Hi! Just a little showing off with my first attempt at making a ‘drink like’ soap
I’ve seen a few versions of this.
It was insanely tricky getting it out of the mould! Its a choc-orange sundae! (Fragrance is bitter chocolate and orange) The creamy top today has more of a latte hue as the fragrance has discoloured it Perhaps the next lot I might set aside the top layer and not put in the fragrance.
Anyway, they worked out pretty cute. (and smell amazing)
Currently I am working on some photos from a hike up at Cradle we did Sunday so will get back when I am done to share! Hope everyone had a great weekend (now that we are mid-week!) Cheers!
Hi! Not done a lot of excessive soaping lately… I have been out of the soap with the English Rose fragrance so made a batch of that. Spent some time cutting out the matting for the bottom of each cavity.
I just used two clays for the colour, so its a lot more subtle than my normal style! (Brazilian purple clay and dusky rose clay)
Quite neat…
This one was with the mango fragrance… and worked out nothing like I planned!! Oh well… it happens.
A new matting for the bottom just to see how it turns out
Nice big chunky bits with an ‘interesting’ pattern!
And then… some Wasabi soap as I was running really low
Hi… Got the wood stacked… with my resident snoopervisor, Flea. Her foot is getting better and better but she is still separate from the flock and in her B&B inside here at night.
She is clearly doing a lot better judging by her adventurous spirit returning We do supervised visits with the flock. She gets pecked a little bit but she is usually happy wandering off to do her own thing like usual.
(Yes, I did get her down to save any unnecessary impact on her foot)
So… the front yard! Willfully neglected, grass/weeds running rampant.
First up, dug out the concrete edging from its grass prison
Flea was delighted! So many worms and grubs up for grabs here
We started digging out the path itself the day before yesterday… but the rain started pelting down… so we stopped at this point
I managed to use a fair bit of the soil and grassy bits to top up under the bottom gate thats been annoying me forever. The sloping land left an uneven gap under the fence which we’ve tried to block with wire and planks of wood… not a great look and pretty inconvenient. Really… I just want to walk through a gate, open, shut and thats it… not a 5 minute removal-reconstruction job. And if you don’t – its a sure bet a chook will squeeze under and call the others!
So I just started building up the area with the unwanted soil/grass. I have faith it will grow in ok.
Next day, less rain, more digging. Luckily we’ve got that whacking great hole down the back – so all unwanted material could just be put down there.
Jeff decided he wanted the path up through this area cleared as well.. so he cut a gap in the concrete edging and we sorted that too
Ready. (note to self… find plants for this garden that the rabbits don’t like)
Now for the lifesize, freestyle jigsaw puzzling with Margies shed cardboard!
Done…
Then down to the macrocarpa woodchip pile to start putting the finishing touches on the path
It was getting a bit later in the afternoon and we were a bit over it (ie backs were aching a wee bit haha) but we had to finish since we had gotten this far!
Quite the improvement! Its pretty fine material so we will see how it goes… once it settles we might get a couple of trailer loads of coarse woodchip to top it off. Less stuff being tracked up onto the deck and inside. (Or just buy a heap more doormats)
Back up the Postmans Track we go! It was a rather nice day on Sunday so we put the hiking gear back on and headed out.
Stunning views as always
Today we were planning on following the coastal track down a short way, then divert off down to Cathedral Rocks
Rolling hills and the track ahead. Jeff uncharacteristically unfettered by hiking poles and a pack!
Rather happy to be going down rather than the severe ups of the inland route
Sorry… lots of Jeff’s butt in todays shots. (Not that I minded at all)
Small wildflowers even in winter!
Small balancing acts required
As with the other end of this track, there is a pile of materials in the bush that are clearly meant for use in some track maintenance. The lot up our end has been there since about 2017 I think? I presume this lot got put down at the same time (Helicopter)
It might be time they used them.
There were several balancing acts along the way. Happily neither of us fell in to any mudpuddles or streams
New path for us. Every time we’ve been past this junction we are usually a bit too tired or have to far to go to do the diversion
Getting down to sea level again
Destination in sight
Fungi growing in a burnt out Xanthorrhoea
The path suddenly became quite rubbly
And here we are. There was no path out to the point but we scrambled along a fair way best we could
And scramble is the right word!
How great does that look? White and orange lichen!
Jeff pointed out this section where the rocks have frozen in a flowing formation
Jeffs smiling face rather than his bottom haha
All sorts of fabulous rock formations here
These rocks were so chunky… but easier to walk over
Over the other side…
Where the rocks turned white
Someone has taken time to arrange the driftwood
Jeff on his way over… gives you some scale
We wandered a short way but eventually turned back. Wasn’t sure on the tide times or how long it would take us to get over to the point, being that there was no path
Weird toothy rock monster
I accidentally disturbed a crab who ran about backwards for a while
And found a tiny rock pool with a couple of blue-green sea stars
Before heading back we walked up the ‘beach’ a short way and over the creek
Love the colour of the water
I can’t remember if the tannin colouring is from the buttongrass or teatree in this area or upstream…
The winter afternoon light is quite beautiful
A few minutes spent arranging some seaweed!
Mini rock gardens!
Last look before heading back up the track
Up up up… not too bad really.
Anyway… it was an afternoon well spent! When the sun is out in winter, best to take advantage! Cheers!
Hi! We’ve had a few rather nice days – good enough to be in a t-shirt while working outside!! My spring onions above… sigh. Poor things. I dug them out of a patch months ago and dumped them on a stump. Undeterred… they are growing nicely!! I’ll be kind to them soon and find them a plot to stretch their legs in.
Garlic… talking about garlic all year in that offhand way “Yeah I don’t plant until mid June” How did mid June arrive without me properly noticing???? Panic…
Flea’s foot is doing a lot better… we bring her out of the hothouse to play in the garden when the weather is nice. She was really happy helping me in this plot! Worms galore!!
As usual it was the twitch that slowed me down a lot.
I topped the plot up with a little of the leftover fancy compost I bought ages back and some leaf mould compost.
(All looking scrumptious)
Got my garlic (Purple)(And you can see IT knows when to grow even if I don’t!)
Ready to go…
I don’t even want to show you the next photo… but I will…
Seems like a horrible waste. But by the time these got to the red (ish) stage they weren’t tasting very nice and they were bruising quickly. (and half eaten by slugs) The season was not on the side of the tomatoes this year. So… I hardened my heart and just ripped it all out.
Flea was on hand to assist here too
Another worm smorgasbord!
This plot will be for the white garlic. I need to go into town and get some blood and bone to dig through… that’s on tomorrows job list.
Remember how Flossie-Veloci was looking so scruffy a while back?
She is now super sleek and pretty!
Moving right along… The blueberries!
Margie just got a big garage/shed built and I managed to snaffle the carboard packing!! That and several barrow loads of the macrocarpa woodchip and voila! Much Better!
Cousin Jeff came around yesterday morning with his son and his wood splitter and split the rest of the wood that seemed impenetrable to the axe
I’ve probably gotten about half stacked
Its pretty green so it won’t be used for a good long while
Getting a few nice evening skies too when the weather is on form
And nothing much changes in Pips world. As long as there is a warm towel and a comfy chair? Life is grand! Cheers!
Hello! Well… this amazing photo (haha) is our gourmet dinner – yes, I ditched most normal camping food in favour of cup-a-soups, chocolate, muesli bars and cheese and bikkies (crackers) Totally enjoyed. Funnily enough the biscuits made it happily through the trek without becoming crumbs. I kinda wondered if I would have to pour crumbs into my mouth and follow it up with a cheese-chaser…
(Photo of me looking all glamorous from Leonie… you can kinda tell its all a bit cold and damp)
So… we went to bed early, ate and then tucked in to try to get some sleep. Ahhh, well… gosh. My, that was a looooooong cold night. Not hypothermically cold (I may have just made up a word) but the cold kept seeping in at different spots all night. I think against all odds we did get in a good block of hours sleep but it was hard to feel rested in the morning. Oh I did NOT want to get up to go to the loo either… Of course, I eventually did, got dressed and made a hot tea.
We decided not to do the second night. But we walked a short way up into the actual Walls area to see what we could see
It was cold enough but the day seemed quite nice
Unfortunately a lot of the track as we went up was becoming ice encrusted, so we just figured that it would be too slow to go any distance which would make the hike back a bit later than what we would be comfortable with
We were unsure of what the conditions would be like that day so erred on the side of caution
Bit disappointed of course. Would be nice to eventually actually SEE the Walls when going up there!!
Love the streams running through the mossy terrain
So… back to camp to finish packing our gear, getting the right clothes on and head on back.
The day was much clearer than the day before
We took our time walking across the boardwalk and taking photos and topping up the water. I just ran the stream water through my sawyer mini to filter it (eyeroll… probably filtering some of the cleanest water on the planet)
There are taps at the campsite but they were all frozen that morning
Pretty odd through the fisheye lens…
More mossy streams
And of course my favourite pincushion plants!
I love them so much, weird little creatures haha
Time to get a wriggle on
And looking back to the campsite area (Well hidden)
I like how this stretch of rock is incorporated into the hiking path
And thanks to Leonie… another Lisa-Action-Shot
I really love the area through here, paths, tarns, ice and plants
Its just so beautiful!
And I know I posted this one earlier, but I think its my fav of the trip so I am putting it up again!
And onward we go!
(After another photo of course)
Back to our icecapades…
Cute little stand of Pencil Pines!
And gosh… is that a bit of blue sky?
Thats a bit exciting!
Here is a blatant cut and paste from Wikipedia about Pencil Pines:
Athrotaxis cupressoides, is also known as pencil pine, despite being a species of the family Cupressaceae, and not a member of the pine family. Found either as an erect shrub or as a tree, this species is endemic to Tasmania Australia. Trees can live for upwards of 1000 years, sustaining a very slow growth rate of approximately 12 mm in diameter per year.
There you go!!
More blue sky
Getting better views this day so we could see the lakes and tarns etc a lot better
And for something different… more icy paths
We were actually starting to warm up a bit much by this point so we stopped and shed some layers. Always nice to put the packs down for a few minutes too
Selfie!
OK… not the best lens for this… waaaaaay in the distance is Cradle Mt and surrounding mountains.. snow capped. So I made Leonie do some zooming on her phone…
Trekking on
Time for a short stop, a snack and packs down
We started coming across those ice over rock waterfalls….
The ice had retreated a bit on some of them, but they were still a bit hairy going up. I think I went bush for this one while Leonie went straight up!
The above photo shows it a bit better… no wrong steps should be made here!
Once we got down to a certain level, it was much easier going as the ice was gone and it was all downhill. It still took us 4 hours to return. (Better than 6 I suppose!!!)
I am sure we will plan more hikes, but perhaps sticking to the summer months. I like the challenge of winter but I’d like to update gear a bit for the cold and ice to make things a little safer and a bit more comfortable at night!
Thanks for soldiering through all the photos!! Cheers!
Well… here we are! Leonie and I ready to start walking up to Wild Dog Creek campsite! We drove up to Sheffield the evening before and stayed in a little cabin so we didn’t have such a long drive on the morning of the hike
The weather of course was a bit gloomy… not too super cold at first and only spat with rain slightly
(I just brought along my goofy fish eye lens… its lighter than the others haha)
Leonie looking remarkable cheerful for her first foray out into multi day hiking!
Its a pretty walk up… although it does mostly just go ‘up’ (and up) for the bulk of the day.
Love the way you come across the official sign about 15 minutes or so into the hike.
Pretty trees and twisty tracks
I love the ferny glades
Not a problem getting across the creeks
As the morning wore on, it got foggier
(Yup… we are still going up)
Time for a selfie..
And a slightly blurry selfie of the two of us haha
(At least the background looks focused !!)
Ooooh! Snow!
A bit of a stream crossing just before reaching Trappers Hut
We took the packs off here and sat and had a bite to eat and a drink… and rested the shoulders! We couldn’t linger too long as we got cold once we stopped moving
Time to pick up the packs and keep going
Not far past this point we met a trail runner who had started off as we arrived!! He had RUN all the way up, gone up past the campsite through the Walls to the other campsite AND BACK… I felt so turtle slow haha
He and another couple mentioned that the ice on the track made things a bit tricky.. so glad I had my hiking poles this time. Leonie had a single one.
Little more snow showing
Tree Appreciation Time
I enjoy the colours of the trees and moss up here
And here we are. At the start of the ice. Bit of a bugger really… we were at the point where the ‘up’ wasn’t so severe and should have been able to make up some time.
But no… the stretches of icy paths really put a crimp in our strides
Gave us time to enjoy the views
We did have some tricky moments where we had to go either way off the path or pick our way super slowly through the ice. Didn’t fancy having any broken limbs up there
Was slow but manageable when we were on the flat, but often we came across ice waterfalls over the boulders that was the path. Not easy at all.
But it was pretty!
And gloomy
Still cheerful!
Although we started to wonder why we thought winter was a great time for this …
Should have brought ice skates!
It was at this point that the rain was starting to set in and we were getting colder – no chance to speed up to warm up so we stopped, donned the wet weather gear and I put the camera away.
It took us SIX hours to get to camp!!!! But we were lucky that it had stopped raining so we could put the tent up and sort out our gear without worrying about the rain
We chose our platform and got cracking on the tent
Home sweet home for the night. Lastly… a mug of soup and some bread, tea and we were about ready to turn in for the night!! Back later with day two! Cheers
Its winter… but a few autumn colours are still to be seen which adds some colour to some really drab days
A lot of rain the past week… and wind Pip is enjoying the daily fires and spends a lot of time snoozing
At times we’ve clearly warmed the towel a little too far!!
Of course, inside time is a good chance for some soaping which I hadn’t done in a while
Testing out a new recipe… supposedly good for skin. Not a goats milk soap but included fresh rosemary, rosemary ess oil, clay, castor oil (sticky!!) sunflower oil, coconut and olive oil. Now the waiting time before I can test it. Smell lovely though!
Tried out a new (ish) swirl design
(Kakadu Plum and Bush Cucumber fragrance)
Not bad 🙂
Also topped up my supply of Apple and Sage which is always popular on the stalls
Just a simple combo of the base colour and the fresh green
And we have Flea inside at night at the moment… and in the hothouse during the day
The silly chook has hurt her foot/leg It seems to be more weight bearing as the days go on but haven’t taken her to vet for xrays… Keeping her from walking about too far by being in the hothouse (and sheltered) and snugged up at night in the cat carrier inside since she doesn’t have her sisters to snuggle. She still is eating well and laying eggs… just unsure about dragging her off to vets for a sprain. She doesn’t flinch when we touch the foot or leg, but she doesn’t bear weight on it well. Poor Flea. Its a stress since she is my favourite girl. She is cute when she comes inside… she’s all covered up in the cage and its set on a sheepskin not straight on floor… we have little ‘bok bok’ conversations with her as she settles in for the night. We say ‘bok bok’ and she replies. (Yah… winter entertainment in the Millar Household rocks)
Rabbits have been gnawing on my beetroots… so pulled them up and re netted carrots as they’ve been having a go at those too!
Some big veggies
Getting a few pretty sunsets too!
Anyway, I am heading out! I have the first days hike photos ready so hopefully will be back later this evening to share that! And congratulations to Teri for being the recipient of Ruby’s Knee Rug 🙂 I’ll get it in the post soon 🙂 It will be nice to think of one of Ruby’s creations heading overseas to one of my readers!
Hi! Just going to backtrack a little to share the rest of the farm party story and attack you with an inappropriate number of fireworks photos!
I made a pavlova to take along… been a while since I made a pav. mmmmm
Happily, while the night was certainly cold and crisp – there was no rain, so that made for a great night! And check out the food table!! I didn’t even notice at first but Paul went and set up two of the big slabs from our macrocarpa trees to act as the party table!! So cool! I was pretty thrilled !
Friends brought around a heap of haybales so people had places to sit around the fire, others brought along food for the table
Paul and Sharon had cooked up quite a storm during the day… it was hard to know where to begin!
Pots of warm curries, slow cooked lamb etc
Neighbours brought along the chestnuts (from their farm!)
Breads…
Soon the table was groaning under the weight of all that was on offer and everyone happily dug in – I got Sharon to serve me one of her big baked potatoes and topped my plate with salads and meat (to start with)
I am getting hungry again just looking at this!
Was cosy sitting around the fire eating and chatting to friends before heading back to raid the table again!
And then came the fireworks! Sit back and enjoy the scroll!
I hadn’t done night photos for such a long time, so it took a while to get the hang of finding the right settings!
Occasionally Paul would dash back up and put a small firework on the garden table
I love the delicate lines of these ones…
And this one makes me think of a squid
All a lot of fun
The chestnuts were roasted and the desserts brought out!
All very blissful for a nearly winters night! Sharon and Paul did a magnificent job of putting such a great night on – Very much enjoyed by all! Cheers!
Hello hello! Back down in civilisation again safe and sound! Now a large backlog of photos to play with!
Leonie and I had a great time… challenging… We only stayed the one night instead of two…(That was always going to be flexible depending on weather)
Once we reached a certain height, we encountered left over snow and a LOT of icy pathways! That put a crimp in our hiking strides! The top part of the hike that we would have been able to pick up the pace with, was slowed right down.
Lucky we had hiking poles but crampons would have been the way to go.
And we really weren’t warm enough in the tent! It was a long night of never really getting up to a comfortable temperature! The next day we ventured up a short way where we were keen to actually see the ‘Walls of Jerusalem’ but the paths were still super icy, so we opted to pack everything up and just head back down. Seemed like the most sensible option overall. (Will admit to totally woosing out on the thought of another 12 hours in a tent not being warm enough!!) It took us 6 hours to hike up and 4 to return.
We will plan our next adventure not in winter haha! I’ll return with more photos Cheers!
