News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 20
Our renovations have taken another step forward with the completion of the walk in robe. The photos show the original when we purchased the house and what it is today. We moved the left hand wall out by about half a metre and it gave us so much more room.
Hubby (and me) built all the cabinetry apart from the two sets of drawers which we purchased as flat paks.
Only one of the sets turned up as Australia Post managed to lose one of the four boxes so we had to wait 6 weeks for the missing box to be resent.
That was what was holding us up or wed have been finished 4 weeks ago.
I had to have my little make up nook and the whole room was custom built from scratch. Today weve been moving our clothes in and finally I can hang dresses up full length and heaps of room for blouses now.
I just love how big it is and how much storage space we have on top too.
I was asked when we started to do it if we were putting a chandelier in and after thinking about it I thought why not.
So I found the most gorgeous little chandelier looking light shade and it just suits the room perfectly.
We have eagerly been waiting for our resident plovers to have their babies and this morning, woohoo, we have two babies.
Mum plover normally nests in the front yard of the house across the road but this year we havent seen her for a couple of weeks but had no idea where she was.
Dad has been hanging round as he comes and eats food that we throw out for the magpies. Hes slowly been getting gamer and coming right up to the house but there has been no sign of Mum so where she was we have no idea.
Now the question is we have two but will there be more as last year it was over a two day period that we saw one, then two, then three and finally four.
Seems they didnt hatch all at the same time. We are also waiting now for the magpies to bring their baby/babies down to meet us as they have a nest in a tree in the neighbours place.
We know there is one baby but not sure if there is another yet. Love meeting the new locals in spring each year. The ducks had two babies but we think a fox or feral cat may have got them as we only saw them for a couple of days and havent seen them since.
The last week has seen big fires in the area to the west of us. Theyve been burning in inaccessible country and not a lot the firies can do except map it and monitor it by plane.
The country is often used by 4x4 enthusiasts and trail bikes (which it is believed inadvertently started the fires in the very dry fuel loads).
On Wednesday a Prepare to Leave advice was given as it came out of the high country and headed towards streets in the most western part of Flagstone.
Weve had heavy smoke daily and had ash falling over us.
Wednesday saw them bring in the large air tankers to lay retardant between the homes and the fire front. By Wednesday night it had got to 600m from homes. Come Thursday we woke to what looked like it was going to be another bad day with firies working hard to contain the fire and it wasnt looking good.
About 11am the clouds started rolling in and I think everyone was out doing a rain dance hoping like heck that it wasnt going to be dry storm.
We were lucky. Around midday down came the rain. It pelted down and the storm didnt just pass it hung around for around 3 hours. Some places about half a kilometer down the road actually got hail!. But it was enough to put out the majority of the fire. Yipee!
Smoke cleared and everyone could relax. The fire has burnt out 2500 hectares in total. The area will be monitored for the next few days as there are still burning logs and trees which will smoulder for a while or trees will fall.
They say there is a silver lining to things and the clouds, sun and smoke did make for some lovely silver lined clouds on Wednesday as the air tankers started work.
While living in Hervey Bay, I had a beautiful big King Orchid that would bloom with several flower spikes each year.
Before we left I was determined to make sure I brought them with us when we moved.
I had to, as carefully as possible, remove them from a palm tree that they were growing on. They came off in 3 pieces and I gave the lovely neighbour (who I might add has the most gorgeous gardens) one of the pieces.
I kept the other 2 and they made the move with us. They survived but probably due to the shock they didnt flower last year.
So I was overjoyed to see two spikes on one of them this year and eagerly waited for them to bloom.
Theyve just finished their gorgeous display and now Im waiting for my Dancing Lady orchids to delight me with the four spikes it has on it.
It was attached to a hollow log and was easy to move and has flourished since weve been here.
It did bloom last year but with only two spikes, so four this year Im happy with.
The last 3 days of our trip we spent at Thredbo. Although this snow season hasnt been the greatest in the way of snow falls, there was still plenty of snow to tick off the bucket list.
I got to make my snow man complete with beanie and heart and it was a great way to keep the drink cool.
Our accommodation was excellent and overlooked some of the ski runs which was just awesome to sit out and admire the view.
We went to Merrits for lunch on the Saturday which you had to get on the gondola to get too.
I waited for the kids as they did several runs before we caught the gondola back down and then got on the chair lift to head up to Eagles Nest for afternoon tea.
This is the highest restaurant in Australia and the views were amazing. I loved sitting there with my hot chocolate (even got a free one) while the kids did more skiing.
On Saturday night they have a big party in the middle of the village and finished off with a flare run where anyone that wants to can go up and come down the Supertrail holding flares.
It was amazing. This was followed by the most spectacular fireworks display Ive seen in a long time. We watched the flare run and the fireworks from out front of our apartment.
Then sadly it all comes to an end and we left on Sunday morning to drive 8 hours to Charlestown where we stayed overnight and then drove another 8 hours to home.
Was sad to leave Thredbo as I absolutely loved the atmosphere and the people. Its a whole different world up there. Will have to go back again, hopefully it might actually snow next time.
It was an absolutely amazing week filled with so much emotion, love, laughter, new experiences and best of all I got to do it with my son and daughter.