This is my second attempt at completing the blog.

The internet died last night, I woke up at 1.30, and it was back on, so I quickly posted and then the it went out again and I lost it all. !!!!!

We had an early start yesterday. With great enthusiasm we wandered down to the beach and watch a procession of events. The sea was calm, cool and spectacularly beautiful, something I don't see  living in the Hills

The sea rescue squad was training, a small dog waited with doggy baited breath for them to come back out of the surf. His eyes ever vigilant on the sea. Sometimes he would let out a low howl….."Where are they"? then he went and sat by the surfboard of his owner.

We saw a surfing dog.

A big old white hairy dog raced down to the sea from the cliffs above. He bounded into the waves, rose high as the waves took him, his legs paddling in mid air, then he paddled with determination out to sea and surfed back in. His enjoyment was evident and I guess he does it every morning.

A sumptuous breakfast of a Eggs Benedict and a strong latte got the day started on a great footing.

Keen to share the beauty of this coast with Luana, I decided to head inland to the rain forest  – which sounds a little strange.

But we were rewarded with the most spectacular scenery.

Giant Mountain Ash trees rising 300 feet into the air support a whole host of forest  plants on the floor below.

We walked up and down hundreds of steps, through the tree tops on high walkways, through forests of ferns taller than my two story house.

then plunged the steep steps down to view the waterfalls.

Of course if you go down, you do have to walk UP to get back,

800 calories were burned….. wooow.

Our adventure ended late in the evening after we had found a gem of a gourmet cafe set high in the hills, and we even found a quilt shop set out on the farm… after a visit with the cows and the farmer, we met his wife Anne Crabbe of the Oholiab Designs and she shared her craft shop full of interesting things with us.

My mind has turned to work at home.

Working with my book designer. Do I need more illustrations?

Now I'm designing the fabric to accompany the book, its written down, calculated… decided upon and all I have to do is draw it… !!! yikes. pressure folks.