Back to Newmarket...

A little while ago I wrote a post about a visit to a very quaint coffee shop in the Brisbane suburb of Newmarket. I had parked in a side street and my old Sunday School just happened to be in that street and I walked down the hill to have a closer look at it. The building was no longer a church and had been sold earlier in the year. So that meant that I couldn't go on to the property and have a good look around the grounds...

The church had been built in 1958 and my mother had decided that I needed some religious education/guidance and because I didn't have to cross any main roads to get there from our house, this was the place she chose. It was only one street away from our home. So that's how a child of an Italian immigrant and a second generation Irish Australian's child went to a Presbyterian Sunday School! 

The building was quite avant garde in its shape and didn't look like any other churches in the suburb. For the first few years, it was unlined inside until funds could be raised to finish inside and build in underneath at the back. It featured a 'stage area' where the piano (and later the organ) was situated and the pulpit. To the side of the stage area was a small room where the minister robed and where there was some storage cupboards. There was more storage area hidden under the stage.

I found some photos online which show what the interior of the building was like when it was offered for sale earlier this year...they are tiny but give you an idea of the inside...

I loved the hour or so per week that I spent there as a child and young teen, making many friends. A few times per year the Sunday School would have a special service and we would each be given a role. It was discovered that I had a talent for reading aloud...so I would be chosen to do Readings. We would also be involved with the annual Fete and I loved that afternoon each year, clutching money that my parents had given me to spend at the stalls. There would also be Concerts, Talent Quests, the annual Sunday school picnic, the Christmas party with a visit from Santa and youth group nights; all of which the children were involved in. 

But as well as the activities going on within the Sunday School, there were some fascinating things to a city kid going on outside. Two doors up from the church was a rambling old house...we called it a farmhouse. The people who owned that house had once owned the land that the church stood on plus the land on which the house next door stood. 

These 2 pillars were the original entrance to the old 'farmhouse' . 

They sold these blocks that fronted the street, but they kept the land that ran behind. On this land they had stable buildings and on some Sundays, we watched while they brushed and plaited the horses' manes threading in ribbons, and polished up the horses' hooves. I was always fascinated! We called it a farm but I think it was more like just a large suburban block. 

I could see by looking down the side of the building that the old stables building is gone...the church still stood on a large block though...some more Real estate pics...

Just lots of trees and shrubs where the old post and rail fence and stables were...

So I wonder what the fate of this building and block is? It's Zoned Res A, so no behemoth buildings like the suburb I presently live in. 

Christmas is coming...

On November 18 I had put the final stitches into the items I had made for my partner in Chookyblue's Christmas swap. On Tuesday November 19, I posted the parcel to Finland. My swap partner was Satu and her blog Quilttales is here.
On Tuesday this week (November 26) there was an email from Satu, saying that the parcel had arrived...I was amazed how quickly it got there!!!
Satu is waiting for the first day of Advent this Sunday to open the smaller of the 2 parcels, so I can't show you what I made for her, just yet...
But some of the goodies were not wrapped up so I can show those :-)

Now you might think that I'm a bit mean sending cat food to Satu! But you see when I was 'stalking' Satu's blog to find out a little bit about her, I was charmed by her photos of her beautiful cat, Fenix. So I decided that Eduardo and I would send some Aussie cat treats to Fenix, and we did, along with some Caramello Koalas for Satu! :-)

And I have 'borrowed' this photo below from Satu's blog; once again, a beautiful photo of such a regal cat.

Fenix checking out his gift from Santa...lol

And the parcel postie came very early to my place today, and left a big parcel on my veranda. It was from Pat (no blog) and Pat was my swap partner in Maree's Xmas swap...what a lovely surprise!
The parcels are all beautifully wrapped and look very inviting. The gifts completely filled this gift bag...

I'm not sure when I can open them...

Let me know if you do know the opening date! lol It might be nice to open them gradually over the next few weeks...there's a parcel with something to read, another is something for the tree, another is for under the tree for Christmas day, another one is something to eat, yet another one is something for the sewing room and lastly something 'smelly'. Sounds like fun!

A closer view...

When I was in hospital recently in South Brisbane, I had some lovely views from my window. I would ask DH what building is that? what street is that? and most of the time he knew the answers. But there were 2 buildings I could see, that even he didn't know what they were. They looked like churches...

In the middle of the photo there are some turret like structures...

Here they are a little closer...

And here it is even closer...the photo below was taken on the other side of the street after DH and I found this building on our drive last week...

And we read the sign which indicated this is a Serbian church...it is a beautifl building which my phone photo does not do justice to...

Now the other building which intrigued me as I looked out of my hospital room window was a large white building...

No not the building in the foreground...

This rather imposing and grand looking building on the righthand side, mid ground...

And now an even closer look...

The building is huge!

The buildings look well maintained...

We saw that it was an Anglican church but more specifically, the Anglican Church of South India.

I'm so glad we were able to go back to the South Brisbane area to look more closely at these 2 beautiful buildings that I once had no idea existed.

A Sunday drive...

On Sunday I went with a group of my schoolfriends to visit another friend who had moved into her newly built home in a new estate at Caboolture. Caboolture used to be a sleepy town known for its dairying industry but its growth in recent years has been quite phenomenal.
It definitely seems to be a place where 'you can get a lot for your housing dollar'.

Here is the front of the house which is approximately 200 square metres in size...

This new estate is fairly small and does not have a main road going through it. There are a number of housing blocks left for building on but there is also a fair bit of open space left...

We all commented that this parking bay opposite our friend's house,was a great idea and one we had not seen before...

 Inside, we started with a tour of the house...it featured beautiful fittings and lovely light filled rooms; a really beautiful house!
As well as having coffee and eats, we naturally posed for the obligatory photos...

I took a liking to that beautiful chair...it felt like I was sitting on a royal throne, lol

 Our friend Alison is a nurse, but she also has a little business where she sells shoes on Ebay...naturally we had to look at her latest stock...

And another group photo with a change of photographer...

We had a lovely time sitting around and talking and laughing and of course we got around to talking about our school days. I mentioned that I really wanted to find one friend whom we haven't seen for  45 years. (OM Goodness I can't believe it is so long ago!) Well one of my friends there on Sunday said that she had found this person's name in a Google search as being on staff in a NSW school in the mid 1990s.

I wrote a email to that college last night, asking if anyone on staff might know our friend as we were looking for her for our 50th reunion in 2014. My friend not only got the message, but she sent me an email this morning; she said she remembers how she and I always sat together in Modern History classes in Grade 11 and 12.
I do love the Internet! 

The building work next door...

I realise that I haven't done an update for at least a month, on the progress of the 7 new homes being built on the block next door. When the building work first started, I could take photos from any of the rooms on the western side of our house, or from the front veranda. But as the work progressed, I had to take a walk around the perimeter of the building site as the houses near our boundary got higher and higher.
So here we are...some photos of what's been happening over the last month or so...
About 5 weeks ago, the house beside our backyard is starting the process of getting external walls with sheets of plywood first...

Looking at that house from our kitchen...

Still looking out the kitchen window but this time looking at the house which has been built adjacent to our house...

A week or so later the house at the back has progressed and now has a small window...
Sheets of insulation have been  placed over those plywood type sheets on the external walls and the builders are now attaching sheets of weatherboard...

Closer view of that bathroom window...the only window of this house that overlooks our property...I was amused to see that the young builder had the same type of carpenter's pencil as my grandfather used in his working life...

 In the next photo, the side wall is finished and they are moving to the back of the house...

Now I've moved to our front veranda to take a photo of the side of the house there in the front of the property...

They are unloading some guttering from the truck parked out the front...

The last opportunity to take a photo of the internal staircase from level 2 to level 3 of the house beside our house...

 Just a view of that scaffolding below...it is these structures that are making some of the rooms at the front of our house, quite dark in the afternoon...

The builders must have heard me wishing that the scaffolding would come down, because 3 weeks ago, they started taking the scaffolding down from the back of the buildings...

 This was to take a few days...the men worked hard!

When DH and I came back from Brunswick Heads, all the scaffolding was gone! And what a lot of progress on the site...here is a view from the back corner of our property...

 The temporary fencing is still a few feet into our property according to the surveyor pegs and you can see our mango tree and a bit of our king orchid...

Walking down towards the corner, this looks like what will be a courtyard area for one of the houses...

Looking towards the corner...there are 4 houses in this photo

I've walked around to the corner to take this photo of the largest house (161 sq metres)in the development...

The next photo shows the first 5 houses from our boundary...

 This photo shows the end of the block

 This is a panorama of the 6 houses at the front (the 7th is the one built beside our back yard)

The next photo is a closeup of the smallest house; it is 86 sq metres and has just 2 levels. As you can see, the bottom level is mostly garage, so a lot has to be squeezed into the first level.

Now back at my kitchen window, here is the view towards the back...

 And here is the view from the kitchen towards the front of the property...

 
A few weeks ago, DH and I were at our local shopping complex, Brookside, and I saw this billboard near the travelator... it looked familiar.

When we checked the website, it was the development next door! Here's what it said...

'Only 7km to the city, shops, bus & train all only a short walk away, Highview Everton Park is centrally located.  Elevated with a great Northerly aspect & Views, spacious 3 Bedroom, 2 Car, ensuited, secure, luxury terrace homes. Unique boutique style homes designed for living. '  

So there you have it! DH and I are living next door to luxury terrace homes, and they are apparently unique and 'boutique style' too! I notice that it says the train is just a short walk away...I suppose 1.5km isn't that far.