and to Dromana to visit Heronswood

continuing our journey.

I am a member of Diggers Club. A club for gardeners. They own two properties in Victoria, where they propogate Heirloom plants and seeds and sell them to members. I was lucky enough to be able to visit Heronswood. A gorgeous stately house surrounded by gardens... it was a joy to be able to walk around for an hour or two.. I was missing my own garden!

the house itself is surrounded by gorgeous cottage gardens. Old screen doors and vintage cane furniture on the verandah reminded me so much of my home in Woodford.
sweeping lawns ......

paths leading to secret, hidden areas.

herb gardens -


and wonderful ideas for vegetable gardens...

before I left for our trip, I booked into the restaurant that is located in the grounds of Heronswood. Fork to Fork. All vegetables used are grown either at Heronswood or at the other garden St.Erth.

I chose a vegetable platter. a choice of about 12 different heirloom vegetables.. I chose carrots, zucchini & peach... oh my. The taste of each vegetable was exquisite. Each different. All char-grilled & drizzled with olive oil. the carrots were topped with sage. a glass of wine as well and a very civilized time we had.
we left Dromana to cross the bay. from Sorrento to Queenscliff on the ferry

my gorgeous guy. And the bike. it was quite cold by now, drizzling.

then on to Lorne... next will be a ride along The Great Ocean Rd. Through some of the most magnificent coastal scenery.

here at Inglewood - well the weather has been hot. My garden is suffering which breaks my heart. But I am doing my best to keep my plants moist. Lots of mulching and watering when I can. Have been harvesting lots of tomatoes, zucchinis and cucumbers. The pears are getting bigger and I think I have the birds foiled with my nets. One can only hope.

January 6 & 7.. oops a day ahead of myself.. I thought it was Dromana, but we are in the Dandenongs..oh and an art challenge if you are interested..

the next few days we spent in the Dandenong area. Dandenong itself was a big disappointment. It was an industrial town and I started to get a little melancholy.. it was then I realized that I was taking on the energies of the people who lived there.. so all I could do was protect myself and give thanks that I didn't live there... but when we went riding up into the ranges the whole energy changed. It was gorgeous from the magick shop in Belgrave to the tea-shop in Emerald but specially magickal was William Ricketts sanctuary... acres of pure creative magick. All created by a man who I believe could be a mentor in spirit. I felt his presence as i walked...
I knew a kindred spirit had led me here when the first thing I layed eyes on was this:

He was a man who knew his purpose in life and set out to achieve it, an eccentric, a white Australian. a man who travelled the world, met with yogis and lived among the aboriginals.. treating them as brothers and being accepted as one of them. He was an artist. A sculptor. A philosopher... a very talented man, using stone and wood to create marvellous statues and then donating the whole area to the Victorian government so that future generations could enjoy.

I wanted to cry with gratitude as i entered the sanctuary, not having even known about it until an hour before, I realised that I had been led here.

there was a little bark hut theatre where they showed a movie on William Ricketts himself. His words seeped into my soul..... next to the theatre was a Sacred space where he had placed this statue.

the mountain ash trees took my breath away. They welcomed me. I felt surrounded with pure love. I felt their souls, their spirits enveloping me in protection. It was then that I knew that the Mountain Ash is my totem tree. The mountain ash is actually a species of eucalypt. Stately, tall trees. The world's tallest flowering plant. Beautiful bark. Divine, ancient aura. want to know more? Mountain Ash
I felt his presence as i walked around at the sanctuary. Or was it my imagination? But when I am on the right spiritual path, I get short of breath, very excited inside. But I am always scared of this slipping through my fingers, of 'not getting it'. I need to learn patience. to have faith. to believe that all will be revealed when I am ready. Because it will... each time I came across a carving or statue I was well, speechless...from the Earth Mother:

to the Aboriginal angel

and into the grotto.

Where I stood in reverence, in prayer, in meditation for this gorgeous sacred space. in thanks for my belonging....

well that is it for those two days.. I hope it wasn't too long and I hope my trip and reflections are not boring you.. but as I write here, I also copy it into my Soul Art Journal.. trying to journal my blog this year, so it is not lost to cyber space.

now to the challenge. I read about a daily challenge on Krissie's blog this weeks list at Winterwood ... MistyMawn (Misty Mawn), suggests some little tasks to do each day and I have decided to have a go...

Wednesday we had to take a photo and alter it.. I took a photo of a rose that is blooming in my garden. The Queen Elizabeth rose, a favourite of my dads.... and I played around with it on my photo editor and came up with this:

.. I have also started a page in my journal, using the rose but it is not quite finished..will show when it is done. Hope you have fun with this challenge, I find it gives me focus.

next time we will certainly be off to Heronswood at Dromana and across the sea!

and the next days... January 4 & 5

a sneak preview of what is to come next time.....

so on to January 4 and 5......the ride these days was brilliant. Riding first of all through farmland - paddocks, dotted with grazing sheep. In the distance were rolling hills and an aura hung over this land in the early morning light. Resting, peaceful & stillness... much like i wish my soul to be and I believe is becoming..... as I looked at that land, I began to believe that I could sit right there in that spot, or any spot really and I would be on Sacred Land. Every single inch looked and felt Sacred.No need to travel the world looking for Sacred places.. (every part of Mother Earth is Sacred and we need to begin to treat it like it is.)

we travelled through pine forests. Beautiful large pines. However there was a feeling about them of not being native, not belonging. But these trees were showing me that although they weren't native to Australia, they could grow and thrive alongside the native eucalypts......

and so we come to the stringy bark forest. I was so disappointed that we couldn't stop to take photos...(this was before I discovered that I could take photos on the back of the bike.)
So I will have to paint a picture using words...
the forests of eucalypts were awesome. the smell that hung in the air. not the strong smell of eucalyptus oil but a more subtle, earthy fresh eucalyptus perfume. just divine. These stringy barks were so strong and I felt an overwhelming love and support coming to me from them. that is when I realized that I must find myself a stick to make myself a new wand. a wand of belonging.
Dead trees among the living. white and bare. But still strong and wise. still part of the tribe.. showing me that even though their spirit has gone, their wisdom is still here for us to use.
and the soil. as red as I have ever seen. Once I would have thought it harsh but now - healing and grounding. I need some for my base chakra. the red colour perfect for connecting me to this land. to ground me. to bring me home.

and we rode on. down to the coast, along rugged coast country. passing through small seaside villages... and over a bridge at Lakes Entrance.. I was not really looking, more like gazing at nothing.. but at that moment, I had a desire to look into the water and as I did a dolphin came up out of the water and went back down. sleekly and silently. Was I called to look? A sign perhaps? A message? Or just a co-incidence?

that night was spent in Bairnsdale. We went out to dinner to a gorgeous pub and I had a small meal. Slow roasted vine tomatoes served with bocconcini and a salad of rocket and basil. It was delicious. The tomatoes were tiny vine tomatoes that had been dipped in olive oil, then sea salt. then oven roasted in a very slow oven for two hours. exquisite taste and basil and rocket together? Oh yes, it works very well. sprinkled with olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper. A perfectly simple delicious meal. ... next time we travel to Lorne... via Heronswood.

it has been quite warm here in Woodford and on the weekend, I did a really big tidy up in the garden. Pruning a rose bush that needed a haircut... but first of all I took a gorgeous bunch of roses from it to put on my table... aren't they gorgeous? I have no idea what kind of rose it is but it is never without flowers. Every single day of the year there is a rose or two or more on it.

let's start at the very beginning.... (January 3)

the picture above was taken a few days later at a garden that we visited.. Heronswood. More photos to come in a few days....

the beginning is always a very good place to start...

our first night was spent in Cooma about 4 hours south of my home here in Woodford. Cooma is in the Snowy Mountains. I didn't bother to take any photos on the way. We arrived at our little motel in the afternoon, had a cup of tea and went for a walk to stretch our legs and back. We tend to stop every hour or so but still, being on the bike does tend to punish the body a little... (read, I need lots of massages and maybe some acupuncture!)

for dinner we went to the restaurant at the motel and ended up sitting with an elderly couple in their late 80's.. the woman had a sparkle in her eye that you wouldn't believe and I knew I had met a kindred spirit. A fellow wild woman. We sat and chatted for a few hours about life and the world. I love that about country Australia, people are still friendly. There is no barrier up nor is there any fear or distance of spirit that you find in the cities. I guess that is why I love Woodford so much.

On the way to Cooma, we rode past Lake George.. a Lake that fills and empties mysteriously... at the moment it is bone dry because of the drought..as I rode along many thoughts came and went from my mind. That night, I wrote in my journal: "as I looked across the Lake, I felt at peace. I 'heard' aboriginal voices at one stage and felt a presence, a welcoming presence. I know that this ride is truly the beginning of my belonging..... Australia is a harsh country. The heat is sometimes unbearable, overwhelming for me. I must remember to stay out of the extremes. The heat makes me angry and that is when I begin to hate this country.......... after talking to the elderly couple, I realize that the weather here is definitely cyclic.. they have seen so much over their lifetimes but said that the weather is normal. It has all happened before. They have seen it. ...man demands that the weather performs to suit his needs. When Mother Nature doesn't do what is expected or what is 'normal' then she is deemed 'out of control'. It is us who is out of control.. maybe we need to learn, or rather re-learn to move with the cycles and rhythms of nature and not try to control her........."

that night I listened to some music - Secret Garden - very haunting... I kept 'seeing' myself in Ancient England and the homesickness came back.... what am I to do?.... a thought fleeted through my mind.. guidance from beyond: *bring this past life into your present. the peace, the calm, the love, the connectedness. When you do, others will follow. Listen with your heart*

here at Inglewood, my garden is coming along nicely. Yesterday I spent quite a few hours weeding and mulching. I bought another apple tree and a passionfruit vine and planted them late afternoon... I fertilized my citrus, watered my rhubarb and picked some beans and zucchinis. I have 3 big pumpkins on my vine and quite a few apples on the tree. Even though it is still hot here, when I look at the vegetables and fruit ripening in readiness for harvesting, I realize that autumn is not far away.....

this wide brown land for me...My Country - Dorothea Mackellar along with Miss*R's photos....

to start with, I thought I would share my trip along with a poem that I learned as a child at school. As I rode (actually, I pillioned) through this vast land, the poem came back to me and the idea was born to share my photos with this poem. (don't forget that these photos were taken from the back of the Harley while travelling at 100kph.)

taken from the archives of the State Library of NSW:

Sometime before 1908, while on a visit to England, a homesick young Australian woman, Dorothea Mackellar, put her thoughts down on paper in a poem she called 'Core of My Heart'.
This famous poem (later retitled 'My Country') is believed to have been directly inspired by Dorothea Mackellar's experience of life on the land. The iconic verse is now regarded by many Australians as the universal statement of our nation's connection to the land.

I have taken excerpts to put along with my photos... you can read the whole poem here: My Country by Dorothea Mackellar

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!

all these photos are from my travels while away & there are lots more photos to come and I will share more each day with stories and maybe some thoughts from my journal...

i love a sunburnt country...yes, I do.

I am home & I think I am in love. with this country. it is like a veil has been taken from my eyes. As we rode along, I saw the bush and land as if I were seeing it all through the eyes of a different person...maybe it is my inner wise woman who was on the back of the bike..... I felt like i belonged here, that the trees welcomed me and that I was being hugged.

I did learn a few things while riding along, some very wise thoughts and some very practical ones. I learned that you cannot just stop anywhere on a bike to take a photo.. there must be a large verge on the side of the road that is not made from gravel. Quite often, I saw something that I wanted to take a photo of but by the time we could stop, we were miles down the road. So I improvised. I started to take photos while on the back of the bike. They seem to have turned out ok, not professional at all, a little blurry.. but who cares. I will share them soon. I also learned that you miss quite alot of different side tracks and lookouts because riding on dirt or gravel roads is not alot of fun.. but the upside of being on the back of the bike is that you see & experience the scenery in more ways than when in a car. It seems as if you absorb it into your very soul

it has been hot while I was away and my garden suffered a little. Even with Marion who lives down the road looking after it while I was away, it just needs some love n care which I will give it today. I am going to let my chooks out to scratch.. they have been locked in their pen since we have been gone and even though it is a large area, they really do love to get into the extra yard to fossick for worms.

I am supposed to be taking part in the Next Chapter (12 secrets of highly creative women) with Jamie ... Secret One is 'Acknowledging your creative self' - not sure where that will take me, but I think I will do it all on my blog "the Onion" like I did with Soul Coaching... so if you are interested, there is a link on my side bar. I will do the first chapter later today.

I am also committing to Simple Abundance again this year. I love it.. a book that has helped me tremendously over the past few years. to find gratitude seems to me to be one hell of an important goal in my daily life.. to help me ground, to help me stay sane and to help me be in love with life..... it is good to be home. As we rode into the mountains where Woodford is, I knew, deep in my soul, that I was blessed to live in one of the most gorgeous parts of the world. It is not deemed a World Heritage area for nothing.

and to start the belonging...

I am off on a trip! leaving first thing tomorrow.

Down to the southern state of mainland Australia: Victoria...

travelling through some gorgeous country side... along the Great Ocean Rd, past the 12 Apostles(of which there are only about 7 left)... to Daylesford, where I believe there are natural spas... up to Swan Hill, across the Hay Plains.. then home. Taking about 13 days on the back of the Harley, no less.

Of course I will be safe 'cause I have myself surrounded with angels and all manner of deceased ancestors and friends. I have vintage rosary beads in my pockets, angelite crystal and a few vintage religious medals pinned to the inside of my leather jacket.
so dear friends.. will miss you lots but I have my (new, birthday) camera at the ready, so that when I get back, I can share this land that I call home.

a winter weekend by the sea

we are off to the Gypsy Caravan for the weekend. It will be freezing by the sea-side and most probably the wind will be totally out of control but I can take my very own rug and snuggle in my little peaceful haven by the sea...

not sure if I will get to the beach... I do want to.. I think it might blow the cobwebs away if I can put a thick coat on, plunge my hands into the pockets, brave myself against the wind and walk along the sand...
full moon coming up! a time to cleanse and programme your crystals....do something out of the ordinary at this full moon in Aquarius! and be ready to expect the unexpected... well, so my moon diary tells me ... have wonderful weekend !

the last tour - let's go shopping!!

the markets were fun.. busy but fun.. the markets that were a few blocks from our hotel were the Ben Thanh markets, a mix of clothing, wares, food and flowers. You could buy just about anything!

we wandered around looking at silk, fabric, jewellery and clothes and our noses told us we were nearing the food section. let me say, you had to be there to experience the smells....

meat just hung like this above, in the heat, flies buzzing around.....and worse still was the fish.

but isn't this lady gorgeous? she was so sweet, allowing us to take her photo. As bad as the markets smelt, they were gorgeous, just look at the white tiles on the counter front.. beautiful

and look at the gorgeous verandah supports on the outside of the building... gawd, would love to have them on my home! As well as the markets we also did shopping in the city centre..and I think this is just about as close as I will get to going into a Louis Vuitton store...

and of course we had to eat. One day we took ourselves into a little cafe for lunch and i was delighted to find that they served near normal food.. well normal to me! I ordered a Croque Monsieur which is french I take it for a ham and cheese toasted sandwich...

and a vietnamese ice coffee... delish! Only thing I could say that I didn't like was that they are allowed to smoke in restaurants.

so that's it from Vietnam... where flowers grow in tubs like they are out of control, where people chase you down the street trying to sell you 'real' Louis Vuitton and Chanel handbags... where a country that was torn by war is now healing... with the help of tourists... where people are the most friendly that I have ever met.....

and what happens in Woodford today? I run around like a mad woman, cooking up a storm for the morning tea that I am having on Sunday. I am taking part in Australia's biggest morning tea, to raise funds for the Cancer Council. I have 30 people coming! I have raised about $300 this time.. a walk through my garden with cups of tea and lots of cake.. what more could someone wish for? I am going to harvest some lavender today too, to hang in my kitchen.. maybe I will make some tussie-mussies for Sunday to give to my guests.

onto the Cambodian border

there were quite a few tours on offer at our hotel and we took the opportunity to do as many as possible.. a day tour to the Cu-chi tunnels and then onto the Cambodian border to visit a Temple..

first of all the tunnels.. I had never heard of them before I went to Vietnam. You see, I wasn't very old when the war was going on and I guess I was a little removed living where I did. Oh, yes, we had friends go to war but our life went on as normal... I don't think we even had a television until about 1972 !!
so off to the tunnels... first thing we did was watch a movie.. it was a propaganda movie made by the North Vietnamese... gawd.. I watched the first few seconds and then closed my eyes and went off somewhere else. Then off for a walk around the area. They have preserved alot of the tunnels and it is open to the public. The trees have grown back and are now 10 years old. We walked where B-52 bombs were dropped, the craters were huge! Joe actually went into the tunnels and he said they were like rabbit warrens, I could not bring myself to go down as I felt i would die from claustrophobia. We walked past a tank that was left by America, right in the middle of the jungle. As I walked along the jungle paths, I said prayers and sent love and light out.. it was all I could do.. to try and heal the heartache felt by many. I did not take any photos while I was there as I felt I was on hallowed ground, men died there and I have read that where a person dies that the ground immediately becomes sacred and angels live there.. and yes, I could feel that... it was the same feeling that I had when I stood at the World Trade Centre site in New York in 2001, just after the terroist attack.
it is actually interesting to talk to some of our friends who are Vietnam vets, they are very interested in our time there and keep asking what it is like now.. some of them wish to go back and see it. They have told us of their experiences and what it was like for them at the time

I keep feeling I have to apologize for visiting Vietnam, not sure why, as I wanted to go to see the country as I had heard it was beautiful. And it was. Lotus grew along side the roadways, people worked in rice paddies, fruit grew wild... as we travelled further in towards the Cambodian border, to a temple owned by the very odd sect Cao Dai...

the Temple was incredible and we were allowed inside to see the people preparing for Mass....very ornate and colourful. The religion is a hybrid of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucuanism and Christianity

there are many levels that you must achieve before you get to God, you must attend mass once a day and women are segregated from the men. They all wear white and their level of achievment is signified by a different hat... up at the altar there is a huge globe and in the middle of it is a very large eye.. that I think signified God... very weird as I felt I was being watched all the time and I even got a feeling of not being good enough.. ..I must admit, I felt very uneasy as I watched the people getting ready. Sick and drained. I forgot to protect myself before I went and when I arrived home I had to a very long auric cleansing as i still felt very drained and nauseous. Thankfully I had take some consecration oil with me as well as one of my garnets..
then back home late in the afternoon.. to busy Saigon where all manner of transport is allowed on the city streets including this rickshaw that was pedalled by a little old vietnamese man...


today in Woodford the sky is cloudy... not rainy clouds but those kind of clouds that make the air feel very still,.... like time has stopped for a little while... I hope to get into my garden this afternoon. Yesterday, the magpies were in my trees, about 30 of them, all calling to each other... as i heard them, I realised that yes, I am connected to nature ... I sat and listened for a few minutes and felt blessed.
oh and don't forget Faery Land opens soon... June 1st and continuing through the month of June...

sight seeing in Vietnam

first of all I guess I should show you where we stayed in Saigon:

The Hotel Equatorial, which, according to our travel agent was 4 star but in reality it was 5! It was divine.. the only thing that I could pick at was people are allowed to smoke in the lounge area, something that is not allowed here. Being a non-smoker, I did find it hard to deal with as I sat and read while having coffee.

The Opera House is in the centre of the city and we made this our pick-up point. Each time we wanted to go into town, the shuttle bus that was supplied by the Hotel, would weave its way in the traffic to various points, dropping off and picking up. The Opera House was one block away from the markets.. one of the contrasts that I mentioned. Even though this is in the middle of the city, there are still women wearing the coolie hats and women selling their food that they cook in the little pots. I loved that part of it!

one of the tours we did was a full day to the Mekong Delta.. unfortunately the floating markets weren't available due to the low tide of the water.
feeling very much like Katherine Hepburn on the African Queen, we crossed the Mekong to visit a group of islands....

funny thing is, in the photo I think I look very much like my great-grandmother Viola:


our first stop was to visit some cottage industries...

where they made coconut candy.. using the coconut meat and milk to make the candy and the coconut shell for fire 'wood'.. nothing is wasted. We got to taste it too, it was really delish, so we ended up buying 10 packets. Then we visited a bee farm and were served Honey tea.. black tea with copious amounts of honey stirred into it and a dash of lime juice. It was served hot and the islanders drink this every morning and night. I liked the taste of it and am planning on making it for myself here.. I even bought a little teapot and cup so that it will feel authentic. One thing I did notice as we travelled along the water ways was how many dragonflies there were. Not one or two, but millions. Truly! they were everywhere. I felt like i was surrounded by faeries.

along the canal....

to the next stop where we were served lunch. We were served Elephant ear fish.. a local delicacy.. the cook it over open fire and serve it wrapped in rice sheets with mint leaves and chilli sauce. It was quite delicious! We also had a curry, salad and soup and for dessert...

we were served a variety of local fruits, which grew wild on the islands... pineapple, papaya, lychees and jack fruit (which I didn't like alot).. these were served with a mix of coconut, salt and sugar with a dash of chilli powder. You dipped the fruit into the mix and as odd as the mix may sound it was really quite tasty.. something I think I will remember for those hot summer nights... and of course to finish.. a cup of tea.

then back to Ho Chi Minh city late in the afternoon. I love seeing how the people live.. it is very interesting. They live simply, farming their land. Fishing the water for their families, not for profit.

so there is another glimpse into my time away...

what is it like in Woodford today?
Brisk... I will light a fire later and today I am going to tidy & clean my kitchen.. and hope to harvest some more lavender to hang to dry.