Tarra Valley, Victoria. 02/27/2010
 Here we are. This is behind our caravan. We go to sleep and wake up to the sounds of this gurgling river :-). It is cool and beautiful. That is our troopy and caravan, below, arriving at Fernholm, at Tarra Valley, Gippsland. We will stay here until Friday morning. We are out of mobile phone range and have contact only via limited access, internet.  Beach Combing, Beach Metal Detecting. 02/26/2010
 When I packed for this tour, I thought, 'well I am not travelling to Western Australia, nor to Victoria’s golden triangle; will I leave the metal detector home'. ' What a duffer I was. The amount of items you find, in simple beachcombing, is insignificant if you consider what you can find with a modern metal detector. Of course, the beach is the perfect place for metal detecting. WHERE WILL I FIND TREASURE AT THE BEACH? The following list will give you idea as to where to search at the beach, whether it is at a roaring surf beach or a quiet river / creek estuary. Remember; just go anywhere where people congregate. · Car parks · Tracks to and from the beach · Sand dunes and 'nooky' spots · Retaining sea walls · Dressing sheds · Picnic areas · Under shady trees and bushes · Sun-baking areas · Boat launch ramps · High water mark right down to the low water mark · Rocky outcrops and headlands · Storm water pipes that partly run out to sea · Jetties / piers · Kiosks · plus ... many, many more! The almost unending number of locations and areas to search time and time again with a metal detector makes beachcombing perhaps the most interesting and profitable hobby around, provided you know your detector, have some patience, persistence and a little luck. Some of the items that have been found on Australian beaches include relics, Mopar performance parts a cigarette packet wrapped in plastic containing thousands of dollars worth of opal, diamond rings, money. Even children have had fantastic success with this hobby. I might pack the metal detector when we head back to base camp to top up supplies before heading north.  Beach Jogging! 02/25/2010
 WOWWWW I am having fun here at Phillip Island this week. I am inspired and commitment to fitting my exercise activity into my sedentary creative lifestyle and achieving the balance I need. I even took some ‘before’, stripped down to shorts and bra, show the fat I still need to lose, photos, so I would be highly focussed on SAYING GOODBYE/GOOD RIDDANCE to my last lingering occasional sedentary days or tucking into larger serves of food, than I need that have been holding me back. I am going to think LEAN/FIT/HEALTHY & STRONG… because I am ready to make 2010 my year to achieve my slim, ideal goal weight. I am ready for change. I use before photos to remind myself why I am making the effort to portion control healthy eating and set aside time every day to exercise when I so easily could say, ‘I am too busy’. Sometimes when I have time on my hands, I do a clothing wardrobe sort, try on clothes that don’t fit yet, or are baggy now and remind myself of what I am achieving and why it is going to be so very worth the effort of sticking to my new healthy lifestyle, action plan. This week I have been swimming each day, walking on the beach and going for short sprints. I began by doing 100-meter sprints and yesterday I managed two x 200 meter sprints and one 400-meter sprint. It was EXHILLARATING J On Saturday, we move inland to the fern gully rainforest area of Gippsland, so today is my last chance to use the beach as my treadmill. It is still hard for me to visualize myself at my goal weight. Yet I know if I am consistent and do what I am doing each day now, I will achieve it, so I just take one day at a time and do today’s action plan to get myself to a shorter time, mini goal, one I know I can achieve. I have joined the Michelle Bridges, Body Transformation 2010 http://www.12wbt.com so I have the advantage now of on line coaching as part of a group of over 1000 strong minded people committed to improving their fitness. There is a positive professionally guided forum in the site and it is abuzz with information and enthusiasm all of which will help me complete my own joyful fitness journey. Photos are of my beach, jogging track.     My first daughter was born in 1969 and my second in 1971. Back then, there were few ramps leading into stores or from footpaths, to roads, everything was steps, and narrow doorways into shops. Business buildings like banks were near impossible to navigate for young mums out trying to do the shopping and banking with a toddler and a baby in pram. I can remember how we were expected to leave our baby parked outside the bank, unattended as there was no way we could get the pram up the flight of steep concrete steps let alone through the narrow door and we were not supposed to take the baby into business establishments. At that time there were no parenting or breast feeding areas in shopping centres and public breast feeding was not only frowned on, you could be arrested for public indecency y for doing it L. You were supposed to go and sit on a public toilet to breast feed, your babyL. I was more than once, ordered, off a park bench and told to go to the toilet to feed my baby. L, even though I was feeding modestly and while you could tell what I was doing you could see less of my breast than you would see if you saw a woman in a bather on the beach. That infuriated me that it was OK to wear a string bikini on the beach, even on open see through crochet one, but breast-feeding was deemed disgusting. L Society’s priorities all wrong. Anyhow, ‘cut the waffle, Kathy’, I got heavily involved in trying to make changes for my daughter’s future. I helped obtain signatures and along with two other tireless workers, we petitioned Jones Lange and Wooton, who were building the Westfield Shopping Centres and we succeeded to sway them to include mother’s rooms within shopping centres they built, beginning with the Brandon Park Shopping Centre. Try as I could I had little effect in getting a smooth run for prams in streets or into public buildings, but in 1981. Ten year after I, along with countless, other people, had begun to try to bring about changes to public buildings and pathways to allow access for prams and mobility products, for the disabled, the United Nations declared the International Year of the Disabled. This made a huge difference as all countries involved in the United Nations, were expected to make their country more liveable, more accessible, for all disabled people. This of course, was a godsend to mum’s with pushers and prams as we finally could enter buildings and push prams along streets. I can only guess what an enormous difference this must have been for those in wheelchairs. To search for different types of mobility aids and compare the function and price, take a look at mobility compare , it’s is a great place to start if you have a need to research such items. Huge gains in access and rights were made, for disabled people, beginning in 1981, so much so that the major outcome of the International Year of Disabled Persons was the formulation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 1982 and International Decade of Disabled Persons ran from 1983 to 1993. December 3 each year, since 1998, is identified by the United Nations as the, International Day of Disabled Persons. The laws that helped bring about changes to make our streets and stores accessible to disabled people help parents of small children in strollers and prams. This is just one more example of how when we consider the needs of a minority and make changes so they can participate at an equal level with the majority, we ultimately benefit everyone. As Reg and I travel the country on tour, we discover more walks every year designed for ease of wheelchair and pram navigation.  A Walk On The Beach With The Dog. 02/22/2010
 Indigo took Reg for a walk on the beach today. I wore my Polar FT4 sports watch set to record my calories, for the first time and it was fun seeing myself clock up an easy 200 calorie walk. I do my fitness blogging at artslim.org  Indigo loves it here at Phillip Island. While there are many areas that doogs cannot go at anytime, there are areas where dogs are allowed off the leash to run on the beach :-). If you are interested in dogs, or posts about our five year old, Indigo, she has her own doggies blog, and would love to have you visit.  I think Indigo is in control of this walk. lol, :-). Sunday in Cowes, Philip Island. 02/21/2010
Our trip into Cowes at Phillip Island today was a bit of a blast from the past mixed with high fashion clothes and costume jewellery to window shop.  I saw a ladies, cabin trunk at the Sunday Market, form the days before aeroplane. travel was popular and the long sea voyage to the motherland, was quite common for young Australian women to do, between leaving school and settling down. My sister had one of these cabin trunks, when she sailed for England at age 22, having worked from the age of 16 while attending night school, and saving every penny to do her long planed journey, some 45 years ago.  I saw an old weaving loom, at a Sunday, market. The sound of an old recording of a tenor’s voice filled the air; it brought back memories of my childhood and the old record players. I enjoyed the sound.  Then I fell in love with this old dray, outside a Mexican, restaurant. Kids Activities, Phillip Island. 02/20/2010
 Philip Island is a wonderful place to bring children. I can remember the joy our own daughters had when we would bring them here to show them the fairy penguins parading at dusk, the koalas, the seals. It is a natural paradise of beach walks, beautiful rock formations and the side trip to Churchill Island is like a step back in time, with Clydesdale horses and old style farm buildings, even the children will love.
 Art~Print~Crafts of Georgia, have arrived, 02/17/2010
 "What you get by reaching your destination is not nearly as important as what you will become by reaching your destination." - Zig Ziglar   The last of my print crafts from my art work, have been completed and we are ready to go on tour once more. I will enjoy giving Shelley a copy of each of these tomorrow. I made up two cards, two fridge magnet designs and the one print featuring the Irish Blessing. The cards can be ordered on this site.  I will be at Fountain Gate Shopping centre tomorrow, at Gosh Coffee, outside Big W, from whenever in the afternoon I make it, until 5.30 pm, if you are in the area and would like to meet Reg and myself :-) I will wear a T Shirt with a picture of the art work of Georgia on it, and the words, I Love, Painting, Drawing and Writing. :-). I will be easy to spot.   You could be bidding on a Food and Drink to the value of $50 at Must Margaret River WA, all proceeds go to the Hope From Ashes charity to assist those rebuilding their lives after the Toodyay Fires of December 2009 Food and Drink to the value of $50 at Must Margaret River WA http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Must-Margaret-River-Voucher-Food-Drink-50_W0QQitemZ300394608413QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Vouchers?hash=item45f0e9f71d To say that Must Margaret River is wine centric is almost an understatement. Bottles of wine snake around the walls and large suspended wine racks create divisions in a warm and moody space. On one side, a bar laden with every type of high quality wine and spirit imaginable and the other, a bistro true to its roots – timeless, classic and comfortable. Upstairs there are three well appointed and spacious suites to rest your weary head. Open from 12 noon til late – lunch and dinner, seven nights a week, Must Margaret River is a place to drop in for an impromptu glass of wine with friends, a snack at the bar, a meal in the bistro or a place to celebrate life in general. Reservations recommended. Please mention your voucher when making reservations. Provided by Must Wine Bar and Bistro Hope from Ashes The Hope From Ashes auction will run online starting on the date of the benefit concert with new items being put up daily over the next week. This online auction will raise awareness and funds and give people the opportunity to contribute and help Toodyay people who are rebuilding after the fire. We have tried to gather together a range of diverse and high quality items and services that in some way reflect the diversity and creativity of the Toodyay community. In finding a gift for yourself you will be giving to the Toodyay community and we hope the excitement and high energy of the auction will be uplifting and inspiring in its way. The auction has the Hope From Ashes flavour celebrating and demonstrating the generosity, positivity and support that has flowed so readily for and within the Toodyay community. As well as people from Perth many local Toodyay businesses and individuals have also contributed to the auction, some although deeply affected by the fires through loss of home or workplace. Artworks, craft items, trips away, fantastic meals and even life coaching sessions, massages, motoring items, clothing and collectors plates are just a few of the amazing items we can offer you. The list grows every day so “no napping” or you may miss a fabulous item…which is just what you need! We hope you will enjoy the items on offer and we hope you have fun whilst you bid big as we pull together to raise much needed funds for the survivors of the Toodyay Bushfires. Toodyay is in Western Australia. Western Australia has the highest rate of Mesothelioma.per population due to the mining of blue asbestos, in the past. If you wish to make a donation in person, please use the following Bendigo Bank details. Thank you. Hope from Ashes BSB: 633 000 Account: 139 064 364   Signed Dockers Guernsey The Dockers Guernsey was kindly donated by Dockers Player (Defender), Greg Broughton - Number 6 Guernsey signed by Team with cardboard tag signed by Greg himself. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Signed-Dockers-Guernsey_W0QQitemZ300395065114QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Sport_AFL_Memorabilia?hash=item45f0f0ef1a Hope from Ashes The Hope From Ashes auction will run online starting on the date of the benefit concert with new items being put up daily over the next week. This online auction will raise awareness and funds and give people the opportunity to contribute and help Toodyay people who are rebuilding after the fire. We have tried to gather together a range of diverse and high quality items and services that in some way reflect the diversity and creativity of the Toodyay community. In finding a gift for yourself you will be giving to the Toodyay community and we hope the excitement and high energy of the auction will be uplifting and inspiring in its way. The auction has the Hope From Ashes flavour celebrating and demonstrating the generosity, positivity and support that has flowed so readily for and within the Toodyay community. As well as people from Perth many local Toodyay businesses and individuals have also contributed to the auction, some although deeply affected by the fires through loss of home or workplace. Artworks, craft items, trips away, fantastic meals and even life coaching sessions, massages, motoring items, clothing and collectors plates are just a few of the amazing items we can offer you. The list grows every day so “no napping” or you may miss a fabulous itemÂ…which is just what you need! We hope you will enjoy the items on offer and we hope you have fun whilst you bid big as we pull together to raise much needed funds for the survivors of the Toodyay Bushfires. EBay is an amazing auction site, everything from homemade cards to home treatment for hemorrhoids but to win something and help charity is an extra bonus. If you wish to make a donation in person, please use the following Bendigo Bank details. Thank you. Hope from Ashes BSB: 633 000 Account: 139 064 364 HAPPY TO POST AT BUYERS EXPENSE  | Kathy Shell on Facebook 
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