Just Nine Time Zones and 20,000km That Way -->

As I crunch on the last of my Arnott's Tim Tam Balls, my brain is buzzing and my fingers itching to blog about my big trip to the other side of the world.

First of all, God did hear my prayer for window seats - I had window seats the whole way! One million thank yous!

My flights to Oz were as anticipated; very long! Total journey time - door to door - 39 hours ONE WAY. Does that sound long? HELL YES! I was glad to stumble into bed following that delightful journey!

My sister in law, Theresa, and my two nieces, Karlia and Jaycee [a lovely welcoming committee bearing small gifts] greeted me at Brisbane airport, and I knew I was home to the lucky land.

The above photo is of my brother, Ralph, together with Karlia on the left and Jaycee on the right.

My vacation with Ralph and his family, began the next day - 10 glorious days at Kirra Beach on the lovely Gold Coast (Queensland)Australia. We stayed at Worldmark Wyndham Vacation Resorts on the 14th floor!

This above photo was the view from our balcony. Waking up to this every morning was totally awesome!

My days were filled with swimming (both at the beach and in the resort pool), shopping at nearyby Tweed Heads, trips to theme parks (White Water World and Seaworld), a cinema visit (Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa), lots of great dining and entertainment, and of course fantastic summer weather!

This above photo was taken at Seaworld (left to right): me, Jaycee and Karlia.

What vacation would be complete without some late night knitting? I promised each of my nieces an Alligator Scarf. The scarves were a fun knit.

Pictured above is Karlia with her turquoise alligator scarf, and Jaycee with her stretchy banana alligator scarf!

We also enjoyed a wonderful visit from my Aunt and cousins from Brisbane (Queensland).

Pictured (left to right): Theresa, Karlia, Sue (cousin), Jaycee (front), Aunt Petra, Dianna (cousin), and me on the end.

Following the Gold Coast vacation, Sonia (sister), Tony (parnter) and Emily (niece) drove to Kirra Beach to pick me up and take me to Lismore (northern NSW) for Christmas.

Photo above: Emily had prepared my bed and my room for my "sleep over". Hmm...where will Aunty Isa sleep?

Christmas lunch was held on Christmas Eve. Sonia outdid herself again and prepared a wonderful feast consisting of ham, Asian noodle salad, rice salad, potatoe bake, carrots and peas, bread rolls and strawberry surprise for dessert!

Pictured above (left to right): me, Mum, Emily, Tony, Norm (Tony's Dad) and my Dad.

From Lismore, it was on to Grafton (northern NSW) to Mum and Dad's. The Weiss and Bale clans arrived on Boxing Day and stayed until 29th December.

Boxing Day is of special significance to our family because it is also Dad's birthday!

Pictured above (left to right): Emily, Karlia, me, Dad, Sonia and Jaycee.

I managed to complete another knitting project - the last alligator scarf for Emily. I gave this to her on 27th December; the day we reserved for Christmas gift giving from brothers, sisters, aunties and uncles.

Here is a photo of Emily with her Pumpkin Alligator Scarf.

Everyone loved their knitted items - the hoodies, the hats, and the scarves.

Whilst in Grafton, I saw my best school friend Ann and her hubby Don, went to The Nymboida Coaching Station Inn (tour around a historic museum and a lovely lunch), and did some shopping.

A highlight of my Grafton holiday was a trip to Landruk's Gunyah Alpaca and Olive Farm at Carrs Creek Peninsula, Grafton, northern NSW.

Don and Dorothy do an amazing job managing the farm, providing excellent quality produce for the local markets as well as opening their pride and joy to the public.

Pictured above: I'm reassuring Emily that the alpaca won't hurt her and just wants to say "hello".

I bought some nice bare silk and alpaca hand spun from their store.

Theresa celebrated her birthday on 29th December, so we had reason to eat even more cake!

New Year's Eve was spent quietly with my Mum. We watched the Military Tattoo on TV, followed by the fabulous movie The Full Monty, followed by one of the most awesome Sydney fireworks display ever! Mum and I brought 2009 in with a couple of Bailey's on ice and a couple of Tia Maria's on ice.

The last part of my vacation was spent back with my sister and her family in Lismore.

Sonia and I enjoyed a lovely brekkie at Shelley's on the Beach, Ballina (northern NSW) - bit of a brekkie tradition of ours for years.

We spent quite a bit of time at Evans Head (northern NSW) where Tony's family live. Evans Head offers fabulous beach and river swimming.

Pictured (left to right): Sonia, Tony and Emily under their new beach umbrella.


While at Evans we all went out to dinner at the Services Club, and then went on to the Bowling Club for a few drinks and a dance.

Emily is an awesome dancer!

Pictured (left to right): Sonia, Emily and me.

Back in Lismore we did lots of shopping, went to the pool, cooked a couple of BBQs on Sonia and Tony's new BBQ, and generally enjoyed our short time together.

During the evenings we watched TV, and this gave me lots of opportunity to knit of course!

Pictured: Gull Stitch Beanie.

All too soon, my vacation was over. Sonia drove me back to Brisbane where I spent my last couple of days with my brother's family.

I visited a great yarn store - Threads n More in Brisbane where I bought some beautiful 4 ply alpaca yarn by Eki Riva. Theresa, Karlia, Jaycee and I went to the cinema and saw The Tale of Despereaux. Then I went to Skinny's Sheepskin and Wool products to buy another pair of Ugg boots.

Lastly I stocked up on Cadbury's chocolate of course, and bought a packet of Tim Tams for Kata [as promised].

Random Facts Meme

I’ve been tagged by Nadine for a Random Facts Meme. Now I'm not saying that I have a clue in hell what a "Meme" is ... but I can certainly ramble on with random facts.

So here are the rules:

Link to the person who tagged you. Post the following rules on your blog. Write six random things about yourself. Tag six people at the end of your post. Let each person know he or she has been tagged. Let the tagger know when your entry is up [not sure what this means either].

Random Facts About Me:

1. I am the oldest of three kids, born and bred in Australia from a German Mum and an Austrian Dad. I live in Canada and am married to a Canadian who was born in England! So I am multicultural, and I love it! I have relatives in Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Australia (of course). I can understand German very well, but speaking, well ...... I many mistakes often make [lol].

2. I LOVE chocolate. Lots of chocolate. I was introduced to Smarties when I was 4yr old, and have never looked back. I eat chocolate every single day. In fact, if I was to estimate how much chocolate I eat in a year, I'd have to honestly say "a gazillion tons". OK, that might not be entirely true, but 60lb would be embarrassingly true! And I can only do it because I work hard. Put me behind a computer and office desk, and I pack on the pounds too!

3. I am a closet disco fan! There I’ve written it for all the world to read. Saturday Night Fever will always be at the top of my DVD list. Some of my fave songs from that era (in no particular order) include:

ABBA - Dancing Queen
Bee Gees - Night Fever
Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive
Alicia Bridges - I Love The Nightlife
Chic - Le Freak
KC & The Sunshine Band - Give It Up
Yvonne Elliman - If I Can't Have You
Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
Diana Ross - Upside Down
Sister Sledge - We Are Family
Van McCoy - The Hustle
The Village People - Y.M.C.A.
The Weather Girls - It's Raining Men
Amii Stewart - Knock On Wood.

4. The longest job I've ever had was for twelve years at Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia. I began as a Stenographer, then promoted to an Administrative Assistant 3, then 4, and then a Secretary to the Dean and Professor of the Graduate Research College. I absolutely *loved* my job, and only left it to move to Canada.

5. I am a life member of Friends of the Koala (FOK) in Lismore, NSW, Australia. This honour was bestowed upon me a few years ago as a result of more than 15 years involvement helping koalas. Conserving Koalas and their habitat in the Northern Rivers of NSW is something I've always been passionate about. Until you see your first koala joey, about the size of a man's thumb, you can't truly appreciate how amazing these marsupials are! Phascolarctos cinereus rules!

6. I used to ride a motorbike. I owned two of them at different times in my life. My first motorbike was an 80cc Honda Scooter. It had an automatic clutch. I *loved* that bike. My second motorbike was a 250cc Kawasaki. Now that was a real bike. I rode many, many kilometers on that thing, including 135km each way to visit my boyfriend! And I almost bought a very sexy third motorbike - a 250cc red Suzuki! Oh that was one sleek ride. But, as is always the case with density destiny, I got a job in another city and really needed a car. It was far too unladylike to ride to work in leathers [LOL].

So enough about me. Let's tag some people:

Preita, Laurie, Brenda, Ellen, Jenny and Linda.

Two Socks on Two Circulars

I'm progressing well with the two socks at a time on two circs. It hasn't all been clear sailing however. Twice now I've picked up the wrong end of the needle and knit a row before realising the error!

The first time I did it, the scene was not a pretty one! Not only did I knit onto the wrong needle end, but one of my balls of yarn decided to "fall apart" and tangle in the worst possible way - at exactly the same time!

By the time I'd untangled the yarn and put the ball back together [=1 hour later], my frustration and colourful language had already spiralled out of control! I still had to figure out what the *f...* I had done wrong with my knitting, and how to get the two circs back to normal......[insert more colourful language here].....

The second time I knit with the wrong end of the needle, I hadn't actually let go of the needle ends when I realised it, so it was a simple case of tinking that row back and picking up the right needle end.

Here's my progress:

What was I thinking?

First of all, let me say that I have three of the most beautiful nieces in the world. Of course, I am biased! I think I'm the best Aunty in the world too [laughing].

My nieces live in Austraia. From left to right - Karlia (4yrs 8mths), Jaycee (2yrs 11 mths) and Emily (3yrs 7mnths). Karlia and Jaycee are sisters.

When I visited them for Christmas in 2007, their bestest Aunty promised them all a pair of hand-knitted socks. They were of course delighted with my promise. I even allowed them to choose their favourite colours - Karlia chose blue, Jaycee chose pink, and Emily chose orange.

Shopping for the sock yarns was typically a blast! I mean, what kind of yarn junkie doesn't like to splurge on yarn? So, I bought Lorna's Laces Jeans for Karlia, I bought Lorna's Laces Tickled Pink for Jaycee, and ONline Supersocke Orange Variegates for Emily.

In February, I learned how to knit a pair of socks on two circular needles. And I must admit, I love, love, love the technique! But, my thirst for knowledge didn't stop there....consequently I almost drowned [figuratively speaking of course].

I decided to start knitting Jaycee's socks first because her birthday is in April. This decision was quite clever. What was not quite so clever, was that I also decided to learn a new sock knitting technique....one that I believed would propel me to "guru" status amongst knitters!

Ha! I'm pleading temporary insanity. Why? Because I'm knitting two socks at the same time on two circular needles!

With my trusted copy of Knitting Circles Around Socks on my lap, and one ball of yarn to the left of me; one to the right, I began! Thankfully, Married with Children was on TV, so as I tried to understand the instructions, I could find the humour in what I couldn't understand!

But I am determined to knit this pair of socks at the same time, and on two circular needles. Stay tuned for more of this fascinating tale!

Home Down Under

I had the great fortune to visit my family for almost four weeks over Christmas/New Year. My family is made up of my Mum and Dad (they live in Grafton, NSW), my brother and his family (they live in Brisbane, QLD) and my sister and her family (they live is Lismore, NSW).

During my flights (Toronto to Sydney) I was allowed to knit to my heart's content. Once I got to Australia though I had to check my knitting needles through with my big luggage.

I began my visit in sunny Queensland – and where was the sun??? Serves myself right for boasting abut 30°C days to my friends in Ontario (where I reside). My brother, his wife, his two girls (Jaycee 2½ and Karlia 4½ yrs old) and I stayed at Kirra Beach. Despite the weather, we still had an awesome time at Seaworld, Dreamworld and White Water World. Gotta love those themeparks – cost a fortune to go to though. The weather wasn’t great, but at least it didn’t rain – just kept looking as though it would.

I got my fill of all the great eats – vegemite, mangos, hot cinnamon donuts, creaming soda, macadamia nut ice-cream, Cadburys chocolate (is there any other kind!!), meat pie, bee sting pie, avocado, prawns, fresh fish, tropical fruits and fresh salads.

The next leg of my journey was to Grafton, NSW where my Mum and Dad live. Lots of R&R there and catching up on much needed sleep. Two little girls who get up at the crack of dawn can really take it out of you! I can still hear “Aunty Isa” ringing in my ears (laughing).

Two highlights from my visit to Grafton were firstly a visit from my dearest school friend, and secondly a trip to Coffs Harbour – home of the big banana and some of the best beaches. I had morning tea with my Mum at Kookaburra Kafe – this lovely café was made popular when Russell Crowe (yum, yum hunk) visited it after he got married nearby!). The weather wasn’t great – on and off showers with some sunshine and days around 25°C.

My third week was spent with my sister, her partner and their 3½ yr old, Emily. Oh but was the weather miserable. It rained and rained and then it flooded! The flood water went as high as 8.5m (that’s 25.5ft for you imperialists). So we all spent lots of time colouring, painting, cutting, pasting, finger painting and drawing. I of course got lots of knitting done!

We still had lots of fun together and managed a trip to Pacific Fair (huge shopping Mall at the Gold Coast), Ballina by the beach, and Evans Head Beach.

The last part of my visit was Brisbane. While I was there I naturally shopped for loads of chocolate to take back to Canada. And of course, there was the obligatory ugg boot shopping! I tracked down one good yarn store in Brisbane – Threads and More. I got some neat Aussie yarn from them.

Then came the umpty-gazillion flights from hell. I wasn't allowed to pack my knitting needles in my hand luggage in Australia, so no knitting until I board my San Francisco flight for Toronto. So I read a book instead "My Steve" by Terri Irwin. It's the story of the Crocodile Hunter. I haven't finished the book yet; but I know how it ends and am dreading the massive tears!

32 hours and 9 time zones later I was back London Ontario. And lucky me – I got a bonus souvenir – a rotten cold (ugh!).