Cancellation

I am writing this Sunday morning from our home on the Sunshine Coast.  I had expected to be in Melbourne this morning, just waking up from attending my nephew's wedding and reception and catching up with my brother and sister on Saturday night.

All that changed at around 5:40 am our time on Saturday morning.  Trish had showered and was almost ready for the drive to Brisbane Airport when she received an email saying our flight had been cancelled and we had been rescheduled to fly at 5:30pm that evening.  With a 4pm wedding to get to in Melbourne this did not suit us.

There were mechanical issues with the plane and the smart thing for the airline to do was to cancel the flight. Alternative flights were going to make the timing a tight fit and were quite expensive!

We had no option than to contact relations in Melbourne and inform them of our news and that we regretfully had to pull out of attending the wedding.

I have since had a call from my nephew saying they were spending a week or so in Noosa and there are some plans afoot to try and catch up in Noosa (50k's away from us) sometime next week if possible. I have since seen some photos taken at the reception and it seems the promised wet weather had held off and things went off as planned.

Our motel accommodation has a 24 hour beforehand cancellation deal so we may have lost that money as well as the car parking fee we had already paid.  We have already received notification of a full refund of our airfares though.

The weather here is either extremely hot and muggy or it is raining!  It seems it may stay that way for much of next week.  I am currently (at 7:30 am) ready to bike ride but it sure looks threatening outside as if the heavens could open up at any time.

With the flight cancelled I did get to Computer Club yesterday.  It was reasonably busy but I still had time for a good chat.

There was an elderly guy there who would have a tear fall from his eyes every few minutes. His wife had recently passed away and he was obviously grieving.  He had 'her' Samsung Galaxy tablet and didn't have a clue how to use it.  He was worried about the tablet asking him for a password and didn't know what to do.

After having a look for him it appears his wife had set up an Outlook email account for him (which he never used or even knew about) and each time he started the tablet up, it was unable to login.

I deleted the email account for him and gave him a quick lesson on how to get on the internet and do a little browsing, how wifi worked and few other basics.  I think it was at least a more positive experience for him in what had been a recent period of repetitive negatives.  I believe currently his wife's clothes are spread throughout the house being readied to be gotten rid of.  He was extremely thankful for my help.

I might just stick my head outside and see if a bike ride is on the cards!

A Crook Brew

From time to time for what appears to be no clear reason a batch of home brew just doesn't come out right.  If a few bottles in the brew seem to be off, then the bottle cleaning method needs to be checked.  But if they are all off then something went wrong with the process or with the product itself (eg out of date). There is no way to tell.

A brew I bottled late in November is that little bit off, it is around 70% I reckon.  I can add something to it, e.g. a dash of lemonade or something similar to make it more pleasant to drink.  Some times I can do a 50/50 with a 50% good beer and 50% bad beer and mix them.

When I wash the bottles out after I have drunk them, there is always a little sediment trapped in the bottom of the bottles.  I use plastic bottles and they have what I call "rocket bottoms", small sections at the foot of the bottle (like Coca Cola bottles) where the sediment congregates (as per the photo).

A quick rinse or two, a firm shake with the bottle half full of water is always enough to remove this sediment.  This crook brew needs a firm and lengthy brush with a bottle cleaning brush to totally remove the sediment.

So today I have put another brew on and already washed all the 30 bottles ready for the bottling late next week.  Each bottle got a decent brush and a final close inspection to ensure they were as clean as they possibly could be.  Some bottles took around a couple of minutes to eventually remove all the stuck on sediment.

I have decided therefore to take a short cut, I will wash out half of the bottles and get rid of the sediment, the other half will be emptied down the sink and the soiled empties tossed into the recycling bin!  I will buy a new box of 15 bottles early next week  One box = around half a brew bottling!

At least this morning was dry enough for me to get a bike ride in.  I then bottle washed and took a quick swim afterwards to cool off though today hasn't been overly hot.  Wet and hotter weather is due the next few days.

And it appears it may be showery this weekend when we fly to Melbourne to attend a nephew's wedding.

A new small restaurant has opened a few kilometres away so we thought we would head there for a meal last night.  It is a small Vietnamese place with only around 20 or so seats for customers.  Things didn't quite go to plan as they were booked out and are just about booked out for tonight as well.

We will try again next Tuesday.  The fish and chips we had instead were sensational though!

A Quick Update

Looks like bike riding will be on the back burner this morning as we have awoken to some wet weather.  Today is a public holiday as well for Australia Day so the local businesses looking for day visitors or holiday makers won't be pleased

A quick look at the weather radar on the computer shows a very small blob of blue right where where we are, everywhere else is clear.  It looks like the rain is forming along the coast leaving most other places missing out.

Usually it is the other way round, it looks like we are getting wet according to the radar but outside it is as dry as a bone!

Despite the negligible dot just to the south of Caloundra on the radar map (see left) we have been getting a steady downpour for around an hour now.  Rainfall readings are not huge but the pool is just about full again which will save me a top up from our home supplies today.

Bike riding will be off the agenda as well I guess.

It has been hot and steamy the last few days though, low 30's and a humidity around 70% but quite often it is cloudy overhead.

News remains minimal.  There is still plenty of sport on TV for me so I manage to prop under the fan in the lounge watching sport on TV or I jump into the pool but under the umbrella for shade.

Trish got caught up in Arts Centre affairs yesterday while my Community Association stuff begins in earnest next week.

The top photo shows the overcast skies and the pool level just about full.

You can't see the smile on the faces of flowers in pots dotted around the backyard but rest assured they are happy with the wet weather as well.

Being a showery morning, when the rain clears and the sun reappears we can expect another hot and steamy day.

Tennis and Then More Tennis

We are now into the second half of January here on the Sunshine Coast and it has been quite warm.  The cooler change we enjoyed on Saturday gave way to warm and sunny weather for the rest of the week.  Needless to say the pool was a great place to be.

Bike riding has been back on the agenda most mornings but this morning (Sunday) I am giving it a miss.  It has been an as you go week just gone with no major happenings.  It has been a few sets of tennis on TV followed by a quick dip in the pool most days.  There are even apps for the tablet available now where we can watch almost any Australian Open tennis match on the tablet via the internet.  This works OK poolside.

We had drinks around at friends on Thursday and this was enjoyed by all.  We don't catch up as often nowadays as we used to but when we do it is always enjoyable.  Needless to say Friday was quiet, just sitting and watching some of the tennis and recovering.

Saturday saw the weather begin to cloud over here but it remained hot and humid despite being overcast.  Storms were predicted to come through with a cooler change last evening (Saturday) but all we got was a few flashes of lightning in the distance.  The wind has changed direction this morning (giving me a spell from fishing the leaves from next door's garden out of the pool) to a cooler southerly but it remains mid 20's outside with a humidity level of 74%.  Today we can expect a few showers and a cooler day ... if it happens.

The photo above shows the sights we were greeted with this morning in our little back yard at around 8 am.

Right now the pool needs a top up of water following evaporation during the week but with today's forecast of some showers I am loathe to top it up right now when Mother Nature may do it for me sometime later on.  I supose if I topped the pool up now from our domestic supply, it would be just the trigger to get a downpour this afternoon!

The garden sure needs it as well!

School holidays finish up here this week so all the local kids should be returning to school.  This means the most hectic time of the year is coming to a close in our little part of the world.

Arts Centre stuff and the local Community Association come back to action after their Christmas lay offs.  I guess it won't take long until we get back into the swing of it all.

Trish and I are making a flying visit to Melbourne next weekend to attend a nephew's wedding.  We only expect to be in Melbourne overnight Saturday.  I will spend time with my brother and sister which should be really good.

Until then it will be the pool, tennis and even some cricket on the TV!

Memories Of Melbourne!

On Friday it was around 33° in our small backyard.  33° here is a little to different to 33° in Melbourne.  Here the sun is more intense and the humidity higher.  It is 33 but feels more like 37 sort of thing!

Later on Friday a blustery cool change came through from the south.  The winds were so bad the power was cut off from around 8:30pm till around 11pm on Friday.  We sat outside cooling off for a while after the blackout before deciding to go to bed.  This was good for me as we had been watching the James Bond 'Spectre' movie and I had already dropped off to sleep a couple of times. It isn't a great movie I am afraid.

Saturday we had a top of 21°, that is correct, a miserly 21° which felt even cooler with the strong wind!  We had rain squalls, a very heavy covering of dark clouds and strong southerly winds which continued to buffet the Coast all day.  A cool change here usually means a change in wind direction and the following day's maximum temperature is around 4° lower, not a massive 12° difference!

It was a Melbourne type cool change.

The windscreen has been fixed on the old car.  I also 'did' a lady's laptop for her and now have it all set up.  She is happy.  When she has the internet connected, I will pop around and set up her wireless network for her as well.  She has indicated she will pop into the home brew shop and leave something on my 'tab' there.

We watched the movie "Last Cab To Darwin" last night which we both enjoyed very much.

I did a 12k bike ride this morning followed by a quick squirt of "Ventlilin".  One small squirt and any symptoms of short breath disappear almost immediately!  The change in weather the last day or so has caused the pool temperature to plummet from a little over 30° to a mere 24.5° this morning.  So the swim this morning was especially refreshing!

With all the strong winds and wet weather, the pool was sorely in need of a clean as well.

As today progresses, there is more and more sunshine and the skies are clearing.  They are talking about 34° in a few days!

But there is cricket on TV today (Sunday) and then two weeks of Australian Open Tennis.  There is plenty of sport watching to happen!

Things Happen In Threes!

A simple plastic cap and some glue has solved the prime problem with the pool filter and the new pump.  Since fixing the plastic cap the pool pump has operated perfectly without a 'bubble' in sight as the pump starts up for another session of filtering.

The lack of any bubbles now indicates the system is totally sealed and there aren't any air leaks anywhere.  I have lost the use of the redirect valve but it was virtually useless to have anyway.

While in Melbourne on our family Christmas stay at a house in Portsea, I lost a filling.  It is noticeable but certainly not annoying.  However a trip to the dentist after school holidays are over is planned.

They say things happen in threes, and that is just what happened yesterday.

While driving back to home in the 'old' car from a shopping trip and a load up of supplies from a Costco store around 40k's south of us, a stone from another vehicle flew up and hit the windscreen around 1cm from the very top.

A few minutes later a 15cm (6") crack appeared in the car's windscreen.  By the time we arrived back home the crack was a couple of centimetres longer!  This morning the crack is probably out to 24cms or around 9".  This is the car we were offered $200 as a trade in a couple of years ago!

At home I "Googled" windscreen repairers and sought out 3 quotes.  The amounts quoted varied by up to $100.  One company (O'Brien's) immediately dropped their price by around $40 when I told them I had cheaper quotes elsewhere.  Even then it was still $65 more than the quote I have now accepted.

So now the windscreen will be the most valuable part of the old car when it is replaced tomorrow morning (Friday).

Further Pool Concerns

The pool in the backyard continues to raise concerns but it now seems everything will turn out OK.  The problems are to do with the newly fitted pump and some of the controls on the Chlorinator.

The pool is losing 'prime' which means there is a leak somewhere in the 'system' with air being sucked in after the new pump has been installed, especially when the pump is not running.  When the pump restarts, there is a pile of bubbles come up as the water from the filter/chlorinator re enters the pool.

The pool filtration system has a rarely used handle which directs where water is to flow.  Usually the flow is from the pool, the chlorinator and then through the cartridge filter and back to the pool.  By turning a handle, flow can be redirected to any overflow point via a connected hose.  I have used this once during the 10 or so years of having the pool.

When the new pool pump was installed the redirecting handle and valve were re installed into the new pool plumbing setup. In the photo you can see the small section of pipe onto which you attach a large hose to drain some water from the pool if required.  If you look closely you can see some water sitting in the pipe.  The seal inside the re divert handle has a slight leak and this is what is causing the system to suck in air.

A new handle costs $47, to have someone come and remove the handle and re plumb a section of pipe is $66 per hour.

My solution will be to buy a plastic cap and glue it over the open pipe.  This will successfully seal any air leak.  I will buy a 40mm cap from the pool shop and borrow some glue overnight to fix the cap securely.  I plan to do this after 4pm today and give the glue a perfect opportunity to dry and fully seal overnight.

There is a press button on the chlorinator control to adjust the amount of chlorine being made back into the pool.  It has been stuck on 100% for the last week, the push button making no difference no matter how many times you press it.  I did notice a spot of moisture behind the screen when the indicator lights are.

The pool guy thought most likely it was a problem with the 'top' control board in the chlorinator control box, a replacement control board is around $145.  Last night while fiddling about with the press buttons, suddenly the chlorinator output control was fully operating again!  I guess some slight spot of moisture it may have had has dried out and now the controls are again working.

So from going from $66 to have the pool filter pump piping re done and another $145 to have the top board replaced, the cost will now be $1 for a 400mm cap and the free use of some glue.  I am happy with that.

Currently the pool temp is hovering around 30° after a warm day in the sun.  Most days the air temperature is around the same if not a little warmer.  I am bike riding again though I took a morning off recently to 'bottle' the latest brew! The warmer weather means I am usually well and truly on my way by 6:30 am.

Arj and Kate are back at work again in Saudi. 

Arj's latest blog post on his trip back to Australia and how things are going back in Saudi is HERE.

100mls

It is surprising the difference 100mls of rain can make to a front yard!  The rain returned overnight Monday and has only just left us this morning (Wednesday).  There is a total of just under 100mls in the rain gauge and we had a very cool day yesterday with it only getting to 23°, almost a record lowest January maximum for where we live.

The small creature you may spot in the photo was a cane toad extracted from the pool's skimmer box this morning during cleaning!

The lawn was yellow and patchy on Sunday.  Today it is green and patchy, the pool is full to overflowing and the gardens and pot plants are all well watered.  Regretfully the pool is a little on the chilly side, but with a top of 30° expected today it should warm the water up.

The latest brew is bubbling away in the garage and as I type at around 9am, Kate, Arj and family are several hours out of Dubai on their return flights to Saudi Arabia.

A quiet day watching the tennis on TV is likely to follow.

We are in the midst of booking flights and a motel.  We fly to Melbourne on the last weekend of January for a wedding.  My brother will collect us from Tullamarine Airport around lunchtime on Saturday where we will head to a Motel in Frankston, near where the reception is to be held in Langwarrin.  From there it is down to Dromana for the 'Park Wedding' before returning to the motel and then onto the reception by taxi.

Geoff will drop us off Sunday ready for our flight back home Sunday afternoon.

Trish is online booking flights to Perth for the cruise and to Melbourne for the wedding.  She is also ensuring Cruise payments get to the Melbourne Travel Agent on time.

Back On Again

This morning we received a phone call from a Travel Agent in Melbourne saying they had found a balcony cabin for us for the May 1st cruise from Fremantle (Perth) to Sydney on the "Sun Princess".  We grabbed it with glee. 

So the trip to Western Australia to visit our daughter Kim followed by a 17 night cruise is back on again. The cruise will finish up in Sydney.  We could have disembarked at Brisbane but another two nights away and to sail into Sydney Harbour seemed too good to miss!

So we are off! You can see the itinerary here.  Our itinerary says the cruise finishes in Sydney, though this illustration shows the cruise finishes in Brisbane!

This morning the guy from the Pool Shop arrived in the rain and drizzle and fitted the replacement pool pump.  It is now fully installed and running this afternoon.  It isn't quite as strong as the other pump was but it appears more than adequate for a pool our size.

The previous pump was so strong it used to push much of the surface rubbish up the far end of the pool where it seemed to get trapped.  For some reason the skimmer box which collects all the rubbish in our pool is on the side. I watched today when the new pump started up and saw a piece of a leaf eventually found its way into the skimmer box.

Today has been quite cool with almost an inch (25mls) of rain falling overnight.  The rain has gone this afternoon but it is still a little threatening outside.  Some areas of northern Queensland have received their first decent rain in several years over Christmas.  The farmers are over the moon about it all.

Home Safe And Sound

The car rolled up our driveway at home around 11:00 am on New Year's Day after our 1800k drive home from Melbourne.  Traffic throughout the trip was relatively light and our trip uneventful.  We stayed in not so expensive motels on our way home with a fine room in West Wyalong and a not so fine room (but OK) in Goondiwindi.  Despite the accommodation leaving a little to be desired in Goondiwindi, we found a Malaysian Restaurant for our evening meal with roti's to die for!

The small bush town of Goondiwindi has a Malaysian restaurant but we don't have one for the whole of the Sunshine Coast!

We haven't had a chance to get a blog post up any earlier than this despite having access to wifi most of the way but it was just suitable for emails and a little surfing.

The car didn't skip a beat the whole trip.  The new Waeco portable freezer performed admirably!

Whilst in Melbourne we had our usual visit to Drouin on Boxing Day to catch up with friends Barry and Rainy (and others).  We spent the night with them as well.  Then for a night with other friends June and Keith and finally two nights with Patsy and Eddie at their place.

We caught Kate and the kids again for a lunch (PapaRich Malaysian at Chadstone) and also with Kim and a friend for Vietnamese at Springvale.  I have now replenished my supply of 'Chilli Oil' from Springvale as well!

We arrived home just in time as the water in the pool was extremely low.  Around 45 minutes of topping up was required to get it sorted.  During the cleaning up around the house I noticed water around the pool pump.  The rusty marks on the pump housing as you can see in the photo above indicated a problem.

Just to replace the pump with the same high energy using model we had was $550.

A new much lower energy using pump will be installed on Monday and we will be $740 poorer!  The guy in the shop said we were extraordinarily lucky to get 10 years use out of the Onga pump previously fitted.

Whilst staying with Eddie and Patsy discussion got around to cruises. We informally agreed to do the Fremantle Brisbane cruise together on May 1st.  Regretfully a quick check online showed balcony cabins for the cruise were sold out.  Eddie has a few contacts in the travel industry and made some further enquiries as we were driving home to Caloundra.

While in our first stop West Wyalong motel room he rang to say there were two cabins available on the May 1st Cruise via a contact of his and did we now want to go?  We quickly rang back confirming our interest.  He would venture into the office the next morning and book the two cabins.

At the next night's overnight stop an angry Eddie rang back to tell us he had been given incorrect information on the availability of two cabins, in reality after carefully checking the agent found there was actually only one vacancy!  So the cruise was off, then back on and again back off all within 24 hours!

As you can imagine the clothesline is full of washing as we get things done around the house after being away.

I was gifted 3 days of 'paid' downloading for a special website I always visit.  It has been going flat chat since our arrival back home.  With the academy Awards a few months way, there are lots of "DVD Screeners" ('in house' copies of the latest movies made available for Academy Award judging purposes).

We will have some great movie watching nights coming up!