Warm Weather Continues

For the latest Blog entry from Saudi Arabia click HERE.  And the latest collection of photos HERE.

I hope the two links work OK for you.

Just the other day Kate Arj and family did a cruise out into the Red Sea.  The photo shows a group of the kids enjoying the boat trip.

We have had a run of quite warm days here on the Sunshine Coast with top temps in the low 30's and overnight lows in the low 20's.  These are almost summer time temperatures, not what we would expect for a lengthy spell in Spring!  The pool gets to around 29º most days.  It is simply gorgeous in the pool having a quick cooling dip before heading off to bed and to sleep around 10:30 at night!

There was heaps of both golf and cricket on TV over the weekend so that kept me indoors except for the occasional venture outside for a swim.  The swim would go on for around 30 minutes so pleasant is it in the water.

The front lawn even got a mow yesterday early.  With so little rain recently everything is dusty and all the lawns are yellow!  We do expect some rain over the next few days and hopefully the wind will revert to traditional south easterlies off the ocean rather than the north westerlies we are getting from the hot inland. 

Being close to the coast we manage to get the benefit of the daily sea-breeze during the afternoon.

Tiger Airways have some $1 return fares on for late 2015 so we are looking to book for a trip to Melbourne mid August or so.  Strangely enough (or perhaps coincidentally) there would be 4 footy matches at the MCG during our expected time down there.  No it definitely isn't 'coincidentally'!

I have chipped a tooth or a filling so I am almost ready to head off to the dentist this morning, a trip I am not looking forward to making!

Back From The Gold Coast

It actually hit 40º in Maroochydore around lunch time last Sunday!  That is extremely unusual for this part of the world.  Soon after that, the sea-breeze arrived dropping the temperature to the mid 30's.  Needless to say the pool was a popular spot that afternoon!

On Monday we headed to the Gold Coast for three nights.  Trish got an 'online deal' 3 nights for $200.  This was a great price when you consider the hotel was 4 1/2 star and within 10 minutes leisurely walk of the main Surfer's Paradise entertainment strip.

The suburb of Sunnybank and its Asian food was on the way to the Gold Coast and luckily we arrived there around lunchtime.  By 1:30 we had eaten our fill and were at our 4 1/2 star hotel.

Despite booking 'cheaper' priced accommodation we were on the 11th floor with a peak of a view at the ocean.  The room was fine for what we wanted.  Needless to say anything 'extra' we wanted (eg WiFi) was available at a charge.

Friends Ian and Kerrie were staying on the Gold Coast at the same time so we caught up with them most afternoons for a chat, drinks and meals.

We visited Broadbeach, just south of Surfer's, on day two for a look around.  We took it easy, had some fun and ate out regularly with our friends.  The weather was OK and as expected, warm and humid for this time of year!

A new feature of the Gold Coast is the light rail system.  Coming from Melbourne where there are trams, we are used to this form of public transport.  The light rail system is fantastic for getting around.  As the photo shows we had a light rail station right outside our hotel.

Click on all photos for a larger view.

We arrived back at home on the Sunshine Coast mid afternoon on Thursday via Costco.  We saw that at home there was 30mls in the rain gauge so the garden had a good watering while we were away!

We collected mail and set the house up again, moved the Waeco out under the pergola, gave the pool a vacuum, brought in the rubbish bin and unpacked our clothes from our short trip away.  The pool needed a good clean because after such a long time without rain, there was a buildup of dust from the pool surrounds and the house roof and quite a bit of this finishes up in the pool.  The 'harvesting' of rain water via a house downpipe to the pool sees some of the roof dust end up in the water! 

Some items I had bought online had been delivered while we were out of town.  My two pairs of 3D glasses (which usually cost around $50 each on special) had been delivered.  It was obviously a sell out of them and I bought them for $2 each plus postage.  They work great and are rechargeable!

The 8 high quality Eneloop rechargeable AA Batteries I bought at half price were there as well.

It didn't take long to get back into the swing of things again.  I did my bike ride Friday morning, the first for around a week.  I caught up with TV show acquisition and sorted that all out.  During Friday afternoon there was cricket on TV so that was a good spot for me too.

Despite the cricket on TV I still jumped in the pool for 30 minutes Friday afternoon. Summer is almost upon us and the days are really warming up.  Most days it is around 30 degrees or so, the pool hardly gets below 26º either.  Most afternoons the water temp is nudging 30º if there has been any sun at all.

Then at 1pm yesterday (Friday) Skype went off on my PC.  It was Charli in Saudi Arabia wanting to show us the presents she had received for her 9th birthday.  So it was a pleasant chat online and we enjoyed catching up with the latest news.

I have Computer Club this morning followed by a Community Association Final brief meeting and Christmas Celebrations later this afternoon.  It all should be good!

What A Great Thing Skype Is

We were after some details on some things regarding our upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia April 2015.  So we dropped Kate an email and soon after we were chatting face to face with Kate 50k's north of Jeddah via Skype on the PC.

We said hi to the grand kids as well but they were off to sport or catch up with friends.  We sorted our stuff with Kate out, got some good advice and caught up with some local chat.

Much of what we talked about is on an up date from Arj which you can read HERE.

Sorry about the screen shot quality above, it never looks as good as what the quality really was like.  Kate is on her iPad we guessed.

Their water problems are over now but they have heaps of bottled water left if you ever need any.

Very hot indeed here today.  Brisbane is expecting 40º where as here it should be closer to 36.  There is cricket on TV this afternoon so we will be indoors with the air con running.  That solar energy we put on last year makes using the air con a cheap way of keeping cool!

We head to Surfer's Paradise tomorrow for three nights.  We are due back Thursday around lunch time.

They're All Here

With the G20 getting underway in Brisbane today leaders from all around the world are present.  The city of Brisbane is in 'lock-down' and what would have taken you 15 minutes to walk a week ago takes you over an hour today.

They even declared a Public Holiday in Brisbane for yesterday and with heat-wave conditions forecast for the weekend, thousands upon thousands of Brisbaneites fled the city for the beach on the 'long' weekend.

The road between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast was 'chockers' yesterday with traffic reduced to a crawl along the major highways as people fled the city!

Caloundra is 'packed' as well with people making the most of the extra holiday and hot sunny weather.

They are talking about 40º for Sunday and 35º for today!  But it is like when we lived in Melbourne, the heat is accompanied by a strong northerly wind.  Strong winds and nearby shrubs and trees does not go well with my pool I am afraid.  Speaking of which, the pool is close to 26º right now at 7:40 am.

The air-conditioner may get a good run tomorrow as we prop inside, with me watching the cricket of course!  I may even give my usual bike ride a miss as well.  Stinking hot winds does not make for a pleasant bike riding experience.

I am just about to hit the shower and get ready to head off to Computer Club.

It will be a great day for getting the washing dry today!

Today's top temperature will depend on when the sea-breeze can be strong enough to burst through and temper things down a little. 

It will be cooler by Monday which is when Trish and I head to the Gold Coast for three nights.  We got ourselves a cheap deal around 6 months ago, three nights in a 4 star hotel in the middle of Surfers Paradise for around $200!

We are looking forward to it.

Warming Up!

So much for the mid afternoon finish on Tuesday around at our friends' new place.  The day was great and enjoyed by all.  Eat?  We ate so much a vegemite sandwich was all that was needed for tea that night.

One of the reasons they moved was to have a backyard big enough for a pool.  As it was a delightful day and the nights up this way aren't cold, the pool retains its heat and at this time of year is quite warm and pleasant for swimming.

So with a bit of morning sunshine it warms up quickly from any heat lost overnight.  Yesterday (Weds) our pool peaked at around 28.5º so this morning after my bike ride the pool was still 25.7º and very pleasant!

As the photo above shows, we had lots of fun, heaps to eat and a few drinks. The pool is somewhat deeper than ours and a little longer.  Our pool seems minimally wider though and has the advantage of a narrow ledge around the side about 50cms below the surface.  This is perfect for the grand kids when they are using it.  They can rest there and catch their breath.

The other two major pastimes for this week (apart from using the pool) have been bike riding and home brewing.  This morning before 9 am I have ridden 13k's and then bottled my latest brew!  The photo shows me adding the 1 teaspoon of sugar into each bottle prior to filling it.  The yeast acts with the extra sugar to create the alcohol.  My home brew strength is usually around 3.5% (or 'mid' strength).

Later today I have a meeting with representative from Council regarding the new Bellvista Meeting Place.

I had one swim after the ride and now after doing the bottling and blog update the pool beckons again.

We are expecting around 30º today and into the mid 30's over the weekend.  I seem to recall mid 30's is roughly the same temperature being experienced in Saudi Arabia right now!