In The Home Straight!

It is Sunday morning and our time in Melbourne is coming to an end.  We set off tomorrow (Monday) for Newcastle around 1100k's away.  We will have an overnight stop most likely in Goulburn NSW and arrive with friends Janet and Mick around lunch time New Year's Day.  The plan is to spend two nights there and then hit the final stretch for home on Thursday.  It will be a long trip for one day but with getting home as the goal it should be OK for us.

The Test match finished in less than three days throwing heaps of plans into disarray.  It allowed me time to catch up with friends Gordon and Anne on Saturday afternoon and Barry and Rainy on Saturday night.  Other friends John and Sue are popping in this afternoon at Kate's place.

The previous evening we enjoyed a meal with Keith and June.  I took the laptop around as well as the hard disk drive and copied a heap of movies and TV shows over for them.  I packed the power leads and mouse into a separate package.  However when we got there the mouse was nowhere to be found.  For all intents and purposes it has vanished from the face of the earth!

The last day or so has been spent using the touchpad on the laptop.  The missing mouse cost me $4-95 from China!  I have another one exactly the same at home so it will be pressed into action.  I am becoming more proficient at using the touchpad though!

We have known Barry and Rainy from when we were neighbours in Hampton Park.  Our kids have grown up together and have been lifelong friends.  Their daughter Tammy even works as a teacher at the same school as Kate and Arj.  We were delighted to be with them last night when they received a text message from Tammy last night saying her long time partner Kane had proposed to her Saturday evening.

Today will be spent quietly but beginning to tidy everything up as we go.  We hope to be on our way around 8:00 am tomorrow morning (Monday). The trip to Goulburn should take around 8 hours.

UPDATE:  We have just dropped the Melbourne Car (Telstar) off at Keith and June's who look after it for us.  Trish found the lost mouse near their TV set.  It must have fallen out of the the zip up case I use for carting the laptop around while I was looking for a electricity powerpoint the other night.

To The MCG

Yesterday (Thursday) promised to be a warm sunny day for my trip to the MCG to watch Day 2 of the Australia vs Sri Lanka Test match.  My tummy had improved and so Trish dropped me at the nearby station around 8:15 am ready to catch a train into the city.

It was around 9:30 when I arrived at the ground.  I quickly found a seat and checked out my view.  The top photo shows the view from my seat.

What you can't see is the large screen TV which was in clear view a couple of metres away.  This would show the score board and any replays. I was also able to have easy access to the seat over the back to the concourse.

Click on the photos for a larger view.

I had a quick tour and visited a couple of the places I like to checkout.  The lower photo is the view from the MCC Library overlooking the practice nets.  You can see plenty of people watching as the Australians warmed up before batting on the second day.

I enjoyed the day very much.  I caught up with my two nephews Marcus and Beau in the bar.  We spent a very pleasant hour in there with a chat and a few drinks.

A cool change blew in later in the day sending the temp from around 30 down to 20 degrees. The Aussies had a great day with the bat setting up a strong position going into Day 3.  I won't bother going back in for day 3, the seats there aren't the most comfortable and my back does get sore spending a whole day there.

Around 5pm I left the ground back to the Richmond train station and then I hopped off at Springvale.  I caught up with Trish and the grand kids for another Vietnamese meal.

The kids hit the sack around 8:30 and Trish and I watched a couple of 'Christmas Specials' I had recently acquired.  They were the Mrs Browns Boys and Call The Midwife Christmas Specials.  They were great!

Christmas Has Come And Gone

Overnight Sunday was extremely hot, much hotter than any overnight weather we ever experience up north.  No one slept well.

Monday was spent quietly getting ready for the big day on Tuesday, Christmas Day.  We did a little last minute shopping and that was really about all.  My sister popped in for an hour on their way through which was a pleasant surprise.

We first heard the patter of little feet around 6 am on Christmas Day.  They jumped into bed with us while waiting for a suitable time to attack their pile of presents.  Kids sure get a lot these days for Christmas.  There were squeals of glee and joy as wrapping paper was shredded and yet another new toy or piece of clothing was unwrapped.

The kids loved it.  I think the new console Wii was probably the longest lasting gift.  After tidying up the kids continued to explore their new toys. The Wii was put to use.

I now had enough vouchers to buy my $150 3TB external drive.

Trish made us Garlic Prawns for lunch which again I over ate!  A few drinks, more nibblies and the day went on.

Arj and family hosted the Bartholomeusz family Christmas Night gathering that night.  By 8 pm there were people everywhere.  We had more gifts, more wonderful Sri Lankan curries to eat and heaps of chatting and drinking to do.

There were carols being sung and Charli sang for everyone as well.  She played the piano too and loved performing in front of everyone.  Click on all photos for a larger view.

Needless to say there was even more present giving.  Gifts are limited to $30 each.

Guess what? I received a $30 voucher!

Come midnight I was feeling decidedly uncomfortable around the stomach area.  And so it was for the rest of the night and throughout the following day as I ensured I was always close to the 'loo'.

We cancelled our usual trip to Drouin for Boxing Day as I just wasn't well enough to make the trip.  I watched cricket on the TV for all the day and ate vegemite sandwiches and drank lemonade.

Hopefully all will be improved for Wednesday when I actually attend the cricket at the MCG.

The Hard Drive I had my eye on was on special as a part of the Boxing Day sales.  Trish picked one up for me for $118.  That was a great deal down from the 'Special Price' of $149 and the RRP of $179.

As Hot As Hades

Melbourne is well known for its 'changeable' weather.  The top temp today (Sunday) is around 39 degrees, while day 3 of the upcoming Test match against Sri Lanka at the MCG will see an expected top temp of 20 degrees.

A mild change is expected later today with tomorrow being around 26 degrees.

The two nights we have just spent as a family celebrating Christmas was wonderful.  The house was great with plenty of sleeping accommodation, an upstairs and downstairs, a couple of bathrooms, toilets and kitchens as well as two living areas. It was perfect for our needs.

We had 7 adults and four kids.  There were a couple of TV sets, XBox, dvd players and lots of games and things as well.  There was even a 'cubby' house in the backyard.

We were a good 15 minute walk from the beach, close enough to get to on foot if we needed.

We walked down with the kids for a swim Saturday morning, they loved it.

It took us around an hour to drive from Kate's so driving times were at a minimum for us.

The photos here will give you a glimpse of what we had.  There were two large deck areas off the top floor, a couple of BBQ's, basketball ring, and some toys.

The rooms were large and the weather was lovely.  It was around 30 degrees the one full day we were there and it wasn't cold overnight.

Kim and I enjoyed my 'Black Ale" which I had brewed myself and brought down from Queensland.  There was plenty of red wine as well.  Arj had enough bourbon to keep him going and there soft drink aplenty for the kids.

As usual Wendy was in charge of the kitchen but others pitched in to help as required.

Yours truly did the BBQ tea on Friday and the other ladies hopped in to help with serving up and then cleaning up.

Wendy was banned from doing any washing of dishes, the dishwasher was OK but not the very best.

We had our Kris Kringle as well and everyone seemed pleased with their gifts.  I am a 'monty' to get gift cards and this year was no different.  I now have $100 worth of gift cards and my new external hard disk drive is a certainty!

We arrived back at Kate's late morning on Sunday.  The evaporative cooling went straight on when she arrived home and this exceptionally hot day has passed by quite comfortably.  I am enjoying an A(lcohol) F(ree) D(ay) .... and an early night as well.

To The Holiday House

Thursday was busy again for Trish.  She was busy sorting out last minute purchases and then keeping an eye on the grandkids.  Thursday was Charli's last day at school, James finished kindergarten on Tuesday.

Meanwhile I jumped in the old car (the one which lives in Melbourne) and headed down to Drouin and the home of Irene and Russell.  Russ has been experiencing problems with his media player so I headed down in person to check it all out.  It only took a few minutes and I was unable to help but the rest of the time was spent chatting and with coffee.

I drove back to Kate's for lunch and touched base with Trish.  She reported the car didn't want to start too well.  I too had noticed the start hadn't been the usual instantaneous over the last few weeks.  I got the address of a good car battery place and headed off.  The guy said drive the car around the back and he would check it over for me.  But the car battery had completely given up and wouldn't start.

A replacement battery and a bill for $143 and everything is OK again.  The battery was the car's original and had lasted almost 7 years.  I had done well I felt to get that long out of it.

We headed to Springvale with friends Eddie and Patsy for tea.  It wasn't the usual top class meal but still it was very pleasant.  We ordered too much so Trish and I have left overs for lunch today.

As the photo shows the restaurant Hoa Tran is 'around the back' and out of the way since the new large carpark was built.  Despite being out of the way it is always well populated with people eating.

Later this afternoon we will head down to Tootgarook with the grand kids and set up the holiday house we have booked for a couple of nights.  Our whole family will be there, kids, spouses and grand kids.  It is a great time.  The weather looks like being perfect with warm weather and we will get back home later on Sunday.  Kate and Arj will get there later today after their school break up drinks.

In Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne late in the afternoon of Monday, 3:30 to be exact.  All our plans on covering added ground on Sunday worked to perfection and we rolled into the western suburbs of Melbourne around 2:30 and through the city and out into the suburbs by 3:30.

Sunday had been a big day as we covered over 1000k's.  We were both pretty tired but arrived in Peak Hill safely.

Trish dashed about doing some Christmas shopping on Tuesday while having missed the last two days of the cricket settled down in front of the telly for some serious cricket watching.  The game was eventually won by Australia over Sri Lanka but it was coming down to the wire when the last wicket fell.

Then it was out for the first of our Christmas functions with friends at a private home for a Christmas meal, a chat, drinks and wonderful friendship.  It was a great night when we rolled into bed around 12:30 am.  So it wasn't with great joy we welcomed the grand kids into our bed at 6:30 am the next morning.

So today Wednesday was spent catching up with our financial planner for our annual visit.  Then it was a little more shopping before I again got my computer fix.  We won't be long out of bed tonight I reckon!

In Heading South Mode

It has been an exciting week.  There is nothing I prefer more than to have a problem with something on the internet.  And it seems I am not the only one coming to grips with the loss of the website NZBMatrix.  I have tried and swapped several sites since I last wrote on my blog.

Slowly but surely I am building a suite of websites to try to take its place.

I have put a website together called MoviesHowTo.  Someone on one of the forums I visit was having problems with creating "Movie Sheets".  I had put a page about this on my MoviesHowTo website and I directed him to it.  He was able to create his own Movie Sheets and thanked me for putting the page together.  He then went and advertised it on Whirlpool.bc as a great reference for others needing help.  I got quite a kick out of that.

Also this week I have had a little to do with the Community Association attending openings and answering requests from the Council.  I have had to do a little lobbying with Sunshine Coast Airport Management, our local MP, our Councillor and a few others over a problem which has arisen.

We have had a very brisk south easterly blowing all week.  It is blowing dust in off the new estate beside us.  I hadn't needed to clean the pool for three days, such is the improvement since removing the palm trees and the garden in the backyard.  When this wind is blowing and we are getting the dust, I need to clean it every three hours!

The house gets coated in dust as well.  Fortunately it hasn't been hot this week, just the high 20's most days so we can close the house up and keep some of the dust out.

We got 10mls of rain Thursday morning but the 'overflow' rain  water I farm from the downpipe didn't work.  I took it apart and cleaned out all the gunk and it is OK again now.  Trouble is I missed out on 9 mls of the 10mls we got!

Been slowly getting things together for our trip south on Sunday.  The old computer, the old AV Receiver have both been sorted ready to be packed into the car.  The Melbourne Black I brewed is excellent and is waiting to be loaded as well.  Clothes and other bits and pieces are being collected on the 'spare' bed ready to be packed.

Trish has had Christmas turns all week for her Stitchers and Quilters.  I have Christmas with the Computer Club tomorrow.  Trish cut my hair yesterday, all the bits and pieces which require attention before we head south! The lawn was mowed this morning!

The cricket Test match from Tasmania is just about to come on TV again so I will have to dash!

End Of The World?

People all across the internet are asking "Is this the end of the world as we know it?" 

The website NZBMatrix has been taken down.  The website was the home that many downloaders of illegal matter from the internet would go to select their movies or their TV Shows for download!  And just suddenly, from out of nowhere it has shut down.

Threads on the local chat forum Whirlpool are up in arms over this!  There is page after page of people asking, "What am I going to do ..... NZBMatrix has gone?"

Much of the hassle is being caused by the authorities in the US clamping down on illegal downloads.  What usually happens is that when one website closes down, within a few weeks another is up to take its place.

So the sun will rise again tomorrow and everything will go on none the less.  The world won't end, we'll just have to find our illegal downloads another way!

(I already have!)

The new AV Receiver had a small hiccup last night, nothing that was unmanageable.  I had a setting in the media player which sent a message to the TV that whenever the media player was turned on that the TV should automatically turn itself on as well.  I set this up on the chance that by the two devices 'talking to each other' that the better digital sound from the media player would pass through the TV to the old AV Receiver I had.  It didn't work.

And when I turned the media player off, the TV would turn itself off as well.  This option didn't work previously but now did with the new AV Receiver.

I changed the setting in the media player back to what it had been previously and now everything works fine.

A warmish day in the high 20's.  There could be a shower of rain later.  We need the shower of rain desperately.

Latest Acquisition

The wet weather has cleared leaving us with sunny days and top temperatures in the high 20's.  The sea breeze meanders in again around early afternoon allowing us to throw the house wide open and let the sea breeze through the place.  The pool was around 26 degrees this morning after I had returned from my 13k bike ride. Most likely the pool will be up to the high 20's later today

Computer Club yesterday was plain sailing and I helped a couple of people out, generally with problems relating to emails.  There are a few Android mobile phone users now looking for advice and help as well.

When I had my big party for my 60th birthday down in Melbourne almost 7 years ago, I was given lots of vouchers for JB HiFi Gift Cards.  I wanted to buy myself a new AV Receiver. I bought a Yamaha which had the older style component video and optical audio connectors.

You plug all your entertainment equipment into an AV Receiver (your DVD player, media player, Pay TV etc) and the audio then goes through your speaker system while the picture passes through older style analog component cables to your TV.  Nowadays everything connects via HDMI!  HDMI is digital and carries both audio and video in the one cable.

I could work around it with the old Yamaha but there were wires everywhere and every now and again there would be audi-sync problems where people's mouths would move out of sync with what they are saying.  On top of that I needed another whole set of separate connections for our analog headphones.

I could still use my expensive Bose speakers but it took some messing around.  I often drooled over replacing my older Yamaha but couldn't justify the expense.

Then along came the good old internet and JB Hi Fi's 30% off sale which ends today (Sunday).  One of their specials is a Yamaha RX-V373 with 4 HDMI in and 1 HDMI out.  It usually sells from JB at a $487 but here it was on sale for $200-20.

I hummed and haa'd over it all Friday afternoon and then thought, "Well I have these expensive speakers which I can hardly use, a $200 investment would see me using them again!"  I was sold!

I picked it up yesterday around lunch time and had it setup later in the afternoon.  Not only does it do everything I wanted, it also sends an audio signal on to the TV as well which means my headphones all work perfectly off the TV as well.  The digital audio signal is converted by the TV back to stereo so it would work on the TV's speakers.  But this also means it is in stereo on my headphones as well so it works perfectly.

The local JB Hi Fi had a stack of these units for sale but there wasn't a sale price on them.  The first sales guy who tried to help me said each unit was $487 each.  After I told him they were on special at $200-20 he confirmed the sale price and went to buy one for himself!

It was great watching the Big Bash cricket last night with the theatre like sound of the crowd cheering the players on.  I even put away my headphones, put my hearing aids back in and enjoyed being a part of the crowd at the cricket!

Friday Update

Possibly the biggest news over the last day or so is that we have had a little rain. This morning I missed my bike ride owing to a couple of heavy showers, we had 9mls of rain.

Thursday morning I topped the pool up but not right to the top.  It is now full and the lawn has had a good drop of rain.  Everything around about us is so yellow and dry.  Hopefully this rain will green things up a little.

Click on the photo for a larger view.

The gazebo didn't handle the drop of rain well at all.  I am only able to anchor three corners of the roof securely with guy ropes.  This keeps the roof tight and causes most of the rain to fall off onto the ground. The fourth corner of the roof is only held in place by a couple of Velcro strips at the top of the supporting leg. Click on this photo for a larger view of how the gazebo roof is 'anchored'.

With any sort of rain beginning to pool, the Velcro 'peels' up and creates an area where the rain can gather at the fourth corner of the gazebo.  As it gets heavier, the pool of water becomes larger and the Velcro peels even more.

It seems when we go out and if there is any chance of rain I just need to unlock the height adjustment on the front leg of the gazebo.  This causes that corner of the roof to sag and ensures rain water is unable to build up. There is a release height adjustment push button about 45cms from the base of the leg.  The other three legs are securely attached to the fence by guy ropes and by other Velcro strips tying it securely to the fence palings. The roof here is quite tight and any pooling of rain is minimal.

We have enjoyed extremely low humidity the last few days.  So despite registering 33 degrees or so it has been quite comfortable.  The wind direction has changed today to off the ocean from the south east and we are seeing the humidity level increase.

Tonight we are all out for Italian to celebrate Ian's 60th birthday.  Kerrie has returned from Sydney after caring for her father who is in hospital.  However they set off again by car for Sydney for their daughter's wedding.  We have just over a week before we set off for Melbourne.

We are up to episode 10 of Boardwalk Empire Series 3.  It is as good as any of the other Boardwalk Empire series we have watched.

33 Degrees Today ... But It Is Cooler!

The heat of yesterday has passed us by.  We survived very comfortably thankyou. We stayed locked up inside till around 2 pm and then adjourned to the pool.  It was still around 35 degrees when we came inside around 5pm and turned the aircon on to 27 degrees and set the ceiling fans running.  By 8pm we had a slight shiver or two, turned the aircon off and opened the place up.

Another quick swim before bed ensured we slept well.

Overnight the bedroom ceiling fan was turned off as the heat disappeared.  We are expecting around 33 today.  But earlier when I looked the humidity was a mere 20%, almost unheard of in this part of the world!  So the 33 degrees is probably closer to a normal 29 or so up here.

As you can see from the photo, it was a pretty 'tough' day!  The photo also provides conclusive proof that you can fatten thoroughbreds!

Temperatures are expected stay in the high 20's for the next week or so.

I rode my 13k's this morning and enjoyed a quick swim afterwards.  As you can see from this photo, I put another brew on this morning.  By early next week it should be ready to bottle, thus ensuring I have a plentiful supply upon our return from Melbourne.

Trish is at Stitcher's today while I have just updated one of my websites.  There is cricket from India this afternoon live on TV so that should just about see the day out nicely.  I will most likely pop into the pool for a swim or two.

I have a meeting this evening and it should be over by 7 pm.  Trish is pleased because we get a 'light meal' with this meeting, therefore she doesn't have any meal to prepare for me!

Then it will be home for the next three episodes of Boardwalk Empire, Series 3.

Hot Hot Hot!

It is 10 a.m. up here and I have just grabbed the photo left.  The temperature sensor is attached to our back fence, right above some dark colored concrete.  It does have a hood to shade it but it is still right in the sun!

That the temperature there is above 40 degrees is offset by the low 31% humidity.  A gusty north westerly breeze is blowing hot air from inland Australia right over us.  The wind should remain dominant all day and not allow the cooling sea breeze to establish itself after lunch.

My bike ride this morning was several kilometres short of the usual 13k's but I was anxious to get back home.

The pool will be a popular place this afternoon.  The house is locked up "Melbourne Style" with windows shut and blinds drawn to keep the heat out.

We still are lacking rain.  There wasn't any predicted thunder storm at all last night so I was forced to again top the pool up from the mains this morning.  Fortunately the pool is small in capacity, so after 15 minutes or so, it was topped up nicely.

Good friend Ian celebrated his 60th birthday yesterday.  His wife Kerrie is in Sydney looking after her ailing father.  With this in mind we all went to the RSL last night for tea and a few celebratory drinks, despite Kerrie not being here.  Ian's daughter Michelle who lives with them attended as well and did the driving home.

Ian seemed appreciative that we would all go out to help him celebrate.

I am not used to full strength beer and the red wine we had.  Therefore I am a little sluggish this morning.  Trish and I had the "2 meals for $25" deal.  We both felt for the quality of the meal that we had eaten we were ripped off!

But it was a great night!

Later at around 10:30pm Trish and I sat outside for a few minutes on the 'new' concrete area.  I had just had a pre-bed swim.  The pool lights were on, the Christmas lights were dancing on the back fence and it was just a sensational way to finish an excellent evening!

The Heat Is On

We have had consistently warm temperatures for around 4 or 5 days now with tops around 30 degrees.

The weather here is different to what we used to get when we lived in Melbourne.  Here the hottest part of the day is either late morning or just after lunch.  As we are so close to the coast, we enjoy the benefit of a cooler sea breeze.  Here the sea breeze is a north easterly and on most days is strong enough to overcome any other breeze and usually arrives any time from early in the afternoon.

This breeze is enough to cut around 2 degrees off the temperature but also to prevent it rising further as the day goes on.

By mid afternoon the cooler sea breeze is usually well and truly blowing and we can open the front door and the garage door and have the benefit of the cooler breeze throughout the house.

Today the sea breeze will be kept at bay a little longer as the winds will be powerful enough to hold up its arrival for an hour or so.

But tomorrow we probably won't get any sea breeze at all, so the conditions will be similar to a hot northerly wind blowing all day down in Melbourne.  We won't have the cooling sea breeze and correspondingly, we will enjoy a top temperature tomorrow of around 37 degrees!

Another thing about the weather here is the instability of the atmosphere at this time of year which can lead to late afternoon showers and thunderstorms.  There is a possibility of both showers and thunderstorms this afternoon and tomorrow as well.  The pool needs a lift in water level so hopefully we can enjoy the benefit of some heavy rain to top the pool up and water the lawns and gardens.

Our little house is set up to accommodate this sort of hot summer weather.  The blinds are down all day today and will be down tomorrow as well.  Tomorrow may also be a day where the air conditioner goes on.  We will run it at around 26 degrees (or warmer) and run the ceiling fans as well from early in the afternoon.  This will keep it very comfortable.

There was a small chance of storms last night so the gazebo has come down.  We get great afternoon shade along the back fence now.  And we have the beach umbrella as well to give us shade too. I am not sure how the gazebo would handle a thunderstorm in this part of the world!

Trish has a meeting to get to this morning while I will be watching the cricket from Perth in between quick swims in the pool!