Got Them!

I should not have written about how great the weather had been because on Monday the heavens opened up and we had a very cool and rainy day.  Both Trish and I went scurrying for pullovers and we curled up and watched some downloaded TV in the afternoon.

Tuesday was nice again though!  But it is beginning to cloud up a little bit outside on Wednesday and we can expect a sprinkle over the next day or so.  Then the winter's south westerly is due on the weekend giving us low 20's during the day but just low double figures first thing in the morning.

I swam on Sunday but declined this morning as 20.5 water temperature was a little too cool for me.

We have been hunting high and low for some small outdoor glass top tables which had been spotted while we were in Melbourne.  Eventually we found them at the Caboolture KMart store around 30 minutes away by car.  By lunchtime yesterday we had bought three of them, two for outside and one for inside.

Caboolture is not the most celebrious area so we headed a little closer towards Brisbane and the North Lakes Shopping Centre.  After a good look around we headed back home with our new tables in hand.  Trish managed to find a thing or two she 'needed' which was handy for her.

I have re written my Movies download website.  I have brought it up to date full of all the news on how I download my TV Shows and Movies.  You can check it out HERE. I have sent the links off to a couple of mates.  I need some feedback from people who are seeing it through different eyes to mine.

It is now so easy when someone says to me, "Les how do you get all your movies and TV shows?"  I can just direct them to movieshowto.50webs.com and they will be able to tackle it all by themselves!

Over the last few days we have finished watching the TV Series "Banshee", "Endeavour", "Masters of Sex" and just last night the Channel 10 drama "Secrets and Lies".  No way known you could have guessed who the killer was in Secrets and Lies!

And we began to watch another series of TV length shows called "Hinterland".  It scores 8/10 and gets some extremely good reviews.  It is a police drama set in Wales.  The scenery is quite spectacular and any small pieces spoken in Welsh have the subtitles hard coded into the video file.

Trish is at Stitchers today while I am back on the PC.  I have meeting tomorrow with the estate's developer "Stockland".  They are about to open up a new large section of Bells Reach and they want to brief us before things go public next week.

Footy didn't end the weekend too well for my side.  They were beaten comprehensively.  Trish's team had a good win and she was happy with the result.

Sunday!

The weather has remained glorious in this part of Australia.  Most days it gets to around 28 degrees with mainly clear blue skies.  Overnight the temp is now closer to mid teens and the lightweight quilt is being used.

Despite the lateness of the season I am still getting a quick swim in most mornings after the bike ride.  This is certainly a sensational part of our country in which to live.  Not bad to be still having a quick swim at the end of April!

With Anzac Day on Friday we are now enjoying another long week-end.  Being near a surf beach and being so close to Brisbane, Caloundra remains a popular destination for Brisbane families to holiday.  Therefore the roads over the weekend around here are very busy.

Life meanders along quietly.  Trish was summoned in to the local Telstra Shop on Thursday where she was provided with a new phone to replace her other one under warranty. 

The former phone's microphone wasn't working well and it was becoming harder and harder for people to hear her when she was speaking.

There are some OK laptop specials available at JB HiFi this weekend but I have been unable to convince Trish to update her Dell laptop.  It still does everything she wants it to do.

Inevitably it will die.  2 people at Computer Club had their laptops die recently and both were only around 2 year's old.  Trish's laptop is probably pushing 4 years old by now.  The battery in it no longer works so we have removed it completely which makes the laptop much easier to transport.

Some of the older ladies at Computer Club remove the laptop battery as soon as they get them so they are lighter to cart about.

Footy on TV is keeping me occupied over the weekend.  Both of our teams are due to play later this afternoon.

We recently finished watching a couple of TV series, Banshee S2 and Masters of Sex S1.  Both were very enjoyable.  Banshee in particular is quite spectacular!  We will most likely swap courses and move with "Mr Selfridge" this upcoming week.  He is a little more 'middle of the road' after the action of Sheriff Lucas Hood.

Episode 12 of the Masters of Sex had the audio out of sync by around 5 seconds and it was unwatchable.  So if you received that episode from me recently you won't be able to watch it.  It took around 10 minutes or so to get another working in sync copy from the net and have it available for us to watch.

My next task is to rewrite my "Movies How To" website.  I now get my movies on the net quite differently to back when I first put the Movies How To website together.  It is therefore quite out of date.  I will begin that chore sometime this upcoming week.  I hope I can remember how to do it all.

Kids Back To School

Until yesterday both Trish's and my footy teams were undefeated and they were drawn to play each other yesterday, Easter Monday.  This time my team Geelong came out the winners by a comfortable 19 points.  I was exhausted at the end of the game and little tipsy as well.  I knocked over half a dozen stubbies of my home brew along with a couple of other celebratory drinks after the match.

It is decidedly quieter around the house today.  The neighbours' kids have all gone back to school and the push toy with large plastic wheels which one of the families around here owns has been put away.  But the kids are due home soon and we can expect the excitement of kids playing out in the street to return.

My new glasses were returned to the shop I bought them from today.  It seems one pupil spot in the glasses was most likely too low meaning the two lenses weren't matched.  So it is another two weeks until I get them back.  I probably think I will get a 'computer pair' as well which will live beside the computer.  I tend to raise my head quite a bit so I can read the screen OK with my glasses right now.  It is another $40 for a second pair which would be single lens reading glasses.

It seems $40 well spent to me!

We watched The Railway Man the other night.  It took such a long time for this movie to become available but when I eventually did get it I discovered why.  It is an Australian Movie and they just don't come out like the movies from overseas.

We travelled into Maroochydore today.  We are after a couple of small side tables for when we sit outside. This is what we were after in the photo left.  They are available from KMart for $15 each and our local Caloundra store didn't stock them.  I could find them online OK but I wasn't sure about KMart in Maroochydore.  I rang them and was told they had them in stock and available.

So off we went.  I got my glasses sorted first, then the bank to sort out PIN's for my credit cards and finally to KMart in Maroochydore.  The lady I had spoken to had made a mistake and they didn't have any after all.

We weren't happy having gone all that way on a wild goose chase after we had rung up first!

But we stopped off at House Secret (an adjunct of Trade Secret) on the way home and bought a new lamp to go on the remodeled buffet.  Trish is very pleased.

So the trip to Maroochydore wasn't a complete waste of time!

Easter Saturday

I have just returned from Computer Club where I was busy again.  I did my presentation on the "Ask Search and Tool Bar" and it sparked some interest.  As it is Easter Saturday a lot of people are on holidays or involved with family get togethers but my audience was big enough.

Drinks was fantastic again Friday afternoon, we all had a great time.  Lots of laughs and reminiscing about our recent week in Melbourne went on.  There were only 4 in attendance but I still managed to consume the usual amount of alcohol.  We had plenty of laughs.

It is a glorious day outside, hardly a cloud in the sky and the temp is around 27 or so.  We have the footy on TV so the afternoon is taken care of.

I will bottle wash either tomorrow or Monday as I managed to get another brew on yesterday.  It is bubbling away in the garage and not frothing up all over the place and creating a mess like last time.

My new glasses seem a little better today so perhaps I am getting used to them.

Buffet Update

We reckon it was going to be at least $1,000 to update the buffet.  The few looks we had really didn't produce anything that we really liked.  All the time we have in the back of our minds a trip to Saudi Arabia sometime in 2015 as well!

So the answer we have come up with cost us nothing and the new buffet seems to fit in quite nicely!

Click on the photo for a larger view! You can see where I sawed off the top of the ladders etc which made up the former 'wall unit'.  The 'new' buffet hides behind the dining room table and all you really notice is the new large expanse of wall we have.

Family photos will adorn this vacant wall space in due course!

I am doing a 'presentation' at Computer Club on Saturday and you can check it out here.

We both picked up our new glasses this morning.  Trish selected quite a dark colored frame and she is having second thoughts about her choice right now. 

I am still getting used to mine and I find that right now they aren't as good for reading as the older pair.  But I was told the 'hot spot' has been lifted a bit on the lenses and it may take a few weeks for me to get used to.

On The Air Again

Just before we went to Melbourne I had a a hearing test all to do with my hearing aids.  As a pensioner I get great support for hearing aids from the Federal Government regarding both hearing aid purchase and maintenance.  I get a 'voucher' from the government which entitles me to an annual 'evaluation' and any follow up hearing aid maintenance.

During the recent hearing test it was discovered that a button on my newer hearing aid wasn't working so it had to go 'in' for repair.  I dropped it off to be sent away for repair last Monday and then got it back today (Tues).  Boy what a difference it makes when I have both of them up and running.

My 'older' one, which I paid for myself out of my own pocket, is well over 6 years old and is now eligible for replacement.  It has become quite rusty from time to time in the battery compartment.  I perspire profusely and perspiration drips from my hair into the hearing aid.  Often this turns the hearing aid off.  I have a small 'heated hearing aid storage box' into which I store the aids and dry them off thoroughly.

An alcohol wipe and a cotton bud do a great job in removing any build up of rust.

I was advised today that as the older aid becomes rusty again and again, the more likely it is to fail. I was also told that if it were to fail one more time I would most likely need to replace it.  Most of any replacement cost is covered by a government subsidy and our new Health Cover Insurance would cover another $900 on top of that.

But the difference having both aids working well makes to my hearing is nothing short of amazing.

And we have new neighbours.  The house on the left as you face our place has been sold to owner occupiers.  After being a rental for some time it is nice to have two young professionals move in.  He is studying at SC University for teaching qualifications while she is a teacher at a hinterland primary school.

And he works part time at Dick Smith in Caloundra!

I Bought A Pump

After my puncture the other day I decided I really needed a decent bike pump.  I wanted one made mainly of metal, with quality parts and a gauge.  The recommended minimum pressure for my bike tyres is 45psi.  That is fairly high I would have thought.

So I bought a decent pump and gave it a go and pumped both tyres to the recommended 45psi.  What a difference it made.  The bike runs smoothly and so easily with the tyres pumped right up!  It has made quite a difference to the ride!

Drinks Friday afternoon were again a lot of fun.  It was better than the quality of the footy match we watched later that night.  There are now only 2 undefeated sides in the AFL, my team Geelong and Trish's team Hawthorn.  They play each other next Monday (Easter Monday).  It should be a top game to watch!

Computer Club was reasonably busy bit not too bad.  I managed to help quite a few people out and they seemed thankful enough.  Both Saturday and Sunday were footy on TV days.

The nasty cyclone which hit northern Queensland early in the weekend has had a minor effect on us at it now clears out to the east and away from the Queensland coast.  It is extremely cloudy today and a little windy.  However there is a 'trough' sitting over the land and this is causing the cloud from Cyclone Ita to rise and is giving us a fairly wet couple of days.

Trish has her eyes on a new 'buffet'.  The "Ladder- Racks" wall unit we purchased in Penang over 40 years ago and made of solid teak is going and a new more modern piece is on the horizon.  We spent some of Sunday checking prices, delivery costs and seeing what was available.  We aren't in a rush just now but will keep our eyes open.

The Politician Who Died

While walking down the street one day a Member of Parliament is tragically hit by a truck and dies.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

'Welcome to heaven,' says St. Peter.

'Before you settle in,  it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you.'

'No problem, just let me in,' says the man.

'Well, I'd like to, but I  have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.'

'Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,' says the MP.

'I'm sorry, but we have our rules.'

And with  that, St. Peter  escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down  to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green  golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it  are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with  him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had  while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a  friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and  champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly & nice guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises....

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

'Now it's time to visit heaven.'

So, 24 hours pass with the MP joining a group  of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing.  They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by  and St. Peter returns.

'Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and  another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.'

The MP reflects for a minute, then he answers: 'Well, I would never have said it  before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but  I think I would be better off  in hell.'

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of  the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his  shoulder. ' I don't understand,'  stammers the MP.

'Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable.    What happened? '

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, ' Yesterday we were campaigning.. ......

Today you voted.

A Sunny Friday

People don't fully understand how long movie copying from one hard drive to another can take.  I eventually completed all my re organising of movie files around 6:30 last night after around 6 hours of copying over.  Everything should is better organised now.

I recently received a text message from very good friends down south telling us of a great 'buy' if we wanted to re consider moving back to Melbourne.

This photo will go part way to explaining just why at this stage moving from here on the Sunshine Coast is not on the agenda at all.  When I returned from my ride the swim in the pool was 'refreshing'.  However as Anzac Day approaches, I fear my swimming mornings after a bike ride are almost over for this summer.

I usually can swim in the pool from Grand Final Day of the footy through to Anzac Day.

Last night we shut the front door to keep out the cool when we went to bed.  I closed the window behind me while watching TV as the breeze was cool!  The season is changing!

Cyclone Ita is about to hit the north Queensland Coast.  That is around 1600kms away from where we live on the Sunshine Coast.  To put that distance into some sort of context, if you lived in Melbourne, 1600 kms would be north of Coffs Harbour!  The only effect we may experience here is the surf will be up a little.

We have just finished watching the TV Series "True Detective" which starred Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey.  It is an 8 week series and we found the first three episodes very difficult to watch.  Nothing much was happening and the story was confusing.  However the final 5 episodes can be described as 'gripping' and not to be missed TV.

We are working our way through the second series of Banshee, another very entertaining TV series.

We have drinks this afternoon with only two couples rather than three.  One of our regulars is down with a heavy chest infection.  Footy on TV tonight will be followed a shorter than usual Computer Club tomorrow.  I have a beer bottling to do sometime tomorrow, most likely before settling down to more footy on the TV.

As Small As A Drawing Pin!

The brew I put on recently has almost stopped bubbling.  Usually I would have bottled yesterday (Weds) but the way this brew was going recently I am waiting until ALL activity has ceased!

I noticed the front tyre on my bike was a little flat on Wednesday.  I pumped it up and the ride went that morning went OK.  Yesterday afternoon it needed pumping up again and I knew there was a leak somewhere.  I wasn't going to risk a bike ride with a possible puncture this morning!

It was really flat this morning so I took it all apart and found the puncture in the bike tube.  I checked the relevant area out on the tyre and discovered a drawing pin was the culprit.

Following the repair today's 12.5 k bike ride was fine.  The quick swim in the pool after the ride was best described as "brisk".  The arrival of autumn, cooler nights and not so intensely hot days has seen the pool water temp cool off a little.  It was around 22.5 this morning. It gets to around 25 during the day.

A friend bought himself a new laptop on Tuesday so yesterday (Weds) I was invited around to set it up for him.  That took care of the whole afternoon for me.

Today I have been reorganizing my movie backups.  To be safe I keep two copies of everything.  As my collection grows, some of the smaller drives I have get too full.  However when I go somewhere it is good to have the best and all the most recent stuff handy on portable hard drives which are easy to carry.

I found myself caught once or twice when in Melbourne recently without movies I had accumulated in 2013.  There were backed up at home on a powered hard drive.  When the copying etc has finished later today I should have all the latest and most relevant stuff backed up onto two portable drives ready to take away next time.

I hope you enjoyed the two posts below.  I liked the professional development one the better of the two.

Punography

Click on the cutting for a larger view!

Professional Development Activity For Husbands.

This floated by my Inbox today, let me know if you are interested:

Note: due to the complexity and level of difficulty, each course will accept a maximum of eight participants
The course covers two days, and topics covered in this course include:

DAY ONE

HOW TO FILL ICE CUBE TRAYS
Step by step guide with slide presentation

TOILET ROLLS- DO THEY GROW ON THE HOLDERS?
Round table discussion

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LAUNDRY BASKET & FLOOR
Practising with hamper (Pictures and graphics)

DISHES & SILVERWARE;
DO THEY LEVITATE/FLY TO KITCHEN SINK
OR DISHWASHER BY THEMSELVES?
Debate among a panel of experts.

REMOTE CONTROL
Losing the remote control - Help line and support groups

LEARNING HOW TO FIND THINGS
Starting with looking in the right place
Instead of turning the house upside down while screaming -
Open forum

DAY TWO

EMPTY MILK CARTONS;
DO THEY BELONG IN THE FRIDGE OR THE BIN?
Group discussion and role play

HEALTH WATCH;
BRINGING HER FLOWERS IS NOT HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH
PowerPoint presentation

REAL MEN ASK FOR DIRECTIONS WHEN LOST
Real life testimonial from the one man who did

IS IT GENETICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO SIT QUIETLY
AS SHE PARALLEL PARKS?
Driving simulation

LIVING WITH ADULTS;
BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
YOUR MOTHER AND YOUR WIFE
Online class and role playing

HOW TO BE THE IDEAL SHOPPING COMPANION
Relaxation exercises, meditation and breathing techniques

REMEMBERING IMPORTANT DATES
& CALLING WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE
Bring your calendar or PDA to class

GETTING OVER IT;
LEARNING HOW TO LIVE WITH BEING WRONG ALL THE TIME
Individual counsellors available

A Fiery Brew

The recliner chair weekend continues.  It was wall to wall footy over the weekend so far with several more matches on TV today!  Another good thing is that both Trish and my footy teams had great wins so far this weekend.

The weather looks great again but all is expected to change over night tonight.  It will be low 30's today we are told.

Computer Club was busy enough yesterday morning and I didn't get home till after midday.  But I managed to help a lot of people so that was good.

The brew I put on Friday seems to be quite fiery.  The photo left shows the 'top' of the brew container with its airtight screw top lid and the air lock which allows the build up of gas from the brewing process to escape.

When I awoke Saturday morning the top of the lid of the brew container had almost 1cm of beer in it!  There was froth all up through the airlock as well.  I managed to sponge the excess stuff off and washed out the airlock and put it all back together.

30 minutes later there was froth in the airlock again.  This time I ladled all the excess froth out only for the overflow problem to happen again about 40 minutes later.

This time I siphoned off about 1 bottle of beer and tossed it out.  Since then everything has remained under control.

Usually I slightly overfill the container but never before has there been any overflow.  I must admit this time I did quite overfill the container.  I added a heap of ice cubes to the brew to get the temperature down to 28º.  These ice cubes meant the brew level was around 1cm above the recommended level.

It will be interesting to see how this brew turns out!  Needless to say it won't be bottled until all bubbling has fully and completely stopped.

Because of the upcoming possible change in weather, I bottle washed this morning.

Getting Back To Normal

It is now almost two full days since we arrived back home from a great trip down south to Melbourne.  The weather on the Sunshine Coast has been delightful, not too hot and around 28 degrees each day.  Trish managed to get several loads of washing done and dried.  Two loads were washed on dried on Wednesday so good was the weather.

The pool is back in use again but the water is nowhere near as warm as it was even just a few weeks ago.  It was 24 in the pool this morning after my 13k bike ride and will possibly nudge 26 later this afternoon after a day's sun on it.

With the mammoth amount of rain the Sunshine Coast received while we were away, the lawn is green and almost 100% coverage.  There are still a couple of 'bald' spots but hopefully the grass will return soon.

Trish is again off to "Quilters" today which is fairly laid back for her.  Stitchers, where she is President, is the real busy one.  She enjoys today as others do all the work and she can sit back and enjoy the morning.

The installers from the sun blind place put the weather cover (pelmet) up yesterday.  They were two young guys who were only too willing to do everything really properly and exactly as I wanted.  I am quite happy with what they have done.

The blind has been repositioned ever so slightly and now looks a lot neater.  The weather cover fits perfectly and looks great and by repositioning it, we get even more shade.

We are just about to swap Health Cover providers.  The company we have been with for ever has really upped their charges.  Our coverage with them finishes in a week so yesterday (Thursday) we got in for new glasses for both of us.  They were paid for yesterday and should be available for us to collect in a fortnight.

It is a recliner chair weekend coming up.  Footy is back to normal, we are home and the pay TV is up and running.  We are giving Friday Drinks a miss this week.  With there still being Daylight Saving down south, tonight's game actually comes on TV here around 6:30pm.  The recliner chair will be set up and a weekend's footy watching is in store.

And I managed to get a brew on this morning as well.  Bottle washing and bottling will follow next week!

It didn't take long for things to get back to "normal"!

The "Home Straight"

Monday morning was all go again.  We did a "Chocolate" tour of Melbourne.  We visited many of Melbourne's best known chocolate spots.  You can put on weight just by looking at them.

We had a quick trip to Little Bourke St to see the many Chinese Restaurants there.  We had a quick bit to eat in a food court before Ian and I headed to Young And Jackson's and the famous nude painting of Chloe. A couple of pots of beer followed!

Early afternoon Trish and I caught the tram back to St Kilda for a rest prior to our night out on the Tramcar Restaurant.  We all met in the city at the Casino's Sports Bar for a drink and a look around.  By 8:30 we were at a nearby tram stop ready to board the especially fitted out trams.

This was another highlight of the trip to Melbourne. The food was great, the company exceptional and the drinks just kept flowing!

There were three trams, each with around 36 customers on board.  The food selection was limited but the quality was great.  There was enough to eat, we all had the rib eye steak as a part of our 5 course meal.  There was wine and beer as well.

Everyone was there for a good time and it had a real party atmosphere about it.

Trish and I eventually got back to St Kilda around midnight after a wonderful night out.  We were beginning to slow down just a little bit!

On Tuesday we all met again in St Kilda for a walk around and fish and chips for lunch.  It was over 30 degrees and the constant eating, drinking and enjoying was beginning to take toll.  We were heading home early the next morning so the day finished quietly with Ian and Kerrie heading back to the city to pack up and get ready for an early Wednesday morning aeroplane departure back home.

We had a steak with Kim in a St Kilda pub that night and eventually hit the sack around 9:30pm, exhausted.

The flight home went well.

It had been a never to forget week with friends in Melbourne.

You can read about the other antics we got up to in the two posts below!

Drouin, Then the Hoa Tran Springvale.

Early Saturday afternoon all four us packed into the car to drive around 90k's to Drouin.  We were spending the night with Russell and Irene then after lunch Sunday onto Barry and Rainy's before heading back to Melbourne via Springvale for tea!

It was a lot of fun with too much to eat and drink at Russell and Irene's.  Other friends Keith and June joined us as well.  The eight of us got on well together and ate and drank too much ... again.  The wine, beer, spirits and liqueurs was flowing.

Sunday morning was reasonably quiet as we enjoyed the view (photo left) from Russell's backyard.  They have a several acres and a large garden.

The weather had been great the whole time in Melbourne and Sunday morning was no exception.

It was great of Russ and Irene to put us all up Saturday night.  Breakfast Sunday morning was predominantly toast and several cups of coffee!

Then we had a quick trip to a local winery "Brandy Creek".  Yet another gorgeous small place with a fantastic view and great coffee.  We were all still in recovery mode I think.

Brandy Creek Winery is a place where you can have functions, weddings and parties.  It would be very pleasant.

Click on all photos for a larger view.

Yet more to eat and drink with good friends Barry and Rainy around 1pm.  It was great to catch up with them as well.  By this stage the eating and drinking was beginning to 'tell' and we all had slowed down noticeably.

Late afternoon we bundled back into the car to head to Springvale and our favorite restaurant the Hoa Tran for a meal. The weather remained quite warm the whole time.  We only had a taste of our usual Springvale fare but we wanted to give Ian and Kerrie a taste of what to expect in Springvale.

Exhausted we arrived back in St Kilda around 8pm Sunday night.  Ian and Kerrie insisted on heading back to their hotel by tram.  It didn't take a mass of talking to convince Trish as she had been doing all the driving.

We all slept well.

Read about the first few days of our Melbourne trip with Kerrie and Ian in the post below.

After the Footy We Go To Drouin

We collected Ian and Kerrie from Tullamarine Airport early on Wednesday afternoon and took them to their hotel in the City.  From there we did a very quick tour of Melbourne's Sporting precincts before stopping in Victoria St in Richmond.  We enjoyed a few drinks and then a Vietnamese meal at one of the numerous nearby restaurants.

Thursday morning was spent 'doing' Lygon St in Carlton.  We had a great lunch at one of the numerous Pasta places there and enjoyed a walk around.  Parking worked out OK too.  Parking the car is always an issue anywhere near the city.

The photos were taken with my phone so they aren't the best quality.

Ian and I had Pizza while the ladies enjoyed a pasta.  The pasta serves were so generous the husbands had to come to the rescue.  No one was hungry when we left.

Ian and Kerrie enjoyed it very much, especially the trip to Brunetti's, a totally revamped Cake Shop.  Now it is huge, ritzy and expensive.  The row after row of cakes stretched away before you with dozens of windows like the photo left.

It is a real tourist attraction and was almost worth the whole trip to Carlton itself.

Around 4pm Ian and I headed to the MCG and Richmond Vs Carlton.  Before the game I took Ian over to the infamous "Royal Hotel" in Richmond.  It was a memorable night, one which will have us telling stories for years to come.  It was sensational fun!

A close footy match with over 60,000 in attendance was another highlight of a sensational day.

Ian and Kerrie came to St Kilda by tram later on Friday.  Trish and I had packed up and left Kate's to spend the next few days with Kim at her St Kilda Unit.  We met up with them and had a look around Acland St before Kim and her partner Dave arrived home from work.

A wonderful Malaysian meal at the St Kilda Chinta Ria followed.  It was yet another great day.

The next day we were heading to Drouin!