Mud Crab Sandwiches at The Spit, Queensland

Mud Crab Sandwiches at The Spit, Queensland

Whenever we can, Bear and I drive over to the coast of Queensland to sit or walk on the beach and soak up sunshine, brisk salty wind, and lusciously invigorating seawater. So when it came time to celebrate Bear’s birthday, we simply had to go back, this time to a part of the coast I’ve never seen before: The Spit.

I think it’s my new favorite spot, especially mid-week on a blustery Autumn day when there’s hardly anyone there but us.

The rocky coastline reminds me of my beloved Pacific Coast in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California where I spent so many happy times when I lived in the US. Especially when the wind is billowing and waves are crashing wildly against the rocks.

rocks at The Spit

Isn’t the sky wonderful?! I had to keep stopping to look up at it, mesmerized by the color and the clouds.

lighthouse at The SpitThere’s so much to look at on The Spit. Gorgeous yachts motor past, flying fish flutter above the waves, and the boulders are dotted with fishermen casting rods, hoping for something delicious to take home for dinner.

This fisherman made a haul of fat, glossy mackerel tuna. Apparently most people just use these fish as bait, but I’m told that if you prepare it similar to ceviche by soaking it in vinegar, onions, garlic, and chilies for an hour, it’s pretty darn fantastic. You can also marinate it in soy sauce, sake, and shallots, or smoke it for fish jerky. I hope to try it one day.

fishing at The SpitThe Spit is a place to invigorate you as the wind buffets and the waves splatter with salt water. You want to clamber over rocks and explore, strike up conversations with people you don’t know from Adam, and generally feel pleased as punch to be alive.

girl at Main BeachWe absolutely loved it and cannot wait to return.

wave crashing against sea wallBefore long all that walk and fresh air made us good and hungry, so we ambled back along The Spit, smiling and nodding hello to others similarly occupied.

walking The SpitWe passed the dunes and decided that next time we’ll take the trail through the lowlands to see what we can see.

sand dune at The SpitWe made our way to the Seaway Kiosk, thankful again that our mid-week visit gave us the peace and quiet of no crowds. We chatted with the cheery waitress, ordered our sandwiches, and sat down in plastic chairs to sip our drinks and wait.

Seaway Kiosk Main BeachThe Seaway Kiosk is not a fancy place. There’s nothing posh or elegant, and you won’t find pristine linens or sparkling glassware. I’m so glad. It’s the kind of place you can walk into with sandy bare feet and wet hair, sitting down in your swimsuit with your mates for some good, simple food before dashing off to the beach again.

The food isn’t flash either. There are no sides or dressings, no artisan loaves or aioli. Nope, you choose two slices of bread (white, wheat, or multigrain) that are slathered with butter and topped with fresh mud crab. You can add lemon and salt, and that’s it. I loved it. So often crab is hidden beneath sauces or toppings, but in the sandwich, all you taste is the sweet mud crab. Delicious.

mud crab sandwichesIt was a beautiful day, a wonderful way to celebrate Bear, this man who is my hero in so many ways. I feel so grateful to get to spend this life with him, to have a best friend and true partner, someone who doesn’t give up on us when we’re going through hard stuff, makes me laugh until tears are rolling down my cheeks, and gives me confidence to try anything. I love him to bits.

Wishing you a beautiful day. xo

Seaway Kiosk
Seaworld Drive
Main Beach, QLD 4217
(07) 5591 6970

Celebrating at the Beach

Celebrating at the Beach

It’s been a doozy of a week. A week chock full of craziness and mayhem and plain old hard stuff, but we made it through.

We weathered the Head Cold of Death and a sick goat and kangaroos busting holes in the fence for our goats to escape through and a rat infestation and on and on it went. Phew. We are tired, I tell ya, so this afternoon we’re taking heart in gorgeous sunshine, healthy animals, being able to breath again, and something good for dinner. All is well.

Amidst the lunacy of last week, we had some wonderful moments of sheer bliss to keep us going. One of those was Bear’s birthday. It was so fun to get to plan things to spoil and celebrate him, and when I asked him what he wanted to do, his eyes lit up as he declared: “Mud crab sandwiches at the beach!”

So off we went!

Our first stop was the Aratula Cafe and Ice Creamery for brekky. Bear tucked in to steak and eggs with bacon, tomato, and toast, while I had sausage and eggs. We watched people and chatted and sipped coffee until we couldn’t eat another morsel, then got back in the car and headed for the coast.

Aratula Cafe and Ice Creamery

Is there anything more wonderful than the first glimpse of the ocean after a couple of hours in the car? I never fail to be stunned by the beauty of the Queensland coastline.

beach at The SpitOn this day we went to The Spit at Main Beach, Queensland. Since it was mid-week there was hardly anyone there – just the way we like it.

The Spit beachWe held hands and strolled along the quay, basking in hot sunshine and cool ocean breezes that splashed us with salty water as waves crashed against the massive boulders.

The Spit at Main BeachWe stopped often to admire a particularly stunning rock, a cheery bit of graffiti, or mysterious numbers etched in the pavement.

heart on rock at The SpitAnd of course we had to keep stopping to sigh happily at the stunning colors of the water. Isn’t it glorious?!

My favorite moment was seeing a school of flying fish skittering above the water in a shower of silver light. It was wondrous.

rocks at The SpitI like the trim little lighthouse at the end of the quay with its child-size arched doorway.

lighthouse at the SpitNext time I’ll show you more of this beautiful place.

The Spit Main BeachWhere is your favorite place to go for your birthday? xo

Before Winter Came and a Bacon Breaky Roll

Before Winter Came and a Bacon Breaky Roll

Winter arrived this weekend with a shriek of howling wind and a shocking drop in temperatures. The day before I was barefoot in a sundress with my hair up. The next morning I was shrouded in every layer I could find topped with a blanket and a side of tea. Australia doesn’t believe in doing things halfway.

Thankfully things are mellowing out a bit and, although it’s still cold, when the morning sun streams through the windows it is pure bliss.

Before Jack Frost swooped in, Bear and I spent an afternoon in the fields fixing and building fences.

red Massey Ferguson tractorOur dear naughty goats had made an escape hatch and were happily bounding through to our neighbors yard for a munch. Thankfully he didn’t mind because they ate all his weeds, but once the weeds were done, we know they’d make a beeline for the garden so something had to be done before this visitation became a bad habit.

We piled the tractor bed with rolls of wire, clips, our trusty farm stools, and other detritus and I hopped in the driver’s seat to putter across the fields.

mended goat fenceI love driving our old red Massey Ferguson, especially now that I can start and stop without bucking the poor thing like a bronco. A natural manual driver I am not, but I’m finally figuring her out and Bear can now ride on the back without fearing he may be bucked off without notice.

sunset farm workIt was a stunning afternoon for such work. With Bear wiring and me clipping, in no time at all we had a new fence built that has foiled the goats’ escape attempts ever since. Yay!! We found another gap a bit further down where goats were escaping under the fence so Bear wired in an old log to fill the hole. Nothing like wire and a heavy log to keep goats where they’re supposed to be.

man mending fenceAnd every now and then we just had to stop and look in wonder at the late afternoon sun glimmering through the trees. As far as office views go, this one is pretty darn fabulous.

sunset in the bushNow that the weather has turned, hearty breakfasts are in order to keep us going on these frosty mornings. Today we dined on Cinnamon Cardamom Coffee and toasted Bacon Breaky Rolls. Aussie bacon is so delicious: thick, meaty, without the dreadful chemicals that make a lot of bacon so unhealthy. Fried up crispy and stuffed into homemade bread rolls spread with smoky barbecue sauce, it’s simply marvelous.

Bacon Breaky RollWhat is your favorite breakfast on a cold morning? xo

A Cloudy Day Out with Bear

A Cloudy Day Out with Bear

Yesterday we woke to vibrant, brooding skies that made me smile:

“Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.”

I was excited all day knowing that any minute we might get some rain. And we did!!!

I love rainy days, cloudy days, stormy days, mostly because they’re so rare and precious in our part of Australia. So Bear and I made the most of it with a day out, just the two of us.

laugh garden signFoodies snobs that we are (not), we had lunch at McDonald’s. Somehow hot, salty fries are just the ticket for a stormy day. We went to the library and stocked up on movies and audio books and a whole stack of books on gardening, preserving food, and smoking meats. Can’t wait to hunker down for an evening of reading and planning. Then we were off to the junk shop to look for treasures. We didn’t find much so we moseyed along down the road, stopping to pick up groceries and a few odds and ends.

Next up was a nursery, Gardens Galore, run by lovely folks who are kind, jolly, and amazingly helpful. We picked up three more mulberry trees and spotted some gorgeous crabapple, apricot, and hazelnut trees that we will get soon. It is way too inspiring to visit a nursery. You pop in for one thing and all of a sudden you have visions of blueberry bushes, blackberry patches, herb gardens, and a vineyard.

tiny crabapplesAll that foraging through the nursery orchard made Bear ravenous so he decided we needed more French fries.

Always a sensible decision.

garden deer statueWe found seats at a cheery orange and blue tiled table and shared a big bowl of piping hot chips dipped in gravy. One of the best things about being married? You get to double dip and no one gets mad.

chips and gravyAll those chips makes a body thirsty too, so of course we had to go all out and get lusciously refreshing Watermelon Strawberry Frappes to wash them down with. Running errands builds up an amazing appetite, I tell ya!

watermelon strawberry frappesIt was a truly great day and helped to soften the blow of arriving home to find the goats had broken into one of my gardens and eaten every single citrus tree and my basil, celery, and salvia. Sigh. Thankfully we just got the wire we needed to re-fence the gardens, so pretty soon they’ll be as solid as Fort Knox. Little buggers. After bemoaning the loss of this garden, I spent the rest of my grocery money buying new seeds for my goat-proof garden. Thinking about purple-pod peas, ruby Brussels Sprouts, and rainbow chard made the disappointment much easier to bear. πŸ™‚

What is your favorite treat whilst out shopping? xo

Mid-Dream

Mid-Dream

A few months ago my new friend Sue arranged to come and spend a day with me on our farm. At first I was overjoyed to see her, but then panic set in. I was filled with trepidation because…our farm isn’t perfect.

Not even close.

There are dilapidated cars that need to be taken to the dump, piles of iron and sheet metal waiting to be turned into sheds, fences, and cages, and sheds that are in dire need of a good clear out and scrub down. Although there are also pretty gardens and gorgeous woods and the loveliest animals, at that time all I could see were the ugly bits.

I felt deeply insecure about it, worried that in seeing the unlovely parts of our farm Sue might think that maybe we were unlovely too. You see, I grew up with phrases like “cleanliness is next to godliness” and ” a messy home equals a messy heart” and other such guilt-inducing rubbish. Silly, I know, but there ya go.

So with fear and trembling I wrote to her, letting her know “all the bad things” she would be likely to encounter during her visit, then sat back to wait.

In true Sue fashion she didn’t care one bit about our messy bits. Instead she wrote something that I have treasured ever since: “It’s OK, Krista, you’re just mid-dream.”

Mid-dream.

Isn’t that beautiful?

sun through gum treesAnd she was right. We are mid-dream. Both Bear and I dream of building our farm into an oasis of beauty and tidiness and productivity. We had these dreams when I arrived in Australia two and a half years ago, little knowing that shortly after getting here my body would finally relax and I would crumple. Utterly. Instead of spending two and a half years building, creating, and fixing, we’ve spent it getting me better, doing whatever it took to help me heal from PTSD, Depression, and crippling illness. We call it Survival Mode.

I don’t now what Survival Mode looks like to you, but to me it was hanging on for dear life, hoping against hope that one day the darkness would dissipate and I would experience light and peace and happiness again.

It did. πŸ™‚ And I am grateful beyond measure. We often look back at the last two years and smile and shake our heads wondering, “How did we survive that?!” But we did and I’m so proud of us. Proud of us for sticking together and helping each other and never giving up hope.

sun through grassesWhen Sue arrived for our anticipated day together, we had a marvelous time exploring the farm and eating and talking and all those good things. I told her how much her words had meant to me and we talked about the “mid-dreams” in our lives.

I’ve thought of our talks often since then. I’ve realized that most of life IS mid-dream. The culmination of efforts, the realization of dreams are mere flashes in the pan compared to the long, hard slog of dream building. So much emphasis is put on producing, completing, and arriving, that somehow the pleasures and satisfaction of theΒ  journey itself get lost. I’m not living like that anymore.

Since talking with Sue I’ve embraced my mid-dream life, looking with love and acceptance on the ugly and unfinished parts, seeing in them possibility and hope. I’m not ashamed to have people visit our farm now. I know some will judge me and that’s OK. I’m comfy in my life, I know how far we’ve come, and how hard we’re working to build and grow this place we love so much. This acceptance has trickled down into other mid-dreams too. Regarding my body shape and health and education and career and finances and friendships. Growing has become a pleasure instead of a pressure, and that is lovely.

sunset in the woodsLast night Bear and I were watching “River Cottage: Australia” and the host mentioned a saying from his dad: “Every day is a school day.” I love that. Every day is a chance to learn and grow, and I get to be a lifelong student. What a gift.

Now I’m going to finish my coffee and chat with Bear then head to town to pick up fruit trees for our orchard. Yesterday I got figs and pomegranates planted, and tomorrow I hope to get pears, mulberries, bays, and some raspberry canes put in. I can’t wait to see this place in a few years. πŸ™‚

Do you have a mid-dream in your life? I’d love to hear about it. xo