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| Black Wattle Retreat. You reached the entrance after driving about 10 miles on a dirt road. |
This past weekend one of my quilt groups - Running with Scissors - had a retreat in country WA at the Black Wattle Retreat in Toodyay (pronounced to-jay), Western Australia. I'm a city girl and don't go 'country' very often. There's a good reason for that....bugs, dirt roads and the total silence of the country drives me crazy! I'm used to cars, street lights and civilization. Anyway, going retreating in 'the bush' as Australians say is always an interesting endeavor for me.
The retreat compound has numerous buildings with the main house the central point for food and mobile phone reception. Here in the country getting mobile reception is always a challenge and this place was no exception.
Our group was split up into two sleeping assignments. Three of us were in the 'log cabin'. I have to explain that the definition of log cabin in Australia is a bit different to that of the northern hemisphere. I'm not making a disparaging comment, merely pointing out there is a difference. Our log cabin was actually a large metal shed clad in vertical strips of wood inside and out (I thought the vertical arrangement was interesting as I've never seen a log cabin built this way...). But I suppose if the wood bits don't correlate to the structural integrity of the building it doesn't matter if the wood is place horizontal or vertical.
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| Our log cabin |
We had all the comforts of home with queen sized beds, a fully stocked kitchen, a potbelly stove - even a spa located next door to our outside bathroom.
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| Home away from home |
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| Posted on the outside of our detached bathroom |
All our quilting work was accomplished in The Goose House - a purpose built common area within walking distance of the guest houses. An interesting feature of The Goose House is that on the inside metal red painted walls of the building, names are written in chalk from previous groups who have used the space.
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| Our common room |
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| Our name sake for the Goose House who was perched above the kitchen space |
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| Kilroy was here |
Though we consumed plenty of food (gourmet I might add - swordfish one night and osso bucco another....) and wine, we did get plenty accomplished in the way of quilting.
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| Quilting and wine go hand in hand |
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| Consuming a completely homemade breakfast the next morning |
Some of us even had time for a look see in town.
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| Toodyay is a lovely old Australian country town |
When I got home on Sunday I spread the blocks I had finished during the retreat on my kitchen floor and Daphne, my dog, approved.
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| My dog's impression of a 'thumbs up' |
All in all is was a lovely retreat. I'm already looking forward to the next one.
Your comment about WiFi brought back memories of a retreat center where most cell phones did not work; there was a 3 x 3 spot on the parking lot where we could get minimal signal sometimes. It was not always the same spot. The joys of country living. For a weekend it is okay.
ReplyDeleteYou accomplished a lot--you have some gorgeous fabrics in your blocks.