I just got back from a weekend away with my Mum. First up yesterday morning we went to the Eumundi markets. I couldn't believe how busy they were. We had to park a mile away and had to walk up several steep hills to get back to the car afterwards. Mum's knee is now not thanking her very much! There were some pretty funky items at the markets, including a silver spoon and fork wind chimes and lots of nice woodwork. I ended up just buying some yummy strawberries and a pineapple.
Afterwards we went out to my Uncle Richard's bush block near Imbil. He is living in a shed but has a few mod cons that run off solar panels and wind turbines. He doesn't have running water as such, just a tank and a dam. It was primitive but so peaceful out there. He has lots of chooks, geese, pheasants and various other birds. His partner Alison (who I have never met before) was also out there for the weekend.
After lunch we headed out to see our good friends John and Susan at Gympie. In the afternoon we helped feed their cows and collect firewood. After a yummy roast dinner we all sat around their fireplace for hours. Today we helped put mulch around some of their gardens since it is so dry. I always love going up to their place because it is so peaceful and they are great company. We were quite reluctant to go back this afternoon. I should have counted the number of "no dam" signs on the highway... there was just so many of them.
Geoff is on Swotvac as of tomorrow and spent the weekend studying chemistry. That exam is next Saturday. All his exams are nicely spaced out which is awesome. He finishes up on the 23rd of this month and then has something ridiculous like 4 weeks holiday! I am hoping to take some time off work so we can go camping. We are thinking about going to Jerusalem Creek which isn't far from Geoff's parent's place. I will have to drag out the Canada thermals for that trip! Brr.
Work has been really busy in the last little while, which is great. A month ago I got vaccinated for smallpox which was not a whole lot of fun. I won't go into the graphic details but will just say that my arm felt like it had been punched repeatedly. :-) Good thing is that the sore is nearly healed and I will be able to shower normally very soon! (And if anyone decides to release the virus as germ warfare I will be safe?!?)
I have some photos to post but they are of the old-fashioned film type and are yet to be developed. Will do that at a later date. I had some great photos taken on mother's day and we have proceeded to lose them. They are not on the computer, or the memory card, and not even retrievable when we use the special software. Very weird.
So that's enough for now. Hope everyone is well. :-)
We also went for a walk down to the river bed. It is unbelievable how dry it is. It was only at Christmas time that a few of my family members were swimming at this exact spot.
This is the view from up near the house. My auntie has alpacas and chooks in the pen to the left of the picture.
We saw this fella on a walk we took around the back of her property. It was as close as we could get with Geoff's super duper mega zoom lens. We think the koala had a cub as well.
Here's me getting in touch with nature. I wasn't drinking, I swear!
Mum and Geoff feeding the hungry herd. 
Mum and I looking particularly spiffty in our floppy hats.
Another cow photo sorry. I think they're cute. :-)
