One Ro, Many Roads

Hi Peeps, I decided in my last few days in Boondall to try a local restaurant. I decided on Afghan food as I have never had it before. Can I get a "Yum"?🙌 It was soooo good. Yummy, scrumptious, tasty, mouth watering. A friend and I were able to walk to the restaurant. A pleasant walk along Sandgate Road🚗🚙🚕💥💥🎧. For those of you not from Brisbane, this is a major road, very noisy. Luckily, I had booked, it was very busy. I felt confident in the food as soon as I arrived as lots of Afghani people were eating there. The name of the restaurant is Karwan Afghan Restaurant. It is a small place in a group of shops - Sue's Corner. It is obviously family run, which makes it feel cosy. Once we ordered we were given a chicken soup as a starter but we told them we did not order this. They said it was complimentary. What a nice surprise! I know you want to see the food photos so I won't wait any longer. A bread, lighter than a roti, with spices and potato. A must order!! A y...

Hi Peeps, Please note there will be triggers for some people on this post. I do mention self harm and dark thoughts. Stop reading now if you need to. This topic is not for everyone. I actually wrote this one many weeks ago and was deciding when would be appropriate to post. Yesterday, a young person in our community tried to take her life and it made me realise I need to post this. I am very sorry to say I never used to think mental health was a thing. I used to believe these people just needed to get out of bed, exercise and life would improve. Oh, how the universe proved me wrong. In 2021, I started to feel flat, nothing could make me happy. I got an amazing promotion at work and I was not even excited. That was a warning sign but I ignored it. Soon my physical health went down, I developed reflux, I could not sleep and the dark thoughts came. I told my husband at the time I was struggling and needed his help. He decided to take himself off on a solo fishing trip and left me alone wi...

Hi Peeps, The train is ready for boarding. It is almost time to move onto my next house sit. How exciting. A new home and new location! I won't reveal it yet. One clue thought; Back to the Future. Boondall was just what I needed. A quiet home, very comfortable and inviting. The company 😹😻😸 was amazing. One 😻 would come and rest on my chest when I lay on the couch. They greeted me when I got home from work (I am sure it was me and not the food I was about to feed them). This place had a bath! I love baths and my old house did not have one. I have had a few! Self care people. Put on some relaxing music and let the water support you. I love water. It is my element. I may also played with toys in the bath 😉. Get your mind out of the gutter. The owners have a grand child and they have toys, I liked playing with mermaid barbie the most. In the mornings I would sit out the back and enjoy the peace of the setting. I loved watching someone else's Netflix's as they have a differ...

Hi Peeps, Hope you are all doing well. I have been thinking about love and rain lately. Remember the scene in Forrest Gump were Forrest explains the rain in Vietnam during the war Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night... Well there are also different types of love; romantic love, friend love, soul mates, love of your children and family. All great but all different. Forrest and Bubba loved each other like best friends. Bubba made Forrest lean up against him so he did not have to sleep with his head in the mud. Forrest held Bubba as he died and then went on to follow Bubba's dream to open Bubba Gump Shrimp. I have two Bubba's in my life. I am very blessed. I mean I have many great friends, who all deserve a mention, but my two Bubba's know who they are. I adore Bubba 1 and Bubba 2. I love the quote: Friends are the family we cho...

  Dear Peeps, Thank you to the friend who inspired this post title—I will give you the credit, CJ. How can you fit life into three boxes? Well, to be honest, mine could have fit into two if I were a good packer. I needed a Tetris expert—I know a few in my Year 10 class who should not be on games! How many boxes could you fit your life into? Possessions are not my life. I actually have no attachment to anything except people. I was tempted, but I did not put 🙈🙉🙊 into the boxes. I was surprised no one tried to push me in and shut me in as well. I can already hear them saying, "Lock Mum in the box." Haha, they missed an opportunity. I remember people asking me how I could leave my first home, where I brought my babies back to. I thought, easily—because my babies were coming with me to the new location. This was about 15 years ago; they are no longer babies. They are young adults now. I think it stems back to moving a lot as a child. In total I went to 9 different schools and ...

Hi Peeps, I love Australia. I am proud to call myself an Aussie but lately there have been a few instances in my life where I am embarrassed to be associated with Australia. I am blessed to have friends from many different ethnicities - Pacifica, Indian, Pakistan, Bosnian, Russian, Cambodian, Italian to name a few. That is what I love about Australia, our diversity. I love that people can come here and have a go. By having a go I mean try and build a better future for themselves and their future families. However, I am disgusted in how we treat immigrants. I am not going to touch on racism today as that deserves a whole post but themes of racism will come into this post. Last night I went to a dance performance by my Bollywood dance teacher. OMG - inspiring and powerful. The performance told the story of the dance troupe - they were all immigrants. The group self funded the performance. I have attached a snippet of the performance. It was very emotional and heart felt, expressing the s...

Hi Peeps, If you know my family we love food. It comes from my Dad's side of the family. My Mum still does not understand. My Nan started it. She made good food and we remember places by the food not the location. S in S&P has been back to Singapore just to have the chilli crabs again. And me, well, I have deliberately had a stop over in Denpasar because I know a place at the airport that does good Nasi Goreng. So when I found out someone I know works at an Indonesian restaurant in the city I had to go. And of course I needed company. Enter N - N has been a friend for many years. Our boys played sport together.  She is a talent woman, who is a kinesiologist, soul mother and real life Mum. (Message me if you want a great spiritual advisor) She picked me up in her convertible and off we went to https://www.sendokgarpu.com.au I was not disappointed. We both had Nasi Goreng, I was too chicken to try the salted fish (Angel Fish 🐠). I love Angel fish, in the ocean, and could not eat...

Hi Peeps, Hope you have all been doing well. Do you have a goal or current project you are working on? I do! I am currently completing a Masters. In what you may ask? Well, a Masters in Education (Teaching English as a Second Language). Why? Well, thanks for asking😉🤦‍♀️. I have sooooooo much respect for people who know more than one language. And even more respect for people who immigrate to a new country. Just think about it for a moment: They leave the security of what they grew up with They leave family and friends They withdraw from the only culture they have ever know They are moving somewhere like Aus where we only speak English They will face daily racism Many many more points Image credit - Tony Gough I believe immigrants are some of the bravest people in the world. They deserve our respect for these 6 points alone. Immigrants want a better opportunity for their families. Now, whether it is a better opportunity is debatable as I believe community is the most important thing a...

Hi Peeps, Well today is Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day to anyone who has been a mother or a mothering figure in someone's life. I will be acknowledging the amazing woman who have been in my life but the first one is my Mum. Mum and I on adventure at Parkes Elvis Festival The P in S&P🧂🫑. (They don't have a pepper emoji so imagine the capsicum is a pepper, I know we are not American). P is my biological mother and also my Mum. I can't express how much her love and support has helped me my entire life. If you think of one of those Mum's you can talk to about anything, that is P. P encouraged me to be whatever I wanted to be but she also backed that up with actions. When I was first at uni and wanted to drop out, she paid for me to see a career counsellor. When I had my babies she came over most mornings before she went to work to watch them so I could shower (I had three kids in 18mths, one singelton and then twins). However the last few years she has suppo...

Hello Peeps! Well, we are on the move again. We moved into our new home in 2022, a nice little place that I was able to buy after my financial separation. It is very small for me and the Cheeky Monkey's to live in and it was probably time to move but ...... I decided to rent the place out and look for something for us to rent. Thank goodness for S&P, we have moved in with them whilst we are finding something. The rental market is ridiculous but I can not complain as I have a roof over my head. I could be living in a tent on the foreshore. Yes, that is a huge thing in the area we live in. Many tents by the beach due to homelessness and housing crisis. Photo Credit - Moreton Bay Council That is one of the reasons I am housesitting to explore new areas and also not enough rooms in S&P's place. They would have squished me in but it is time for some me time. Anyway back to packing. I had to hire Taxi Boxes because there is no storage available. Another shortage! I paid some ...

Hi Peeps! Boondall station is fast approaching. I mean I have parked here a few times to go to the Entertainment Centre. We had a personal meet and greet with The Wiggles (Originals) including Captain Feather-sword. But no swash buckling pirates in Boondall; just 3 cats. The owners are off to Europe and 😻😹🙀 and I are finding our feet. Last weekend, I decided to go for a run and explore. I found a nice little Indian store - technically in Zillmere but hey it is 2km away. Samosa and a sweet treat were on the menu. The shop girls helped me choose some spices as a welcome gift for a friend's Mum, who will soon arrive from Punjab. They were so helpful. Visit Zillmere Indian Groceries for some yummy homemade treats or spices. On the way back I stopped for rice paper rolls at Bahn Mi Factory. Unofficially the best Vietnamese outside of Vietnam. They have one in Newstead and Zillmere. They make their own bread. After enjoying my food I napped. Yes, napped. Can't remember the last ti...

Hi Peeps! Well, it has only taken about 4 years of thinking and no doing but now feels right. I love to write and share my adventures. I started this a few years back just on my Facebook page when I started solo travel. I got lots of comments and people told me they were waiting for my next posts. However, I mainly did it for me. A way to recall all my adventures and activities and wait each year for those Facebook memories to pop up. The idea of this blog is similar. I am about to embark on more adventures (I hope the English teachers reading this recognise the foreshadowing😉). Yes, I am still in Oz but I am embarking on some home adventures before I head overseas again. "Why be boring at home ?" she says. Speaking of English teachers, I am not one! I teach Business and Maths and have had to teach English and Humanities. If you like a blog with no grammar issues or proper sentence structure please move on. Don't troll me; just forget you once read a post with comma'...