling ensued with promises of apple juice and custard but ultimately I managed to get her to take some fluids with a syringe on the proviso she self administered it! I find that most kids prefer to have a bit of control over it rather than being forced and she was quite chuffed with herself when everyone praised her. HOWEVER it was too little too late and we had to go with the big guns in the end with a 24 hour drip and an overnight stay with Mum in hospital. She took it all in her stride despite looking very small and lost in that big hospital bed. The next day she gradually improved until she was well enough for a visit from her sister and they had great fun playing with some gifts that were leftover from Santa. I think she thought hospital was a pretty cool place after all and the nurses loved having a happy patient. She was released literally 15 hours before we left to take them to the airport and the flight home to Hobart where she continued to improve over the next few days and is now100% back to normal. A bacterial gastroenteritis was the culprit (and is pretty much the ONLY thing that has ever made India quiet and sleepy!!)

While Indi and Mum were stuck in the hospital I followed up on my promise to Myla to take her into the Berry Tea Shop for a special morning tea. She dressed up in her new “lemons” dress and was excited to look around the shop which is full of “beautiful things” according to Myla. A chocolate milk came in a bottle oozing with real chocolate and the scones were big enough to share! When I catch up with the granddaughters it’s lovely to indulge our girly side and to enjoy a trip into town dressed for the occasion, this time with a side trip to the wonderful toyshop where she thought long and hard before falling in love with a 3D printed lizard which she wore casually draped over her shoulder! I love seeing the world through their eyes and was so happy to have our special time together.

No sooner had they all gone back to Tassie when Cooper arrived! It has become an annual tradition for us to have him for a week in his big summer school holidays and I love it! Having the kids one on one is SO different from having them together and at the ripe old age of almost 7 he is easy to have around. He does however love to be kept busy which meant full days for us all. Luckily he loves Lego, games, puzzles, scootering, walking Bailey, the movies, cooking and EATING so he wasn’t hard to entertain and we all fell into bed early every night pleasantly exhausted from our day’s adventures!

The 138th Berry show took place the last weekend in January and it’s famous for either happening in pouring rain or in boiling temperatures – this year we scored the heat! Luckily The Pavilion where we exhibited the produce and the art was air conditioned so everybody was taking a very detailed and considered look at every plant, tomato and painting on display!! My friend Anne won 1st for her perfect eggs and her rainbow cake! Nothing this year for my rainbow rooster painting but I think he made a few people smile….We watched the ever entertaining woodchop whilst sipping on Aperol spritzes and really enjoyed watching the cattle judging where another friend had 5 cows under consideration. Listening to the judge explaining how they award points was really interesting and seeing these (sometimes) huge animals up close and personal was fantastic. A little girl of about 5 or 6 all dressed up in her checked shirt, diamante jeans with huge belt buckle and her cowboy hat lead a huge bull out onto the arena and it made me realise what a wonderful bond the farmers have with their animals and how gentle the cattle are despite their heft!

My sister-in-law Sue-Ellen and her husband Michel who are visiting from Switzerland came and stayed for a few days which was lovely. We took them down to Greenwell Point to Jim Wilds Oysters for some freshly shucked creamy oysters and some delicious prawns all washed down with a couple of bottles of Chablis which made for a very pleasant afternoon (and a wee nap for our jetlagged guests when we got home). It was The Australia Day long weekend and we enjoyed the hospitality of our friends in Tapitallee with some delicious food and wine and a swim on a very hot 39 degree afternoon. The Swiss certainly knew they were in Australia! Sam and the boys came down too so we had a full house, enjoying a fondue with cheese and kirsch that Michel had brought all the way from home and a very Aussie Australia Day brekky BBQ at The Showground complete with gumboot tossing, quoits, horse shoe throwing and other quaint country pursuits for the kids! A wonderful few days and we will see them again in May in Switzerland which we look forward to

One little hiccup we had was a water leak which necessitated digging up our driveway and our lawn to find the culprit. We still have the old metal pipes running throughout the property so it’s just a matter of time before they all start to crack I guess. Our local plumber Mick fixed it all up but sadly not before we got a water bill roughly 600% larger than normal! I’ve filled in a form with the water board but goodness knows if and when I’ll hear back from them! One thing about owning a house from 1896 is that you are constantly maintaining and upgrading things sometimes at considerable cost and the frustrating thing is you can’t even see where the money has been spent, I’d love a new lounge and a rug but instead the budget has gone on underground pipes and replacing rotten weatherboards!

Amazingly we are already half way through February and I just know the time is going to race now. We have a few trips planned for the first half of this year and I am spending hours researching places on the computer and madly booking airfares, train tickets and accommodation but it will all be worth it once we’re on that plane and off to adventure once more and in the meantime, armchair travelling really is quite wonderful…I sometimes go down the rabbit hole for hours!!!

Christmas 2025

/ susiecameron / 4 Comments

What a couple of months we’ve had! It’s been a hugely busy time full of family, friends and fun and lots of comings and goings and making up of beds and it’s been wonderful. We are so grateful that they all still want to come and stay with us and enjoy our Crazy Cameron Christmas!

Tom arrived from London on the evening of 12th December and went straight to Bondi Beach where he had previously lived for many years, to stay with his friend. He woke up to a beautiful sunny weekend and enjoyed breakfast overlooking the beach at North Bondi before having a swim in the ocean (which was the thing he has missed the most living in London) and all seemed well with the world. All that changed 24 hours later on December 14th when a deranged Father and Son opened fire on a family friendly Jewish gathering killing 15 people in the very same spot that he had enjoyed a swim. It all seemed so unreal, so un-Australian and so very sad and was a sharp reminder that anything can happen anywhere in these times of distorted religious doctrines and unstemmed hatred. It all unfolded a mere 10 days before Christmas and suddenly all the gifts and decorations and merriment seemed so very shallow and meaningless. Over the next week we saw a huge outpouring of support for the Jewish community who lost so much and an equal outpouring of love for Bondi Beach, a place where so many come to relax and enjoy our Australian way of life. In the only way we knew how, various communities came to express their sorrow and to refuse to be scared by terrorists. Running clubs came and ran the beach, surfers gathered and paddled out in their hundreds to honour the dead and our surf lifesavers who were so very present and involved during the attack that took place right outside their surf club, linked arms and silently looked out to sea remembering the people that had lost their lives in a 3 minute silent chain that stretched the entire beach. Simple heartfelt gestures of grief and resilience as the community unites after an attack on our way of life. Australia’s most iconic stretch of sand refused to surrender its spirit to tragedy and you can almost hear it saying “you can’t stop us, you can’t beat us”. Life has to continue though and having the children around us would make sure we kept things fun and magical for them…

Loz and the girls arrived from Tassie on the 17th which was lovely as we could enjoy the build up to the big day with them, decorating the tree, wrapping gifts and baking Xmas cookies. The nice weather meant the pool was getting a big workout and the choice of which ice-cream to eat was the biggest decision of the day! Home Alone and Die Hard were compulsory viewing for the adults and The Christmas Postman and The Night Before Christmas compulsory reading for the kids. Tom arrived to be reunited with Bailey and the family (in that order) followed by Berry from Hobart and on Christmas Eve Sam and the boys arrived to fill the last bedroom! Carols and Christmas songs around the tree, carrots on the lawn for the reindeer, a cookie and some milk for Santa followed by the putting out of their stockings and trying to sleep despite the excitement of the man in red’s imminent arrival and finally the adults could enjoy our Big Xmas Dinner in the dining room – decorated and with candles glowing it is always a lovely pre cursor to the BIG DAY which basically belongs to the kids!

Christmas day dawned amid much excitement at the full stockings at the end of their beds and lots of squealing as packages were opened. A champagne breakfast for the adults and then the annual ritual of glazing the ham (thanks Tommy) and prepping the lunch. Berry rounded us all up for our two yearly photo shoot with all the cousins – thank goodness he organises this as we would have NO pics of all of us together otherwise!

The MOTH prepared the cricket pitch, the stumps were in place and the cooler weather was perfect for some rather competitive play, It’s a miracle there were no injuries to be honest as Bailey is by far the best fielder and the others were performing way above their ability with some rather gymnastic attempts at catches and overly showy bowling! Lots of fun though and after lunch the kids set up their disco inside for an impromptu dance off (Loz and Tom couldn’t resist joining in of course!) A relaxing afternoon around the firepit with music and drinks rounded out the day

As part of their Christmas presents I had arranged for them to have a pony ride at a local riding school. None of them had ever even sat on a horse so it was with a mix of trepidation and excitement that we set off for what I was hoping would be a positive experience. I couldn’t have been any happier as the riding school was terrific with the kids and encouraged them to try different things as they walked them around the menage. They taught them how to move the horses with their legs and reins and they wove in and out of witches hats, had a go at jogging and the litle girls got to groom the horses at the end. No meltdowns by any of them and hopefully a good memory for them….

Our last night together as a family for another two years was for me The Meadow at it’s best. A simple bbq under the trees around the fire pit with the kids playing on the swing and some good tunes ringing out. Chatting around the fire as the stars came out, family together, a brilliant memory to see us through to the next time…..

Mother Nature – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

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November is the most beautiful month in our garden. In a good Spring we can enjoy the wisteria, followed by the roses, the gardenias, agapanthus and then the hydrangeas – all interspersed with salvias and lavender, gaura and lupins. The grass is green and a perfect backdrop to the flower beds. We always say that all the hard work is worth it in November and if we’re lucky it will all still look great at Christmas. But we live in Australia so of course there is always SOMETHING that is going to come along and spoil it. We had our first bushfire of the season last weekend, a timely reminder that things can and do get out of hand pretty quickly especially if there hasn’t been much rain. Of course, we only got 5 inches of rain a month ago but it was all in one day and then the westerly winds came and dried it all out again! The sprinkler is doing its thing most days now and I have to hand water the flowers about 3 times a week to try and keep them happy. Probably not the best time for me to have planted a new baby hedge but hey ho that’s exactly what I did!

Just as things were all starting to bud and look gorgeous we awoke to a back yard that was a seething mass of caterpillars. Hundreds of thousands of them. The army worms had invaded us. An innocuous moth that only lives for 2 weeks yet somehow manages to lay up to 2000 eggs had inundated the dairy farm surrounding us and when the farmers noticed the first of the worms they immediately sprayed all the back paddocks as the army worm can eat a paddock clean in 24 hours if left to their own devices. A natural phenomena that can bankrupt a farmer, golf course, wedding venue, turf farm or anyone else dependent on their grass for an income. Spraying made the worms advance quick smart onto our property and onto our immediate neighbours and soon there wasn’t a square inch that wasn’t full of squirming caterpillars. Indiana Jones vibes in The Meadow. Soon they invaded the pool area and kamikazied into the pool, oozing bright green as they died, creating more stains to be dealt with. I was like a woman possessed stalking them with my spray bottle of soapy detergent water if they so much as dared veer off the lawn into the garden beds. Overnight they nestled in my soft velvety lambs ears and climbed up blades of grass looking for all the world like the teeny tiny stilt fisherman of Sri Lanka, swaying in the breeze as they efficiently gobbled up every blade of grass in a methodical manner. Army indeed.

Social media revealed that people were experiencing them in all the surrounding towns too but how much easier is it to “treat” them in a small garden. 2 acres all of a sudden seemed huge and unmanageable in view of the numbers invading us but as with all things in the natural world, they come and they go and after a week we were relatively free of them. Our back garden is a dry straw rather than grass but the rest of the property fared better and we still have our plants thank goodness. I had a tiny inkling what it must be like for farmers when they are just ready to harvest and a plague of locusts arrives and decimates the crop, that feeling of having no control and just hoping for the best. Hats off to them – between fires, floods, droughts and vermin it is a miracle that they manage to produce anything!

Mother Nature also delivered beauty in spades this week when the stars were aligned for a magnificent showing of the Southern Aurora. Two nights in a row we were treated to a spectacle of beautiful swirling colours in our night sky. Getting the timing right is hard…people were saying 2 or 3am was the time to expect the best results so on night one when I set my alarm and got up at 2am I was informed that the show had been and gone at around 11pm! Second night I ventured outside before bedtime around 10.30 and got a bit of green and purple – enough to make me feel awed but nothing like these (mostly pinky purple) pictures witnessed locally….the proper camera no doubt helps!

In more earthly pursuits we had a quick trip up to Sydney for Grandparents Day. This has become an annual affair everywhere with Grandparents whizzing all around the country to be there for their little Grandies, not a parent in sight and a very sweet afternoon. They ‘performed’ a few songs, we ate yummy sandwiches and fairy bread, visited their classrooms where Ollie proudly showed us all his favourite things to play with and where he puts his bag etc. It was lovely as we obviously don’t see him there on a day to day basis and now we feel a bit more connected. He had the most grandparents there on the day I think, with all 5 of us turning up for the event! How cute is his little face grinning out of the group like a meerkat….!

We also enjoyed an outdoor concert at the Berry Showground in October when the Red Hot Summer Tour came to town headlining Crowded House who we have loved for years and have never seen live. Luckily it was neither 35 degrees or pouring rain (both of which it has been in the past for these events!) and we enjoyed an eight hour concert with some great bands, culminating in Neil Finn and the boys putting on a terrific finale with all our old favourites plus a couple of new songs. The whole showground was packed out and I think we are very lucky that such well known artists are happy to come to small rural communities like ours to perform and spread the love. Great to not always have to drive to Sydney for everything….

So here we are, roughly a month until Christmas and this year will be special with the whole gang being together (even our London boy is making the trip home) for the festivities in The Meadow. Apart from the gifts and the decorations we have to upgrade our sleeping arrangements this year as all our littlies are growing fast and all need their own beds! The days of plonking a mobile cot in a corner somewhere are over so I’m off this week to buy an extra few mattresses and bedding so they can all be comfy! Christmas this year will be a week of noise and chaos but also of love and family memories made. Bing Crosby or Michael Bublé, Champagne or eggnog, Xmas pudding or pavlova, however you celebrate it I hope you enjoy every moment. Bring. It. On.

Spring in The Meadow

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Well, the wisteria has come and gone in the big winds and now it’s the turn of the roses and the jacarandas to have their star turn in the garden. The hydrangeas and agapanthus are not far behind, there is a baby calf in the next paddock and the flies are back so I can affirm that Spring is definitely here. As the days oscillate between being 35 degrees and horribly hot to 20 degrees and quite cool we are already watering the garden and anticipating a hot dry summer. Everyone tells you to mulch to protect the plants but they forget to tell you that it might blow away in 80km winds and there is also a real and present danger in the form of our 4 chooks who LOVE to create hollows in the dusty earth to roll around in and they have a total disregard for my plants old or new, each morning reveals yet another area they have snapped off or dug up – and all for one lousy egg a day! They have been warned……………….

We have had a busy month enjoying a 10 day visit from the Tassie Girls which was lovely and went far too quickly. We packed in as many things as we could, a trip to the zoo in Sydney, trips to Huskisson, Kangaroo Valley and LOTS of art and craft. They helped Papa with the chooks, took Bailey to the park to throw balls, had morning tea in Berry and made wigwams on the beach at Shoalhaven Heads.

One of the best days was when Sam brought the boys down and the cousins had a fantastic catch up. It only happens maybe once every couple of years due to living in different States so it was lovely that they took straight back up where they left off about 18 months ago and had great fun on the Slip’n Slide on a hot weekend, enjoyed the monthly markets at Berry showground where they decided as a group to spend their $5 each on a slushy – the 1st one the girls had ever had! Pizza night went down a treat and the next day we celebrated Fathers Day with a ride at the Penwood miniature railway – a childish simple activity we could all enjoy together…they will all be reunited at Christmas for more fun in the sun.

The Crazy Cameron Clan!!

Luckily the MOTH was starting to feel a lot better by this time and was finally eating more normally. An FMT was booked in for the 22nd September and there was finally light at the end of the tunnel which made us both feel very positive. We are so lucky to live in a time and a place where we are offered the latest treatments and technologies (even if you do have to pay for them – the government is always very cautious to embrace ‘new’ treatments so until thousands of successes are recorded, they won’t cover them with Medicare!) A month later he is feeling good and has resumed real life and is currently on a golf trip with 7 of his mates in Hobart – something he could only dream of doing 4 months ago!

We are currently in the middle of Pink Up Berry month where our little town literally paints itself pink in aid of breast cancer. People decorate with pink bunting and pompoms, the crochet ladies are in full throttle decorating trees, seats and any inanimate object they can find! The whole town has a very bright and happy feel and there are SO many initiatives amongst the shop owners and locals to raise as much as we can especially as everyone seems to know someone who has been impacted by this disease. The cafés get on board with pink drinks and pink cupcakes, there is a trivia night and a barefoot bowling day where everyone dresses in pink and the annual race day at The Archer Racecourse donates their gate takings to the cause. This is how they have raised around $200,000 over the past few years, all in conjunction with The McGrath Foundation. For a tiny town we certainly do punch above our weight!

This month also brought us The Berry Garden Festival where 7 local gardens were open to visitors. From town cottages to rural properties, you can wander the gardens while enjoying workshops, refreshments, plant sales, and garden wares vendors. All proceeds from ticket sales are donated to charities in the local area and the town is heaving with people who for a mere $25 can have ‘a bit of a nosey’ at some of the houses and properties we may pass by on a daily basis and wonder what they look like on the inside! It was a great day with three girlfriends, and we saw something we liked at every garden. The last house was just a few kms from Two Figs Winery where we enjoyed an hour of wine tasting before heading home full of fresh ideas and inspiration!

Having been a bit confined at home due to a sore back I have been getting into some Spring Cleaning. Owning a house that is 129 years old means there are plenty of little nooks and crannies that need attending to and as we live on a dirt road and like to throw our doors and windows open there is NO shortage of dust as you can imagine, especially with all the recent winds that seem to blow all sorts of debris under our sash windows, so the time was ripe! It has been quite empowering as I gradually work my way through various rooms and corners where things had initially been placed for just a day or two and ended up still there months later! A throw out and a clean up and the place is starting to shine again. Although I am definitely not a minimalist I do like things not being cluttered and this is just the beginning! We have a whole loft full of old bits of furniture, a plethora of baby things no longer required and a whole load of pots, wire and broken bricks that seem to have taken up residence in a corner of the garden so a skip is really the order of the day – another addition to “the list” of things needing to be done.

It has been nice to create some order in what has otherwise been a rather chaotic time in the world order. The whole world seems to be either protesting or advocating for change, every weekend opposing armies of people walk through the streets here and throughout the world and you get a real sense of unrest. As my son likes to say, you can only control the controllable Mum, so as I seem to have a foot in several camps and I just end up feeling confused, I am choosing to “sit in the stillness” as I get very caught up in all the stories and end up feeling anxious! Stillness for me can be found on the veranda with a book and a cuppa or weeding and watering the veggie patch, walking the dog in the surrounding countryside, dead heading the roses or cooking up a storm on a rainy day listening to Andrea Bocelli and as the future is unwritten I am choosing not to overthink the things I cannot control. These sayings remind me of what I can ACTUALLY do ….


Back to reality….

/ susiecameron / 1 Comment

Let’s hope this perfect rainbow is signalling an end to the past few months of health worries for the MOTH. His new knee is fabulous, you can hardly even see the scar and it is doing everything it is supposed to do. The infection he picked up in hospital however has NOT gone away and has really become a huge nuisance. He has lost 15 kgs as nothing is being absorbed properly and he was getting to the stage that he felt he couldn’t go anywhere or do anything and he lost his joie de vivre for the first time since I’ve known him. Luckily one of the local pharmacists recommended a Naturopath in Wollongong who could look a bit more holistically at his situation and hopefully come up with an alternative to regular medicine, which could only seem to prescribe antibiotics which is how the whole thing started! To say the visit was enlightening was an understatement, and he immediately began on some targeted supplements to calm his gut. Together with a stringent diet that restricted all fermented foods and histamine rich foods he feels he is starting to turn a corner but a follow up test in about a week will determine whether or not the CDiff has actually left the building or not. If not, there is a plan B lurking in the shadows so we have everything crossed that one or other of the ‘plans’ will get rid of it once and for all and normal life can resume!

At the very same time that we started our very restricted diet our son started a pie business! We managed to get three of his pies into us before we started the new regime and they were delicious! He has always loved cooking (we all do in this family with the possible exception of Cammo who only does bbq’s!) and in a break in between jobs he has started cooking them to stay busy and make some money. 15 years ago we had a Harry’s Cafe de Wheels pie van in Newcastle and this family are all great lovers of a good pie so we were excited to try his beef ragout, chicken leek bacon and mushroom pie as well as the butter chicken pie – all seriously good! Our Pie Man can be found on instagram as @thepiman1 and on his website the-pie-man.square.site/ if anyone fancies all the enjoyment of a delicious pie with none of the work!

My best friend has had a weekender in Kangaroo Valley for over a decade but with retirement imminent she and her hubby have pressed the button on a big renovation to make it the perfect place to live all year round. Somehow despite being here a lot more than normal to oversee the build we have hardly been able to organise any catchups, but everything came together a couple of weeks ago when we met up at Silos Estate near Berry for a girl’s lunch with our mutual friend Kirsten. It was good to remind ourselves of the reasons we moved down to this beautiful part of the world, to forget about the weeding and the to do list for a couple of hours and just enjoy ourselves! A new chef has made it a great place to visit once more and we had a perfect winters day to sit out overlooking the beautiful view…..

The following day the little boys arrived for the weekend and somehow we got lucky with the weather (which had been very wet) and scored a dry, non windy warmish weekend! We had fun at the skate park and with a stone painting kit before dusk fell and we could light our bonfire! The boys were super excited to sit around the fire and once it had died down enough to find the perfect stick to roast their marshmallows! Some stories around the fire before bed made for a perfect end to the day.

The next day was deemed suitable for fishing! Uncle Tom had bought the kids fishing rods for Xmas so off we drove to Shoalhaven Heads and the pier to drop a line or two and try our luck. They enjoyed it despite no fish being caught and it was lovely to see the three generations of Cameron men together in such a wholesome pursuit!! Patience isn’t their strong suit but they gave it a red hot go!

Our 4 chickens are apparently on strike. They too are opposed to the constant rain and corresponding wetness underfoot. Mud is the name of the game on any well frequented path, doggy footprints (and the odd rabbit ones too) make patterns on our back deck, towels are in high rotation for drying off Bailey when she finally begrudgingly has to go outside for a wee. She sticks her nose tentatively outside and then looks back at me as if to say “you’ve got to be kidding Mum!!” We take turns in squelching across the lawn to let the chooks out and then shut them back up again at night. They are often looking rather bedraggled as they are happy to peck about outside as the upside of the rain is that they have a plethora of worms to feast on, but still there are no eggs! Our gardeners who have lots of chooks saved the day by gifting us a dozen last week and they looked so pretty in the carton with all the different coloured shells – I love how different breeds produce different coloured eggs and I look forward to when eggs on toast are back on the menu for us so we can use them – thank you Ethan and Sage.

Coolangatta

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For those of you that live overseas you probably don’t ever think about Australia being anything other than warm and sunny, but let me assure you we DEFINITELY get a winter here! Not the kind of really low temperatures that the Northern hemisphere gets but it’s all proportionate to what you’re used to right? Also, our houses are not made for the cold weather – they are more about keeping us cool in the long summers – so unless you have reverse cycle air conditioning or preferably a wood burning stove, you are going to feel the chill. I remember when our kids were little and we had a rather cavernous lounge with one tiny gas heater that we would all huddle around, how cold I always felt. We did have a wood fire but it took ages to get going and wood was expensive so it was always more of a treat when we used that. So mostly we tend to heat just one main room and then pop our electric blankets on about half an hour before bedtime so that we can slip into a warm cocoon and fall promptly asleep! The further south people live the harsher the winter and the desire to escape it becomes stronger! Increasingly people in Australia are travelling to escape the cold and whether that is to the northern hemisphere with its promise of European summers languishing on the terraces of Italy amongst potted lemon trees, Aperol spritz in hand, sailing the azure waters of Croatia or heading to Queensland, the perpetually sunny state, to feel the sun on your skin and enjoy an ice cream on the beach, people are attempting to break up the cold weather with a Winter Escape. Nobody feels this more than Tasmanians who endure a decidedly much colder winter than the rest of us (they are the last stop before Antarctica after all) so rather than visiting our Tassie Crew in Hobart we all decided to have a week on the Gold Coast instead!

Its an 11 hour drive from our place to the Gold Coast so we are very lucky that our good friends Wayne and Kathy live in Forster exactly half way up and they very kindly offered to mind Bailey for us while we were up north. They are dog people and miss their lovely old dog Gus, so they were happy to have her and as they live on the beach and walk every day Bailey was also in for a treat – her own little beachside holiday! She was very cosy tucked into her bed on the back seat on the drive up and for once when I waved her off I didn’t feel guilty leaving her behind! We arrived in Coolangatta in time for a beautiful sunset, a glass of wine at the surf club just opposite our apartment and got everything set up for the family just in time for their late evening arrival. There was much excitement when they arrived, exploring all the rooms and checking out our holiday food in the pantry! By the time we woke in the morning watching the little dots of surfers bobbing in the water on the beach opposite we were already feeling relaxed.

Papa is always very sought after when we get together, they just love being with him with his off beat sense of humour (and his many little packets of jelly snakes and smarties!) and it warms my heart when I see them snuggled up with him in bed or on the lounge or hand in hand as they walk along chatting gaily, seemingly without a care in the world. I love seeing the world through the kid’s eyes, their excitement for the simple things and with no idea what sort of world exists outside of their beautiful little bubble. It’s very soothing and we absolutely love being part of their childhood holiday memories.

Loz and Berry have some friends that lived about 15 minutes away rfom our apartment and their little girl was 3 so they quickly became a little girl gang and as her Dad was an avid surfer he lent Loz a surfboard to enjoy for a morning. It was great to see her introducing the girls to the surf and seeing them all hand in hand jumping over the waves. Myla was determined to ride a wave into shore and she gave it a good go! Loz managed to show them how it was done standing up on the waves long enough for the girls to be impressed!!

It wasn’t all about the beach though, we enjoyed some long walks, an afternoon of barefoot bowling and a visit from our Nephew and family who live further up the coast. It was great to see them and for them to reconnect with Loz and the girls and for us to see our great Nephew growing up into such a nice young man. The girls were mesmerised by a bag of Polly Pockets that I had saved of Laurens from when she was a little girl and happily played for ages with them, buying us some nice adult time – win win!!

Part of the fun of holidays is eating out and obviously the surf clubs are the easiest option around here but we did get a bit over their rather humdrum menus and found family friendly restaurants a bit slim on the ground too. The girls however just thought dinner time was the best thing – getting dressed up and walking to dinner, having different food from normal and if they were lucky an icecream to enjoy on the walk home. Once they were in bed, drinks and card games were the order of the day for the adults and of course our favourite – the quiz from The Australian newspaper which we always do when we get together! The boys had their sport to watch, the girls had their books to read and it was a lovely restful week. Nothing beats reconnecting in a neutral place where no one feels they have to be on duty, worrying about menus or laundry or entertaining people – a break is ALWAYS a good idea!

So our last day came around rather too quickly for our liking, we were just getting into the groove when it was time to pack up and go. They had time before their plane to visit the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary which finished off their little holiday perfectly and they took off back to Hobart, reality and WINTER! A few more memories in the bank though and we loved it. Apparently the strongest memories of childhood come from the odd week of holidays taken between the ages of 5 and 12 so I’m hoping we will live on in their memories long after we are gone….

Cam and I were lucky though as we got to prolong our holiday feeling by driving back to Forster for a few nights. Baz swims in the ocean every morning with a group of people and it was so lovely to walk Bailey along the beach watching the pods of dolphins swimming oh so close to them and then enjoying a coffee and bacon and egg roll on the beach once they finished. The beach life is certainly appealing. Daily walks, lovely dinners , a couple of catch ups with local friends at the One Mile Surf Club and reading our books in the afternoon sun made for a relaxing few days before we could no longer delay our return to The Meadow. To be honest I wasn’t sure about returning to reality after such a wonderful 6 weeks of various holidays – what a lucky girl am!


Touring with Tom

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After my lovely two weeks with the girls I bid them a fond farewell and headed into West London and Notting Hill to meet up with Tom. He moved to London last September and I was itching to see him and where he lived and to spend a few days with him showing me HIS places and me showing him where I lived and worked over 40 years ago! It was perfect as we both knew a few places that the other would enjoy so our road trip came together easily. Firstly though – Notting Hill! I LOVED it right from the first moment. It was a beautiful sunny day and the famous coloured houses just popped against a bright blue sky. Portobello Road was setting up its stalls for the coming weekend and there was a pleasant buzz of people enjoying the summer weather and eating alfresco in the many eateries that lined the local streets. The rows of high end white elegant Victorian townhouses were pleasing to the eye (many with their EV vehicles charging in the street or front garden – they were literally everywhere!) and the whole suburb was thriving. It became famous after the 1999 film but even when I was a teenager I remember catching a coach up to London to go to the Portobello Road markets to buy a leather coat which was a big fashion statement in 1976 and thinking how cosmopolitan it was even back then. Fast forward 50 years and you can imagine how the mix of cultures, music and food has made it one of the most enjoyable places to live. Needless to say it comes with a price tag but you can live the dream in an (expensive) rental at least! Tom loves it – with its proximity to Kensington Gardens for a bit of green space and a direct tube ride into the City of London where he works. I stayed at The Premier Inn, about a ten minute walk from Tom and I spent the afternoon wandering around exploring, I felt at home there within hours and when we met up at 5pm he took me on a mini pub crawl of all his favourite places. Of course they all knew him by name which I hope is due as much to his friendly nature as his drinking habits! The weather was gorgeous and as it is so temperamental in the UK most of the time, when it IS nice everyone really makes the most of it and we were all vying for a coveted outdoor table! To top off our night we ate at a superb Japanese restaurant and caught up on the last 10 months since he left Sydney. One happy Mummy.

After a rather fraught start to the day when the car rental place didn’t accept Tom’s digital license and I had to do it all instead, we finally set off for our first destination – Bath. I have spent quite a bit of time here over the years and have always loved it. What’s not to love? The Georgian architecture and the town built around the River Avon is very picturesque and on a 32 degree day we were happy to arrive at 3pm and enjoy Aperol’s on the banks of the river in the shade of Pulteney Bridge after a 3 hour drive. Our little hotel room was 300 years old and on the top floor of a pub with the NARROWEST set of stairs I’ve ever seen, we could barely fit on them and had to carry our cases ahead or behind! No lifts of course!

It was in a great position though with a short walk to just about everything and we enjoyed exploring the town before dinner in a bustling square full of happy weekend people! Bath Rugby had won the Premiership just two weeks before our visit and Tom is thinking of coming again next year with some mates on the train to enjoy the footy as well as the town. It is famous of course for its Roman Baths which are a disturbing shade of green but nowadays you can also enjoy the same warm mineral rich waters up on the roof overlooking the city. It wasn’t what we fancied doing on such a hot day but my sister did it in winter overlooking a city laden with snow and said it was quite magical.


After a morning coffee in the Square we set off for our second night’s destination – Bourton on the Water. We have been watching Jeremy Clarkson’s Farm on TV and as his new pub was en route we thought we’d play tourist and stop off for a look. Apparently several hundred other people had had the same idea (it was a Saturday) so we felt more like we were attending a festival than a country pub as we were directed into an adjoining field with parking attendants complete with orange batons overseeing our parking to squeeze in as many people as possible. I felt like a lemming about to follow the others off a cliff as we wound our way through the field and across the road to the Farmer’s Dog where there were several more queues of various lengths depending on if you had a reservation or not. Blow-ins like Tom and I had no chance of getting into the pub so we made do with the adjoining paddock surrounding the Farm Shop. The queue for the shop itself was insane but the bar serving beer and cider was ok so we enjoyed a couple of those whilst people watching. They had it very well set up with tables, chairs and brollies as well as country games like toss the horseshoe etc and some piped music giving it a nice ambience. Again we were lucky with the weather as if it had been bad we would have had no chance getting into the pub. Nice work Jeremy….


Tom knew about Daylesford Organic because he had visited with his friends when he spent Christmas in The Cotswolds. It was like a beacon of loveliness in the middle of nowhere and well worth the stop. We had a delicious lunch, lusted after homewares and gorgeous food products – tomatoes from the Isle of Wight, local asparagus and flowers, small goods from local providores, amazing cheeses, wines and more to choose from if you had the money and the ability to store it all! Locals must be thankful to have something like this nearby and it was worth negotiating the odd tractor in the narrow roads to visit!

Nothing really prepared us for our arrival in Bourton though. The entire place was teeming with people and our overnight lodgings was bang smack in the middle of it all! Tom dropped me and went off to discover a park on the outskirts of town (thank goodness for overnight parking rates!) and I discovered that the hotel had allocated us a double room instead of a twin! The poor girl on duty nearly had a heart attack when I told her but she was brilliant and unzipped the adjoining beds and remade them in a jiffy despite the heat and the huge queue of people downstairs wanting to eat in their restaurant. The overtourism was so apparent and quite overwhelming for all concerned. It wasn’t until after 8pm that the hordes departed and the little town became what I remembered from the early 80s! Obviously we are tourists too but I am concerned about the huge families that visited but brought their own food and drinks and did little to contribute to the town’s income – just literally swamped it until it was time to take the kids home…very sad ….


Luckily once everyone went home we had a delightful walk around the town and equally the next day really enjoyed it’s true colours until the coaches started to arrive circa 10am….then it was time to move on! En route we swung by what used to be Barnsley House when I lived there, a National Trust House and Garden which I drove past daily but never went in to. Tom had heard it was now owned by the Pig Hotel Group and came highly recommended. As it was Sunday lunchtime we weren’t hopeful of lunch without a reservation but we got lucky! A table for two outside overlooking those beautiful gardens and we timed it perfectly as a light shower started just as we finished our meal. Armed with the hotel’s brollies we explored the gardens and the humungous veggie patch, gleaning ideas for The Meadow as we went! A wonderful few hours indeed….

Today’s destination was Bibury – a very small village that has become incredibly popular with visitors. However our reason for visiting was that I had lived and worked there in 1978 as a receptionist at The Swan Hotel. I absolutely loved both the place and the job and back then it was a popular destination but pre social media it was just literally a word of mouth thing and apart from having a booked out restaurant for Sunday Lunch each week it had a laid back feel and a gentility that I felt was lacking this time around. Our beautiful restaurant that used to be full of well dressed people laughing and the tinkling of glasses and cutlery on beautiful crockery is now only used for coach tours which made me really sad. The hotel restaurant is now more of a bistro and although we enjoyed a well cooked meal there it wasn’t what I had wanted to show Tom. Times move on unfortunately. Our room was gorgeous and comfortable with a huge bathroom with wall panels and beautiful toiletries, a piece of the past that they have kept thankfully. I’m glad I got to share it with him but I think that maybe that was the last time I will visit. I enjoyed an early morning walk before the tourists arrived and saw Arlington Row, a tiny higgly piggly line of houses built in the 14th century and renovated in the 17th century and still lived in today. Tom was flabbergasted at the amount of people taking photos of what he deemed to be nothing special! Apparently William Morris declared it the most beautiful village in England back in the day and people still come in droves to see it. Again we were lucky to see it outside of the regular coach/tourist hours. I do feel really sorry for those people that live there all year round, parking is a nightmare in such a tiny town and people are very intrusive taking photos of literally everything!

So back to London we went, stopping off in Oxford for a couple of hours to look around. Tom’s flatmate studied at Oxford Uni and Tom was keen to see where Connor had spent his time. It is the oldest university in the English speaking world and the sense of history and knowledge just emanates from these gorgeous buildings as you would imagine. They are beautiful golden stone, built around a quadrangle 9 times out of ten and the town is built around the different colleges with loads of pubs and cafes, and people riding bicycles everywhere – students of all ages enjoying all that this beautiful city has to offer.

Back in London we dropped the car off and separated to pack/organise ourselves after our week away. I finally got to see Tom’s flat and meet Connor and now I can fully imagine him in his everyday life which is comforting. Our last evening was terrific with a pre dinner drink (prink!) at The Pelican before joining the queue at Canteen – a no bookings, flavour driven Italian restaurant run by two ex River Cafe chefs on Portobello Road. The menu changes daily and is full of delicious, well executed dishes. We snagged some stools at the kitchen bar and it was great to see the chefs in action. The hype of this place means queues are often down the road but it’s definitely worth it – one of the nicest Italian meals in recent history for me!

We had a last walk back to my hotel together before we said goodbye and Tom hopped onto a lime bike to get home. Six months before we are reunited at Christmas in The Meadow but a week of memories we wont forget….

My last day in London was a long one as I didn’t fly until 9pm so I literally walked EVERYWHERE! 27000 steps as it turned out! First was Kensington Gardens for a coffee and croissant before exploring the park, then a long walk to Holland Park and millionaires’ row to check out where David and Victoria Beckham live (very nice indeed) and a trip to the ‘supermarket of dreams’ (real name) in the main strip of Holland Park – you can just imagine the delicious produce they sell and the calibre of the locals that buy them! Back to Notting Hill for a lunch on the pavement watching the world go by before winding my way back to the hotel to change for the long journey home. Thankfully Tom had given me a lounge pass so the last few hours were spent in relative comfort with free food and wine at Heathrow which meant I pretty much could go straight to sleep once the plane took off. No horrible delays on the way home and before I knew it I was freezing on a train platform at 6am in Wolli Creek!!!! Back to reality I go folks…..

Goodbye England….until next year!!

UK with the gals

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We all know it’s a long flight to London, even longer when you have a 2 hour train journey prior to even arriving at the airport, so it’s very annoying when you start taxiing (finally leaving five hours since you left home) and everything comes to a grinding halt. Apparently one of the brakes failed and we had to return to the gate but as we had already cleared customs we had to stay in the plane. They jacked up the plane and busied about, only to discover something else was wrong that they had to replace. They gave out water and cheese and biscuits (but unfortunately couldn’t serve any alcohol) and I felt for all the poor parents of little babies who had all their best laid plans of feeding times etc thrown out of the window! 3.5 hours later we took off – a great start to what was already a long journey! Once I got to London I had to whizz across town to Paddington to catch a train to Wales (another 2.5 hours) until I finally collapsed into the arms of my Mum and Sister waiting for me on the platform. Of course it was all worth it once I was with them but I always forget what a mammoth journey it is for me door to door until I actually do it again!

I had a few days to adjust before we headed off on our little side holiday to Jersey. I caught up with my lovely Niece, had some great food, walked every day with my sister and watched on rather horrified at an unexpected escalation of things in the Middle East. You feel a lot closer to everything in the northern hemisphere – our usual life “at the other end of the earth” seemingly elusive and very far away. Needless to say we adopted a very British attitude to the whole thing and decided the only way was to carry on as usual and enjoy our holiday together!

A quick 45 minute flight (on a rather scary small prop plane) took us from Bristol to Jersey in the Channel Islands – a small 9 x5 mile island located between Cornwall and France and sharing traits of both. Within an hour of landing we were settled into our beautiful Somerville Hotel and had made it onto the terrace for a late lunch of prawn sandwiches and French rosé in the sunshine – all overlooking the turquoise water of St Aubin harbour. Any thoughts of war and danger immediately disappeared as we soaked up the atmosphere and congratulated ourselves on making such a good decision to visit Jersey!

The hotel had an air of faded grandeur, from a gentler age and was positioned to capture the view mid way up a steep hill. Mum was a real trouper, stoically attacking the hill several times a day despite being nearly 89 and we thanked the powers that be every day for the little sandstone wall that we could perch on half way up until we got our breath back! The staff were so lovely – mostly from South Africa – and so smiley and friendly. Nothing was too hard and they somehow magically appeared just when you fancied a drink or needed some advice! Some guests just bunkered down with a book by the pool but we wanted to explore the island. This was made very easy by an amazing bus service. There were just 4 routes and they seemed to stop every 10 minutes or so to whisk you off to all the local sites. ‘Le petit train’ pootled along the pavement from St Aubin to the capital, St Hellier, with an accompanying audio telling us the history and folklore as we passed by. A plethora of restaurants, cafes and wine bars made eating out a dream and our days passed in a whirlwind of loveliness!

What had attracted me to Jersey was the fact one of Laurens very best friends from Hong Kong days came from Jersey and she had always talked so passionately about her upbringing there and she planted a seed with me to go there one day as it was so close to the UK. The Somerville Hotel was her suggestion and her delightful parents came and picked us up and drove us on a guided tour around the entire island. They were 4th generation Islanders and their stories were so interesting. Jersey was occupied during WW2 – the only part of Britain that was – so this is a big part of Jersey’s history and a fascinating visit to the war tunnels proved a great day out.

Nicky and Gerry showed us lots of the various structures used in the war and after our circumnavigation of the island we had a delicious seafood lunch under the watchful eye of Gorey Castle before returning to their beautiful home in La Rocque for a tour and some bubbles! They were very generous with their time and we very much appreciated their local input. I’m hoping they come out to Australia sometime so I can return the favour!

After visits to St Brelades Bay, La Corbiere with its lighthouse, shopping in St Hellier (Mum found her special emerald ring that she had been searching for) and walking Mum up hill and down dale our time in Jersey came to an end. Jersey definitely punches above it’s weight with beautiful sandy beaches, great food and warm weather all contributing to our wonderful time there. Happy chappies all round!

The second part of our time together was special in a different way. My Grandmother was killed in a car accident in 1940 when my Mum was just 4 and as you can imagine it caused a lot of sadness, chaos and upheaval for her (especially as it was in the war with all its additional unknowns) and she never remembers anyone really explaining it all to her. She was sent off to her Grandparents in Cornwall for a year or two and when she came back her Dad had met and married again so the subject was never really raised again. Over the years it niggled at Mum’s mind – wondering who she was and what had really happened that fateful night. Fast forward 84 years, my sister met a friend of a friend who was one of the investigators on the program ‘Who do you think you are’ – a program where genealogists investigate stories just like Mums. She agreed to privately look into Mum’s story and as a result at Christmas Sandy was able to present Mum with a beautifully curated history of her family tree and the story behind the accident all accompanied by the original various certificates authenticating the story. After 84 years she finally knew what had happened. As a result we decided to go on a trip down memory lane when I visited this year. A trip to London, where we followed the story from my Grandma’s Christening, to where Mum grew up and joined her Church Youth Group (who she is still in touch with today) to the pub where Dad had a drink of courage before marrying Mum and the church where they tied the knot and finally to the cemetery where Grandma’s ashes had been scattered all those years ago. SUCH an emotional day and a real sense of closure finally as we laid flowers accompanied by notes to our Mum/Grandma in the Garden of Remembrance. Needless to say there were tears and hugs all round, our Grandma is no longer forgotten and Mum finally has some answers and some peace in the wake of her loss. Best present ever Sandy xx

So our girls trip came to an end and so much fun had been had. From experiencing new horizons in Jersey to walking the local beach to playing games after dinner EVERYWHERE to catching up with family and FINDING family, we had the best couple of weeks together and I am so very grateful that I get to see them despite living so very far away…

Next year sees Mum celebrating her 90th in Australia! Cannot wait for the next adventure girls xxxx

Normal Life Resumes….

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After a challenging couple of months (and a 2nd bout of the infamous C Diff) things are on the improve. The MOTH is walking really well after his knee replacement and even managed to kneel down the other day to fix something in the pool – a task I thought would be impossible – so he is feeling pretty good and is finally starting to resume normal life. He has lost 10kgs (and discovered a whole new wardrobe) but finally has his appetite back so who knows how long that new wardrobe will actually fit him! I now feel that I can happily get on the plane to the UK on Tuesday knowing he is in good hands here with his team of doctor, pharmacy and friends all there for him if things go off the rails again. He would have to be really unlucky to get a 3rd bout of C Diff but he knows what he is dealing with now at least and can recognise the early signs and get straight on to it.

I took the Choccy Drop along the beach today for a last walk before I leave. It is her very favourite place to be (apart from in front of the fire on a cold night) and we had a lovely time watching the big seas and checking out all the driftwood, sea plants and shells that they have brought onto the beach, it was especially nice walking in the sunshine after a couple of weeks of rain and wind. 21 degrees here today which isn’t bad for the start of winter and probably warmer than it is going to be in the UK next week in their summer! It’s always lovely to go back home though, no matter what the weather, but this time we are incorporating a side trip to Jersey in the Channel Islands into our itinerary and it would be fantastic if we had good weather there – eating outdoors is an essential part of a summer holiday if at all possible!

Driving to the beach this morning I felt like I was in a painting. The cows were shrouded in a light mist that hung over the fields, some baby calves lying at their Mums feet in the morning sunshine. The Shoalhaven River was like a huge silk ribbon with not a breath of wind to send ripples across it – just a perfect reflection of the trees and a few boats bobbing on it’s surface. The trees are still showing the last of the Autumn leaves, copper, orange and red, and they line either side of the road as I drive through them – an arched tunnel of vibrant colour that made me feel especially happy to be alive! Autumn is a beautiful season around here.

We had a lovely few nights away last week with 3 other couples in beautiful Bowral. This is a town in the Southern Highlands about an hour inland from here and it is as close to being in England as you can get especially at this time of year. The cold climate means dressing up in all our warm clothes and having a wood fire going 24/7 whilst eating yummy food and enjoying some big reds. We had a great few days with lots of laughs and quizzes and card games. We had a lunch in one of my favourite little places – Harrys on The Green where you feel as if you are in someone’s home. The walls are lined with books and plants and the room has chandeliers and an open fire, a perfect spot to enjoy a lovely little menu and a wine or two before braving the outdoors (it poured that day!) It is attached to Dirty Janes with all its treasures and perfect for a snoop about and perhaps a purchase of that one thing you didn’t know you needed??

We enjoyed a lovely lunch at The Briars on our last day, it’s a bit of an institution and I remember coming down from Sydney in the old days for lunch here in winter and it’s still great!

Old friends are certainly a perfect tonic and was just what the doctor ordered for our patient. We did remark that the recycling bin was far less full than when we normally go away, not sure if that is a sign we are all getting older and more sensible or that the MOTH and his reduced drinking has perhaps influenced the rest of us?

I spent one of the mornings with an old friend from Sydney that I haven’t seen in about 25 years. It was a miracle that we ever reconnected, but a couple of years ago I was enjoying reading an article in Home Beautiful featuring a gorgeous home in Bowral and there she was – my friend Judy and husband Mike – looking exactly the same and sharing their new home with us all! Luckily I was connected with her son via Instagram and he gave me her phone number and so finally as we were in the same town at the same time we managed to catch up! It was seriously as if we had seen each other just last week – we picked straight up where we left off all those years ago and it was lovely.

Yesterday saw 16 of us venture up the mountain to enjoy a wonderful lunch at Mount Ashby Estate – a winery with a lovely restaurant in a beautiful setting. The day couldn’t have been more perfect with bright blue skies, sunshine and just a nice little crispness in the air to mark the first day of winter. We feel so lucky to have been recent inclusions in this group of fun people – met through golf – that are mostly all in a similar phase and stage of life. We have kids roughly the same age, properties roughly the same size and have nearly all come from Sydney in the past 10 years! This means we have a commonality and shared experiences which cannot be underestimated. A few of the group are particularly gifted with organisation which means there is a rare week that there isn’t something on – trivia or happy hour at the pub, a gathering to watch a footy game at someone’s house or an all in lunch or dinner like yesterday. It makes all the difference to life in the country where it’s easy to become isolated if you live out of town. It’s also good for me to know they are here keeping an eye on the MOTH while I’m away. So as you can see, after 2 months of being on the medical treadmill we have come out the other side and are enjoying life again – hallelujah!!