A little blogiday

Phew, I've just finished marking 50 tests. I have 50 assignments to do next, 7 orals and tomorrow another 7 writing tests. As of Monday I'll have 50 more orals to mark. Then comes the fun bit, 130 something reports. All in the next 3 weeks.

So, expect posts to be even fewer and further between for the next little bit. When I'm not glued to the computer screen for work, I'll be playing with the chickens (the cutest things ever - I swear they have grown a good cm all over since yesterday), making sure the cat doesn't get too jealous and eat them and maybe A will get some attention as well.

I'll probably still pop by and check out your news and I'll be back here when I've made it to the other side of the end of term madness!

I might post a chicken photo tomorrow though - I can't deprive you of the cuteness for 3 weeks!

Pretty things from around Etsy

Sukanart

Wendiland

Tidbits Photography

DreamsFactory

flowers&fleurons

Off to Sydney tomorrow for a work conference. Looking forward to being inspired but not looking forward to the drive! 

Enjoy the rest of your week!

What we've been doing

Our 3 day front yard working bee in pictures.

When we first moved in.

Creating parking space

New garden bed for screening plants. The space between the garden bed and the front window will be a paved courtyard area. Inspiration pics to come! The brick wall to the left of the house was previously obscured by bamboo that was taking over the front garden. Getting rid of that was the hardest part. We had to do a little bit each weekend because it was so hard to hack out!

 Creating second garden bed and effectively reducing a lot of mowing (hell yeah)! The bamboo has been replaced by a grafted lemon and lime tree. Hopefully it will do better here with a north facing brick wall than the poor thing in out back yard!

 Garden beds edged and mulched. Awaiting plants in spring time. The frosts are a bit too much here already! I can't believe how cold May has been! We will re-sow grass in the area that is still bare, once again, waiting for spring with that.

It is still a bit of a mess but we have made some progress which is always a good feeling!

Here's a bit of a breakdown of costs so far.

Stone for parking space - free, we just had to shovel it out of someone else's driveway ourselves, thank you classifieds!

Sandstone - bargain of the century $30 for a trailer load, thank you again classifieds!

Weed mat - lots $80

Mulch - two metres $100

Topsoil - left over from veggie gardens
Excavating soil for parking space and from in front of retaining wall + spreading of stones - 1 case of beer for our brilliant neighbour who conveniently has a little bobcat!

Total - $210 plus a case of beer. Not too bad really.

Travel Snap Tuesday: Phillip Island

So, today, in my late edition of Travel Snap Tuesday, I couldn't resist a couple of non-travel snaps mixed in with the real deal.  This is Dora, our friends' gorgeous new puppy, who we met on a recent weekend at Phillip Island.

And these are the travel snaps, taken at Woolamai Beach, Phillip Island. 

It's a surf beach (hence the surfer picture) and is usually fairly empty compared to some of the gentler swimming beaches on the island.  It was a bit chilly for swimming this time around although A and a friend did go for a short dip earlier in the day. The rest of us went for a walk and watched the dogs chase the waves and each other. 

So simple. Good friends, good weather, good weekend! Can't ask for more than that.

Travel Snap Tuesday: The Acropolis, Tasmania

Following on from last Travel Snap Tuesday...

After a chilly night, at the Pine Valley hut we set off for the Acropolis. It came highly recommended for the climb and the views and we were excited to have a white couple-of-days-before-christmas to do the walk in!

On the way we came across this marshy area that was absolutely chock-a-block with Pandani. They were one of my favourite plants that we came across on the trip and to see so many in the one area was a little bit magical! No snow yet...

...but as soon as we started climbing the mountain proper we were crunching through the white stuff! Many of the track markers were covered so for a lot of the climb we were following the footprints a wallaby (or maybe paddymelon) had left in the snow. It was quite incredible. As soon as we went a different way to the footprints we'd invariably come to a dead end or too-difficult-scramble and backtrack to see where the wallaby had gone. He (or she) certainly knew best! The way down was another story again as most of the snow had melted and the footprints had gone. Once again there were a few of "I think we've lost the track" moments, followed by some it's-OK-we've-found-its and some no-we-haven't-it's-right-up-theres!

Despite the backtracking and finger numbing cold, the view from the top was incredible. There were mountain ranges as far as the eye could see and we could pick out in the distance where we'd started walking 7 days earlier as well as see how far we had to go that afternoon (about 8 km)!

This last photo is of me and our Acropolis walking buddy Laura celebrating at the top of the mountain before settling down to a last day hiking lunch of vita wheats and nutella. Mmmmm hiking food, wouldn't eat it any other time!

So, 7 days, 90kms. What an achievement and what a great note to almost end it on!

Travel snap Tuesday comes to you from Little Miss Moi and is about sharing a moment in time through a photo. If you want to join in, just post a pic of anywhere you’ve been in Australia or abroad then pop over to her blog and leave a link so we can find your travel snap!