Gnomes all alone

This gnome lives at my aunty's place in Orange, NSW.  I love my aunt dearly but I would have to say that one of her most endearing qualities is that she is the master of good intentions that kind of, well, don't quite endure.  On the other hand she teaches piano and is very talented and laughs all the time.  She is also a master of the jive, which for the information of people born after 1975 is a dance.  She mastered it in her teenage years and still does a great one now at age 68.

Green-eyed gnome on a tilt - does he have a big blue thumb or what?

You can see below that the green-eyed fellow has a pseudo companion.  This little guy looks a bit lost.  Also, there is a cute table and chairs set-up that hasn't seen much use by the looks of it, and is somewhat too close to that tree for comfort.  And those roses don't look too well.

Gnome all alone

On closer inspection, that chair on the right is actually broken and collapsing.

Nice spot for a cup of tea and scones

I don't think there have been too many morning or afternoon teas here, but there's a certain quaintness to it all.

Sunny Boy and a miserable cold

Bruce likes the winter sun.  And the spring sun, the summer sun, and the autumn sun.  His white coat glistens.  He's happy.  The green ball again makes an appearance.  This time with a secondary toy.  Even if I do have to grovel to get the green ball from under the house, I don't mind.  He's my mate. 

He doesn't look as disheveled as he did when we got home from Cairns, he's back to his chilled out self.

Bruce in the winter sun

I still feel pretty crappy with this cold that came on when we got back home.  It has kind of improved but I have a very annoying dry cough.  Sometimes the coughing finishes with a sneeze and I see stars before my eyes.  I wish it would finally go away.  It gives me a headache and all I want is oranges and chicken soup and for my nose to feel normal again.  I'm grumpy.  But I'm having fish for dinner and the house is warm and cosy.  After that, I'll be safe and warm in bed in winter sheets and hopefully tomorrow this miserableness will be on its way out.  I really hope so.

Cairns - our last morning

On our last morning in Cairns we woke up to see the P&O Cruise Ship Pacific Sun coming in.  This was a surprise change to the view we'd become accustomed to.

A lot bigger than the usual boats

It was quite dominating

There's a person up there in their bathrobe

 Here they are on their balcony:

Cropped bathrobe person

The ship did a 360 degree turn when it got to the end of the marina.

Turning

Then it backed into the terminal and out of sight.  It was an interesting manouvre to watch.

Backing up, actually it looks a bit rusty

We had breakfast and finished our packing, but our flight wasn't until 1:30pm so we hung out by the pool and read the newspaper.  This is a tacky photo but it proves we were there....

Inside the paper there was a reader's photo of the crocs currently hanging out in the Mowbray River.  We'd seen one of them on the river bank a few days earlier as we drove over the bridge on our way to Port Douglas.   This photo was taken by a crazy person who must have risked their life on that bridge over the river on the Cook Highway.  We did actually pull over and walk back to the bridge ourselves....but we only lasted a very short time until we realised it was for too dangerous with cars zooming past inches away at high speed.  There wasn't any walkway, just the road.  Either way, apparently there are 3 known crocs currently in the river.  Here's two of them hanging out.

Soon it was time to go.  Goodbye pool.

No time for swimming

At the airport, I found that book I'd been looking for the previous day.  It has beautiful pictures inside.

We had a Cascade beer before boarding time.  This is another Tasmanian "crisp" beer as the label states.  Also on the label is a depiction of Tasmanian Tigers, which were not tigers at all but carnivorous marsupials with tiger-like stripes.   Sadly these are now extinct, but they are a much loved symbol of Tasmania.  People say they sight them deep in the wilderness every now and then, but it is generally believed the last one died in Hobart Zoo in the mid 1930s.  They'd been hunted out.

Cascade and the Tasmanian Tigers

Believe it or not, the bar at the airport had an outdoor area, so we could get one final dose of sunshine before boarding.  Below is my last photo of Cairns and that blue sky.

Strangely, I never saw this beer anywhere on tap

When we got home, it was great to see Bruce.  He was a bit feral and bedraggled, but only because he'd had his own boy's own adventure whilst we were away.  Our friend Jonathan stayed over to look after him for the week we were in Cairns, and Bruce and him bond like he-men.  Bruce had stories he just couldn't tell us.  The green ball was lost too.  I found it the next day behind the shed.

Slightly feral and bedraggled, but Bruce looks pretty happy