Water, Water Everywhere (Copeton Dam)

 

A weekend at Copeton Dam with the car club. Stopped at Gwydir River outside Bundara for morning tea. Don’t think I want to fall in that river, its flowing very fast today.

There has been so much rain that the dam is filling by a metre and a half a day.

Don’t camp too close to the river or you may float away! Lots of people are also getting bogged.

A metre and a half may not seem like a lot, but spread that over a body of water the size of Sydney Harbour. You can almost see the water rising up the bank.

They think it may get to 100% full.

So much water on the roads, lots of flooded causeways on the trip. Creeks have turned to rivers and rivers have burst their banks.

And everything is very green and lush.

We spent overnight in one of the cabins and had dinner and breakfast at the camp kitchen

The new slipway, and visitors centre has been finished since we were last here.

And there is an explosion in the roo population. Lots of joeys.

 

On our way home we stopped at New England wood turning.

He makes amazing didgeridoos and I bought a nice cheese board.

 

Melbourne Matlida & Me- Part 4

 

 

 

When I grow up. I will be brave enough to fight the creatures that you have to fight beneath the bed each night to be a grown-up.
(When I grow up)

Just because you find that life's not fair, it doesn't mean that you just have to grin and bear it.
If you always take it on the chin and wear it nothing will change!

When I grow up

Just because I find myself in this story,
It doesn't mean that everything is written for me.
If I think the ending is fixed already,
I might as well be saying
I think that it's OK!

And that's not right!
And if its not right!

 

 

Yes loved Matilda! Best thing we’ve seen for a long time.

The kids in the cast are fantastic and Tim Minchin’s music is fantastic ,,,, (no I didn’t take these photos)

 

But I did take the ones below!

Then for our final day we took a ride to St Kilda on the Tram. Then returned to the city to visit the Degas exhibition at the Art Gallery of Victoria.

 

His ballerina works are lovely, but some of the others left me wondering if he wasn’t a bit of a dirty old man…..

Anyway, after all that theatre and culture its time to head home!

Melbourne, Matilda & Me–Part 3

We spent the day at Melbourne zoo.

I was last here with the kids in the late 90’s (1998 or 1999, I can’t remember and can’t find the photo album.. might be still packed in a box).)

I know it was the 17th December and it was about 40 degrees.

This time it was hardly 10 degrees and freezing – wish I’d taken a beanie!

I love the butterfly house, I loved it last time too.

I think our safari has changed how I look at captive animals.. This fellow looked so sad, (Asian elephant, and smaller than his African cousins).

I loved the orangutans … OOk.

They were so close and so playful.

Off to see Matilda Tonight!

Melbourne, Matilda & Me–Part 2

 

Well, yet another wonderful bit of a coincidence…

                   

Oh wow,, all these quilts I have read about in magazines!

 

No machines used in making these and all done by hand. Its amazing how some of these things are passed down and survive.

Making the Australian Quilt: 1800–1950 is the first major exhibition of its kind to bring together the rich works that constitute Australia’s quilt heritage. Exclusive to Melbourne, the exhibition includes more than eighty works from around the country.

 

Then after lunch we visited the Scorsese exhibition at the ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image)

Exhibition

SCORSESE

LAST WEEKS. CLOSES 18 SEP.

From Taxi Driver and Goodfellas to The Age of Innocence and The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese’s intense and exhilarating films define him as one of the world’s greatest directors.

Whether it’s wolves, bulls, butchers or taxi drivers, Scorsese’s complicated anti-heroes navigate mean streets of their own morality, torn between rebellion and acceptance, sin and redemption. While his characters spiral out of control, Scorsese captures every frame with masterly control.

SCORSESE, drawn from his personal collection, explores his inspirations, creative process and key collaborations, offering comprehensive insight into Scorsese’s career as an unparalleled screen stylist and a tireless champion of cinema.

Please Note: Scorsese’s films deal with mature themes and occasional violence. So does this exhibition. It’s recommended for adults, and older children accompanied by an adult.

Tickets: Full $25 Concession $18 Member $17

I don’t think Mr Scorsese is quite to my taste… don’t like seeing people getting their brains blown out. Although I may give the movie Hugo a try, that looked pretty cute!

However, he has played a big role in the preservation and restoration of old films.

********

For dinner we went to a small Spanish restaurant near the QVM. Which was just yum, the quail was awesome!

,

Melbourne, Matilda & Me–Part 1

 

This time,,Graham and I are OFF to Melbourne.

Sean & Rosie gave us  a gift voucher for Christmas and we used it to purchase tickets for Matilda at the Princess theatre.

Anyway, all sorts of dramas just trying to get here. The rain in Armidale this morning was torrential. We could hardly get to the kennels at Arding to drop the dogs off due to flooding.

And then the weather was so bad that our flight couldn’t land in Armidale and we had to take a coach to Tamworth (90 minutes drive south).

This delay, of course, stuffed up our connection to Melbourne, so we got shoved onto a later flight and sat 3 rows apart!

Phew…we finally arrived and booked into our hotel, (Mercure, Therry street). Which is nice… good location, clean, complimentary bottle of wine, nice view, small room.. where to put the suitcases?.. humpff.

Went out to hunt for dinner and just by following the crowd ended up at the very nearby Queen Victoria Markets.

And coincidentally it was their Wednesday Winter night market. Yippee!!

It was absolutely packed with people.. and had all these street food places. With every nationality imaginable  to choose from.

.

The choice came down to the shortest queue at the time.. the crowd was huge.

So we had a wonderful Sri Lankan curry plate. 

And great stalls to browse and buy…

Tired now, its been a long day….

Vincent and the Doctor

 

 

Okay – I couldn’t help myself.

I have started this new project when I have so many other quilts that I need to finish!

But I just love this Doctor Who fabric so much that I couldn’t wait to cut into it.

Vincent and the Doctor was a great episode of Doctor Who.

 

  Intrigued by an ominous figure in one of Vincent van Gogh's paintings, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) go back in time to meet Van Gogh (Tony Curran) and discover that Provence has been plagued by an invisible monster, known as the Krafayis, which only Van Gogh can see. The Doctor and Amy work with Van Gogh to defeat the Krafayis, but in their attempt to have Van Gogh realise his legacy through bringing him to the future they ultimately realise that not all of time can be rewritten and there are some evils which are out of the Doctor's reach.

I liked the way they copied some of the paintings for the sets.

So apart from the feature fabric which is festooned with exploding Tardis’s, I have use fabric from another fabric range called  Van Gogh.

I tried to create an optical illusion by making each round slightly narrower.

Its all coming together really well!

Which is great,,,, as I have to now put this aside unfinished while I work on a baby quilt!