Waterfalls & Winners!!

Back again ... though a few days later than intended ... story of my life, really! Mum says I was a week late arriving into the world and I've been that far behind ever since! Tee! Hee! Hee! It's been a cold icky week here on top of our 'hill' ... and you all know how I feel about cold and icky, so you will understand that I went into hibernation mode with a good book or two ... or three ... or four! :0) Am currently hooked on the "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" series by Australian author Kerry Greenwood. I got hooked on the TV series based on these books and then when it finished, went in search of the books ... gotta love a good whodunit ... especially when the main character is a strong, independent 'woman of the world' in the late 1920's of Melbourne. Easy to wile away a cold afternoon in her company! :0)

But ... I promised a few more holiday snaps and it's also time to announce the winners of the OPAM end-of-month draw for June. First ... do you have an umbrella? A raincoat? You might need them for this part of our holiday! :0)

Now ... those of you who have travelled in far north QLD will know that there are lots of pockets of wonderful rainforest still to be seen, which of course, means lots of rain, which leads to ... waterfalls by the dozen! But first, you have to fortify yourself ready for all that hiking up and down hills ...

... we topped up the ol' caffeine levels with a visit to Coffee World at Mareeba. Free coffee, chocolate and liqueur tasting with the price of your entry ticket ... Ooh! La! La!! Let's just say that by the end of our time here, I was bouncing off walls and singing and dancing to the music played as background and had probably consumed enough caffeine to keep me awake for a week! My Beloved Geek Boy pretended he's never seen this strange woman before ... even when I tried to get him to do the jive with me!! Tee! Hee! Hee! So then it was off in search of waterfalls!!

Now ... the one unfortunate thing I found with all of these waterfalls was ... they all involved long climbs downhill to reach them ... not too bad you may be saying ... until you remember the reverse of Newton's law ... "What goes DOWN to see the waterfall, must climb back UP the stinkin' great hill!!!!!!!" I well and truly wore off all that coffee, believe me! :0) So, first waterfall stop was Malanda Falls ...

This waterfall was actually one of the easiest to access ... that bridge is the main road into Malanda and this is one of the fave local swimming holes ... understandably! :0) No crocodile warning signs on this one as there were on others we visited ... thank goodness! :0) Back into the car and off to the next waterfall ...

Milla Milla falls. Another swimming hole (too cold for us frogs to be swimming, tho still warm compared to Toowoomba!!). This one you almost DID need an umbrella to visit ... those are water droplets on the camera that you can see showing up like faeries in the photo.

We were starting to lose track of which waterfalls we'd seen and which were still on the 'to visit' list, so GB took a photo of the direction signs ... we were heading down a VERY steep track to Zillie Falls ... as the sign says. :0)

Ta Da! There is was, at the bottom of the hill as advertised. :0) I could cope with having one of these in my back yard ... although GB decided you'd want it at the BOTTOM of your garden as there was a fair bit of noise generated by all that water ... and a few pit-stops were also required along the way due to the suggestive sound of running water! Tee! Hee! Hee! You can see that I am a VERY fashion-conscious tourist ... NOT!!! Definitely not my best look, but no one knew me, so I could be as big a dag as I liked! :0) There were a few smaller waterfalls visited that day, but it was getting late in the afternoon and the photos all ended up a little dark, so I won't bore you with them.

Only a few holiday snaps left ... of our visit to Kuranda, 'Village In The Rainforest' and our ride on the Sky Rail ... very spectacular! :0) But enough for today, I know you're all waiting to hear who the OPAM draw winners are, so put down your umbrellas and take off your raincoats. :0)

June was our quietest OPAM month so far this year ... I suspect that those of us in the southern hemisphere were coming to grips with icky cold weather, while our friends in the northern hemisphere were making the most of summer weather by enjoying it outside, instead of being in the sewing room! :0) A big THANK YOU to everyone who emailed finish tallies through to me or Sweet Peg ... much appreciated! And thanks to all of you who remembered to update your sidebar list, too. Remember ... if you don't email your tally through to Sweet Peg or me and don't update your sidebar tally list ... you won't have any finishes added against your name on the spreadsheet and won't go into the draw. I know a few of you are working on longer-term projects and that's fine ... aren't we all?! :0) But I think a few people have just forgotten to update lists, which is a shame. Also ... there were a few blogs that I found that had either changed to an 'invitation only' status or had been taken down completely (maybe replaced by a new blog address that you haven't told us??). If that's YOU, can you contact Sweet Peg or me and let us know whether you're still wanting to be part of OPAM, please ... it's a shame not to have your finishes counted just cos we can't find you! :0)

OK ... drum roll ... the final tally of finishes for June was ...

468

Still not a bad tally, all in all! :0) Well done to everyone who recorded finishes and to those who made some progress on longer-term projects. Remember, it isn't really the final tally of finishes that is important in OPAM, it's remembering to take a bit of time out of your busy schedule to relax and do something you love ... gotta recharge those batteries!! :0) And the random draw winners for June are ...

SHARON B

CYN

Congratulations, gals!! :0) Email me your snail mail addresses and I'll pop a little something in the mail for you soon.

Well .. that's it from me today. I'm off to have lunch with Debbie De and Lynda to celebrate Deb's birthday, so shall sign off for now. Hoping to do a bit of sewing this week, so will be back soon with some stitchy stuff. Hope you're enjoying your weekend and that your week is fabulous! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS