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!