A Merry Christmas To Everyone

It is Christmas Day and Trish and I are encamped in The Waverley International Motel, a few minutes away from where Kate Arj and family are staying with Arj's parents.

Both Trish and I take this opportunity to wish all our friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  We hope that 2016 brings with it all the good fortune you could want.

We left the delightful holiday house we had rented for the family Christmas yesterday (Thursday) at around 10 am.  Hopefully we have left the premises in a good condition to ensure we get all of our bond back.  It was such a great spot we are genuinely considering having 2016 Christmas in the same spot, but over an extra night.  The kids loved it and the pool was sensational. All was helped along by perfect weather.

We dropped Kim and all her luggage off in Rosebud after we left Portsea where she caught up with good friend Renae and they headed off camping for a few days.

We arrived at the motel in Melbourne's south east suburbs around 1:30 pm Christmas Eve and were very pleasantly surprised by the great accommodation we found.  All was great with the room though the bathroom probably needs a make over.  The position is ideal within a couple of minutes walk of the fabulous (and cosmopolitan) The Glen Shopping Centre.  This too is a diner's paradise and all within close walking distance.  A nearby Dan Murphy store (alcohol super store) is also within walking distance.

It appears we got a 'special' promotion with our accommodation and the rooms generally don't come at around $100 per night.  For the regular price you can add 50% to that.  That isn't our room in the photo but a promotional "Google Images" shot.

We have come into an especially hot couple of days so an air con motel room is just perfectly timed.  It will be 35 degrees today, and will be 21 or so with rain tomorrow.  Such is Melbourne!

At this stage Christmas lunch will be nibblies and more in a local very large park with Arj and the family.  However the weather may have something to say about that.  Not only is it hot, there is a gusty wind as well.  The big meal comes tonight when we get together with all of Arj's family for a Sri Lankan Curry get together.

Therefore nibblies will be plenty for lunch!

Kate and Arj have much of next week penciled in with friends to catch up with.  So for us it will be catch them when we can.

We have our traditional Boxing Day BBQ with Barry and Rainy tomorrow down in Drouin.  For the final three nights of our time in Melbourne we will have staying with friends.

The most likely scenario still sees us getting home on New Year's Day with two stopovers on the way.  Reports indicate it has been showery and not overly hot back on the Sunshine Coast.  The weather for Melbourne for our remaining time here is mid 20's or so, just delightful.

Christmas Time

It has been a few days since I last posted.  I post this via Trish's laptop at Portsea.  We are in the midst of our family Christmas get together.  We have our daughter Kim who is over from Perth.  We have Chris Wendy and family who live in Melbourne and we have Kate Arj and the kids with us doing their Christmas visit from Saudi Arabia.

We try to get together by hiring a house 'somewhere' with all the conveniences we want each year and this year we have hit the jackpot, not only with fine warm weather but also with the perfect house.  We have 5 separate bedrooms each with its own air con and en suite.  We have room to burn, a BBQ, great deck and a heated pool.

It is ideal.  There is even free WiFi which allows me to post this blog post.

Chris' wife Wendy is doing the cooking.  She enjoys it and does all the food preparation.  Each family 'puts in' to cover costs and we have a superb spread.

There is plenty to drink and even more to eat.  The pool is heated ensuring plenty of young hungry appetites.  Today we had our Kris Kringle with the kids getting spoilt as usual.  It has been wonderful.

The weather has been mid to high 20's, just perfect.  There is a large screen TV, videos games everything the kids could want.

The photo above shows some of the grand kids (and Chris) during this morning's Kris Kringle.  As an extra treat my sister Judy and Peter popped in for a couple of hours this morning to catch up and spread the Christmas cheer.

Previously on Monday we spent a wonderful evening with friends at Drouin, around 120k's south of Melbourne.  There were 4 couples, people we have known for 40 years or so.  When we do catch up it is as if 30 years have vanished, We seem to take off as if we last met the previous week.  It was another special moment.

Tomorrow we leave this ideal spot and head to a motel around 5k's from where Arj Kate and family are staying with Arj's parents.  We have plans to catch up and enjoy more time together.  We expect to spend a couple of days there before we again head south to Drouin again and other friends Barry and Rainy for a fun BBQ and quite a few drinks.

We still expect to get back home around New Years Day.

A Cooler Melbourne

It is a much cooler place right now here in Melbourne. Kate, Arj and family arrived exhausted early yesterday morning (Saturday) all bright eyed and bushy tailed despite a 14 hour flight from Dubai into a 43 degree typical Melbourne disgusting day. There were extremely hot winds and it was awful.

Around 2 hours later the grand kids were asleep and the two grownups were about to hit brick wall.

It is now 6pm Sunday and a much awaited cool change has arrived sending temps from the high 30's to around 20 degrees.

We enjoyed our stay in Newcastle catching up with Janet and Michael. Mick is due to finish working in March so is coming to grips with the idea of retirement and considering how he will spend his time. He was assured there would be plenty to  do.

Friday was a long driving day, almost 1000ks. We split the driving up between us. We arrived in Melbourne around 5pm after around just under 11 hours travelling.

It has been great with Chris and Wendy and spending special time with grand kids Andrew and Emily. Andrew loves his sport and computer stuff so we get on Ok.

Our day has been spent enjoying a lot of cricket on the telly.

If I  can get the photo up it will be of Chris' backyard after the change and some cooling showers.

Tomorrow it is off to Drouin to a special Christmas night with our Melbourne friends.
 

Kim has flown in from Perth and is catching up with friends.  Kate and Arj are also catching up with others today and have tomorrow to attend to  some business with the bank.

On Tuesday our family will all get together at a holiday house for 2 nights prior to Christmas. For Trish and me this will be a special time.

Are There Any Roadworks?

I would say that around 30% of the road between Byron Bay and Coffs Harbour (around 150ks in total) are under Roadworks speed restrictions. It is amazing.  It turned a 5 hour drive into almost 6 hours. Throw in Daylight Saving which adds an 'hour'  to travel time and we are in Coffs Harbour eventually.

The motel is booked out so we are lucky we booked a couple of days ago.

The Waeco has operated faultlessly so we are enjoying cool drinks as we relax and get onto the free WiFi.

It's to the infamous 'Hoey Moey' for tea and later it won't be long out of bed.

It is around 450ks for tomorrow and we won't be due there until around 5pm we guess.  That takes the pressure off. So a sleep in may be in store.

Will give more updates as more free WiFi comes along.

2 Hours to Drive Off

We head south to Melbourne in a couple of hours.  It is nice not having to rush.  Previously if heading south we would have been on the road for an hour or so at this time.  In the old days we would do the 1800k's from here to Melbourne with just one overnight stop.

We are stopping over tonight in Coffs around 500ks away.  Tomorrow (Weds) onto Newcastle where we will spend Thursday.  Then Friday the biggie, Newcastle to Melbourne in a day where we will stay a couple of nights with Chris and Wendy.

At this stage hot weather is promised for Melbourne on Saturday.  This could change before then owing to Melbourne's changeable weather.

Kate and family fly in Saturday morning.

The Waeco turned out to be pouring money into a machine which would possibly break down again.  At 15 years old the tech believes it is getting close to the end of its life.  I was spared the $180 to repair it.  Instead we have now lashed out (for my 70th birthday present) and bought a new one.  Let's face it, you can't take it with you.

It was $200 cheaper than when I bought the original 15 years ago.  With it came a cover and a great set of storage containers, very high quality.

It works great.  It will get heaps of work over summer where we cool drinks while using the pool.

In the meantime the backyard is now finished as the top photo shows.  Potplants are in place, required safety notices have been updated and I even raised the retractable hose to ensure it is over a metre from the ground.  I was guessing that would be a safety requirement if owning a pool.

Now to finish packing.  I am not sure when or where the next post will be.

Have a great Christmas everybody, just in case I am unable to connect to the internet and add a post.

Hot and Windy

We are at a lovely cool end to what has been quite a hot week.  Mid 30's in our little backyard has been the order of the day with balmy overnight meaning the ceiling fans have been put to work as we sleep.

The wind has been blowing quite strongly from the north west again giving us hot temperatures and we have been invaded by falling leaves from the neighbour's plants.

Having the air conditioner up and running again has been great.  It only goes on 27° but under a ceiling fan it feels great.

I have bike ridden for a the first couple of days but since then bottle washing and bottling have taken up two mornings, while building has taken up the third.  We have extended the feature wall across the western fence at the top end of the pool as the photo above shows.

The photo lower down is what it used to look like. Click on the photos for a larger view.

Doing this work at my age in quite hot and oppressive conditions hasn't done my well being any good.

In between has been the usual attending the odd meeting, updating web sites and chatting with various officials on goings on around the area.

Really Christmas can't come quickly enough for me.  We had another Skype chat with Kate in Saudi yesterday.  She bought two 'Kindles' at ridiculously low prices along with covers and delivery to her parents in law home.  Used her Australian Credit card to pay for it only to discover later the payment had been refused as the credit card company saw the purchase had been made from overseas.

They know she lives there, they have it as a mailing address, all too frustrating.

One of her first tasks when back in Melbourne for Christmas next week is to arrange a credit card from a bank in Melbourne.  The email saying there was a problem with the payment had gone to her spam folder and she missed it.

We have cooling showers right now giving everything a well needed drink of water.  The lawn and garden are both in need of a water.  I did top the pool up from the tap mid week but it too is getting topped up again right now.

The cricket test match on TV isn't that exciting with the opposition team being very weak so the traffic is all one way.

We have the final Computer Club meeting this morning and we finish with a spread of food.  Should be good.

We head to Melbourne on Tuesday by car.  The Waeco should be back and fixed by Monday afternoon .... we hope.

A Hint Of "Cool"

We have enjoyed top temperatures of around 30° the last few days.

There is a slight southerly blowing and it has just a hint of 'cool' about it.  However when standing in the sun you can begin to feel the heat pounding down.  It is only another week or so till when the sun reaches its southern most point before retreating to the north again.

The sun is almost as close to directly overhead as it gets here.

Trish went and bought a Sim Card Adapter kit from a Phone Repair place at the local shopping centre on Friday.  The kit was primarily aimed at the Apple mobile phone market as those phones can take some tricky variations of sim card.  The 'new' phone takes a normal sim card, her previous phone took a mini sized sim card and is smaller.

The sim card slotted into the adapter nicely and then into the phone easily.  The phone then connected to the local mobile phone network with out any hassles. Remember the phone only cost AUD$180 and will very successfully allow her to send and receive texts, make and receive calls, attend to her GMail and allow her to follow her Facebook page.

Then there will be the odd game or two she can play on it and all on a 5.5" screen, a little bigger than what she was used to but has become quickly adapted to.

The photo above was taken with the phone and is certainly not 'camera' quality but is more than acceptable for what we want.

It is a 4G phone as well.  If it lasts a couple of years then great.  Then she will have to buy another new one won't she?  Her previous phone was beginning to chew through the battery and seemed to go 'flat' in less than a day.  A couple of the buttons failed at times as well.  They worked OK when I used them but Trish was not totally confident when using it.

All in all it was a good little buy.

After we return from Melbourne I will send away for a replacement battery for the old phone.  That will then become a 'spare' for just in case!

Trish is into Brisbane today with Kathryn (our Chiropractor) to go to the theatre.  I will sit at home and watch the golf from the Gold Coast.

It Has Cooled Off!

It started with a few spits of rain on Wednesday evening followed by another couple of heavy showers.  Rain totals weren't anything startling though, around 6 mls or so.

Thursday morning was overcast and still.  Soon however a very strong southerly buster cooler change came in.  The wind blew like crazy (which you would have seen if you watched the golf on TV from the Gold Coast).  The pool was full of refuse, I am guessing the rubbish blew in from houses a couple of blocks away rather than just next door.

We rolled up the sun blinds the wind was so strong!  Then we had a couple of showers of rain during Thursday and the wind continued to blow a gale.  The temperature was around the mid 20's.  This morning (Friday) the pool is back to 24°!

Needless to say I didn't bike ride yesterday or this morning.

The guy I called to fix the air conditioner arrived yesterday.  He picked the fault in one!  It was a Gecko (a small lizard that gets into everything in this part of the world) that had shorted the power and blew the fuse in the air conditioner unit itself.  Photo left.

The fuse was replaced and the air con flicked into life again.  No cost at all to us.

I have the beer cooling in the Waeco portable fridge on Thursday and it sure was doing a great job.  A bottle of my beer was frozen, so effective had been the repair!  If only that were true.  The Waeco is back for repair again.  The guy believes it may be something other than the thermostat which they replaced two years ago causing the fridge just to cool and continue cooling.  I await with baited breath for what went wrong!

Then the wind picked up again blowing the blinds off the velcro strips I used to anchor them as per the photo above.

So this morning (Friday) after dropping the Waeco off again I was off to buy some more new 'reusable' velcro strips.  The older ones had lost quite a bit of their sticking power.  The new ones are holding OK at the moment.

I did get the final brew for 2015 on this morning as well.  This will be the last one I will do before heading to Melbourne on Tuesday week.  It should start bubbling this afternoon I hope!  Washing and bottling will occur throughout next week!

Our area where we live is going ahead in leaps and bounds with huge residential developments planned for the south of Caloundra.  The increase in population is having an effect on the number of cars on the road and increasing traffic. So yesterday the Community Association met with the Chief Advisor to the State Government's Minister for Transport and Main Roads on the issue at her office in Maroochydore.

So while I interviewed the advisor, Trish shopped at the huge "The Plaza" shopping centre in Maroochydore.  You can read about what happened at the meeting HERE.  I put this report on the BeCA website this morning.

After the meeting, Trish and I adjourned to the Alex Headland Surf Club for a few drinks and dinner.  Very pleasant it all was as well!

And last but by no means least, Trishs' new $185 phone arrived from China yesterday.  We have a hassle at this stage because her current phone uses a 'mini' sim while the new phone uses a larger sized card.  Trish is hoping to pick up a sim card adapter so she can put her mini sim into the new phone.

Regretfully we tossed away the adapters we had or we have stored them 'somewhere' at home.  Despite turning the place upside down last night we couldn't find them.  Hopefully she will come across one today in Caloundra.

So it has been a bit hectic the last few days.

A Happy Little Vegemite

The title for this post describes how I feel after the new "Android TV Box" was delivered yesterday around lunchtime.  I bought it online from China on Thursday and it was delivered to the front door around lunchtime Monday. 

Poor Trish continues to wait for her new phone to be delivered and it was ordered several days before I ordered the TV Box..

Hers came with 'cheap' postage ($6) whereas mine had a postage charge of around $25.

You can buy what I got for around $280 from JB HiFi with the better quality remote.  Mine cost around $100 less and with the better quality remote included. And after a little fiddling around I managed to get the quality DTS sound working on it this morning.

It does things that little bit better than the Tronsmart does, the one I got at half price.  Needless to say the Tronsmart will be available for sale.  At $70 it is still a really good buy for someone as it works fairly well.  I seem to feel it didn't work well with my lower end Yamaha Amplifier which is where all my devices play through.  Everything, ordinary Free To Air TV, Media Player, Pay TV and Blu Ray player all play through the amplifier.

Trish's old phone is beginning to play up.  The battery will go from 70% to empty in a very short while.  Needless to say the new phone can't arrive quickly enough.  It is due for delivery sometime this week.  I will buy a replacement battery when we return after Christmas and then we can keep Trish's current phone as a 'spare'

After she gets her phone we will both have received our Christmas presents.

We continue to have warm steamy weather.  My next stop will be the pool after this.

The Waeco is chugging away under the patio cooling some brews, ciders and soft drinks.  It is working quite well.  We have another hot day tomorrow before cooling off for a few days when we can expect top temps around 27° after the change.

Trish is well into Xmas lunches from various groups with which she is involved.  So it is Christmas busy, busy busy.