The party is over

Hi readers!

I am back.  I am blogging AND I am attaching lots of photos from our wonderful holiday to Canberra, Burrawang, Orange and Noosa.  They are not in any specific order...

Sunshine Beach, where I ran to one morning, from Noosa Sound

Now this…. This, my friends, is Spud's corned beef lunch from Lynham's, an amazing diner in Crookwell, NSW.  What a culinary treasure!  The restaurant is in the main street of this sleepy little country town.  We walked in with no idea of what we would find.  How can I describe it?  It was like walking in to my nan's country kitchen.  There was a group of women in a knitting circle in one corner, another ancient woman tucked in next to the heater with a pot of tea in another corner.  The place is owned and run by an eldery couple, who greeted us, he in his cardigan and necktie.  The menu consisted of such homely delights as chops, toasted sandwiches and … corned beef!!  In the window were the home-made scones and lemon tarts.  It was BRILLIANT and deliciously tasty - just like gran used to make!

Google mapping Lynham's Diner, Crookwell

From corned beef to delicious cheese platters in Orange…. figs, raisins, candied pears and delicious, scrumptious CHEESE!  Bring it on.

My god-daughter and her mum

The view from our apartment in Noosa - looking down the Noosa Sound.  Absolute bliss!

Noosa River

The turning leaves in Canberra.  The colours are sensational! We rented bikes and rode around Lake Burley Griffin for a couple of hours.  Neither of us could get enough of the leaves and the colours of autumn, that we just don't get here in Queensland.  And the smell of them and the sound of them scrunching beneath our feet!  Heaven! 

The smell of this rose in Berrima was divine.

At Cunningham Falls, near Burrawang.  It was absolutely gorgeous!

Mr Ed was visiting Orange too, so we had a chat

The disgusting mess we made at the Royal Wedding.  Well…. not AT the wedding but after watching it on telly for several hours at Star City Casino in Sydney.  What a hole that place is.  The Chinese restaurant was okay though some of the food was undiscernable.  However, most people at Star City don't strike me as giving a fig about food.  All they seem to care about is their poker chips! 

Speaking of the Royal Wedding, this is Spud's grand-daughter, Pumpkin, dolled up for the event ...

… and this, of course, is one of my favourite photos from the day

Afternoon storm crossing Noosa Sound and the view from our balcony.  It was quite spectacular.  I was unable to capture the bolts of lightning shooting through but the rain that followed was torrential!

Noosa main beach, taken one day last week.  Looks like something from a travel brochure! 

The Big Pelican on the foreshore at Noosaville, by the river.  I used it as my 1km marker when I ran some one km reps last week.  Unfortunately, we didn't see as many pelicans as we'd like.  Apparently there is a one-winged pelican that is fed every afternoon at 4pm but we didn't see him.

My holiday sandals.  Well, you can't really go to the seaside without a pair of glitzy, crazy, beaded thongs can you?  They are actually remarkably comfortable...

Crazy, crazy, crazy!  WHO pays this sort of money for wine?  Arrrrggghhhh!  Can it REALLY be that good?  I'd rather a one-way ticket to Spain.  

My "arty" bark photo - taken in an amazing garden at Sutton Forest called "Red Cow Farm".  It was sensational and very reminiscent of an English country house garden.

I'm afraid I am really unable to write much more currently.  I ran 32kms this morning (my furthest ever.  See my blog, "GiddyUp Jen" for the gory details) and I am in considerable discomfort.  On top of this, I am devastated at the fact that I have to return to work and training and B-Paying bills etc.  In other words, the party is over.  All I have are my memories!  It was such a super holiday!  I recommend an Australian road trip to everyone.  There are so many places to discover and what better way to do it than in Toyota Corolla from Hertz?  I will give you a few details about some of the great places we stayed, visited and ate.  Here goes, like a travel feature sort of thing, right?

CANBERRA:    The Diamant Hotel - found it on Wotif.com and it was brilliant!  Great location and not too expensive and funky with loads of atmosphere.  We ate dinner one night at Flint, right behind the hotel with delicious food and great service.  We rented bikes from Mr Spokes and rode around Lake Burley Griffin, followed by a cheese toastie in the little cafe opposite, on the lake.

BOWRAL, BURRAWANG. ROBERTSON:  We had a delicious lunch at Wild Food in Bong Bong Street, Bowral and enjoyed browsing the Brown Book Shop.  There are lots of little quirky shops to see in the Southern Highlands and I can't remember them all!  Also, you mustn't miss The Big Potato in Robertson, home of famous artists, musicians and writers - obviously inspired by this amazing sculpture...  

We stayed with some friends who had two chicks in a box in their lounge room.  They have a wonderful house but I'm afraid I can't give you their address because I am pretty sure they don't want heaps of house guests! 

ORANGE:  We stayed at The Black Sheep Inn, a converted shearing shed about 10mins drive from town.  It was excellent too.  We had a little dietary "lash-out" and went to Lolli Redini for a sensational dinner one night and another night we went to Union Bank wine bar, where we met a couple of very interesting characters!  In fact, overheard from a girl's night out table, "I was loading the sheep when you called this morning".  Now, you don't hear that often in the city do you?  The shopping in Orange is super, with lots of interesting little stores.  We liked Anything Grows for it's garden stuff, plants and also it's cafe with scrumptious treats.  There was also an Essential Ingredient there, which they don't even have in Brisbane! 

So, the holiday is O.V.E.R and I am back at work and I just can't stop thinking about how gorgeous regional NSW is - and Noosa too.  Basically, anywhere that's not here in my usual & routine life....  Spud & I keep scanning realestate.com.au to look at houses for sale!  Big sigh....