Souvenirs / Presents

These are just some of the t-shirts I ended up buying for friends and family. The shirts to the top were bought for 3 little boys all of whom were born this year more or less 4 months apart. I bought bigger sizes though, so they can have a lot of wear out of them while they grow into them. The shirts in the picture below were bought for my cousins and the one in the middle for my dad as he collects beer things, and this one has the logo of Heineken Beer, but of course has a whole of lot of Australian things mentioned on it.

Cupcakes

On one of my last days in Melbourne, I came across The Cupcake Family and I had to buy these mini cupcakes to take back home to share with my friend. I swear Melbourne at least is cupcake mad, as everywhere I went there were shops selling cupcakes, or recipe books or even whole kits with all the necessities to make them. I might have to ask my friend to send me the desk calendar with the cupcakes as they have a recipe a day. These little ones in the picture were chocolate and vanilla and they were delicious.

Royal Botanic Garden & Nature Walk - Sydney Australia

These are just some of the photos that I took at the Royal Botanic Garden (RBG) and during our Nature walk in Sydney. The flowering cactus was taking at the RBG, as was the blueish water lily, the cockatoo and the bats. Actually i'd never seen such large bats in the wild. There was a huge colony of them in the trees. This photo showing the tops of the trees with the bats was one of several that I took, but that showed the bats of clearer than the rest. I also managed to catch a bat in mid flight to create this gorgeous picture (if I do say so myself). The photo of the lizard was taken on our nature walk. He let me get quite close, but at one point he'd had enough and left.

Sydney - Australia

So it's been a while since last I wrote and with good reason too. My last weekend in Australia was spent with my friend in Sydney. We caught the 8am flight from Melbourne on the 27th of November and landed around 10ish in Sydney after which we made our way to our hotel via train and then walked the rest of the way. We managed to check in to our room at the Darling Harbour Holiday Inn. We went to our room and changed clothes as we'd left a wet Melbourne behind to arrive to a very hot Sydney and then left to explore the Darling Harbour area. By 17.00 we were so tired, having gotten up at 5am that morning, and then walking around the Sydney heat that we decided to head back to the hotel, but not before getting some food for dinner. We ate in our hotel room and we had an early night. The following morning we got up at a reasonable hour, had breakfast and went off towards Darlinghurst, Paddington and King Cross. We had planned on taking a bus there, but our tickets weren't good for the buses going in that direction so we walked the whole way. By noonish we were pretty much done with the whole area and headed towards the Royal Botanic Garden where we came across a pub/bar with my name Raquel on it, but we didn't go in as we had lots more to see and we'd just had our rest. We walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens towards Mrs. MacQuarie's Seat which is this place carved out of the rocks where the Mayor's wife used to spend her days watching the boats coming in to dock at the wharf. After having a look around there we walked along the waterfront towards the Sydney Opera House which is magnificent. As we got there it started to rain a bit, but we didn't mind in the least as it cooled us down slightly (it was over 35C that day). We had a good look around the Opera House before heading along Writer's Walk towards the wharf where we caught a ferry back to the hotel at the end of the day. Our third and final day in Sydney we took the ferry back to the wharf close to the Sydney Opera House and from there we headed to The Rocks, and area on the other side of the Harbour Bridge which we'd not had the opportunity to explore the previous day. When we were done walking around there we took another ferry to Taronga Zoo with the intention of going in, but the entrance fee scared us off and we went on a Nature walk instead, but we only walked half of it, because by this time our legs were pretty tired of having walked the whole weekend. Finally we headed back towards the hotel catching a bus after doing some souvenir shopping where we spent about and hour or so relaxing with our free drinks before heading back to the station to head to the airport and back to Melbourne.

Farewell to Australia

Well, it's my last evening in Australia, am off tomorrow. Unfortunately I haven't had any time to take photos of what I've been knitting or cross stitching, obviously I've been too busy knitting and cross stitching. Also spent the last weekend in Sydney, but once I'm back home I'll post some pics of me at the Opera House. I had a great time with Mira in Sydney, it was a first for both of us, even though she's been living in Australia for 3 years now. I'll be recovering from my flight at my parents house for a long weekend as there is a public holiday on Tuesday in Portugal, so when I get back I'll be sure to have plenty of photos of all the things I've been making here in Australia. I've knitted two Christmas Stockings (on the small side), a toy that's a dog, a pair of bootees, and a heart. As for cross stitching I finished stitching all the little ornaments I'm giving away for Christmas, but now I just have to sew them together and fill them with stuffing and add the ribbons, then I'll be done, so I'll take some pics of them as well. I bought some more stash, so I'll take a photo when I'm back in Portugal showing all the stash I actually bought in Australia, as well as all the souvenirs and some little things for myself. Have a great weekend everyone, and I'll be back to blogging in about 1.5 weeks. bye for now

Stitching / Knitting Update

Ok, no photos, simply because I've been to lazy to take them. I have however finished all the ornaments I brought with me, save for one (the last one I showed on black Aida) because I still haven't decided whether or not to keep it myself or give it away. I finished the knitting part of the dog from the kit I'd bought at Lincraft here in Australia, so now I just have to put it together, and then sew the little clothes for it. I've actually already had requests from my friends little boys to knit them a cat each with little outfits, so i'll have to do that when I get back home, because I just don't have enough yarn left in the kit to complete another one (maybe if I'm very careful I might), but I know my mum has the perfect yarn to make them at home so I'll do that when I get back. It only really took me two afternoons to knit up, so I'll be able to do those quickly. Also these two little boys have asked for some hats, so I'll be knitting them when I get back as well, as I didn't bring the pattern along with. Their mother, my friend, has asked me to do something more in cross stitch for their walls and one loves cars in general, but specifically all the characters from the Disney movie CARS (I have the perfect thing for him) and the other one loves trains, and I actually have several cute train charts that I will be making. In other words, I'll be quite busy after Christmas making everything for them so that I can send them to her asap. Oh yeah, I also knitted a Christmas stocking. I went with my friend to Kmart (yes they have that here in Australia) and we found some lovely kits, and as I just happened to have bought the right size needles, I decided to start on it immediately, I finished it an afternoon, I just have to sew it up and add some ribbon or something so it'll be ready to hang up somewhere in my house. I've also restarted on the EMS Rose SAL. I only have the three bottom parts (10-12) to finish now, and I'm already halfway through part 12 leaving part 11 and 10 to finish off next, don't think I'll be able to finish them before going back home to Portugal, but I'll be able to do quite a bit of it. Next time I promise to have loads of photos to show of all the finished items, that's to say finished with stitching or knitting, just not put together.

Maru Koala & Animal Park

Here I am feeding one of the kangaroos at the Maru Park, it was absolutely fantastic because we got to get in with the kangaroos and handfeed (as seen in the photo). We were only cautious around the big male kangaroo, but for the rest the others were all following us around for the food. We saw females with their joeys (babies) hanging in their pouches and some bigger joeys hopping around. We also saw and petted the wallabies which are smaller versions of kangaroos and there were even some albino kangaroos and wallabies, which I'd never seen before.

The park was also home to 4 Koalas, but unfortunately in the state of Victoria it's illegal to hold them, so we were only allowed to get close enough for photos and we weren't allowed to pet them. If you want to pet or hold a Koala in Australia, you have to go Queensland which is the only state that allows it because their Koalas are much smaller than the ones found in Victoria or New South Wales. That means that the next time I come to visit my friend in Australia, I'll have to take a longer vacation and I'll be traveling up to Queensland to meet a Koala up close and personal.

There were also 3 dingos which were really friendly, they came right up to the fence and wanted to be petted, but we told the boys not to touch them, because you never can tell with animals. The wombats were also very cute, although a lot bigger than I'd thought and we weren't able to handle them either due to their weight and size. The one animal that I would have loved to have actually held, but which are quite vicious, they bite, were the Tasmanian Devils. I quite like them, but like I mentioned before they do bite and there was a big sign warning everyone to not get their fingers close to them as they will mistake them for food and bite/eat them. The park was also home to several Emus, which are really quite similar to Ostriches, which I saw a lot of in South Africa when I lived there. Actually I think the Emus are a bit smaller than the Ostrich, but I can't be too sure.

We had a great day, the weather was warm but not boiling and there was some cloud cover when we arrived, although they disappeared by the time we decided to go home. It was definitely a worth while experience, and one I'm not likely to forget too quickly.

Philip Island - The Chocolate Factory

One of the other places we visited while on Philip Island this weekend was THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. Seeing as both my friend and I loooooove chocolate we couldn't miss the opportunity to go visit it. These two photos just show some of the things that can be seen inside the factory. The village at the top is made completely out of chocolate, the only non-chocolate things are the railway tracks, trains and lamp posts. The lamp posts are actually candy canes and others are lollipops.

Another great piece of art is the photo below, they've actually made The David out of chocolate, it's it just yummy. There was also a picture of Dame Edna made out of 12000 pieces of chocolate. It took them over 2 weeks to make the chocolates for the picture and then it took 4 people 6 days to assemble all 12000 pieces to make the final portrait. I couldn't get a good shot of it which was a real shame, becuase it was fantastic piece to look at.

We also had a go at all the machines that make chocolate, at least the ones with access for the public and we saw a chocolate waterfall. We also got to have a look (through glass) inside the factory as you walk right past it and got to see some people at work making some chocolates.

Don't ask me how, but we managed to actually walk out without buying a single piece of chocolate, maybe because we stuffed ourselves with all the free samples inside the factory.

It was great walking around, although it was a bit on the small size, but definitely worth the visit.

Philip Island - Koala Conservation Center

This weekend we went to Philip Island. We stayed at the Big4 in Inverloch and then on Saturday morning we drove to Philip Island which was about 30 minutes from where we were. We had really bad weather, it kept raining, but luckily while my friend and I were at the Koala Conservation Center it didn't rain, so we got to walk around the center and get some great shots of Koalas and even some Wallabies, although they stayed far away from us. Most of the Koalas were also way up in the trees, but this little fellow decided to let me take some shots of him before he climbed up the tree. Actually I don't know if it was male or female, but it did pose for some nice shots. We saw about 10 different Koalas, 6-7 Wallabies and several Kookaburra's flying around. Definitely lots of fun. Would have been even better if the weather had been better, but we had a good time walking around.

Lincraft's Best Friend Knitting/Sewing Kit

Having finished my cross stitch project yesterday afternoon (except for the letters to put on the back, which I haven't figured out yet) I just couldn't resist the Best Friends Knitting/Sewing kit I'd bought at Lincraft, so I opened it up and had a look at the pattern to see if it was easy or difficult, but it was easy.

I took this photo after having started already, so there were initially three balls of white 100% cotton yarn. Luckily one of the size bamboo knitting needles I'd bought at the store as well was the right size to start knitting, so I had everything to start the project.

The picture above shows the first arm, still have to knit another one, which is what I'm going to start as soon as I finish this post.

So here we have two legs.

This is the body of the dog. I must say that even though it's quite thick cotton, I managed to make all the items above with only one ball of cotton. I'm only now starting on the second ball, so I'll use that to make the 2nd arm, the head and the two ears, and then I'll switch to the brown to make the patches and the nose. I'll do the sewing together and stuffing when I get back to PT, and I'll have a go at making the clothes. On the picture the dog has little shorts, but I think I'm going to be making the dress instead as it seems easier to make. I'll do this at my mum's house so that I'll have help with it if I need it as I'm not too great at sewing with the sewing machine just yet.

New Australian Stash

While my friend took her boys off to get their hair cut yesterday I was dropped off at the Glen Waverley mall where I went straight to the Lincraft store where I bought the above featured items. There's a "Best Friends" Kit which contains all the cotton yarn and fabric you need to make either a knitted rabbit, dog or cat (I've chosen the dog); then some Patons' Big Baby 4-ply yarn in shades of blue and light purple, which I'm sure I'll find a project for; some Cleckheaton 100% Bamboo yarn in aqua and light green; three Singer Collectibles tins (the two small ones are to give to my mum and gran for them to keep their pins in and the big one I'll keep to put my sewing machine goodies in); 5 pairs of 25cm bamboo knitting needles in sizes 2/2.5/3/3.5/4; some baby blue ribbon, a ruler to measure knitting needles (not on photo) and a diary for next year.

I love knitting with the bamboo knitting needles as I don't seem to get such sweaty hands with them compared to the metalic ones, but in NL and PT I can only find the long ones, and so when I saw they had 25cm or 30cm bamboo knitting needles in the store, I had to get them, and they weren't all that expensive, actually they were a lot cheaper than the ones I bought in NL last year. I might just have to go back and get the rest of the sizes.

Cross Stitch Finishes

I mentioned in a previous post that I'd brought several small cross stitch projects with me to make here in Australia, well I've already completed three of the 6 small ones, so I'm half-way through.

The first one I completed I already showed in a previous post. This is the second one I completed. I used two different specialty threads that I got in a grab bag from Marilyns.com. I saw the specialty thread grab bag in the Stoney Creek on offer, and I bought it along with some other things. I've been meaning to use the threads for something and now I finally decided to use it. The Aida also came from a grab bag on offer at Marilyn's and it came along with the specialty threads when I ordered them. It's grey Aida, but I thought the contrast with the reds/pinks was very nice. For the backstitching I used regular Anchor threads, which was most like the darker reds from the specialty threads.

I used the same design and alphabet to create the third ornament. This is also using a specialty thread. It's a yellow that changes into a nice peach colour, but it's not really that visible on the photo. This time I decided to use a dark beige Aida also from the same grab bag. I'll only be finishing these ornaments off properly when I get back home to Portugal, as I didn't bring any stuffing or ribbons with me, and I have yet to find a needlework/craft store here in the Melbourne/Mount Waverley area in Australia.

So the two above were each done within three days, well evenings really, as that's the only time I get to stitch, because during the day I'm either sight seeing or helping my friend out with her kids.

So two evenings ago I started on the final ornament I brought along, which is black Aida (also from the grab bag) and some Anchor floss (no. 167) which I still had in my stash. The designs for all these ornaments are freebies off the internet, but I can't remember where I got them, as I've had them for a while. So two evenings ago I only worked on it for an hour before getting tired and I got as far as the picture above.

Yesterday evening I was stitching for about 2.5 hrs, and I'm now pretty much halfway through the design. I need to do another creature (not sure if it's a lion or a dragon) on the other side and then also the leafy bit at the top and a bit at the bottom between the two creatures. The lighting today wasn't too great so the photo really doesn't do justice to the colour I'm using. Once this side is finished I'm going to add initials to the back. I haven't yet decided whether I'm going to keep this one for myself, or if I'm going to give it to someone, so I've yet to decide which initials I'm going to be stitching, but by the time I've finished this side I should have decided. Till next time, when I'll have some more photos of activities I've done or new updates on my stitching.

Dandenong National Reserve - Grant's Picnic, Australia

Sunday we went to Dandenong National Reserve to have a look at several playgrounds, but mainly to go to Grant's Picnic area where you can feed the cockatoos and parrots. They feed right out of your hand and sometimes they even land on your hand, I had one of the cockatoos land on my arm and feed out of my hand. They're quite heavy and they have fairly sharp claws, but they're very gentle when taking food out of your hand.

One of the other types of parrots (not seen on the photos) were small and red, blue and green and several other colours. I had a great time as did my friend's little kids who were a bit scared of the actual feeding of the birds, but enjoyed watching us adults feeding the birds.

Neighbours Tour, Erinsborough, Australia

Being a Neighbours fan I had to of course go do the Neighbours tour. My friend Mira is also a Neighbours fan, although she doesn't get to watch it too often as it's at an inconvenient time for her, but she loved going with me on the tour. To our surprise though we found out that Ramsey Street is actually really close to her house, so next time we won't do the official tour, we'll just go to the street and see if we can't see some filming going on.

We got to meet one of the actresses that used to be in the show, but has already left. She also signed a postcard for us and then took several photos and she answered all the questions people had for her.

Here I am on the set of the show, this the outside of the hotel where they still shoot, and only the reception scenes are filmed at this location, the rest is all filmed inside the studios. However due to a private function at the studio on Saturday we weren't able to go inside, and we only walked outside.

Unfortunately I haven't seen Neighbours since just before leaving Holland last year, as the BBC decided to cancel the show, and so I wasn't able to see it anymore. The show is also not available to me in Portugal, but I might start watching on the internet when I get back. While here in Australia I get to watch it on TV, that is, if we've finished dinner by then, which is usually the case.

Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne, Australia

Last week Friday my friend and I decided to visit the Queen Victoria Market close to Flagstaff Station in Melbourne. I loved the visit, but thought that everything was very expensive, it's definitely a tourist orientated market and not for the locals. The main reason we'd gone to the market was to buy fruit, but we ended up only buying some watermelon because the rest was just way too expensive.

But like I said, I loved going there just to see the market and walk around in it. The fruit was very beautifully displayed, as you can see in the picture, everything was very much colour coordinated and everything very neatly put together, I didn't see one messy stall. The fruit and veggie section was really small compared to the souvenir section though, which was a shame.

They were also selling some very nice sauces and other preserves. Doesn't this look appetizing. I know my friend and I were practically drooling at the ingredients in these sauces and preserves, all naturally made with natural ingredients. Must try some of the combinations myself at home.

One thing that I did notice was that some of the fruit and veggie names here in Australia are slightly different than the ones I'm used to, but I guess you have that everywhere you go. It took me a while to figure out what fruit and veggie they were referring to, but I now know what they're talking about when I hear certain names.

The other section of the market was much bigger and housed all the souvenirs. I took this picture for two reasons, one becuase I liked the sign hanging saying to beware of imitation UGGs and the other one because of the Kangaroo furs. There were so many stall selling Kangaroo furs, of course these furs came off Kangaroos that were killed for meat, they were not shot purely for their furs. Kangaroos are a bit of a pest in certain parts of Australia and their level has to be kept down, and so they use their meat and furs for other purposes.

We had a very nice day, and it was a great to have seen the market and all the great Ozzie souvenirs.

Little House Needleworks Scissor Fob

I couldn't very well come all the way to Australia and not bring my cross stitching with me so I brought several small projects with me and I managed to finish the first one in just two evenings. I've made a little scissor fob using a sheep design and some left over silk threads from the Little House Needleworks kit I'd made previously. I'll be finishing it off properly when i get back to Portugal and then I'll be presenting it to someone at Christmas time. The other little projects I've brought along are also all gifts I'll be handing out at Christmas.

Baby Quilts

When my mum found out that my friend was going to have her first baby she decided to make a little baby quilt. Then when she found out that my friend was going to have another one she made one for the second baby also. At the time I'd not remembered to take photos, but being here in Australia finally gave me the opportunity to take the photos I'd forgotten at the time.

The quilt to the left was the one made for the second child, and it uses little pieces of fabric that used to be dresses that my sister and I wore when we were young. The quilt to the left is the one belonging to the oldest boy and that too uses fabric from dresses I used to wear, although not as many. Just making a regular quilt wasn't going to cut it, so my mum made sure to add plenty of animals and little bits and bobs, which aren't too visible on the photo, but up close you can see all the little details. The parents love it and so do the boys, and that's what's most important. This year she made another quilt for the first grandchild of a close friend of hers and my EMS cross stitch piece is hanging right next to it and they're both being used for educational purposes as well, because the parents point to the animals and other objects and then say what it is, so the baby is learning something, even though he's not quite speaking yet.

Melbourne City Sights

This is the view from the Eureka Skydeck on the 88th floor of one of the talles residencial buildings in Melbourne. the picture shows the city towards the sea (a part I've yet to explore). It was a great experience being up there, however, if you're afraid of heights, maybe not too good an idea to look down, which I did as I'm not afraid of heights.

This little wombat statue (it's about 60cm high and about 1.2m wide) is one of the many statues that are littered all over the downtown area of Melbourne, I've got loads more photos of other statues, not only of important people, but fun ones like this wombat. There's even the Cow in the Tree from the Cow parade, but that one is by the Victoria Harbor in Docklands, so not downtown.

This is St. Paul's Cathedral right by Federation square and Flinders Street Station. I really liked the architecture on the outside and the inside was absolutely beautiful. Actually the mosaic and tile flooring gave me some ideas for a cross stitch pillow, so I'll be working on creating a pattern some time in the future.

Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne

On Sunday morning my friend Mira and I caught the train into the city and then we walked from Flinders Street Station to the Royal Botanic Garden, a place where, despite having lived here for the last 2 years, she'd not visited before. I love going to big gardens like this where you can see a diverse range of plant life as well as animal life. We started off going through the Asian part of the garden where the majority of the plants came from China. There were some really lovely plants, some of which I'd never seen before in my life. As we carried on through the gardens we saw tree after tree (as you expect), but each one bigger than the one before. I had to be standing really far away to be able to take a photo of the complete tree most of the time, but then you can't really tell the actual size. So on some of the really big ones, we took photos of us standing next to the tree to show the actual size of it. My favorite garden though was the Elisabeth Murdoch Californian Garden (photo above), mainly because of its simplicity, but also because I love cacti and fatty leaved plants, and this garden contained that. The Californian Poppies were also great, although not many were in bloom. The other flower that attracted me to this garden and isn't on this photo was an orange flower, but there was no name plate (at least no visible) so I can't tell you the type of flower it is, just that is was small and very bright orange. Below a picture of me by one of the other gardens (can't remember which one). I'm not actually as white as I look in the photo, the sun was just really shining on me at the time and that's why I look so white on the photo.

Week 1 in Australia

I can't believe that I arrived exactly a week ago today. I've already seen most of downtown Melbourne, although there are still some places I must visit. The first couple of days the weather was around the 13-15 degrees, but since Friday the temperatures have risen and the last 5 days we've had temperatures above 30 degrees daily, which is really great. On the other hand it makes sight seeing a lot more tiresome and a lot more sticky because of some sweating going on. Even if you're just sitting in the shade, you'll soon start to feel droplets of sweat running down your back, that's how hot it is. I don't mind it though, living in Portugal I've been used to the hot weather, but I'm usually working at the hottest time of day, so I don't notice it too much. Now I'm walking around in it, and all I do all day long is drink, drink and then yes, you've guessed it, I drink some more. Mostly water, but ocassionally also some sports drinks to put some minerals and vitamins back into my body.

My friend comes with me whenever she can as she has two little boys to take care off and they're only going to Kindergarten 3 days a week for no more than 5 hours, so on those days I go out by myself, or like today, I stay and watch the youngest one while the older one is at school with his mum. The younger one should also be in school today, but he's been a bit sick since the weekend and because he's coughing he's not allowed to go to school for fear of infecting the other kids. Of course this gives me time to catch up on my blogging and on sending some emails to my family and friends back home.