Home Again - Darn It!!

Yes, my Beloved Geek Boy and I have returned home from our two weeks of travelling around north Queensland ... DARN IT!! :0) You know how holidays never seem long enough ... especially when you go from enjoying temperature ranges of 16-26 degrees back to 2-14 degrees!! BRRRRRR!!! I knew there was something about home I WASN'T missing!! SIGH! Add to that the overcast, windy weather we've come home to and we were very tempted to head back to the airport and catch the next plane flying north again. :0) But ... the budget says NO, so we'll just have to rug up, turn the heater up high and snuggle under our blankies.

I know I was slack at keeping in touch while we were away, it was a combination of dodgy Internet reception areas and me being worn out from our daily adventures ... we did and saw some wonderful things, (and walked MILES!!) so in the next few posts I'll share some of our holiday with you. Which leads me to a ...

LONG, PICTURE-HEAVY POST WARNING!! :0)

So you might like to grab a cuppa and get comfy for a while ... sorry Chookyblue! Just can't do this in a short post! :0)

OK ... so ... last you heard, our adventures had taken us to Magnetic Island. Hmmm ... sounds like one of those old-time radio serial/sagas, doesn't it! :0) Well ... after a couple of lovely, exhausting days (involving some of those miles walked!!) on Magnetic Island, we hopped on the ferry and headed back to Townsville, ready to head northwards. But first ... we arranged to meet up with one of my bloggy buddies ... Jenny from Elefantz! YAY!

Jenny and I have chatted back and forth for a few years now on blogs and emails, so it was great fun to meet up in person. Can I just say that poor GB didn't get too many words in edgewise during our get together! Tee! Hee! Hee! There just seemed to be so much to chat about and so little time. But we enjoyed the time we did have and Jenny also fed us some YUMMY pumpkin soup for lunch! :0) Of course we couldn't have a bloggy meet up without a photo ...

I was a very bad blogger and left my camera in the car, but Jenny came to the rescue and sent me a copy of her pic ... Thanks Jen, for the photo, the lunch and the catch up ... we'll have to do it again soon! :0)

It was then "On The Road Again" which became our theme song for the two weeks! :0) Next stop, was a short one at Cardwell (not counting the stop-off at the Frosty Mango for the YUMMIEST gelato I've ever eaten!!!! Tee! Hee! Hee!). When cyclone Yasi hit last year, it came across the coast at Cardwell, a quiet little beach town that is RIGHT on the coast. I'd passed through there about 20 years ago on a trip north and was devastated to see the damage ...

Look at those poor dead trees. And there was much evidence of buildings still waiting to be repaired, roofs still not replaced entirely and roads that were still undergoing repairs ... some 18 months later!! When there has been a disaster like a cyclone/flood/fire/earthquake, it's easy for those of us not living in the area to forget just how long it can take for affected communities and residents to recover, so this was a little reminder to us.

It was then on to spend a few days with my uncle and his wife at Gordonvale. This is the view from their front deck ...

Lovely 360 degree mountain views .. it's a tough life! :0) This shot doesn't actually do the view full justice, but the late afternoon sun looks pretty speckie reflecting off smoke from a cane fire further down the valley. We spent the weekend sight-seeing around Cairns, lunched at a pretty beach ... not a lot of photos cos we were too busy looking and eating! :0) But I HAD to take a photo of this sign ...

We were told this used to be a favourite local swimming hole ... I said ... "No way would I swim here! I saw the movie and a giant crocodile ate anyone silly enough to get in the water!!" Well ... life imitates art, so they say, and although no one had been eaten, this gorgeous waterhole is no longer a hive of water fun activity because ... a large crocodile moved in and decided to call it home!!! And for some odd bureaucratic reason, the government won't relocate the croc, so ... keep your toesies out of the water!!

After a whirlwind weekend tour of Cairns, we headed inland a little and the first port of call was the Herberton Historic Village. We had SOOOO much fun here! Basically, a local man began collecting historic "stuff" from the time he was a kid, so that his collection of historic items grew and grew, until as an adult, he bought about 13 acres and started collecting old buildings from near and far and relocating them to his property to house his collection of historic "stuff". I was rather envious of his hobby! :0) The buildings have been arranged to form a little village and each is set up to replicate a particular use, such as ... a historic pub ...

When it came to set up "The Tin Pannikan", the founder of the village was inspired by the iconic pub in the Ettimoga Pub comics ... complete with old ute on the roof! Perhaps parked by a patron who'd had one too many!! :0) And inside ...

One of the local yahoos leaning on the bar! Just kidding, Sweetie! Tee! Hee! Hee! See the impressive bottle collection behind GB? That was a tiny selection of their stockpile!!! And upstairs ...

A couple of rooms had been set up, including the Honeymoon Suite. Don't you just love the cast iron bed and the GORGEOUS vintage linens?!!!

Love the bath stand ... and the jug and basin ... and the dressing table! A bit spartan by modern standards, but gorgeous to us heritage nuts! :0) Have to admit, tho, I wouldn't be staying somewhere where the only toilet facility was a potty under the bed!!!! EEK! :0)

This was one of my favourite displays ... Ada's Frock Salon. :0) Do you see the display in the window?

Look at this pretty vintage underwear ... I loved the hand embroidery and the gorgeous cotton lace. Then INSIDE ...

OH!! I had to be careful not to drool all over my shoes over the fantastic display of vintage clothing  and accessories ... the detail in these items doesn't show up in the photos, but I could have spent all day in there!!

Just FABULOUS!! These dresses reminded me of "Picnic At Hanging Rock" ... but with a happier ending! :0) I finally pried myself away from the frock salon to move along ...

GB enjoyed this one ... just where he would have been working! :0)

I really would have loved to look inside this house, which was the home of the village's creator, but it is a private residence ... can you imagine how fabulous it would be to live here!!!! :0) Then around a corner I found ...

OOOHHH!!! The sewing shop!!! Hold me back, I'm in STITCHING HEAVEN!! :0)

Every vintage sewing item you could possibly think of ...

... and THEN some!! :0) Sewing machines, buttons, ribbons, threads ...

... finely stitched cami's, embroidered doilies ... even a couple of vintage Salvation Army bonnets ...

... lace bobbins, stitching paraphernalia, samplers ... oh just EVERYTHING stitchy!!! I could have moved right on in and stayed here! :0) But there was more to see ... in fact, I think if your feet held out (which ours didn't really!!!) you could spend several days here looking at displays. And there was 'boy stuff' too. Vintage cars, carts and farm vehicles, a printing shop (complete with an enthusiastic retired printer who is restoring the vintage printing equipment), a display of old newspapers, magazines, books and comics ... oh the list goes on! And of course, scope for a bit of fun. We went 'shopping' for our next cars ...

GB's next work vehicle ... an old ute ...

... my pick ... something a little classier! :0) It looks like if should have been in an episode of "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries", doesn't it!! Ah  yes ... one day when we win lotto we can collect vintage goodies and vehicles to our hearts' content, but until then, visiting places like the Herberton Historic Village will have to fulfill our vintage fantasies. I highly recommend a visit if you're ever in the neighbourhood.

WHEW! How many of you are still with me after that marathon photo report?! :0) If you've managed to make it this far, I hope you enjoyed a selection of our holiday snaps. There's a 'few' more to go, but I'll keep them for coming posts. Right now, I think I'm going to go and pop the kettle on for a cup of tea before I start a pot of soup cooking for dinner ... gotta do SOMETHING to combat the icky weather we've come home to!!! I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend and I'll look forward to catching up with blog posts and emails as the week progresses ... there were something like 75 new posts waiting for me in my RSS feeds list!! WOW! You must have all been busy while I was on holidays! :0) Whatever you get up to, have a fabulous week! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS