Home Again

We have arrived safely back home at Caloundra after 18 nights away with family and friends in Melbourne.  We have managed to bring some of Melbourne's rain with us as overnight we had 18mls of rain, the first recording in the rain gauge since July 19th.  That is almost 9 weeks without rain.  As we drove home from Maroochydore Airport all the grass was yellow and many trees were in distress.  It was quite surprising.  With a few more showers it won't take long until everything is green again.  Despite the long dry spell we are still around 600mls (24") above the total rainfall we average for a full year.

Back in Melbourne things were a little busy when we awoke Sunday morning.  Kate and Arj were in Brisbane and Trish and I were baby sitting (more Trish than I).  Trish always likes to tidy things up before leaving so there were loads of washing to do, a quick vacuum, sort out the kids and our bags to pack.

All four of us drove to Kim's for lunch in Kate's car.  Kim's small flat overlooks St Kilda beach, The Palais and Luna Park.  It is a great spot with so much within easy walking distance.  We were joined by one of Trish's brothers, Billy who was after some family documentation Trish had brought with her at his request.  It was great to see him and catch up.  A 'cheap' lunch at a local Malaysian restaurant followed.  James and Charli devoured a couple of plates of Coconut Rice while the grownups had Nasi Goreng, Char Koway Teow, Chicken Curry and Beef Rendang.  No one was hungry afterwards!

We farewelled Billy and left Kim's for Chris' where we would spend the night before transferring to Tullamarine Airport for our 2+ hour flight home first thing Monday morning.  We spent quality time with Chris and family and were joined by Kim for a BBQ.  Kate and Arj flew in from Brisbane around 8:30 pm (the school aerobics teams won a gold and a silver) where Trish met them in their car, was dropped back at Chris' and they headed homewards to Berwick with two exhausted youngsters asleep in their car seats.

Monday morning was an early start with Chris wanting to beat the heavy Monday morning airport traffic.  As a result we arrived at the airport soon after 7 am for our 10 am flight.  We had a bite to eat and lounged about waiting.  The plane was delayed around 20 minutes while a disabled boy was loaded on board and then we had to wait for an appropriate seat belt to be delivered.  Because we were so early at Tullamarine our bag was loaded on first but loaded off last at Maroochydore! 

Our arrival back at our home in Caloundra saw a cooler change come through and it wasn't long until we were searching for tack suits and slippers.

As you can guess most of my afternoon was spent transferring files collected in Melbourne on Trish's laptop to my 'big' computer and in turn to the media player.  As the computer hadn't been turned on for 18 days, some of the time was spent 'updating'.  All my backing up from the laptop worked perfectly.

We enjoyed a very light evening meal! Remember to click on all photos for a larger view, then click on the "X" to return to this page.

After a couple of good detective shows on the Media Player (A Mother's Son and a new episode of Inspector George Gently) bed was a welcome spot.

Tuesday morning saw me on the road at 6 am into Caloundra for a Blood Test.  I have an appointment with the cardiologist early next week and he wants to check my cholesterol.  After two weeks in Melbourne the level may well be well up on usual!

Needless to say I needed to put a brew on first thing this morning after getting back home from the blood test.

We are into spring, the humidity is rising and the pool needs preparing for the summer and other cleaning jobs are lining up to be done.  With the overnight rain and more showers predicted, lawn mowing will be added to the list of chores to be done.  All in all, today will basically be another R&R day with a few minor jobs getting done after a hectic time down south.

If all goes to plan, I will be back on the bike (and ducking magpies) first thing tomorrow, weather permitting!