Moving

Alright, so we have moved. Not far, just down the road, but man is it still a pain in the tush! We have swapped one Northwest sounding address (Cascade RD) for another (Washington ST). We are still in South Hobart, which means spitting distance to the Cascade Brewery - woohoo!

I have taken pics of the house (empty of course), but have misplaced the camera. Gavin and I are rockin it on camp chairs at the old house, since there is no power at the new place. We have a fun night of beer, pizza on paper plates, and boggle/tv ahead of us. I am not looking forward to the cleaning that awaits us tomorrow.
Now for the pictures (granted the house is not completely set up, but hey):



The view from our living room!




The Living Room



Kitchen



Bathroom




Master Bedroom (Purple wall, brown bedding = Chocolate Box)

Crafty

I have been really productive lately when it comes to scrapbooking (not much else though). I took a class at my local scrap shop, we did 12 layouts in 5 hours...well almost. I had to finish 3 of them at home, but I have to say that quantity is still pretty impressive. Here are a few of the pages (sorry for the awkward shots, I don't have a scanner):

**************************************************

I have also started to scrap my 2004 France/England trip- FINALLY. I guess late is better than never. I am really happy with these Paris pages, the style is fitting the scene well.

Brother

I have been a little behind on the updates, so here are a couple! First, my brother came to Australia to travel around and of course visit us. Billy spent a month in Oz, touring Sydney, Byron Bay, and Tasmania. From what I could tell he absolutely loved it. Granted, when he got to Tassie the pace was a bit (ALOT) slower than he was used to in Sydney. Here are a few highlights from Billy's visit with us:
Billy and Michelle on top of Mt. Wellington - luckily it was a clear day, and we could see the view!


A super cute pademelon at Mt. Field



Billy in leg irons at Port Arthur.


Billy and Michelle at Wineglass Bay- a very nice, but hot day.

Billy's visit was tons of fun! I know that he is looking forward to coming back. Hope these pictures entice the rest of you to visit.

I Spy...

Ok, here is a deviation from a blog focused on Gavin and me and our Australia adventures. I am spying a few cute things on the crafty sites that I frequent. I am also noticing that many crafters are having alot of success lately- I hope it's because people feel the need to buy local, reuse/recycle/upcycle, support independents, etc. Whatever the reason, I love it. I find myself falling asleep into dreams about new ideas and crafts that I want to try. I can't stop thinking about sewing at the moment, and I really wish I didn't leave my vintage Singer sewing machine back in the states...but I also think it may have blown up with its dodgy plug if I tried to adapt it to Oz. Anyway, I am scouting out a new machine. Well, new to me - I would like ot buy a preloved machine, as I am no expert and I just don't need the fancy shmancy buttons and doodads on the new machines. Ok, so back to my point for this post. I just felt like making a random list of neat things that have caught my eye on some craft sites and blogs.

• Her Library Adventures creates these very cute vintagy paper crafts and brooches. I love this style for cards. It inspires me to use up all that lace and garb that my grandma gave me last time I visited.
  

• I really like this awesome idea from Bitter Betty Blogs. So cool! I am already sketching out what little pockets and straps I need in my craft suitcase. Time to hit the op shops to hunt out a suitable suitcase.
  

• I like this idea. Lolly Chops has taken something that almost everyone has around...punches and heaps of magazines. I think I will adapt it to some shadowbox type cards - I have all these punches of different shapes for my scrapbooking, but I don't really use them. I will have to experiment a bit.

OK, that is it for now. I think.... Thank you, wonderful crafty ladies that have inspired and intrigued me!
I just unpacked all of my craft stuff, and I can't wait to start and/or finish some projects. Goodnight. :)

Kayaking at Coles Bay

Gavin and I went kayaking on Sunday. We drove up the coast, stopping for lunch at The Ugly Duck Out cafe (http://www.theuglyduckout.com.au/) .....so yummy! I ate the BEST grilled mushroom and tabbouleh sandwich, and Gavin had an equally tasty lamb burger. Very friendly service, and the cafe makes every attempt to be organic and "green", and is recognized by Green Table Australia. We will definitely be back and bring guests :)

On our way to Coles Bay the rain and lightening followed us from Swansea all the way to Coles Bay where we were staying. This was worrying, but we were hopeful that the morning would be clear enough to paddle. The hostel we stayed at was fine, as we had our own room. Clean and quiet, nothing to shout about though. The rain continued all night, making it a bit hard to sleep.

We woke up to blue skies and sunshine! Yay! We stopped at the bakery for croissants and then walked across the road to the boat launch. We met two very nice guides and had only one other couple in the kayaking group. The morning was beautiful and the water was glassy calm. The paddle trip was so nice, and we saw lots of birds - even a sea eagle.

We stopped for morning tea - coffee and cookies. We saw the pink granite quarry and learned a little bit about the Freycinet Lodge. The entire time on the bay, not a single boat came through until the end of our trip.

After the kayak trip, we had lunch at The Oyster Catcher. Very tasy fish and chips for Gavin and calamari and salad for me. A great view of the Hazards and a hot cuppa coffee. After lunch we stopped at the Freycinet National Park visitor center, bought a two year parks pass, and headed to the light house for the view.

What a fantastic weekend trip! Gavin and I are so lucky to have so many beautiful places to experience around us.

Birthday Boy

Gavin's birthday was Wednesday, and we had tons of fun! At lunch time, we went and test drove the Nissan Pulsar again. Gavin decided to buy it...funny because this was the first car we drove a few weeks ago, but didn't want to make a decision so quickly. So, Gavin got a car for his birthday, it's kind of like all of those ridiculously unrealistic car commercials at Christmas with the giant red bows on top of the $60,000 car - but not, since our is slightly used, far under $60,000, and sans giant red bow!

As per our usual, we went to the pub quiz at the Duke for dinner, drinks, and a good butt kicking. We didn't come in last, but second to last. After all that fun, we headed home for cake and pressies! Gavin liked all of his gifts and the cats liked the paper and ribbons. Chocolate cake was tasty, and a good way to end the day. The big birthday fun happens this weekend. We are going to Freycinet to go kayaking!!!

You Want Me to Drink THAT?

Ok, so at 9:30 this morning our water went off. No reason, no crazy weather, no unpaid bills (no one pays a water bill here in Hobart), just empty hissing pipes. I found the city council phone number for the water department and got through to a wonderfully nice woman. The city had to do unplanned water mane work. Ok good, we didn't miss an obvious note on the door or letter in the mail warning us. The woman said the water would return at 10:45, so at 11am I check and yep it was on alright.

BUT, it looked like this:

Holy crap, that's nasty! Luckily it did not smell or anything, just really mucky and silty filled water. I was so pleased when we moved to Hobart to find the tap water completely drinkable, clear and clean. I want my nice water back now please!

After running the bath for about an hour, as suggested by the nice water lady, the color did not change (for better or worse).
One more call, the same instructions and no new information about when the mane will be flushed. I tried again, and the water was still going through a range of browns - the bath tub brown to apple cider.


At first, when the water comes out of the tap, it doesn't look so bad. But, when I fill a glass, it has a not so great hue to it that I wouldn't consider drinkable in the least:


On the right, spring water from a bladder that we originally bought for camping. On the left, the lightest, clearest tap water that I have seen today.


I called again. This time, I got a guy, not as equally nice, but he was decent. He put a report in to the work crew to get someone to flush the system closer to our house, and said he would call when that happened or when he got confirmation that it was going to happen. He didn't call back. Two hours after talking to him, I called again. Another nice woman, and more instructions to flush the pipes by running the bath. I have to figure it out by 4:00 she said, the work crew ends for the day at that point, we are out of luck.