A Very Busy Few Days

It has been flat out here at the Thomas household. The weather can only be described as sensational though a little hazy. Most days have seen temps in the mid to high 20's with lows around the low teens. This isn't good for the pool as any warmth gained during the day is lost during the coolness of overnight.

Trish's footy team had a great win on Friday night so they go ahead to this week's Preliminary Finals. On Sunday friends Eddie and Patsy arrived from where they had been holidaying with friends on the Gold Coast. Eddie is into his mid 70's now and is slowing down (thank heavens). He has recently had a hip replaced as well making him even less 'dangerous'.

We had a marvellous time with them. Patsy has just got a new phone exactly the same as mine and on exactly the same plan. Patsy is more technologically inclined than Eddie. Patsy and I had a great time sorting out email, wi-fi connections, camera, and apps. We found great apps such as Shazam, a few games, Tunein and a thing called Bar Code Reader. They are really sensational little hand held computers.

As we each discovered something new we would rush off to share our new found discovery with each other. Remember you can click on each of these photos for a larger view. Then click on the "Cross" in the top right hand corner to return to this page.

Throughout the time together we enjoyed lovely food, a few drinks and each other's company very much. On Monday we did a tour of the Hinterland and finished up at the Mapleton Hotel for lunch. As you can see mobile phones were the major focus of the whole three days they were here. The flathead tails for lunch we sensational and filling. The view from the hotel veranda was exquisite.

It is a delightful spot.

After a wonderful lunch (and a couple of drinks) we were back in the car and heading to "The Mapleton Falls". The viewing platform is suspended above the valley and the Falls would be spectacular after rain. The small creek feeding the falls has some glorious small pools of water like the one in this photo.

We arrived back at our home late afternoon. Needless to say Patsy and I again were 'playing' on our phones. However I did manage to keep one eye on the cricket from Sri Lanka on TV.

Before they headed back to the Gold Coast this morning (Tuesday) we had a short drive to the beach here at Caloundra. The photo here shows Eddie and Patsy again engrossed in their phones.

Patsy has the smart phone while Eddie even started to explore his older "Nokia" and worked out using the camera. There are some 'free' Wi Fi spots by the beach and Patsy and I tried to get onto them.

Being School Holiday here in Queensland meant there were lots of holiday makers enjoying the beautiful sunshine and the attraction of the beach. It does look inviting doesn't it? Trish missed this as she was scheduled to work at the Tourist Info Centre this morning.

All good things must come to an end so they jumped in their hire car and headed back their other friends on the Gold Coast. Patsy was all fired up to show Marion and Peter what the new phone can do!

Finally a couple of my purchases from China have started to arrive. I now have decent bell for my bike, a bell that sounds like a bike bell! The bell that came with the bike is OK but not the usual recognisable sounding bell!

And I received a couple of "Pool Thermometres" too. The one you can see here comes in at $3-50 each delivered to my home. It seems the pool temp today is around 20.5 degrees, still a little cool for swimming! The temp showing on the digital readout is what it was under our back pergola.

I still have some new accessories for my phone to arrive over the next few days as well. These include a leather case and a plastic protective backing case for the phone and a couple of in-car phone chargers. Yesterday I jumped onto eBay and ordered a silicon phone case and a phone protective screen cover as well. The dearest of these items is less than $4.00!

I also expect to get an email in the next day or so saying my "Internet Radio" is on its way too.