SCRAP RETREAT 2016

Another Scrap Retreat has come and gone....
We were very fortunate to be able to hold it at the Haven again this year as the property is up for Sale...
I feel ever so sad about this because it really is a stunning part of our coast, and would be worth an absolute fortune.  I am sure that whoever buys it will not want to leave it as a retreat but will probably end up developing the site and building a resort there and then that would put it out of all of our reaches....

It truly is a very relaxing place, and the views are stunning... It really is rest of your mind body and spirit and I must admit,  it was great to have a weekend here for not only this aspect but also the great ladies that shared it with me....

Rob, Jannett, Carolyn and I were again housed in Joseph Cottage,  my room had views out over the coast and ocean.  I could have just stayed in my room and admired it all day.....

Views from our verandah... just stunning...

 

Blue ocean as far as you can see

 We have all had a pretty busy and stressful time lately and have found it more difficult this year to catch up so even though we had taken the day off, we were in no hurry to go and set up.  I think we just enjoyed chilling out and catching up.  A little laying on the floor and a lot of stretching to limber us up for the scrapbooking marathon ahead...

We crashed out like this in our cottage for a couple of hours...

 Our rooms were beautifully serviced for us with some very personal little touches to make us feel special and valued...

Towels laid out on my bed...

Close up....

Chocolate on my pillow

This little quote on my bedside table

My room and the beautiful views of the coast

These were the towels on my friends bed...

It was mid afternoon before we headed up to the scraproom..   I don't too many of us were too motivated to scrap at the time... We were too busy enjoying our beautiful surroundings....

Views from the Scrap room....

Miles of uninhabited beaches..

 It didn't matter in which direction we looked we had stunning views...
This area of the coast is particularly beautiful because the horizon is dotted with islands which really addes some character to the area...

Looking from the scrap room down to Copperfield Cottage - The other cottage we stayed in...

More views from our scraproom.

We only had 14 ladies down at the retreat this year.  It is a good number actually,  a great bunch of ladies and we all seemed to be very productive this year.....

A photo of us all and our work space before it got messy. 

Introducing some of the girls...

Introducing Claire

Heather.... she was a newbie this year

Elisha joins us each year and seems to really enjoy herself...

Robyn was working on family albums

Added bonus to have Carolyn with us this year...

Noeline is working on her holiday albums

Janet was catching up on her holiday album also...

Katie was enjoying child free time as she caught up on family albums

Always great to have Sue with us and her Vortex...

Ann one of my partners in crime... Us Grannies were doing albums on our grandchildren.

Jannett another Grandma doing some layouts on her children....

Working on my layouts.....

Doing layouts on my beautiful grandchildren...

Birthday party layouts...... oh the memories...

My beautiful Grand daughter

Recording the memories

documenting the moments we met little Max for the first time...

Our precious little girl when she got her first bike....

Birthday memories...

The love of my live.....

Julian Lodge is where we stayed last year...

Our rooms last year had amazing views also.

Gardens and views around the scraproom...

Our scrap room was a little walk up from our the scraproom and even the view walking back to our cottages was amazing...
You can see that I enjoy my time down here....

The walk back down to our cottage

 

Lovely restful areas under the trees

We even found these made over coke cans hanging in the trees....

Some people have wonderful imaginations and it is amazing what can be done with trash....

Coke Cola Helicopter

 Saturday nights we always head to the local pub for dinner....
It is our one outing off the property the whole time we are down there and it gives us all a chance to get dressed up a little...

On our way back to the cottages to get ready to go out to dinner,  the moon was just rising and it was so just so beautiful that I had to pull out my camera and take some photos....

Full moon rising over the ocean

Full Moon - just stunning....

The moon lit up the ocean and the homes on the penisula once the darkness came in. 

It is always a nice meal at the pub and really it is quite reasonable in price too....

Queueing up waiting to pay for our dinner....

Out for dinner here...

Claire and Terri

Sue and Carolyn

Jannett and Carolyn

Janet and Noeline

Ann and Elisha

Lesley and Katie

Robyn and I

Another photo of Robyn and I

Jannett and I

 Robyn, Jannett and I worked together for several years at the same school.  I love that eight years later we are still good friends and that we get to meet up regularly.  A weekend like this away makes it even more special.  

 It was called "Chicken Levi" and was a grilled chicken breast stuffed with prawns, spinach and prawns, wrapped in bacon and served  with a creamy wine sause.  I chose to have salad served with mine but you could have had vegetables if you wanted.  This meal was only $23 which I thought was pretty reasonable. 

Jannett had a similar meal... In fact quite a few of us had this meal...

Sue had the Thai Beef Salad.... It looked pretty amazing also...

Sue having a ball...

 She would hate this photo but I love it because it signifies what our weekend was all about.  A jolly good time. 

Sue - An amazing lady..

 We first met Sue at our very first retreat.  At the time she owned a scrap shop down at Cooee Bay and we took all the girls to visit her shop.  We rang the week before to find out what time she was opened till and she told us that she would stay open until we came just after lunch.  She had no idea there that so many of us would turn up and I think her takings in that hour were better than her takings for the whole week.... In fact she was so impressed by us all that she bought a big box of chocolates up to our retreat later that afternoon to thank us, and the next year she joined us at our retreat and has been coming every year.   She no longer owns a scrap shop but she still has quite a bit of stock left over and brings it to our retreat each year.  We call it the vortex because you can quite easily get lost in looking through all of her stufff....

 Some of the other meals the girls ordered were these....

Grilled fish of the day with salad and chips

Janet had this Chicken Maryland with a special sauce.....

 After dinner everyone heads back to the Haven to scrap the night away.  A car load of us lingered at the Pub a little younger over a drink or two and then thought we would go for a walk and check out the new Anzac shed that has been part of the Emu Park Restoration work being carried on down at Emu Park.  It is a beautiful area and is not even half finished yet....
I love this area of Emu Park but had never seen it at night before.  It is beautifully lit up and the Full Moon shinning down on the water just added to the loveliness of the evening.

Photos never do it justice... it doesn't seem to capture the feelings and emotions behind the beauty...

Soldiers on the War Memorial lit up at night. 

Anzacs landing at Gallipole

 

Full Moon lit up the ocean.... Just a really beautiful night...

 The new shed was completed just in time for the Anzac service at the end of April.  This was the first chance that I have had to come down and have a good look at it.  They have done an amazing job.

The stories of Anzac

Beautiful poppies painted all over the floor...

Robyn checking out the new stories...

Open at the end and looks out over the ocean...

 It would be really lovely to see this in daylight also...

The Ex Allies girls,  Myself, Robyn, Carolyn and Jannett

More of the display

The big purple poppy is dedicated to all the animals that served in the wars...

Robyn and Jannett checking out the new shed...

Enjoying the cool night air and the beautifully lit up ocean...

Very windy night, but great night together still...

The "Singing Ship" beautifully lit up at night. 

 The weekend always goes way too quickly and before we knew it, we were having our final meal together before packing up to go home...

Our final meal -  Sunday  lunch together...

Our meals were pretty low key.  Breakfast was at leisure,  you just got your own when ever you wanted to wake up...  Lunches were lovely salads, cold meat and quiche and lots of fresh fruit...

Fresh fruit

Lesley looked after a lot of our meals. 

 Normally we take our group photos on the Saturday but we didn't managed to do that this year, so
thought we had better do a few before lunch and before anyone left...

Group shot on the verandah at Copperfield Lodge

Group photos....

Lunch is served

 Buffet meal style,  everyone just helped themselves.....

Table set for Lunch

Lunch is served

from our lovely Lesley

 We didn't starve....
Beautiful meals and plenty of it...

Lovely food

and plenty of it...

Katie and Noeline trying to decide what to have for lunch.

 It was a great weekend and it is great to be able to document it....
All booked again for next year....
That is if the building hasn't sold...
I can't even begin to imagine where we could hold another retreat..
This is by far the nicest, most relaxing spot along the coast....