Holiday Hiatus!

Hello to all of you lovelies out there in blogland! I know I’ve been off the map for a few weeks - sorry about that. It’s been a bit of a holiday hiatus time. A couple of busy weeks at grown up job to cover all the things I’d normally do during the two week break we have then enjoyed! It had been almost a year since my Beloved Geek Boy & I had had more than a few days off in a row, so it was much-anticipated. 😉

We started our break with a road trip four & a half hours north to Bargara beach, near Bundaberg.

It was tough looking at this view for four days, but we somehow managed. 😂 While we’ve spent a lot of time in Bargara & Bundaberg over the years (my Grandma lived at Bargara until her passing four years ago) there were still places we wanted to visit this trip that we hadn’t managed previously ... apart from the Quilters Shack which is a repeat visit destination. 🤣 Whilst researching his family tree, GB discovered his great-grandmother was buried in Bundaberg Cemetery so we popped in for a visit ...

Sadly, there’s no marker or headstone, but a site map gave him the plot number & a reference photo, so we were able to track it down. Our visit to Bundy also coincided with the anniversary of my Grandma’s passing, so we paid her & Gramps a visit at the crematorium memorial gardens ...

Here’s Mum next to Grandma’s plaque. Gramps’ plaque is on the adjacent wall set aside for retired service men & women, as he served in New Guinea during WWII. The gardens were beautiful & my keen gardening Grandma would approve. 🥰 We also finally got around to visiting the Bundaberg Brewed Drinks factory - home of Bundaberg Ginger Beer ... YUMMO! We joined a taste-test tour to try the range of soft drinks produced there ...

And chose our complementary six-pack ... apple cider, blood orange, burgundy creaming soda, traditional lemonade, mango & grapefruit were my picks. I don’t drink a lot of soft drinks, but these are a nice treat that I’m gradually working my way through. 😜 During our time at the beach, we took a day for a mini road trip an hour & a bit to Maryborough where we met up with my Uncle, who drove from the Sunshine Coast to show us through the Military & Colonial Museum, which he is heavily involved with.

I’m not usually a big fan of war-related museums, movies or books (GB has to wait until my sewing night outings if he wants to watch war movies. 😜) , but I really enjoyed visiting this one because the focus isn’t so much on the fighting & battles, but on the stories of the ordinary people who found themselves caught up in extraordinary events.

... like Herbert James, whose medal set this is. We also enjoyed a VIP tour of the “ANZAC To Armistice” walk in the nearby park.

GB & my Uncle with a statue of the first man ashore at Gallipoli, which marks the start of the walk. If you’re ever in/near Maryborough, I can highly recommend the Military Museum for your itinerary. And just across the road is the Port of Maryborough Bond Store. Maryborough in its heyday was one of the busiest ports in Australia & the bond store was where goods were offloaded & stored until the import duties, or BOND, was paid & items collected. Not only are there interesting displays sharing some of Maryborough’s history, the gift shop sells some rather tasty liqueurs ... some vintage port & Turkish Delight liqueur may have come home with us. 😂

And that pretty much filled up our beach visit ... which for the first time ever saw our usual rainy weather hold off until the morning we headed home.

Did I mention it ALWAYS rains when we visit the beach?! 😝 It didn’t, however, stop us from enjoying a last walk along the beach ...

And dipping our toesies into the rather cool waves. What the photo doesn’t show is the grumbling from GB about “hurry up & take the photo cos it’s freezing” or the manic giggling of the photographer who actually took the shot three waves ago but didn’t tell him! Tee! Hee! Hee!

It was then home to “the fridge on the ridge”  for the rest of our break which ... sadly for us hot-weather chooks! ... lived up to its name, with most of the last few days’ temperatures barely creeping into double digits .. EEP! 🥶 And sadly it’s back to impersonating responsible adults again tomorrow ... SIGH! Just as we were starting to feel rested enough to begin tackling the list of things we thought we’d achieve during our break. 😜

I realise I still haven’t done the last OPAM roundup & random draw ... & it’s almost time for the next one! 😳 I promise to be back in the next day or so to do that. But right now it’s time to put the kettle on & round up some firewood because the temperature is already on the decline for the day ... BRRRR! Whatever you’re up to this week, I hope you stay warm (or cool, for those in the northern hemisphere. 😉), stay safe & keep smiling. Til next time ...

BRRRRRRRR BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS