Melbourne Freezes While Caloundra Boils.

I read Kate's Facebook entry this morning and saw the headline "Relaxing by the pool and enjoying the heat". Obviously she is in Caloundra and we are down in Melbourne enjoying about 16 degrees right now! I am sure glad we brought some warm clothes with us.

However one thing we don't get at home on the Sunshine Coast is great and cheap eateries. Last night we visited the Hoa Tran restaurant in Springvale with friends Pat and Graeme. It was the first time for a long time that they had been to Springvale, a suburb noted for its Vietnamese population and drug usage. In all the times we have visited Springvale going back on 20 years now, the latter has hardly ever been an issue for us. As per usual, the restaurant was a hive of activity. As I have said before, this restaurant is best described as an eating house where people can come in, grab a quick and inexpensive bite to eat and then be on their way. As we were there, I saw three different people occupy a seat near us as the evening progressed.

We all enjoyed the food immensely an ate until we could eat no longer! It is Bring Your Own too so we took our own drinks (beer and wine) with us. We had lemongrass spicy chicken, beef on crispy noodles, roast duck, rice paper rolls, crispy skin chicken and salt and pepper calamari. Graeme's stomach doesn't enjoy chillies any more so he had the less spicy dishes. Our bill worked out at well under $20 per person and we could eat no more. It was then back to their home for another chat and a few drinks.

It was a great night out!

Four Days At The Cricket

It is late afternoon on Tuesday and again I have been to the cricket today! That is 4 days in a row now! With Christmas Eve, Christmas Day followed by Boxing Day and then four days into the MCG for the Test match, needless to say I am a bit on the weary side. And to top it all off, Australia seems to be well on the way to losing its No. 1 status as the best cricket team in the world with its second loss in a row to South Africa. Losing quite a few top class players to retirement has left some massive gaps in the team. Australia is now in a "rebuilding phase" so it may struggle for the next few series as it rebuilds its cricket side.

Kate, Arj and family flew out of Melbourne Airport this morning and are now swimming in the pool at home in Caloundra and enjoying the sub-tropical heat and the comfort of the swimming pool. Meanwhile in Melbourne it is a brisk 20 degrees and I am dressed in my 'winter' clothes! I dropped them off at the airport this morning before heading off to the cricket.

We have a 'booking' for tonight with friends for a Vietnamese meal and we are off to a party tomorrow night. Apart from that we are 'free'. Give us a call if you want to catch up!

The car we have here isn't performing well, hopefully it is an automatic gearbox service problem which can be fixed up cheaply. However with Kate and Arj away we can use their car to a certain degree but we will need to stay a little closer to home than what we would have had we had our own car working 100%.

After Christmas

Christmas night was spent with Arj's family at the home of one of his brothers. This night captures the real spirit of Christmas. His family is quite close and this is a time of the year when being with family is paramount. We had a few carols as Arj's parents are quite religious. Arj plays the keyboard and gives the carols a lift in the beat which keeps the teenage grandsons involved. Singing carols just isn't what they are keen to be involved with! As you can see in the photo, James enjoys helping Dad playing the keyboard,

Boxing Day was spent traditionally for us, a day with friends at a BBQ in Drouin. They are the same two guys who had recently spent a week with me in Caloundra while Trish was visiting down in Melbourne. I must confess I had too much to drink! It was a great day with nice sunny (and warm) weather.

Yesterday (Saturday) I went into the MCG to the International cricket match. Though 'suffering' a little during the morning, it was a great day. I really enjoy getting in to the MCG and watching the cricket.

Today Sunday and tomorrow Monday will see me again in at the MCG again!

Merry Christmas To All

Another year has almost gone! Christmas time is with us and it is becoming more difficult to find time for all the family to get together. There are other family requests to accommodate so spouses can also spend time with their family. This year we had our family get together on Dec 24th at Chris' home. Our three kids (Chris, Kate and Kim) were all there along with our four grandchildren. As usual there was too much to eat with ham, chicken, salads, prawns, nibblies and sweets.

But this day is a day for the grandchildren. They had a wow of a time eating, playing, getting presents and eating and then playing again. There was the usual backyard cricket game and even more time to give the new presents a try out. James missed his regular early afternoon nap and he slept very well Christmas Eve.

We arrived back at Kate's home early evening in time to get the kids to bed and for us to complete the major construction requirement, the finishing touches to the kids' trampoline Father Christmas was bringing for them the next day! Kim came over to Kate's home and stayed overnight, ready for Christmas Day. 18 month old James more than caught up with his missed afternoon nap and slept for about 14 hours. Though it seemed he could have used another few hours sleep still!

Christmas morning was in full swing, there were presents galore and we are still not sure who had the most fun, the kids or Mum and Dad! James woke up enough to give his new radio controlled car a test drive. I don't think he really knows how to 'drive' it but I am sure Dad will teach him the ropes! Charli had a great time too opening so many gifts. Mum had to help her put her new doll's house together while the Thomas the Tank Engine DVD had to get a play very early in the piece.

The trampoline turned out to be a real winner. Charli will spend hours in there jumping around and I think Mum might enjoy it too!

We all will enjoy a little nap this afternoon after our small Christmas day lunch. (There are a few prawns left). Tonight we attend Arj's family Christmas get together. Being Sri Lankan, magnificent curries will be the order of the day! There will be singing, drinking, eating, presents and lots of fun! The kids will sleep well again tonight.

Tomorrow (Boxing Day) Trish and I head down to Drouin to catch up with former neighbours Barry and Rainy and other friends for a BBQ. There will be more eating and drinking and laughing! And then for the next few days after that I am off to the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch Australia Vs South Africa Test match cricket!

34 Degrees Today!

Such is the changeable weather in Melbourne. A couple of days ago we had the heater running, today it should get to 34 degrees. But it is going to be a 'nasty' 34 with cloudy weather and a hot gusty northerly wind! If it were a little hotter and sunnier, it would be a sure fire recipe for bushfires in this part of the world.

Friday night saw us travel to Drouin for a great night with friends. Drouin is about 50k's south of Berwick and is a 35 minute run along the freeway. It was a terrific night, a few drinks and lots of good company and chatter. The ladies 'spread' the duties of cooking and we had a most delicious meal. Needless to say we ate too much and drank a little too much as well. As you can see, it was a great spread for our evening meal.

Saturday was a 'recovery day'. Kate and Arj went off for a Christmas visit with friends while Trish and I did some baby sitting. There was lots of sport on TV so I was quite happy to stay home and enjoy the sport. During the afternoon Charli 'discovered' the TV series 'Dora The Explorer' for the first time. As you can see, she was an instant fan! She spent much of the afternoon watching a couple of episodes I had downloaded onto the laptop!

On Sunday evening we caught up with our daughter Kim for a great meal at our favorite Vietnamese Restaurant. It was as cheap as chips and the food was just sensational.

And I have got my "Counter" to work again when viewing this page with Firefox. I have a Firefox add-on which stops advertisements from showing on pages I visit! This add-on saw my web page counter as an advertisement and would not let it load. I have turned the advertisement blocker off for my blog page and now the counter shows again!

The Heater Is On!

We arrived in Melbourne mid afternoon yesterday and after being collected by our daughter Kim we went to catch up with 'the lad' Chris and family. They live quite close to Melbourne Airport and we always drop in as soon as we arrive in Victoria. It is great to see the grand kids again and visit family. Emily looks rather proud of herself in her new 'fairy dress' that Trish gave her and Andrew just loves the drum kit he made for himself as a part of a school assignment. We enjoyed our roast pork meal very much too!

We left there about 8:15 and drove over to Kate's arriving there soon after 9pm. After a long chat it was time call it quits and head to bed.

This morning we caught up with Kate's two, James and Charli. Charli looks pleased to see me again and James below just loves his banana. as I type the heater is on and we expect today's top to only reach 19, a huge change to the weather we have been experiencing back home. It is grey and overcast outside. This evening we are off to Drouin to have a Christmas function with friends.

Something strange seems to be happening to my Blog Page as far as the layout is concerned and my "counter"! I use "Firefox"as my web browser, it is much safer to use than Internet Explorer. However recently the 'Counter' disappeared. I even had problems getting to the website that gave me the counter! So I swapped it around the other day and got myself a different one. If I look at my page in Internet Explorer (I.E.), I can get the 'old' counter to work and I can get to the Counter's home page too. I used to be able to get the 'new' counter to work too, but now I can't see it either when I use Firefox. At one stage I could get both counters together in I.E. but nothing in Firefox! This is weird!

I have put the "Statcounter" one back again. In Firefox you don't see it but in I.E. you do!

Down South

We are due to fly out this morning at 11:50 our time from Maroochydore and due in Melbourne at 3:10 in their Daylight Saving Time. We are due to be collected from the airport by our daughter Kim and we will spend the early part of the evening with the lad Chris, his wife Wendy and Andrew and Emily. We will then drive to Berwick where Kate lives by about 9 pm. A warm day is in store here with a real hot one tomorrow. Melbourne is expecting a few showers and tops in the low 20's for the next few days.

Christmas with all the family will be great and I am looking forward to getting to the Test Match cricket after Boxing Day. It will be good to catch up with friends too but I am certainly looking forward to getting back to the heat and the pool from early January. The scene here is at the "Bellvista Lake", looks pleasant doesn't it?

The Christmas routine begins Friday night when we journey down to Drouin for a night with friends.

My next post will be from Melbourne!

Getting Packed

We have had westerly winds the last two days and though the weather is still warm, the humidity has dropped. Yesterday I saw we had a top temperature of 31 but the humidity level was only 21%. It was quite pleasant sitting outside and jumping in the pool from time to time!

We again rode this morning. Then it was to the Chiropractor to sort out a few aches and pains.

I also grabbed 30 minutes or so and began packing for the annual Christmas trip to Melbourne on Thursday. They are having cool days down there so I packed underwear, socks, long trousers and other articles of clothing I don't wear at this time of the year in Queensland.

Melbourne is expecting temps in the low 20's and showers every day for the next week. It is one place which really needs the rain though!

Sunday's News

Summer has arrived with a bit of a vengeance the last day or so. The local weather station is situated at Maroochydore Airport about 30k's north of us and right beside the beach. Therefore temps recorded there tend to be a little cooler than what we get at Bellvista being 4k's from the beach. And yesterday was one such day. The usual summer's day sees the top temperature reached late morning before the sea-breeze kicks in. There was only a slight sea breeze yesterday and we really didn't get any of it all. Therefore the day remained HOT! Maroochydore recorded 35 degrees. At 11 pm the temperature was still about 27 outside.

We rarely use the air conditioner here but yesterday afternoon was an air conditioner day. Generally the ceiling fans are enough to move the moist air around effectively cooling everyone! However we both slept well under our ceiling fan last night! The pool got to 27 yesterday and we spent most of the day beside or in it! Despite it being about 26 degrees at 7 am this morning I headed off for another bike ride, this time I just took my time. The early morning shade from numerous trees makes the ride a pleasant but warm experience.

Upon arrival back home it is into the pool, clothes and all! A refreshing swim soon has things cooled down again and it is time for relax pool side. Needless to say, the installation of the pool several years ago was a great investment for us!

This is a new community here at Bellvista and the developer Stocklands has arranged for the creation of a local Bellvista Community Association. I have attended a couple of meetings and I have suggested the association requires a presence on the internet. I have created this temporary web page for them. It is very much in 'draft' form at the moment and still requires some features to be finalized. For example, the new logo isn't finished just yet!

Thursday's News

Things have been busy since my last post. I have completed yet another bottling and my reserves of beer are getting back to where they should be following John and Barry's visit several weeks ago. The hot weather up here hasn't helped my supplies either! This is not my best photo either!

I continue to ride most mornings clocking up at least 10k's per trip. This is always followed with a swim. Now the Magpie swooping season is over I can move into some other areas again. One of my favorite spots to go to is Little Mountain Common. At about 7 am half the area is covered in shade makes makes cycling very comfortable. I also ride past a small pond pictured below! It is all very pretty indeed.

There are other pretty spots I ride through too. It is just great riding through the trees in the cool of the early day!

We had a drive down to Caboolture to visit a new business taken up by our former neighbours, Andy and Naomi. They have recently taken over a Pet Supplies store. The current economic climate is making things tough for them. However they hope to get through it all unscathed.

Then on Wednesday I spent much of the day helping a Computer Club Colleague setup his new PC. Needless to say I had a great time. Trish went to her "Stitchers" Christmas lunch yesterday too.

These are the last blocks for sale on our estate. Prices are around the $300,000+ mark! Great views from here though!


Today is a bit of a catchup day. Most days are bright and sunny with temps in the high 20's. How "hot" it gets depends on the level of humidity. The pool gets to 26 degrees most days. Monday was cool with about 26 but it has been steadily warming up since. Rain is expected overnight Saturday. We get severe weather warnings most afternoons but generally the storms do not happen! We do know that the storms tend to build up over the days so eventually the storm will come.

The Weather Worm Has Turned!

I seem to remember last summer we only had three days at Maroochydore Airport (Weather Station) which were 30 degrees or more for the whole summer! This year summer is just over a week old and already we have had 3 days of 30+ temps.

Yesterday it got to 32 degrees and 70% humidity. The air-con went on at about 27 degrees just to dehumidify the air! A lot cooler today with a max about 27 degrees. A few showers and quite overcast! Right now (mid afternoon) it is about 25 degrees!

Last night we watched a movie "The Black Balloon" which swept the pool of awards at the recent Australian Film Awards. It was a touching movie about a family which had a teenage autistic son. It was quite good.

News From Sunday

Yesterday I went to my Computer Club meeting as usual. I was pretty busy there throughout the morning helping a few people out. One chap was wanting to know about which ISP he could choose when he reactivated his computer connection. Another lady was busy using Windows Mail out of Vista, and was wanting to know how to send email attachments to her son. Windows Mail seemed so cumbersome to me so I have her now trying out Mozilla's Thunderbird Email program. It is quite like Outlook Express but customizable to suit an individual's need. And it is much safer to use than Outlook Express!

Another lady could get on the internet with Internet Explorer but not with Firefox. Also her Skype couldn't connect either. I reckon it was most probably a firewall problem so we tried to repair her McAfee Internet Security program. Unfortunately it wouldn't install as she couldn't find her 'activation password' from when she had first set it up. So we got rid of it and installed and AVG Anti-Virus Free and Zone Alarm Firewall Free. Now she is well protected and everything seems to run fine for her.

From there it was back home to a scorcher. The temp was about 33 in the backyard and there was hardly a breath of wind. Humidity was around 70% so much of the day was spent with a cool ale in hand and in the pool. I have had to crop this photo so as not to upset anyone's 'weak' stomach! I don't scrub up too good in DT's! ( a nickname for the kind of swimming shorts I was wearing).

There weren't any storms overnight, just some showers and we got another 9mls in total! The roads and pathways around the Estate were all wet so we couldn't get out for a ride today. You can see 'my' rainfall figures for the year here. You will need to click on Q4 (4th quarter of the year) for the latest updates.

It is expected to get to 30 again today but we can expect thundery showers throughout the day. This link will give you the Bureau Of Meteorology Radar website and you can see for yourself what is happening here right now. Caloundra where we live is right up near the top of the page, just under "Maroochydore'.

Another Show, Another 14mls

A relatively quiet day yesterday. I washed the bottles for my next bottling and then we headed into town to the supermarket to replenish the pantry! I managed to hit the pool three times during the day for a cool off. We were sitting quietly beside the pool at about 3 pm when this large mass of storm clouds started to build in the west. A quick check of the weather radar on the internet confirmed we were in for another storm!

The rain began falling at about 4pm and then came the thunder and lightning show! The storm wasn't at all fierce but gave us the best part of an hour's steady rain and another 14ml (just over half an inch). The pool is now overflowing and the garden is certainly damp enough! This means we had had 1600mls for the year to date or a grand total of 64 inches of rain.

After yesterday afternoon's rain it is quite still this morning. The last few days have been breezy but not today. Still and warm means it is quite sticky! There are more ominous looking clouds about so we are in for another downpour later on! Any sun we had earlier has disappeared now.

Pool was 24 degrees this morning when I had a dip after my bike ride. If we get sun today it could be up to 27 degrees mid afternoon!

Trish is off to her Stitchery group this morning and I will have a quiet time on the internet.

Thunder And Lightning Show

It had been dry for a week. Forecasts for thunderstorms for last evening were withdrawn. At about 11pm we had the most incredible lightning and unexpected thunder storm. Lightning and thunder were simultaneous indicating the lightning strikes were right here. The lights on the home next door of a young family came on, I guess the young kids were frightened. With it came the rain! In about 20 minutes all was peaceful again. There were 13mls in the rain gauge this morning! The pool is again topped up and the lawn which was showing signs of drying out is bright green again. It is another glorious sunny day as you can see from the photo left I took this morning!

I picked Trish up from the airport yesterday. She was tired and had the customary cold! Everytime we go to Melbourne, we seem to come home with a cold! The heat was a bit of a shock for her but did not stop her grabbing a long nap in the afternoon.

I have done my 10k bike ride again this morning. It really is pretty here early in the day before the sun gets high in the sky. As I type at 8:45 am the temperature is about 27 degrees with a top today of about 31. I seem to remember a recent summer saw us get only 3 days in Maroochydore where the temperature peaked at above 30 degrees. We have had more than that already this spring and early summer.

Upon my arrival back home it was into the pool for a cooling swim then onto washing bottles ready for another brew to be bottled, probably on Sunday!

A shopping day today to replenish the pantry!

And a few swims in the pool I guess!

My new router modem seems very stable and I haven't had any more problems with receiving PSTN calls. I will keep my fingers crossed on that one.

We have been having a play with the 'new' camera. It seems to have heaps of great features and takes a great shot. The Fuji V10 now charges batteries OK with a few 'adjustments'.

Just as I was saying how the new router/modem was I suddenly lost my internet connection this morning. The light saying I was connected to my ISP suddenly went out, the router/modem Voip light disappeared and I couldn't access the web. 15 minutes later I saw all lights were back on and all was OK again! Most likely this was an ISP problem, not the new router/modem.

Trish Home Today

Trish flies in to Maroochydore Airport at about 10 am this morning. I will need to leave soon to collect her!

The weather continues warm here with most days a max of in the low 30's. Coupled with humidity, this makes for quite warm days, ideal for using the pool. The photo here shows my weather monitor and was taken at about 7:30 am this morning. As you can see the temp was about 27 both indoors and out. The humidity level was quite high too as it usually is each morning. We are expecting about 31 again today! The pool temperature this morning was a glorious 24 degrees. We have hot weather forecast for the next few days before we are expected to get more storms over the weekend. Welcome to summer!

I collected the new camera yesterday and it is a little beauty! It is so small yet has great features and takes a great photo.

Whilst I was a school principal, I became involved with a program called International School to School Experience. Click on the link to take you to the ISSE home page. Trish and I took 6 children to New Delhi in India about 12 years ago for a month. One of the girls 'home stayed' with a family and their daughter Kirti. I received a message from Kirti yesterday saying she, her husband and their daughter would be visiting Melbourne over January. Depending on our schedule we may be able to catch up with her!

We are flying down to Melbourne again on March 4th to celebrate Trish's birthday. We will return to the Sunshine Coast on March 18th.

The Last Day Of Spring

Life continues along quietly! We have a Test Cricket match on TV at the moment where Australia is playing New Zealand. This keeps my day filled very easily. Trish is still in Melbourne and is due to fly home on Wednesday. Her time in Melbourne has been very busy catching up with people and enjoying the grandchildren. She loves it!

Today Trish has organized a "Family Day" for her side of the family down in Melbourne. She has four older brothers and an older sister. Her eldest brother is in his mid seventies and is suffering from Parkinson's. He is in a "Full Care" facility near New Newcastle in New South Wales. Hopefully if he gets the all-clear, he is attending the 'reunion' today in Melbourne. Fingers are crossed for a nice day down there.

Our great little Fuji Compact camera is not behaving itself, with difficulty recharging the battery. It seems the battery no longer makes good contact with the camera so it can be difficult to recharge . I have ordered a replacement camera 'online' from here on the Sunshine Coast. One shop assistant in Melbourne described the newly ordered camera as one of the best models she has ever sold and the price I can get it for here is an absolute bargain! It is a Canon Ixus 860IS. Like the Fuji, it has a huge 3" screen (see below).

This model is being 'phased' out with a newer model about to be released. Therefore the price of it is excellent. It has a RRP of $599 and I can get it for well under half that price! General current price appears to be between $350 and $450!

I went to the Computer Club again yesterday morning and got caught up with a couple of members who are having problems with their laptops. One lady has a problem with Windows Mail in Vista (I don't like it at all!) while the other probably needs a reformat of her hard drive. She can access the internet with Internet Explorer but not with Firefox. I reckon the problem is with her McAfee Internet Security Firewall not giving Firefox permission to access the net!

Another 10k bike ride this morning. The sun is up well before 5 am nowadays so it is difficult to lie in bed! I gave the pool a quick clean and watered all the plants. I set out for my ride at about 6:45 and the temperature then was already 25 degrees! It was about 26 degrees when I got back home. Then it is into the pool, clothes and all. After a quick swim the clothes go on the line to dry ready for the next day's ride!

I was able to get good copies of Quantum of Solace (the new James Bond movie) and the action movie Eagle Eye off the net yesterday.

Visitors Head Back To Melbourne.

It was great having Barry and John visit for the week. We had a great time, drank too much and relived old times. John was able to get away from the world of finance and have a good break. The Test match finishing early meant we had to fill in a few days which had ramifications for me with Australia's Drink Driving laws. One day we went for a walk along the boardwalk at about 10 am. We eventually arrived back home about 5 pm. We found a couple of good 'watering holes' and had a long day.

But I managed to get them to the airport on time to catch their flight then set about getting myself back home for a tidy up. Several loads of washing, the floors needed a bit of a tidy up and of course I had to set about replenishing my home brew supplies. It is now over 24 hours since the guys headed off and the tidying up and replenishing has been completed. A new brew is bubbling away quietly in the garage and I have 32 washed bottles drying as I type.

The weather remains warm and humid. Impending rain and storms mean lots of grey clouds with some sunshine from time to time. The temp is around 28 degrees but the pool is only about 22 degrees. Yesterday was sunny allowing me to get all the washing dry! It is back to cloudy again today.

Today I was back to the audiologist to have my hearing aid checked, tomorrow the car is to be serviced.

The phone via Voip hasn't played up for a while, but we don't get that many calls. My uncle's second wife Lola who is in Canberra is ill. They are in their 80's and any trip to hospital is a concern.

Trish continues to enjoy herself in Melbourne visiting friends and catching up with the grandchildren.

She has organized a family reunion for her side of the family this Sunday. It is amazing, here we are living 2000 kilometres away from Melbourne and Trish has to do the organizing for a family reunion! Ah well, as long as everyone has a great time that is what is important!

Sunday Update

It has been a hectic few days. Trish is has flown down to Melbourne for a fortnight and I have Barry and John spending a week with me here at Caloundra. It has been pretty busy with reliving old times and enjoying possibly too many drinks. The weather has been great except for today which though fine has been extremely windy and not hot. The pool has had a fair bit of use and we have watched the recent Australia vs New Zealand cricket test match!

Things got off to a bad start when we found the beer I had put in my portable fridge had all frozen! I had some of it for over 12 months and it had 'gone off'. Therefore we were glad it had been frozen! The situation was 'recovered' and all went along nicely!

We have been to the RSL for a meal and to the Golden Beach Tavern for a great steak. Today we had breakfast at the Bowls Club. We have eaten superbly but simply! John has been able to catch up on his sleep! John is a Financial Adviser and has been working hard and enduring hard times with the current financial situation. When here he relaxes (and drinks my home brew!).

The early finish to the cricket meant Barry could watch some of his car racing. He doesn't look too stressed does he? John 'promised' his mum (who also lives on the Sunshine Coast) that he would spend a night with her and that looks like being Monday night.

The guys fly home to Melbourne on Wednesday.

I had a Computer Club member catch up with me yesterday looking for either Vista or XP to set up his daughter's new PC. I was able to help him out before we set off for the RSL!

Phone And New Router

I am experiencing a few problems with my new Voip Router and receiving some calls. Most calls come through fine but from time to time the phones attached to the router don't recognize there is an incoming call. We get only dial tone when we answer so we have to rush to the wall phone for the call.

We don't always make it.

People generally ring straight back and the call always comes through fine the second time. These intermittent problems are the hardest to fix. We are using a bit of trial and error to sort it out.

So if you ring our landline and there is a problem, just ring straight back again!

At last some sunshine today despite another 22mls overnight. More storms are forecast for tonight, and tomorrow night ... and Friday ..... and Saturday!

Trish to Melbourne this morning and two mates Barry and John here today for a week.

Our nephew Marcus is in town doing a store renovation and setup and we caught up with him last night.

Still Raining!

I tipped another 21 mls (almost an inch -25mls= 1 inch) out of the rain gauge this morning. We are quickly closing in on the annual average for Caloundra and may get there in the next couple of days. The forecast is for showers this morning tending to heavy rain overnight. Then more showers and storms tomorrow afternoon and overnight into Thursday. Sunshine is due to return on Friday! This link will take you to my rainfall figures for 2008. For this month's figures you need to click on Q4 (4th Quarter of 2008). Click on "Back" to return to this page.

The map shows where the most damage from the storms occurred on Sunday, all to the west of Brisbane. Caloundra is almost 100k's north of Brisbane so we were a long way from the areas which were hardest hit. Some Brisbane homes are still without power 36 hours after the storm went through. Prime Minister Rudd visited the damaged areas this morning on his return from the US.

I bottled another batch of home brew this morning. Trish flies out for Melbourne tomorrow morning and Barry and John fly in for a week's RnR at the same time.

The first cricket test Australia vs New Zealand is due to start in Brisbane on Thursday! I reckon the start will be delayed!

Storms Across SE Queensland

As forecast, storms rolled in late yesterday bringing heavy rain and destructive winds. All of South East Queensland was affected. I just tipped 23mls (almost an inch) out of the rain gauge this morning. The photo to the left shows the storm clouds rolling in at about 6pm last night. However other areas around Brisbane wore the brunt of the strong winds and damage.

The photos below show some of the damage caused by cyclonic like winds and heavy rain around Brisbane suburbs. One person died when swept down a storm drain! (Why would you be standing in a storm water drain with a storm just about to hit?) We certainly didn't get any weather like that up here on the Sunshine Coast which is about 100k's north of Brisbane.


More storms are forecast for Wednesday evening. We are getting close to our annual rainfall total for the year. Another couple of inches of rain and we will hit the annual average!

Sold!

Being on a 'new' estate there are always new homes for sale. With the recent economic downturn, the sales of new homes across Australia has fallen. When on a bike ride a few weeks ago I noticed quite a few new homes with For Sale signs up. Today when I was on my bike ride it was interesting to note that about 50% of these new homes for sale now have "Sold" signs on them (like this one above).

The government has introduced measures to support young couples in the purchase of new homes and this seems to be having a positive effect here on house sales on the Sunshine Coast.

It was about 26 degrees at 7:30 am this morning when I headed off for my 10k bike ride. I was hot when I got back home. However we have storms forecast for this afternoon and cooler weather with showers for the next couple of days so I gave the lawn a quick mow. Otherwise I would have had to wait till later in the week to mow based on the forecast. After mowing, it was into the pool before breakfast for a cool off! The pool is about 23 degrees most mornings at the moment.

I will give the half the lawn that took most of the traffic from the pool installation a few years ago another feed during the week. The soil underneath in this area has been compressed and doesn't hold water too well. I have been aerating it to try to break up the compressed soil. The grass is not quite as lush in this area.

A Quickie.

I went around to a fellow Computer Club member's home this morning. Graeme wanted to get some ideas on what he should be looking at for his next PC. The last one he had was a lemon! Nothing but trouble from start to finish though he did confess it was his own fault to a certain degree.

He was looking at something like this, a great over the top processor, plenty of RAM and a huge Hard Disk Drive. It also has a reasonable Video Card. (Click on the picture for a larger view)

He isn't interested in the keyboard, mouse, monitor, Vista (he has a copy of XP) or speakers so could probably come out of it all for $1000. As I said to him, I am great at spending other people's money!

Trish went to Stitchers again this morning and she and a few of the ladies are getting together for a social afternoon and a chance to 'make' a few Christmas decorations.

My Home Brew is bubbling nicely and at last we saw the sun today. I tipped another 18mls from the rain gauge this morning. More storms are tipped for Sunday and showers returning for most of next week! We are only half way through the month and we are just a whisker below the monthly rainfall average already!

Hopefully we will both get a bike ride in tomorrow morning before I head off to Computer Club!

Pool is around 24 degrees this afternoon.

It's About Time!

It's about time I put another post onto my blog page! I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted! We have had a much cooler and wetter week this week. Unlike down in Melbourne where they have had 30 degrees plus the last two days, here we have struggled to get to the mid 20's.

On Tuesday we drove over 50k's up to Noosa where we caught up with Carol and David, friends from Melbourne. They were staying in an apartment there overlooking the bay and just beside a National Park. Carol's daughter Sian was there with her husband Craig and their two girls, Jade and Lilly! We had a great lunch with them at the apartment and enjoyed the afternoon chatting and having a few drinks. It was great to see them all again. The two girls are growing up now!

Noosa is at the trendy end of the Sunshine Coast and generally caters for tourists from overseas and interstate. And the price of things there reflect that! Most local visitors, i.e. tourists and families from Brisbane seem to visit our end of the Coast. It seems to be more 'family oriented' and certainly less expensive at this end! However Noosa is the epitome of a lovely sub tropical tourist paradise with an idyllic beach and plenty of trendy shops and boutiques.

Trish is getting ready for her trip down to Melbourne next Wednesday and I am getting ready to host a couple of mates who are coming up while Trish is away! Barry (a former neighbour from our days back in Melbourne) and John our finance guy are visiting.

I have been busy getting another batch of Home Brew on and I expect to have it bottled before the guys get here on Wednesday. They are staying for a week.

We had 20mls of rain (80pts) overnight from a few forecast "showers". We are enjoying another shower right now as I type! The front lawn certainly needs a mow right now and the pool is full! We haven't been for bike ride for a couple of days now, it has been too wet. The photo here was taken just a few minutes ago as the latest shower commenced!

Click "HERE" to see the current loop from the Brisbane Weather Bureau for radar of the showers coming in from the south east off the ocean. Caloundra is up near the top of the screen. Here is a screen shot!

I can now say the computer is fully up and running again! The new modem (once packed back in its box and ready to be returned to the shop where I bought it) has not missed a beat in the last week or so since I worked it all out. I have just got 'person to person' file sharing to work on it. I won't go into much detail but my former modem took only one step to set up, this one took about 5 steps! And of course there aren't any instructions! That was the end of 4 days frustration (and enjoyment with the challenge of solving a problem).

I haven't had a computer freeze or any sort of start up problem over the last week, it runs quickly and smoothly!