Late Mini Easter Holiday

Very late Easter wishes to you all. Hope everyone enjoyed a little break at Easter. I know I did. I badly needed a respite since Christmas. I took the opportunity and took some extra days off  returning after ANZAC day. 

We took a trip to Broken Hill, in the Australian Outback for five days. Broken Hill is quite a drive from Melbourne. Both of us love a driving holiday so it was enjoyable. I had prepared some stitching to do on the drive as well as a journal to play with. We are both very keen photographers so any opportunities we had we would stop and take some great photos of the wonderful countryside. 

I packed-in a lot for the mini trip. I took a journal to keep mementos, souvenirs, leaves and later add photos I took. I had prepared some jars and silk for dyeing with leaves I collected along the way. When I got to our son's, my daughter-in-law and I put a big batch of dye together. My grandchildren loved helping us with dyeing. We made a lovely mess! 

Easter hopping bunny

Lake Tyrrell at sunset

Lake Tyrrell at midday.

Photographer in action.

Leaves and barks gathered on the trip.

Bundled and packed into jars.

After a couple of days.

Bundles steamed ready to unwrapped. 

A piece from the bundle.

Lovely little helping hand.

A piece from one of the jar.

Another piece from the bundle

Below are some photos I took from the trip and some artworks from Broken Hill Regional Gallery. 

Eucalyptus trees look wonderful against
blue sky.

The old railway station at Silverton. 

River in Hay, NSW.

Hay river, NSW.

Hay, NSW.

Old mining tour, Broken Hill

The giant bench, Broken Hill

Modern mine tour

Cottage featured in the movie 'The Last Taxi
to Darwin'. 

Artwork from Bronken Hill Gallery

Painting by John Osen

Silverton town

Totem Poles at Broken Hill Gallery

My son wanted to get creative while I was with them. He knows I can sew. Our family joke is "my mom never breaks a needle". He asked me to make him a stick-on pouch to stick on one of his favourite backpacks. He had purchased one on eBay so I had a sample to work on. I insisted that he work with me on this project. After a couple of hours together. We got it done! Below is the finished product!

Stick-On old and new front view.

Stick-On pouch attached on to backpack.

Stick-On back view.

Stick-On back view.

Lucky find: Never stop visiting op-shops! Every so often you might have a lucky find. I found this leather vintage Oraton handbag a couple of weekends ago. It's the sort of bag that is just perfect for my purse, phone and keys. I like the outside pocket for train tickets or receipts. Indeed it was a lucky find!

The winter is setting in here in Australia. We got plenty of rain as well, but rain is always welcome here. In the last 12 weeks I have been taking part in the 12WC (12 weeks challenge) at my gym. the challenge consists of 3 early mornings per week team exercises supervised by a personal trainer. We set goals at the start of 12 weeks. We weigh and take a body scan and do the same again at the end. This morning was the last session of the program. I felt that I achieved a great deal during the challenge. Working in a team is always encouraging. I enjoyed getting up early and getting the exercise out of the way so I did not need to do it after work. I hope you guys are putting in regular exercise as well. As you get older exercise is a lifestyle and not just to keeps thin.

Until next time

Nat