The Boot Is Now On The Other Foot

On December 31st we were in Melbourne and my blog entry headline for that day was "Melbourne Freezes While Caloundra Boils". Today the boot is well and truly on the other foot. Here at Caloundra we are expecting a relatively pleasant 30 degrees while in Melbourne they are expecting another 43 degrees to follow on from yesterday's maximum 43.6 degrees (110+ degrees in Texas!). They are expecting 40+ degree days also for the next two days! This photo is from a Melbourne online newspaper, The Herald Sun. Read more about the current conditions in Melbourne here.

Evaporative cooling is the most common means of cooling a home down there and this usually keeps the temperature up to 10 degrees cooler than outside (18 degrees Fahrenheit). So if it is 43 outside, it is 33 (91F) inside! However several really hot days in a row makes the 10 degrees difference unachievable. Units such as the one here are placed on the house roof and direct cool air to all rooms and they only work in areas of Australia which have low humidity.

While we complain about how hot it is here, Sweetwater Texas had sleet overnight last night and awoke to temperatures of -10 degrees. I think there are some people who would swap with you Lou Ann!

Since my last post I have done a bottling. The photo shows 1 teaspoon of sugar being added to each bottle before being filled. This sugar completes the fermentation and gives the beer it fizz and head. Trish did a half day at the Tourist Info Centre as a volunteer. Then on Wednesday she went to Stitchery. She has her Quilting session tomorrow and I have Computer Club on Saturday. In between it is watching the cricket or tennis on TV or grabbing a swim in the pool! My computer gets some time devoted to it too.

As with many older people we have quite a collection of slide photographs. We lashed out and bought a small slide scanner which converts slides into digital pictures on your computer. The coloring isn't always that good and as these slides are now over 30 years old they are beginning to fade anyway. It turns out a good quality slide copies well to the PC, a poor slide (too dark, color faded) doesn't copy well. This is a scene from Telok Bahang (a fishing village) when we lived in Penang 30 years ago!

Router Problem Solved

I had told my computer (via settings I had made) that whenever it wanted to get on the internet it had to do so via the Billion Brand router and had to go through a certain 'address' or 'gateway' (the address of the Billion router is http://192.168.1.254/).

Most computers are set to go to whichever address or gateway is available. Therefore the D-Link router wouldn't connect to the internet because the address or gateway is different. The D-Link is http://10.1.1.1/

Once I changed addresses to 'automatic' everything worked fine.

To give a computer its 'own' address rather than automatically find its address is needed for P2P file sharing!

Australia Day

The weather has remained hot and humid the last few days with some welcome rain overnight and into Friday morning. Then on Friday night the weather radar showed this small heavy shower of rain right over Caloundra. This obviously developed as we had quite heavy rain overnight Friday with a very welcome 31 mls (about 1 1/4 inches) in the gauge Saturday morning. With a day which was always going to be hot and humid, this overnight rain made for an exceptionally sticky day on Saturday. For much of the day the humidity level remained in the 70's.

We had been promising to go out with new neighbours for a few months and out we all did go on Saturday night to our favorite "Spirit Of Tibet". We all enjoyed the night, the food and the company very much. The weather was perfect (quite warm) for sitting poolside and enjoying a few more drinks when we arrived back home about 10 pm. It did not take long till the warm weather and the alcohol gave way to the lure of the pool. It was sobering to hit the water at about 11 pm as you can see. Andy is enjoying a relax in the pool.

Trish had warned me about mixing drinks etc Saturday night and this was the case on Sunday. I hardly budged from my chair in front of the tennis on TV.

I bought a new router early November last year. It has been running for nearly 3 months now and is as solid as a rock. However we continue to have a couple of hassles with the Voip phone calls when people ring us. Just after I installed the new router I updated the firmware on the previous router, a DLink. You can adjust the settings in routers through Internet Explorer or Firefox. This was possibly the first time I had restarted the old router from 'cold' with the new upgrade and I can't get into it to adjust settings. Right now it won't let me get on the internet either. Possibly the upgrade didn't work properly so now it may have to go in to DLink to be reformatted.

Today is Australia Day. It celebrates the day Captain Arthur Phillip landed at Botany Bay with the First Fleet in 1788 and claimed Australia (New South Wales as Capt Cook had named it) for the British Empire. It has become a day of immense national pride with celebrations all over the country. However not all Australians celebrate Australia Day, the indigenous aborigines see it more as Invasion Day when they lost their country to the invader. In this country aborigines have only had the right to vote for about 40 years. There is some talk of changing Australia Day to another day of the year so it truly reflects a day of celebration for all Australians.

Today is also a big National day in India.

Back On My Bike

With my head cold well and truly on the improve it was time to get back on the bike. Currently the weather here is from the north east, right off the tropical Coral Sea. Therefore it is full of moisture and rain is forecast over the next couple of days. January is usually the wettest month of the year for the Sunshine Coast but this year has been relatively dry by comparison. However the humidity made for a hot and sticky 11 km bike ride this morning so the pool was great to come home to.

I got another dozen or so movies off a mate the other day, now I have 90 to see! I don't know if that will happen!

With tennis (The Australian Open) and cricket on the TV, it is hard to find time even to have a swim. It must be near time to bottle my home brew too again I guess.

TV in Australia was full of the inauguration of the new US President Barack Obama. The coverage was on at 2 AM here so most of us did not see it live. However it was the main headline story on all the news coverages.

My RR (Regular Reader) from Texas sent me this email. I hope she doesn't mind me printing it here but I think it reflects the views of many of us downunder. It will be a pleasant change not to see the first response to an issue be heavy handed and use force. The world may well be a safer place from now on.

"I plan to stay home all day and be semi-glued to my television. This is a most historic day in our country, and I want to see all of it that I can. There are many of us in this country that hope that things will become better for us and the world from this day onward. In my 74 years, I have never seen the United States held in such little esteem by the rest of the world. Our patriotic spirit has been beaten down. We now have some hope for the future."

Thanks "Texas Lou".

Trish and I have booked airfares for a trip down to Melbourne for late August to enjoy a 60th birthday with a good friend. Because we booked so far ahead we were able to get incredibly cheap fares. Total cost for both of us to fly down to Melbourne and then back to the Sunshine Coast is $226!

These are with Tiger Airways a local budget airline and subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. Check out their website and fly up and stay with us for a while!

TV Sport

My head cold has greatly improved with now just a few sniffles and a bit of a blocked nose. Sunday was remarkably cool here for this time of the year. Most of the day was around 24 degrees and overcast. Today it is back to sunny and it is about 28 degrees outside. Yesterday it was cricket on TV, today (and for the next couple of weeks) it is tennis as the Australian Open moves into full swing!

Today was a bottle washing day after I put a brew on recently. I wasn't brave enough to head out for a ride this morning with my head cold.

There isn't much more news, the weather is great, the tennis is tempting as is the pool for later on this afternoon.

Tomorrow is a movie swapping day with a mate bringing his hard disk drive around. He has about a dozen or so movies he has downloaded which I will get from him. He will go through my stuff and grab anything that he thinks he might want.

Some of yesterday was spent on the phone as our daughter Kim went from shop to shop looking for a big screen TV. Eventually she bought a full HD 32" Samsung LCD with which she is delighted! The picture quality and 'extras' are just incredible!

Cold In The Middle Of Summer's Heat

Just before Kate, Arj and the family headed back to Melbourne I had experienced a bit of a sore throat. I guessed it had been caused by some alcohol induced snoring one night so I didn't pay any attention to it. It seemed to disappear as the day wore on anyway so what the worry!

I noticed I was a little throaty on Wednesday morning but this cleared up as the day went on. Thursday I awoke with a slight sniffly nose but by the evening it was evident I had a nasty head cold. Thursday night wasn't much fun and I awoke Friday morning to find a pile of tissues beside the bed! Most of Friday was spent the same way, surrounded by tissues and empty tissue boxes. The Cold tablets I dug out of the cupboard weren't having much effect at all. I felt terrible!

This morning (Saturday) I still get watery eyes from time to time but I no longer need to carry tissues around with me 24 hours a day! However I feel a bit like I have been hit with a truck! I decided to give this week's Computer Club meeting a miss.

I bought a cheap circular saw with a $50 voucher I had received as a Kris Kringle gift. I have never owned one before and I don't have a lot of use for it. But the few times I would need a saw this will be a priceless gift! Thanks Kris Kringle (C & D).

I have found another "Movie Catalogue" program on the internet and I have been playing around with it. I like to visit IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base) to check on any movies I wish to download. IMDB gives each movie a viewer's rating and these can be a good guide to the quality of the show. One movie I downloaded (Resurrection Mary) had a great score of 7/10. However as the votes rolled in I discovered the rating had fallen to 4.3/10. I wouldn't have bothered downloading it if I knew it was that bad. Slumdog Millionaire (which I had downloaded and we watched the other night) get 8.6!

Tidy Up and Catch Up Time

Yesterday Trish drove Kate, Arj and family to the Sunshine Coast Airport and they winged their way home to Melbourne which was experiencing a stinker of a day with temps nearing 37 degrees (almost 100 Texas Lou). The kids were asleep before they reached the local airport!

Our house has had a quick tidy up, the floors have had a quick going over, finger marks have been rubbed off the widescreen TV and windows. Remote controls are appearing again on table tops as are magazines, photographs and decorations. Doors to the computer room and the garage can now be left open safely. Glasses of drinks can again be left safely near the edge of the table without fear of them being reached for and spilt. The cordless phone has been returned to the low table near where Trish sits rather than high up away from prying little hands on the kitchen bench. Blow up pool toys have been deflated and put away, sand has been washed off the beach toys and pool safety gates can be left open for a short while.

Bits of potato crisps and biscuits and bread have been swept from under the pergola and about 10 beach towels have been washed and put away till next time! The pavers under the pergola have been pressure washed and have come up quite well despite a liberal smattering of Vegemite and peanut butter!

Last night Trish and I collapsed into bed about 9:30 pm!

Today I bottled a brew and the rest of the time has been spent rearranging things back to normal.

I continue to have a ball with the media player discovering new things it can do with each 'play'. We now have about 80 movies to watch, all stored on the external disk drive. They have been catalogued with all the movie information stored on the laptop for easy access just before viewing time.

Tomorrow it will be mow the lawns after another good sleep tonight! Trish is trying to read a book right now, but she is having trouble keeping her eyes open.

Just beginning To Tire Now!

It is great having Kate, Arj and family here with us. They have had a great time, swimming, eating, sleeping, walking, swimming and more eating! However the 5 am daily wake up that James goes through is just beginning to show on Trish and I now! There has been plenty of swimming etc, but not quite enough sleeping!

Most days the kids head to the beach then back home to the pool, something to eat and then James has a sleep. Charli needs a sleep but she won't give in! Charli battles the tiredness and becomes just a little irritable later in the afternoons. Kate and Arj enjoyed the movie "Australia" but were not really going overboard about it. On Saturday evening we had a meal at the RSL. Charli and James both loved the guy singing and playing the guitar.

This morning we had an ultralight aircraft fly overhead. This was something quite new for James and he was quite fixed on the strange thing in the sky for sometime. I put in an 11km bike ride this morning and just collapsed in the pool afterwards to recover. Both Arj and I were a little the worse for wear this morning. We watched the cricket on telly after our BBQ tea but we had enjoyed a few refreshing drinks during the afternoon.

Later on this morning we all headed down to the "Sea Water Pool" at King's Beach. James just loves the water and he is seen here making his own way about at the pool. Arj (below) was still feeling the effects of the previous day and took some time to relax!


As you can see there was a good surf running today. There is a "King Tide" due as well and this assisted in the seas being as big as they were. King's Beach was well packed with holiday makers enjoying the large waves. Life Savers both here on the Sunshine Coast as well as the Gold Coast to the south have been kept busy rescuing unsuspecting swimmers who get caught in 'rips' and get carried out to sea.

As most of you know, I download movies off the internet then burn them to a DVD disk and we watch them whenever we want. Recently there have been some great movies to download and we have been busy watching them. Most of them are no where near DVD quality but most are quite watchable. I saw this unit (left) advertised recently in a catalog. It is a WD TV HD Media Player. I had a 'spare' 160Gb external hard disk drive sitting in the cupboard. It can be loaded up with movies (straight off the internet), photos and music and then it is plugged straight into the Media Player. The Media Player is then connected to my AV Receiver and everything can be played back over the TV. The photos look just fantastic, the movies are as good in quality as when I get them off the net and it is great having much of my music readily available for playback. The unit measure about 4" x 4" and is a very nifty addition to our entertainment setup.

Bottle Washing

A task which usually takes me less than hour to do, today took almost an hour and a half thanks to the help I received from Charli and James. The brew was made on Wednesday but thanks to the great warm weather, it is brewing quickly. Therefore it was a time to wash the bottles ready for the bottling.

Charli and James both wanted to help. Hopefully bottling the brew in the next day or so will be less stressful for me!

Kate and Arj are off to see the movie "Australia" so we are left to babysit. Though it is only mid morning as I type, James has already headed off for his mid day sleep!

A Warm Welcome Home To The Sunshine Coast.

On Tuesday we flew back home to the Sunshine Coast and the grand kids. The freeway traffic to the Melbourne Airport was busy but fast moving and then with the assistance of Chris, we arrived in plenty of time to catch our flight.

Since returning home the days have been sunny and warm but never overly hot. Most mornings has seen the group (minus me as the car only safely carries 5 and there are 6 of us) head to the beach before it gets too hot and too busy. They all return at about 10 am and head straight for the pool! I am usually strategically placed in front of the TV enjoying the cricket!

Fish and Chips for tea one night beside the beach was a thrill for us all, just so pleasant. I managed to get a 'brew' on one morning and had some expert advice on how the brew was looking from 18 month old James. He seems to have a 'nose' for Home Brew as you can see.

The pool has been the highlight for the kids but it has its downside too. They love it so much and expend so much energy that come 4 pm they are grumpy and exhausted. This tends to make getting them ready for bed a priority!

Yesterday afternoon we all went to a great playground area nearby for a quiet hour. The kids loved the swings and the climbing equipment. However the train seen here was a real buzz for them.

While in Melbourne I discovered Netspace (my Internet Service Provider) had changed its procedures for allowing subscribers to easily send emails when travelling. This service has now stopped. Therefore it became a real bugbear for me to easily send emails. I had to log into website and hunt around for email addresses after uploading them and then send emails that way!

Hopefully now I am at home I can send emails easily again.

Thoughts Turn To Heading Home Tomorrow.

The cricket is back on the TV so there is always something to do. The weather in Melbourne has remained cool while Caloundra no longer sizzles. Up north yesterday was a lot cooler with wet weather. These holiday makers did not seem to be minding the cooler conditions.

I caught up with a teaching colleague yesterday afternoon for a chat and a couple of beers. Gordon is keen on the cricket too so we kept an eye on it as the day progressed. Then last night we caught up with another former colleague and his wife (Eddie and Patsy) for a great meal at Malaysia Garden, our favorite restaurant down here. It was a great inexpensive meal!

Today sees some washing getting done, sheets, towels etc so everything will be right for Kate and family when they get back home in a week or so. We hope to be on our way tomorrow morning by 7:15 am to ensure we are at the Melbourne Airport in plenty of time for our flight. The Airport is about 80kms (50 miles) from here and tomorrow will be the first day back at work for many people. Hopefully the freeway traffic will be OK.

We should arrive back on the Sunshine Coast about lunchtime!

A Catching Up Day

This morning, (Saturday) is a brisk bright sunny morning as you can see from this photo with an expected temp of about 24 degrees. Yesterday, Friday started out a cold miserable day but as sometimes can happen here in Melbourne, the day did improve to a pleasant sunny afternoon. Trish's had a series of photos to pass on to her sister in law Lois from her last trip down to Melbourne in November. We dropped in there for a couple of hours to make the delivery. Lois had been disappointed that a movie her daughter had brought back from the USA on a recent trip would not play in their DVD player. USA is Region 1 while Australia is Region 4. In many cases, DVD players are restricted to only play DVD's from 'their' country.

However there is a website (click here to visit it) where you can find a series of instructions on how to make most DVD players Region Free, that is enable the player to play any movie from anywhere in the world. In no time we managed to unlock the DVD player and play the USA Region 1 movie.

I also did a bit of stuff on their PC so they can easily access my blog page!

From there it was to St Kilda to visit our daughter Kim. We sat in the sun and enjoyed a few drinks before heading into Acland St St Kilda for a wonderful Malaysian meal. We arrived home late and slept well.

Things are cooling off a touch up north in Caloundra with some rain and a cooler change arriving late yesterday. This just means the top temp will be in the high 20's rather than low 30's. You can still swim and do all the outdoor things you want to do. Yesterday the kids went to the Kings Beach Sea Pool and cooled off as you can see here.

The cricket from Sydney (Australia Vs Sth Africa) starts this morning so I am planning on a bit of TV watching. I will visit a mate this afternoon and then later it is our favorite restaurant, Malaysia Garden for tea with friends Eddie and Patsy!

Modern Day Cameras

Wonderful things these cameras today! The shot here in no way conveys the cool overcast gloomy day we are experiencing right now. The temp is set to struggle to 20 degrees today (low 70's Lou) and we have had scudding showers and an icy wind during the morning. The heater is running again and we are dressed in our winter clothes and rugged up inside! It is under 15 degrees and to head outside right now is not an option! And remember, it is meant to be mid summer here!

We had a quiet day yesterday which is probably what we needed. We are catching up with one of Trish's relatives today so she had a few photos printed off yesterday from one of the few shops open at the local shopping centre.

Then mid afternoon we are due to meet up with our daughter Kim in St Kilda and then grab something with her to eat for dinner!

Meanwhile Kate and family are 'camped' near the air conditioner or in the pool up in Caloundra. It continues to sizzle up there with low 30's and humidity over 70%.

The car we keep here is really playing up and does not like to change gears. It is reasonable if it is driven carefully and not put under any strain. That the problem has worsened so quickly and that it has been running perfectly when we first arrived makes me think something in the automatic transmission has stopped working and that part needs replacing rather than a slowly emerging problem indicating a worn pressure plate.

We are using Kate's car exclusively now and tending to drive a lot less than if we were in our own vehicle.

After my post yesterday about New Year's Eve I received an email from Lou Ann in Texas. While we were in recovery mode on New Year's Day, in Texas it was still afternoon New Year's Eve. They were going to spend a quiet NYE, babysitting!

Last night Trish and I watched a movie I had downloaded called "Crank". It was a tongue in the cheek thriller which I enjoyed. It wasn't Trish's up of tea though!

Happy New Year To All

New Years Eve was reasonably quiet for us in downtown Berwick near Melbourne in Victoria. During the day the weather got to a mild 24 but this doesn't give the true picture what the day was like. Most of it was overcast with a cool blustery wind making conditions winter like for us. Late in the afternoon the clouds cleared and the sun shone through giving the temp a quick rise to 24. Meanwhile back home on the Sunshine Coast, things continue to sizzle with extremely hot weather. This photo was taken from the Brisbane daily newspaper and shows last night's crowds welcoming in the New Year. As you can see, many are in the pools which are beside the Brisbane River at Southbank.

Last night we went to a combined birthday/New Year's Eve party at Langwarrin where I had been a school principal. Two of the parents we got along well with were celebrating a December and a January birthday. So a New Year's Eve party with a 60's theme was the best way to combine all the celebrating. This photo shows the two birthday bodies Jan and Terry along with two of the kids Trish and I took to India well over 10 years ago now. Daniel (the guy dressed as Jimmy Hendrix) was then the "School Captain". Poor Kim didn't give much of a smile in this one so I have included the second (and more flattering) photo below. And I must add, she is wearing a 'hair piece' as a part of her 60's theme dressing up.

It was a good night and we enjoyed ourselves. The weather was a little on the cool side for us though. We travelled back 'home' over midnight and enjoyed the fireworks which lit up the night sky to welcome in the New Year.

Another R and R day for us today.