#27 Must DO - Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers.

Last week, I took a trip out to the city of Toowoomba, during its Spring Carnival of Flowers. The Carnival of Flowers runs annually, during September. This year running from Friday 18th September to Sunday 27th September. This year being its Diamond anniversary, that’s right commemorating 60 years of gorgeous flowers gracing the grounds of the city. The Carnival comes alive over the 10 days through numerous events from mayoral Breakfast, Longest Lunch, Concerts, Twilight Garden Tours, Parkland Entertainment, to perhaps the most well-known a swinging bright and beautiful floral parade through Toowoomba's CBD.

Through the hard work of gardeners and residents of the area, and council garden crews, the floral gardens, throughout the city, were in top shape for a beautiful Carnival of Flowers. The Weather of course gave a helping hand, with beautiful conditions, to celebrate the diamond anniversary. Upon driving into the town, over the range you are immediately filled with the gorgeous scent of flowers in full bloom. I spent the day visiting Queens Park, one of the prime focus point of the festival, with beautiful manicured gardens, with tiered displays of colour, shape and contrast. Secondly i visited Picnic point, a popular tourist spot for the town, once again, full of gorgeous colour, and relaxing gentle music. Really quite romantic actually.

Also I visited another popular public garden in the area, The Japanese gardens, a real unique and beautiful garden display.

Please check out my photos here 

Check out The Garden Reserve Champion here, via Toowoomba's The Chronicle

Check out the Toowoomba City Grand Champion Garden Here, via Toowoomba's The Chronicle.

Toowoomba's Floral Parada (Pic: Via Toowoomba Chronicle )

Queenslands Q150.. My refined 50 must do's!

Firstly and most importantly, i am excitedly awaiting the arrival of my new camera, Olympus mju 9000! I can't wait til she arrives, which will be any day now, and i'll be sure to let u know.

Anyways, as you would be well aware, this year Queensland, the sunshine or smart state is celebratings its 150th Birthday. Racq ran a search for what is Queenslands must doo attractions, and from the final list of 150 Must do's.. I've slimmed it down to my Top 50 Must do's. Some of them, i've already seen a long time ago, and would love to do again, because i dont have any photographs and so on. So my little project is to slowly work through my list of 50.. and do them, experience, photograph and then blog about it.

So here they are.. Mandee's #50 Queensland Must Do's! (Not in any order or ranking)
#1 Australia Zoo, Beerwah
#2 Brisbane River Cruise
#3 Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary
#4 Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
#5 Dreamworld and the BIG 6 Thrill Rides.
#6 Underwater world
#7 Punicestone Passage Bribie Island
#8 Eumundi Markets
#9 Movieworld
#10 EKKA
#11 Wet n Wild, White water world.
#12 Seaworld
#13 Brissie CityCat
#14 RiverFire
#15 Story Bridge Climb
#16 Southbank
#17 Bunya Mtns
#18 Fraser Isalnd
#19 Stradbroke Island
#20 Moreton Island
#21 Springbrook Nat. Park
#22 Q1
#23 Hot Air Ballooning
#24 Buderin Ginger Factory
#25 Mt Cootha
#26 Ruver Cruise the Noosa Everglades
#27 Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers
#28 Magnetic Island
#29 Fishing at Lake Awoonga
#30 Agnes waters and 1770.
#31 Port Douglas
#32 Daintree Rainforest and Bloomfield Falls.
#33 Paronella Park
#34 Dive @ The Great Barrier Reef
#35 Kuranda, Scenic railway and Skyrail.
#36 Carnavan Gorge
#37 Bundaberg Rum
#38 Australian Stockmans Hall of Fame
#39 Spirit of the Outback out to Longreach and Winton.
#40 Turtles at Mon Repos
#41 See a game at Suncorp Stadium
#42 Whitsundays
#43 tully River White water rafting.
#44 Whitehaven Beach
#45 Lamington National Park
#46 Sirromet Winery
#47 Capricorn Caves
#48 Whale Watching at Hervey Bay
#49 Widebay AUS Bundy Thunder
#50 Dine @ Breakfast Ck Hotel.

Dust Storm September 23rd 2009.

Hi guys,
So I'm sure any of you aussie's would know about the eerie and phenomenal dust storm that us east coasters experienced yesterday the 23rd. It was so amazing, id never seen or really even heard of a dust storm prior to this happening.
It occurred due to a low front coming across from South Australia, ripping up kilos of red top soil from the arid areas of Australia and dragging them across picking up more and coating the towns, cities and everything in a layer of red/orange dust. The Front is said to have travelled at 65km/hr as it hit the east coast.

So after browsing hundreds of photos of the dust storm affecting areas, i decided to post some of my favourites, as well as my own, of the dust storm from my parents place near the base of the Glasshouse Mountains QLD.
These photos are truly amazing.

As the dust approaches.(Left). Dust Storm here at our place (Above Top )  Dust Storm Surrounds us (Above Bottem)

(Left) Brisbane CBD  (Above Top ) Riverside Brisbane CBD Photo: Annie Ferris, (Above Bottem) Brisbane Jetbase. Photo: Adagold Aviation



(Left) Bondi Beach Photo: Jonas Leibschner, (Right) Sydney Harbour. Photo: Charlie Brewer.

(left) Cremone Pt Sydney,(Above Top Kirrabilli, Photo: John Granger (Above Bottem) Martin Place Sydney Photo: Helen Matherson.

(Above Left) Webcam Footage of Southbank, Brisbane.  (Above Right) Clearview St, Toowoomba.. ironic really.

If i have left your name off a photo please let me know. :)

Health Tips and Surggestions

Most of these  I found through Women’s Health magazine and similar sites, so credit to them.. However I've compiled the key points here for you all as well as some additional Information. 

Part One: General Tips

• Power naps are Great, but for no more than 30 Mins.
• Protect your ears, wear earplugs at concerts, around lawn mowers and similar equipment and at fireworks. 
• Dont waste your money on just tinted sunglasses. They provided nowhere near the amount of UV and Glare protection that Polaroids do. Find a good pair of a polaroids and they'll treat your eyes well. 
• Eat Yogurt.. Why?  It Reduces Breast Cancer, Boosts immunity, and protects against yeast infections. 
• Drink OJ. 100 % Juice varieties. It helps reduce the risk of strokes by 20%. 
• Drink Green tea It is the most potent anti cancer compounds.. EVER. 
• Have more sex. If not just for fun, but also because it leads to fewer colds, and reduced PMS for us girls. 
• Eat a spoon of peanut butter 20 mins before eating meals. It makes you feel fuller for longer and able to absorb Vitamins A, D, E and K. 
• Eat foods high in Iron. It helps reduce fatigue and boosts immunity.
• Eat Salmon, this smart fish boost brain power, prevents depression and coronary artery Disease.
• Try to reduce eating foods with less than 3gms of fibre or more than 10gms of sugar per serving. 
• Don’t eat foods that contain sugar, sucrose and fructose in the first 3 ingredients. ( That’s right the order of ingredients on the back or sides of packages is actually in order the first items being the ones with larger contents )  
• Last of all Floss your Teeth ! 

Part Two - Taking care of your Skin. 

 

#1 Avoid expensive cleanses, My Fav! : Neutrogena Facial Cleansing Bar.. its only $3. 

#2 Use a UV Lip Protectant whenever you’re out.  My Fav: Sunsense Lip balm SPF 30+  or check out these

#3 Use a anti-ager containing retinoid. My Fav: L'Oreal Dermo-Expertise RevitaLift Day Cream is one of the cheaper products out there.

#4 use a shaver with moisture strips, and don’t shave 2 to 3 days before a pedicure. 

#5 cooked Tomatoes reduce UV Sun Damage. 

#6 Have a skin check once a year to get those spots and moles checked. Keep an eye out in particular for ones that have uneven colouring. They should be a smooth brown to be safe. Don’t know where to go for a skin check. Try Solarderm ( Bulk Billing Available).

Camera Desicions.

So, didn't get a chance this weekend to start on my blog assignment, but never mind always another weekend. But my poor little baby dog got sick and had to go to hospital, for tick treatment. I can't believe those tiny little gross bugs can kill animals and pets. Talk about unfair. I can't see the good of many bugs truthfully. They are disgusting and annoying. ok enough about that.

I need a new camera. my current little one ( pink Samsung 6PM 3x Optical Zoom) is just no good. I want more zoom, so i can get great images but still something slimline and sassy ,but with as many of the top features possible.

After some research i have arrived at my top 5 ( in no particular order) :

1. FujiFilm Finepix F70EXR 10MP with 10x optical zoom. Check it out more here

2. Olympus MJU 9000 12MP with 10x optical zoom. Check it out here.

3. Ricoh R10 10MP with 7.1 optical zoom. More about this one here.

4. Nikon Coolpix S630 with 12MP with 7 x optical zoom. Here it is here

5. Canon SX200IS with 12.1MP and 12x optical zoom. All bout it here.

But I'm hopeless with decisions so i need some input. Comment and let me know. Maybe you even have a suggestions.

New - Own Blog Assignment !

Hey everyone, so recently i had a mandee moment, and thought of an awesome little assignment to give myself and my blog. It goes along the lines of:

Randomly pick 10 Garage sales. ( You know out of the weekend shopper in the Classifieds..They're listed everywhere really)

Step 2, buy one item from each garage sale.

Once all ten items are purchased, pick any that arent a real tresure, or something you dont really want to keep and ebay them.

After sales see if any you made a profit from and what treasures you have now.

So im hoping to do that this weekend, and i'll be sharing my results shortly with you all :)