Home Again

So we arrived back on the Sunshine Coast around 2pm on Tuesday.  Our flight departed Tullamarine around 35 minutes late but we managed to catch up around 15 minutes of time so we weren't that late.

Our trip from Kate's place to Chris' for our last night (Monday) took about 25 minutes longer than we had hoped for owing to very heavy stop start traffic.  We are now convinced there are minor traffic hassles where we live after experiencing from Kooyong Tennis Courts to the West Gate Bridge traffic snarl. It was bumper to bumper and stop start but perseverance and patience won out in the finish.

My highlight from our week in Melbourne of course was being able to go to the footy.  On the Thursday I saw Richmond and Carlton play with Carlton who finished near the foot of the table last year able to keep up with last year's premiers until around midway through the final quarter.  Richmond eventually won reasonably comfortably with several late goals.

Arj and my grandson James went with me to that game and we all had a fabulous night, despite Carlton's loss. During the half time little league match James seemed to be trying to work out how he could possibly get onto play on the MCG with the other kids.

On Saturday it was Hawthorn vs Collingwood at night.  We got across to Kim's place in St Kilda Saturday lunchtime and then all three of us headed for the footy that night.  Hawthorn won comfortably.  We used Uber to and from the game, one of the huge advantages of living where Kim lives in St Kilda.

I grabbed a bus on Sunday for my team Geelong's match against Melbourne with my side just winning at the end.  It was nail biting stuff I tell you and nearly destroyed the whole idea of a week in Melbourne to watch footy.

Then after the game I hopped a train to Springvale where I caught up with Trish and Kim for tea at our favorite little Vietnamese Restaurant, the Hoa Tran.  It is so popular you may be able to make out the crowd waiting around outside the restaurant wanting to get a table from the photo I took.  To say the food was great was an understatement.

We manged to make the car just as the downpour began.  Kim then drove us back to Kate's.

Finally Pat and Graeme, long time friends, popped around for a chat and a coffee on Monday morning.  They make an effort to see us every time we are down in Melbourne so we reciprocate when we have our own car.  We spent a very pleasant morning together.

Monday evening Kate drove us to Chris' for our trip home.

It seems the lawn mower's problem is a faulty coil which is a come and go sort of a problem.  It is most likely this was the problem from back at Christmas time but instead at that stage it was given a huge service.  I have decided to pay the $90 for a new coil and keep fingers crossed it now lasts for a few more years.

My bike wheel cannot be replaced with a new one as they no longer make them.  They have a second hand wheel for me which isn't in perfect shape but still in much better condition than the current one. I pick it up tomorrow.

So we have arrived home to humidity, showers and warm sunny but windy weather.  But it was nice in our own bed last night.

Our trip to Melbourne and for me to get to the footy was great.  We saw our kids and their families and all had a great time.  But home is nice!

Off To The MCG

Here we are in Melbourne on a lovely sunny Thursday. The opening of the AFL footy season is on this evening and I am heading there later this afternoon with my son-in-law Arj and grandson James.  They are both mad keen Carlton barrackers and we have our tickets and balcony passes and are ready to go.

Arj and James are both at school today but are getting away nice and early so we can get the best possible seats in the MCC members section.

I am heading in again on Saturday night with Trish and Kim for Hawthorn and Collingwood (again into the members area) and I am seeing Geelong and Melbourne on my own on Sunday afternoon.

We return to Chris and Wendy's home Monday night which is around 10 minutes drive from Tullamarine Airport for our flight back to Queensland on Tuesday.  So it is three AFL matches over the weekend for me which will have to do me for the 2018 season.  But you never know!

We are hoping Kim will be well and truly over her virus come Saturday.  She was laid up for a day just as she began a new job.  Putting on a brave face she made it to work the following day.  Hopefully the improvement continues into the weekend and the trip to the MCG.

We are kind of hamstrung a little without a car but usually unless there are extenuating circumstances we get Kate and Arj's second car as long as they don't really need it.  However we are loathe to drive it unless we really have to.

The nights here have been delightfully cool and it is strange for us to be sleeping under the doona.  At home it is possibly just a sheet or nothing over us.

The lawn mower refused to start again on Friday so it went back to the repairers.  They loaned me a mower and I got the lawn cut.

There are two broken spokes and a severe buckle in my bike's rear wheel.  I am guessing it is a result of the prang I had last year into that gate.  But I have ordered a new wheel and all should be 'all is go' when I get back home on Tuesday of next week.

So that's about the news at this stage.  The photo shows Kate's patio with the clear blinds they had installed.  Yes it is the perfect place to dry clothes on days like today!

Still Showery II

We have had either heavy rain or intermittent showers daily for around 10 days now.  Right now the sun is shining but give it another 20 minutes and it could be drizzling again!  No way would you get the washing dry today.

You may have had more luck yesterday as it was almost showery free.  But despite being a better day yesterday there was another 5mls into the rain gauge this morning.  Since the rain started over 10 days ago we have amassed over 7" (or 180mls) in total.

So the garden doesn't need a water, the pool is full and we have just about had enough.  The wet weather is beginning to remind us of another place we used to live!

But it isn't cold at all, but around 28° each day and it can be a little sticky.

Well it seems we are off to the Philippines later this year.  We have received an invitation to a nephew's wedding (Peter) which is being held in Tagaytay around 2 hours drive south of Manila.

Unlike other Australian capital cities, up until a few days ago, there wasn't a direct flight from our part of the world to Manila.  But this is all about to change with Philippines Airlines commencing direct flights from Brisbane to Manila in a couple of months.  We may have grabbed a 'promo special' with rather cheap tickets available with the new route, so at this stage all is going well for the wedding in early December.

We looked at flights with the cut price airlines via Kuala Lumpur but even with those airlines the deal we currently look like getting with PAL is still around $250 cheaper for each of us.  Trish is in the process of booking our seats right now as I type.

We booked through a website called "Skyscanner" which Peter recommended to us.  We even save $20 per head via Skyscanner than had we have gone directly with the Bestjet website to which Skyscanner had directed us.

It is a 'full flight' with a meal and 30kg luggage each.  We will tentatively sort out some AirBnB for both Tagaytay and Manila, then get the final OK when we catch up with the Peter and Vecy. They live in Brisbane and we have made tentative arrangements to catch up.

Whilst going through the booking process there was an extra charge so we could select our seats and then another charge to use the credit card.  The credit card gives us 'free' travel insurance'.  Still a super deal for 'full international return flights' despite the 'extras'.

Still Showery

It is well over a week since the weather has been against my daily bike ride.  The punctured tyre is still well inflated but it hasn't been tested yet for well over a week.  Today was possibly the first day I could have ridden but I had a 'computer event' to get to at 8am our time this morning.

But I am glad I didn't get to ride because soon after 8 am it began to rain .... again.  But at least the wind has died down.  However with a cyclone forming way out in the Pacific Ocean mountainous and dangerous surf conditions are forecast from today onwards.  The rainfall total for March is now up to 156mls!

We head to Melbourne this time next week arriving at Tullamarine Airport around 5:30pm on Tuesday.

My computer date at 8 am this morning was to apply for a couple of Balcony Passes for two AFL games I am getting to, Carlton Vs Richmond and Collingwood Vs Hawthorn when in Melbourne.

At this stage it appears I have been successful for both games but I now must wait for confirmation by email.  I know both sets of passes have been submitted and received.  When I eventually got through to the Carlton Vs Richmond application site the option to apply for Long Room passes was no longer available guessing that those particular passes had all gone.

The website just sat there loading for for a couple of minutes before I could get through to apply for Balcony passes!  Eventually I got there, ticked what I wanted and hit "Submit".  The little 'loading circle' started up and went on for some time.  Then I got the message in the photo above saying the application had been received.

So now I just sit and wait for the confirmation email to arrive.

That is just about all the news I am afraid.  The wet weather has certainly stopped getting out and about a bit.  Now I need to sit patiently!

126mls and Counting!

Kilometres ridden this week = 3.5kms.
Rainfall so far this week, 126mls (or around 5" in the old scale).
Luck with the phone after it went into the pool with .... nil!
The Sunshine Coast hasn't been too sunny throughout this week!

So as you can see it has been wet and windy all the week.  We have had strong wind warnings as well which would probably knock riding the bike anytime as off limits, even despite the rain.

It was nearly down to 20° overnight recently for one night.  So the pool is full and the garden very well watered.

I have been house bound for the week.  Just messing around with the odd cricket match from New Zealand on Foxtel or watch a movie every now and again.  I have learnt how to make a 'portable' version of an application meaning now I can have several different versions of Kodi on the main PC.

I use one version of Kodi for experimenting, another version as a backup setup for people if I have to go around and 'do' their box for them.  This backup version does not have any of 'my accounts' installed within them giving me access to paid for sites.

It has been very quiet and very restful.  Probably a bit too quiet.

A brew went on a week ago, the bottles have been sterilized and washed and took a couple of days to dry.  Bottling is on the agenda for tomorrow.

We had a hugely successful Community Association Public Meeting on Monday.  As usual a full report goes onto our website the following morning which took some work.  As I do the Community Association Newsletter everything needed copying over to it as well.

I go a bit stir crazy when doing the Newsletter, staring and reading the same article time after time, it drives me crazy.  But that job is now done and out of the way for another 6 or so weeks.... thank heavens!

I nearly forgot!  The bike tyre has remained pumped up right across the week.  One thing for me to smile about!

A Quick Update

After my hassles with my phone getting into the pool albeit for just a few seconds following on from my puncture it is now Monday morning and I can provide an update.

My phone refused to start this morning so I have ordered a replacement. It is another Xiaomi Redmi Note 4.  Previously I had the Note 3.  Unfortunately the 4 version doesn't come with Band 28.

I noted the back tyre on my bike was flat again this morning meaning the puncture fix job from yesterday didn't work!

I have had a second go at fixing it.  There was a leak from under the patch I fixed yesterday.  A much larger patch has gone on this time.

It Never rains, It Just Pours!

The heat seems to be hanging on a bit this year.  Previously we could get a few nights each summer where we needed a swim before heading off to bed. But this year we have noticed it warmer or even more humid than previously.  This is a view shared by others and even some long time Queenslanders.  Seems the air con in the bedroom was installed just in time.

It isn't very often that I get a puncture when on a bike ride.  Previously I may awake and begin to head off on an early morning bike ride and find the bike has a flat tyre.  Or I go to ride somewhere like down to the shops and I find a tyre is flat.  But today I was around 3k's into my bike ride and about 1k from home, when there was an ominous sound coming from the rear of my bike.  Soon I felt a slight bump as the rim of the wheel bumped against the ground.

I knew I had a puncture which meant a tedious walk home.  It was quite humid this morning so I was in a lather of sweat when I arrived back home.  Out came the puncture repair tools and off to work on the puncture I went.  And it was the back tyre as well which meant untangling the oily bike chain from the gear derailleurs.

Eventually I got the wheel off, removed the tyre and found the leak.  There was another tube in the shed so I fixed that one as well.  The sweat was literally rolling off me, onto my glasses and dripping everywhere.

I have learnt not to put the back wheel back on until I am sure the puncture has been fixed.

The pool and a cool swim was my next move.  The water is around 27° so it was heaven after the puncture repair.  But wait a minute, I was still wearing my bum bag in which I carry my phone!  I jumped out as quickly as I could and immediately ripped the phone out.

No luck, all was dead.  There was no movement at all.  The screen remained blank.  I switched it off but with no sounds I couldn't tell if it was off or not.  It would have been less than 5 seconds in the bum bag when it was in the water!  I wiped the phone dry and out it in the sun to dry!  After a few minutes it made a bit of a crackling sound so I knew it was still powered on so I switched it off!

That was around two hours ago.  Patience is a virtue so it has now been taken out of the boiling hot sun to dry out.  I will try turning it on tomorrow morning but I am not hopeful!

I have since pressed an old 'retired' phone back into service and I am in the process of charging it up!