across the tasman...nz style

I really like New Zealand. And New Zealanders. Even with their funny accents. How anyone can confuse a Kiwi accent with an Aussie one though, I'll never know...but it happens...one of life's little mysteries.

Mind you, it's been a VERY long time since I've been to NZ. I was 13 and on a Girl Guide camp. That's so long ago it probably qualifies as ancient history. And the guide leaders were an item...who knew! Certainly not me.

And probably not my mother or I wouldn't have been allowed to go. But it was my first experience of overseas travel and I was hooked.

I vividly remember that we handed over $3 each week to the Guide leaders and each deposit was recorded in a dinky little notebook. My mother covered mine in some groovy orange patterned contact. I loved that thing. It took just over a year to  save up enough money. If only $3 a week would get us overseas these days!!

Anyway, now my magazine addiction lets me get my NZ fix simply, easily and a little more cheaply...although if I stopped buying magazines I could probably nip over the Tasman within the next 3 months on the money I'd save!!

These are some fabulous pics from the NZ House and Garden website, because I just can't bear to rip up the real thing quite yet. 

 

Is it possible to marry a space...

 

And then...while doing my meticulous research for this post :)...I stumbled across this site...more wasted entirely productive decor research hours in cyberspace coming up!

So there you go...aren't they clever possums? I mean Kiwis.

Of course, I don't like them all that much when the All Blacks beat us. Which is frequently. I'm talking about Rugby Union for the uninitiated...
Maybe I'll move to New Zealand. 

 

Or at least visit again sometime soon :) 
After I've been to Washington and New York next month (oops, that could be considered gloating couldn't it?) Oh well, as the first born would say...soz about it :)

Magnetic Island bound...someone has to do it

Despite the very unfair perfectly understandable comments questioning my reason for going to Magnetic Island (it truly is work you doubting ones!)...I thought I'd post some pics of a gorgeous house that's for sale there at the moment...provided you have a spare $2.49 million in change that is!

Not too shabby...could do lots of good work there with my trusty laptop! Not that that's where I'm going to be. And for those who don't know how very big the main island of our wonderful country is...this is where I'm coming from and going to...morning in Canberra, afternoon in a tropical paradise very hot and unpleasant working environment.

I'll be posting the top ten tomorrow as scheduled...it just won't be from a cold Canberra winter! Yes, yes I know it doesn't get that cold here...but it's nowhere near as warm as Magnetic Island...I did say I was going there right??
Don't forget to enter my cute leather tote bag giveaway here. And after you've done that head on over to my bloggy soul sister Kerri with an 'i' at Driftwood Interiors...there's some of her original art up for offer to a lucky winner (that'd have to be me, but feel free to give it your best shot just in case it isn't!)
all house images from here...maybe I'll check it out while I'm there (oh that's right. no time. working, working...)

our little mountain holiday ~ the scenery edition

Hello bloggy people...I'm back from my few days away...it went so quickly but was oh so lovely! Hope you enjoyed the food edition on Monday...we know how to eat that man and I...and as some of you pointed out...yes, I am lucky he loves to cook. He makes me wash up though, which hardly seems fair, especially seeing he's the messiest cook ever.  A bit more adoring on his part required I think. Really easy to adore this scenery though...

These views were only about a 500 metre walk from where we were staying...how spectacular are those mountains...called the Blue Mountains...because, well, they're blue...off there in the distance...perhaps not quite so blue right up close! Now, for educative purposes only...this is why they're called the Blue Mountains:

"The Blue Mountains is densely populated by oil bearing Eucalyptus trees. The atmosphere is filled with finely dispersed droplets of oil, which, in combination with dust particles and water vapour, scatter short-wave length rays of light which are predominantly blue in colour."

Now you get the idea... The next picture is of the famous Three Sisters...but a rear end view...their backsides you could say. Most people see them from Echo Point...the opposite side to this, but that vantage point is the most popular and we had this view almost entirely to ourselves.

Can you see the three lovelies...it's ok if you can't...I've numbered them for you...I'm so getting the hang of this photoshopping stuff (I don't know what all the fuss is about...it's not nearly as good as real shopping though, and quite a bit more complicated than Picnik which I have been using...this is the danger of having a bloke around who teaches Photoshop to his graphic design students and thinks you should know it as well!)

And for your further education, the three sisters are called that because:

"The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.

These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.

The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.

As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to  return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come."

The best laid plans of witchdoctors hey? Don't say you don't learn stuff here!!

And what do you think it would be like to live here...you'd need a good back fence wouldn't you! A tumble down that hill could be a little inconvenient to say the least. Still working on how to do arrows...

Arty farty fern shot at the outdoor auditorium...very pretty place...

...and then there was the man-made scenery...this was a cute little art gallery...love the frames on the outside

The art wasn't great to be honest, but I did like this little vintage glass display...sitting next to the American Express display...which I moved (I put it back though, promise)

The cute painted chair in our bathroom...with the very 'unusual' painted floor finish.

..and even though it wasn't all that cold...we had to have a fire. There was a fireplace...it was begging to be lit...it was romantic...I used to be a girl guide...it called to me. And I will say no more about the romance factor...and I just bet you're REALLY glad about that!

Leura has the most beautiful array of little and not so little cottages...every time I go on holidays I get all restless and want to move somewhere new...buy a little old house...do it up...

...and there was certainly a lot of shopping scenery...but this is a sneaky back-room shot...I got glared at if I took the camera out in most places.

I actually didn't buy much in Leura apart from a candle and two fantastic fabric hangers that look a bit tribal weapon-ishy and could come in handy if anyone breaks in. Leura, unlike it's neighbouring suburb Katoomba is very 'well heeled' shall we say and the prices absolutely reflect that and its status as a tourist destination. Still, it was fun to look...and there may have been a slight detour via Ikea on the way home! So, a brief break done and dusted. Short on time...long on relaxation. Blessed I am.

All images by me. Factual information (as opposed to my nonsense) is from here

ambushed by megan morton ~ her book that is

I have a bone to pick with this woman! I wasn't literally ambushed by Megan Morton of course...I'm sure she's far too nice to lie in wait for unsuspecting bloggers. But I was sure as heck ambushed by her book!

I had all sorts of plans for my house this weekend....mountains of chocolate projects to get through...walls to paint, hedges to trim, sweet peas to plant...cupboards to sort...a chair to silver leaf (wait for that one!)...paintings to paint...

But did I do these things? Oh no, I did not!  Well, ok I did some...but I also spent an awful lot of time sitting on my butt reading this fabulous, gorgeous, stupendous book from cover to bloody cover!! 

And it (I am very pleased to say) confirmed my view that I am not a minimalist and that colour and texture are my weapons of choice!  And I'm too old to change now...but Megan says that's ok. In fact I think I can quite safely define myself as boho which she describes as "...having no hard-and-fast rules, no real right or wrong...a relaxed, ad hoc look that complements the lifestyle of travellers and collectors, granting them the freedom to buy up whatever and whenever they will." Oh Megan...thank you!

These are some of the images in the book that made me stop and look that little bit longer....I've taken them with my very unsophisticated camera...so you really do need to go and buy the book to get your proper fill.  Every facing page is a full page, to-die-for image of a beautiful interior...or sometimes an exterior...

Do yourselves a favour.  Stop what you're doing...immediately...and go and get a copy of this book. Don't wait until your birthday, your anniversary, Christmas...do it now!! Or go and get one of your beloveds to do it for you...you know they will...they love you!! 

And you'll love Megan Morton as well...because she believes in sharing, and that's exactly what this book is...a true guide...real tips...fabulous advice. As she says..."when you're willing to share what you know, others share with you - it's the power of karmic knowledge." Yep.

all images taken by me of the contents of Megan Morton's book Home Love published by Lantern (I do hope it's ok to do that...after all, I really want you all to go and buy it!). Check out the homelove blog where you can also buy a copy.

gorgeous houses ~ west sussex

Could I just say, that in my next life, I'm putting up my hand to be born in the northern hemisphere. Lest I be struck down by some antipodean curse or something-or-other, it's not that I don't love being Australian...I do, oh yes I do. But we're so far away! I lived in the UK for a while, but 18 months (living in an Army married quarter I might add...not that I wasn't grateful) was just not long enough!  And while I'm wishing...in that next life...this house will do me just fine, thank you very much!

Sigh...I seem to spend a great deal of my time in blogland sighing!

images from here