Qualia

Mr and I can't wait for an xmas break.  Our last short break was our honeymoon on Hamilton Island at the gorgeous Qualia.  We took a chopper ride to Whitehaven Beach.  It would have been romantic if it wasn't overcast and blowing a gale.  I took these pics when were on the way back to the resort and the skies miraculously cleared...at least we were able to enjoy an afternoon by the pool, latte in one hand, book in the other.

Harts Lane

I have finally added another little town to my travel blog Anywhere But Here...and that town is Daylesford in country Victoria, an arty spa town with fantastic food - I went last year for my birthday and posted about it here & here. The images above are of Harts Lane house & studio in Daylesford via Harts Lane & Daylesford Getaways.

Australia Day 2011

You don't get much more Aussie than this...temporary Aussie flag tattoos, meat pies & sauce, an Aussie lifesafer and a patriotic little miss - all on a humid 35 degree day.

More Give, Less Take

Yet another nice thing about blogging is being able to reach people easily. Our floods have made international healines and referred to as an inland tsunami. There is billions of dollars worth of damage and even though our eyes are peeled to the TV and the huge phot spreads in the papers, I still can't imagine what it would be like to really see your street totally covered in water with just the roof tops poking out. At first it was the tragedy of losing posessions, collected over years, bought back from travels, a house you've been paying off you whole life and invested everything only for it to be taken away, no help from insurance companies. Then there is no access to milk and bread, no clothing, no toiletries. The most tragic thing to happen though is the loss of lives, the parents who can't find their children, the stories that then emerge. The impact is far reaching and will remain so for a while yet. If you can afford to help please donate to the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal. You can donate online from anywhere in the world.

While I'm on the topic, a couple of exceptional readers have written to tell me about the brilliant contributions they have been making. The lovely Julien Denoyer wrote to me to tell me about her Etsy shop selling Fine Art Prints like this egg image above and giving a percentage from every sale to charities close to her heart like Doctors without Borders & Lend with Care.

Even more amazingly Lesley, a volunteer with a non-profit called FXB International who are running the What Women’s Empowerment (W.E.) Can Do (What W.E. Can Do) campaign created by FXB and the FXB Action Network to inspire and engage young professionals concerned about the welfare of women and children in the developing world and are looking to establish a network of supporters in the blogosphere and other online communities who share their desire to fight poverty and AIDS and empower women worldwide. By partnering with FXB, we can enable FXB’s programs to continue to provide mothers with the capital, training, and tools necessary to start their own small businesses, allowing them to provide for their families and affording their children with the real possibility to escape poverty once and for all. You can make donations directly.

Images from WA Today A car lies on its roof near Queensland's storm-lashed Currumbin Surf Club yesterday. Photo: Eddie Safarik; Etsy; FXB hand made necklaces from women program in Uganda.

Land of Plenty

I love so many things about this shoot - the way the light comes through the windows, the way the model blends in with the beautiful local artists, the way their art and homes are woven into the pages, the naturalness - it's easy to forget it's a fashion spread; the realness - the stylists choice of clothing; and the Australianness the corrugated iron shed and the jar of Vegemite in the kitchen. Happy Australia Day!

Images from the Marie Claire featuring artists from Hill End.

Photography by Hugh Stewart / Styling by Jane Roarty.