Car Update

We are now the owners of an older Honda Jazz but with under 70,000k's on the clock.  The photo shows what greeted us just after 11 am today as we went to the dealer to take delivery.  The sales guy was from Wagga NSW and he was a Richmond Aussie Rules fan as you can probably tell.

We opted for the local purchase after managing another couple of hundred dollars off the price.  Though dearer than a similar vehicle would have been through our Melbourne contact Kane, the Telstar has now 'gone', there isn't any re registering and Safety Certificates to get through, and we don't have to drive 2 cars from Melbourne back to here in January 2017.

We have a 90 day 100% warranty and then a further three years limited warranty with this deal.  The deal Kane offered us had exactly the same coverage.  There are times when the 1800k's between the Sunshine Coast and Melbourne is just a little too far and this was one of those.

We considered a new vehicle but as a second car and only having done less than 70,000k's this will suit our needs well and the price is OK if not perfect.  The low mileage makes a huge difference as we would expect to do around 7,000k's p.a. at the most giving us quite a few years of local inexpensive driving still to come.

By speaking with Kane we knew pretty well what the car was actually worth which was perfect for our price haggling purposes.  Kane's advice was crucial in our finalizing the deal to our satisfaction.

We especially liked the way the doors on this little Honda Jazz open wide and the ease of getting in and out.  Those of you who know our house are aware we do have a steep drive.  The Telstar doors wouldn't stay open and when you did get in or out and you felt like your tail was almost dragging along the ground when driving along!

We expect entering and leaving this car will be much easier than the Telstar.

Trish is doing the weekly shopping in Caloundra right now and has taken the "Jazz".

The Telstar was almost 24 years old and had served us exceptionally well.  Despite a few hiccups, it was relatively cheap motoring and we believe we got about as much out of it as we could.  Right up to the end you just hopped in to it, turned the key and off you went.  Trish was a little sad seeing the Telstar go.

Car Upgrade?

Until a few years ago, we kept our 'second' car down in Melbourne.  It is a Ford Telstar, 1992 model (re badged Mazda 626).  When our daughter Kate and family headed overseas to work for two years we brought it up here to Queensland from Victoria. Despite its age and condition, it handled the 2000k trip very well. 

So now it is approaching 24 years old, has done almost 200,000k's, is showing signs of rust, and the paintwork on it is absolutely 'shot'.

A few years ago we were offered $200 as a trade in on a new small Hyundai which we declined. It now has a couple of small oil leaks, makes a heck of a noise when first started and can chug away until you give it a few herbs before it settles down and runs smoothly.  But generally, you hop in it, the motor starts straight away and off you go!

Very good friends' son in law runs a Mazda dealership with his brothers in the SE suburbs of Melbourne and he said he could get us a good car at the right price when required. With the old Telstar showing a few signs, we are rolling around to the idea of upgrading.

We are looking at something not too big, cheap to run, lows kilometres, a good make, and at the right price.  To buy from Melbourne has extra costs of around $200 in fuel to bring it back up here, the cost of a Safety Certificate so we can register it here, and then there is the question of Warranty if something goes wrong. 

There is nothing worse than buying a second hand car and having something go wrong almost immediately. We would have to get it back to Melbourne for the repair of any major warranty items.  That would need to be a risk we would have to take and really impractical.

We have spotted an older Honda Jazz which has only done 70,000k's, it kind of fits into what we want if a little smaller than we would ideally like, is a little dearer than we hoped, but has a 3 year warranty on it. It is from a local car dealer up here

Being a great make of car and only 70,000k's seems to indicate it would serve us well for several years.

So there is our dilemma, Buy locally, pay more money but have great back up. Or save money, buy from down south, bring it back up here, register it (with associated Safety Certificate costs) but have restricted backup if something goes wrong!

What to do?

Some Rain On The Way

It is Saturday and I have just returned from "Computer Club" where I had a busy and successful morning.  One lady was so pleased with the help she had received with her laptop over the last couple of weeks she gave me a bottle of Burge Bros Shiraz.  Very nice thankyou.

The new floor coverings have been laid (as you can see below) and everything has been returned to its place (or even a few new places).  The hole I put in the plaster has been patched and some touch up paint applied.  It looks pretty good I reckon.

Several items of furniture which were no longer required finished up sitting on the front lawn with "Free" written on them.  All items had gone within 12 hours.  A new smaller (and much smarter looking) bookcase was purchased and assembled.  Our little house is looking pretty good.

Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view.

I have again sorted the shelving in the garage again and everything looks good there as well.  I did need a Mobic or two to get me through the week but all is good now.  Mobic is an anti inflammatory tablet which I keep for emergency purposes when my back plays up!

I setup up a mate's Minix U1 Android TV Box for him on Tuesday afternoon and he is over the moon with it.  There is a chance his good wife likes the TV Box even more than he does as she finds her way into the TV Series "Tyrant".  He goes to Computer Club as well so was seeking a few reminder tips this morning with which I was able to help him out with.

But probably the biggest success of the week was following up on the patching of the wall in the house.  I managed to put a small hole in the plaster when trying to manoeuvre a small bedside table around a tight corner.  I was able to patch it reasonably OK but then it needed painting!

I believed the original wall paint in the house was British Paints and the color was called Brie.  Off to Bunnings I went to collect as many color cards as I could to try to match the color.  The lady at the Paint Service desk put the color 'brie' into her computer color search and up popped Bristol Paints and the color "Brie".

Former neighbour (and Kodi tragic) Brian, who is now in his 80's but still extremely active, was a house painter by trade. He had a look at my repair job and told me what to do.  The paint in the house is "flat' but I managed to get a .5 litre plastic container of Brie low sheen for $7-50.  Brian suggested getting a cotton cloth and make a ball, dab the ball into the paint and then dab it onto the area to be touched up and slowly dab further outwards in a circular motion.  The paint went onto the patch requiring covering and as you dabbed outwards the paint thinned and it was able to merge into the old paint.

It worked very well indeed.  After the major paint repair the rest of the house walls and front step have been touched up and painted making our 15 year old house look spic and span again.  All for just $7-50 worth of paint.

It is beginning to warm up again so singlets, shorts and scuffs are the go.  The pool is around 22° first thing in the morning so is swimmable!  It has remained windy as we get the northern tip of weather systems which have been blasting Victoria and South Australia the last week or so.  The latest change is due to hit overnight giving us a change of wind direction and a drop of rain.  10 ml or thereabouts is expected which is not much more than a springtime shower up here!

The pool will get a top up again with the rain.  The warm windy weather sure gets the evaporation rate up, even the front lawn is turning yellow for the need for water.  All that should change overnight!

Blowing A Gale

It is blowing a gale outside, (slight exaggeration) with a possible storm on the way later on today.  The storm (if we get one) will be mainly a little thunder and rain without any strong destructive winds.  The Weather Bureau is saying there is a 70% chance of getting something in the rain gauge.  It is around 27° and it is mid morning as I type.

The clothes line is full!

The new floor coverings are due to go in today so we have been busy emptying the two bed rooms which are to be done.  I have just dismantled our double bed but we will request they cart out the mattress.  The bed and mattress are to be moved from the second bedroom as well.

So there is stuff all over the place, the garage being the major depository for most things.  With a windy warm day outside Trish has taken the chance to wash everything and anything from the bedding.

I suspect a trip to the chiropractor will follow later in the week.

There is an enjoyable movie for you to watch called "Mr Fantastic".  When I first saw the title I suspected it to be yet another one of those Marvel comic character movies but when I saw an IMDB score of 8.1 I looked again.  We enjoyed it very much.

We also finished off the final 2 episodes of the ITV period drama "Victoria", the story of a young Queen Victoria as she ascends the throne as an 18 year old, marries her cousin Albert and begins a family.  It builds on the success of other UK period dramas such as Downton Abbey.  And I read the BBC is doing a 6 10 part series period drama called "The Crown" which will trace the life of Queen Elizabeth.

The PC is back to 100% again after getting the electric shock on Saturday.  Considering everything I was quite lucky to get away with only a $50 repair bill.  The PC is over a couple of years old now and I am hopeful of getting another 12 months or so out of it.

We continue to wait patiently for the floor covering installers to arrive.

An Update ... At Last!

Looking towards the south there sure has been a heap of wind and rain down there.  Everyday we heard about trees being blown down, houses damaged and even more windy weather forecast for the next day.  The Sunny Coast hasn't been left right out of the equation as that wind has reached all the way up here, albeit nowhere near as strong.  But it is from the south so has been keeping the temperature down to the low and mid 20's.  For a couple of mornings the strong gusty wind has even kept me off my bike!

Today is a little on the cooler side with a brisk breeze but there is plenty of sun.  We managed a few really nice days with the pool water getting up to around 24.  However with the cooler southerlies returning, the pool water is more like 21 or 22 now.  Warm enough for a quick swim after a bike ride, but it is was sure chilly when you got out after a swim with that southerly.

Things happen in threes don't they?  And you should check the car radiator and see what the water level is like shouldn't you?

The latter is something I am guilty of not doing!  We do keep an eye on the temp gauge in the old car and as soon as the gauge wandered above midway point the other day it was time to pull over and wait it out.

3 litres of water later the radiator was again full.  That problem had been solved but the car wasn't running well at all for the next day or so.  But then after several more days the old car hasn't skipped a beat!  Then my watch suddenly lost 20 minutes and it seemed it required a new battery.  As I buy my watches from China, and as cheap as chips, it is usually cheaper just to buy a new watch rather than pay $10 for a new battery.

So I now have a new watch and this one much dearer than I usually pay as it was $24 delivered!

That was the second thing!

I do enjoy playing with my electrical toys.  I pinched the webcam off the PC and attached it to an Android TV Box to try out Skype via the TV.  After a while I worked it out and got it to work.  Afterwards I had to crawl back under the Computer desk to put the webcam usb back into the PC.  I decided to show how it worked to Trish.  Under the Computer Desk I go again and detach the usb and set the thing up again on the android TV box and the TV.

When finished, I have to return under the computer table and so on and so on!  There has to be an easier way and I remembered the 7 port USB hub I had bought (but without an official power pack).  I connected the webcam to port 7 and no go!  The same happened with ports 4,5,and 6!  I suspected the generic type power pack I was using wasn't powerful enough so I attached a more powerful one to the hub and switched it on!

The PC instantly turned itself off and there was a burning smell!  I was a bit stupid wasn't I?

I managed to get the PC running again but the 6 USB ports at the back of the computer wouldn't work and it seemed I had blown the Ethernet connection which connects my PC to the modem router and the internet!  I had a wireless adapter dongle and plugged that into the usb port at the front of the PC which was still working and at least I could again connect to the internet via our home wireless network.

I contacted the Computer repair guy from the Computer Club and he suggested he could possibly fix the ethernet connection but wasn't at all hopeful of the 6 USB ports at the back of the PC.  However he suggested turning the PC right off, even at the power point, for 30 minutes may allow the Computer's Power Supply to reset itself and get everything working again.  This I did but only checked the ethernet connection to see if it worked .... and it didn't.

The next day I started the PC up and checked the 6 USB ports at the rear of the computer and was delighted to find the reset had worked and they were up and running again.  I had no luck with the ethernet connector though.  But $50 later and a trip down the road to Jaycar where I bought a USB3 to Ethernet adapter I am pleased to say everything is working perfectly again.

The 7 port USB power hub will go in the bin, it's the one I bought which didn't come with a power adapter.  A replacement with a proper Australian power adapter has been ordered from eBay!

The second car which Trish has had since new, will probably need to be replaced.  It has done a wonderful job but we are beginning to lose that little bit of confidence we need to have in a second vehicle.  It is getting close to the time when we need to give Kane down in Melbourne a call, possibly around Christmas time this year, when we are down in Melbourne at look at a replacement.

A few years ago when we were in Melbourne we took the old car into a dealer to see what we could get for it as a trade in.  Even back then we were only offered $200 for it!  For a car which was valued at $200 it has done a fantastic job for us since then.

The garage is beginning to look a little different too.  I have redone the shelving units in there and set up a new bank of them.  Now we can keep much of the stuff off the floor and it looks heaps better.  With new floor coverings coming for the master and second bedroom tomorrow, all the furniture is being moved into garage so the guys can do their vinyl laying!

The beds and chest of drawers etc will go in tomorrow.  The workmen will be able to help move the heavier items.

A slight leak in a the ensuite shower cost us around $150 the other day.  We can have it fixed at no labour charge via a group up here which provides free services sponsored by the Federal Government.  Instead of just replacing the tap washers we have finished up with new taps and a new shower head.  Being the ensuite, the replacements aren't always in a 'public' area of the house so the pieces we have had installed are quite functional but the new shower head is great.

Springtime Brings On Spring Cleaning!

My pressure cleaner gizmo died around 8 months ago so when one came on special online I grabbed it.  The price was $100 reduced to $80, so not too bad a deal for a bottom of the line unit suitable for a home handyman's needs.  But they sold out before they got to my order so sent me the $199 model instead!

What a stroke of luck.  You wouldn't buy a cheap one again, the $199 Bosch pressure cleaner is great.  The white blind at the end of the pergola had a distinct light green hue to it from build up of mould.  (And most of it was on the other side and real hard to get to)!  It has come up quite well.

The largest blind along on the side looks like something built a nest in it over winter while it was all rolled up.  It took some determined spraying but it has cleaned up quite well.

I even dragged the BBQ out to the front lawn and gave it a going over as well.  Hopefully the grass under where I cleaned it won't die! And I am not convinced it is a real lot cleaner anyway!  There must be around 14 years of BBQ muck on it and it has never been really pressure cleaned before.

I even did the windows under the pergola too!  Thirsty work in this part of the world with it around 30° in our enclosed backyard!

Despite the glorious day we continue to be plagued with cooler nights.  It was even down to 8° the other morning.  This level of low temperature robs the pool of any warmth gained from the sunny day before so even on a lovely day like today the pool water is only a little over 21°.

When we built the house we put lower end quality carpet into the bedrooms.  The rest of the place is floor tiles.  If we were doing it again we would most likely use wood laminate instead.  A couple of spills of coffee, and 15 years use means the bedroom carpet is due for a change.  We popped into a local flooring provider yesterday to check out what was available.  The guy actually recommended vinyl over the laminates as he believed it would wear better in our situation.

Monday week the "Boston White" vinyl will be laid in bedrooms 1 and 2.

We tend to go for lighter colors to keep our little house bright and breezy.  This part of the world doesn't suit itself to dark sombre colors!  The Sunday before will be spent emptying both bedrooms of furniture that we can move.  We should be able to do most of it and the flooring guys will move whatever we can't.  The garage will be where we will store it all.

Warming Up Nicely

As the photo shows, the saying about Queensland, 'beautiful one day, perfect the next' is shaping up very true right now.  Mid morning here and the thermometre says around 28 in the backyard right now.  Our little backyard can be a little warmer than the real temperature with heaps of concrete and pavers while being quite closed in.

The nights remain cool though with a low around 12 or so this morning. The doona has now gone and we sleep under a sheet and quilt.  I could have reached for the doona this morning as it was chilly.  That all changed when I got back from my bike ride though.  I still ride where the magpies aren't but all that should settle down in a few weeks when the breeding season concludes.

So what have we been up to?  Needless to say the brew I put on last week has now been bottled and stocks replenished.  I still get the occasional 1litre of alcohol from mates who distil their own.  My stock of bourbon has therefore been replaced.

I don't tend to have the same number of beers as I get older but the odd pint of bourbon and coke is pretty refreshing.

I have completed the Community Association Newsletter and it is ready for printing.  I still add a post or two to the Community Association website News and Events tab as things happen around this area. (bellvista.com.au).

I helped a couple of people out with their Kodi TV boxes as well so there is hardly a quiet minute.  I have a Community Association Management Committee Meeting to chair Tuesday night.

We have really enjoyed another series of the TV Show "The Wire" over the last weeks and a couple of movies "The Innocents" and "A Hijacking"  Last night we watch Bryan Cranston in "The Infiltrator" which was good as well.

I did get a trip to the dentist in during the week.  I lost one filling while on the cruise, a second filling soon after we got back home and then I chipped a tooth as well.  I had put the trip to the dentist off for a few months but eventually plucked up courage.  I got two surprises that day, he did all three 'repairs' in the one sitting and the second surprise was the bill!

That much money for a 30 minute or so dental appointment seems ludicrous.  It made me think being a School Principal wasn't such a good idea, I should have been a dentist!

To top it all off he recommended I get a crown on one rather 'fractured' tooth he repaired.  That will have to wait until a new 'Medical Benefits' year!

The pool has had its pre season chemical top up as well.  Just the usual, 2 bags of salt, a couple of kilos of 'buffer' and some other concoction, all into the water and allow to dissolve.  It still needs another couple of degrees of warmth into the water as well.  The coldish nights which are persisting into October rob the pool of most heat gained during the sunny days.

As the photo shows, the backyard is beginning to take shape ready for summer.

Trish continues her involvement with the Arts Centre Association and as Secretary she has a phone call to take, a meeting to attend or an inspection to make.  Then she also maintains the website too.

So that is our news, click on the photo for a larger view or click on the news From The Sunshine Coast title above to open the full blog and catch up on what we have been up to.

Reading several posts from the blog is a good cure for insomnia as well!