About

Sunrise at Burleigh Beach, the start of a new day

 

Since 2009 to 2015 life was all about travel. So during that time I created “Gypsy Life” to record the journey round Australia in “Matilda” our home and transport during those memorable years. We had fun, we met so many interesting people. Scenery was amazing and photography became my joy.

I also became addicted to blogging. So I started a second site, “Memories are made of this” I followed a number of the challenges that are hosted by other bloggers, posting on one or other of the sites almost daily. I looked at the world around me with the eyes of a blogger, assessing if I should take a photo. What sort of story did I want to tell. Researching background stories to go with photos of buildings and other random subjects I shot. Blogging was taking over every spare minute.

 

For 6 years we lived the life of grey nomads wandering around Australia in Matilda a Toyota pop-top camper van, or as Jack called her, the sardine can. I paid a tribute to her in this post “Gypsy Life”. https://pommepal.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/weekly-photo-challenge-one-a-tribute-to-matilda/ 

I cried when we sold her!!! But life changes and I believe in going with the flow.

Occasionally we would have unusual visitors for afternoon tea

For the next 2 years 2014 to 2016  we did house sits in many parts of Australia meeting interesting people and loving this wide, brown land.  I continued blogging. We knew that Australia was the only place we wanted to live. Life was free and easy. But as we grew older it was time to come home and settle down to a sedentary lifestyle.

So a year ago we moved back into our house on the Gold Coast and I had my teeth pulled out. That was traumatic. I lived on soup, veggie smoothies, scrambled eggs and porridge for a long time but, on the positive side, the weight dropped off. I went down 2 dress sizes,(and I’ve kept it off…).

After living in a very small campervan, interspersed with stays in a one room granny flat, moving back into a 3 bedroom house, we now had room to spread out and set up a playroom/art studio each.

So began a new phase. I stopped blogging, I went cold turkey, it was only meant to be for a few months, but a year just rushed by.

During that time I immersed myself in art, joined a weekly art group and a monthly calligraphy group. Had the joy of getting my hands dirty in the garden again as I watched it change through the seasons. Occasionally even having short trips away. So I took time out. The camera was almost totally retired, it was no longer a permanent fixture over my shoulder, only coming out to record special occasions.

It was quite liberating.

Now I feel the urge to start blogging again. But not every day! (Or so I say now!). So after a years “art sabbatical” I am now back in the blogosphere fold.

 

 

 

Our tropical garden

I do hope you would like to join me. I will show you around the Gold Coast. Keep you up to date with my garden and other random things. I may even do the occasional challenge.

But I will try NOT to let the blog take me over…

If you would like to know more about my back story you can click over to Gypsy Life and on the “about” page I tell about my life. Born in UK and lived in New Zealand.