End Of The Month

Looking back on it all, January has been a pretty busy time of the year for us.

Yesterday Trish decided to go to a "Stitchers Club" where about 80 local stitchers attended. It looks like it will be a good social gathering for her. Though a bit 'cliquey' the table she is 'on' are all good ladies. I am going to give the sunshine Coast computer Club a try on Saturday morning.

Though we had had a few mls of rain overnight it looked fine enough to head off for a bike ride this morning. However we did get a shower of rain which began about 7:45 am. I got home at about 7:46 am and hardly got wet at all. Trish got home about 7:50 and looked a bit like a drowned rat! We ride independently now so she can ride at her own pace and I am not held up. I did the Corbould Park Horse Race Track ride today. I haven't been on that one for a while because it is a popular hangout for rogue magpies in season and it has a couple of nasty hills. But there are some sensational views which unfortunately the camera doesn't do justice too. Lots of long grass from all the rain in the foreground too!

However the ride has one section which is at least 600 metres long and is downhill all the way! In full flight, the bike can get up to over 50 k's an hour down there! That is handy as a park at the foot of the hill is also the home of some magpies who lie in wait during breeding season for unsuspecting walkers and bike riders!

Then upon arrival back home, the rain starts! However it was a not a long shower and I managed a swim in the pool to cool off after the ride!


Lou Ann from Texas says it is so dry and windy there that there are numerous bush fires even though it is winter! I spoke with her via Skype yesterday to check out if the Skype video was working alright. It turns out the video problem is from my end but I worked out a way to get around it. Video coming from others does not automatically appear on my screen. I have to manually start it up. I have gone back to a previous version of Skype (3.5) and will see if that fixes the problem.

We watched the movie "Eastern Promises" last night. A bit blood thirsty but not too bad a show at all.

We have had 10 inches of rain in January!

Sorry About The Photo!

Tuesday was the first day with all the little darlings off to their first day of school for 2008. Peace and quiet returned to our small home. One disadvantage of our little place is that our neighbours can be right on top of us. We came up here with the thought of buying a townhouse and we believe that would have been a bit noisy too. So overall, what we now have is a much better option than a townhouse!

A nice warm day so I inflated the replacement pool seat and set about having a relaxing cool off. Sorry about the togs / bathers / swimmers in this photo but it was a very pleasant spot to spend an hour or so Tuesday afternoon. The new pool chair has a new improved inflation mouthpiece. You don't have to squeeze the mouthpiece as you blow it up and this makes inflation very quick and easy. After inflation, you replace the plug and then push the mouthpiece back into the chair,and this stops the flow of air. Deflating the chair after use is super quick too.

Some areas of Brisbane had a couple of inches of rain yesterday yet we had a quick shower just on dusk. However overnight there were more showers and we had another 12 mls of rain.

More showers today as well but it is still warm. It was too wet for a bike ride so today the floors were vacuumed and then steam cleaned. Hot work when it is steamy outside! I had a quick swim after cleaning the floors and saw the pool temp was still 25 degrees from overnight.

Last night we watched the movie "The Jane Austen Book Club". It was a lovely movie and everyone in the story finished up 'happily ever after'. It was a 'feelgood' move unlike the brutality we saw in "No Country For Old Men" or the tragic consequences of a lie in "Atonement".

Back To School Today .....

We seem to back into a very quiet lifestyle again. The long grass has 'excited' Texas Lou and I wouldn't be surprised to see her husband bring his 'baler' across from Texas and start baling that grass I showed in the previous post. She says that grass like that does not happen where she lives!

Now the Test Cricket and Australian Open Tennis has finished on television our lifestyle will revert to being very quiet. Bike riding and general duties around the house will become the major focus again, mowing lawns, cleaning the pool, caring for the garden and brewing a few cool ales.

Monday's Public Holiday for Australia Day (the actual Australia day was on Saturday) was the last day before students returned to school after the lengthy Christmas and summer holidays. That will make things even quieter than before.

Not a lot has happened, we continue to bike ride most mornings and yesterday I gave the front lawn a mow. It hadn't grown quickly at all, I guess it probably needs another 'feed' because our local soil is not very good.

Our front tree is earmarked for removal. It is currently infested with wasps and this causes it to die off. The wasps burrow into the tree and have their young. They tend to buzz around for a few days then fly off. There are quite a few buzzing around right now (not that you would really notice from this photo) and when they leave, the council workers will return and remove it. It is too close to our concrete driveway and very near two storm water drains.

I returned to the dentist today for more root canal treatment.

Last night we watched "Atonement". It was OK but I think Trish enjoyed it much more than I did!

Cool (And Wet) Summer Continues

The weather is still quite pleasant but we are not having the heat of the summer of 2005/6. A quick check shows Maroochydore recorded almost 30 days with a maximum temperature of 30 or more degrees for December, January and February in 05/06. In January 2006 Maroochydore recorded 5 days or 30 or more. In January 2008 we have not had a 30 degree day yet and only 1 day of 30 or more so far for the summer. However we have had plenty of rain with over two inches more rain this month than the January average of 7 inches!

This warm and wet weather has seen the grass grow like crazy and plants have shot up and spread out too. Here you can see new plants beside a new bikeway have grown across the pathway restricting some movement, especially when us bike riders try to pass an elderly couple taking their dog for a walk!

Even the pool has remained a little cooler than the previous hot summers. The pool temp struggles to get above 26 at the moment and 22 or so overnight. In a hot summer the pool gets to over 30 during the day and a warm 26 overnight.

This photo was taken at a huge parkland nearby where the grass had at last been cut. You could almost 'bale' it to make hay there is so much cut grass there. The long grass has meant the ground cannot dry out so this area below remains quite soggy! You may want to click on this photo for a larger view. Then just click on "Back" to return to this page.

We watched a downloaded copy of the movie 'No Country For Old Men' last night. It is rated highly by critics but we found we still had unanswered questions at the end of the movie. There is plenty of murder and mayhem throughout the story but the ending was not at all as we had expected. We even found ourselves replaying some of the story to see if we had missed any bits. We 'think' we have it worked out now .......

Both Trish and I are back to our bike riding now. I can sure 'feel' that I have been off the bike for a fair while, the legs get a bit sore. But the pool at 23+ this morning was wonderful after I had ridden another 11 kilometres before breakfast!

Back On The Bike

It must be over 6 weeks since I last was riding the bike for morning exercise! It seems we have now 'recovered' from a 5 week hectic social life with visits to Melbourne then hosting people back up here again. The pool was vacuumed before 6:30 am today and I felt quite keen on having a ride on my bike before breakfast! So off I went!

It seems the recent rain has created the odd problem or two for anyone using the local pathways. As you can see from the photo, the grass has grown and now encroaches onto the pathways! Elderly walkers, especially those with dogs (and it seems there are many people with dogs around here) take up a fair bit of the pathway. Many have poor hearing so they don't hear me when I ring the bike's bell as I approach them. But we seem to manage OK.

The "Duckponds" area has been finished and cleaned right out. The rain has made this spot an extra pretty spot for people to stop and take a spell.



And of course the Pumicestone Passage is always a very attractive spot. I finished up doing about 14 k's overall on today's ride and enjoyed a quick swim when I arrived back home.

I have been busy downloading movies off the net recently and we have watched a couple of good movies recently. "Charlie Wilson's War" is probably worth a look. It tells the story of a US Congressman who convinced the US Government to support the covert war in Afghanistan against the Russians. Unfortunately when the Russians left the country so too did the US support, then the terrorists moved in initiating (and arming) much of the conflict the world now endures.

American gangster was enjoyable too.

The share market is trying to claw back some of its recent losses.

The reformatted laptop runs beautifully now. It is amazing what a huge difference reloading Windows XP and the programs has done. Up to this stage it has not lost wireless contact with the internet and the home network!

Rest and Recovery Time

We have been fairly quiet here on the Sunshine Coast following the departure of our recent visitors. We have been just 'chilling out' recovering from a very hectic month or so. It all began on December 18th when we flew to Melbourne for Christmas with the family.

Soon after we returned home early in January 2008 we hosted John Logan and his wife Sue for several days prior to Chris, Wendy, Andrew and Emily arriving and staying for 2 weeks.

Weather remains coolish with today expected to get to about 27 degrees.

I have been a little busy reinstalling Windows XP on the laptop computer. It was taking ages to load so a reinstall was certainly required. Now it reloads in about 4 minutes compared to at least 10 minutes earlier!

Not only did Windows require installing, but then I had to reinstall much of the software. Getting the Laptop to be recognized by the Main PC on the Home network took a bit more fiddling around as did getting the 'shared printer' attached to the Main PC to work wirelessly from Laptop too.

But all is operating pretty well now.

Now we only want the Share Market to recover a bit so we can rest a little easier!

Tuesday ......

Our visitors have packed and are getting ready to head to the Sunshine Coast Airport to travel back to Melbourne today. Monday saw them spend the early part of the day at Mooloolaba, about 15 minutes north of us here. The morning was spent visiting Point Cartwright for a photo shoot, having a quick look at the Mooloolaba shops and then to the surf beach for a swim.

This photo above (taken from Point Cartwright) looks over Mooloolaba and its beach. It is a very pretty spot and very popular with interstate and local tourists.


The photo above shows Emily discovering the pleasures of the sand at Mooloolaba beach. After arriving back home from Mooloolaba, there was time for yet another swim in the pool.

Despite the two kids being totally exhausted we had our final 'dinner' at a local Thai restaurant. Everyone enjoyed the food and Andrew ate enough to be considered an 'adult'! We hopped in the car to drive home to bed. Less than 500m down the road Emily was sound asleep!

After a sleep in Tuesday, there was time for one last swim in the pool before packing the bags and heading off to the airport! It was a busy but enjoyable time hosting Chris, Wendy Andrew and Emily over the last fortnight. It was a perfect chance for us (as grandparents) to get to know our grandchildren better and for them to get to know us.

I think they enjoyed themselves very much!

In my January 11 blog post I mentioned an expensive blow up pool chair had developed a leak. I contacted the manufacturer in the USA to seek help on repairing it and was told they could not be repaired but that they would replace it for me. The new chair arrived from the USA today, flown over by airmail. Pretty good service I reckon!

Monday ...........

We continue to enjoy having the 'lad' Chris and his family visit us for these two weeks. It has been a great opportunity for Trish and me to get to know our grand children even better. They have been on lots of outings and really enjoyed both the beach and the backyard pool.

On Saturday everyone arrived back home after their Hinterland trip tired but having enjoyed a big day. There are some sensational views in that part of the Sunshine Coast. This lookout is a great spot to begin the trip. It overlooks the Glasshouse Mountains, named by Capt James Cook on his voyage of discovery to Australia.



From there they got up closer to some of the peaks which make up the Glasshouse Mountains. Then on to Maleny and the Gelati Ice Cream shop. Maleny is also where you will find Mary Cairncross Reserve and they all had a raintree forest walk.

Remember to click on a picture if you want a larger view, then hit "Back" to return to this page! The photo below is taken from the entrance to Mary Cairncross Reserve and shows the peaks which make up the Glasshouse Mountains.


Later they travelled to Montville and the 1 kilometre long tourist shopping strip there. This pretty little town is perched on top of the hills which make up the Hinterland. From there it was on to Yandina and a peanut farm there before finally turning for home. It had been a long day!

Sunday began with a big breakfast at home before heading down to Kings Beach again to tackle the waves. After a few hours there (and a couple of mild cases of sunburn) they arrived back home for lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the pool. It is great to witness the kids' improvement in their water confidence skills. Andrew now swims underwater from one end of the pool to the other and then back again, a far cry from using his 'floaties' when he first had a swim here.

The kids slept for almost 11 hours overnight.

Today is their last full day here and there is a trip to Mooloolaba on the agenda before they are due to fly home tomorrow. It is surprising how holidays can be so tiring!

Saturday .......

Most days we take our visitors out to see the sights of the Sunshine Coast. Friday morning was a time for the beach again. The water is certainly much cleaner now and everyone enjoyed themselves at Kings Beach for the morning. Later that afternoon it was a quick visit to the Caloundra Air Museum. There is a reasonable range of aircraft to view there.

The kids are beginning to slow down so it was good to see them both in bed at a reasonable time last night.

Saturday was time to bottle the home brew which had completed its fermentation stage. Andrew enjoys helping when ever he can so this was a bit of fun for both of us. They were both up helping me at about 6:15 this morning!

We also cleaned the pool together and then gave the garden pots a quick water. I am home again right now while the other 5 (the car can only safely carry 5 people) are having a look at the Hinterland.

Most forecasts for this week has included "Occasional Showers". Most days this has meant about 1 minute of a few drops of rain and then clear again. It has remained about 28 most days with some cloud cover. The weather is ideal for showing people around the Sunshine Coast

Thursday Update

Tuesday was spent fairly quietly as a recovery day from the Australia Zoo trip on Monday. A trip to some shops in town during the morning was followed by a swim in the pool during the afternoon. Though rain was forecast there was hardly a drop. After tea the kids (and others) enjoyed a swim in the pool with the lights all on. It looks like fun don't you think?

Wednesday was a trip to Brisbane, Queensland's capital city, about 100 k's south of us. Some car travel saw the group take a train into the city. One of Brisbane's main sights is Southbank. It is the former site of Expo 88 and has been transformed into a public garden and recreation area. It is great spot to have a swim in one of the many man made pools. Looks nice doesn't it?

From there it was a cruise on the River Cat, a catamaran 'bus' trip up and down the Brisbane River. It is a great spot to view the city from as you cruise effortlessly up and down the river. This was followed by a stroll through Brisbane's main shopping area and from there to the Roma St Gardens. This is a beautiful quiet spot with many glorious flower gardens.



Needless to say the kids slept well overnight and awoke a little later on Thursday morning. With a 'brew' to be bottled sometime over the next few days, it was all hands to the deck to get the bottles washed. Needless to say there was water everywhere but the kids enjoyed it and the bottles are washed ready to be filled in the next day or so.

Then it was off to the beach!

The weather remains cool, humid but dry with the forecast saying "Occasional Showers".

Australia Zoo

On Monday, Chris, Wendy, Andrew and Emily went to Australia Zoo for the day. They caught the free bus in Caloundra and headed about 20 minutes or so out to Beerwah and Australia Zoo. They had a great time and the kids are almost the perfect age to do that sort of thing. It was great for them to see Terri Irwin in the thick of the 'show'. However Bindi was not on yesterday so they missed her.

The kids were aghast at the feeding of the crocodiles and had the best day possible. It was fairly warm and quite sticky with the temperature about 30 degrees.

They saw everything, crocodiles, snakes, elephants, tigers, kangaroos, Australian animals such as the echidna and all sorts of birds. Emily loved patting the kangaroos while Andrew was brave enough to be photographed on this model crocodile!

Remember to click on the photo for a larger view, then on 'Back' to return to this page.

Last night we went to a local hotel for a meal before getting home about 8 pm. Overnight we had another 26 mls of rain lifting the month's total to over 200mls (over 8 inches in the old scale) and already above the January average.

Today is overcast and cool with temps in the mid 20's or just above. It remains quite humid.

I have added a movie link on the right (Andrew & Emily In The Pool) to show the kids enjoying the pool and a quick look at a walk we all had along the Caloundra Boardwalk.

More Rain To Come In The Next Few Days

On Saturday the visitors and Trish headed down to Kings Beach and had a swim in the surf. The water was still full of sea weed and was not nice and clear following the storms and flooding rains over the previous 3 or 4 weeks. But never the less the kids had a great time.

A swim in between rain showers in the pool helped to fill in the afternoon.

Meanwhile I continued 'burning' DVD's and a couple of CD's for them to take back to Melbourne with them.

Saturday night the rain cleared so we ate fish 'n chips by the beach and afterwards had a walk along the sand under the flood lights. It was warm and not too windy. Emily nearly fell asleep while eating her "Cold Rock" ice cream at 8:30 pm. The kids fell into bed after a great day.

Sunday saw us head to the Bowls Club for a $7 breakfast! It is a huge meal and was enjoyed by all. After that it was time for a walk through the Caloundra Main St Market which seems to get bigger and better each time we go there. From there it was back to the house and a swim in the pool. It is about 29 outside right now!

You can catch up on the latest weather at Caloundra by scrolling down this blog page to the section "Now In Caloundra". Showers and rain are forecast for all this week!

Last night Kate's husband Arj had his 40th Birthday Party. I am looking forward to seeing the photos! Happy birthday Arj!

Cool Caloundra While Melbourne Swelters

The last couple of days have been 'warmish' but overcast with the threat of rain. The pool has remained the popular spot with the grand kids along with having me download their favorite movies from the web and then burn them into DVD's!

We managed to get out for a while Thursday morning for a walk along the boardwalk and to investigate many of the playgrounds which abound down by the beach. We took a look at the sea water pool which looked great except for the blustery wind and dirty looking water, a reminder of the stormy conditions we had the week before. The Bowls club was our venue for an evening meal and Andrew seemed keen on the "Keno".

When we awoke on Friday the rain gauge held about 7 mls of rain and the skies were ready to drop some more. Meanwhile in Melbourne they had just been enduring their third consecutive day with temperatures above 40 degrees. Texas Lou, that is well over 100 degrees! After heat for that length of time everything is HOT!

While the others went for a look around some shops in the morning in the wet weather, Andrew and I burnt a DVD then set about making some beer. I have been asked about 25 times in the last few days if I was making beer and today it was a relief to say "yes!". He stirred the mix as I added the water. It was quite a production line affair and we had the brew away in the garage where it will ferment for the next week or so. We will wash the bottles sometime next week.

From there it was time to give the floors a quick vacuum while the place was fairly empty. Andrew again did a good job and with a little help from his Pa we got it all finished and looking a little better. Then he sat down and watched The Simpsons Movie I had burnt to DVD while I jumped on the internet.

Despite being about 25 degrees, the kids went back in the pool this afternoon. They were glad I had disposed of the Cane Toad which had ended up in the pool overnight. My two iron put this pest out of its misery! They are a real pest here in Queensland.

Later that afternoon we caught up with Kate and Charli via Skype over the computer.

Earlier this year we were give a great blow up chair to use in the pool as a gift. It is the chair Chris is sitting in in the previous post. We put the chair into use in October and it has been a popular addition to the pool. A few days ago it developed a leak and went flat. I looked at repairing the leak but couldn't get to it. I emailed the company in USA which makes them and told them I wanted to fix it if possible. I was told by reply email they cannot be repaired. After another email where they wanted some purchase details I was told today I would be receiving a voucher to take to the local K Mart store for a replacement. Great service and just goes to show what a quick email can achieve!

A Day In The Pool ....... And Sunburn!

Chris, Wendy, Andrew and Emily arrived here at our home about 11 am Tuesday morning. By 11:15 am the kids were in the pool and Mum and Dad and the grandparents weren't too far behind!

The weather was perfect and the pool was extremely popular. A great day at about 30 degrees with a fair bit of humidity so the pool was a great place to be. The tropical sun had a real bite to it and a few of us got some sunburn but not too serious! Chris enjoyed the inflatable pool chair as you can see here.

The kids dropped in to bed together and slept for well over 10 hours.


Today is a bit overcast and showery but it should still get to 28 or so. The pool will remain a popular spot.

Family On their Way

Trish is currently at the Maroochydore airport collecting Chris, Wendy Andrew and Emily who have flown up to stay with us for a fortnight.

Monday went as planned, some shopping, a pleasant lunch and the afternoon in or beside the pool. Though this photo shows us having a refreshing ale in the pool, it was only one of very few we enjoyed. However as you can see the hot humid weather made relaxing in the pool a great idea.

Our evening meal was Barramundi ( a great tasting Australian fish) back at the Golden Beach Tavern. They have great meals at great prices. John's mum was there too. We farewelled them as we will be having visitors over the next two weeks.

Again we got to bed reasonably early but it was warm enough at 10 pm for a quick swim for me before retiring!

Monday's Update

Our visitors John and Sue left to spend a couple of nights with his mother about 15k's north of us on Friday afternoon. Saturday was spent giving the floors a clean and hosing down windows, the driveway and general tidying up outside. The pressure spray helped a lot. Again watching the enthralling Cricket Test Match on TV took plenty of our spare time on Saturday.

Soon after lunch on Sunday, our visitors John and Sue returned for a bit of fun poolside. However the weather was not very hot so the pool wasn't the place to be. Anyway the cricket (in its final day) became and enthralling tussle with Australia winning (somewhat controversially) in the second last over. Home brew throughout the afternoon was extremely pleasant.

We decided on the Caloundra RSL for tea and a bit of a flutter on the poker machines. The meal was OK in the renovated dining area but the drinks were cold and refreshing. Bed was a welcome spot later in the night.

This morning was hot and steamy, just the sort of weather that detractors of Queensland love to talk about. The humidity is about 85% as I type and the weather is extremely sticky.

A quick swim before breakfast or even a snooze seemed a great idea. The weather was pushing 30 degrees and the 85% humidity made the pool the best place to be. You can see John looked pretty comfortable in this photo.



A bit of shopping this morning, then lunch at King's Beach Tavern on the veranda should see the day out before returning home for another swim later this afternoon. John and Sue head back to his mum's tonight while we welcome Chris, Wendy and the two grandkids, Andrew and Emily up from Melbourne tomorrow morning (Tuesday).

Surprise Visitors

Cool, windy and wet has been the weather here the last day or so. Yesterday saw another 67 mls get added to the rainfall tally for January, already it is at about 5 inches (125 mls) for the month. However this is our wettest month of the year so high rainfall totals are not unexpected.

Each year John and Sue Logan drive up from Melbourne to visit John's mother who lives about 15 kilometres north of us. John drives to Dubbo from Melbourne on day one, visits the Dubbo RSL for a meal and they have a session on the pokies. Day two is usually when he finishes the 1900K trip. Most times he visits us for a little rest and relaxation (John's mum is not an advocate of anything to do with alcohol while John has been known to enjoy the odd glass or two ...... or three or four .......) They arrived on our doorstep about 6:15 pm. After a couple of quiet beers at home we all went to the a local pub for their 2 for $15 "Surf and Turf" meals. Great value and we enjoyed a few more beers with our meal. As the travellers were tired after a long drive that day we thought a very quick trip to the RSL to enjoy the renovations there was a good idea. We eventually got home about 1:30 am!

Friday morning was spent quietly watching the cricket on TV or enjoying a quiet read.

Home To The Sunshine Coast

Melbourne was in for a scorcher the day before New Year's Eve, our last day there. The temperature got to 41 degrees and hardly got below 30 during the night.

During Monday afternoon Kate drove us across to Chris' home near Melbourne Airport where we would spend our last night in Melbourne. The hot weather was a scorcher and Chris is still to get some cooling added to his home. We sought refuge in a local pub for several hours to have an evening meal and get away from the heat.

Trying to get some sleep overnight was almost impossible for us. We were up about 6 am just as the temperature dropped below 30 degrees. To the airport by 7:15 then we were flying home.

The weather on the Sunshine Coast was totally different. Cool, windy and wet! We had about 80 mls (3") of rain over the weekend with squally showers predicted throughout New Year's Day with a top of 25 degrees.

The windy weather is expected to subside over the next few days and more normal summer weather should beginning to return early next week. However heavy rain is expected on Thursday and Friday but this will be coming from a different weather system from the one providing the current strong onshore winds.


These three photos show you how dismal it is around the place at the moment but how some people are making the most of the conditions. However it is cool and overnight temps remain on average, ie the low 20's and getting to sleep is easy!

Rain is at last falling over Brisbane's water catchment areas bringing some relief to the severe water situation the major Queensland city is currently enduring.