going bush.

for the long weekend we packed up the car and headed into the flinders ranges.

 we had a wonderful weekend away with our church family.

lazy lying around, 

sitting by the fire, 

eating homemade goodies, 

visiting the picturesque town of blinman

 delicious scones and quandong jam from the wild lime cafe

cuddles with a cute baby kangaroo

 and an impressive fireworks display.

oh how i love a long weekend!

(photos by the lovely taliah)

the most south-westerly point in australia.

the last few weeks of work (school term) was pretty draining and i have struggled to find the time to give this blog any energy or attention. but now it's holidays!!! and i'm loving it so very much. husband and i packed up the car as soon as the work day was over last thurs, drove to adelaide and flew to perth to spent a delightful week in western australia with husband's brother. i can now cross it off my list, i've officially visited every state and can remember these visits (i'd been to western australia as a baby). so as this tourist loves to do i thought i'd share about the delightful state of western australia and today i'm sharing about a special spot just out of augusta, western australia (part of the margaret river region).

i can now say i have been to the most south-westerly tip of australia!  on one of our days we drove from our base, in the town of busselton, out to cape leeuwin which is where the indian ocean meets to the southern ocean and also the most south-westerly tip of australia. it's simply beautiful with a lovely lighthouse and worth a visit- though like everything in western australia you do have to pay to enter the grounds and even more to climb the lighthouse.

and while we were in the margaret river region we also walked the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere (almost 2 kms long). busselton jetty is quite a sight and again, like everything in western australia costs money to do - only $2.50 though. 

we bought some simmo's icecream which is the icecream of choice in w.a and make the long walk to the end.

 ah, i love holidays!

country gal.

it's been two years now since we traded in the city life for our little house in the country and now there are starting to be annual events that i just can't miss. one such event is the rodeo. for someone like me who lives in town, the rodeo is the most country thing i've ever been to. it's in a fairly remote area ( a very small town not too far away) with a bucket load of people from stations all around australia. the place is swarming with cattle, horses and extremely country looking folk- think keeping up with the joneses.

rodeo appropriate outfit: checked shirt, large buckled belt and jeans.

it's a great night of watching people ride horses fast around barrels, lasso cattle and ride bulls. you see quite a few falls and imagine they'd be a few people out there a bit worse for wear after. everyone brings deck chairs and picnic rugs and listens to the hilarious commentator. and there is always a van selling hot donuts which we proceeded to munch on all night. you definitely feel like a country gal after a night at the rodeo.

now  i tried mighty hard to get a decent photo of a bucking bull but it didn't really work so i've found this amazing photo on pinterest (source) and you can see what we saw but in a truly amazing shot. it's pretty crazy how much the bulls buck and how giant the bulls are.

 next year i'll get a photo more like the above :)

tourist in adelaide: vintage dining and dress shopping delight.

i am always incredibly excited when i find a cute new place to catch up with friends and can't help but share the best finds with you all. i recently discovered this adorable vintage cafe/ shop in the middle of the myer centre (adelaide city)- level 2. it serves some incredible chocolate tea and is filled with lots and lots of cute clothes. i was smitten.  it's only been open for a few months and it was just lovely; having a cup of tea, watching some old movies on the retro tv and then shopping...i've found it all.

and they've got into the christmas spirit too, what more could you want from a place?

tourist in adelaide: the fleurieu pantry

i haven't done a tourist post for a while but finally i've found another place which is worth posting about.
i confess. i never ever go down south of adelaide but when a close friend sent me an invite for a kitchen tea in port noarlunga, i caved and ventured south. and i am so glad i did! it's a bit of a drive from adelaide city (app 40 mins) but there is the most gorgeous shopping precinct in gawler rd, port noarlunga. there are all these cute antique, collectable shops and about 20 places i wanted to eat in. but for today's post i'm going to share about the lovely fleurieu pantry. it's an extremely cute little cafe/restaurant that hosts a cheap and delicious high tea. it also has a little gift shop attached which makes for some excellent browsing.

photos: 1)the gift shop. 2) my friend jas loved the place too. 3) high tea. 4) with jas.
i would highly recommend this place if your in the mood for a little drive and want to enjoy some good food and drink at a darling little place.

mini break weekend

We packed our bags and headed off to Clare to celebrate our two year wedding anniversary.

This gorgeous little town is located about a few hours from us and was the perfect location for our mini break.

It was such a lovely weekend I thought i'd do a little post about all that this picturesque town has to offer.

• an assortment of the most adorable and cosy b&bs
• wine gallore; it felt like ever corner we turned there was another winery on offer and to make it even better Clare has a bike track connecting the riesling trail so you can ride between the wineries.
• Ingredients for the perfect platter- my pantry is now stocked with chutneys, jams and sauces.
• Really fantastic Chinese food at the golden dragon restaurant
• food, food, glorious food...there were so many fantastic restaurants around.

 With a car filled with chutneys, jams, sauces and wines we headed home, certain we'll be back again. 

If you're thinking of a weekend in Clare I've made a little itinerary of some must see places:

1. Sevenhill cellars with a cool underground crypt in the old monastery.
2. Pauletts winery with great wine and the most fantastic views.
3. Pikes winery with a gallery, good wine and homemade beer.
4. Skillogalee- a little cottage restaurant with great service and food.
5. Penna Lane winery with excellent dessert and excellent homemade jams, sauces and chutneys.

It's holiday time! Warrens Gorge

Yesterday was the first day of school holidays which excites me very much! Since I live in the country there are many things around that I've never seen/been to before and I need to explore like port pirie, yourambulla caves and Wilpena. So in the spirit of going to new places I went with a friend to visit the lovely Warrens Gorge, 20kms on from Quorn. We went walking, looked ideally on at campers, almost fell in a creek and followed yellow footed rock wallabies up the hillside. After our walk we couldn't help but stop at the Quandong cafe for my absolute favourite quandong pie. This is the must try food of the Flinders Ranges! Some photos of the pretty gorge below...

up close to a yellow footed rock wallaby

cave stories

I do love exploring a new place and other recent discovery of mine was the Yourambulla caves, three caves which have the best aboriginal cave paintings in SA. They're found between Quorn and Hawker and though it's a pretty steep climb to get into the caves, it's on my go to list of things to see in the area. 

 A great view looking out from the cave viewing platform.

charcoal (above) and red and white ochre drawings.

dear wilpena, you are beautiful

On Saturday some friends and I drove out to visit Wilpena in the Flinders Ranges. It was an absolutely spectacular place and definitely worth visiting. You need to stay over night to climb St Mary's Peak which is the most popular mountain you climb to get into Wilpena Pound. I thinking a camping trip is on the near horizon. However for a day trip climbing Mount Ohlseen Bagge was an amazing walk and had a beautiful lookout.

half way up

 I made it to the top!!!

I loving a good walk and talk and view. Now I feel all energised and outdoorsy, we'll see how long that feeling lasts.