More Outings!

Over the weekend the family took a trip to the rain forest reserve known locally as Mary Cairncross Reserve. There is a rain forest walk here and the family enjoyed a stroll through the tall rainforest trees. There was a playground there too which Charli loved and later they visited the hinterland town of Maleny, best known (from our point of view) for its Gelati shop! Again the kids loved it.

The weather has been cool in the mornings but delightful during the day with temps around 27 during the afternoon. Sunday's bike ride with Arj nearly killed me, too old for those big hills I am afraid!

The rainforest walk and visit was all very tiring so both Charli and James slept well during Sunday afternoon. After waking up there was just enough time for another playground trip and a swing and a climb on the playground equipment. James cackled through his first ever time on a swing!

Some of the neighbourhood flowering trees around are in bloom and I caught this Corella dining out on some nectar. It is the first chance I have had to really test out the zoom on the new camera. One downside to the new camera is that it seems to chew through batteries pretty quickly. I will need a fist full of rechargeables when we head away!

This morning they are all back to King's beach and the water feature there. Tonight we head out to our favorite local Thai restaurant. It will be a 'double' drive to get us all there safely.

Another one of my friends from Melbourne has been amazed at the free service "Skype" provides. Jan installed Skype yesterday afternoon and we made contact even though at this stage she doesn't have a webcam with microphone. However she was still able to hear and see us and was able to communicate with us via 'messaging'. Today I think she is off to "Officeworks" and buying a Logitech IM Webcam. I paid over $70 for mine but "Officeworks" has them on special at the moment for about $40!

Overcast Becomes Rain!

Thursday evening saw Trish, Kate and Charli head to the nearby lake to have a stretch of the legs and see the ducks. Charli loved it all and everyone was pleased to get some fresh air in the lungs. Overnight the overcast sky developed into a heavy shower which was followed by more showers throughout the night.

On Friday Trish Kate and the two kids went to the Buderim Ginger Factory despite threatening skies. The gardens at the Ginger Factory are spectacular and there is a "Train Ride" which just delighted Charli and James. The kids arrived home just after lunch. Both were fast asleep in their car seats!

Later that afternoon Trish and Kate headed to the shop "Trade Secret" which sells discontinued lines from quality clothes manufacturers. Arj and I baby sat the sleeping kids!

Later Friday afternoon the heavens opened up and we had a fair dinkum tropical storm which realised 25 mls (an inch) of rain in about 30 minutes. The sky had just opened up!

By Saturday morning we had a rainfall total of almost 2 inches (50mls) and the weather was quite a lot cooler.

Sunshine, Pool, Frogs And Then Overcast!

Wednesday was a beautiful day. I managed a lounge in the pool while the kids recharged their energy packs with an afternoon sleep. The pool and beach really tires them out. Last night I found a lovely green frog under the pergola. Charli and James loved getting up close to it. I was a bit worried about James (who puts everything he finds into his mouth) when he looked and enjoyed touching the frog! The kids loved it all.

We were all in bed early and this morning Arj and I had another bike ride, this time down to Pumicestone Passage. I took the 'new' (but cheap) camera with the 12x zoom lens and took this photo looking across to Caloundra's beach side boulevard. This has become my latest 'desktop'. It was a great ride but was undertaken with overcast and threatening weather.

James puts everything he finds into his mouth. We have lots of stones surrounding the house and these strike James' fancy. I had to lay the ladder across the patio to slow him down and keep him separated from the stones. At this stage it is working well but for how long we shall see.!

Family Arrives To Perfect Weather

Our daughter Kate, her husband Arj and the two kids Charli and James arrived yesterday to spend a week with us. For a change, the weather has been outstanding. Their day started at about 4 am before they landed here at our home about 10:30 am. Trish collected them from the airport. With two kids both in car seats there isn't room for everyone in one trip so I stayed at home. The weather was perfect, high 20's and plenty of sunshine so the pool was the obvious spot for the afternoon. We all had a wow of a time.

It did tire some of us out a little bit though so James sought a comfortable spot to have a very short snooze after tea. The kids were all so tired the whole family was in bed by 8:30 pm after a great chicken curry which Trish had cooked for us. My headphones are great for hearing the TV, the hearing Aid I wear just doesn't pick up all the conversations.

This morning Arj and I had an 11 k bike ride looking around the estate. You can just see so much from the bike and you get a great close up view of a neighbourhood. I jumped in the pool upon our return about 8 am and Charli joined me. From there it was down to the beach for a look around the rock pools and a bit of a paddle. The beach is mighty tiring so the pool might be the spot this afternoon. A lovely day again about 30 degrees out side and the pool is slowly warming up!

After Easter

The long Easter weekend has come and gone. It took one traveller 5 hours to return to his Brisbane home from a weekend on the Sunshine Coast yesterday, the traffic was so heavy! For him the travel distance would have been about 120 kms. This gives you an idea of just how busy our area gets over holiday periods such as Easter. To cap it off the weather for the first three days was just perfect with warm temps, sunny skies and plenty of surf. Yesterday's light showers did not add to driver comfort for the trip back to Brisbane.

It was a good weekend for us to stay at our home. With the start of the AFL footy season and with live television coverage of all 8 matches on our TV this was not hard for me to do!

I did venture out Saturday morning to the Computer Club which I enjoyed very much. However it is disappointing to hear constant reminders of the dangers of the internet, of viruses, rootkits and the like making everyday browsing almost a life and death matter. I reckon my computer provides me with heaps of fun and enjoyment and I don't see my daily internet 'browsing' as a 'health hazard". After all the worst that can happen is you can get a computer infection which requires the hard disk to be reformatted, not that your computer will explode and you will be blasted to oblivion!

We enjoyed some bike rides over the weekend. As our estate continues to grow, so the bike pathway network is expanded providing a range of biking routes available to us. And when the weather is perfect, an early morning ride is a fantastic experience.

Kate, Arj along with Charli and James arrive this morning to spend a week with us. Trish is very excited!

A Night Out

We really need to see what this new little restaurant is like because we have Kate Arj and family coming up next week and it might be a good place to take them! It seemed like an excellent excuse for having a meal out so that was what we did. We went to a new Indian Restaurant called "Spice and Surf". It doesn't look very 'flash' but was homely and had good food.

The food is good, normal Sunshine Coast prices (certainly much more expensive than our Malaysia Garden and Springvale favorites when in Melbourne), is only small and quite close by. Service is not lightning quick but this provides for a good chance for a lengthy chat and a couple of drinks. The host visited each of his guests and speaks with them in turn and is always ready to take on board any feedback. The two curries we had were not hot but the accompanying home made chilli sauce would give any meal a lift in the area of 'spice'. They were certainly very tasty.

We enjoyed the night and will go back there again!

The quote to repair where the truck hit the house guttering is $220 and this has been passed on to the Electrical store. They will pay for all repairs.

We were both feeling well enough for a good bike ride this morning which I followed up with a quick swim in the pool. The pool is about 21 degrees overnight now and struggles to climb to 24 during the day. The swim was very refreshing.

Friends from Melbourne (Rod and Maree Bramich) are passing through later this morning and we are looking forward to having a coffee with them and a bit of a chat.

The Australian Rules Football season begins tonight and we are lucky enough to get every game 'live' on TV this weekend.

Cool And Overcast

The weather continues to be a little disappointing here on the Sunshine Coast. Temps in the mid to high 20's as a maximum but still only being around mid 20's for much of the day. It is quite breezy too. With the breeze coming in off the ocean, we tend to get a few showers. Only a few millemetres each day, enough to so we don't have to water the garden.

Texas Lou says they had an inch of rain (25mls) yesterday and this is so out of the ordinary for where she lives. Though it is winter there, the air is dry and there are quite a few scrub fires. The rain has helped to dampen down the scrubland.

I get a 'quote' tomorrow morning to repair the guttering.

Trish and I are slowly improving with our colds. I am still 'clogged' up and get a bit of a headache. Still we are both slowly improving as each day goes by. Kate, Arj and family fly up from Melbourne on Tuesday so Trish is planning to do a little shopping today after her Stitchers Club this morning.

Bit Of A Blow!

The wind continues to blow a bit of a gale up here giving us some quick sharp showers. There are quite a few clouds about and the temp struggles to get into the high 20's. I took this from the King's Beach Webcam (see link on the right) and gives you an idea of what it is like beachside right now. Remember you can click on the picture for a bigger view, then on "Back" to return to this page.

But that is not the only blow we have had. Trish made a comment this morning as to whether or not I had heard a sound yesterday as the delivery truck backed up our drive to deliver the new washing machine. My cold meant my hearing was even worse than it usually is and I hadn't heard a thing. I checked the roof guttering out and saw this!

The truck appears to have hit the guttering. Trish says she noticed the truck go forward and then reverse back up the drive again. By the time I got there I was impressed on how well the driver had reversed up the drive just missing the roof! Apparently he had two goes at that, the first go had seen him nudge the guttering.

A call to the store today has seen the owner get back to me saying they would cover any costs to have it repaired and for me to chase up costs and get back to them. Can't ask much more than that can I?

Still Have Sniffles On Monday!

Trish and I still have our colds and we both feel pretty blocked up! We have both decided not to ride the last few mornings in case it makes our colds worse. I think at long last I am beginning to improve. I did not bother with the Computer Club on Saturday. I did not want to be breathing and spreading my germs around others.

Upon our return from 'down south' Trish has had a fair bit of washing to catch up on. Our washing machine is a little over five years old and has been working fine. However the spin cycle sounds a little like a Tiger Moth Aircraft warming up on the tarmac at the moment. We managed to get a few loads through but the noisy spin cycle did not improve.

It costs up $100 just for someone to come and look at it at this stage though there are some 'freebies' around who will look for nothing. I rang a few repair guys and the consensus was the problem was most likely bearings. The seals had broken and water had seeped in causing the bearings to rust and run noisily. Repair costs were estimated anywhere between $250 and $300!

We bit the bullet and bought a new one, a bottom of the range front loading machine. The Queensland Government subsidizes water efficient washing machines with a $200 cash rebate. When you add this to the expected bill of about $300 for repairs, I was $500 in front before I started. The new machine was delivered and installed. Then it was time to fill in the Warranty details and of course they wanted the serial number which was on the back of the 'installed' machine. Trish drew the short straw and slid in behind a partially moved washing machine to recover the serial number!

Not good for your back!

Back On The Sunshine Coast

Wednesday in Melbourne was quiet, giving us a chance to complete a few final things which needed doing at the last moment. Kate took Charli to a "PlaySchool" concert so we looked after James. He has developed a cold too (just like Trish and me) so was a little on the miserable side.

Our final favorite eatery The Palms was the scene for a last evening meal together. Kate, Arj and Family joined us and Kim as we headed off for one last feast! As I have said before about The Palms, it is a collection of 5 small Indian and Malaysian businesses selling hawker style food in an air conditioned hall. There is table service available. You head off to your 'favorite' vendor and order what you want. A few minutes later it arrives at the table ready to enjoy. This photo looks to one end of the hall and shows the Sri Lankan Vegetarian and the Indian vendors.

James isn't too sure what chopsticks are for but he knows they have something to do with going in your mouth!

We arrived back at Kilbride Crt on the Sunshine Coast after a 2 hour flight mid afternoon on Thursday, very tired. It has been a hectic 9 days or so and we saw so many people this trip, more than we usually do. It was lots of fun for us. An early evening meal, a movie and then bed!

This morning Friday was time to get the washing machine into operation. We both have our 'normal' cold following a trip to Melbourne and feeling a little the worse for wear. A few days rest and we will be fine. Trish has gone to Quilters Club today.

Almost Time To Fly Home

As Predicted, Monday was stinking hot getting to over 38 degrees. The Family BBQ at Kim's unit was put on hold till late afternoon which proved to be an excellent idea. Some of the family went to the nearby beach for a quick swim. When it is 38 in Melbourne there is usually a strong north wind and Monday was no different. The beach was not a comfortable place to be so they were back early. In true Melbourne style a cool change blew in late in the day sending the temperature tumbling to the low 20's. No wonder I have a bit of a cold!

The BBQ was great and it was good to have the family (and others as some extras came along too) together. We had plenty to eat and the kids had a great time.

On Tuesday I spent much of the day helping a friend Jan with her computer. She is getting involved with downloading movies. I copied most of my downloaded movies to her add on drive and then we were able to get Utorrent up and running. She was amazed at what stuff was available for torrent downloads.

That night we caught up with other friends for a meal at Malaysia Garden. I first met the two friends seen here enjoying 'Malaysia Garden Fish' in Kuala Lumpur when organizing an ISSE school exchange between Australia and Malaysia. They were best friends there. Now Gerry (the fair lady wearing a black top in this photo) has her two daughters studying here at Universities in Melbourne from Malaysia so had flown out for a quick 'shopping' visit. Maree and husband Cyril have moved to live in Melbourne from KL. Both their husbands (Billy and Cyril) had met while studying in England years ago. Cyril regularly commutes from Melbourne to KL where he continues to run his legal business.

It was a great night as we relived old times and caught up on each other's family news. It has been some time since we had seen Gerry and we were lucky to catch her in Melbourne while we were 'down south' too.

A quieter day is in store today as we finalize things prior to flying home tomorrow. I have a cold but it is improving, Trish has a sore throat and baby James is a bit miserable too. Tonight we are off to "The Palms" (another Asian eatery) for tea with the family.

Rainy's 50th Birthday Party

After rising a little later on Saturday morning after a hectic Friday, we set off to Fountain Gate Shopping Centre for a couple of 'requirements'. Two "Gelseat seat covers", one for each of our bikes, and a few other oddments later we returned to home. That afternoon I watched some cricket at two of my former stamping grounds and caught up with some friends from years ago before returning to Berwick to get ready to drive to Drouin for Rainy's 50th birthday, the main reason for a trip to Melbourne.

The party was lots of fun and had a 'bad taste' theme. We gave Rainy a pastel framed drawing of her dog which was professionally drawn by another of our friends Anne Atkin. The night was a trip down memory lane catching up with friends from over the previous 35 years! We saw former neighbours and others. Good friends Russell and Irene were there as was my friend and financial advisor John Logan. The recent sharemarket downturn meant John was doing it tough with all of his customers undergoing losses. He takes their financial problems as his own personal problems so is feeling the stress of the situation.

There was lots of drinking, eating, chatting, singing happy birthday and laughing all night. We got to bed (we slept at our hosts home) at 2:30 am while some others continued to party on. There were some great outfits worn by guests. We were up and at it again by 9 am on Sunday, once again with a cool beer in hand! I am getting a bit old for this sort of thing! However it was great fun.

The weather was perfect, low 20's until after midnight when it began to cool off a little more.


We drove back to Berwick mid afternoon ready for another good night's sleep! We have a family get together planned for tomorrow (a public holiday in Victoria) and a high of 35 degrees is expected!

Vietnamese

Friday morning Trish and I were baby sitting again. It was my job to take Charli to daycare while Trish looked after James. Kate visited her school where she worked out what she would be doing when she returns to work next term, two days per week.

From there it was to a 'late lunch' with Eddie and his lovely wife Patsy. Eddie was my 'principal' when I taught at a school near where we lived in Victoria. We have always got on very well and this friendship has continued into both our retirements. Eddie was caught up early in the day with elderly relatives which was then complicated with running grandchildren around. We decided on a 2:30 late Vietnamese lunch.

We were a little early getting to the Restaurant in Springvale so we popped into the market to purchase some Asian spices. This shopping complex is quite unbelievable, for all intents and purposes you would imagine that you are back in Saigon in Vietnam. This is a mixed business within the shopping centre while the photo below shows a butcher's produce on display for sale. Click on the pictures for a larger view!


But the best spot of all is the Fish market. Most forms of seafood are available from this shop. All sorts of shell fish, crabs, oysters, prawns, octopus and varieties of fish I had never even heard of. There were fish heads for fish head soup, everything you could think of was available to buy!

Then we met with Eddie and Patsy for a scrumptious Vietnamese meal. Here we are enjoying Vietnamese Spring Rolls, furthest away. Beside that is salt and pepper squid and nearest the camera is spicy pork. Later we had Spicy Ginger and Lemon Grass chicken and Hokkien Fried Rice!

Upon our arrival back at Berwick we were greeted by two more friends June and Keith who had popped in for quick chat and a few drinks. Kate and Arj left us with the two kids while they headed into the city to see a concert by an international pop group "Toto".

Trish and I will sleep very well tonight!

Thursday In Melbourne

We flew from the Sunshine Coast to Melbourne (about 2000ks) on Tuesday where we were collected from the airport by our daughter in law Wendy and driven to their (Wendy and Chris) home nearby to Tullamarine Airport. Our youngest daughter Kim arrived about 5 pm after we had spent a couple of hours catching up with grandkids Andrew and Emily and swapping news.

After a great meal (not good for the cholesterol but tasted yummy) Kim drove us to the other side of the city to the home of our eldest daughter Kate and her husband Arj. Despite getting there about 9pm our other two grandchildren Charli and James were soon up and about catching up with their grandparents. We slept well that night.

Wednesday saw me straight to the Camera Store to purchase the Kodak Z812, I was even more pleased when they threw in a portable battery charger and 2AA rechargeable batteries! I also hunted around and bought a 2GB SD Card and a camera case. Wednesday was also Trish's 21st?? birthday (again) and I bought her a recent Vicar Of Dibley DVD.

Wednesday afternoon I went around to a former teaching colleague's home to help out with some of her computer needs. I had a great time there!

Then Wednesday night it was to our favorite eating haunt when in Melbourne, Malaysia Garden! It was sensational! Charli loves the chicken curry and rice (and later the icecream) nearly as much as the trains which go past every 15 minutes or so. James just smiled and had a ball too! Remember to click on the photos for a larger view then "Back" to return to this page.



The Spicy Milky prawns (photo left) were sensational so we ordered two serves! We also had Char Koay Teow and a roti! All mouth watering stuff and washed down with a few ales and a sensational red wine, an Annie's Lane Shiraz!

Thursday morning saw Trish and me catch up with friends Carol and David in the morning then we called in on former teaching colleagues Gordon and Anne. A few quiet ales together made for a pleasant afternoon.

A stay at home night for dinner Thursday before catching up with further friends Eddie and Patsy Riordan for a late Vietnamese lunch on Friday! We are baby-sitting Friday night.

Heading South

Tomorrow we fly to Melbourne. I will be taking the laptop with me and I will be continuing with my Blog Page while away.

We are considering a new camera to take away overseas with us later this year. We don't want to spend heaps but find the current digital camera I have is great for nearby shots but not so good on the long range shots, especially when you have to zoom in on a subject.

I saw this camera, a Kodak Z812 IS while surfing the internet. Its recommended price is $500 but Ted's Cameras are selling them for $299. It seemed too good to be true so I rang the store and they confirmed that the price was right and that was the model of camera!

It is 8MP and has a 12x optical zoom. It gets a pretty good write up from some of the camera review web sites! We think it should complement what we already have and the pricing looks fantastic.

'Google' Kodak Z812 and have a look at the write ups it gets!

A Bit Of Broadband Connection Speed Fun

Many people know about "Speedtest" and use this service to check their broadband 'speed'



You can easily check your broadband speed by going to http://www.speedtest.net/ as I have done here.

My broadband speed is 441kbs download and 104kbs upload on this test.

Just follow the instructions there and (I chose their 'recommended' server) see your results.

My Internet Service provider is Netspace and my ADSL plan is 512kbs download and 128kbs upload. The further you are away from the telephone exchange, the more your speed 'suffers'. We are a fair way from the exchange so our speed is a little slower than the maximum.

I notice that when we go to Melbourne and we hook into ADSL down there, my download speed is faster as the connection I access is closer to the local exchange down there.

It is a bit of fun, check your speed out and see how you go!

Sunshine Coast Computer Club

Today I attended another get together of the Sunshine Coast Computer Club. It is a bit of fun and a great chance to swap expertise. Each day they have several "Tutorials" on various subjects and usually at a pretty basic level. Today's tutorials were on "Finding Your way around Windows", another was on Irfanview (a free downloadable program for looking at your pictures and photos) and the third was on Free Anti Virus and Anti Spyware programs. The last presenter is very worried about viruses and is especially down on anything to do with Microsoft.

The hall is roughly divided into four sections, one for Tutorials and another for members who are users of Linux (a free alternative operating system you can use instead of Windows - Vista, XP, '98 etc). A photo of the tutorials section is above left while the Linux Fans can be seen to the left.

The section you can see to the left here is a "Graphics Section" Here people will help you with manipulating photographs or help you with things such as scanning slides. It is empty right now as most people have headed off to take in the Tutorial. The equipment (scanner and laptop computer) are supplied by the Club and are freely available for use by members.

There is another "general section" where someone will take you aside and run through any sort of problem or "How To" that you want. Again the laptops are provided by the Computer Club. The last photo here to the left is a group interested in a program called "Pinnacle" which enables users to manipulate video files. You may have some video files you have created on a video camera or even as a movie on your digital camera. Pinnacle enables you to edit the movie, join it all together and then create a DVD. It also allows you to edit the film's soundtrack (or to add a background music soundtrack).

Generally programs such as Pinnacle, or Paint Shop Pro XII can be purchased at a very attractive price. Unfortunately my favorite computer topic "Pirated Software" is strictly forbidden!

An Oldie But A Good One!

You will need to click on this for a larger view! Then remember to hit "Back" to return to this page.