Category: VarshaRoseNotes

carolinelieber:

After a quiet Boxing Day we went to Mullumbimby to spend some Christmas money on a hat for John and a golden compass for Laxmi.

It started raining really hard but we kept going to the beach at Brunswick Heads for a swim. The sun came out just when we got there. There was a park just by the beach and a shady spot to put our picnic blanket.

Katie was with us. She and Laxmi had a swim and play on the beach until Katie cut her hand on a rock. We bandaged it up and decided it was time for ice cream.

At the ice cream shop a man delivering fruit spilt a big ox of oranges all over the ground. We helped him pick them up and he bought us more ice cream!

carolinelieber:

We had a lovely Christmas at Goonengerry with Grandma and Grandpa.

Stu and Stephanie and Katie came down for lunch.

It was really hot until a storm came through and made everything cool and beautiful.

We arrived in Goonengerry the night before Christmas Eve. There was a big traffic jam heading north and we travelled very slowly for a long time.

Varsha left her phone at Julie and Al’s but luckily one of their friends was traveling north and brought it with her to Brunswick Heads. Varsha and I met her there and did some Christmas shopping.

We went to Christmas Eve drinks with Pieter and Marijke. The sunset was lovely as we walked home past the horses in their paddock.

We stopped with Julie and Al at Hat Head. We went to the lovely beach and swam in the estuary.

Varsha and Laxmi and Lara put up the tree in the morning at the Park Brisbin’s new house.

Varsha and Lara came for a tour of the old Civic Theatre with Vanessa who works there now. It is a very beautiful building that was built in the 1930’s.

We had lunch in a cute little Italian cafe and played Kings Corners.

The girls finished decorating the Christmas tree and we exchanged Christmas presents. Cyrus and Lara liked the tattoo sleeves we bought from the gallery in Canberra.

Varsha and Laxmi had both made cards for Lara and Cyrus.

It rained a bit on the drive to Newcastle and there was a car crash that stopped the traffic for almost an hour.

George and Div and Cyrus and Lara have just moved into a new house. Varsha and Lara and Laxmi played fly and learned some new card games.

We went out to dinner at the worker’s club.

We had a swim in the ocean at Rosedale and went for fish and chips in Bateman’s Bay before we drove to Canberra.

We stayed at Borka’s house. We visited Borka’s mum and dad’s house and picked some vegetables from their garden. Belle came over with a new puppy. She and Jason cooked a barbecue dinner. Mark came over after he finished work.

We went to the National Gallery and saw some new Namatjira’s and some other paintings from the Hermannsburg School.

We met up with lots of friends at Uriarra Crossing. It was hot and very nice to swim in the river.

Borka had some great old films and photos to show us. She had a ginkgo tree and we made some tea.

We stopped for lunch in Eden and saw dolphins in the ocean. We had a look at the cemetery near the beach. Lots of people had died in accidents. We thought about what a whaling town would have been like.

Cath’s house in Rosedale is lovely. We walk down to the beach and look in rock pools. Cath has lots of interesting books. We loved looking at a big book about Symbols and Rob Brown’s disrespective catalogue.

We said goodbye to Melbourne with a visit to the Acland Street cake shops. John and Varsha managed to load her armchair onto the roof.

We drove out through the Latrobe Valley and stopped to camp at the Bairnsdale Caravan Park.

Varsha finished her fairy house in Harriet’s garden. We were very pleased with how her fairy’s eye view photos turned out.

We packed up and drove to Melbourne. The Westgate Freeway had roadworks so we drove along the port road. There were big stacks of containers and a giant cruise ship.

We did some more painting with Erica then we went to meet Lou and Lucienne and Joseph at the women’s circus show. It was really inspiring for Varsha and Laxmi. The MC was especially fabulous.