Australia Day 2016

Happy Australia Day

Australia Day is celebrated on January 26th. It fell on a Tuesday this year so the weekend was a bit weird, in that usually when Australia Day falls on a weekend, the weekend day becomes a public holiday and most of the Australia Day activities are held during the weekend. This year there were activities being held from Friday 22nd January all the way through to Tuesday January 26th.

Australia Day celebrates the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British Ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales. It also marks the raising of the Flag of Great Britain at the site by Governor Arthur Phillip.

Kangaroos hopping across the landscape

There are lots of different opinions about Australia Day and what it means to people. There are also many different ways to celebrate Australia Day. People celebrate by having family gatherings with the barbecue in the backyard and a game of cricket. Or families go out and enjoy a picnic or barbecue at the beach, a park or out in the bush. At this time of the year a lot of families are away holidaying so they would be holding a barbecue or picnic at the caravan park or camping ground they are staying at. Other events that occur on Australia Day are parades, free days for families and children, usually put on by local councils, citizenship ceremonies, Australia Day Honours List, Australian of the Year presentation and the Triple J Hottest 100.

Ayres Rock, Australia: A Kangaroo warning road sign in the desert near Uluru

When I was younger the day didn’t hold much significance as it was just another long weekend and we had a day off school, generally on the Monday. It was also a long weekend for our working parents so we would have a long weekend with our family. As I grew older and started working, the day still didn’t have much significance to me. It was just another day off which meant we had a long weekend. I don’t think I really started to look at the significance behind the Australia Day event until the last 10 years or so.

If you are overseas and reading this article, you may not know much about Australia Day. It’s a celebration of Australia becoming a nation. Celebrations in present day Australia reflect the diverse society we live in. Celebrations are marked by community and family events. People reflect on Australian History. There are official community awards such as Citizenship Ceremonies which welcome new immigrants into the Australian Community.

The name of the public holiday has evolved over time. The date of January 26th has been named “Anniversary Day”, “Foundation Day”, and “ANA Day (The Australian Natives’ Association)“. The date of 26th January 1788 marked the proclamation of British sovereignity over the eastern seaboard of Australia – which was known as New Holland at that time.

The holiday was not known as Australia Day until a century later. Records of celebrations on 26th January do date back to 1808. The first official celebration of the formation of New South Wales (New South Wales became a separate state in 1818) was held in 1818.

In 1901, on New Year’s Day, the British colonies of Australia formed a Federation, marking the birth of modern Australia. Australian people were looking for a day of unity and celebration. In 1935 all the Australian states and territories had adopted use of the term “Australia Day” to mark the date of the birth of Australia. It wasn’t until 1994 that the date of January 26th was consistently marked as a public holiday by all states and territories.

Sydney Harbour, the Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge

Australia consists of six states and two territories. The states are Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania. The territories are the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Northern Territory.

Australia’s National Anthem

I wanted to speak about some of the significant songs that Australia and Australians love. Songs that mean a lot to some people. I am currently watching the debate on ABC News 24 about different views about Australia Day. Our Indigenous People want it, Australia Day, to be marked as a day of National Mourning as it was the day that Australia was overtaken by Europeans, who took over the land and wiped out entire generations of Aboriginals. There is another article building up here. I will address that in another post. Our Indigenous people marched and protested Australia Day. They call it Invasion Day, the day that Europeans came to Australia and took over a country that was already owned and cared for by its people – The Aboriginals or the Indigenous tribes of Australia.

When I was young, and attending primary school, we used to sing “God Save Our Queen” every Monday morning. It was our national anthem. We would assemble in the quadrangle, raise the flag and sing the National Anthem before we filed into school. In 1984 “God Save Our Queen” was replaced by “Advance Australia Fair” as the National Anthem. Prior to that God Save Our Queen was sung as Australia was governed by Britain, and so we sang the patriotic song to honor the Queen of England.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

In 1951, to celebrate the golden jubilee of the Federation of Australia, there was a competition for a new national anthem. The song that won the competition was called “This Land of Mine” and was written by Henry Krips, an Austrian born conductor. This song never became the National Anthem.

 

The Australion Coat of Arms, flanked by the Kangaroo and Emu

In 1973 another competition was started to find a new anthem that could represent Australia with distinction. The Australian Council for the Arts organised a contest which was called “The Australian National Anthem Quest”. None of the entries were considered worthy by the Council for the Arts. The contest ended with suggestions for Advance Australia Fair, Waltzing Matilda and Song of Australia.

The Australian Dingo

The Fraser government reinstated “God Save Our Queen” for royal, vice-regal, defence and loyal toast occasions in January 1976. The national song was chosen during the 1977 referendum – with Advance Australia Fair receiving 43.29% of votes, defeating the three alternatives – Waltzing Matilda, Song of Australia and God Save Our Queen.

Advance Australia Fair was adopted as the Australian national anthem on 19th April 1984, by a proclamation of the Governor General Sir Ninian Stephen. God Save Our Queen is now known as the Royal Anthem, and it is played alongside the Australian National Anthem at public engagements attended by the Royal Family.

The reason that I mention the National Anthem is because there are so many songs that could have been chosen to represent what Australia is, and what it means to people. Below are the words of the National Anthem as sung at special occasions. I have never learned the words myself as I don’t often attend an occasion where the anthem is sung.

A Koala – not a koala bear

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM

“Australians all let us rejoice,

For we are young and free;

We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil;

Our home is girt by sea;

Our land abounds in nature’s gifts

Of beauty rich and rare;

In history’s page, let every stage

Advance Australia Fair.

In joyful strains then let us sing,

Advance Australia Fair.

 

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross

We’ll toil with hearts and hands;

To make this Commonwealth of ours

Renowned of all the lands;

For those who’ve come across the seas

We’ve boundless plains to share;

With courage let us all combine

To Advance Australia Fair.

In joyful strains then let us sing,

Advance Australia Fair.”

Okay I think I know the first six lines. I really should learn all the words to our National Anthem. I remember the referendum. A few other songs were bandied about. A lot of Aussies thought that “I am Australian” should have been the National Anthem.

Kangaroo at Sunrise

Here are the lyrics to I Am Australian. The lyrics were written by Bruce Woodley and Dobe Newton, in 1987, with music by Bruce Woodley

I AM AUSTRALIAN

“I came from the dream-time, from the dusty red soil plains
I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame.
I stood upon the rocky shore, I watched the tall ships come.
For forty thousand years I’ve been the first Australian.

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian

I came upon the prison ship, bowed down by iron chains.
I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains.
I’m a settler, I’m a farmer’s wife on a dry and barren run
A convict then a free man, I became Australian.

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian

I’m the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode
The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road
I’m a child of the depression, I saw the good times come
I’m a bushy, I’m a battler, I am Australian

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian

I’m a teller of stories, I’m a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira, I paint the ghostly gums
I am Clancy on his horse, I’m Ned Kelly on the run
I’m the one who waltzed Matilda, I am Australian

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian

I’m the hot wind from the desert, I’m the black soil of the plains
I’m the mountains and the valleys, I’m the drought and flooding rains
I am the rock, I am the sky, the rivers when they run
The spirit of this great land, I am Australian

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian
I am, you are, we are Australian!”

I think that the second song, I am Australian, represents the Australian landscape and the Australian way of life much better than our present National Anthem.

Finally there is a lovely poem written by a 19 year old woman, which I would like to share with you. It is called My Country and was written by Dorothea McKellar.

MY COUNTRY

“The love of field and coppice
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies
I know, but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze …

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
though Earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly. ”

I wanted to end this article by singing the praises of Australia. It is a lovely part of the world. It is an island and a continent. We do “throw shrimps on the barbie” as Paul Hogan said in an advertisement campaign. However you are more likely to find that we chuck a snag (put a sausage) on the barbie (barbecue), or cook a lamb chop, a loin chop, or hamburgers or patties. We do our barbecues in style – with salads, bread and butter, plates and knives and forks. If we do sweets you can expect to eat a pavlova, fruit salad, or sometimes cakes or other yummy desserts.

We do not have kangaroos hopping down our main streets. We do have kangaroos, koalas, dingoes, wombats, echidnas, emu and platypus living out in the bush and rivers (the platypus), and some of our zoos also house our wildlife to protect the species. Australia has the most unique landscape and wildlife, due to being an island, and being separated from other continents.

Australia is a lovely country, with such beauty and landscapes, with vast plains, deserts, beaches, sweeping roads, lush rain forests, and so much more. The songs and poem above describe our lovely country. I hope that if you ever want to come over to Australia, that you will let me know. I will throw another shrimp on the barbie, chill a few beers in an esky and welcome you with warm arms. Come on over and visit my wonderful country. I hope the songs and poem above have inspired you to come and have a holiday in this wonderful land. Oh and I hope the writings of Cassandra have inspired you too!

Map of Australia

 

 

 

What gives you happiness?

I was given a Calendar of quotes called “Chinese Wisdom 365 – A thoughtful quote for every day – from the wisest thinkers.”

beautiful cactus flower

January 17th reads “So if loss of what gives you happiness causes you distress when it fades, you can now understand that such happiness is worthless. It is said, those who lose themselves in their desire for things also lose their innate nature.” by Chaung Tzu

I read this a few times, both agreeing and disagreeing with it. I read it a few more times, trying to discern the message within this quote. Now I think I get it. If you break it down into smaller parts it does make sense.

sunrises make me happy

So if there is something in your life that makes you happy, and if you lose it, and it causes you distress, then your happiness was worthless. This is okay if you are talking about inanimate objects. However when it comes to a person that you love, if you lose a loved one, and they made you happy, whether it’s a lover / boyfriend / girlfriend / husband / wife or a child, then this quote becomes a bit harder to take, I think. What do other people think?

If you love your wife or husband and they make you happy, then if you lose them, I don’t think that your happiness when you were together is or was worthless.

my granddaughter makes me happy

If we are discussing inanimate objects, like the new iPad or new Samsung phone you’ve just bought, and if you lose the object or drop it or it gets run over or stolen, and you feel unhappy about the object being lost or broken or stolen, then maybe you could say that your happiness was worthless. I think the word worthless is what I cannot swallow. Maybe your happiness at having a new thing, a new object, is but a fleeting happiness. When the novelty of the object fades away, you will move on to having another favourite object.  Maybe this quote is more to do with our society being very materialistic.

cheesecake makes me happy

We just have to have the latest and the greatest. As a society, people are very materialistic and want to have the best, the latest, the most amazing, gadgets. And then we upgrade the gadgets so that our latest gadget is current. If I lose a phone or break it, which I have done numerous times, broken them, I get angry that it is damaged. I wouldn’t say that this device is linked directly to my happiness. I might feel frustrated or angry that I cannot make phone calls, or that I have lost all my contacts. I rely on other things to make me happy.

nature reflections make me feel at peace

What am I trying to say? My children make me feel happy. My grand children make me feel happy. I am ultimately responsible for my own happiness. Being outdoors makes me happy. Walking along the beach makes me happy. Spending time with my family and friends makes me happy. I like to spend time with friends and family. I also like getting out and about in the great outdoors. Going for a walk makes me happy. So for me, my happiness is not defined by the things that I own. It’s more about enjoying the time that I am able to spend with friends, and family and the time that I can get outside and spend time at the beach or in the bush.

I like my job and I enjoy the work that I do. It is hard work and I am glad when my day has finished and I can go home and relax. My job doesn’t make me happy because I would much rather be at home, pottering around in my garden. This doesn’t pay the bills so I go to work, to pay my bills, to earn money to live, to buy food, for the necessities in life. And also so that I can save up money to go on holidays. My job doesn’t make me happy, while I am at work, because it is such hard work. I do get joy from the people I work with, my fellow work mates and the clients that I work with. I think that I would be much happier if I had a rich husband who looked after me financially so I could stay at home and play in the garden. NOT! I like being independent and supporting myself and it is very good for my self esteem to know that I am not relying on anybody else to pay my way in life.

clouds and the sky make me feel in awe of nature

The 2nd part of the quote reads “It is said, those who lose themselves in their desire for things also lose their innate nature.” I think this part of the quote does make sense. And I believe that I may have touched on this part of the quote above. It’s a bit like trying to be better than the Jones. If Mr Jones buys a gold statue and sets it up on his front lawn, then in order to compete and have a higher stature (not statue, sorry for the pun) than him, we would have to go and buy a bigger gold statue and set it up in our front yard. Do people aspire to be better than Mr Jones? I think a lot of people do. I buy things to make my life better or easier, such as a new heater or air conditioner. This has nothing to do with a desire to be better than my neighbours.

Wow that quote has really taken on a life of its own. If I look at the quote again, for me personally, I feel that it is saying that “if you adore the golden statue and it turns to copper, and you feel unhappy because your beautiful gold statue was a fake, then you must be a very shallow person to love and adore this statue. The statue did not make you happy nor will it ever make you happy if you rely on an object to make you happy.

I love this little girl

On the other hand if you lose someone who makes you happy, then this pain of loss is a lot different than the pain of losing an object. And if you love things in life and get rapt up in your desire for bigger and better, and trying to be better than the Jones’s, then you will probably never truly find real happiness.

Happiness lies within you. It cannot be bought by shiny toys. It cannot be paid for. For a person to achieve true happiness, I think you need to learn to love yourself and you need to be happy with what you have, make the best of the skills and experiences that you have had, and live your life to the fullest, trying to be a good person.

kookaburra in the old gum tree

I would like to hear what other people think about this quote and what it means to them. Do you think that I have got close to the mark, analysing this quote?

 

 

 

New Years Resolutions 2016

I used to always make New Years Resolutions and never keep them. You know how it is? I will give up alcohol, stop drinking (same thing as giving up alcohol), lose weight, clean my house, etc. etc.

And every year the resolutions would fall by the way side. So I didn’t even make a resolution this year as 2015 gave way to 2016. There has been some problems in my private life which have now led me to re-think things. Now I just want to be happy and healthy and sane. And 2016 is going to be the year that I lose weight and start to feel good about myself, and the year that I stop being bullied by people who claim they love me.

I have just put up a calendar for 2016. On the first page is the following resolutions that somebody / anybody could try and achieve. I thought I would put it here on my post and then maybe write a bit about each one of those resolutions, what they mean to me, what I would like to achieve. And maybe in a few months time I will revisit this post and see how my life is progressing.

This year:

A bad habit I am going to break . . . . .

A new skill I’d like to learn . . . . .

A good deed I’m going to do . . . .

A place I’d like to visit . . . . . .

A book I’d like to read . . . . . .

A letter I’d like to write . . . . .

A new dish I’m going to try . . . . .

I’m going to be better at . . . . .

I invite other authors to borrow the resolutions above and write their own posts about what they will achieve / want to achieve in 2016.

A bad habit I am going to break – Picking my nose, no just joking. I don’t pick my nose. I think the worst habit that I have is being a hoarder. I collect stuff that I don’t need and keep it just in case I need it one day. I see things on the side of the road that other people have discarded and I bring them home. I don’t need these things however that doesn’t stop me picking them up and bringing them home.

A new skill I’d like to learn – I am currently trying to complete a course in Disability so I think that will be my skill I would like to learn. I want to finish the certificate and gain work in this area.

A good deed I’m going to do – I often write web pages about fundraising events that are happening in Geelong. This year I would like to attend some of these events and achieve two goals – as most of the fundraising events are runs or walks, I would like to enter the runs and walks and get fit, and also donate money to whichever charity the event is supporting.

A place I’d like to visit – New South Wales isn’t a place, it’s a state. I would like to travel slowly across New South Wales and stop and smell the roses, take photos and visit some of the museums, art galleries and wineries at some of the beautiful towns in New South Wales. If you read my post The year that was and the year ahead about my trip across New South Wales, you would see that my quick trip didn’t give me the chance to see any of the tourism spots that my sister and I drove through.

A book I’d like to read – I read a lot. I would like to re-read some books that I have read recently. I often get given books so I don’t really have a favourite author or particular genre that I read. I read anything and everything. I guess I would like to re-read Shades of Grey. I would like to read the Jerilderie Letter by Ned Kelly, and I would like to re-read The true story of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carr.

A letter I’d like to write – I haven’t seen my best friend in years. I would like to visit her and also to write her lots of letters. I also like to write to my granddaughter so I guess I would like to finish writing a letter to Cianna. I often write articles and letters and complete them or send them, so I think as well as writing letters I also need to post them to the person they are being written to.

A new dish I’m going to try – I usually eat chicken parmigiana when I go out for meals at hotels. I would like to learn how to cook myself a chicken parmi. I also like to eat omelettes so I would like to master cooking a great omelette.

I’m going to be better at – Gosh this one is hard.

I would like to be better at resolving problems without losing my temper.

I would like to have a great relationship with all my children without letting them walk all over me.

I would like to be a better parent, friend, sister, and daughter. I feel that sometimes I am so ensconced in my own personal problems that I don’t listen to others or dedicate myself to them.

Finally I would like to be better at being happy!

I will finish this post now and come back in a few months to let you know how my achievements are progressing.

I do enjoy writing and posting on Word Press and I have met some really wonderful people on here. Thank you all for being my friend, for your kindness and comments.

 

 

The Year That Was & The Year Ahead

In 2015 I was bitten by the travel bug. On a whim and a prayer, I decided to drive over 1600 kilometres away to deliver a bed to a princess.

I live in Geelong, Victoria. My daughter moved to Lismore, NSW. When my daughter moved, she left a whole lot of boxes and bags in my lounge room. It was really depressing to look at the boxes. So I decided to take a trip to Lismore to deliver some of her belongings to her. Oh and I also wanted to take my granddaughter’s bed to her, (Cianna is the princess who needed her bed) as she had a new bed that had been left behind in Geelong. Hayley and Cianna flew up to Lismore. I decided to drive there. It is a trip of 1,690 kms.

I applied for leave at work. I only applied for about six days as I had the whole trip planned out to the minute and I thought I would be home in time to start work on my next rostered day.  (I work in Aged Care and we work to a roster, so my next shift after the trip would be the next Monday.)

I had planned time off work. I asked Dad if could I borrow his ute and my son said I could borrow his trailer. So we had everything in place. My sister said she would come with me for company. Dad and Corey and I packed the trailer and ute the night before I was due to leave. Now there is a story there. That damn trailer was the bane of my existence!

The trailer was full to the top. It had a cage on it so we could fit quite a bit in it. The princess bed was safe and sound at the bottom of the ute. There were bags and bags of clothes and shoes and we packed some of Cianna’s toys to take up to her. My Dad and son Corey tied a tarp over the trailer. It was an old tarp and it was a bit frayed. But it covered the trailer and all the items in the trailer. Talk about famous last words! My son said that he wasn’t happy with the tarp and we had a tarp in the shed that could have been put over the top of all the stuff in the trailer. Anyway the trailer was covered and that’s all that mattered!

I worked on the Monday before I headed off. I wanted to get to Wodonga the first night. I finished work at 3.15, got home, changed out of my uniform and headed off to Wodonga on the first leg of my epic journey. Or as the trip was dubbed “the Thelma and Louise trip”.  As I left the driveway of my house, I felt the weight of the trailer behind me. It was quite heavy. Dad’s ute is an automatic and she pulled the load okay, but I could feel it.

The ute, and trailer, loaded and ready to go.

The first part of the journey was probably the most stressful, well there were other stressful moments and lots of laughs too.  When I left Geelong the traffic was okay. As I got into Melbourne, I hit peak traffic on the Western Ring Road. Traffic was bumper to bumper and we were driving slowly, on and off the brakes. My hands were sweaty and it was quite nerve wracking, as I had this heavy load of stuff on the trailer behind me, and the traffic was heavy and we were literally on the brakes, off the brakes, inching along slowly, for about 20 kms.

Orange rope added to the trailer, to secure the tarp

1st stop, Donnybrook Rd Melbourne, bought more rope.

 

I finally got through Melbourne and on to the Hume Highway. The traffic eased a bit.  I wasn’t happy with the trailer as the tarp was flapping around a bit behind me, so I stopped at the Donnybrook Road service station and bought some rope and tried to secure the tarp a bit better.  I also took the opportunity to change out of my runners into my slippers. My feet were sore from a big day at work.

Slippers for my poor sore feet.

After Donnybrook Road, the trip was quite easy. I have travelled to Wodonga quite a few times to visit my sister Jodie and her partner Wayne. So it was just a few clicks up the freeway to Wodonga. I did stop at Glenrowan for coffee. I was feeling a bit tired by then and I smsed Jodie and told her I was tired and needed coffee and a sister hug. I couldn’t wait to get to Wodonga and put my feet up and have a rest.

Did you miss me? I just went and hung my washing out. Even on New Year’s Day I still have to hang out the washing. Where is my maid?

I got to Wodonga at about 9.30, 10.00ish. I stopped for my first gas refill. I stopped at a service station just off the Hume Highway in Wodonga. Gas! I pulled up to the bowser and tried to do up the Gas pump to the car. Nope it wasn’t happening. I couldn’t screw the pump up to the gas inlet on the ute.  So here I was, heading off on a trip across NSW and I couldn’t even do up the gas nozzle to the car. What was I thinking? Was I insane?

So I asked the girl behind the counter if she could help me. No deal. She didn’t know why I couldn’t do the nozzle up and she couldn’t leave the register to help me. I called Jodie and Wayne, and told them I couldn’t do the nozzle up. Before they could arrive to help me, I tried another nozzle and it worked and I had filled the ute up with gas before Jodie and Wayne arrived. So I paid for my gas and headed back to Jodie and Wayne’s. Ash, Jodie’s son, had cooked a roast and had saved me a plate. So I ate my roast tea and was soon in bed, trying to get some sleep before the next leg of the trip.

I’m not sure what town this was. It was our first toilet stop after Wodonga.

So next day, bright and early, Jodie and I headed off. Jodie packed clothes and a doona and pillow. Wayne looked at the tarp, tied on with my orange rope that I bought at Donnybrook Road service station. He thought to himself that he should add his tarp to the trailer, and tie it on more securely. In his defence, he did have the man flu. And he didn’t tie on another tarp but he did tighten the orange rope that I had added.

Beautiful autumn tones in the trees

So we headed off into the wild blue yonder, Jodie and I, the ute and the trailer, off on a big adventure across New South Wales. I don’t get out much and I have hardly seen all of Victoria, let alone travelled across New South Wales. When we headed off on our epic Thelma and Louise trip, I had never been to any of the towns that we drove through in NSW. I had plotted my trip and had also plotted how long it would take  between each town and each stop, and how long it was between stops.

The trailer done up like a birthday present. We tried to secure the tarp.

My plan was to be at Tamworth by nightfall on the 2nd day, Tuesday, and to arrive at Lismore by about 3.00pm the next day to catch up with Hayley and have lunch with her in Lismore. Hayley had said to us to try and get to Lismore before 3.00pm and to try and get to Rock Valley, just out of Lismore (where they were living) before dark. Well best laid plans don’t often work out.

Look at how dark the sky was.

We often had to stop to take toilet breaks. Sometimes at road side stops or service stations and sometimes on the side of the road, so that Jodie could go to the toilet. We often had to stop in the middle of nowhere so she could take a wee break.

This rainbow followed us for ages.

Funniest moments! We stopped for a wee break. Jodie went running to the back of the car to have a wee, then bolted to the front of the car. When she got back into the car I asked her what happened. She said “big spider, big web.”

The double rainbow. No frogs were harmed on this road trip.

We had a long trip to our first night stop, due to not knowing the roads real well and lots of toilet stops. It set my schedule back a lot. Oh well. What could I do? Not much. Just roll with it. We made it to Coonabarabran by dark on Tuesday night. We got a motel room and parked our ute and trailer in the motel parking space. We went to a supermarket and bought bread rolls and butter and meat, pickles and cheese. We had a small tea of buns and meat and cheese and pickles. It had been a long day and we were both really tired.

The motel in Coonabarabran

There was a double bed and a single bed in the room. Jodie got the double bed and I opted for the single bed. I just wanted sleep and I don’t sleep well with others. So we got some sleep . In the morning we packed and Jodie tried to reverse the ute and trailer out of the motel car park. A lovely young man came and helped us and he reversed the car and turned it around for us. We headed off, trying to make up time and get to Lismore to catch up with Hayley for lunch.

Sunrise in Coonabarabran

I smsed Hayley and told her we weren’t going to be in Lismore at lunch time so she stayed home and cooked us pumpkin risotto.  I had planned to get to Tamworth on the Tuesday night. Due to our tight time schedule, we did go through Tamworth, the home of country music, but we only stopped for a toilet break.

On the way to Lismore, after we left Coonabarabran

I would like to redo my trip again, only slowly and I would like to stop at all the towns we drove through and take some time to look around and visit some of the museums, art galleries, hotels, restaurants, and rivers and lakes and wineries.

The road stretches on ahead

So the 3rd day on the road and we headed towards Lismore. Due to our tight time schedule most of our meals were takeaway meals at maccas or other takeaway stores. We stopped for petrol, food and toilet breaks. We went through some lovely towns on our massive, quick road trip. I will come back and do it all again.

Beautiful landscape in NSW, with great cloud formations

We drove through towns called Wagga Wagga, Temora, West Wyalong, Forbes, Parkes, Coonabarabran, Gunnedah, Tamworth, Uralla, Armadale, Glenn Innes and Casino. So you can look up our trip on Google and see where we traveled, if you like. It was a long, quick, mega trip with lots of driving, not much touring and just trying hard to reach our goal of Lismore.

Tamworth, Landcruiser Country

We stopped at one town to buy tie downs to try and secure the tarp better. At another town we bought a big waterproof tarp and tried to secure that over the load to try and keep it dry and to try and stop the tarp from flying out the side of the trailer as we travelled.

At the top of the hill, Uralla

We did our best and I think we got to Lismore at about 5.00pm. It was starting to get dark. We contacted Hayley and she sent us some directions on how to get to her place at Rock Valley. Rock Valley is 20kms out of Lismore. It is right on the edge of a rainforest. There is a track into the rainforest that takes you into the property where Hayley was living.

St Kilda Hotel, Armadale

We headed out on the road to Rock Valley. The instructions were not very clear and were better understood if you were driving in daylight. One part of the directions read “turn left after the green house” and as it was pitch black by the time we were on the Cawongla Road, we couldn’t see any green house. Jodie stopped a man who was driving along the same road. He realized we were after the M.O. (multiple occupancy) and he said you had to head over two cattle grids. That sounded familiar and Hayley had mentioned cattle grids and M.O. so this kind man took us to the driveway we needed to turn in to.

At Rock Valley

We headed over two cattle grids. We started to drive up a bush track. It was dark and we were on a narrow track with trees close to the side of the track. As we drove up we had no idea where we were or if we had to turn off or keep on heading up the track. We came to a steep part of the track. An ominous sign on the side of the road said “engage first gear” and then we got bogged. The trailer would not follow us up the track and the ute was threatening to bog down in the muddy track. So we parked the ute, left the lights on and headed up the track on foot. Jodie was a lot more calm than I was.

The bush not far from the house in Rock Valley

I sometimes get to a point where I just seem to have a mini meltdown. We walked up this track in the dark, using our phone torches as lights. My torch went out as my phone battery died. We came to a fork in the road. Jodie said we had to take the left path so we did. I would have kept on walking up the hill in the dark. We finally got to the house and Cianna came out and gave me a hug. It was worth the whole trip to have a hug from my gorgeous little granddaughter.

The house in Rock Valley

We went inside and chatted. Hayley came down the track with me to unhook the trailer so that the track was clear for other people living on the M.O. It is a one way track or a single track and vehicles can only go up or down in single file, so we had to move the ute and the trailer. We unhooked the trailer and left it on the side of the track, and Hayley drove the ute up the track to the house. It was wet season and the track was wet and slippery. At the house where Hayley was staying there was  grass up near the house and no drive way. So we eventually managed to bog the ute.

Flowers in the forest

The first night we got there, we ate pumpkin risotto and sat around and chatted. We set up Cianna’s bed. Cianna slept with Hayley, and Jodie and I had a single bed each to sleep in. We had both bought our own doonas and pillows.

On a bush track near the house in Rock Valley

Cianna was attending a country school so the next morning (Thursday) Hayley and I took her to school. To get to school Cianna and Hayley usually had to walk down the track to meet the bus. It is a walk of about 2kms. It would take them about 20 to 25 minutes to walk down there.

The bush around the house is lovely. It is lush tropical rainforest. There are just trees and bushes, shrubs and small waterways all around the property. It is very pretty.

Lush rainforest Rock Valley

The beauty of the forest is breathtaking. Hayley and Cianna sent us some lovely photos of the rain forest. The only draw back to the location is that Hayley didn’t have a car so she was very isolated.

We stayed with Hayley and Cianna Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We made a few trips up and down the hill to take their belongings from the trailer, into the ute and then up to the house. We weren’t game to bring the trailer up in case we got it bogged. It was very wet and mushy up near the house.

The rainforest from the second story of the house

On Saturday morning we had to leave, as Jodie and I were both due to start work on Monday. We went down to the bottom of the track and hitched the trailer up to the ute. Most of Hayley’s belongings had got wet on the trip up. We drove through some heavy rain heading in to Coonabarabran, on the way up. The famous tarp had shredded and had worked its way through all of Hayley’s clothing.

As we left the M.O. the cage of the trailer came adrift and swung off the side of the trailer. The four bolts holding the cage on had worked loose. We stopped and tied the cage on with our tie downs. And headed off to Lismore. Our tie downs did a great job and the cage was held on securely. We went back the way we had come. Lismore, Casino, and on to Geelong. We had lunch at Glenn Innes on the Saturday, after we had left Lismore and Hayley and Cianna.

Graffiti at Lismore

It wasn’t that easy. We lost our trailer. We headed towards Coonabarabran, hoping to make it there before dark. As we went past Gunnedah, and with Jodie driving, in pitch black darkness, no street lights, the trailer came away from the ute. We were driving along and all of a sudden there was a loud banging noise at the back of the ute. The three bolts that held the trailer to the towball yoke had come undone and the trailer was bouncing along behind us, held on only by the chains. It made an almighty noise as it banged along behind us. We stopped the ute and went back to see what had happened. The tow ball was still attached to the ute. The trailer wasn’t. So we undid the trailer and pushed it in to the bushes on the side of the road. We unhitched the yoke and towball and removed everything from the trailer and toolbox. Then we headed to Coonabarabran to find a room for the night.

Graffiti parrot at Lismore

We didn’t realise we were closer to Gunnedah when the trailer broke, and we probably should have headed back there for the night. It was late and dark and we were both tired. So we headed to Coonabarabran. We got a motel for the night and bought tea and settled down for the night. In the morning we tried to organise for someone to help us to get the trailer towed or fixed. My car insurance company wouldn’t help me. We finally headed back to see if we could find the trailer and perhaps get it fixed. We drove back 96kms and then drove even further back. The trailer wasn’t there. Somebody had stolen it. So not only did our trailer break, and not only did we backtrack to find it, adding an extra 2 hours to our trip, when we drove back to get it fixed, it was gone, stolen!

Street Art Lismore

I had phoned my son the night before, after the trailer broke. I told him what had happened. He said if we couldn’t get the trailer fixed that it was okay and not to worry too much about it. It was only a trailer. Just leave it on the side of the road if we couldn’t get it repaired. When we realised it had been stolen, it was a relief that we wouldn’t have to tow the blessed thing all the way home to Geelong. Jodie and I just laughed when we realised that somebody had pinched it.

Sunrise at Rock Valley

So with no trailer to worry about, we headed off on our drive home. This was the Sunday. We were now 2 hours behind schedule. We were not going to make it back to Wodonga til late Sunday and we were both not going to be able to go to work on the Monday. I wanted to drive home to Geelong on the Sunday night but I was too tired and Jodie and Wayne didn’t want me driving home in the dark, late at night, being so tired.

So I phoned work and cancelled my Monday shift. We got in to Wodonga quite late. I slept over and headed home in the morning.

Still sunrise over Rock Valley

Now I realise how much I have digressed! I originally started by saying that I was hit by the travel bug last year – 2015. In 2016 I want to travel a lot more. I really enjoyed my road trip with my sister and would love to travel around Australia a bit.

The road in to the houses at Rock Valley

2015 also saw me doing a lot of work to my house. I have had my home for 28 years and have never really spent much money on the house. So in 2015 I got new blinds for my house. The blinds are day and night blinds, so the night blinds block out the light and heat. I also bought central ducted heating. I am about to have an air conditioning unit installed. Then it is time to buy a new stove as my stove is not well.

So out with the old and in with the new. Here’s to 2015. It was a good  year for me as I went on a great road trip and I managed to lose my son’s trailer in the process. He wasn’t really too upset and I will buy him another trailer soon. In 2016, after I have finished spending up big on appliances for my home, I will start saving up for another road trip.

Keep your eyes on this space and follow my journeys. I am sure you will be amused by the many funny things that happen to me on my next adventure.

Would I do this trip again? Oh yeah. But no trailer this time. Jodie says she will come on another road trip with me as long as we don’t pull a trailer behind us.

 

 

 

 

Geelong, Victoria, Australia, past and present

St Helen’s Beach, Geelong, looking out over Corio Bay

NOW: I live in a lovely city called Geelong.  Geelong has a long history of different industries which have shaped her. Starting with the wool trade, Geelong went from strength to strength, becoming the 2nd largest city in Victoria.

North Shore beach, Geelong, looking out over Corio Bay

THEN: In 1838 Geelong was proclaimed a town. In 1838 Geelong was developing as a Victorian Port. The piers and jetties in Geelong became an important part of the growing wool trade and established Geelong as a major player in the wool industry. The end result of the wool trade is that Geelong has been left with some beautiful heritage listed buildings. You can see some of the original structures still standing, with the shell of the building remaining, while the inside of the building has been gutted and remade into a shopping centre or a university, to name a few of the changes that have occurred.

St Mary’s Basilica Church, Geelong

NOW: One of Geelong’s most important industries now is tourism. Geelong had to evolve and look for other ways to earn a living once the wool industry declined. Now that tourism is a major drawcard for Geelong, you can dine in fine restaurants, stay in five star accomodation, and visit some wonderful tourism spots. We have The Great Ocean Road, the Geelong Waterfront, the Wool Museum and many other wonderful places to visit. There are art galleries, restaurants and cafes, fine dining at hotels, refurbished hotels, parks and playgrounds, and lovely coastal beaches.

THEN: Before tourism and hospitality became important to Geelong, wool was the major trade, with wool being carted into Geelong on horse and cart, and eventually being shipped out from the various wharves.  Cities in Victoria, like Ballarat and Bendigo, were riding on the wave of gold, gold fields, gold discoveries and the influx of people coming to the gold fields to make their fortune.

Geelong is said to have been built on the back of the golden fleece – wool. For a small developing city, wool was what made Geelong and decided her identity. The buildings which remain from the wool era show the wealth of the wool growing industry, and have created the city’s identity.

During the early days of Geelong’s history, while Geelong was still a part of the colony, her major trade was wool. Geelong was close to the farm lands of the western district. Having a good port close to the farms helped to establish the wool industry.

Osborne House, North Geelong

Geelong’s entire waterfront was a wool mecca in the early 1900s, with huge wool stores lining the foreshore. The wool was delivered to the wool stores and held there, waiting for ships to arrive at Cunningham Pier or Yarra Street Pier. It was a thriving, busy place with horses and carts moving wool around, and ships being loaded with wool.

NOW: Nowadays the world has access to new types of synthetic materials, so there is not so much reliance on wool. Acrylic skeins of wool can be purchased much more cheaply than a skein of pure wool, so unless you are a dyed in the wool knitter, you would probably go for the cheaper version of acrylic rather than pure wool for your knitting projects.

Steampacket Garden, lawn expanse, Geelong Waterfront

When you walk around Geelong now, you can still see traces of the history of the great wool trade. The woollen mills around the city are gone. Cunningham Pier has become a tourist and fishing spot. It was the major pier for Geelong, with cargo ships sailing in and out. Now there are restaurants and car parking on the pier. You can still see the railway lines from the early days of trade. Some of the huge stores are still standing, their buildings reused.

Deakin University Waterfront Campus was once a woolstore. If you walk around inside the building you can see the old structure, with magnificent wooden beams and the original brickwork still standing. The Westfield Shopping Complex was built inside an old wool store, and although a lot of the original structure is not visible inside the complex, the outside facade is still there.

Some Bollards, Geelong Waterfront

The Wool Museum, which is a wonderful place to visit, and which will feature in one of my articles, is built inside one of the old wool stores. It is housed inside a bluestone building which dates back to 1872. On the corner of Brougham Street and Moorabool Street, the Wool Museum has so much history inside its walls. It really is a good starting point if you want to learn a bit about Geelong’s wool history.

I recently visited the Wool Museum myself and I was fascinated by the displays and exhibitions at the Wool Museum. But there is another article in that story.

North Shore Beach, Moonlight, Swans, Geelong

There is a lot to do in Geelong. I am totally biased as I live in Geelong, however I love this city and I enjoy telling people about the place. There is always so much on offer. If you enjoy history, then you can learn a lot about Geelong through the museums. If you like to dine out, or dine in, there are many restaurants and cafes and hotels for dining experiences. If you have young children there are many playgrounds and parks to visit.

The Carousel, Geelong Waterfront

Along the Geelong Waterfront you can take a long walk along the walking paths, check out the Bollards, have a ride on The Carousel, or walk to Eastern Beach and have a dip in the pools, or sit in the shade and have a picnic, or take a ride on the Ferris Wheel. This is the Geelong Waterfront in brief. You could spend a whole day at the Geelong Waterfront. It is usually a great place to meet friends for a lunch date.

Ocean Grove front Beach, Geelong

Locals and visitors flock to the Geelong Waterfront, especially during the weekends. The walking tracks lead from one side of the city (and Corio Bay) to the other. You can park and walk from anywhere along the waterfront. The walking track leads from St Helen’s beach, North Geelong to Eastern Beach and Eastern Park. The city and the waterfront face Corio Bay, the bay that is in front of the city of Geelong.

For a great holiday destination, Geelong is the place to come and play. Stay in Geelong or head to the beaches for swimming, fishing, picnics and barbecues. We do have some beautiful beaches. Here is a photo of the sunset at Ocean Grove.

Sunset at Ocean Grove beach

Continuing the walking tracks dialogue, if you parked at St Helen’s beach and took a walk along the walking tracks towards the Geelong Waterfront, you would meet some lovely characters in The Bollards. The Bollards trace the history of Geelong, with old bollards redesigned to portray famous people from the history of Geelong. They depict the old bathing houses, the old style beach wear and almost every bollard has a rabbit or two on the bollard. Geelong also has an infamous link to the history of the rabbit.

The walking track meanders along the waterfront from St Helen’s beach, past Rippleside beach towards the central Waterfront. As you walk along, you’ll walk along Western Beach frontage. There are small piers jutting out in to the water and you will usually see a few people fishing off the piers. The walk continues past playgrounds, the youth skate park, Cunningham Pier and on towards The Carousel.

There is the Poppy Kettle playground, Transvaal Square, Steampacket Garden, towards Eastern Beach. Steampacket Garden is a lovely expanse of lawn that is the locality of craft markets and car shows. There is a Thomas the tank train (small scale and doesn’t run on rails) which tours the walking tracks, from The Carousel to Eastern Beach (for a small price).

There really is a lot to see and do on the Geelong Waterfront. It is a good place to meet with your friends, to hold a family gathering, to play tourist, to take in the sights and scenery, and to get to know Geelong. Dine at The Wharf Shed, le Parisien, Fisherman’s Pier, the Kiosk at Eastern Beach, or try the seafood straight from the Mussel Boat.

Geelong Playspace, Eastern Park

There are numerous playgrounds along the way. There is a playground at St Helens beach, at Rippleside, beside Cunningham Pier, at Eastern Beach and at Eastern Park. There are also lots of toilet blocks, which is important if you have young children with you. They always want to go to the toilet.

If you live on a budget, like I do, you can visit Geelong Waterfront and still have a cheap day out. You don’t always have to dine in luxury. I watch every cent that I earn and I do live frugally, not cheaply. Young children like to play, and Geelong has plenty of playgrounds for the little ones, and also for the bigger children.

I sometimes take my granddaugher out for the day. We pack water bottles, sunscreen and hats, and jackets, because Geelong weather can be unpredictable. We can walk along the waterfront, she can play at the playgrounds and we have our own drinks. I don’t buy food along the waterfront, unless I am out with friends, as it is pricey. Don’t let that stop you if you are foodie and want to try out all the different restaurants. Foodies will pay for quality food! I like quality food, however when you live on a tight budget it makes sense to dine out on special occasions and then live cheaply at other times.

When my granddaughter and I head out we will walk and play, then usualy end up at Maccas. I am not a fan of Maccas, however their meals are affordable and their restaurants and toilets are clean.

When you take your family out, you can pack a picnic or barbecue food, a picnic blanket, sunscreen, hats, and a picnic basket and dine out in style on the hills and lawns along the waterfront, with spectacular views of Corio Bay. There are lots of picnic spots and the barbecues dotted along the watefront are free to use.

Cunningham Pier, Geelong Waterfront

THEN: To get to the beautiful Waterfront we see today, the Waterfront went through many changes. I remember going to Eastern Beach for a swim when we were teenagers. The Waterfront didn’t have much to offer in those days. Now it has become a great, lovely, attractive place to visit.

NOW: I realise, as I re-read my writing, that there are a few articles here to be written. This is a really brief introduction to my home town. It is a lovely city, the 2nd largest city in Victoria. It is still not too big, however it is growing, with lots of new housing estates being established. Geelong is close to the beaches, there are lots of wineries, some becoming well known in Australia and oversees. There are a lot of touristy places to visit and the natural wonders of the beaches and The Great Ocean Road scenery beckon. Please come and see Geelong if you head to Australia from overseas. It really is worth the visit and I will be your personal tour guide if you let me know you are coming.

I originally started to write this blog for one of my new friends on Word Press. He told me he likes my work and my photos however there isn’t enough information in my writing yet to let him know where I live. So Glenn here is a start to sharing my home town with you. This is a really brief summary of the town where I live, and of my country. There will be more blogs to follow soon. Enjoy!

A quick few words about Australia. It is a country, and a continent. Australia is surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans. The major cities are Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra (our capital city), Hobart, Darwin and Geelong of course!

Australia is famous for (or well known for) the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Uluru (or Ayers Rock), the Great Ocean Road and the vast outback (large interior desert wilderness). Australia also has many animals that are unique to Australia – the platypus, koala, kangaroo, wombat and dingo.

Image courtesy of Google Maps

 

 

Goal Setting, Blog Goal Setting

My goal for 2016 is to make a living from blogging! If I could earn a good income from my blogging I could give up my current full time job, to stay at home and pound the keyboard to make a living.

I have only been on Word Press for a short time, and I have started to make friends on this site. I enjoy the interaction and supportive comments from other bloggers. So I guess another goal would be to continue to communicate with my blogging friends and to not neglect them.

I joined Blogging 101 and didn’t do a whole lot of the set activities as I was busy elsewhere in my life. I would like to prioritise my life and make writing a higher priority.

Oh and I saw that somebody posted they wanted 300 followers. I would be happy with 50 people following my blogs. There you go, a few goals for my blogging web site.

Blog world – see you tomorrow

I am on word press and I have been spending a few hours a day here since enrolling in the Blogging 101 course. I am enjoying it immensely. I have met some really nice people here and I find the word press community is full of friendly, supportive people.

Good night blogging world. I am off to bed. See you tomorrow. May you all have sweet dreams! Cheers from Cassie

 

Day 3 Blogging 101, meet the neighbours

Today’s assignment was to follow five new tags in the Reader and follow or read five new blogs. So with that in mind, I will do just that. I have only been working on my assignments in Blogging 101 for 2 days so far and I have already met some wonderful people.

I feel that I have already engaged with my community and I am starting to negotiate my way around Word Press, learning how to get back to my page, yes folks I do get lost in the World Wide Web sometimes.

So what tags will I follow? Travel because that is one of my favourite pasttimes, hobbies, fun things to do. Oh and I’m glad that my post draft is saved as I can come back to it, and write my thoughts down.

Well I just learnt how to create categories and tags and I have added a few of both to this article. Yay I didn’t know if I could do it, and now I have. Word press is a wonderful blogging site and there is so much content to it, and helpful tutorials. I do digress don’t I? I haven’t even followed any tags yet. Still not sure how to do that.

My first Tag was Travel. The first site that I viewed was a travel post written by Trish and Caleb. They wrote and shared photos of their trip to Vienna. The photos of the museums were just amazing. Their post is here https://wordpress.com/read/post/id/93826808/353 if you want to go and look at some beautiful photography. Here is my comment to Trish and Caleb.

“Hello Trish and Caleb. Oh wow what a great holiday you’ve had and I am envious. I want to travel all over the world eventually. I do enjoy going to a museum. You really do need to spend more than a few hours at some museums to find out what’s there, to see all the rooms of exhibits, to take it all in. Thank you for sharing your lovely holiday and the photos are wonderful too. From Cassie”

Next tag – photography. This took me to Nathan Guitars site. He takes photographs of birds and bugs and writes poetry to suit his photographs. His raptor photos are lovely. His site is here https://wordpress.com/read/blog/id/31227579 You can pop over too and be amazed by his photographs.

Third tag was traveling. I went to see Danielle’s page of photographs from her trip up Mt Haleakela in Hawaaii. Danielle described driving up the mountain, a three hour drive, and how worthwhile it was to get to the top of the mountain, to watch the sun rise. Really beautiful photos too.

Here’s a link to her web site https://wordpress.com/read/blog/id/98038042

I’m tired from all this travelling. I’ve been to Vienna and Hawaaii today already. Now  I just want to lay down and have a sleep. Two tags to go. What should I type in tags now? Books, writing, reading, sleeping, snoring, oops almost snoozed there.

Next I visited Alixx Black. She wrote an item called Look, Watch, Gaze. You can read it here https://wordpress.com/read/post/id/95559935/178

It was a great poem about wondering what other people are thinking. I am sure you will enjoy it. I certainly did.

Tag five – phew finally. This is taking a while. Well it is later on today. I started writing this blog over 9 hours ago. Since then I have been to visit my daughter at her new home. We had lunch there and watched a police raid happening across the road from her home. Then I went to visit my sister in Batesford. We had a cuppa and a chat. I had a lovely visit with her. Then I went to visit my mum and dad. I had a few beers and a chat. It was a really lovely day of visiting family. I am blessed to have family living so close to me.

So Tag five. powertigerVFX has a word press site with some amazing photography. You can click here to see his photos – https://wordpress.com/read/blog/id/68639550 My final tag was clouds and he has added some great photos of clouds to his site. He says “A topnotch nature photoshooting site, welcome and enjoy :D”. I have taken some cloud photos and will add some here soon. I don’t have many photos in my gallery yet. It is all a work in progress. Patience Glenn Roy.

So I have finally finished task three – meet the neighbours. I have travelled around the world, met some lovely neighbours and worn my little fingers out, typing messages to everybody. I am really enjoying getting to meet people and getting to know the word press site better. I have created some tags and I will probably add more. I also need to add some more photos and I would like to just write and share some thoughts with my friends.

So off I toddle to post this site and to let everybody know that I have completed task three of Blogging 101.

About OCDC / PS – Obsessive Compulsive Pretty Shiny Disorder

I do not have OCDC. I do not obsess about how clean my house is. I have an almost 2 year old granddaughter living at my home, so cleanliness is inside the washing machine at the moment, and almost not anywhere else in my home. There are little Jazzy fingerprints and smears all over my coffee table, the floor, and the dining room table. Little Jazzy loves to lick the floor for some reason. A really bad habit, Jazzy, as my floors are not clean enough to eat off.

So OCDC / PS.  My cousin says I have OCPS, which she says is like Obsessive Compulsive Pretty Shiny Disorder. She’s right you know. I sit at the table, coffee or wine beside me, ready to write lots of interesting information, and edit it and publish it. Then I start to browse the internet, google, wikipedia, and all of a sudden I have lost absolute hours of time. I don’t know where the time goes, however I do know that I am enjoying myself, I am reading and learning, and even though I don’t get a lot of pages published every day, like my goal setting desires demanded of me, at least I do have lots of information to share with you, if I ever do get motivated. And if I can stop looking at “pretty shiny” things for a while and concentrate on the task at hand.

I better go hang out some washing now, as the washing fairy hasn’t done it again. She has been sacked so many times, and I still give her a chance to redeem herself. Off I go to the clothes line. Back at you soon. I like to write on wordpress blog. I can express myself and no-one can hear me.

“If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody hears it, does it make a noise?”

Have Camera Will Travel, Have Coffee Will Stay Awake

I have been on blog web sites and I have been trying to make a little bit of money. It would be nice to be paid a small income for my writing. I read about how other people manage to make a bit of money from writing about their interests on the internet.

I have recently become even more interested about writing, and about making an income, as I have been home from work for four weeks due to an injury that happened at work.

As I browse the internet I find so much interesting information to read about. I get distracted so easily. There is a lot of useful, interesting information. There can also be frustration, as I get so involved in a topic, and then I do search after search to find more information, which invariably leads me to Wikipadia, a very useful web site. Even Wikipadia cannot always scratch the itch for me sometimes.

Being a history buff, sometimes I read about an interesting topic, and I want to know more, a bit like Oliver, of Charles Dickens fame, “please sir I want more”.  I recently reviewed a hotel in outback Queensland. I could find current information, and history of the hotel back to 1986, but then there was nothing else in the past on the internet. Looks like I will have to take a road trip to outback Queensland to finish my research of this fascinating pub.

But I digress. The title is “Have Camera Will Travel”. I have recently been on a massive road trip, with my sister, my phone camera, my dad’s ute and a trailer. We traveled from Geelong Victoria to Lismore NSW, and back in 7 days. Stay posted for that blog. Talk about an amazing and entertaining trip.

I write for a website called Weekend Notes. I usually head out and take photos of my next topic, then head home, upload my photos to my laptop, write the article and add some photos. Sometimes I do it in reverse. I write the article, then I go take photos, then I upload them, and publish the article. Either way, I usually end up with what I feel is a great article. I am slowly starting to attract a small following.  I want more! I want more people to read my articles and like me and write comments.

How do you make people do this? I’m not sure what the answer is yet. When I find out the answers to the questions I have:

How do you get people to read your article?

How do you earn an income writing web pages?

How do you attract attention, get people to come back, get more new readers?

I will post the answers in my upcoming blogs.

This is my first blog for my new WordPress blogger page. Y’all come back now y’here!

This is Cassie, signing off for now.