A while ago I joined the Blogbagswap organised by the lovely
Mijk who was also my partner in the swap. Above is the gorgeous
bag she made me, based on the look of my blog. I was touched
when I read about how she thought about, designed and made
my bag, with so much thought and effort. Read her post here.
(And here´s the bag I made for her).It´s one of the most
beautiful gifts I have ever received and I am amazed at how
well she knows me even though we´ve never met. Thankyou Mijk!
The little green cat that´s been hanging from my fridge door since it
arrived really puts a smile on my face. It was made by Ihanna who
has recently gotten her shop up and running so check it out! I think
there may be some more of those cute cats available too if you´re quick!
As for my own crafting efforts, I have been bitten by the sock bug - if
I´d known they were that easy to knit I would have started years ago!
I am going to knit all the socks I need for the coming winter and am
thinking of making socks for all my friends this Christmas.
I walked into a patchwork shop in Berry, Australia while on holiday
there and fell in love with a display of pale blue and red fabrics. I have
decided to make a whole range of pillows and bags in this colour
combination and above you can see the first one.
I have also decided to tackle a few more things on my list of 101 things
in 1001 days...paint the guest room and paint the kitchen. More on that
next time!

On my list of 101 things in 1001 days:
45.Knit a pair of socks.
DONE! And it was much easier than I thought.
If you´d like to knit your own, check out this site.

UPDATE: 101 things in 1001 days

While on Magnetic Island I crossed 2 things off my list
82.Watch the sunrise on Magnetic Island.
83.Swim nude.
And on the way back I bought myself a present for my 40th Birthday
87.Buy an ipod.
I have only had time to download a few photos on it but I will sit
down soon and get to number88. Download music and podcasts onto Ipod.
Looking through my list just now I see that although I´ve accomplished quite a few things, there´s still a lot to do. I turned 40 while I was in Australia and birthdays always have me thinking about reaching goals and new stages in my life. This Birthday I acknowledged that I am very happy. I have come a long way these past 8 months and blogging has certainly helped me to appreciate myself and the life that I´ve created here in Austria just by seeing it through the eyes of positive, unselfish people who I have met here. The critical, unaccepting people I know cannot affect me and weigh me down the way they used to. I have become a lot stronger within myself.
Creating lovely things that bring others joy has given me real satisfaction and soon I´ll be tackling
31.Start an online shop for bags and pillows and other things made of fabric.
I have a collection of bags, accessories and pillows in the making and hope to have my Etsy shop set up in September. This is only possible because I finally had the courage to reduce my working hours and find more time for the things I love to do. I finally made time for exercise and stopped trying to feed my hunger for life and love with food - these are things I never thought I´d be able to accomplish. So, at 40, I am proud to say I feel great and life is good!

Sydney!

Sydney where I used to work, Bondi Beach where I used to live, Watson´s Bay where I used to go for long walks to get my head clear. Nothing´s changed, still as beautiful and alive as ever. It´s always amazing to me that life goes on, day in day out, with or without me.

Green Island

We were lucky enough to spend a whole day on the Great Barrier Reef during our stay in Queensland and it was everything I expected it to be and more. Unfortunately we didn´t have an underwater camera so the best memories of our snorkelling trip are in our heads.
We left Cairns for the 1 hour boat trip to Green Island feeling great but the sea-sickness got to us all and when we arrived on Green Island we were feeling pretty green ourselves! This was quickly forgotten though after getting our snorkelling gear on and getting our heads under water. I could never have imagined that there really is such life under the surface. We saw thousands of vibrantly coloured fish and coral, stingrays, giant turtles and the boys even saw a reef shark! I´m glad I didn´t - my fear of sharks increased by 100% after watching a movie called "Open water" but the water on the reef wasn´t deep so I felt quite safe. The boys got up real close to one of the giant turtles, close enough to touch one and hold on for a short swim - it was amazing! Green Island is a lovely place, with a beautiful pool right in the middle and lovely, leafy walkways to the beach and facilities. I was reluctant to leave after only a day trip - there is something about island life that really appeals to me.

On the road between Townsville and Cairns

After 10 days on Magnetic Island we said a sad farewell and caught the ferry back to Townsville where we picked up hire cars and started the drive north. We drove through Ingham and made stops in Halifax and Lucinda where crocodile warning signs kept us out of the water. We drove past sugar cane fields and saw fields of banana trees that had been shredded by cyclone Larry some months before and many homes we drove past still had parts of their rooves missing.

I grew up in Sydney and the climate and landscape there are very different to that of Northern Queensland. The mix of rainforest, green hills and beaches all in close vacinity of each other was beautiful. It seemed like old times to me - being on an a backpack adventure but with the family this time. We didn´t book any accomodation in advance so it was a challenge to find accomodation at our first overnight stop Mission Beach.

The next morning, after an amazing "trucker´s breakfast" at a café next door to our hotel we continued north and made a stop at the lovely Josephine Falls and then backtracked a few km and drove through Wooroonooran National Park, along the Atherton Tablelands and on to Lake Eacham. After a short petrol stop in Gordonvale we continued on to Palm Grove where the accomodation prices forced us back in the direction of Cairns. We found affordable appartments at Trinity Beach where we made ourselves at home for the next 3 days. It was a great base for heading off to the rainforest and The Great Barrier Reef - more on the reef next time.

Aussie Food

I love food, especially while I´m on holidays! Í don´t count calories or watch the fat content of what I´m eating because I am always on the go, walking everywhere, so I don´t put on weight while on holidays either. There is so much available in Australia when it comes to food that it´s overwhelming and everything´s so much cheaper than here in Europe.
While on Magnetic Island we enjoyed seafood, pasta and the good old Aussie BBQ which we usually prepared ourselves after shopping at IGA or Food Works. Erich and I spent one afternoon at Picnic Bay where the ferry used to come over from Townsville and we found a lovely bar/café which had beautiful cheese cake and mud cake. While in Townsville we had the best Club Sandwhich ever in a restaurant at the end of the shopping mall and the kids ate lovely, crisp potato wedges with sweet chilly dip. We went to the HQ Aquarium and walked all around the city and The Strand, played soccer with the kids in the lovely park and in the evening we stopped at an Italian Trattoria and ate mussels before catching the last ferry back to the island and falling into bed exhausted and happy.
On one of the many overcast days on the island we decided to go for a bush walk and what looked like a short stroll on the map ended up being a 3 hour walk through bushland followed by a 5km march on a hilly road to get back to the bus stop. We walked from Horseshoe Bay to Balding Bay and Radical Bay and back to the main road. It took all our energy to keep the boys motivated, we sang and played word games to keep their minds off their tired feet and every now and then a Kookaburra would stop by and laugh at us for still having such a long way to go. Our drink bottles were long empty and just when we thought we´d have to start carrying Markus we finally sighted the island´s main road and saw a red and white utility truck. It seemed like a Fata Morgana for us as it belonged to a german woman who has lived on the island for some years running a mobile juice truck. She pressed us fresh pineapple, grapefruit and orange juice and mixed banana smoothies for the boys and we all agreed that nothing had ever tasted so good.

WE`RE BACK!!!

(from left to right, top to bottom) 1. Daniel amongst the amazing rock formations at Balding Bay, Magnetic Island. A bay that can only be reached by boat or by walking track through the bush. 2. Sunset at Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island. 3. Erich and I on the plane. 4. Quantas planes waiting at Sydney airport. 5. The view from our bedroom at Nelly Bay, Magnetic Island in the most modern, luxurious townhouse you can imagine. 6. Balding Bay. 7. A sculpture on The Strand at Townsville. 8. The boys enjoying fish and chips in the park by the beach. 9. Palm trees at Townsville.
Our 5 weeks of holidays are over and we are back on Austrian ground. We had a lovely holiday but it wasn´t possible for me to blog so I will post photos over the next weeks and use parts of my travel diary to fill you all in on everything that we did. I´ve missed reading all your posts and will be trying to catch up over the next few days...and thanks for all your well wishes for the holiday - it has been an amazing experience.