We're off on our holiday

After the wedding, we spent the Sunday with my sister and the happy couple came for lunch. Bryan and Elizabeth spent a happy hour sitting on the lounge room floor opening their presents amidst many oohs and aahs as each new gift was unwrapped. After lunch we took them to the airport as they left on their honeymoon.

Bryan and Elizabeth opening their presents



The next three days were spent relaxing and catching up on housework and other chores like shopping etc that had been on hold.

 

I spent Thursday 8th August - Sunday 11th August at the Canberra Quilters Annual Show assisting the treasurer in the "Treasury". It was a lovely few days helping out and getting to see all the quilts made by members. I always enjoy my time at the show as I also get to spend time with the other members getting to know them better.

 

Monday morning was the beginning of our two week holiday heading for Brisbane via the inland route. We left bright and early in the wet weather Canberra had put on. At least we were planning on spending most of the day driving so it wasn't going to spoil anything. We drove through Boorowa and Cowra and then on to Wellington via Canowindra and Molong. We stopped in Wellington to buy picnic food for lunch and I also picked up a piece of fabric for my new quilt Love Entwined. I decided to buy bits of applique fabric as we travelled that I would be able to use in the quilt. I am looking forward to being able to start after my holiday.

 

After our picnic we drove though Dubbo and then on the Mendooran Road to Coonabarabran for an overnight stop. Another piece of fabric joined us as well.

 

Tuesday dawned bright and clear if a bit frosty, so we were quite pleased. After an early breakfast we headed into the Warrumbungle National Park. The area has been badly affected by the fire in January 2013 where about 80% of the park was destroyed. It was amazing to see all the surviving trees with regrowth. It is something I hadn't seen before.

 

One view of the Warrumbungles

 



 Many of the walking tracks are still closed but one short one has reopened so Greg and I had a lovely walk to the Whitegum Lookout. The views were spectacular and I took many photos of trees with the new growth.



 

Regrowth on many of the trees



A close-up of the eucalyptus regrowth

We then headed to the Siding Springs Observatory where we looked at the displays and saw the telescopes.

 

The observatory

A closeup view of the telescope

One of the sculptures in the observatory garden





 

We again had a picnic lunch while travelling from Coonabarabran through Gunnedah, Manilla, Barraba, Warialda and ending the day in Inverell. This is through much of the area my husband's mother's family came from so it was lovely to see the area. We are planning on heading to the Family History Centre this morning to see if they have any information on the different branches of the family tree.