Melbourne To Sizzle While "The Coast" Is Blown Away

Our time in Melbourne visiting family and friends is almost over. Saturday evening was spent quietly after a hot day. A cool change dropped the temp to the high 20's late in the afternoon. On Sunday I went to a computer "Swap Meet" and was blown away by the range of things available as well as the cheap prices they were charging. There was heaps of interesting stuff there. The afternoon was spent either baby sitting (giving Kate and Arj a chance to do things without the kids being there) and doing some last minute purchasing (photos etc).

From there it was to Malaysia Garden for tea. Boneless Chicken Curry with Coconut rice was exquisite, the Char Koay Teow was pretty good too. Arj ordered some "Ikan Bilis" which was rich with flavour and we finished with some sensational Lobak. All was great and enjoyed by all. Charli just loves her curry and rice!

Today Melbourne has a forecast top temp of 42 degrees! For our West Texas reader that is almost 108 degrees!

This afternoon we head across to Chris' place to spend the night before flying out for the Sunshine Coast first thing tomorrow. Unfortunately Chris doesn't have any inbuilt cooling and the temp is expected remain above 30 degrees overnight. We might be a bit stroppy from lack of sleep when we get home!

Meanwhile at home the weather remains pretty windy with beaches being closed and strong winds being the order of the day. These two photos lifted from the Sunshine Coast newspaper give a bit of an idea how wild it is there. I have been pleased to read that the storm centre is now moving slowly away from the coast.

Remember to use the live webcam links on the right to get the latest views from King's beach.

It is also good to hear that winds are expected to slowly abate. Foolish swimmers continue to enter the surf with lifesavers carrying out numerous rescues. People choose to enter the water despite many beaches being "closed" for swimming. This surfer though appears to be having a wonderful time!

Hopefully it won't be too windy when we land there tomorrow at about 9:30 am.

Too Hot For The MCG

Friday was spent quietly in front of the TV watching the cricket. Then it was out to "The Palms" one of our very favorite Asian eateries to try all our favorites. Needless to say the grandkids loved it, Charli got to eat her Curry and Rice again and also to have a play ride on the "Trishaw".

Then it was home to watch the movie "Fracture", one of the ones I had downloaded from the internet. However before the movie it was time for Charli and James to have a quick bath! It was fun!

Saturday we awake to a howling north wind and an expected maximum temperature of 38 degrees, that is over 100 degrees for those who read this from Texas! Too hot for venturing out so I cancelled the day at the cricket, a decision that everyone who I was planning to meet there thought was the right one!

So it was time for another day in front of the TV.

The weather looks like being a bit nasty back on the Sunshine Coast today with strong wind and heavy rain forecast for this afternoon.

We managed to catch a short movie on our camera of Charli singing the theme to the children's show "Playschool". I have uploaded it to Youtube and the link is to the right in "Rogue's Gallery".

Friday Is Rest Day

Wednesday and Thursday were two very busy and tiring days after a late finish to Christmas Day. Christmas Night with Arj's family was good fun. It was off to a late start (if you have little kids) and finished about midnight. This is a bit too late for them!

There was gift giving, a few carols (which is traditional with Arj's family) and then a wonderful meal of various curries, plenty of rotis to go with it all and sweets to finish up with. I ate too much and suffered into the early morning. Charli though tired was only too keen to try out Dad's keyboard as you can see here. Opening presents was good fun too.


Boxing Day for us was the traditional day at former neighbours Barry and Rainy's down at Drouin. Another great day with plenty to drink and too much to eat but with friends around it was good fun. We arrived back home about midnight after another long day out.

Then on Thursday I was into the MCG to watch Australia Vs India Day 2 of the cricket Test Match. John Logan with whom I had enjoyed the day before with caught up with me and we found the Frank Grey Smith Bar in the MCG Members a very pleasant spot indeed. What was going to be a quiet drink developed into a bit of a session I am afraid! I arrived back at Berwick about 6:30 ready to go out again for meal with Pat and Graeme at their home. Another great night followed with a very pleasant meal. However it was midnight before we were in bed for some well earned sleep.

Therefore Friday for me was a day in front of the TV watching the cricket!

Weather forecasts for home in Queensland indicate some nasty wet and windy weather for that part of the world. The links to 'live webcams ' on the right can give you an up to the minute look at current weather conditions in Caloundra.

Christmas Day 2007

Christmas Eve was spent quietly as usual watching Carols By Candlelight on TV.

Christmas Day is nice and sunny if a little cool. A few wispy clouds but at least it isn't raining.

This is a special day for the kids. Charli is starting to understand a little about it and has grasped the concept of "Presents" fairly rapidly. Needless to say they were both spoilt with heaps of gifts from us as well as Kate and Arj. In "Rogue's Gallery" to the right is a quick movie clip taken this morning.

James thought the bag his presents came in was the best gift, he spent much of the morning trying to eat it.


Charli received her first trike from us but is having a few problems getting it mobile. She also received books, puzzles, games and toys. She had to tip her gifts bag over and crawl in to get her gifts! She handled this pretty well. Mum and Dad were left to unpack the toys. The Fisher Price toys come very well packaged indeed!

Trish received a 'Drink Package' and I got a "Breathalyzer Reader" which I hope to give a bit of use to over the next few days.

As I said earlier, today is a day for families!



We will have a quiet lunch at home here and then early this evening we set off for Arj's family's Christmas Night. It is gift giving, carol singing (which the teenage kids hate!) and eating wonderful Sri Lankan curries.

Tomorrow it is a 60k drive to Drouin for a BBQ with the people went on the Whitsundays Trip. Then I hope to get to a few days of Australia Vs India Test Cricket Match at the MCG before we fly back home again on New Year's day!

Merry Christmas to everyone from Trish and Les!

Family Christmas Celebrations

Every second Christmas we need to have our family get together on a different day to Christmas Day. This year was one of those years. However it worked out well as we were able to get both my sister and her family as well as my brother's family all together for the first time for quite a few years. Nowadays there are wives and girlfriends to involve as well so this makes getting everyone together a real challenge.

Though it was showery early in the day, the weather slowly improved so we were able to get outside and stretch our legs.

For some of the cousins it was the first time they had seen each other for years. My brother's son Jason and his new wife 'Than' had just arrived from Thailand where he had been working for 6 years. We had a great time.

There was Christmas gift giving which was the kids favorite part. Here our son's daughter (and our granddaughter) Emily is transfixed by a new extra large parcel. She really enjoyed the day.


My sister Judy's boy Marcus had trained as a chef so he 'whipped' some Garlic Prawns up on the BBQ along with some mussels and some great sea food sauce to go with it all. Cold meats, salads and a variety of sweets complemented the seafood. No one left the table hungry and there was still plenty of leftovers to wander back to as the day progressed.

It is not an easy job squeezing 18 adults and four kids around the table but we got there!


An Aussie BBQ or family get together always has a sporting part to it whether it is the traditional game of backyard cricket or a swim in the pool. There is always something which happens later in the day! For our family day it was a game of Bocce! Everyone joined in for a bit of fun.

My sister's 'other half' is Peter. We have always enjoyed quite a few drinks together but this Christmas celebration saw Pete have a couple of glasses of red wine. I have travelled to India and have enjoyed the Taj Mahal, I have been on another wonder of the world, the Great Wall of China! Now I have experienced a third wonder of the modern wold, a Christmas day Celebration with Peter NOT having a cool beer!

Everyone enjoyed the day, hopefully we can get everybody back together again not too long into the future!

Stormy Weather Continues

It seems we have brought the stormy Queensland weather with us to Melbourne. Wild winds, thunder and lightning are the order of the day. On top of yesterday's 40 mls there is a further 54 mls in the rain gauge this morning and more heavy rain is predicted for this afternoon. It has cooled off too, going from temps in the high 20's to the mid teens today! It is a bit cold for us.

Kate and Trish are finalizing Christmas shopping. As we fly down, what we can bring with us is limited. Therefore Trish buys most gifts when we are down here. There is also more food to be purchased getting ready for our 'family' Christmas which we are celebrating tomorrow. It has been my job to do some 'baby sitting' which isn't too bad a pastime for a proud grandfather while the ladies are doing the shopping!

Arj finished school for the year yesterday and is currently 'sleeping' as he continues to improve after a heavy "End of School Year" function yesterday. The Jim Beam went down pretty well from what I can work out.

Stormy weather yesterday meant any visiting was sidelined, too inclement to be driving! However last night we went Vietnamese in Springvale with former colleagues Gordon and Anne Atkin, Eddie and Patsy Riordan and Graeme Williamson. We had a terrific night with marvellous food and lots of remembering old times.

Queensland Weather In Melbourne

A tropical storm hit Melbourne on Thursday afternoon dropping about 40mls of rain in a very short time. We spent the day either shopping or catching up with friends.

After the storm had passed we visited Carol and David's home for our annual Christmas Night with them, Russ and Irene and Keith and June.

Great food, a few drinks and a night to remember. It is always great to catch up with good friends.

A lovely sunny day here in Melbourne at the moment but there is the promise of further storms developing during the afternoon. It should get to about 27 or so before the heavens are due to open up again. If anywhere needs the rain, it is here in Melbourne.

In Melbourne

Our flight from the Sunshine Coast to Melbourne was with the new budget airline "Tiger Airways" which is an offshoot of Singapore Airlines. The flight was fine but there are a few 'hidden' hassles to flying this way. You must be through the check-in by 45 minutes before takeoff and there is a luggage limit of 15kgs per passenger. Excess luggage in future will be carried at $22 per kilogram. This would take the gloss off any 'cheap' fare you may have got!

We found everything really good with Tiger and had no problems at all. We took a cab to the airport from home instead of our own car and leaving it in the long term carpark. Costs are about the same so rather than leave our car outdoors in a carpark the taxi option should suit us OK at this stage.

We left home at 8:15 am and eventually got to Kate's place in Berwick in Melbourne about 12 hours later. We were picked up from Tullamarine (Melb's airport) at about 2 pm and went to Chris and Wendy's house (about 10 mins away). Then it was to the local school to pick up Andrew and back home again. Chris arrived home from work and then our daughter Kim popped in to collect us. From Chris's place we had a meal with Kim near her home in St Kilda (one of Melbourne's trendy and highly cosmopolitan suburbs). Needless to say the menu was Asian (Malaysian to be exact) and thoroughly enjoyable.

Then Kate arrived without the kids to take us to her home at Berwick where we usually stay when 'down south'.

Wednesday was spent recovering and playing with the grandkids. I jumped onto Arj's computer (our old Dell) and sorted out the webcam problem and did a couple of other odd jobs around the place. Trish just loves being with the grandkids and from the look of this photo of Charli with her toys it is easy to see why. After all it has been less than three weeks since she was here in Melbourne.

Then of course it was out for a meal again, this time to our favorite restaurant "Malaysia Garden" for a great meal. We had to take the well known "Berwick Queen of Curry and Rice" - better to known to us as our granddaughter Charli - with us. As soon as we got near the restaurant Charli called out "Curry and Rice". She doesn't mind it a bit spicy either, the spicier it is, the more water she drinks! Kim and her friend Mandy were there too. A really great evening with lots of laughs and a few drinks.

My cough improves each day and is at the stage where it sounds worse than what it is.

The weather is warm and there are some storms forecast for the next 2 days. Melbourne has extreme water restrictions owing to the prolonged drought this area has been experiencing. We have no such water problem on the Sunshine Coast!

We are out tonight, Friday night and we are baby sitting on Saturday night.

Sunday will be the family's Christmas celebrations with 22 people attending, my sister and her family as well as my brother's family. Should be heaps of fun.

And Then Suddenly, The Heavens Opened Up!

As yesterday (Monday) progressed there was a build up of cloud but nothing which seemed ominous as far as a storm was concerned. The car problem (not always starting) was repaired, it was a hot and sticky day and I mowed the front lawn.

My nasty cough is improving but very slowly.

We sat out the back poolside about 5 pm enjoying a cool drink when it started to 'spit' with rain.

By 6 pm there was an inch of rain in the gauge and when it finally subsided at about 10 pm we had received a whopping 80 mls (or over 3 inches in the old speak).

We had dinner at the Bowls Club with friends and both of us got wet just getting to and from the car. This was even after Trish dropped me at the front door and she used an umbrella after parking the car.

Today we fly to Melbourne to enjoy Christmas with family and to catch up with friends. I can continue the blog page as we still have the laptop computer.

Slow Improvement

The terrible cough I have is improving but it is very slow. Phone conversations remain a 'trial and error exercise' to see if I can complete one without going in to a coughing fit!

We had a night out for tea last night going to a little Thai place which has either indoor or outdoor eating. Anyone who has been here to stay with us with most likely know where we mean. From there to the RSL for a cool drink and to allow Trish to make a donation to the club's coffers via their Poker Machines. It was very pleasant.

Buying Christmas gifts between us comes now to buying something we need ourselves then thanking the other for it. I bought a 2GB USB pen drive. It is so small yet holds 2 GB's of files. Here is a photo of it with a $1 coin just to give you an idea how small the thing is. It is a great way to quickly swap files between a couple of computers.

I received this picture from friends at Newcastle. It shows a pretty murky sky indicating a violent storm is on the way. When you see clouds like this the car goes straight under cover to protect it from potential hail stone damage.

We are beginning to tidy up around the place getting ready for our two week Christmas trip to be with family in Melbourne. Things need to be stowed safely in case a violent storm hits here too. Bikes etc need to be put away safely under lock and key.

More cricket for me to watch on TV today will keep me satisfied. Temps in the low 30's today and the pool is up to 27 or so. Very pleasant swimming I can tell you.

An email from Texas tells me there are some problems there with heavy unseasonal (and extremely rare) fogs. Also the danger drivers there have from deers on the road after dark. Must be like the problems we have with kangaroos and night driving!

Cough Continues

Not a lot of news really, I still break into coughing fits as a friend discovered when they rang from Melbourne last night. I was unable to complete the phone call actually.

We watched the movie "The Departed" last night and we enjoyed it very much. I have taken to downloading movies via the internet and today discovered an outstanding torrent download site and this has kept me gobsmacked for much of today.

Usual jobs about the house this morning, water the plants, vacuum the pool and I gave the house a quick vacuum too. I enjoy eating peanuts (which aren't good for my cough either) and I usually find 'husks' from them all over the floor the next morning! So a quick vacuum gave the place a quick makeover!

Plenty of cricket on the TV the next couple of days so I will be kept busy.

Cool day yesterday with overcast skies and a cool breeze and it struggled to get to the mid 20's. A little warmer today with clearer blue skies. When I had a quick swim this morning the pool was at 24 degrees.

Not Much Of A Storm

Last night's promised storm failed to eventuate with only 4 mls of rain but a comfortable wind change back to cooler and less humid south easterlies. Today's top will be about 26 or so and with an overcast sky.

I still have plenty of coughing and spluttering with this cold going on.

Today was another 'bottling' day and a further 30+ bottles of home brew has been added to the collection. The alcohol content is only about 3%, a little stronger than 'light' beer but not as strong as 'mid strength'. I will add another 100 gms of sugar to the original mix and see if that gives it a small 'lift'. Sorry about being a bit out of focus, but this is a quick photo of the bottling process underway. I prefer photos of the 'emptying process' to this one.

We head south early next week for a fortnight in Melbourne. Our family Christmas Day will be on Sunday December 23rd as Chris has other commitments on Christmas day and our daughter Kim is flying to Bangkok and a holiday just prior to Christmas. Christmas day will be with Kate and the family. Christmas night is spent with Kate's husband's (Arj) family and is a feast of Sri Lankan curries! A great night is always had by all and I think this year it is at Kate's.

My sister Judy and members of her family are joining us on the Sunday too so it should be lots of fun and good times.

Possible Storm Tonight .... Again!

We have been promised a storm almost every night this week, all without any success. Brisbane received a burst of rain overnight while here 100 kilometres north on the Sunshine Coast not a drop of rain was to be seen. The lawn again looks like it badly needs some rain to get it back to its luxurious normal condition for this time of the year.

The week has been one of every day events kind of going to plan. My chest cold continues to be a problem however the anti biotics have kicked in and the chest infection is improving. The cold is now becoming a head cold and I am a bit sniffly. Trish will break out into a brief coughing fit from time to time.

We are now down to one car here at home. The 'good' car doesn't always want to start every time. The fix is easy, just wait thirty seconds and try again. Most times it then starts perfectly. However a trip to the Hyundai dealer showed there was a problem with the 'antenna on the coil' according to the car's onboard computer. A replacement is being shipped from Sydney and will be installed in the next day or so.

I bought Trish a wine cooler for Christmas and she bought me a 2 Gig USB drive, just perfect for swapping files and photos around.

My Rapidshare download account expired today so any movie downloads are now done by the slower P2P method via a 'torrent'.

The pool looks great. The water is about 27 degrees during the day now and about 25 or so overnight. Looks like it would be good for a swim right now actually. Our days are high 20's or low 30's and the weather is sultry. Most nights it gets down to 21 or so and the ceiling fan stays on almost all night.

I manage a swim every day.

Trish was swooped again by magpies so she was very pleased when a puncture meant she couldn't ride for two days. I repaired the tube, checked it was 100% by putting it in the pool to make sure there were no leaks, then I put it back on the bike ready to go. An hour later it was flat again! It was easier just to go and buy a new tube which we did today! She is ready to ride tomorrow!

Bottling day tomorrow with another 'brew' ready to be bottled!

Busy, busy busy!

On The Mend

It is now Monday and I am feeling better. This was not the case the last couple of days with this 'cold' knocking me around. I do not sleep long nights any more but I have certainly slept well the last two nights. The coughing has been so intense, my chest aches just at the thought of a cough!

This morning I had a further dentist appointment to do more work on the problem tooth I had a fortnight ago. It was not a comfortable thing to do in my current medical condition. I have a doctor's appointment later this afternoon for more antibiotics for the chest infection! YUCK!!!!

When Trish returned home from Melbourne she brought some more photos from the Whitsundays trip. I will include a few of these for when I need of a photo for the blog page.


Trish was back on for a bike ride this morning while I was left 'recovering from my chest cold'. Despite being into December, another magpie swooped her.

We are 'in the wars' aren't we!

Saturday's News

Whilst in Newcastle Trish developed a cold, and now we both have it. We get a nasty tickle in the throat and a bit of a raspy cough. Trish was over the worst of it in a day or so so I probably have 24 more hours to go.

A wet morning this morning with 11 mls in the rain gauge. But then this is the wettest time of the year here in Queensland.

I put some superphosphate on the garden this morning while there was still a bit of a shower about.

The temp is still expected to get to about 30 this afternoon but with this morning's rain we can expect it to be hot and steamy.

More Newcastle News

The main reason for us travelling to Newcastle recently was to attend a 'surprise' 50th birthday party for Michael Colloghan. We met Michael and Janet when we were caravanning at Mudgee about 6 years ago. We were in vans across from each other. They seemed to enjoy a drink and during the traditional caravan park "Happy Hour" we met, enjoyed a few drinks together and have been friends ever since.

However Trish's eldest brother lives at Nelson Bay which is near Newcastle so it was a great chance to catch up with him. He now lives in special accommodation as he has Parkinson's Disease and can no longer care for himself. We collected him and took him for a drive and later a cup of coffee at one of the shopping centres at Nelson Bay.

Michael's birthday bash was very much a family affair. We were perhaps the only only outsiders there so we were indeed honoured. Many of Michael's family now live in Sydney so they all took the 160k drive north and spent the weekend in and around Newcastle. These are the members of Michael's immediate family and some of their friends.

We stayed with Michael and Janet and enjoyed their hospitality. This is us with the 'birthday boy'.



We left Newcastle Monday morning and drove 700 k's up to Burleigh Heads which is on the Gold Coast to catch up with more friends, Det and Brenda. They were waiting for us with the fridge fully stacked with cold beer! After a hectic weekend and a lot of driving, another night of drinking was not ideal for us ... but it was very enjoyable!

We departed Det and Brenda's at about 10:30 am on Tuesday and drove the last 180 k's to eventually get home early afternoon. It was a hectic but very enjoyable weekend away!

We have very hot and humid weather at the moment. It was very sticky yesterday and the pool was a popular spot for us. However it clouded over during the afternoon and we received a nice 12 mls (.5 inch) of rain which was ideal for the garden. Nowadays the pool is about 24 in the morning and if we have sunny weather it gets up to almost 27 during the day.

Home From Birthday Trip

Trish and I arrived back on the Sunshine Coast from Newcastle on Tuesday afternoon. On Friday she flew to Newcastle from Melbourne while I arrived in Newcastle to pick her up after driving (900k's) from the Sunshine Coast. We were attending a 'surprise' 50th birthday party as well as taking the opportunity to visit Trish's older brother and a nephew in Nelson Bay.

Info via this blog has been sketchy before I went away as being a surprise party I did not want to give information away in case the birthday person read it in these pages!

A highlight of the trip was an open air concert "In the Vineyards" given by Elton John. I enjoy his music but I must admit I am not a real fan. However he is a legend and I reckon a 'must see' if and when the opportunity arises. And he did not let us down.

We travelled to the venue (about 70k's from Newcastle) by bus. It was in the Hunter Valley, one of Australia's premier wine growing areas. Needless to say there was a lot of wine for sale prior to and during the concert. We found a few seats and sat down for a drink and a bite to eat for the hour or two we had to wait for the concert for the 10,000 audience to begin. There was a small choice of whites or red wines to purchase as well as boutique beers. You could also buy a hamburger for $15 if you were really hungry! $5 for a beef stroganoff meat pie was enough for me!

In the above photo Michael is seen standing with his daughter Michelle to one side. His other daughter Kathryn and son Brendan can be seen in this photo too. Jan is 'waving' to the camera while Trish seems quite at home too.

Purchasing drinks was easy to do too.


4 bottles of wine later we took our seats as the Elton John took to the stage. He sang all his hits and kept the crowd captivated. Cameras flashed and the crowd sang and danced to "Crocodile Rock". My favorite was "Candles In The Wind". To complement a single performer and piano 'on stage' two large video screens were playing either side providing close ups of Elton John or his hands as he played the piano. The concert went for well over two hours and at the conclusion we made our way back to the bus and a slow trip back to Janet and Michael's home. We got to bed about midnight but needed to be up early the next day to begin our trip home.