I'm back!

I have returned from our trip across the Nullabor, we had a great time and I took many photos so I think I'll break up my journey into a few posts with some sewing in between. We started by flying to Adelaide, the capital city of Australia and where my mother lived. I have fond memories of shopping in Rundle Mall with mum, where the famous Haigh's chocolates originated.

 
The Button Bar shop in the Adelaide arcade had a cute display of knitted tea cosies.

I really love the old stone buildings that Adelaide and the country towns in South Australia have preserved.

We hired a car and drove up to Port Augusta. It was very hot there at 38 degrees Celcius (100.4 F) so I was very glad our accommodation had a swimming pool.

We saw quite a few creatures on our journey including this shingleback lizard. His markings looked as though he had crawled through yellow paint.

He was there on the side of the road to welcome us into the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden

This is a must see for all of our wonderful native plants and birds.

Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden with the southern Flinders Ranges in the background

 

Singing honeyeater (sorry about the blur)

My bird photography did improve with the journey. 
I also had the best breakfast of the journey here, pancakes with lemon myrtle ice-cream and quandong sauce (a native fruit). Quandongs have twice the amount of vitamin C so it was a healthy meal!

I paid a brief visit to Jane's Patchwork and Sewing (a bit too hot for browsing!).

Patchwork shop outback style

I did a small amount of appliqué on AWS... 

...and then finished off the piecing back at home.

Almost completed, must say I just love this block. 

The colours remind me of the outback. 

I just need to add four circles in the background spaces. Why haven't I done this? I don't know how big to make the circles as sadly I left my Primarily Patchwork  in the hire car,it was signed by Di Ford and had lots of my handwritten notes on the pattern sheets. I've contacted the car rental company to no avail, there's a slight chance that hubby packed it into a portable car fridge that is being shipped back from Perth. I'll have to wait and see - keep your fingers crossed.
Next instalment - swimming with sea lions!
Cheers
Carole