CHRISTMAS TRAIL 2018...

A few years ago the ex Allies girls got together to do the Rockhampton Christmas Trail.  We had a great day and the funds raised go to a worthy course so when we found out that they were holding another Christmas Trail again this year, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to have a girls day out all together again.

We started our Day out at Gracemere and our first port of call was the Nursery out there, and it was fantastic.  I never knew it existed.... Now that I know it is there, I will definitely be visiting it again and taking Steve with me next time.  The only thing that would make it better, would be a little coffee shop attached....  We visited a nursery like this at the base of the Adelaide Hills when we were touring last year, and it was great... loved our time there and finished it off with a lovely deveonshire morning tea.  I think that if they could attach a little cafe or coffee shop this place could end up being a teal tourist attraction....

Our first port of call... Avondale Gardens Nursery in Gracemere..

Robyn checking out some of the Christmas displays

Christmas ducks...

The singing and dancing Father Christmas

 I managed to buy a few Aussie Christmas decorations to take over to our son and Daughter in law in Denmark to hang on their Christmas Tree and remind them of home...

 The nursery was really great with lots of colourful plants and also some great garden pieces for your garden...

gorgeous garden statues..

 They even had fairy houses, and lots of little ornaments to create your own Fairy House.  Robyn was in her element and bought up as she and her step grand daughter have been busy making a Fairy Garden in her garden back home...

 We then wandered through a couple of sheds that had some amazing decoration ideas for gardens and entertainment areas. 

This would look great in a garden with some fern growing out of it...

A little Indian influence

A bit of a Mexican theme happening here...

Lovely hanging gardens...

This fellow though was one of my favourites...

 We probably spent too much time here as there was so much to do and see, but we still have another 10 places to visit on our trail today.  We have already been here well over an hour...

 Time to move on and visit our second residence which was also out at Gracemere... This time it was a beautiful garden at someone's home....  Lots of interesting little nooks and crannies in their garden...

They even had the navity scene set up in their garden...

Great feature bike in the garden...

Fairy land

Santa even had a workshop set up in their garden..

 It must have taken these guys hours to set up their display..
Everywhere you looked their were garden ornaments.  This lady had even set out cold drinks and morning tea for everyone...

Fairy gardens

Lovely morning tea for all who visited..

  Her front garden had a real Mexican theme with lots of colour everywhere.

 From here we drove back into town and our next stop was the beautiful St. Aubin's Historical Precinct....  I remember this place from years ago when there were lots of little gift shows and a little coffee shop out there.  It has all changed now, with new owners come new changes.  The cottages have all been made into little B&B cottages and it is now a very popular venue for weddings....

 This is still a very beautiful old homestead set in beautiful gardens and surrounds. 

First we explored the first little cottage.  I remember this one being a children's toy cottage with beautiful handmade wooden toys way back when my children were young. 

 From here we headed over to the main house.  Both up and down stairs were beautifully decorated.  It is the first time I have been in the main house here and we all enjoyed the chance to have a good look around this restored home...

The main staircase to the homestead..

 We loved these nifty ideas for Christmas decorations.  Three galvanized buckets wit plants and ornaments on the verandah. The two big exercise balls, painted red and decorated to make two large baubles....

First we checked out the upstairs level.  Lovely white and blue Christmas decorations in the upstairs sitting room,  the lovely master bedroom and beautiful bathroom

Main bedroom with the beautiful antique canopy bed

Robyn in the beautifully restored bathroom

Bathroom doors lead out onto the verandah..

Hallway

 Then it was down the beautiful timber staircase to the main living area of the home... 

 From here it was into the kitchen..

 From here it was back out into the village area where there was a little cafe set up.  We did think about stopping for morning tea but it was closer now to lunch than morning tea and we were only at our third stop, so we persevered and kept moving..

 We checked out our final cottage here and this was well and truely set up as a B&B, but it was beautiful and would make a nice place to come and spend a weekend...

We bumped into a friend of mine, Sharon who was also enjoying the trail...

 Time to leave as we wanted to fit in at least another two places before we got to Glenmore Homestead for lunch..

Carriage rides at St. Aubins..

 They were offering carriage rides just outside of St Aubins, so of course we had to go over and pat te beautiful Clydesdale horses that were pulling the carriage...

The next place we visited was still on the south side of Rocky.  This home was different again.  the main Christmas decorations at this home was a complete collection of mini barbi dolls which adorned his tree.

These were just a small glimpse at his lovely collection..

The mini Barbi decorated Christmas tree...

Jannett enjoying checking out all the mini Barbi dolls...

 The owner of this home loves Christmas and has made some beautiful wreaths which are displayed throughout his home...

Kitchen wreath

 This wreath had a child's teaset woven into it.  It was gorgeous...
There was also a rather impressive teddy bear collection there as well...

We still had one more place to visit before lunch.  We decided to head over to the north side but right out of town to the one furthest from town.  We figured that if we knocked that one off we could work our way back into the city.  The next one was on a road we were familiar with as we had a good friend who had built a home out on this road and we had been to visit her several times.  You can imagine our surprise when we found the next home, that it actually was Emma (our friends) old home.  My goodness what a transformation.  Emma and her husband Brett were not gardeners so there were no gardens when they lived there.  That has all changed now, all in the space of a couple of years.   The other amazing thing, was that everything growing in their garden were cuttings from plants at their previous home... They had not bought one plant for their garden...

Dry creek bed made to run through their front yard...

 Most of the Christmas stalls where set up here and we wandered around having a good look at all the pretty gift ideas for Christmas

 Outdoor Christmas entertaining was set up in the back yard....

 Lunch time at last and lunch was being served at Glenmore Homestead this year.  
Simple lunch of turkey and cranberry sauce on a bun, with Christmas plum pudding, custard and ice cream for desert...

 We weren't able to walk through the cottages at Glenmore Homestead... They were barracaded off but we could look through the windows and at the open door.  They were beautifully decorated though...

Robyn and Jenny

Jenny and I...

Jenny, Jannett and I

Robyn, Jannett and I

 They did have a cottage set up that you could wander through but it was mainly a gift shop where you could buy a lot of different sorts of Christmas presents...

Some different sorts of gifts...

a large range of dreamcatchers

Where we had lunch

 By now we were half way through the Christmas Trail.  We had another three places to visit on the Northside and then into the CBD for the final two...
The next place we went to, featured some of the work of a group of women who liked working with miniture things and had created some wonderful Christmas displays. 

 The detail was amazing in a lot of these displays

 Each of the houses we visited highlighted their own special Christmas decortions, the next house we went to had a focus on folk art, especialy snowmen faces on baubles.  They were really quite unique and different..

The special snowman bauble tree.  Each face was different..

 Time to move on yet again,  only three homes to go and we are well into the afternoon now. 

Beautiful Christmas decorations in this home... all home made

 Their outdoor area was also beautifully decorated for Christmas and of course we had to grab photos...

Christmas cake - unusually decorated with black, red and silver

Gorgeous bar area in this home also

Outdoor Setting for Christmas day

Such cute placecards for each guest..

 That was our last house on the Northside, all we had to do now was head into the CBD for the final two venues.
Both were situated over looking the riverbank...with lovely views of the river.... The second last home we went to, was above a patchwork fabric shop and you could see that the owner was passionate about her craft as she had some beautiful wall hangings and quilts on display...

More beautiful fabric wall hangings

 The final home we visited did not allow you to take photos inside.  It was beautiful decorated and housed some amazing antiques and chandeliers.  The views from their upstairs balcony were stunning...

View of the lovely Fitzroy River

 What a day it has been.  We have had the best day, but were feeling pretty shagged by the time we had seen the last venue.  By now it was around 5.30pm and we had left home at 8am this morning, so it was great to head home and put our feet up.  Love these sort of girls days out and feel so blessed to have such beautiful girl friends.