Wrapping Up July

It’s time to have a look at what else I managed to get up to during the month of July.

I seem to have been a bit lost with my stitching since coming home from Scrub Stitchin’, back in April.  No real direction and not a great deal of inclination.  Add to that, two trips away and not a great deal has been achieved.  Also, as usual, when my sewing room gets in a mess I feel somewhat overwhelmed by it all, and don’t know where to start.

When looking back at my goals for the month I did so, so.  Some things were a fail, while others were above expectations.

You can see here that my Rainbow Scrap Challenge and One Monthly Goal were both achieved.

I had mentioned that I would be taking my blue stitchery sampler away with me.  I didn’t do any while travelling, but have added a few stitches since we returned home.  I’m not worried, as this is just a little something to work on every now and then.  There is no pressure.

I haven’t touched my knitting.  I have to be in the mood to sit quietly and concentrate for the lace pattern.

I said that my Batik Fish would have to wait until our return.  Well, as we returned a little earlier than expected, that gave me time to devote to them.  On Sunday I traced out May, June and July, as well as made up another two blocks to kind of represent a snapper.

On Monday I selected fabrics and fused the eight blocks down, ready to stitch.

Yesterday, I got stuck in and stitched all of them.  In addition, I hadn’t stitched the eyes on the previous twelve blocks, so I finished them off too.

You will notice that one fish is swimming the wrong way.

There’s always one rebel, isn’t there.  These two blocks were supposed to be the same as the top one.  However, some silly billy traced one back to front.  Not to worry…….until I realised that I had somehow managed to actually trace the head the right way around and it now wouldn’t fit.  Doh!  Fortunately, I had cut this one out first and was able to do a head transplant, and fortunately, the colours still worked.  I had only rough cut out the other head, so I was able to have a fiddle and redesign it to use the fabric.  It turned out surprisingly well and now looks to be a rather happy fish.  I’m amazed how different they now look, just from that one modification.

Here are the first twenty blocks.  I’m so very pleased with how they are turning out.  It is such a good feeling to be back up to date.  I have another sixteen to make to achieve the size that I want.  They look so very different to the bright version I am making. It’s been great fun making use of the various design elements in the batik fabrics.

The other thing that I have worked on is the little Natalie Bird pincushion that I started while overseas, by stitching the little saying. 

One side consists of a panel of half inch hexagons.  The other day I cut them out of tiny scraps that any sane person would throw away and today stitched them together.  

I think my stitchery looks a bit chunky stitched in two strands, so will probably redo it in one strand.  It is only tiny, so won’t take too long.  The other two sides of the pincushion consist of a small house applique and a feature fabric.  I’m looking forward to working more on this, as it is a pattern I have been wanting to make for many years.

As expected, I didn’t use Monique and didn’t work on any donation projects, other than the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.

Surprisingly, I didn’t even read a book.  I thought I may do that while away.

Finally, I’d better report in on my 15 Minutes a Day.  For most of the month I just did a the bare minimum each day, and on some days didn’t do anything.  Hopefully, that will change now that I am back home.

July = 26/31

Year to Date = 192/213

Success Rate = 90.14%

I’m lagging a bit behind last year’s rate of 93.42%, so had better lift my game.  No pressure on myself.  LOL

I’m linking up over at Life in Pieces.

So, that wraps up July.  Hopefully, we will be at home during the next month.  My sewing room is still an absolute mess, but in the last few days I seem to have found some of my stitching enthusiasm.  I’m looking forward to deciding what to work on in August.

The Rest of our Queensland Trip

 After Cania Gorge we continued to head north.  However, at this stage we were pretty much just covering ground we have been on before, so not playing the tourist.  

We did need to stop for a morning cuppa, and the blink and you miss it locality of Jambin was the ideal spot.  Initially, we had planned to pull up in the rest area and use the thermos we had boiled that morning, but when we saw a Coffee sign we had to support the little business.  What was extra surprising was the fact that it was a Sunday morning.

This little building was only opened at the beginning of 2023 and houses the local post office and they also serve coffee, cool drinks and prepackaged snacks.  There were three young Italian women there, who have all settled in the area.  Jambin is set in a valley boasting lots of crops and cattle.  Other than this business, it has a pub, school, hall and rest area.  Of course the coffee was excellent, being made by an Italian lady.

By lunch time we had reached our final destination - the Rockhampton area.  We spent the next few days here, just hanging out with our friends.  It is always great to catch up.

While up there, the weather was providing a “Polar Blast” across the east coast of the country.  It was cold enough for snow at home, and while much warmer up north, it was still very cold by their standards.  We didn’t reach 20 degrees C from the time we reached Rocky.

On our return trip we pretty much retraced our steps for the first little while.  We wanted to stay in Biloela on the first night, but they were booked out, so we decided to free camp back at Jambin, which is about 30kms north.  We knew there was a good camp  area behind the hall and could enjoy a pub meal in the evening.  This is a popular  donation camp and even has power, however, all the powered sites behind the hall were taken, so we took the one at the front.  We had a rather lazy afternoon, which was just what the doctor ordered.

There was a sign, dating from Australia’s Bicentenary back in 1988 that shed a bit more light on the area.  It was interesting to learn that “Jambin” is the aboriginal word for echidna, which made sense, as we had seen an echidna logo out the front of the school. It was officially named in 1923 by the railway department.  It was also interesting to read what crops were grown in the area at the time and cattle breeds that were on local properties.  Sadly, much has faded and you can’t read the names of all the properties that are shown on the map.

I forgot to take a photo of the sunset, but the colours in the sky looking west in the morning were beautiful and soft.  You couldn’t really see the sunrise due to all the campers out the back of the hall.  The building is the former railway station, now on private land.

The reason we wanted to be in Biloela was the fact that the Queensland Heritage Machinery Rally was being held over the next three days.  It was a special year for them as Biloela is celebrating its centenary this year.  It appears that much of this area was officially named about then, when the railway came through.

There was all sorts of machinery on display.

This Howard tractor is very similar to the first tractor my grandparents had on their farm back in the 1950s.

Our mate took part in a blacksmithing workshop and made a pair of tongs.  He had a great day.

After we had a look around in the morning, we continued on our way.  We always have fun spotting the bottle trees.

We weren’t sure how far we would get that day and thought that we may once again stay at Gayndah, but we were still feeling fresh and there was plenty of daylight left, so we kept on our way.  We had heard that there was a good free camp at the rest area at Ban Ban Springs, so headed for there.  We had no idea what to expect.

When we arrived, we realised that we knew the rest area, just hadn’t approached it from the Gayndah direction.  It is on the intersection of two highways.  We had even had lunch here on one of our previous trips north.  We particularly remember the blue eared honeyeaters, always on a look out for a  treat. 

Yes, it was a great place to camp.

There is actually a spring that you can see bubbling away at the rest area.

You can see why it is an important place for the aboriginals.

It was a beautiful evening, with a gorgeous sunset.

As it was getting rather cool, Mick got out the fire pit.  A pleasant way to spend the evening.

We were thankful for the diesel heater, as in the morning we woke to a very decent frost.  Not what you expect in Queensland.

It was a lovely, misty sunrise.

I must admit, that after taking those photos it was back to our warm bed for a bit.

From here it was mostly following the New England Highway south.  We skirted around the busyness of Toowoomba and saw this cute church somewhere along the way.

We reached the fruit growing area of Stanthorpe that day.  Stanthorpe is known for its cold weather and didn’t disappoint.  We had cold and very windy weather for most of the way home.

Continuing south, we spied this patchwork bus parked in a caravan park.

After Tamworth, we turned west onto the beautiful Liverpool Plains.  They are such a beautiful sight.

I must say that we didn’t expect to see canola in bloom this early.  It adds such a pop of colour.

Our last night was spent camped at the Gunnedah Showgrounds.  Gunnedah is home to Mick’s favourite painted silo featuring the poem “My Country”.

From there it was just the trip home on familiar roads, leading to rain as we dropped down into the Bathurst area.  The first rain we had seen for a while.  We had missed the worst of the extremely cold weather while away, but it was still quite a shock to the system.

Although we came home sooner that originally planned, we had a wonderful time away, visiting both new and familiar areas.  We can certainly see why people head north for the winter.

Now, to actually stay home for a little while will be nice.

Cania Gorge - Part 2

It transpired that our first day at Cania Gorge had been the best day for Mick to take the kayak out. Overnight we had a shower of rain, followed by a nice clear morning, so there wasn't any moody mist. 

The weather was forecast to be slightly cooler as well, which boded well for our plan to do a couple of short bush walks.

Firstly, we would do the Dripping rock and The Overhang track.  We left fairly early and had the track all to ourselves on the way out, which was nice.  The walk is on the shaded southern side of the gorge, so has a lush landscape.  This is the most westerly rainforest area in Queensland.

The best thing was that once you plunged into the rainforest area it was all nice and wet, following the previous night’s rain.

Such a lovely walk.

The path was well defined, but I was thankful that I took the walking pole, as some of the steps were rather high for my short legs.

There were some huge trees along the way.  This one towered over Mick.

This is Dripping Rock, and yes it was dripping.  The ferns were so delicate.  We spoke to a couple of locals later and apparently we were fortunate to see it actually dripping.

We continued on our way and came to some hand prints on the sandstone rocks.  Aboriginals are believed to have lived in this area for about 19,000 years and there are sacred sites throughout the gorge.  However, these are not sacred aboriginal prints, or they would be fenced off for protection.  These are actually graffiti, particularly when they have someone’s initials written above the hands.  Such a pity.

You can see the towering sandstone cliffs on the opposite side of the gorge.  The track to the furthest lookout runs along that ridge.  No, we didn’t go on the 22km return walk.

I loved the natural colours in the sandstone on this overhang.

Finally we reached The Overhang.  Such a beautiful spot.  When we arrived a family was enjoying their morning snack, and once they left we had it all to ourselves for just a little while. The perfect spot for us to have our morning snack.  

We realised how special it was to walk out in the peace and quiet, as we met quite a few groups of people chatting away on our return walk. We still marvelled at the beauty of the place.

Next, we did the Dragon Cave and Bloodwood Cave walks.  These were on the western side of the gorge, so a much drier landscape.

The dragon is seen in the black markings at the back of the cave.  I suppose I could sort of see it.

And looking out from the cave.

We continued on our way to the Bloodwood Cave.

The cave is so named as there is a Bloodwood tree growing next to the entrance.

The entrance is quite low, but opens up inside.

And looking out.

For context, these are Bloodwood trees, so named because of their red sap.

Mick being silly.

I loved the huge silver elk horns growing on the rock faces.

How interesting.

There were also some colourful lichens growing on the rocks.

You are always learning something.

Check out this tangled vine.

After our walks it was time to return to the caravan for some lunch and a lazy afternoon.

Chooky just happened to be having a Zoom session for the day, so I sat out in the sun, watching the tame kangaroos, with a rainbow lorikeet for company and stitched some more hexies, while chatting with the girls.  You couldn’t get a nicer way to spend the afternoon.

The day was completed by another evening sitting around the campfire with fellow travellers.  Can you see the wolf in the flames?

Thus, our time at Cania Gorge came to an end.  It really was a beautiful place to visit and we have come away with some lovely memories.  We were back on the road the next day, travelling further north.