My parents moved from Perth to Canberra before I was born, leaving family and friends behind. Once they had children of their own they realised that they’d left all the family traditions associated with Christmas, Easter and the like behind them too. If we (the kids) were going to have family traditions, they’d have to start their own.

In the beginning, at Easter, my family would have a great time decorating boiled eggs and then we’d eat them. Over the years, though, we all got a bit carried away with the decorating bit, and soon the eggs were getting too good to smash. My parents decided to start blowing the eggs so that we could keep our masterpieces.

Now there are more than 1500 blown and decorated eggs in the collection, all of which come out on display for Easter. My dad has even built a special frame to fit over their dining table so that we can display as many eggs on the table as possible.

Coming up with an idea that hasn’t been done before is getting tricky!