Home for the northern summer to a beautiful, mild winter in Jervis Bay. What a blessing that we were home for nine weeks....so many unexpected things happened to keep us on our toes!
Plans for the long awaited celebration of my mother's 70 birthday were thrown into disarray when she was rushed to hospital with a bowel obstruction! After surgery, a heart scare, an unexpected stay in intensive care, and an infection to round it all off, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief and finally gathered at the Butter Factory in Pyree for a wonderful party.
Dean's parents visited us from Ohio for two weeks in July and unfortunately on their day of arrival, Dean's father had a mishap and broke his ankle. After numerous visits to the emergency room he spent the entire time with his feet up in our living room contemplating the inexpensive Australian health system.
After these family health dramas Dean and I enjoyed a few days in Canberra visiting with friends. What a great city! We loved the Vanity Fair Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery (what an amazing building) and were very impressed with the Museum of Australian Democracy. We enjoyed evenings out with friends at city restaurants and were thrilled to catch up with some fab friends from Tokyo!
It's always so good to spend time with family and friends and we certainly had plenty of wonderful moments sharing meals, drives, hikes and shopping trips.
We hiked with friends out to Mt Bushwalker in Morton National Park. Located on Little Forest Plateau west of Milton, the track runs from the Tianjara Fire Trail to the Clyde River canyon rim. It's a relatively easy walk of about 7km with spectacular views and beautiful flora and fauna to enjoy.
Another highlight this winter was discovering a fabulous vineyard and restaurant near Milton.
Cupitts Winery is a delightful place - beautiful views, food and wine. We just had to go back a second time and share it with more of our friends!
We had such beautiful weather this winter. The bay sparkled every day. Dean swam almost every day!
The last few weeks of our break were very sad. Our beloved dog Chester became ill and we had to make the agonising decision to euthanize him. We don't really know what was wrong, but he was unable to stand and walk anymore. It was so hard to hold him and watch him put his head down and fall asleep for the very last time... He was such a beautiful boy, a well travelled dog, loved by many. My heart is broken and I will miss him always. He is buried in our backyard amongst the lavender.
During our final week we enjoyed a family dinner at Hungry Duck in Berry. Chef David Campbell (previously at Wockpool, Tetsuyas and Billy Kwong) serves up beautiful modern Asian food, much of which is organic and locally grown. Very yummy and well worth a visit!
Our last days were spent cleaning out the garage and creating a new space for a laundry, shower and toilet. As we left, the plumbers were busily finishing up and the tiler and electrician were still to complete their work. Can't wait to see the end result.
Before we left Australia we were excited to sign a building contract for the construction of a covered deck extension to the back of our house. We are looking forward to enjoying the finished product when we return for Christmas and some lazy beach days!
Summer vacation is over... how quickly the time passed. It was so wonderful to be home again in Australia, even if it was winter! My bird friends greeted us daily on the back verandah, the kookaburras laughed, the last of the roses in the the garden bloomed, the wattle was in full flower and the gum trees smelled as wonderful as ever!. Blissful, lazy days spent reading the paper and catching up on all my favourite aussie magazines. Walks with Chester, savouring longed-for-foods again and special moments spent with friends and family.... all too brief!
Posts
All Comments
