BALLADONIA – SOUTHERN CROSS

Up and on the bike again… another 568 kms to cover today. It was beautiful and sunny but not too hot. We head towards Norseman passing the Fraser Ranges. As usual the scenery was spectacular and I had a lot of fun with my camera…

we stop to fill up in Norseman and realise our GPS is not working 😠 … nothing to do but carry on & as it’s one long road we can hardly get lost !!!
Once fuel tank is replenished we head to the next all important stop … WIDGIEMOOLTHA ROADHOUSE…. from 1995 till date every time we have travelled these roads we have always stopped for an ice cream break…. this time no different… we stop … we take pictures… we eat our ice cream… take more pics & head off again. The place has not changed one bit in the number of years we have been there. The only change has been with the people running the place. For me it’s a regular “Time Capsule” moment…. how I love this country 🥰.

Off we go again for another 75 kms to COOLGARDI and we stop for fuel and a stretch. Once on the bike we decide to go straight to Southern Cross but another 120 kms my hip feels very very dodgy so off we get again…. another stretch & a picture of a magpie later we head off again… this time to our destination for the night …. SOUTHERN CROSS !!!

Total kms ridden so far … 3530… 🏍🏍🏍

FORGET GLASS SLIPPERS THIS PRINCESS WEARS MOTORCYCLE BOOTS 😍

Day 7: BORDER VILLAGE- BALLADONIA

2962 kms completed so far … cannot believe it’s been a week on the road and what a week it’s been !!!

Today we covered 519 kms a bit more than the last couple of days … the only down part being it was hot … 33 degrees with no shade from the sun for miles around can be a bit draining.

We headed out of Border Village around 8am knowing it was going to be a hot one… as we are getting ready a car stops in front of our cabin and compliments us on our beautiful ST … this happens a lot and we of course feel really happy 😃… chatting with him I think to myself this gentleman sounds very Anglo 😃… a couple of minutes later he says he is and lives in Perth and is on his way East … talk about being a small world …. we ride all the way to the WA border to meet a “Jaath Bhai “ … seriously 😀…

Anyway we head towards the Quarantine Check Point & cross over to Western Australia… the best part … we gain 2 hours …

We pass ;

EUCLA : This was first established in 1877 to enable direct telegraphic communications between Adelaide & Perth.

MADURA : For many years horses were bred for the Indian Army here and shipped from the coast south of the Homestead.

CAIGUNA : Afghan Rocks, natural freshwater dams located near Caiguna we’re used as a resting place by camel drivers in the 1890’s

BALLADONIA: The stone walls & fences built by the pioneers are still a feature of Balladonia.

A wonderful day of riding with beautiful skies again.

Never ride faster than your angel can fly !

One year ago today …!!!!! An epic journey from east to west across our beautiful continent…..😍😍😍

Day5:

WUDINNA to NUNDROO

We had a relaxed morning and headed out of Wudinna @ 9.30…. a first late start in a long long time !

We rode through Minnipa & stopped at Poochera…. sadly the Roadhouse there has been closed permanently.

From there we detoured to Streaky Bay a beautiful & very picturesque place. Stopped for an ice cream and to top up a few groceries. An added 62 kms but we bypassed Cungena & Whirrulla… and ride straight on to Ceduna….. situated on the shores of Murat Bay. Another 72kms later we pass through Penong …. an agricultural town that sits above a substantial body of underground water, which explains the number of windmill operated bores in the vicinity. We stayed in Penong in 2008 for a couple of nights so we could take the kids to Cactus Beach where on walking to the beach we had a long black snake jump out from the shrubbery right in front of us and slither away … it was a shock to say the least and the kids and I had our eyes peeled from then on !!!
80 kms later we arrive in Nundroo… here to spend the night and rest up before tomorrow’s adventures.
Today we covered 382kms… a comparatively relaxed day compared to the first two days and a day where we could get off and look around and relax between rides.
The weather was beautiful… lots of sun and some cloud…. a few droplets of rain which we weaved in and out of…

2067kms covered so far and I thought I’d get a bit tired of riding on the motorcycle but truth be told once rested I’m ready to hop on again….. here’s to tomorrow’s adventures 😎

THERE IS NO TIME TO BE BORED IN A WORLD AS BEAUTIFUL AS THIS 💝

And so its another month and life is pretty much the same as it was last month. we are at the end of the first part of STAGE 4 LOCKDOWN….but as the numbers are still not what they want its been extended for another 2 weeks !!!! Then it will be a week by week review and restrictions tweaked. So lets see what the next two weeks hold for us….

For me days are pretty much the same as it always is as I work from home managing my husbands business and have been doing this for the last 27 years… We are lucky we can still work and feel very Blessed to be doing work during this time as there’s lots who can’t work or is out of work.

I’ve been quilting up a storm as always … trying new things and adding to my collection of lovely things…and I have a few scraps from these in the last month. There’s two I would like to share ….

The first one I would like to share is a placemat that I made out of Hexies. Both front and back were hand stitched and then I did some FMQ to finish it off.

The second piece I did was a Wall Hanging. I have a little room just outside my family area which is all mine. Its a room I have decorated the way I want it …and I usually sit there and read or catch up on my social media with a cup of coffee. Im patiently waiting for Kate to visit so we can sit there and have a good natter. I have hung this Quilted piece of art in this room … I can see it from inside the main house so it works well there :))

I’m so so enjoying myself 🤩

Here’s to next month !!!

Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin and Vera (me!)

After rehydrating my starter I needed to now start on my first loaf. I was nervous to say the least…. but I definitely wanted to use the starter.

Thus my first Focaccia was born …..

100g starter

10g salt

440g water

Stir to combine

512g flour

Stir to form a sticky dough ball

Cover for 8-18 hours

When it doubles drizzle olive oil on it

Deflate by pulling from sides to centre.

Second rise in a lined tray 5-6 hours

Dimple / stretch and oil & salt

Bake @ 218degrees for 25 minutes

There’s nothing left !!!!!

My Sourdough Journey

I was asked by a friend if I wanted some sourdough starter and as I love baking and absolutely love making bread I of course said yes.

A few days later my dehydrated starter arrived from NSW with instructions on how to rehydrate.

I was excited to start a new & hopefully lifelong journey into another form of creating 😍

I was also told that when starters are shared they usually come with a name and would be nice for me to name mine 😊

Chatting with another friend about this journey she suggested the name PARVATI.

The name PARVATI means OF THE MOUNTAIN & is of Indian origin. She is a Hindu Goddess of fertility love and devotion.

What better name than that as it rings true to both my heritage and the fact that this starter will be the beginning of many a happy hours of making and baking.

My journey started yesterday with the rehydration process and I was rewarded this morning with a bubbly mixture in the bowl which means I’ve reactivated her and she’s ready to go.

“A small gift of sourdough- a dried starter dubbed from our 7 year old Priscilla. I hope it gives you many years of baking joy “ The starting lines on my Doc with the rehydrating instructions …. & I’m so looking forward to this journey 😍

Because when you stop & look at things that you create you can see that life is pretty amazing.

It never ceases to amaze me how much each piece I make steals a piece of my heart. This quilt started out being a gift but now that’s its completed I’m not so sure….

Yes the colours make my heart sing… so I’m thinking I’ll be keeping this one for myself… seeing as one of my sofas does not have a quilt gracing the back of it…. this way anyone sitting on any sofa has a lovely warm quilt to snuggle into :))

What do you think ??

Well its been a month already & the love for All things Quilt continues. We are in Stage 4 lockdown for another 4 & a half weeks !!! Hopefully the numbers will come down …

This cushion cover came about as one of my first few scrappy pieces. I had tried my hand at a quilted quilt cover and long story short I had these scraps left over.

I love bright colours and these colours make my heart sing 🎶

Heres to another month of quilting…..

Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin and Vera (me!)

When lockdown has been a way of life for a few months you just carry on …

The Virus 🦠 has not been good to us in our state of Victoria even though the rest of Australia seems to be back to a new normal…

As of midnight Wednesday we entered a new stage of restrictions. We have had a state of disaster declared which generally means the police force has a few less limitations in enforcing rules.

My life continues on my usual path of cooking cleaning looking after the kids looking after the Business as I have done for the last 27 years. My new normal is not going out at all but finding more time to do the one thing that I absolutely love.

As the months seem to be rolling by faster and faster we find ourselves in the month of August. Lockdown is supposed to be lifted on 13 September but then again who knows…

So during these months which is usually occupied by the kids birthdays… Getting ready for parties and entertaining… Which cannot be done now… My mind has moved to the next big occasion which is Christmas.

A couple of days of working with a new idea for a table runner for Christmas which I found on Pinterest I came up with this. There’s lots that I can see which need to be fine tuned but seeing as it is for the house I’m happy with the result and extremely happy that my first Christmas project is complete.

When you have something lying in your cupboard for over 27 years and you find them after a good clean out and wonder what you are going to do with these.

Yes a thing of the past called handkerchief. Something we don’t use very often now but there was no way I was going to get rid of them.

I looked at the number of sizes and thought I could make something with these and what else could I make but a Quilt!!!

So after joining each of them with an embroidery stitch so they did not need to be positioned exactly all butted up against each other meticulously I came up with the following haphazard pattern, but it worked really well.

Next I found an old quilt cover which was well worn and well washed and backed my vintage quilt

I thought this was a good time to do some more free motion quilting as the quilt was not too big and was easy to move around.

A few days later with all the quilting done to the best of my ability and found my shapes and swells were getting a little better I found the edges and my quilt is ready…

Can’t wait for the next one to start