Celebrating The Girl Part 3

We usually do our yearly celebration in Sydney and take in the David Jones Christmas windows, do some shopping at Peter's of Kensington and have a high tea.
This year as we had already enjoyed a beautiful high tea, we had just planned a shopping and sight seeing weekend, so we headed to Sydney by train early on Monday morning.
We booked into a lovely spacious apartment for the night which was  super convenient to the train station( right above it to be precise), and really extremely quiet  considering it's location.

It had  lovely views right across the centre of Sydney and we could easily see the Harbour Bridge and watch as cruise ships entered and departed the port.

As we were in Sydney we decided on the spur of the moment to be totally glutinous and decided to indulge in another high tea. We are sure The Girl would have approved.
So, we travelled to the Queen Victoria Building  and thoroughly enjoyed the high tea.

The Queen Victoria Building is a stunning old building, constructed about 1898, and  as recently as 1959 it was threatened with  demolition, but the public rallied to save it and she now stands  proud in all her glory.

It is magnificent spread over many floors with beautiful stained glass windows,

and beautiful Christmas tree erected  in the central dome area, covering several levels of the building, and decorated with lights and Swarovski crystals.

We then wandered to David Jones and gooed and Garred  over the gorgeous window decorations, although  not quite as good the last two years  as the previous years.
A visit to Santa's cave is always on the book for us two big kids and we were not disapointed this year.

The  windows with the moving puppets were truly a delight and would have  delighted  any young child visiting.

Sometimes it's just  lovely to step back in time and do  wonderful things that we remember from our childhood.
We had been hoping to see a live show whilst in Sydney, but they had been booked out, but we were on a last minute listing and fortunately for us  2 tickets became available to see Muriel's Wedding that night, so we grabbed them with glee.
We wandered around the harbour to the theatre and  en route passed under the bridge and were across  the harbour from the Opera House.

The show was AMAZING !!!, so glad we got tickets.
We wandered back around the harbour to Circular Quay rail station and took in the city's night lights.

What an amazing day we had, we returned to our apartment for a great nights sleep, hit the shops the next morning and then after a quick  bite to eat at Central Station returned home to my friends place.
Brian picked me up the next morning and we travelled to Wollongong to  stay with our gorgeous grandson while his Mum and Dad had a holiday.
We had a great few days in honour of Rita, and next year we have decided that we will do our celebrating out in the country, basing ourselves at the farm. I will have to do some research on   local attractions and high tea venues so that we can do The Girl justice.
I have been away from the farm for two weeks now and am keen to return as much is needed to be done, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the break away and made many more memories of Rita to share with my friend.
Take care everyone, stay safe,
Cheers
Jane and Brian.

Celebrating the Girl 2017 Part 2

On this  weekend when we celebrate The Girl we always way over indulge ourselves we always say that we are eating Rita's share too), we really do try to balance it a bit and make sure that we do some form of exercise as well.
This year we went for a leisurely (not) walk up to Tomaree Heads summit near Nelson Bay. It is only a short  walk 2.2 kilometres return,

but! most of it is vertical.A neighbour of my friend accompanied us on the walk, they regularly do this walk every weekend. It literally takes your breath away, but when you reach the top if  you still have any breath left it will be gone after taking in the amazing views.

It was certainly worth the pain . I have done this walk once before a few years ago, but it was just as  wonderful  this time. We stopped at the top to catch our breath  and to get a photograph of  us together.

After our energizing  walk we decided a coffee was in order and  stopped at the Birubi Beach Cafe, Crest ,which was a great cafe located right on the beach with wonderful views out to the ocean.

This is obviously a very popular spot as it was very crowded and many people came and went while we were there.
I was very surprised  to see that nearby there were camel rides on the beach, we could sit and watch them from the cafe as we enjoyed our coffees.

That afternoon we had booked in for our special High Tea  for Rita, this time it was at a beautiful farm  at  Duckenfield  and it was called Ducks In The Field.

The owner had a small flat that her son and wife lived in but as their family grew they had to move on as the space was inadequate so rather than leaving it to only be used occasionally, she decided to set up a  High Tea business. It has proved very successful as she is booked out many weeks ahead .
The old farmhouse and garden was quirky but beautiful.

The high tea was sumptuous to say the least,

The menu was  so well planned and exercised.

I didn't photograph all the courses, (I was too busy eating and enjoying the occasion) but here are a few,

It was all so beautifully presented, the china was  quaint with some really cute jugs and serving plates.

We got another shot to record the occasion, we are celebrating with another  of The Girl's relatives.

and another out in the garden under the walkway.

It was a beautiful afternoon, great company, perfect  location and  amazing food. Well done Ducks In The Field!
After returning home  my friend attended an exercise class while I wandered a bit and filled in the time, and I found this glorious avenue of Jacaranda trees, how stunning are they in all their purple glory, and what a gorgeous carpet of fallen petals on the ground underneath.

This break away has been totally wonderful, I have enjoyed every minute thus far and will update soon with the last two days of the trip. We really do celebrate The Girl and hopefully will continue to do so for many more years to come.
Take care until we meet again.
Cheers.
Jane and Brian.

Celebrating The Girl 2017 Part 1

When we lived on the coast I was  remarkably fortunate to have a wonderful next door neighbour  called Rita. Rita was my mother's age and filled a big gap for me as a young mum with 3 kids and a mum that was far away, I really treasured my over 30 years living beside her. When Rita became ill her daughter came to live with her to take care of her and we all became great friends effectionally  referring to her as "The Girl" or "The Old Bat Next Door".
Every year now since Rita's passing her daughter and I get together and celebrate all things Rita, high teas, trips away, Christmas windows at David Jones, lovely  meals out and always a stage show if possible.
This year was no exception , but we did so much and I took so many photographs that I have had to divide the trip up into smaller posts.
I travelled to Newcastle on the coach and was met by my friend  and taken to her home, a lovely leafy  small acreage.
The next morning we decided to visit the beautiful  Hunter Valley Gardens, I cannot believe that in all the years we lived in Newcastle  we had not visited these superb gardens.

The entry into the gardens was $30 per person, which initially I thought was a bit steep, but after viewing the gardens and realizing the upkeep involved,  I feel that the price is well justified.
The central rose garden is just stunning, even though it is now on the tail end of the rose season, it was still beautiful.

My friend and I  had  a photo taken by another visitor to the gardens.

As it is  nearing Christmas the gardens host a  marvelous Christmas themed  light display around the entire 25 acre garden area. This even includes snow themed nights where  they truck in man made snow for the period.

Many of the garden areas are themed , each section  different from the next.
There was the asian garden,

and then  after wandering through the moon gate you find the mosiac garden.

There was the 12 days of Christmas  hedged garden,

and many other displays ready to be lit up at night like this Cinderella themed area.

One of my favourites  was the Story book/nursery rhyme  areas.

There was Wee Willy Winkie,

Jack and Jill,

Humpty Dumpty,

and Alice at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

These were just a small snippett of all the wonderful and creative displays.
Near this area there are also two beautiful old style merry go rounds and a ferris wheel that were not operating while we were there.

I would love to return one day with Brian and  see the view of the gardens  from the ferris wheel.
We decided to have lunch at this point out on the verandah of the cafe  overlooking  a beautiful lily pond and just as we sat there was a short torrential downpour of rain.

The rain finished as quick as it started  and we were free to once again continue our wander around the gardens.
There is a  small train that takes people all around the gardens giving a great commentary as  it travels along.

There are just so many  picturesque spots, I just had to keep taking  shots everywhere I looked.

I loved the beautifully trimmed hedges and topiary everywhere,

I fell in love  with two big metal urns at an entrance to a walkway,

and on closer inspection  loved the  faces on the side.

There were some unusual  plants like this tree, It is called Angel's Trumpet tree.

These were two beautiful blossoms that  were on a few trees,

The views went on, and I apologize if I am repeating myself or  the photos, but  it truly was stunning.

As we crossed one of the pretty  streams we noticed  an unusual bird ,

We were told that he has those special flaps on his feet so that he can wander over the top of the lily pads and find his food. He was very friendly  and posed for quite a few photos by me and many others.

 I  am sure that "The Girl " was roaming the gardens  with us,  her daughter said that this was one place she had wanted to visit but  everything just happened too fast  and they were unable to make it there, so I am glad she saw it with us in spirit. We wandered the gardens for about four hours, but we truly could have spent the entire day there. Hunter Valley Gardens truly is a gorgeous spot, not only is it just the gardens, but their location among  large famous vineyards  and along side boutique wineries, restaurants and other great tourist spots  make it a must on  a destination to see list.
I for one will certainly return, we will probably make it over a period of three or four days and have a really good  look around the area and all it offers.
It truly is true that we often fail to see what is right on our doorstep and are so busy living our lives we only see  the real beauty through a visitors eyes.
I will follow this up soon with the rest of  my short break away.
So until then,
Take care,
Cheers
Jane and Brian.