Halfway Round The World and Back Again.

It feels just like what the title states, that we have been halfway round the world and back again, but in reality have only been to Wollongong, Newcastle and home again.
I think the fact that we were really tired after having the grand children for 10 days contributed to that.
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Before we left  Brian built a new water  trough for the poultry. It  was a 6inch diameter pvc pipe sealed off on the ends with a small float installed.Brian just cut a slot for them to drink from. The  water pod automatically keeps it topped up. It just means that we  now have a back up water supply in the main yard  for when we are away just in case one source fails.

We headed off to Wollongong to take the grand kids home, their Mum and Dad had been working the 10 days the kids were at the farm and had then headed to Melbourne to the tennis.
The kids went back to their normal routines of OOSH and daycare and we had a few  hours each day to rest and recuperate.
We did some shopping, ate out a bit, including a nice seafood lunch we shared one day,

 And rested quite a bit.
After our daughter and son in law returned home we said our goodbyes  and headed to Sydney.
In Sydney we headed to our bottle and jar supplier Plasdene , that I use for my preserving and stocked up on sauce bottles, jelly jars and pickles/jam jars.

We were staying the night with my sister and brother in law in Sydney, they live in a lovely leafy area with water at the bottom of their garden.

My brother in law recently  has acquired a Flow Bee hive,

It was interesting , this was the first opportunity to have a close look at one of these newer  types of hives.
Every day on the deck at my sister's house a myriad of birds come to visit and sometimes receive a small tidbit of food.
There were striking King Parrots and Scaley Breast Parrots,

magpies,

Beautiful Rainbow Lorrikeets,

including these two that decided to get a little cosy right in front of us,

Next came the parade of Kookaburras,

Even one very friendly one that insisted on coming inside.

We had a lovely visit and all too soon had to head to Newcastle.The reason we were in Newcastle was to attend the wedding of our gorgeous God daughter.
She looked stunning as her dad escorted her to the ceremony,

The cake was beautiful and was made by the bride's brother in law.

the reception was really lovely, with beautifully decorated tables and delicious food.

It was wonderful to witness  our god daughter marry her partner and we had such a great time catching up with her parents and other friends that we hadn't caught up with for a few years.
The next day we had a relaxing day on the waterfront,

We called into the Honeysuckle Hotel,

And had a lovely relaxed lunch.

We had a lovely day, wandering and driving around Newcastle seeing all the changes that have happened since we left.
The next day we headed back to the farm.
Brian had purchased a new  breathable bee suit in Newcastle( he had seen one the same at my sister's place and decided it was for him)

Until now he had only been using a disposable all in one paper/plastic suit that was extremely hot and had now fallen apart.
Rob our bee helper came and brought us some more honey that he had extracted from our hives, this is just a small  portion of what  we get from them.

Brian has been  busy with a few caravan repairs since we  come home, our baby is an old girl  and we regularly have to do a few bits to keep her going.
This time he had a hinge on a cupboard door and the  plywood base under a mattress needed re-enforcing as well.

We picked more jalapenos,

And I made some more jalapeno pepper jelly,

It was water bathed and cooled to seal the jars,

And they look so pretty when you backlight them with a torch.

I was passed on a lovely sounding recipe to use  the pepper jelly and I am hoping to try it tomorrow for a gathering we are going to .

Happy Australia Day Everyone,
We really are "The Lucky Country.!!!
Please take care and be good to each other,
Cheers
Jane and Brian.