sand

A few more photos from my time in NZ.
While visiting my dear dear friend, and her beautiful family.
So many shells along the beaches. Brought up many memories of childhood walks along beaches collecting shells. Alas, it seems the sand shores I visit here, in Aust, don't seem to have as many shells as they used to. {sand dredging in the area has led to many many coastal changes over the past years}.

skating runs in the blood

We all went skateboarding this morning. Lovely to go out, all together, as a family. So early in the morning (ok - it wasn't quite as early as we wanted, but it was before 7.30am).
And most lovely of all, was stopping and laughing and watching my little ones love the same thing that my big one (Sam) has loved for more than two thirds of his life.
be prepared - many gratuitously cute photos follow.

What a glorious morning, hey! Autumn in Brisbane is good weather - cool, hot, warm, cold in one day - but beautiful skies and sunny days.

the long drive :: part 1 :: brown and dry

brown and dry stretched out.
hills that look the same,
but each one so different.
trees that pop up out of the brown, dusty ground.
blue endless sky, puffy clouds.
making me think of Russell Drysdale
or Fred Williams.
stretches of straight long road.
and, surprisingly, lots of talking and drawing and laughing and sleeping (and minimal whinging) from the two little ones in the back.





And the devastating fire remains, when we came into the outskirts of Melbourne.

Thanks to Pip over at Meet me at Mike's for hosting a words & pictures : long drive theme. Perfect nudge for me to show you the spectacular Australian landscape we experienced while driving from Brisbane to Melbourne and back again this past month.Most of these photos were taken while the car was moving - so some of them have that moody feel about them.