Yesterday and Today

So yesterday instead of going down to one of the local restaurants and indulging in something there, we changed our minds. (Hey, we're allowed to!) Instead we purchased a bottle of one of our favourite wines, Fours Sisters 'Sauvignon Blanc Semillon', and nibbled on this little platter which I whipped up...

...and which I ate most of. This meant our proposed meal which I was going to cook, didn't quite eventuate. (I knew that would happen!) Instead we got take outs from the local Thai restaurant across the road.

Today is 3 years since I went into 'early' signs of labour. Yep, my little 2 year old turns into my little 3 year old at the end of the week.

Today also marks the day when Lyndon was involved in a work place accident which instantly killed the guy he was working alongside. Lyndon's boss at the work site, literally, got away with murder by not taking responsibility of what happened on that fateful day 3 years ago. We hear on the grapevine that the bastard has got new building projects underway after forming a new company. We don't know how he managed to start up a new company after claiming he was 'broke' and not paying his workers, nor compensation to the family whose son was killed.

*Melody shakes her head in disbelief*

But life goes on. There is no use in feeling anger as it doesn't get anyone anywhere. I'm thankful for what I have today, meaning both Monet and Lyndon. Especially Lyndon. I'm lucky he is still here whilst his work mate is not. I think of his young son and his widow often, especially times like today...

Father's Day 2007

To my partner (Monet's dad), to my dad and all other dads across the land, Happy Father's Day.

See how busy Monet and I were on Friday whipping this up? And no, that's not my drawing of Monet, rather a piece of clip art via Mac.

I made Lyndon two of his favourite things for breakfast this morning. Bircher Muesli, followed by BBQ cooked bacon and eggs. I know! It was I who cooked the BBQ and that just doesn't happen around here...

We're planning on going down to one of the local restaurants down by the beach this afternoon for a glass of wine and a wood-fired pizza. Lyndon's choice of course. And for dinner I'm going to make this as it is one of his favourite meals.

'Happy Daddy's Day' Lyndon Dylan. You're a terrific father, one of whom we are all very proud off. We hope you are enjoying your day. xxx

Flashback Friday

House & Baby suggested to me to start joining in with 'Flashback Friday', where each Friday you post a photo of a younger self, at any age and tell the story about the photo or memories around the time. There are a few bloggers doing this now and I thought I would join the fun, after visiting my parents house and was told to take some photos from a collection that once belonged to my Grandparents.

(Note to Kimbofo; there is a pile there waiting for you too!)

So here I present to you, biglittlesister's first Flashback Friday photo (circa late 1973/early 1974)....


This is baby me, maybe 9/10 months old, in the arms of my funky mother (how cool does she look?). Next to her is my Granny (my father's mother) gripping onto my sister's shoulders, all under the watchful eye of my Aunt Helen, who was married to my father's brother.

My mother would have been 28 in this photo. I couldn't imagine wearing a skirt 'that' short, even if I was 28. I'm not a fan of my legs - obviously I didn't inherit my legs from 'her' side of the family. Pity. My mum has good pins. (Even to now. - I wonder if she'll read this *grin*)

I remember my Granny always dressing like this. She was old school. Always had a nice dress suit on with jewellery and low heeled shoes with beige stockings. She was Scottish with a thick Glaswegian accent that she held onto, until she died in 1997. She had been living in Australia since 1954 (?) yet you would think with an accent like hers, she had stepped off the boat yesterday.

I know my Aunt Helen had her first child the year after I was born so I am wondering if she is looking at me and knowing she was pregnant? Hmmm...

So there you go, Flashback Friday first post by biglittlesister.

Will I dare do another one next Friday?

Brill

How come no one told me just how brilliant the Australian series of 'Love My Way' is?

How come no one told me that Austar/Foxtel had so many great television shows?

Yes, we *finally* got 'pay television' again last week, after 7 years without it.

And isn't it fabulous?

The novelty will probably wear off in the weeks to follow, but after watching this show, I'm all inspired to buy a Villa in rural France. *sigh*

Irish Stew

I love a good Irish stew. If we ever go to an Irish Pub for some food, I always order the 'Irish Stew'. Always. Goes lovely with fresh bread or soda bread. This recipe is pretty hearty and can warm your 'tootsies!'

I made half this recipe and instead of lamb chops, I used diced lamb (only because the supermarket didn't have any chops out) and I also added a big, big splosh of Worcestershire Sauce, which I think is the key to any good Irish Stew recipe...

*Taken from the website 'Taste'*

Ingredients
1.25g lamb neck chops
1/2 cup plain flour
3 brown onions, sliced
1kg sebago potatoes, peeled, sliced
2 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced
2 tbs tomato paste
3 cups boiling water
3 beef stock cubes, crumbled
1 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped to serve

Method
Cut chops in half. Place flour in a plastic bag and season with salt and pepper. Place chops in bag and shake well to coat. Transfer chops to a plate. Reserve flour.

Preheat oven to 130C. Place onions, potatoes and carrots in an ovenproof dish. Top with half the chops. Repeat layers with remaining onions, potatoes, carrots and chops.

Whisk reserved flour, tomato paste and 2 tbs cold water in a large jug until well combined. Slowly add boiling water, whisking constantly. Add stock cubes and parsley. Stir to dissolve stock cubes.

Pour flour mixture over chops. Cover and cook for 4 hours or until meat tender and sauce thickened. Sprinkle with mint and serve.

Serves 6

A 3-island Tour

Last Tuesday morning this is where we were...

...Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island, off Airlie Beach. It is know to be the most beautiful beach in Australia and one of the best in the world. The white sand has only ever been taken off the island once, for NASA when they were making a new telescope. It is a heritage listed place and I can certainly see why...

I actually never thought I would see the day when we would visit this beach I have only ever dreamt of visiting. But dreams do come true.

There were many tours of the Whitsunday islands to choose from, but our choice was made a little easier when this tour boat included a visit to Whitehaven Beach, Daydream Island AND had a buffet lunch on board. So a day trip on the Voyager was it...

All seemed fine when we boarded with not a lot of people on board, which was good. (Maybe 50 of us). Monet was pretty excited with the prospect of going to the beach on a boat, until we hit some awfully rough 'open seas', just pass Hamilton Island. My poor little baby was sea sick - right over my pants and my hands. It was okay that it was Monet's *spew* as I couldn't have handled anyone elses over me. Even the boat crew said it was pretty rough so its a wonder that I didn't 'spew' either - but I know to watch the horizon line when I feel sea sick (which is practically every time I set foot on a boat!)

All was fine when we exited the front of the boat to the Island. It was jaw-dropping amazing. Anyone who has been there will say the same as I. It did help that the day was *stunning* - blue skies, warm sun all falling on white, white sand and crystal clear ocean waters. Simply beautiful.

The water was a little on the cooler side when you entered, but within moments it felt lovely.

It was wonderful to spend roughly one and a half to two hours there. It was enough time to soak in the atmosphere of the beauty of this little pocket of Australia. I have never seen such clear water in all of my life - so amazing. It certainly was paradise.

Monet enjoyed her time on the beach making friends with 'Sarah', the professional photographer who was on the tour with us. She was actually meant to be taking photos of everyone on the trip, but she spent half the time taking photos of Monet (and Lyndon and I! - who would've thought!) and playing with her. I liked that!! When Sarah went back to her 'work', she left Monet with beach equipment to play with and 'funny' big glasses...

By the time we re boarded the vessel we had built up a bit of an appetite. The buffet lunch of cold cuts and salads and buffet rolls went down a treat.

About 40 minutes later we arrived at Hook Island, where they have an old underwater Observatory. So many beautiful coloured fish to be spotted. SO amazing. (Don't forget, the Whitsunday's are part of the Great Barrier Reef...) And guess what I spotted in the Observatory? A clown fish. A real-life Nemo. I was excited anyway...

Hook Island is very under developed and I hope it stays that way. It has a backpackers on it, with a big rustic bar/shop/cafe attached, all looking out onto the tropical waters. It was lovely. A lot of people in our group went snorkeling, just off the coral beach and said there were so many fish. Lyndon and I opted for a couple of Coronas instead (the water was too cool here) and Monet had an ice cream cone.

After our hour stop over at Hook, our next stop was Daydream Island.

We had flirted with the idea of staying here, instead of Airlie Beach, but figured that we were better off at Airlie. Daydream was great and very beautiful and had everything you'd expect of an island resort. Beautiful people, golden sands, pools, bar, little shops, water sports, playground, the world's largest outdoor aquarium...

We arrived back at Airlie Beach at around five in the afternoon. We had a wonderful day, bar the bit when Monnie was sea sick. (And she still points to the brochure and says she was sick on "That boat" as "it was too rough"...)

Well that's it dear readers. My 'holiday' posts have come to a close. I hope you enjoyed my tour of parts of Eastern Australia. I enjoyed sharing it with you. Regular posting will commence again soon... Enjoy your day. *smile*

Airlie Beach

Airlie Beach is one of those places that you immediately like. You know when you get that feeling? We all got it straight away after our 3 (or so) hours drive south from our overnight stay in Townsville. The place was bustling with activity. There were backpackers crossing the road, people drinking ales and eating in cafes, with masses of buildings built along the steep hillside over looking the most beautiful harbour with the bluest water.

We had booked to stay here for 2 nights, a quick walk from the main strip and overlooking the Whitsunday Passage. Besides the driveway being awfully (awfully) steep, the 1 bedroom 'family' apartment was a ripper! It had everything we wanted and it was very (very) reasonably priced. The people who run the apartments were really friendly and very helpful, without being pushy. I like people like that a lot. They even booked our day trip for us and organised for us to be picked up via bus connection the next morning. But that is another post!

After walking along the main tourist/shopping strip we visited the Lagoon which was pretty impressive, but I have a real soft spot for the Cairns Lagoon so I can't say that this one looked better... *grin*

And there is so much construction happening in this little neck of the woods. Opposite to where we were staying they are constructing a new marina. No doubt prices for housing will be going through the roof here too!

We ate take aways for both nights we stayed here. And had a couple of 6-pack beers between us (only Lyndon and I of course!) over the two nights too, I mean, we were on holidays after all! (But usually that doesn't stop us *hee hee*) There was no buffet breakfast for us here either BTW, it was normal Vegemite on toast for us all both mornings.

The apartment balcony seemed to attract a couple of White cockatoos both mornings we were there, which gave Lyndon one hell of a fright when he was sitting out there minding his own business. Monet thought they were terrific, but we told her she had to watch them through the windows as they didn't seem to be the most friendlies kind of Cockatoos!

If you get the opportunity to visit Airlie Beach I say "GO!!", without hesitation. We loved it. Everyone we came across were awfully friendly and it is simply a beautiful holiday destination. We only wished we stayed longer than our 2 nights.
*Next time, next time*

Townsville...

Ever since visiting Townsville around a year ago, we had been wanting to visit there again. There is just 'something' about Townsville that strikes a chord with us, that we like. And I can't put my finger on exactly what it is. There was even talk a few weeks back that Lyndon's company were going to relocate him there if we wanted to, but then they offered Brisbane to him...but this is a different post altogether. Now, where was I?

Ahh, Townsville, or more affectionately known around these woods as 'Townsie'. I find the place very picturesque, especially the 'city' centre and the area around 'The Strand'. Townsville is about a four hour drive south of Cairns, or roughly 360-odd kilometers on a terrible, mainly single-laned, double-lined, Highway. (The Bruce!)

When we arrived last Sunday the weather was a bit on the miserable side. There was no big blue sky, no slight tropical breeze. But the atmosphere was the same as I remember it from last year. The the beer was just as refreshing too.

We enjoyed lunch at 'The Brewery' on Flinders Mall. I don't think a visit to Townsie is complete without sampling some of their home brew at that place and endeavouring one of their meals. Simply delicious (the food and the beer!) and a great price too. (You have to love that!)

I had found a great deal on Wotif for an overnight stay at Jupiter's Casino which included the defining moment of us staying there, complimentary bottle of champagne and chocolates on arrival. Sound terrible, don't we? But you do have to enjoy the good things in life... *grin* Our stay also included a buffet breakfast and anyone who knows us should know that we love a good buffet breakfast!! (Who doesn't?!?) The hotel room was great. Nice big King size bed for the three of us (!) and a wonderful view over towards Magnetic Island, where we also visited last year and loved! (No 'Maggie' Island this time though...)

For dinner we splashed out and had *surprise surprise* a buffet dinner. And my, was it simply delicious? Yes, it was. And to please the Little One, it also included Chocolate Paddle pops as part of the dessert, so someone thought it was the best meal of rice, chicken and paddle pop ever! (Some people are easily pleased aren't they?) I know that both Lyndon and I ate probably way too much (curries, roasts, salads, veggies, soup, bread rolls, desserts!) as we literally had to roll ourselves back to our suites.

We probably made a bad choice having a buffet for dinner because we were still both pretty full when it came to having a buffet breakfast in the morning!! Oh well. I still got to enjoy the Bircher Muesli with fresh fruit and a helping a bacon and scrambled eggs (which were very yummy - sometimes scramblies can be hit or miss!) and raisin toast. Monet was happy because she got to try for the first time, Coco-pops followed by her normal breakfast of Vegemite on toast.

After surrendering to our breakie, we packed up our gear and headed further south to the stunning Airlie Beach, a further three hours down the road from Townsville...