A Damp Start To Thursday

While Melbourne enjoys warm but very dry conditions, here on the Sunshine Coast we have a south easterly wind blowing showers in off the sea.  I just tipped 13 mls out of the rain gauge and the wet weather meant I didn't get a bike ride in this morning.

My riding clothes are dry now after I was caught in a sharp shower of rain yesterday morning.  It was so wet outside this morning the thought of going for a bike ride never entered my mind.

The problems with helicopters has continued during the week with daily repetitive touch 'n go circuits for around 4 or 5 hours a day, and usually in tandem with two helicopters giving residents little respite to the consistent noise overhead.

There has been a large amount of work for the Community Association sending off emails and keeping the relevant authorities informed.  The helicopter company says they aren't breaking any rules and are flying in line with guidelines.  Technically they are right, morally they are wrong and this is a situation where commercial interests outweigh any compassion for residents.

The guy who did the concreting for us last year popped back in again on Monday.  The sealer he used on the concrete hadn't worked well.  He gave the area another coat of 'solvent' and it appears to have done the trick.  Click on the photo above for a larger view.

Last night we headed into town with friends for a meal at the local Chinese Restaurant.  The food we get there is as good as any we get in this part of the world.  We had a lot of fun and the food was very good.  I pre ordered a Hokkien Fried Rice.  Needless to say everyone enjoyed it.

Then it was back to our place for a couple of drinks and a chat.  The 'home made' Sambucca was a huge success and probably contributed to me not moving too well this morning. The second bottle of 40% alcohol has now become a 1.125l bottle of Bundaberg 'style' rum and it too is working OK!

Some of our favorite TV shows have finished their UK season so we are catching up with some downloads from late last year. We just watched a series of 6 one hour shows called "Last Tango In Halifax."  It was a little gem of a series with heaps of twists and turns.  It basically told the story of a couple in their 70's who used to go out together in their teens. They lost contact before their romance could really begin.

They had both married other people and had families.  Now both had lost their partners and had found each other again via Facebook.  The problems of family members follow them as they strike up a relationship.  It was a great series and comes highly recommended.

On Tuesday we tried a new Noodle Place who were advertising Char Kway Teow (CKT) on their take away menu. I was a little concerned as it was promoted as including carrot and onion as ingredients.  I don't recall ever seeing carrot in CKT.  I ordered it (without the carrot) while Trish ordered Hokkien Mee.

We were pleasantly surprised!  The CKT had the genuine wide rice noodles and it didn't taste too bad at all.  Trish's Hokkien Mee was OK as well.  We ate beside the beach in a lovely shaded spot.  I think we might do that again one day!

Sunday Update

A glorious sunny 28 degrees and just marvellous.  Especially now the two helicopters doing touch n' go's at 8 am this morning have called it quits for the day.  My computer email went off like a time bomb when the first low flying helicopter arrived soon after 8 am this morning.

I grabbed some photos then quickly sent them off to the Sunshine Coast Airport CEO for his information.

We have residents going to local Councillors, to MP's, everything.  Quite a lively discussion around here right now.  Not sure if it was protests or what but the flights have now stopped!

We enjoyed very pleasant drinks on Friday evening.  We arrived home around 8:30pm and watched something 'light' on the TV.  This meant if we fell asleep it didn't matter!

Quiet enough at Computer Club on Saturday morning, a quick 'bottling' followed and then sat down to watch Victoria and South Australia play in a 50 over cricket match on the Pay TV.  The Vics got over the line by 2 wickets with three balls to spare!

I was back on my bike this morning and did a 13k bike ride.  I had helped someone with a Laptop problem during the week and was presented with 6 stubbies on my ride this morning!  All handy stuff to receive.

This is a bottle of 40% alcohol which I was given yesterday.  I will mix a little Bundaberg Rum flavouring in it and add a little water to get the contents up to 1.125l.  That should keep Trish right for Bundy And Cola for the next few months.

Again there is cricket on the telly this afternoon.  I might possibly sneak a swim in as well once the pool temp rises a little.

The gazebo canopy has stretched and ripped in one place.  With any shower of rain, each of the corners fill with water.  I picked up the $40 replacement canopy last week and it is ready to go.  We took the gazebo down yesterday as the consistent showers of rain meant the gazebo canopy roof kept filling up!

Cooler Weather

We have had showers most night.  10mls one night, 2 mls last night gives you an idea of the sort of thing we have been experiencing.  Around 28 degrees today and high teens overnight.  The lower over night temperatures have had a huge impact on the pool temperature, it was around 25 degrees this morning when I jumped in after my 13 k bike ride.

Today's ride was a little easier than other recent rides.  The reason is I pumped the tyres up!  The Bike Shop suggested I run the tyre pressure around 50psi.  This little gadget which reads tyre pressures arrived the other day, around $7-50 from China of course.

The instructions were in Chinese as well so it took a little trial and error to sort out.  The readings said I was running at around 35psi.  So a quick pump to around 50psi and everything was 'go' again.

Yesterday was bottle washing day.  This was the first bottle washing I had done for some time because I have now recycled all my 'old' plastic bottles and replaced them with new ones. New bottles only require a quick rinse.  Used bottles require the full treatment, wash, rinse a couple of times and then sanitize them. I will probably bottle tomorrow after Computer Club!

Yesterday afternoon I received a call to pop around and show a guy a bit around using Wordpress.  This is a program used for maintaining and creating 'online web sites'.  This is the method we have used for the Community Association's website.

His version of Wordpress looked very different to mine, so it took a little sorting out to see how it works.  But we got there in the end and he was bamboozled by all the new information.  But he now sees what can be done so with a little 'trial and error' he should be OK.

Trish is at Quilters this morning.  Just before she left home, the kitchen 'mixer' tap started to leak badly.  The local plumber had given me a new one as I had told him there was a bit of a leak.  Today the bit of a leak turned into a 'gush'!  As we are pensioners it was just a matter of a call to "St Andrew's Care" and a plumber was dispatched immediately.  The plumber happens to be the guy who gave me the mixer tap when I set up and helped him buy a new laptop.

So all is working well again.

We have drinks around 4pm this afternoon, a little later than normal.  I have the cricket on TV so I will be have plenty on!

Midweek Update

The gazebo now has a second rip in it.  Trish patched the first rip.  We then went to put the canopy back on and it ripped again.  So now the gazebo is 'up' but it has a rip in it,  I dropped in at Bunnings to see if they could supply me with a new "Oztent" 3m x 3m canopy.  The guy I spoke with knew all about spares and replacements and after a quick look on the computer he discovered there were replacement canopies for my gazebo model and at $40  I immediately ordered one.  It has to be delivered up from Brisbane but was told if one was in stock there I should have it in a couple of days.  I continue to wait.

It is a bit overcast and showery this morning and I have tipped 9mls of overnight rain out of the gauge.  The pool has again been topped up and I haven't been on my bike this morning. I lower the front leg of the gazebo to ensure all the rain drains from the roof.

Cooler weather blew in around Monday!  Top temps are now in the high 20's, a blustery (and dust carrying) southerly has blown all the humidity away.  Last night we didn't even have the fan on in the bedroom.  There has been a significant drop in the temp of the pool.

Computer Club was reasonably busy again on Saturday.  One of the guys I had helped out the week before with his laptop turned up with a bottle of distilled 40% proof alcohol.  All I had to do was add the essence of my choice to the alcohol and 'voila' I would have a 1.125l bottle.

Don't let the label fool you, check the bottle neck and screw top and you will see it is actually a 1.125l Bundaberg Rum bottle!  The real Sambucca will set you back around $60 for this size bottle so I was pretty pleased with my $11-50 investment.  I have asked him for a second bottle of alcohol, this should then replenish our supply of Rum!

The Community Association has kept me very busy this week.  Caloundra Airport is right near to our estate.  The concern people have is with Helicopter Schools conducting training 'touch 'n go's and doing repetitive circuits at low height over the estate.  A company at Maroochydore Airport has won a contract to train 50 pilots from the Middle East.  Sunday morning the company decided that two helicopters would do training at Caloundra Airport.  So on Sunday residents experienced over 4 hours of non-stop helicopters doing low level circuits over the estate.  As there were two of them residents had no escape from the barrage.

I have some good contacts so eventually after a few hours it was time for action.  Emails suddenly went off to the local MP's, local Councillors, The Sunshine Coast Airport CEO, and the Helicopter Training School protesting over the prolonged training session.  One mum wrote on our Facebook Page that her daughter was crying with her hands over her ears asking mum to make the loud noise go away.

The Airport CEO got straight back to me saying he would investigate. He shortly afterwards contacted me again saying planned activities for the day by helicopters had concluded.  Emails and website updates followed over the next day or two.  I am still awaiting a final response from the company involved.  An hour or so of continuous flights is reasonable but over 4 hours on a Sunday by multiple helicopters was too much.

Friends Ian and Kerri are heading off to Singapore and Malaysia in April for ten days.  So yesterday, to help introduce them to Malaysian food, the four of us journeyed down to Sunnybank south of Brisbane to try some Malaysian food.

We had a quick look around and then settled into lunch.  Needless to say we ordered our favorites, Chicken Curry, Char Kway Teow, Lobak, Salt and Pepper Squid and a Roti.  Ian couldn't believe the bill at $48!  Kerrie really enjoyed it.  Ian is a little more conservative and he found the chicken curry not to his liking because it was a little spicy.  That just meant there was more for us!

Rather than travel over 100k's just for lunch, we had a look around a local shopping centre then adjourned to a pub before tackling an evening meal at a different restaurant.  The afternoon was very pleasant.  After visiting Dr Dan's for a red wine we eventually went back to a different restaurant for an evening meal.  This time we had Hainan Chicken Rice, Malay Fried Chicken, Satay Skewers, Singapore Fried Noodles and Murtabak.

We managed to get through it all.  The food was fine but not to the same quality as our lunch had been.  The satay sticks had been deep fried and the Malay Fried Chicken wasn't as good as we usually experience when in Melbourne.  This time we were up for $60!

Then it was a 100k+ drive back home.  After plenty to eat and drink during the day, Trish and I both slept really well.  It was a day Ian and Kerri won't forget!

Friday

Well, the end of the week has arrived.  As per usual it has been busy and for this time of year, hot and sweaty.  A cooler pool of air from the south is expected tomorrow morning bringing with it a few showers.

It didn't take the pool long to heat up after last weekend's deluge.  And the weather is more like we should expect in summer, that is a little sticky and the occasional heavy shower or thunderstorm.  The other night we had 10mls, enough to top the pool up again and give the flowers a water.

The portability of the new stick vacuum cleaner has seen it come out even for 5 minutes at a time to give the ensuite, the computer room or kitchen floor a quick clean.

I just gave it a bit of a workout and did 95% of all the tile areas here at the house.  Its portability means it is easy to maneouvre.  

I had Community Association on Tuesday night which meant a big website update on Wednesday.  Trish had Stitchers on Wednesday and Quilters today.

Thursday was 'free' so we decided on a day out.  A huge new shopping "Home Centre" had opened in Maroochydore so we tripped down for a bit of a look.  It is about time we had a feature like that here on the coast.  For lunch we headed back to the refurbished Mooloolaba Surf Club.  We had the 'Seniors Carvery' which gave us access to the buffet with roast pork, vegetables as well as a salad bar.

The 'Seniors' bit meant we got a smaller plate.  All this meant was you heaped the food on higher!  The cauliflower was a bit firm but the rest was passable.  Really, all you can eat and under $10 per person was good value.  The drinks were OK too. On top of that we received a free ice-cream in a cone and a soft drink.  My 2 schooners of VB were enough for me.  But it was all a bit of of fun.

Mooloolaba Surf Club overlooks the beach (or what is left of it after the storms last weekend).  There were people in swimming and believe me, it was warm enough to spend a lot of time in the water!

The Council will get its teams onto the sand and pump it back onto the beach again so things will be back to normal.

On the way home we had a quick refuel at "Dr Dan's", (Dan, Murphy the discount booze barn).

The gazebo hasn't been up for a few days.  The canopy seems to catch the water and it makes huge pools in it.  The material isn't the best either and it has noticeably faded and appeared less opaque recently.  It isn't designed to be a permanent fixture.  We really want something which is semi-permanent.

When we arrived home yesterday I decided to worry less about the weather and just put the gazebo up to give us some shade during these very hot days.  Unfortunately it wasn't 'sitting properly' when we expanded the base and in its weakened state, the canopy ripped.  We will try patching up but it looks like we will be after a new replacement canopy.

The supplier for the model we bought is in China and doesn't have replacement canopies.  However a better quality replacement which fits the "OzTrail" brand gazebo also fits the brand and model we have.  That canopy is twice the rating of what is currently on our gazebo.  Needless to say it is much more expensive!

Hopefully the repaired canopy will get us through this summer!

Today we bought tickets to fly to Melbourne in April to attend a wedding.  We will arrive down there on Tuesday April 9th and fly home again a week later.