Sunday Road Trip and Shenanigans

We have been spending our time working on the Hugel gardens for the zodiac garden. Mike and I went with Bob, Kath's neighbour who owns a hauling truck, to get big logs/trees to form the base of each pile. Mike and I helped to wrap the logs in straps for the crane to hoist the log into the truck. It was quite fun to work with Bob. He has the same sense of humour as my dad :) . Some of the logs we were getting were on his property, so we stopped and had coffee with his wife. I got to see their quails and their cage of cockatiels and chickens together. They are very nice people.

This last week has been very rainy so we haven't been outside working as much. We had to be careful of the creek flooding and blocking the road into town. The ground by the Hugel gardens has become soupy. The girls and I have been cooking to use up the veggies we have been getting from the garden, white cucumber and chokos. The girls made pickles and I made choko cake, which is much like zucchini cake.

Today we went on a road trip to some close by towns with Kath, Megu, Ayame, Pink, Tracy and Kath's friend Sally. We went to Imbil first. They had a little market set up. Kath bought fresh fruit and vegge and some seedlings for the garden. I bought a gemstone that jumped out at me, Ruby with Zoisite. We then had brunch together at a little cafe with amazing coffee. We walked up the Main Street to a local gallery. Sally, Mike and I went ahead of the group and spent the most time there. We all really enjoyed the work and spent a good 20 minutes discussing the paintings with the gallery owner. We got some milkshakes for a treat and then drove along a beautiful winding road to Kenilworth.

In Kenilworth, we went to a cheese factory and Kath picked up some jams, sauces, cheese and yoghurt. We then walked along the Main Street and checked out some pretty cute shops. We stopped at one that had a lot of home decor pieces and some pretty cool hats. The owner was pretty funny and showed us pictures of her dog in a dress. The dog was pretty cute and friendly (she was sleeping behind the counter and came over to visit). When Pink and I started trying on hats and posing for pictures, she gave us some umbrellas to use in our pictures too. We then went to another shop which was all clothing. It was a lovely store and you could tell the owner poured her heart and soul into it. She was very friendly and genuine. Everything in the store was displayed beautifully. I tried on a beautiful yellow dress and Pink told me I didn't look like a backpacker in the dress. It felt nice to be in something pretty after working hard at Kath's in work clothes for a month. The owner was glad we had a great time in her store. As we were heading back to the cars, Mike and the girls went to play on the playground for a bit. Everyone had fun.

More Aussie slang:
Doco- documentary
Chokkie- chocolate
Mozzy- mosquito
Bubbler- water cooler/water fountain
Mince- ground meat
Car park- parking lot
Ute (Said like Yute)- short for utility truck, which is just a truck back home
Truck- semi truck
Hats- traffic cones