The Sunflower Rampage & How Wild Does Your Vege Patch Grow?

Our new rural life in Noosa means we are the proud growers and gatherers from our new adventure - The Vegetable Patch. Moving from Sydney, this was our picturesque, country lifestyle dream!

In this dream life we imagined growing sunflowers to shine over what would be our Garden of Eden. Yes! We had grand plans and those giant sunflowers would be the crowning glory of our vegetable garden dream! We couldn't wait for them to grow and when they did, well, that big, beaming face of yellow sunshine was just too gorgeous to be true.

There is just something about sunflowers. They create such a stunning, happy view. We grew them from seeds and felt a motherly love for our new friends..It was all just so perfect on the hill...

Then today...tragedy...

Our morning walk to the vege patch gave us a nasty surprise...That beautiful face of sunshine & joy had been hacked off and eaten. Its mane of yellow flowers munched on..It’s happy face pecked into..Two of our Giant Sunflowers had been attacked!

The harmony was broken, my idealism shot! This could happen to a sunflower after waiting so long to see its big happy sun shine, something could just damage its beauty only a few days old and take our joy away? It's wild out here and in the land of Sunflowers and idealistic farming dreams- we are a little unprepared and always in for a shock...

Today I ran into a friend who commiserated with our Sunflower massacre event and explained they had to cover their stunning sunflower faces in plastic bags!??? What!?? Not quite the picturesque dream I was hoping for! So now in our garden their lopsided sunbeams greet us with the message that anything can and will happen in the garden, reminding us it's just not meant to be perfect and to really enjoy the beauty of what is in front of you now - It might just be stolen or eaten tomorrow!

It's not all bad news though here from the patch. Our gorgeous Zinnia is in flower - a riot of purple magic in our sea of green.

These flowers may be too dreamy perfect but the rest of the patch? Well it's all gone kind of wild. I would love to tell you it was some kind of experiment to see what would happen if we let it run free? How much would flower and what would thrive?

But...I admit, the real reason was a trip to Sydney for a too fabulous party and a catch up with the girls. It seems you can't do that if you're a farmer and now my manicured vege beds are overgrown, bolted and out of control. I do plan to take charge soon, but it is really such a lovely mess...

Cherry Tomatoes tendrils have latched lovingly onto towers of rocket and sunflower stems..No trellis needed in this wild garden..

The corn didn't make it but what is thriving grows over it - it's an ever-changing picture of life we love to wander through each day...

I realised today a garden is a piece of art you can create that is a constant moving canvas. Never ceasing to inspire and amaze..

Just like this little village of beans - a miniature world of food..

Our cucumber vine climbs steadily up over the trellis. I never knew cucumbers had spikes when they grew? The cucumbers enormous...

The Zucchini’s are monsters...

The lettuce unpicked has become a triffid like tower with a flower like crest - I love what happens when you let it all go...

It’s a living salad with a random Ginger plant that has broken through

Pulling Bok Choy leaves to use in our stir fries was a golden moment but now..Anyone seen a Bok Choy Flower? Well here you go...Our Bok Choy hearts grew skyward and it all looks like something new...


So our sea of a vege patch is abundant and chaotic and we ramble through it finding cherry tomatoes in the undergrowth and maybe under that pumpkin vine a pumpkin...

Today may have been the scene of a sunflower crime but it was also the day we found our first Ginger Flowers of the summer...

Tropical passionfruit growing on the vine..

This garden is always moving and changing and yet somehow magically reassuring.

It's so beautiful and alive. It's said if you want to fall in love forever, start a garden....although I might add, don't get too attached to those sunflowers...

So now I know what happens when a vegetable patch goes wild and now on our minds is a much bigger defence plan. It's time we started thinking we need a Scarecrow for this garden!

Except they all look kind of scary..Which I guess is kind of the point. Ours would have to be female and beautiful. A kind of rustic farmer life size doll. Just a small new challenge in our rural adventure here on the hill!

Does anyone out there have any tips for making a beautiful scarecrow? The joy in life is finding yourself doing things you never imagined you would do...

Noosa Style - Dream Table Settings

It’s the festive season and time for beautiful summery outdoor dining here in Australia. The beautiful countryside of Noosa is perfect for gorgeous table settings inspired by nature.

I am dreaming of a long outdoor table for lunch with food so local it came straight out of the vege patch. Jars full of flowers would run down the centre and in my dreams I would gather all my most favourite people from around the world on top of my hill.

The longer the table the better....just add nature, a rustic white tablecloth and some twinkling fairy lights and watch the magic happen...

Dappled sunlight through a trellis, maybe under a tropical passionfruit vine...

Just perfect – who wouldn’t love to spend the afternoon here?

Love the delicate arrangements in glass jars.

Never throw away a glass jar. Use them as rustic glasses or for sweet bouquets.

If you are ever at the gorgeous Eumundi Markets make sure you visit the talented Natashia on her stall called Heavenly Blooms.

Natashia sells the most divine posies of English cottage garden flowers in cute little jars decorated with lace and ribbon. For around $7 you can bring home the sweetest bouquet in a gorgeous vintage tea cup and saucer to make any table setting perfect...

Fill jars or glass vases with different posies of Sweet-pea, Snapdragons, fluffy white or blue Hydrangea blooms.

Keep it simple but add any gorgeous treasure you find as a centrepiece - a feather, pine cone or olive leaf branches.

The creativity is yours to gather - the memory for your guests is to keep.

In case you have a barn handy!

Barn + Chandeliers = Romantic party backdrop.

Just another reason to covet country living!

Or how about this dream setting, right on the beach? The perfect view of the ocean, the waves as your soundtrack and nothing but sand beneath your feet.

Dream about your own walled courtyard garden with heavenly rose blooms..

Love the goblets and woodsy atmosphere of this dusky mystical setting.

This table is the memory of a perfect feast.

Life should be spent in magical settings sharing beautiful moments with people you love.


So which one is your table?



Images via... www.stylemepretty.com,www.prettystuff.tumblr.com,www.marionhousebook.com www.outstandinginthefield.com,www.thebookofsecrets.tumblr.com

Would you pay for a fish to eat your feet...in the name of beauty?

Normally here I am sharing life's beautiful things but there is just something I can't get my head around...


People are paying money for the princess (!) like feeling of putting their feet in a tank of Garra Rufa fish in a now popular salon treatment called the Fish Pedicure.


Garra Rufa fish feast on the dead skin on your feet, tickling you as they nibble away...the results are apparently amazingly soft skin with fish pedicure salons as common now as your popular nail bar all across Asia, Europe, the USA and now the UK. The fish get fed and your feet get exfoliated...


Does this look like something you would like to experience? Something you would actually pay to have done?

No...I'm sorry...you just can't make this look glamorous!


Well millions are! Including one member of my family in England, although my Aunt does say "No, I don't do the fish nibbling feet thing anymore...”

This bizarre sentence over a glass of wine prompted a confused response from me. Soon enough I was aware of this shocking new craze in the name of beauty or call it life experience. I had entered the alarming world of the fish pedicure. There it was online - images to shock me everywhere. After my laughter died down - I just still couldn't believe it was true...


So now I am wondering if I am in the minority who find this discovery hysterically funny and then frankly, well just completely gross...


What do you think has the world gone mad?

I know women suffer in the name of beauty...I believe in the opposite however and prefer a more holistic pampered approach called a day spa...



If I could I would follow the quest for inner and outer beauty with a week long retreat of spa treatments, Zen food and yoga...in the hills of Byron at Gaia Retreat and Spa - one day please...

Pedicure's are my thing...my special treat in Sydney was to be pampered in the art deco heaven of the pedicure room at the gorgeous Gillian Adams Spa in leafy Turramurra...one of the North Shores secret well loved spots.



A pedicure followed by a gourmet lunch with the girls in the perfectly manicured sunny courtyard... feels like a week’s holiday and you could easily imagine that perhaps you and your perfectly manicured toes were actually sipping your glass of wine in Provence...

Unfortunately he is not guaranteed to be in the hydrotherapy pool when you visit...



This week I am looking forward to checking out the famous Noosa Balinese inspired retreat...the Ikatan Day Spa in Doonan and there will be no flesh eating fish....maybe just a frangipani floating in the water - the way the world should be..

For now our laws are the only thing stopping the Fish Pedicure salon experience from popping up in every local shopping centre here. Garra Rufa fish, are exported from Turkey and are prohibited to be imported into Australia.



In some states of the USA, fish pedicure's have been banned. This is due to the hygiene risks involved with, well, how do you sterilise a fish that just sucked on someone else’s feet? Not to mention the waste products of someone else’s dead skin passed through the fish in your tank later...ok, enough said.



So nothing in my foot spa except a frangipani please!

My idea of a perfect pedicure via Ikatan Balinese Day Spa





To indulge in a much more glamorous and indulgent experience...with no fishy friends involved...

When in Noosa spoil yourself at the Ikatan Day Spa at

46 Grays Road,
Doonan Queensland
Tel - (07) 5471 1199

In Byron Bay find your own personal Utopian Sanctuary in the Hills (as close to heaven as it gets) at the Gaia Retreat and Spa

933 Fernleigh Road
Brooklet, NSW, Australia
Tel - (02) 6687 1216

When in Sydney indulge at the temple that is known as the Gillian Adams Day Spa

1356 Pacific Highway
Turramurra
Sydney NSW 2074
Tel - (02) 9488 9944



SO - have you tried a fish pedicure? Do you like the idea? If you are local do you wish we had these in Australia or are you as shocked as me?!

The Coolest Hotel on the Gold Coast - QT Hotel - Even a Noosa Girl has to Escape

Even a Noosa Girl has to escape sometimes..The Gold Coast was calling - time to celebrate our Little Man's 10'th Birthday with some Movie World, Sea World fun. On my hit list was a stay at a shiny new art house designer hotel - a weekend to make everyone happy!


QT Hotel is the the newest, coolest kid on the block on the Gold Coast, QLD...referred to by QT as 'The Golden Coast'..it's all in the packaging and this baby is all shiny, funky and retro cool..


This is the first in a line of new modern art hotels to be rolled out around Australia and it is a hub of playful, chic creativity. Whatever your reason to holiday in the Golden Coast - family adventure, glam weekend with the girls or grown up couples escape..you could have it all in this hotel...

Step into the Lobby and you find yourself in the open planned designed 'greeting space', set against a wall of glass. Choose your pick from an array of eclectic modern seating arrangements. It's such a gorgeous space, filed with light, design and colour. Straight away you are feeling the vibe of QT and feeling the love, just wanting to hang out and take it all in.

QT is relaxed...totally unpretentious. It just knows it's cool and doesn't have to try. The attentive & smiling staff make you feel right at home. This is a hotel which has found just the right balance between funky and glamorous.


A digital art installation adds to the art house electric cool with a constantly changing view of colour and light.

Relaxed seating enjoyed by Master 10


It's all in the quirky details at QT and there are so many to enjoy and consider. Fixx Cafe & Lounge with it's gorgeous feature wall of colour offers a light breakfast or lunch and a candy store array of sweets and desserts to choose from.

LOVE this wall...Can we try this at home?

Room service comes with a smile and converse trainers and if you feel like a view with your bar snacks, enjoy the greenery as you chill out in The Lawn chill out space. How cool is this? It's the ultimate sunken playground lounge to relax with cocktails soaking up the atmosphere and planning your evenings adventures...

My pick would be the innovative Bazaar restaurant just upstairs - with Executive Chef George Francisco, previously of the critically acclaimed Dish in Newport, Sydney & Chef Hatted restaurant Jonahs at Whale Beach, where for a set price you enjoy a mosaic of dishes on your gastronomic journey with each dish's chef as your guide.


Should Japanese be your thing try Yamagen -Sushi & Teppanyaki Restaurant and then enjoy smooth cocktails at the QT Bar - Stingray - the nightlife hotspot for hotel guests and locals..Its lounge bar hip with a touch of Miami.. no need to leave the hotel looking for the most happening bar...

There is also the Qtique to explore...gorgeous things to take home or a rubiks cube to play...an eclectic mix of quirky necessities... just walk past the floating balls

(tell Master 10 not to play with them..)

A gorgeous day can be spent simply lying by the outdoor pool - think Hamptons meets Miami. It could be a complete holiday just in the playground of QT Hotel - but yes those Theme Parks are out there if you are travelling with children and may I suggest you definitely need this hotel to make the balance just right for you! My kids loved QT - the playful modern design made for a fun backdrop to the holiday. If this is an adults only adventure then just order another cocktail and relax by that pool!

QT has just opened their newly refurbished rooms which I can't wait to try out...promising again a new standard of cool design, quirky details and luxe finishes...



The QT Day Spa will open December 2011...a must for the perfect girls weekend escape...I am declaring this hotel my official Gold Coast Digs. This is the future of hotels and is definitely putting the 'Golden Coast' on the map!



Find QT Hotel at 7 Staghorn Avenue, Surfers Paradise, QLD
Bookings can be made through the QT Hotel website or telephone 1800 074 020



Bazaar Restaurant often books out in advance for dinner so reservations are recommended -for bookings call 755841200

The mystery of the romantic tree carving at the top of Mount Coolum...Did Aprill say yes?

Recently we followed our spirit of adventure and went on a mission to climb Mount Coolum. I’m planning on climbing everything around here and taking in every gorgeous view.

Mount Coolum is a 208 metre high towering giant of volcanic rock standing guard over the coastline, with an easily accessible track to the summit. A little more challenging than I had imagined at times with a five year old in tow.

Miss Ruby two shoes found it easier carried by her dad in a backpack. He must have enjoyed the impressed looks by other climbers. It's a long way up this mountain and clambering over rocks is enough without a baby on your back. Sliding down on the sandy path it was also a little startling looking at just how high we had brought Team Rowe.

Once you reach the summit it's all worth it with a 360 degree view to enjoy. The plateau on top is perfect for an adventurous mini Bear Grylls to explore or for the romantic writer to find a story on a mountaintop, which leads me to..'The mystery of the romantic tree carving at the top of Mount Coolum'

Marry Me Aprill - Dated 2011


So who is Aprill? Did she say yes? Dried red rose petals were still evident under the tree. I love thinking of this girl’s surprise and that this romantic man had earlier climbed the mountain to carve his labour of love. Was he eagerly dragging her up the hill heart beating fast so excited for her to see his proposal or was he sweating, feeling slightly nervous at the thought of what if she said...no! What a long awkward walk down that mountain...

Did they both skip down telling all the passing climbers their happy news? Will they take the climb on anniversaries? Had he also hidden up there a bottle of champagne? It got me thinking of romantic proposals and magic unexpected spots people have been propositioned in...The amazing preparation taken by some romantic prince charming and let’s hope they kept up this arduous spirit of romance throughout their married life. If you start that well, you really need to continue...

There is a beautiful Aboriginal dreamtime story about the love affair of the young warrior Coolum & beautiful Maroochy. This imposing majestic giant is actually the headless Coolum turned into stone. His bride to be cried so much her tears turned into the Maroochy River and she turned into a swan to search for his soul. Let's hope this new love affair has a happier ending.


Looking over the cane fields, the wetlands and the ocean on this sleeping giant dating back 26 million years is a memory to savour - even without a magical moment promising forever on its peak...

Does anyone have any wildly romantic proposals they would like to share? Like this one on a stark isolated great dome overlooking the ocean. Does anyone know Aprill & if she said yes?

Over 100 keen hikers of all ages and abilities climb Mount Coolum every day. Conservationists are interested at limiting the amount of climbers and would definitely not look favourably on this romantic graffiti. At least it was hopefully a onetime offence.


Find the path to climb the mountain from the car park on Tanah Street West and the steep incline begins about a third of the way up.

The best time to attempt the climb is early morning or late afternoon.

Make sure you look out for the majestic Peregrine Falcon soaring above...or maybe even a swan...

A Dramatic Makeover...well if its good enough for Angelina!

Kooshka at Rosemount Australia Fashion Week


I decided to do something dramatic and I thought I would share with you here! After a lifetime of blonde hair...and yes, as long and as blonde as hair can be, I decided to turn brunette. The idea came from my daughter who wished her fairskinned; green eyed mother would just slightly resemble her olive skinned, brown eyed, brunette self. Thank you Husband for those exotic looking strong genes!

Well you know what they say - out of the mouths of babes.. Maybe it was time for a change? Maybe this wasn't a crazy idea? The last impulsive bold decision to move my family to Noosa was a winner so hey, my instincts were good so far!

But who should I trust to help me with this plan? This was a bold colour change and I needed someone talented with colour. I was aiming for a reddish brunette which would work with fair skin and green eyes...not too ginger, definitely not pink, nor any other possibly alarming mistake shade that could so easily happen when travelling from the light to the dark side...

Luckily I chose well! I had heard great things about Daniella Saville - a sassy gorgeous New Yorker who is Salon Owner and Master Stylist of Kooshka Hair Salon in Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast. Now if you were going to go brunette or look after your brunette wouldn’t you want Angelina Jolie's Hairdresser from the set of the movie Mr & Mrs Smith? Well meet Daniella! Hollywood hair - a la Angelina? Yes please - I can hear people running for the salon now!

Danielle is a legend of colour chemistry. It was pure magic how she brought to life the exact colour I was hoping for and I loved how she was as enthusiastic about this hair adventure as me! This is a dedicated artist of hair who is so entertaining I barely read my magazine! The whole salon experience was indulgent, relaxing & a lot of fun. The team at Kooshka are fabulous whether offering you an Ipad, Jasmine Tea with honey served in a bowl sized vintage cup, glass(es) of wine or ordering out for heavenly risotto from their neighbouring restaurant. Nothing was too much trouble in this salon..Oh and did I mention the Italian massage chairs at the basin?

My look was completed with a complimentary makeover using the YOUNGBLOOD cosmetics available in salon (Thank you Josh!)...voila this sunny blonde was turned into a brunette femme fatale. I loved being a blonde and never thought I would change! Now I am so glad I also know just how fun it is to be brunette!

It's a whole new adventure - and a dramatic change in appearance. Thank you Kooshka for such a memorable adventure and can I please recommend anyone who is thinking of making a dramatic colour change to go for it, and anyone local who wants fabulous hair or a new look to go see Daniella!

You'll feel like a movie star!

I love it and haven't cried over my lost blonde locks once! Don't you just love how an impulsive idea can change your appearance or even where you live for the rest of your life? Listen to your instincts and step out of the box!

What do you think?

From Blonde...

...To Brunette!

You can find Daniella Saville at Kooshka Hair + Fashion Salon
Shop 1 / 20 Brisbane Road
Mooloolaba Qld
T: 5444 7715