Tasmania Holiday

Hi all

Not feeling the best today and am still wearing my pjs lol But I did have a chance to have a quick look through our Tassie photos. It is fairly overcast and rainy this time of year but not as cold as I expected with our average temperature around 15 degrees during the day. The sun doesn't really rise til around 8am though and dark kicks in soon after 5pm so short days but very European winter feel to the place.

Hobart was by far our favourite location, with the city on the waters edge, surrounded by mountains and greenery of trees etc. Very different to the flat and not so green urban jungle that is the centre of Brisbane. It's actually a really pretty place and if I didn't hate cold, I reckon I could live in Hobart.

Right near the city centre is the mammoth Mt Wellington. We went up there not long before dark so the views were not as good as they would be earlier on a clear day but still pretty impressive and on top of the mountain was freaking cold. It is above the clouds though, so no surprise there.

 Up in the clouds, it looked like a whole other planet.

The next day we went to Bonorong Wildlife Reserve, which are a research facility and reserve for animals who are unable to live in the wild. Their big focus though is on the hope of breeding Tassie devils and educating the community about the disease that is killing these cute little animals off. It was a great place to visit, with the most informative and friendly staff.

 Amazing how popular you can be with a bag of food...

 Tassie devils... we could not believe how friendly these two below were with the keeper. One kept licking his leg haha

Then to the Cascade Brewery for lunch... a delicious stout pie. One of the stand out meals of the holiday. We didn't do a tour or anything. I hate beer but the lunch was great lol

The next day we did the standout experience of the trip. A Tasman Island Wilderness Cruise which was simply amazing. If anyone is heading to Tassie, this is a must. They also do one on Bruny Island which I expect is just as good, if not better as it has won a lot more awards, but this trip was amazing. 3 hours out at sea, and we were lucky enough to have the best weather they'd had in a week so we had smooth conditions and even got to travel right around Tasman Island, which is rarely possible as it gets pretty bumpy. A little bit of white water rafting style fun haha But we got to see the most amazing cliffs, the highest sea cliffs in the world. The boat manovered right into caves and up close to animals. We saw seals, sea birds and had a massive pod of dolphins swimming along side us. Lots with babies. And the crew were so knowledgeable. We had 2 young men take our group and their enthusiasm is somewhat contageous. Truely love their jobs! And they give you a ginger tablet if you want it at the start and snacks along the way so my stomach was perfectly settled... which is a relief as I'm prone to sea sickness lol Oh and you get to wear these totally stylish water/wind proof suits.

 We totally felt like Slipknot! (For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, its a metal band that we love lol)

Into caves we go...

Water fall down the sea cliff

The candle stick... or the totem pole...not sure which but people like to climb it.

Mini waterfalls as waves crash over the rocks

Dolphins

Australian fur seals...largest in the world apparently.

Lighthouse on top of Tasman Island

Then we spent the afternoon at Port Arthur, which is an early convict prison settlement. Convicts were mostly sent from England but also from other parts of Europe and of course from other parts of Australia. What was most fascinating is that for me, working in the prison system, I was suprised how progressive this system was. They were focused on rehabilitation, so they had daily classes to educate convicts, as well as teaching them trades. They had an early system that very much resembled our current parole system and work release, and a seperate confinement that is not too much unlike our current maximum security system. Interesting... lol Only these days, prisons are much more humane in terms of space and providing healthcare, and some would say, luxuries.

After our 3 nights in Hobart, we travelled up through the west of Tasmania through the mountain and rainforrest areas. I spent the trip to Strahan and the next day, to Cradle Mountain, severely ill with motion sickness among other things. Not pleasant and it left me pretty exhausted and feeling a bit rough during our time in each of these places. Strahan was pretty but a lot of businesses were closed for Winter. We didn't have enough time for the must do Gordon River cruise either. Cradle Mountain was beautiful and isolated. We stayed in Lemonthyme Lodge which was right in the middle of the rainforrest and about 40 minutes from anything. Our room was a treetop wooden cabin with a gas fireplace and a veranda that looked out to a stunning view of rainforrest. The restaurant was great too.

In Launceston we stayed at Tamar Valley Resort and Swiss Village. It is actually styled on a real village in Switzerland which was pretty cute. We loved Switzerland so it was nice to feel like we were almost there again. The resort has everything you could want and so much for the kids to do. Water activities, play grounds, a giant bouncing bubble, putt putt etc.

While in Lauceston we went to Beaconsfield Mine which is apparently shutting down for good in 2 weeks. Many of you may remember the story of 3 minors trapped during a mine explosion many years ago. 2 of them survived after 14 days or so trapped in a tiny space underground. The museum tells a lot of this story and the history of the mine and the area. The picture below is the same mine shaft the men emerged from after their ordeal.. and still operating today... for a short time. It is a gold mine.

We also went to a platypus/echidna house that day as it was rainy and we couldn't do the Cataract Gorge as we'd hoped. Who knew platypus and echidna are directly related. I know I didn't.

So there is a snapshot of our Tasmania trip. Definitely worth a visit, even if you hate the cold like I do as it is truely beautiful and there is so much scenary to explore and sights to see. Now I just have to finish my smash book pages from the trip and I'll be able to post those up sometime in the coming days. I'm still on holidays for most of this week so hope to get some scrapping done over the next few days.

Hope you're all having a great Sunday.

Holly x

I'm Back...

In case you were wondering where I was... although probably not! lol

My husband and I just spent 7 nights in Tasmania and had a mostly wonderful time. There is something very spectacular about the Tasmania experience. The contrast between city, mountain and ocean is pretty awesome. We really enjoyed our time in Hobart especially. And the Tasman Wilderness Cruise... a must do!!!

As we have not long been home, I haven't the energy to upload photos yet but tomorrow I'll post up some of our holiday snaps. And some pics of the smash album I was working on during the trip. Such an awesome idea those Smash books. Far more interactive than a simple travel journal and far quicker than traditional scrapping.

Anyway...until tomorrow...enjoy your night.

Holly xo

What's On To Your Workdesk Australia Day Wednesday

Happy Australia Day everyone. So its a holiday here and today my husband and I are spending our day off with our wedding photographer, having our wedding album design session. Its supposed to take about 6 hours so it will be fun... but a long day.

Otherwise, I'm off to Sydney on Friday until Sunday this week for what appears to be a boys weekend. My husband and 2 of his band members are keen to go watch an international band, the Deftones, down in Sydney so I'm along for the ride.

As you can see, Miss Felix never really wanders far from her desk. But it is getting messier with a bigger pile of stamps and stuff after my shopping spree last week.

So these are the two layouts I have been working on for a couple of days, also for my honeymoon album. They are incomplete, but I would love some advice from all you lovely ladies as I'm not really sure what to do to make them more interesting. I will most likely add another title below the large photo on the second layout, with our cruise dates. But otherwise, how can I embellish them to make them more interesting. I really do struggle with the 3D style layouts so any suggestions will be much appreciated.


Be sure to check out eveyone else's work desk's at Stamping-ground. Happy Wednesday!

 

 

 

 

Scrapbooking Sunday - A Day At The Louvre

As part of our big European Christmas trip in 2008-09, we spent a large portion of a day at the Lourve museum. It was pretty amazing seeing some of the artworks I had studied during high school art class. Not to mention the ever so famous... yet incredibly tiny Mona Lisa. A bit of a let down really. Who would have through it was barely A4 size. But its still pretty unreal to say we've been there. It had me feeling very much in the mood for Dan Brown's "The Davinci Code" all over again.

If you have been there you would know it is a mammoth of a place and the biggest museum in the world. Well we only had a week in Paris so as much as we could have easily spent half of it exploring the Louvre, we had far too much else to see. And funny enough, it took us over an hour to find the exit. Still cannot believe how hard it was to find a way out of that place. Its like a maze. You see an exit sign but it leads to another display room and another and finally, we were near desperate when we did reach the surface again. I think I'm too scared to go back again now in case we get lost in there again!

The following scrap layouts were done in honour of our day at the Lourve. Let me know what you think, remembering I'm a scrapper newbie and have a lot of learning to do. I haven't yet worked out how to photograph a 12 x 12 page very well either. Advice much welcome.

Finished a New Scrap Layout - Honeymoon

After a busy holiday season and the floods, I have finally gotten back into my scrapbooking and messed up my computer room already.

I decided to start in my honeymoon album since I still haven't got all the wedding photos but am keen to kick off with a new subject... since my Europe albums remain half finished after 2.5 years.

This layout is a double page spread...the only kind I seem to do (with the exception of title pages). I like the way they flow across the pages... although I did not have a second sheet of the nice blue on the right side page. The focus is our 3 night Fiji cruise.

Although it's hard to see, this layout was actually a big achievement for me, as it includes my first journalling attempt. It is typed and printed as I'm not confident enough to write neatly but I am still proud of doing something new. It means I've challenged myself & learnt something since becoming a blogger.

I incorporated a postcard from the cruise in the layout also, then just some basic travel stickers and punch circles. Fairly basic overall but suited to a tropical destination I think.

I am entering the top image in the  Pencil Lines sketch #220. The challenge is probably finished by now but its still nice to have acknowledged some inspiration for that design. I have never entered a challenge so thats something new too.

Sorry the photos are so bad. I always seem to take them at night when the lighting is horrible and they were taken on my mobile phone, so not ideal. Remeber, I am here to learn so all feedback and comments are very welcome :-)

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Scrapbooking Sunday - Neuschwanstein Castle

After a week in Paris, our 2008-09 Europe trip took us through parts if beautiful Germany. One of my favourite places we visited was Neuschwanstein Castle, which was the inspiration of the Disney castle.

Again this was early in my scrapbooking stages. It's a pretty basic spread, before I discovered more advanced embellishing skills ;-). Let me know what you think.

Scrapbooking Sunday - First Sights of Paris

I am by no means an awesome scrapbooker, however I love it and feel that I am improving with practice. I thought it would be fun to share one of my weekly scrapbooking spreads on my blog to keep the motivation going. I also welcome any advice you may wish to offer in improving my scrapping skills.

In the weeks before and after christmas 2008, my husband & I, and his family travelled to Europe for a holiday. These photos were taken on our first day in Paris. It is also one of my early attempts at scrapbooking. I used a map and metro tickets to embellish the pages, along with 3D France inspired stickers. It also includes our Air France on board menu, which can be opened up and read. Nice way of saving the memory.

Sorry the photos are terrible. They were taken on my phone.

Comments are most welcome.

New Years Resolutions 2011

To be honest, I have never been particuarly committed to making resolutions, however this year might be a nice time to start. Without labelling them as resolutions, I have already decided on a couple of set goals.

The big focus is on paying off our debts. I am awesome at budgetting but the wedding put us back a bit (not to mention 2 overseas holidays last year), but we are on our way to getting our credit cards back to zero. And hopefully by our 1 year anniversary in October, we will be able to afford a nice little tropical holiday. Vanuatu maybe? Phuket? Either would be nice.

I am also committed to ensuring my veggies grow well and do not suffer the fate of previous attempts. Thankfully it hasn't stopped raining in the past 2 months in Queensland, Australia, so that's kind of easy.

I will also dedicate lots of time to finishing my scrap books from Europe (2008 & 2010), honeymoon (Fiji) and wedding. As well as exploring new and exciting forms of DIY.

Then of course, my plan to post at least once a week to this blog.