Road Trips

Do you remember last year we packed up our campervan and caravan and took to the road on a seven week road trip? Although I blogged along the way (you can read the posts by clicking the 'road trip' link on the left), I thought it would be pertinent for a little list. I do love a list. You see my bestie Michelle is off on the same trip tomorrow and I said I'd give her a rundown on what not to miss, my highlights, where to stay and most importantly where to find the best shopping - vintage style that is.

God, I really had to rack my brains there! Of course there is always so much to see, too many shops, cafes and beaches to mention and never enough time to do it and see it all, plus, half the fun is finding the best places yourself so I'll leave it there for now.
Bon Voyage lucky pants.

Peppergreen Antiques in Berrima

As much as I love sewing with retro fabrics, bed linen and trimmings from the 1950/60/70's I also love all things much earlier. Turn your mind to Jane Austen, period dramas, country gentry, old family estates, all things very posh indeed. Linens, china, furniture and clothes from this era are much more pretty, exquisite and rare, and much more difficult to come by.



Peppergreen Antiques is a wonderland of all things period. Antique kitchenware, china, cutlery, art, print, games, toys, wallpaper. The clothing, furs and jewellery are pieces of history and would look perfectly in place on the sets of films such as Narnia or Nanny McPhee. If I were to win the lottery, which isn't going to happen as I don't play, I would love to have a very special shopping trip here. You could buy just about everything you need to make a house truly a home. Including the brass taps and I suspect if I tried to find it, a Belfast kitchen sink.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/photosydney/

All presented in beautiful antique shop fittings which you could imagine would have been used for hoisery and corsetry in previous days.



Source: http://www.travelinsider.qantas.com.au/

Each one of the many little drawers is packed full with vintage buttons, embroidery threads, cottons, siks, wools. If you ever find yourself in the beautiful Southern Highlands in New South Wales it is a must stop.

Source: http://flickr.com/photos/ampersandduck/141931880/

Wonderful stacks of linens for beds and tables. I was very tempted to buy some sheets for Maggie's 'shabby' white painted antique brass bed - no, I didn't paint it, someone else did a long time ago.

Source: http://flickr.com/photos/ampersandduck/141931880/

Source: http://www.travelinsider.qantas.com.au/

Can you imagine my gasp when I walked into two others rooms of floor to ceiling shelves containing piles and piles of folded antique and vintage lace, fabric, patchwork quilts, candlewick bed spreads and feather eiderdowns.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/photosydney/

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/photosydney/

 All was 'must have' gorgeous. I wanted to open all of these antique patchwork quilts for a little lookie:)


Source: http://flickr.com/photos/ampersandduck/141931880/

I truly was speechless.

Source: http://flickr.com/photos/ampersandduck/141931380/

But there's abit of an unhappy ending to this fairytale as I actually left empty handed!!!!!!!! Overwhelmed and unable to choose, which I now massively regret. I broke the no 1 rule of shopping, if you love it buy it.

Berrima

Today I had a little cry. It's been that time on our road trip. When things really got abit too much. We headed inland towards the Hume Highway for the descent and I wanted to stop for a little lookie in Berrima for abit of 'me' time.

I love country towns, they remind me of home. The old stone, the weathered wood, the ghosts of history, the established hedges, the great mature trees, the personalities and communities but my favourite of all is the smell of fields in the air when you step outside in the evening.

I dreamt of what it would be like to live here.

Of serving tea and cakes on mismatched fine English china here.

And Baby Boudoir being in here.

I really am a country girl at heart. I need to see green. Blue all the time isn't for me. And then I had a little cry when I discovered this.

But I must tell you all about it properly next time. Until then.

Caravaning Around

Ok so crap picture alert but I feel like I owe it to you. Do you remember a while a ago I promised to share the completed caravan refurb? So sorry for the delay peeps but here at last are some pics of what was made in my creative space for our little caravan, in situ and in use.

Yep I took the melamine in the end. I was just too scared of breaking the Alfred Meakin. Can you spot Vera? And the gorgeous embroidered pillow slips which were still in their sweet presentation box when I bought them from charity shop.

Beaded curtain in doorway to keep out pesky flys, blackboard cupboard doors for notes and lists, ‘Vera’ the quilt on our bed and a great big aluminium tea pot on the stove that psychologically has become abit of a comfort blanket type thingy for me......you know me and tea!

Late night adventure arrival at Seal Rocks; boiled eggs and soliders then straight to bed. Maggie’s quilt on her bed in the background was the first I made in this design. All quilts I currently have for sale are the similar patchwork design top, vintage sheet backing and snug 100% wool blanket inside all held together with bias binding. Single bed size.

Remember the bench seat covers and the cushions? What a little star Maggie-May has been. She makes such a great gypsy girl with her outgrown haircut, two day old clothes, long finger nails, black between her toes, sand in her belly button and grazes on her knees. Sorry child health police, I promise she’s still 'flourishing'J

All in all this road trip has been an experience with highs and lows and lots of other stuff inbetween. Plus, I've learnt lots about myself.

1) I love my little girl more than anything, she is truly amazing.

2) I'm really bad at doing nothing.

3) I need a combination of country, coast and city to be happy.

4) I love sleeping in fresh air.

5) I tire of shopping pretty quickly.

6) I will never be able to surf.

7) I don't enjoy cooking in a caravan as much as I do at home.

8) I get frustrated if I have a book to read and don't get time to read it.

9) I can drive a troopy whilst towing a trailer carvan.

10) I need to stare at the telly for a short while before I go to bed to turn off my tired brain.

11) I can't cope with a two year old by myself.

Yamba

Squeezed into the front of our troopy with Maggie-May age 2 on my left and husband age (hehehe) on my right, towing our 1973 Jayco trailer caravan travelling back down South through NSW along the coast on our big road trip. Week five of six and a half and we've just left Yamba - Voted Australia's best town by Australian Traveller magazine.

And all the while my mind is on other things, like what shall I turn my hands to on the Stitch 'n' Bitch weekend? Clothes for Maggie? She has grown so much whilst we've been away and desperetely needs some new togs. The 1's are starting to look abit, well, 'poor' quite frankly. Maybe children are like goldfish, they grow to a size appropriate for their environment. With so much exploring going on, maybe she's outgrowing her goldfish bowl.

Or maybe a hobby-horse for her Christmas pressie.

Or should I take on the big job of loose covers for the two club lounge chairs I bought from Vinnie's for $80 a while ago? A trip to Ikea in Melbourne is on the agenda on the way home so I'm sure to be able to find some cool fabric there.

I'll also be pretty keen to make a start on the tea cosy for the swap which my lovely friend Michelle from Belly Designs has organised. What a brilliant swap that'll be and my tea pot is in desperate much need of a cosy since disappearing down the back of the fridge a couple of years ago. I never did get round to digging it out or replacing it!

OK, so I big fat admit it, I'm really missing my creative space now and can't wait to get back to my sanctuary that is my creative space. These boats, birds and beaches are cool and all but.................!

Road Trip Purchases

After my last pathetic post I pulled myself together, stopped feeling so silly, grabbed some of my new purchases and headed for the beach to take some snaps for you. Byron was not looking it's best as at that precise moment, the clouds decided to pay a visit.

Can you see what beautiful vibrant greens these are?

These were from the retro shop in Bangalow. Oh my goodness gracious me, how chuffed was I to find these. There is six meters of the purple one! All original 60/70's fabrics.

The orange is a massive seer sucker table cloth which I think will make a very lovely summery dress. One of the ladies at our Stitch and Bitch group has lots and lots of paterns so I'm looking forward to searching through them at our next Stitch 'n' Bitch weekend which happens to be the weekend after I get back - yippedydooda yippedyday my oh my what a wonderful........weekend that'll be! And if anyone wants to come along, everyone is welcome so just email me.

You can also see that I've picked up some other little bits of new fabric remnents too. A really funky big check seersucker that'll be great for another 'market skirt' for little Maggie - actually I don't think I showed you the last one I made! It's such a great simple and easily adjustable pattern.

Oh and in my last little sad ramble, so miserable was I that I forgot to tell you about another lovely little place I visited on the Pacific Highway at Ulmarra. The shop sign just says something like 'Old Wares' but the owner has a very good eye for all things lovely so make sure you pop in for a goesey gander if you're passing. I bet you a million pounds, woops dollars, that you don't leave empty handed:)

Byron Bay and Bangalow

It's funny isn't it. This blog thingy. I thought that it would be fun to write my blog whilst away on my road trip, like a journal of our big adventure. Like a daily diary and a fix of normalness in all the chaos and unfamiliarity that is a camping holiday. But to be honest I have actually found it to be abit of a bore and I'm really struggling with it. How are you going with it? Are you missing all the usual Baby Boudoir creative stuff? I am. I'm really missing making things and I'm frustrated by having lots of new ideas and not being able to get home and try them out.

I'm also torn between trying to be infomative about places we've stayed and visited and just writing my normal kind of dribble about stuff that I've seen that I like. Like these mosaics set into the pavements in Byron Bay's main street. (Tip - don't go in search of these on a Sunday morning as they may well be disguised with spew and discarded kebabs).

I also want to tell you about the fabulous markets I've enjoyed and the amazing handmade things I've seen. Like the cruisy Lennox Head market where we bought fresh fruit, ate yummy pastries, dipped our feet into the cooling lake and had a lovely chat with Anna from Cuban Pink about the difficulties of promoting and selling commercially viable handmade products.

I also need to tell you about Bangalow and the amazing retro shop I found there where I bought a whole heap of the best vintage/retro fabric ever. See that's another thing, I want to take photos of all these things to show you but since Maggie has taken on a whole new extrovert outgoing personality, I'm finding it harder to keep tabs on her and she is therefore taking up more of my time.

Maybe that's it, maybe there is just too much to tell you and I just don't know where to start; travel guide, restaurant critic, shopping guide, art critic, wildlife expert. Oh I don't know, I'm abit lost in my blog at the moment. I was just glad to take these pictures as in my mind I've been planning some mosaicing just like this to cover the ugly wall in our backyard for quite some time now.

I hope you're all enjoying your creative spaces. What have you been up to? I'd love to hear all about it. I feel like I've been so out of touch. I've really missed reading about what you've all been up to as time has not allowed me to venture to all your blogs for some time. All in all I'm feeling abit left out in blogland, like the new girl at school. I know I shouldn't grumble, I'm on holiday.

Dorrigo and Bellingen

When our road trip took us to Sawtell, I realised that it would make a really good base to explore Dorrigo and Bellingen which I had been looking forward to visiting since my mum aka Dora the explorer recommended that I should go there last year. She described it as being very Glastonbury-ee. My English reader friends may know what I mean by this, as will anyone who knows of Glastonbury Festival. For those that don't, what she meant was it's abit hippy.

Dorrigo National Park has World Heritage Listing with stunning mountainous landscapes, waterfalls and rainforests. Dorrigo itself is a funny little country town and the community market was fun. We bought the best anzacs I've ever tasted, stocked up on honey and locally made soaps whilst listening to a local family play folk music (not this guy though, I just liked the picture).

Source: http://picasaweb.google.com/dorrigoyouthservice

Bellingen was more trendy and obviously a popular destination for Coffs area locals looking for a day out in the country and some hippy lovin' with lots of incense sticks, tie-dye, health food shops and cool cafes as well as some stylish clothes and homewares shops. But I didn't feel in the mood for these here and I would have loved to have more time to explore the area, take a walk and visit the local Stenier School to see it's crafted structure and wonderful classrooms that I had heard about.

Source: http://www.chrysalis.nsw.edu.au/

I also spent some time rummaging though another very cool vintage shop called The Vintage Nest that had lots of very funky furniture as well as all the usual pre-loved clothing and you could also enjoy a coffee and cake. I then discovered that it was actually a charity shop............what an awesome concept!

We enjoyed a lovely evening with our friends at Emerald Beach before continuing on our merry way. She is a fellow stitcher, crafter and a very talented lady with a good eye for style and beautiful fabrics. I hope to spend more time together on the way back down.......I wonder how we'll go op-shopping together.

I've been doing abit of op-shopping along our road trip and I plan to take some photos of my purchases to show you real soon.

Next stop Byron Bay:))))))))))

Sawtell

Hi lovely readers and welcome anyone new to Baby Boudoir. I should just explain that Baby Boudoir is not it's usual crafty self at the moment whilst I'm blogging along a road trip. But please pull up a seat and enjoy the ride.

With rain imminent, we left Seal Rocks and decided to push on further up the NSW coast stopping in an uninviting town called Kempsey where we had a fabulous lunch beside the river in Netherby House - wow the new owners certainly have their work cut out there! We eventually arrived in Uranga, which was to be our next home for a little while but it wasn't to be as neither of us were that blown away with it, deciding instead to go just a little further up the Pacific Highway to Sawtell.

What a friendly little town Sawtell is. I met two lovely ladies over coffee. An English girl with a cute little three year old who invited me to a local playgroup and another lady who owns two beautiful shops in the town including First Avenue Boutique which caught my eye with it's tres chic French vibe.........both encouters left me with little pangs of homesickness.

That night I went to a special viewing and fund raiser for Zonta (who promote the status of woman) at the local cinema to watch South Solitary. A cute little movie about the island just off Coff's. To be honest I went just for some time-out and when I realised it was about a lighthouse I did have a few negative expectations. I was however very pleasantly surprised. You will laugh at this, and perhaps not be surprised, but my favourite thing about the film was (as is often the case) the costumes and 'props'. Set post war the fashion was very 'home spun' and the background rudementary vintage with a whole heap of enamel and scrubbed wood. Celeste the pet sheep was particularly sweet too. If I was to have a sheep, which I would like, I would have one just like Celeste.

Seal Rocks / Arriving in the Dark

When embarking on a six week road trip with a two year old there were several ‘rules’ that Kim and I agreed on to minimise stress. One of which was not to arrive at caravan parks in the dark and try to put up the caravan in the dark at Maggie's bedtime. Mmmmmm I guess you know what’s coming next hey? When we left Sydney we decided to spend a whole day driving to get to our next stop, the Forster-Tuncurry area. Kim and his mate had been talking about this “amazing surf spot” which was sold to me with promises of beautiful white sand beaches, aquamarine ocean and isolated camp spots.

So we’re on our way, we’ve stopped in Bulahdelah for groceries and it’s tea time but we decide to push on and have tea when we set up camp. All I see roadside is bush, bush and more bush. Great I’m thinking, more bush camping, we needn’t bothered leaving Tassie! Where are those beautiful white sand beaches and aquamarine ocean I was so looking forward to! I try to remain optimistic but it’s getting dark now and we’ve hit a gravel road. Anyone who knows me knows that since ‘the accident’ gravel roads feel more like ice rinks than traffic highways to me so I was also feeling a little dodgy. Through the bush I could see an eerie haze and I say to Kim “is that mist, or a big drop or water or something?” What with the gravel road, darkness and eerie haze I start feeling a little anxious. After about a kilometre I realise the eerie haze is actually water and the landscape starts looking more like the Norwegian Fjords. We are afterall in Myall Lakes National Park. At last we see our sign Seal Rocks 2kms. Thank goodness, I was starting to think we were seriously lost! We carry on to Seal Rocks and all of a sudden we find ourselves right alongside the ocean in a small little caravan park. The office sign says closed but we optimistically knock on the door and make hand gestures pleadingly towards Maggie. Fortunately we get into the caravan park, it's now 9pm. We set up the caravan at record speed and eventually sit down to eggs on toast for tea.

In the morning we wake up to find ourselves in the most amazing secluded bay of beautiful white sand and aquamarine water. We take a walk in our pyjamas to the surf break and spend time sitting in the sand dunes watching dolphins. It's just beautiful. Thanks Patrick, you came up trumps.....Seal Rocks rocks!