I am not in Kansas anymore!! What has Alice in common with a wandering, waffling woman?  Well, we rented a car for the weekend and drove via Kurri Kurri to Pokolbin, where we visited the magnificent Hunter Valley Gardens. The gardens won several New South Wales tourism awards and rightfully so. Sixty acres of spectacular display gardens. Of course I loved the story book garden!

As I am still a child at heart! The rose garden, with over 35,000 rose bushes was mightily impressive. It happened to be an extremely hot and humid day, which was a shame. The entry fee was not for the faint hearted, and it will take a few hours to see a big chunk of the sixty acres.  We did sit down in the shade enjoying the water features, even a waterfall! But after two hours my energy was completely depleted. Luckily there was an art and craft village attached to the gardens, where one could eat, drink and spend lots of money . The shops had excellent air conditioning, and to be honest , I found that to be the biggest advantage there.

For me personally it was about spending quality time with my daughter, it didn’t really matter what we were seeing or doing. We had planned to stay in a B& B overnight and go deeper into the  Hunter Valley. As Michelle’s precious cat is not used to being on her own overnight, we gave up on the idea, returned home and went out in a completely different direction again on Sunday.

Sunday we drove to Old Bar to visit my friend from the Tiwi Islands, a fellow artist and teacher, Jenni. Jenni was preparing for a solo show which needs to be hung next week, so we were able to have an excellent sneak preview. I admire Jenni’s easy flowing watercolours and strong charcoal drawings. It was as if we saw each other only last week!  This is NOT a given!! We left after several hours of catching up, only to be caught in a torrential rain! Adventurous to say the least!! I for one was glad to be back home safely and to relax for the next few days before I fly out and start my real travelling again! Mind you, I hav