It's In Brisbane

I ordered my new (but very inexpensive) mobile phone 'online' from China on Tuesday of last week.  According to the "Tracking Facility" the parcel has arrived in Brisbane this morning.  It takes a few days to get from the warehouse in mainland China to the Airport at Hong Kong.

You can follow its trip to date on the screenshot above left. You will need to click on the photo and then click on the "X" to return to this page.  Previous experience has been that it will take 24 hours to clear customs here in Australia, then an overnight trip from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast for delivery to my home the day after.  With New Year's Day holiday it seems I should receive the parcel early next week.

That should mean a two week delivery time but does include Christmas and New Year holidays.  Though I am not sure Christmas is all that big and warrants a holiday in mainland China!

The very hot weather continues.  Much of today is being spent poolside with short treks inside to catch up with obtaining movies and TV Shows.  Speaking of which, last night we watched the movie "The Judge" and found it to be excellent.  So keep your eyes open for it, it is worth watching!

The pool water temp hit the magical 30º this morning and will be even warmer later today.  The weather will slowly cool off just a little bit each day until the weekend.  I see where Melbourne has 36º one day later this week and 38º the following day.  A hot and sultry 32º here today seems pretty good compared to what is expected later this week in Melbourne, especially with our pool in the backyard!

Last night we slept under the fan while it was whirling away on the "High" setting.  This followed a late night swim.

So far today I have ridden 12.7k's, uploaded heaps of photos for the Community Association website update and washed and dried 30 bottles for my bottling in the next day or so. I have also had 2 swims so far.  A few more will follow later on.

We are not doing anything for New Year's Eve.  At one stage we were going to go to an Irish Pub in Mooloolaba for the night with friends.  There was a probable 2am finish to that one.  We decided it wasn't really our thing so declined the invitation.  With a hot night on the way, a few cool drinks beside the pool here at home this evening sounds extremely inviting!

Hot & Steamy

The weather is the main talking point around the area today.  At the beginning of yesterday after a cool day or two, the pool was mid 20's.

By 5pm the pool water was almost 30º.  The cloudy morning yesterday cleared to a bright sunny day.  At 5pm the clouds returned and we had quite a heavy shower around 9pm.

This morning there were 11mls in the rain gauge and the sun was shining brightly again.  The photo above left  was taken during my bike ride this morning.

I was a mass of perspiration after my 13k bike ride and the swim in the pool after my ride was delightful.  With that heavy shower last night, the humidity was well up this morning too, making it feel even hotter.  The weather bureau are talking of a top temperature around 32º today along with 65% humidity.

The house is all locked up with the blinds drawn, all designed to keep the heat out.  If necessary the air-con will get a run later on.  Then of course there is the pool.  We will get through the day without a hassle.

The MCG cricket is on TV weather permitting! The forecast for Melbourne is showery but hopefully there won't be too many interruptions to play.

Day 4

Needless to say, much of my recent time has been spent watching the cricket Test Match Australia Vs India from Melbourne.  Today is Day 4!  It has been very enjoyable to watch though at this stage it may be the MCG pitch is 'too good' and not providing enough help to the bowlers.  Therefore it has been a run feast and the game may end as a draw.

Kim headed home Saturday morning. It was great having her with us and enabled us to have a great Christmas.

Boxing Day saw the three of us head off for a walk along Kings Beach.  From there we popped into the Kings Beach Surf Club for a drink.  It was overcrowded and extremely hot.  After a quick drink it was decided home was a better bet right beside the pool.

We enjoyed tea at the Bellvista Tavern.

Just before Kim headed off on Saturday morning, the weather turned overcast and there were some light showers about.  It is now Monday morning and we have probably had around 20mls of rain overall.  This is relatively dry as the Gold Coast has received heaps more with some areas getting ten times the rain we have had here over the same period of time.

More showers are expected here this afternoon. I haven't been on a bike ride since Friday because of the wet or threatening weather.

But the pool is again full and the garden and lawns have received a good drenching.

The pool temp is down to 25.7º.  Yesterday it eventually got to be hot, high 20's in the late afternoon when the sun eventually broke through.  Much of Sunday was around 24º.

I put another brew on on Saturday morning and it has being doing all the right things, now bubbling along nicely the last day or so and with no overflows!

I expect to bottle wash possibly Wednesday, the weather looks good for drying that day before the wind and rain return later in the week.

Christmas Day

Today is around 30º, hardly a cloud in the sky and the pool is at a very similar temperature.  I am full to "Pussy's Bow" with roast pork, ham, smoked salmon, prawns and a couple of salads.  I have enjoyed several home brewed English Bitters, Australian Blondes with Lime and Australian Blonde lager.  Right now I an slowing down a tad and enjoying a 'home made' Sambucca.

The pool has been wonderful throughout the day and we have enjoyed several swims throughout the day.

Trish got a watch, perfume and a travel toiletries bag for Christmas while I got a "Fogless Shaving Mirror."  I have ordered a new phone too, all of $110 worth!

Kim received a new watch too.

We have spoken with Kate Arj and the family in a hotel in Dubai just before they head off for a Christmas Lunch with relatives of Arj.  Arj has relatives all over the place.

We had quite a long call with Chris and the two grand children down in Melbourne as well.

So now it is off to sleep off a huge meal!  Or take it easy anyway!

Merry Christmas to all.

Christmas Is On The Way

The weather is just delightful at the moment, not overly hot with top temperatures around 30 degrees or so which is enough to heat the pool up to the high 20's later in the afternoon.

The pool loses a degree or two (or even three if the night gets below 20º) overnight but this is usually perfect first thing in the morning after a sweaty 12k bike ride.

The photo (above left) is the highly scientific piece of equipment I use to calculate the pool water temperature.  It is an aquarium water thermometre.  I bought 4 of them shipped from China via eBay for $6 delivered some time ago.  The blu-tack stops the slider from moving back to Fahrenheit from Centigrade! The photo was taken Monday (yesterday) around lunch time.

It seems getting oil on the bike's disc brakes is a definite no-no!  When the brakes are applied, they squeal something terrible, and according to the internet, this indicates the disc pads are 'contaminated'.  It says the best way to try and clean them is to use 'alcohol'.  I have some 'alcohol surgical wipes' I use to clean my hearing aids.

I gave them a bit of a go on the bike's disc pads and I must say I have vastly improved the back brakes after cleaning using these wipes.  The bike is again usable so I am hoping that eventually any oil still on the pads will eventually wear away.

Trish went the post office to send some Christmas parcels to the grand children in Saudi Arabia.  She had bought some light weight easily sent items, but when she discovered the cost was around $65 by airmail and almost $40 via surface mail, we have decided to take the gifts over with us as belated gifts when we travel to KAUST in May.

My 'cheap' phone from China continues to work well.  The major drawback it has is there is a mere 4GB of ram in it.  Once you take out the space used by the operating system there isn't a lot of space left for 'apps'.  As the apps themselves update, they become larger and larger to cater for the extra 'features'.

The average iPhone or Samsung Galaxy has a minimum of 16GB Ram.  The top of the range iPhone/Samsung Galaxy models even have heaps more! Sometimes they may have over 64GB of Ram! But these phones can cost almost $1,000!  I can buy a great laptop for that amount of money!

Don't get me wrong, those devices are marvellous pieces of technology, but for someone just wanting to play a few simple games, check their emails, send a receive texts and make calls, $700 to $1000 is a lot of money.

On my phone I can switch some of the apps to the SD card.  But crucial essential apps must remain where they are originally installed.  It is this space which is becoming a problem on my current phone.

Frequently it gets that way nowadays where my phone's apps are unable to update 'due to insufficient' space'.  I need to clear the cache and in some cases uninstall apps and then reinstall them to get them to update.

Trish's phone, which has the same processor as mine, has 8GB of ram which means there is plenty of room for her apps to update.  Her phone cost around $100 and hasn't skipped a beat!  So my Christmas gift to myself this year is a new phone just like Trish's.  However the Aussie dollar is dropping like crazy.  This is great for the farmers, the miners and the country's economy, but not good for me buying a cheap phone from China!

The price of the phone has 'soared' to $110!  I ordered it online this morning and I may have it in a couple of weeks or around 9 'business' days.  With Xmas and New Year I expect delivery to take a little longer.

Our youngest daughter Kim flies up from Melbourne to spend a few days with us arriving later this afternoon. She returns to Melbourne on Saturday.

The 1.125mls of alcohol has been converted into 1 litre of Bundy Rum. An elderly lady who I help with her laptop dropped in yesterday with a $25 voucher for the local Tavern as thanks for helping her out this year.  Trish and I will have a meal there sometime in the early New Year.

Look, No Brakes!

Look, no brakes!

This is what happens when you have disc brakes on your bike and you decide to give the bike a bit of an oil!  Some oil splashes onto the discs and then when you are out riding and you try to put the brakes on, you just keep going!

Fortunately there was almost no oil on the front disc so I had that working pretty well as well as a slowly improving back brake.  When I eventually arrived home I put some degreaser onto a rag and gave all disks a good wipe over to remove most of the oil.  But the good thing is, after the oil, the squeak has gone!

Things work a lot better now!

And as you can see from the photo, today's ride was down to Caloundra and the Pumicestone Passage.

The Test Cricket has finished a day early so today will be predominately poolside.  The next Test begins on Boxing Day which is 5 or 6 days away.  In between time we have Kim flying up from Melbourne on Tuesday evening and staying for 4 nights.  A little longer would be good but we will be content with the four nights.  Then around two weeks later, Chris and family (4 in all)  fly up for a full week.

Now we have the two cars here there isn't a problem.  With four visitors later as well as Trish and myself, now we can all go out somewhere, even if we have to take the two cars.

The guy who makes the 40% proof alcohol dropped me off another 1.125 litres yesterday.  I won't make anything up just yet, I will wait and see what I need after Kim has gone!

I have had a not so good brew recently.  It is around 60- 70% on the taste rankings.  I only have around 3 bottles left so hopefully I will take care of that over the next day or so!  I made a lime flavoured lager at Kim's request after returning from Melbourne.  The mandatory two weeks wait after bottling will be up on Wednesday, just in time for us to give it a try!  I suspect the lime taste may be overpowering.  Not a problem as we just will mix that brew with another one, 50/50!

A cooler day in store today with a top in the high 20's, just about perfect.  The pool almost got to 30º yesterday at 29.9, but was a sensational 27º this morning.

A Bit Different

Things seem a bit different today.  It is Saturday morning and I am not at Computer Club!  It must be getting close to Christmas and the Computer Club has gone into recess until January 10th.

And I am at home and I have already completed a 12.5km bike ride and had a swim!  The live cricket on TV is around 20 minutes away.

But most importantly it is cooler today.  One of the Test Cricket TV commentators spoke with several of the Indian cricket players and asked them about the heat during the game here in Brisbane.  After all they play in cities such as Mumbai which regularly has heat well into the 30's.

However all of them said 35 or so at the "Gabba" (in Brisbane) was hotter than almost 40º at Mumbai.  They said the sun would burn you here whereas it wouldn't burn you in Mumbai!  The sun was more fierce here at this time of the year making conditions for playing cricket amongst the hottest they had faced.

Today is a little cooler with a S/E wind change early this morning.  So it will get to around 30º today but there will be that slightly cooler breeze.

We eventually got our 'promised' thunderstorm into the evening on Thursday.  We had 32 mls pelt down giving everything a well deserved drenching.  The gardens, the lawns and even the pool enjoyed the rain giving the plants and the lawn a new lease of life.

We do our aeroplane trip booking down to Melbourne regularly from here and have got cutting out the extra 'fees and charges' down to a fine art.  We use a special recommended fee free credit card with Tiger Airlines.  This saves over $8 per person per trip.  Without using this credit card our $160 return trip for both of us in August 2015 would have cost almost $200!

So we helped Chris and family out with their bookings for flights up here for later in January using this card.  There are 4 of them and with one 20kg suitcase they are flying up to Brisbane and back to Melbourne for well under $600 all up.  That is pretty good for mid-January school holiday flights!

Without the 'special' credit card it would have cost them almost $70 extra!

Another advantage of the recent thundery rain was it put my bike riding for that day on hold.  So I did a bottling instead.  I now give all the bottles a double pre-bottling rinse.  This is on top of the previous initial brush out and soak in water and bleach, followed a day or so later with a hot wash and two further rinses.  Then the bottles are whisked out with sanitizer and dried in the sun.

The photo above is of the bottles being drained just prior to bottling.  The bottling went well.

We had a great Skype chat with Kate late Friday afternoon.  They continue to enjoy it there, especially the safety aspect where the kids can wander down to the park for a play, bike ride or hit of tennis.  We are looking forward to getting over there in May 2015.

The cricket on TV beckons, I must away

Hot, Hot, Hot!

If you watched any of the Test Cricket from Brisbane yesterday, you will know it was a very hot day for us here in SE Queensland.  Players were suffering from heat distress and leaving the ground for showers and treatment.  Our small house was locked up, windows closed and blinds drawn.  The temp was supposed to have reached 35º but that 'official' measurement occurs at Maroochydore Airport, 25k's from us and well within 1km of the beach where it would get the sea breeze earlier.

I would suggest it was most likely a couple of degrees warmer than 35º here yesterday

The sun was best described as 'fierce'.  You felt if you stood out in it for even a short time you would be sunburnt. After all at this time of the year the sun is almost directly over the Tropic of Capricorn which is around 500k's north of us.  So the sun is almost directly overhead here at this time of year.

But the weather was great to warm the pool water after the couple of unseasonably cool days we had recently.

On top of everything, it was quite humid too.  So Trish sat poolside for much of the day while I sat in front of the TV watching the cricket with the ceiling fan on "Hi" and the air-con on 27º.  With the ceiling fan going, 27º is a great temperature to set the air con to keep the room comfortable.

Needless to say, on days like yesterday the pool is a life saver.  I had at least four sessions by and/or in the pool.  The final session was from around 8:30pm to 9:30pm.  It was extremely pleasant and very comfortable!

I set out early on my bike ride today in some steamy conditions.  There was a light sea mist.  The photo above left doesn't show the mist as clearly as I had hoped. Click on it for a larger view.  But the trees in the distance give an indication of how steamy and misty it was during my bike ride this morning.

The electronic notice board outside the Private School here on our estate said the time was just after 7 am and the temperature was 27º!

Today is TV cricket watching in between trips to the pool in the backyard!  Trish will be planted beside the pool with a good book and her towel to dry off after her numerous swims across the day.  She may have a little shopping to do first, but the pool won't be far away at all.

They say it will be 33º today, which means it will be just a little warmer for us here.  We are around 3 to 4k's away from the beach which means any cooling influence from off the ocean takes just a little longer to get to us.

It Felt Like Winter!

At this time of the year and in this part of the world you do not expect to get a top temperature of a mere 22º in December.  But that is what we got on Friday!  We closed windows and doors to keep the warm in.  We had strong and blustery southerly winds and heavy overcast gray skies.

It was the sort of weather where you 'rugged up' and watched a movie or two!

Luckily I had the cricket to watch from Adelaide.

On Friday another brew went on.  The recent trip to Melbourne put my brewing timeline out of whack so I have to do two brews almost one after the other to get back into sync.  After sweating like crazy the other day during a bottling, I was "rugged up" to do the new brew because of the cooler weather.  By rugged up I mean I wore a T-Shirt rather than a singlet!

The brew went off like crazy.  By Saturday afternoon it was bubbling away and even 'overflowing' with froth forcing its way out through the air lock and making a mess on the lid. I cleaned the mess up several times during Saturday afternoon.

By Sunday it had quietened down and was sticking more to plan.

The poor cold and drizzly weather put a stop to my bike riding for a few days.  On Sunday I delivered Community Newsletters in the drizzle but this morning Monday blue clear skies had returned and I was off riding.  This morning I rode over 12k's, I cleaned the pool (which was dirty after the rain/drizzle we have had dragging dust out of the air and depositing it into my pool) and then the pool filter.

Last week's cooler weather produced a total of 16mls of rain.

After that I have washed and sanitized 30 bottles to get ready for a bottling.  Currently they are drying off.  Then I even mowed the front lawn! Click on the photo above for a larger view.

With the brew bubbling away uncontrollably there for a while means it will be ready to bottle sooner rather than later!

My swim in the pool after the bike ride was a little shorter than normal for December.  The cold days and cooler nights meant the water temperature was just above 22º which after 28º is quite a shock to the system.  But now just before lunch it is almost back up to 25º so it should be back to summer normal pool temperature by late Tuesday afternoon as long as we get warm nights.

Currently we are watching the TV Series "Gracepoint".  This is a USA version of the British hit series "Broadchurch".  Gracepoint follows a similar line to Broadchurch but we are promised a 'different' ending!  We are enjoying it a lot.

Over the last couple of days I have 'acquired' the TV series "Marco Polo" which had all 10 episodes released on US Netflix over the weekend.

It's All Puff And Blow

The weather has been a major talking point in our part of the world.  With severe thunderstorms forecast for most afternoons and with some areas to the south receiving over 100mls, our little corner of the world has seen just 6 mls of rain!

The picture shows thunderstorms bearing down o Caloundra late yesterday (mid upper right) but from this system we received a mere three mls over two hours of ongoing drizzle.  Yet 30k's away and a little inland, they got well over 40mls.

The storms just died as they got closer to our coast.

In the meantime it has been hot and steamy with the pool being a popular spot.  We would grab several swims throughout the day and then a final swim just prior to retiring.

It has been warm overnight as well but the ceiling fans do a sensational job!

The helicopter issue in the skies above our homes has raised its head again.  Our local Council is just like any other government bureaucracy.  It has taken almost 2 months to get a couple of signatures onto an agreement before passing it along to the local developer for the final signature.  The developer signed and passed on the agreement within 36 hours.

Now it is Council's role to "implement" the agreement so helicopters will now do the vast majority of their touch n go's during pilot training well away from any residential area.

It seems that to help the Council get its act into gear, the local pilot training company decided to give our area another 'burst' of unwanted noisy helicopter touch n go activity. At times we have had two very large helicopters doing touch n go's for over an hour.

My broken filling now has a temporary crown on it.  I spent 90 very unpleasant minutes in the dentist's chair yesterday morning (Thurs) having the temporary crown fitted.  Needless to say the bill (of which less than 50% is covered by insurance) gets into the "Thousands" of dollars area!

I should have become a dentist!

The local Community Association has been successful in its submission for a $1000 Community grant.  The money will be put toward rebuilding the BeCA website which has become a little 'tired' over the last 4 or 5 years.

We are well into end of year Christmas parties.  Trish's main group had a huge luncheon recently which she mainly organised.  They had over 70 in attendance and it all went off perfectly.  The second group of which she is a mere 'member' is having a Christmas gathering today.

Computer Club has its Christmas goodies tomorrow.

I Monday I reformatted the neighbour's PC and it is running OK for them.  And yesterday I bottled the latest brew.  It took a couple of days before the brew began to work.  This is not a good sign!  However it was ready to bottle yesterday which is around a day behind schedule.  I bottled it in the garage when the temperature was 33º and the humidity was around 71%.  I needed a dry set of clothes after I finished.

The cricket Test match between Australia and India continues on TV today.  Before that I must pop into town for more home brew supplies.

The 'old' car we brought back from Melbourne lost the radio, dash clock and a red hazard light remained on.  It turned out to be the electric radio aerial was shorting out and needed to be replaced.  That was done yesterday along with a replacement 'alternator' belt.  The new alternator belt will make the neighbours happy as the car would let out a scream when first started each day.  It now runs very quietly!

The total cost was just over $100 and included a new alternator belt and a new aerial.  This cost fitted in with the sort of money we were looking to spend.  The quote was done at no charge by a local Auto Elec.  I cancelled the mobile guy who wanted around $50 just to look at it.

Finally, last night we watched the movie "Gone Girl" and we both have agreed that the female lead is not a very nice lady at all!  There are heaps of twists and turns!  It was very enjoyable to watch!

All Go Again!

I was doing some texting yesterday on Community Association business and mentioned to one person that my internet was down.  She said her son had experienced internet problems that morning too.  Then on a call regarding the Community Association upcoming newsletter I was told their internet was out that morning as well!

I went and checked my own modem/router and saw the internet light was on again and we were once again 'connected'!  So all is go again online! The internet was off for around 3 hours altogether.

It is extremely tropical here this morning.  The humidity is so high you can see it in the atmosphere like a very light fog up against the end of the street.

Hopefully it won't take much to 'ignite' the atmosphere and for us to get a heavy thunderstorm and give everything yet another good watering.  There are 'possible' storms for us 100k's north of Brisbane, while Brisbane itself and the Gold Coast further south have 'probable' storms in their forecast.

I am supposed to be re formatting a neighbour's PC this afternoon.  If all goes well it is a few hours work.  If things don't go well it could be 36 hours!  Hopefully it will be the former rather than the latter!

If all goes OK we will get the reformatting done, Office 2007 installed as well as Firefox and Thunderbird.  That should be enough to see them through until I can get the other stuff installed over the next few days.

People also do not realise the amount of updating the PC will want to do to get everything up to date.  The Computer is about 4 years old so it will need 4 years of Windows 7 updates!

Trish drove the 'old' car the other day and the radio, the dash clock no longer work and there is a red warning light on the dash saying one of the doors is still open.  I took the car to our local repair guy and he suggested I really needed an Auto Electrician.

We were offered $200 for the old car as a trade in some time ago.  Despite its low value, 6 months ago Trish drove it back from Melbourne (almost 2000k's) and it didn't miss a beat!  It will cost around $50 just for the "Auto Elec" to have a look at it and tell us what is wrong!

Where do we draw the line and say no, enough is enough?.  The car still runs beautifully, starts first go and runs on the smell of an oily rag!  How much should we spend to have these problems 'fixed'?

Internet Down

I have just got off the phone after a 30 minute call to my ISP "Internode".  The internet dropped out around an hour ago this morning (Sunday).  I am currently online via the mobile phone being connected to my PC for internet access.

The message from Internode was, if you are not back online by Wednesday morning, call us again.

We had modems connected all around the house earlier trying to isolate the problem.

Hope to be all back up and running soon!

UPDATE!  After speaking with others locally, all experienced Internet Connection problems this morning.  Just before 1pm our internet service was re connected and is now up and running again.

Saturday!

It is heading towards 7 am and I have Computer Club later on this morning. The final Computer Club meeting for 2014 is next Saturday Dec 14th.

The Community Association has kept me most busy the last day or so. There has been an issue with the local airport and I did an interview for TV and the local newspaper on it.  However the whole thing was to stir the local Council into getting itself into gear and finalizing an initiative to remove many of the helicopter circuits from above our homes.

The TV interview didn't even make the News broadcast!

The local MP had a Media release which said as far as he was concerned all the State Government work had been done, the final stage was now up to Council!  And that was almost two months ago! Hopefully the press release will ensure Council signs off on the deal and it is all done and dusted!

The weather has been warm and humid.  Today it should culminate in steady rain and continue as afternoon storms for the next week or so. The pool does need a top up so the rain (if it comes) should be just in time. The photo taken just now shows the overcast sky.  Click on the photo for a larger view.

It can be quite hot inside the house but when we venture to sit under the pergola out there it is just delightful.  The breeze seems to always be cooler and it is just the perfect spot to sit, read, consume and have a swim as required!

It isn't the most elegant of structures but it "works" perfectly! The new 'sun lounge' isn't half bad either!

The latest brew I put on on Wednesday seemed to take an eternity to start bubbling away.  The bubbling usually happens a few hours after putting the brew on.  But this latest brew took a good 36 hours before it launched into action.  Hopefully it will be OK when I bottle it a couple of weeks before Christmas..

The temporary filling I had the other week has collapsed!  I was eating a few potato crisps with an ale yesterday and suddenly found 'lumps' in what I was eating.  I rang the dentist but was told not to worry and as long as I wasn't in any discomfort and come in for my scheduled appointment on 8:00 am Thursday morning.

Hopefully the predicted rain comes sometime today and we get a good soaking!

The Cat's Out Of The Bag!

One of the things I have learnt about blogs is that they are a public document, something out in the open for everybody and anybody to see.  So I couldn't write about our recent trip to Melbourne to attend a very good mate's surprise 80th birthday.

Eddie Riordan was a principal of mine around 30 years ago.  We got on very well and have remained in contact.  They visit us up here in Queensland and whenever we go to Melbourne we catch up with Eddie and Patsy.  So when the invitation arrived for us to attend his 'surprise' 80th birthday we just had to go.

We aren't going down for Christmas with the family this year as Kate and family are overseas.  We thought we would head down and grab a few nights with Kim in St Kilda and hopefully be able to catch up with the lad Chris and family before Xmas as well.

The were two other stand out events while we were there.  One was a Skype chat we had with Kate and family in Saudi Arabia with Kim, Trish and myself.

The second top event was when Chris and family came over to Kim's for  BBQ and a catch up Saturday afternoon for a few hours.  They stayed until after 9pm at night.  That was really good too.

Then there was the surprise birthday party.  Heaps to drink and eat ensured it was a great time as well.  There were many family members present at the party so we felt a little out of it at times.  At least one other teaching colleague was there, Graeme Williamson who I also catch up with from time to time.

We enjoyed the occasion.

While in Melbourne we ate out numerous times, so much so that our first evening meal when we arrived back home yesterday (Tuesday) was a tomato sandwich.  We won't be eating much tonight either!

We had a sensational Malaysian meal on Monday night with our usual favorite noodles dish (Char Kway Teow), crispy duck and a chicken curry.  Along with a couple of rotis and some coconut rice the meal was to die for!

We flew out of Brisbane with Tiger Airlines this trip.  As the real cheap airline Tiger Airlines no longer flies into Maroochydore, fares from our local airport on the coast have remained quite high with the lack of competition.  We booked return flights from Brisbane and paid for car parking for around $100 less than had we have been driven to Maroochydore Airport and flown to and from Melbourne from there!

We are entering the storm season and possible storms were predicted for Thursday, the day we were due to fly out.  We had booked outdoor parking. With the possibility of storms a part of the weather forecast, we upgraded the parking to 'under cover'.  So when the worst hail storm for over 30 years hit Brisbane that night, it was the best upgrade we had ever made!

We and another couple were driven back from the airport by the parking company.  They had parked their 4 month old Suzuki outdoors!  When the car was brought to them they almost cried, the car has almost every panel dented and will possibly be a 'write-off'.

The other couple did give us a tip though.  They prefer to fly with the low cost carrier Jetstar rather than Tiger.  If Jetstar have a flight to the same destination within an hour of Tiger, they will beat the Tiger price by 10%.

We slept quite well last night in our bed and we are busy tidying up today.  Washing is being done, lawns mowed etc, just general tidying up.  I had to get a brew on as well!

The weather is hot, the pool is sensational but I have a laptop to check out this afternoon for someone. The pool and the cool beers may have to wait for a while!