We’re back from a quick trip south to attend a family wedding, it takes roughly six and half hours to drive to Port Macquarie in New South Wales so we had roughly 36 hours at our destination. Leaving the dogs at home with a dog sitter we loaded up the car and headed off, feeling guilty for leaving them but knowing that it would result in less worry all round. The drive south took much longer than anticipated as a result of two separate accidents on the highway, at one point we had to turn around and head north west before finding an alternate route south, adding an extra 100kms or thereabouts to our trip. By the time we reached our destination it was well and truly time to enjoy a cold beer and a glass of wine.
My mother in-law and her husband had moved into their new house, located in a rural area much closer to my family it makes travelling between the two locations much easier. Their new home is on acreage, the gardens are huge and overgrown but it is easy to see the potential and I know that they will enjoy turning it into something wonderful. Surrounded by trees the birdlife that visit the backyard are amazing, varying from the common noisy minor to magpies, eastern koels, rainbow lorikeets, satin bowerbirds and scaly-breasted lorikeets. Murphy the labrador and Sammy the border collie certainly seem to like the new place, plenty of sticks for Sammy to fetch and Murphy was pleased with his discovery of a kangaroo leg from the bottom of the garden.
The wedding was a wonderful opportunity to get together with family and the ceremony was conducted on the pretty grounds of Cassegrain’s Winery in Port Macquarie and the reception held at a local Returned Servicemen Club (RSL). The weather had been pretty miserable up until the morning of the ceremony, it was a relief to see the sunshine for such a special occasion. Even though I wasn’t there to take photographs, it is unusual for me to attend any event without my camera in hand and I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to get photographs of my immediate family together, plus I love weddings 🙂
Getting home on the Sunday seemed to take forever, but it was a much faster trip and I know that the time went slow because I couldn’t wait to get home and see our fur kids. The last 48 hours was a bit of a blur, lots of love and laughter and plenty of photographs to remind us of the fun.
Recently I had to do alot of driving, about 4000km and thankfully I was able to spread it out over several weeks and call on a couple of friends for help. A good chunk of kilometres had to be done during the last few days of March so a girl friend and I went on a road trip to visit our families and then we took the long way home. Why so many kilometres? I have a lease vehicle and for tax purposes I have to do a set amount of kilometres each year, this year wasn’t looking good and rather than pay a hefty tax bill I decided to take a couple of days off to do some driving.
My friend and I grew up in the same, small country town about 500km from where we currently live and we were looking forward to seeing family again but with limited time available it meant a very short stay. The drive south went quickly, we talked most of the way and I am hoping that I didn’t miss any hidden speed cameras. Before we knew it, the trip was over and we were talking about the drives we could do around the area, not to mention the little food stalls and cafes we could stop at to purchase and/or taste fresh local produce. Alas, we didn’t even have much time for that, my Mum had booked me in for yoga and a facial and my Dad was celebrating a birthday so it really didn’t leave time for socialising with friends or going for long, scenic drives.
My camera goes everywhere with me, I thought that this trip would be a great opportunity to take photographs of the local area and some of the small towns we would travel through on the way home. Little did I know that I had left all my memory cards at home, a discovery I would make when the opportunity to take photos of Kangaroos and Wallabies came up, it was dusk and these gorgeous animals were happily feeding on the land surrounding the home of a family friend.
So, even though the photography plan didn’t work out I have included a variety of photos that I have taken in the past when visiting the Mid-North Coast region of New South Wales. I am very happy to say that I did manage to do the required kilometres and see some amazing parts of New South Wales and Queensland that I hadn’t seen before. Both of us were really surprised at how pretty the towns were and we loved rummaging through the little shops that were open, the tourist information centre in Tenterfield sells local art, craft and wines which impressed us greatly although we didn’t purchase any souvenirs to take home. Towns such as Tenterfield, Stanthorpe (home of the most delicious apples) and Warwick are now on our ‘bucket list’ for a girls weekend away in order to explore the areas more thoroughly (including the antique shops and boutiques) and take lots of photos to share with you.
Two Black Dogs 