We're on a babymoon!

In my last post I mentioned that we drove down to Melbourne. This was just a stop on our way to Tasmania for a baby-moon. Apparently it's a thing that some people do: go on a holiday before the baby is born as a kind of second honeymoon and a last holiday without children. We thought it sounded like a good excuse for a holiday.

J and I were tossing up between Tasmania and New Zealand. J had been to Tasmania before and wanted to show me around. I have been to New Zealand and wanted to show J around. We only had a week to play with, and since Tasmania is smaller we opted for there. Unfortunately a lot of Tasmanian gems are seen by doing long walks, which I can't do at the moment. But I suppose New Zealand would have been the same. We'll just have to go back to Tasmania another time!

We're hiring a car while we're here and staying in Hobart, Strahan, and Launceston. Hobart is first and so far we love it. It's a pretty city that's easy to get around and has interesting places to explore in and around it.

Again, I don't think I'll be great at getting photos up on the blog, but if you'd like to see some more photos you can have a look at my instagram photos further down on the right panel (website version of the blog for those who read via email).

A Garden Holiday

I’m a little ashamed of how long I’ve been away from blogging.  Even my Thankful Thursday series has not been achieving it’s purpose in getting me to post regularly.  To those who wait for news from me via this blog, I am sorry that I have neglected this.  It has been a busy semester of college and I have either felt too busy to write (or think about what to write), or I haven’t know what to write about.  I know there have been things to write about but I haven’t always known how to write about them.  But we’ve just come off a week of mid-semester holidays and we did something worth writing about so here I am again!

Last week, Monday to Wednesday we went away to the Hunter Valley to get away and spend some more time together.  The Hunter Valley, for those who don’t know, is a famous wine region.  And what’s wine without some fancy food?  So there’s also some fancy cheese factories and other things as well.  I’m not really into wine or fancy cheese (give me cheddar or edam any day) but J and I still found some things to do. 

My favourite was our visit to the Hunter Valley Gardens.  Because it cost us to get in we made a day of it.  The step counter on my phone said I’d done over 15,000 steps by the end of the day! 

The Garden is set up as a number of different gardens together in one park (for example, a rose garden, an oriental garden, a formal garden, and so on).  It was a wonderful time to walk around with J and marvel and God’s creation.  So many colours and varieties and ways of shaping them together.  Here are some photos from our time there. 

I got J to imitate this bush!  We marvelled at how well many of the hedges and bushes were shaped and trimmed.  These were some of my favourites:

There was a storybook garden with lots of figures and stories from nurseries rhymes and other places.  I imagine it was a good garden for children who were bored with the rest of the Garden but I found other places much more interesting.  My favourite part was those funny bushes (above).

We also had fun at the Hunter Valley Garden village, which had lots of cute shops and things to try.  J did some wine tasting and we both had some milk and a cookie from the homemade cookie shop.  One afternoon we bought some cheese and had a little picnic of cheese and crackers and fancy spiced pear paste. 

It was a lovely time away together that I think we both needed.  Now we’re back at college and back into the swing of assignments and lectures.  Please pray for us, that we would still find time together, as we enter this busy time. 

Goodbye Claude

Last week, we were driving home from our anniversary dinner.  I was driving because J doesn’t like to drive when he’s had some alcohol.  Part of the drive home involved a long left-turning lane, at an intersection, with a stop sign at the end.  J reminded me of the stop sign so I pressed on the brake.  And then we were jolted forward. 

The car behind us had hit us.  Perhaps he wasn’t expecting me to stop, maybe I did stop too suddenly.  He was following too close behind and maybe he was looking for oncoming traffic like I was, instead of looking at the car in front of him.

I’ve never been in a car accident so I had no idea what to do.  I'm so glad J was with me. The man in the car behind me got out and apologised, and asked me to pull over on the road we were intending to turn onto.  We exchanged details about insurance and license and then went our separate ways.  

After taking the car to the insurance-approved smash repairer it turns out that our car wasn’t worth the money it would cost to fix it.  Or to put it another way, the cost to fix it was more than the car was insured for.  So that means it has been written off, not deemed worth driving anymore.  

Our car was a Peugeot.  J bought it as his first car when he started full-time work.  Since it was French he wanted to name it with a French name and "Claude" was chosen.  We prayed over the car, that it would be used for ministry and its seats shared with friends.  It got us between state capital cities a number of times.  I learnt how to drive a manual in that car.  We’ve used it to help a stranded stranger and to car-pool colleagues.  

We handed Claude in on Wednesday.  It was only fitting that we also had a bit of a wake.  J wanted to buy a croissant or baguette in memoriam, but we couldn’t find any in the bakery we walked into.  So we settled for a crème brûlée and a macaroon.  We ate them at home in Claude’s now empty car space.  

But despite the sadness over losing our car, there are a number of things we are thankful for.  Firstly, we’re glad that this happened during the holidays while the college car-pool isn’t operating.  We’re thankful that it was only a small crash (we were stationary and it was only a small bump) and we weren’t injured.  We’re also thankful for the friends who have let us borrow their car while they are away on holidays.  Another friend has offered us his dad’s old car to use until the registration runs out.  We'll be looking to buy a new car but we’re thankful that we don’t have to rush about it.  

Farewell Claude.  We have many happy memories with you. 

Thankful Thursday

It has been a little while since I’ve posted but this Thankful Thursday series always seems to give me a little push back into writing.  I already posted something earlier today (mostly because it made this post too long so I had to spread it out).  Sometimes I have other things that I want to write about on Thursdays but I have to wait to spread the posts out. We’ve just gone back to college after a week of holidays so I’ll write a little bit about that.  I also want to post about some of the things I’ve been learning about myself in the last few weeks but they’ll wait for another post.

Anyway, here are some things that I’m thankful for this week:

Busy but good holidays
We did a lot in our one week of holidays.  This has left us a bit tired as we started back at college but I don’t think there’s much I would have changed.  The first weekend we flew back home to attend a family wedding and it was lovely to catch up with friends and family there, and to spend some relaxing time with our parents.  We flew under the radar in order to not tire ourselves out, and only organised one catch-up with friends.  We’re sorry friends if you wanted to see us.  Please let me know if you would like to catch up next time we’re home and let me know what you’re up to in the mean time!  I love hearing from friends.

After flying home on Tuesday we readied ourselves to go camping with friends at a spot three hours drive north of Sydney.  We stayed there Wednesday to Friday and had a lovely time relaxing by reading, drawing and knitting (well the drawing and knitting was me not J), sitting around the fire, and doing not much.  On the first night we didn’t have marshmallows to toast over the fire, which was a travesty in my mind.  How can you be camping and sitting around the fire without marshmallows?!  The next day the guys kindly drove the half hour into town to buy some!

Friday afternoon when we got home saw us quickly unpacking the car and re-packing (with the full-size keyboard) to go to a youth conference as part of the music team.  Thankfully that was all we were involved in so we could have some time to relax and get in a bit of college work before term started. 

I loved each of these things that we did but the rush between them was sometimes stressful.  So I’m also thankful for my wonderful husband and his care for me through all of this. 

Wooden floorboards (or simply: no carpet)
If you’ve been paying any attention to the weather in Sydney this week you’d know how the city has been turned into one giant wading pool.  (Actually, as I write this the sky is sunny and the ground dry, hoorah for a reprieve!).  So this week I have been thankful for the wooden floorboards in our house that I don’t have to worry about getting wet as we step inside from the rain.  In fact, our whole house has no carpet.  It’s all floorboards and tiles.  So with the back door leaking a puddle I’m glad I can just leave a towel there to soak it up and not have to worry about drying out wet carpet.

Raincoats
I ran home from college this week!  I’ve posted about it here.  It was rainy and windy and I was so thankful for my raincoat.  It didn’t keep me completely dry but it did keep the wind out so my ears could stay warm.  My ears always ache in the cold wind which makes running unpleasant so I was extremely thankful for warm ears!

What are you thankful for this week?

Our visit to Bridgebane

Today was our first day of term four at college, and while it is good to be back part of me isn’t quite ready for it.  Holidays are never long enough when you’re looking at the end of them.  So I thought I’d relive a bit of our holidays by writing about it and showing some photos. 

We went to Brisbane for four nights to see our friends who recently got married (in Adelaide) and who now live in Brisbane.  We were very thankful to be able to stay with them in their spare room, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to afford to go. 

We left our house via a dash through the rain to our neighbour’s car.  The friends in our community are very generous with lifts to the airport.  I took this photo anticipating a contrast in the weather between here and Brisbane.  But I forget to take any pictures of the weather in Brisbane, and there wasn’t a lot of different during our first few days there!

After we arrived and settled in we went for a walk to Southbank, a section of parkland I suppose you could call it, by catching a free ferry across the river.  Southbank is a very pretty area.  I loved the winding pathway with overhead flowering vines, the community herb and vegetable garden, and the ‘city beach’ was amusing. 

We had a day trip to the Glasshouse mountains and had lunch in a little town there.  I was pleased that we did the thing you’re apparently supposed to do in this town: buy fudge!  From this place of all places.  It made me think of my sister.  She used to say ‘fatty-boombah’, which I image one would become with too much of this fudge.  It was delicious. 

On Monday night I filled in on my friend’s church netball team because they had a few injured players.  It was indoor with nets, which was fun.  I’d never played with nets before.  It made the court feel smaller but the game moved much faster.  I’m that dark blurry WA in the picture because I run so fast… 

One morning we walked up a mountain (big hill that’s called a mountain? it was only 2km) that gave us a great view of the whole city.  Our home city has a mountain like this so this was a familiar activity.  Unfortunately I don’t have a photo of this. 

J decided that the city should be called Bridgebane because of the sheer number of bridges over the river.  The river cuts right through the middle of the city so it’s no wonder.  This picture kind of gives you an idea of what the city is like.

We also had fun on the free ferries, seeing some river-side ‘art’, a visit to the Museum, catching up with our old Greek lecturer and the former student minister at our church. 

We loved spending time with our friends, catching up on each others’ lives and exploring the city they are making their home in.  Thanks for welcoming us friends, and sharing so much with us.

Thankful Thursday

This week is college holidays so it’s been different than recent weeks.  Here’s what I’m thankful for this week:

Safe flights
We flew to Brisbane and back this week to see some friends.  Both times when we landed I thanked God for the safe flight.  I don’t always do this, but I was recently reminded in one of my Doctrine lectures to be more aware of God’s providence in all things.  But I am also a bit of a worrier and in what other form of transportation are you as reminded of the things that could go wrong than on a plane flight?  I particularly get a little nervous when they go through the safety procedures.  On the way home we were sitting in front of the exit row and got to hear the special instructions the people seated there were given about pulling open the exit hatch for emergency evacuation.  That makes for extra nerves!  I’ve been in the exit row once, seated right next to the door, and I was travelling alone.  I prayed then that nothing would go wrong so I wouldn’t have to lift the 15kg door and throw it out of the aircraft.  But, as I said, everything was fine so I thanked God for keeping us all safe. 

The generosity of friends
We flew to Brisbane to spend some time with friends from home who live there now.  We stayed with them in their place in the city and really enjoyed spending time with them.  They picked us up from the airport, fed us, showed us around and shared their life with us.  More to come later about our holiday there.  Suffice to say, J and I are both thankful for our friendship with this couple, and their generosity towards us this week. 

A new look
As you can already see I’ve created a new look for my blog.  I’ve been wanting to do this for a while.  Though I don’t feel like this current look is particularly inspired it feels less kitschy than the old look so I’m happy with it for now.  What do you think of it?  I’m thankful for some time today to fiddle with these details.

What are you thankful for this week?

Late Thankful Thursday

I’m sorry that this one is late.  Yesterday was full of house cleaning and friends so I had no time to sit down and write this.  But here is is, better late than never.

Here’s what I’m thankful for this week:

Our time in Adelaide
We had a wonderful time in Adelaide, catching up with some family and friends.  We didn’t get to see everyone, and for that we are disappointed, but this did mean we didn’t completely tire ourselves out hopping from one appointment to another.  It was lovely to be back in our familiar places, hanging out with old friends, having meals with our families.  We are both looking forward to returning to Adelaide after we’ve finished at college. 

Being home again
But as nice as it was to be in Adelaide with friends and family, it’s also nice to be home, in our own bed, with our full wardrobe, our own bathroom.  Not that I didn’t appreciate the spaces that our parents made available to us.  There’s just something about being in your own home, where your things are packed away into cupboards and not a suitcase.  Now that we’re home I’ve been watching some TV, reading and relaxing before we go back to college next week. 

Time with friends
Yesterday we spent the afternoon with friends in town, walking through some of the Botanic Gardens and then visiting the Art Gallery.  Though we’ve been here for a year and a half, we still haven’t seen many of these things of this city.  Afterwards we had our friends over to our place for dinner.  It was lovely spending time with these friends.  They shared with us things we didn’t know about the Gardens or the Gallery.  They we’re patient with us as we finished preparing dinner, and we just enjoyed chatting and sharing our lives.  We are thankful for these friends.

What are you thankful for this week?

Thankful Thursday

Here are some things that I am thankful for this week:

Holidays with friends
This week J and I are up in the Blue Mountains with some friends from college.  We've spent the week so far sitting in front of the fire and listening to the 'cyclonic' wind outside.  We've ventured a few trips outside: once to a gingerbread cafe, once for op-shopping, and once for a short walk (which I didn't go for because I had some work to do).  We've completed two 1000 piece puzzles, both without a picture to refer to.  We've watched a little bit of TV, enjoyed everyone's cooking (but especially S's baking).  Many of these friends are the same ones we went away with in Spring last year (you can read that post here).  I love these friends, the conversations that we have and the care that we show each other.  This has been a wonderful holiday. 

Starting the third jugsaw puzzle

Tea
Many of us have brought tea away with us on holiday so we've been able to try different teas throughout the week.  There's something so lovely about curling up on a couch with friends, sharing a pot of tea.  The weather being so cold, has made it feel even more cozy than normal. 

The internet on my phone
Since we're away on holidays we don't have our home WiFi.  I've had a few things that I've needed to do this week that require the internet, and so I'm very thankful that I can use my phone to do these things.  Technology has progressed so much, even just in my lifetime and so often we take it for granted what we can do with it.  So I'm thankful for this blessing this week. 

What are you thankful for this week?

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for:

Exams are over now!
This week was exam week, and though we second years only had two exams I feel like I’ve been on the back foot the whole time.  I started study week with a cold and it lasted longer than that so my study has been slow and struggled.  So I’m thankful that now as I post this exams are finished!

Two wonderful years of marriage
On Monday J and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary.  We had an exam in the morning so we left the celebrations for the evening (and prepared during the afternoon!).  J made me a lovely dinner (chicken schnitzel and apple sauce) and dessert (salted nutella-chocolate tarts!).  He set the table with a new table cloth and placemats (all cotton, as the traditional second anniversary gift) and we exchanged presents after dinner.  I love how well he knows me, and the love and care he has shown me over the last two years.  Thanks for a wonderful marriage, my husband!

The Reformation
Monday’s exam was Church History, and we’ve been studying the Reformation this year.  I didn’t enjoy studying history at school, but I’ve loved church history at college!  I’m thankful that the church was reformed and as a result of it we have the Bible in our native languages (and we’re allowed to read it!), and we don’t trust in our own merit to save us but rely on the grace of God that through our faith we are saved.  Thank you God for the Reformation!

What are you thankful for this week?

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for these things:

A hen’s weekend in Adelaide
I’ve already talked about it here.  It was lovely to go to Adelaide and spend some time with my family as well as some friends for the hen’s event.  I am thankful that we had the money to fly me there for the weekend, and that my family was so generous with picking me up and dropping me at the airport, as well as with quick dinners, gifts and hot chocolates.  I’m thankful for the friendships I have with the girls I spent the weekend with and the fun that we had together.  I’m thankful that my dear friend is getting married and that I am able to support and help her as she prepares for her marriage. 

Studying with my husband
I love that J and I are studying the same course and almost all the same subjects.  This not only means that we can study together and help each other out, but our holidays also happen at the same time and we’re both really looking forward to them! 

My women’s Bible study group
Our college organises women’s Bible studies for the female students and wives of students.  I’m in one of the groups that meets at our college community.  So I only have to walk over to the next block of units to get to Bible study!  I’ve been in one of these groups since we got here and have loved it.  It has been a great way of getting to know some of the other wives in our community here, and a great encouragement to me.  All of the women are godly and switched-on theologically.  This week was the last week that we met for this term and so we had an end of term party of sorts.  We each brought along a recommendation.  More on that later!

What are you thankful for this week?

A week with old friends

This past week we’ve had a couple from home stay with us.  I’ll just call them A and R for short.  They are very close friends of ours; both were in our wedding party and we were in theirs.  They drove over to see some of her family and spend some time with us; to see where we were living and taste a bit of our world. 

Now when I say that they were staying with us, I mean that loosely.  After all our place has only three rooms (bedroom, small study, dining and living combined), plus a bathroom and kitchen.  But we live in a wonderful community of college students who lend out their houses for occasions such as these when they themselves are away on holidays.  A and R got to stay in a place in the unit block next to ours. 

While they were here we took them to the zoo, showed them our college and fed them King Street thai, went to the Rocks Markets and brought them to our church.  They also went to the Powerhouse Museum and saw The Lion King Musical.  They met some of our friends here in our college community and we played a lot of board games. 

It was wonderful to have them here with us and show them a bit of what our life is like here.  Now that they’re gone we’ve hit the books hard with three holiday assignments to complete over the next two weeks!

I'll be home for Christmas

We're back home for Christmas and spending it with family.  It's lovely to be home, on familiar streets and seeing old friends.

J and I helped to decorate my parent's Christmas tree on Sunday afternoon and we listened to Christmas CDs like we always do.

This tree is taken from the bottom of my parent's block of land.  We've been using a 'home grown' Christmas tree for many years now.  Dad said that this tree was one year's worth of growth, and it still almost reaches the ceiling!

It was fun to see a lot of our old decorations, particularly the ones that my sister or I made as kids.  Here's a few:

J and I were both spoilt this Chritmas but we were reminded of the greatest gift of all and the reason that we gather and celebrate this day.  The gift of Jesus to take away our sins is the greatest gift of all.

The way God gave this gift to the world was so unexpected.  Jesus came into the world in humble and scandalous circumstances; he was born as a helpless baby to an unmarried girl in a lowly stable.  He didn't come with power and might as many would have expected.  Yet this baby would grow up to be the one who took the sins of the world upon himself so that we who trust and believe in him could be right before God.  Jesus and what he accomplished really is the greatest gift of all.  This is why we celebrate Christmas day.

The finish, the fun and the farewells

College is finished for the year.  The exams are over, the parties have happened and we're now on holidays!  Here's a bit of an update about what's been happening these last few days. 

This semester seemed to be much more intense than first semester.  We had what seemed to be a number of 'big' subjects this semester, with lots to remember for the exams.  I'll write soon about some of the things I've learnt this semester at college. 

Our last exam was Old Testament on Thursday morning.  It was a relief to be finished after that.  The exam was much better than I thought it was going to be which was a nice way to end the exam period.  Then the parties began.

On Thursday night we went to the Graduation dinner at college because I'm a graduating student.  We hung out with the other graduating diploma students who were similarly dressed and not quite as formal as the fourth years (no one told us there was a dress code...). 

Friday was 'Final Friday' at college.  We had a community chapel that spouses and children were invited to and then shared a lunch afterwards.  Someone from each year level spoke briefly about their year level and the things we were thankful for. 

In the afternoon and evening we had a party with the other first years who live around us.  We had a dance party with the kids (well the women danced and the men sat in the other room drinking and talking).  We ordered take-away and then after dinner we played a game called 'Times Up'.  Most people know it here as 'The Hat Game'.  You play in pairs with a stack of cards that have book titles, TV shows, songs and other things written on them and you have to get your partner to guess what is on the card.  In the first round you can describe it like in 'Articulate'.  In the second round you can use only one word, and in the third round you act it out like Charades.  You play until the stack of cards is exhausted and each round uses the same cards so part of the trick is remembering what's there. 

On Saturday we had the end of year party with all the college students in our community.  There are twenty families living here so it is a decent number when we all get together.  I was making macaroons for the party.  My first batch which I made on Friday afternoon didn't go so well.  The mixture was too runny so it came out of the piping bag too fast, spread too much on the tray, and didn't rise properly.  I was a bit disappointed in them. So on Saturday morning I made some more, making sure that I added a bit more of the dry ingredients so the mixture wouldn't be a runny.  This batch thankfully worked much better (but I still served both at the party).  Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of them but you all know what macaroons are supposed to look like, imagine them like that!

I spend some of the afternoon looking after two children of one of the other students.  Apparently the younger one and I bonded because even when dad had come back at dinner time (community dinner as part of the party) she came to sit with me as we ate.  It has been lovely to be able to look after kids in this community and be helpful to their parents.  They love that those of us without children are free to do things such as baby sit and we (well at least me, I don't presume to speak for anyone else), I love doing it: helping them and spending time with their kids.  So BHG, if you need a baby-sitter I love doing it. 

The evening's activities were the highlight.  Some of the wives had organised a sort of trivia night and we played in teams based on our year at college.  Needless to say it was hilarious.  It was also a time to farewell the students who had finished college and were leaving the community.  We heard about where they were going, what they would miss about our community, and what they were looking forward to in their new job and community.  It will be sad to see them leave because they have all been so welcoming of us, so helpful and most of all such great examples of godliness. 

After all of this we had an open mic time for anyone to come up and share something.  People talked about what they loved about our community, gave advice about getting involved and what to expect next year when new people move in, the ways they have been loved, and reflections on their time here.  I didn’t get up to speak (still being a bit too shy and disliking public speaking), but I heartily agreed with what everyone said.  I feel truly blessed to live in such a community. 

Growing plants and friendships in Spring

I wasn't sure about posting about what we did during Spring Break (yes that's really what they call it, sounds so American).  I know one purpose of this blog is to let you know what we're doing, but I felt like I would be writing a diary entry and I didn't want to do that.  But this week, now that we're back at college, I've been reflecting on our break and thought I would share what we did and my thoughts about Spring Break.  

There were a few things that I wanted to get done during the break, and not all of them happened, but I'm still pretty happy with the way I spent my time.  It was only one week, apparently typical of most tertiary institutes here, but it felt odd (and insufficient!) to us who are used to two weeks break between terms or mid-semester (but perhaps we were spoilt).

  

For the first few days we pottered around, went to the shops a couple of times, slept in and generally did whatever we wanted to do.  I started a new project that I'm pretty excited about.  We bought some potting mix and I used some pots I'd gotten from one of our neighbours who was giving them away, and I planted some herbs (parsley and coriander, and we already had some basil growing on the windowsill).  

I've been wanting to grow our own herbs for a while now because I'm sick of buying a bunch from the supermarket and watching most of it go limp because we don't use it all fast enough.  I also planted the end from a leek we had eaten and a small spring onion in the hope that they would grow.  The herbs haven't started growing yet, but we can see a new leek starting!

The best thing about the holidays though was that we went away with some friends from college.  We went to the south coast and stayed in the parent's holiday house of the friend who organised the holiday.  

I was really touched to be invited.  I wasn't sure that we were good enough friends with anyone at college to be invited to come on holidays with them, except perhaps our college neighbours in first year with us.  So it was really nice to be thought of and invited.

We had a lovely time away.  J went sea-kayaking with the other guy who came down while most of the rest of us went for a cold walk along the beach.  We had a surprise early birthday dinner, took silly photos on the beach, played games of Bible Taboo (the clues have to relate to the Bible), played a Greek vocab 'game' (which was just taking turns to give the English translation), drank lots of tea, and went for a bush walk that ended in a tunnel crawl to cliffs overlooking the ocean.  It was lovely to see friends outside of college, to relax together and get to know some people a bit better.  

I've noticed that since getting back to college this week, even though it was only two days that we spend away with this group of people, it has made me feel like we're better friends already.  I don't know what it is about going away together that does this, but I'm really glad it happened.  I was unsure about if I would be able to make deep friendships here, but I've discovered that I've needed friends here.  To my delight I think this has been happening, slowly but surely.  

Habit or Procrastination?

I finally had a haircut today.  I think it may have been a year since my last cut.  You just can't really tell with curls, which is a blessing and a curse.  It means that to look at my hair the split ends are hidden in all the texture.  But those same split ends cause nightmares of knots. 

I had been thinking of getting my hair cut for a while now, I just couldn't work up the energy to decide where to go.  I have to find a new hairdresser now that we've moved.  But this week J and I are back in our hometown so I booked an appointment to have my hair cut at my old hairdressers.  I never should have left it for this long.  It feels nice again, my head is lighter and the curls form better. 

A view of a river

We just got back from first year weekend away.  It was held at a conference site just out of Nowra on the Shoalhaven river, roughly a two hour drive from Sydney (though of course Sydney is so large that it really depends on where in Sydney you're coming from).

We got there very late on Friday night so it was dark and the view was hidden from sight.  This is what I woke up to the next morning!

A trip to the mountains

We decided to go away for a couple of nights to the Blue Mountains during our one week of holidays.  It was a great way for us to relax and not do any work (well we only took our languages study with us), and it’s only in hindsight that I’ve realised how good it was for us go away. 

The day we arrived was cold, wet and misty; the perfect winter’s day to curl up indoors with a blanket.  We were staying near the Three Sisters (rock formation), and we wondered if we’d get a chance to see them at all through the fog that was surrounding us.  Thankfully it cleared up the next day when we went for a walk. 

We did a couple of walks to waterfalls and a lot of op-shopping.  I finally found the fourth and final book in a fantasy series I have.  I’ve been looking for it in op-shops for a few years now and I saw it in two shops there!

There’s not much more to tell so here are a few pictures instead.  There may be more to come later.  (Hover over them for descriptions)