Still Swimming!

Anzac Day has come and gone but the pool still gets a work out after a bike ride despite getting closer to winter.  With a water temperature still over 22°, any swim, as short as it may be, is still 'do-able'.  But rest assured, I am not in the water for long!  Usually Anzac Day is the swimming cut off date but with nights still being a little warmer than usual, it is taking a while for the pool temp to get to under 21° so swimming is still an option.

Showery weather has returned for today taking any bike ride off the agenda but leaving me free to play around with my tech stuff.

The next Newsletter for the Community Association has all but been completed and it seems I can knock one up to a first edit stage in less than 4 hours.  And now we have only 6 editions per year the pressure has come right off.

I did a 16k bike ride the other day but that distance is a rarity nowadays.  Most days I ride between 12 and 14k's which is more than enough.

My right arm continues to cause me some discomfort so I gave the doctor a visit on the advice of the Chiro.  It seems I have torn a muscle between my elbow and my wrist and I have no idea what I did to tear the muscle.  Time will eventually cure that.

I have another brew 'on' and will bottle it tomorrow.

We both remain fairly busy, Trish with the Arts Centre Association and me helping people out with video and computer stuff.  Our older friends Brian and Edna have decided their laptop was getting slower and slower so I took it to Computer Club where one of the guys reformatted it for them at no charge.  It took another 3 or 4 hours for me to put everything back on it and get things working OK again for them.

But they are happy now, Kodi loads quickly for him and he can keep up with all the latest movies and TV series such as Game of Thrones.  I will do the same with Trish's laptop this weekend.  However the guy will replace the laptop hard drive with a 256GB SSD drive and then load up Windows 10 making it heaps faster than it was previously.

I am not convinced the recent Bios update to my PC has improved it at all, it seems a little touchy nowadays when starting up.  But it ALWAYS starts ... eventually!

The wet showery weather has returned today so I am stuck inside.

If you are not into Tech stuff then this won't interest you.  I have been messing around with Plex, a program which arranges and then allows you to stream your own media anywhere across your home network or even to fiends via the internet.  I haven't mastered this last bit just yet but I am finding the messing around and discovering how it works very interesting.

I have resurrected my old PC and I am using it to power the Plex setup.  Previously I was running Plex from my Seagate Cloud NAS drive. But because of a lack of processing power there were some aspects of the program which just didn't work.  But by using the old high i5 powered PC, it works heaps better.

And isn't my footy team doing well!  I am very pleased with the way things are going at the moment.  Trish's team had a bit of a scare last weekend but all finished happily ever after eventually.

My brother and his wife are heading to Borneo, Kuala Lumpur and Penang in June.  It is a relatively short trip but we have been in contact with ideas on where they can eat!  Our daughter Kim and a girl friend are there at the moment sending back heaps of photos of food.  But then that is one of the best things about visiting Malaysia.

So as the rain comes down here on the Sunshine Coast it is time for me to get back to my playing with my tech stuff.   I hope this hasn't been too boring for you!

Home And All Rested!

We are currently safe and sound back at home on the Sunshine Coast.  We are back in our own bed again with access to our own small ensuite.  The weather is sunny but it is rapidly cooling off with today expected to get to around the mid 20's.

Our trip via Warragul and then on to my sister's place in Omeo saw us begin our return journey by road from Melbourne.

But I did manage to catch up with a couple of fellow teaching colleagues Gordon and Anne Atkin who recently moved from Hallam down to the Warragul.  It meant they could downsize to an easier place to maintain but still remain relatively close to appropriate medical facilities.  You see Anne has had Parkinsons for well over 10 years now and being close to medical support is crucial.

It was great to catch up even be it for a short time only.

But then it was a further 300k drive via mountain roadways to Omeo to catch up with my sister Judy and Peter.  Omeo is in the Victorian Alps and within 50 or so K's of the winter snow fields.  It has been around 15 years since our last visit to Omeo so much time was spent discussing numerous topics and enjoying numerous ales.  The photo above shows the view from their veranda towards some of the mountains over their 20 or so acres.

A $10 lunch at the local pub for was enough to fill two people let alone just one of us.

But it was great to catch up and I'm guessing that by now they are on the road with their caravan in tow for their regular 6 months spent on western Queensland near Isisford where daily temps will be around 28° and not the cold, snowy and wet 6° of Omeo.

We set off to begin our long trek home to the Sunshine Coast with our first stop at Parkes, a drive of around 700k's.  Then it was another 800k's to Warwick in Queensland and a final 300k trek back to Caloundra.

The drive after a hectic 3 weeks away proved extremely tiring.  But given a couple of days resting up at home and getting back into the run of things and back to normal.

I am back on the bike knocking over around 14 k's a day and most times looking for the pool for a cooling off swim upon return.  The pool is around 22° which means any time spent under the water is fairly quick!  With a very cool breeze this morning I declined a trip into the pool being more worried about what it would be like after leaving the pool than when I was in the water.

Somewhere along the way I have done something to my right arm.  I describe it as tennis elbow that has slipped to my forearm.  It can be a little painful and I am noticing it now as I type.  There is absolutely no strength in the arm if it is raised above shoulder height which makes getting my coffee cup out of the head high microwave oven a bit of a chore.

I'm back to the chiro tomorrow.

I usually have a little concern about what will and what electrical items won't start up after almost a month away.  My PC keyboard has been a bit 'iffy' lately with some keys requiring a double push to get the correct response.  It seemed worse upon our return from being away despite it being over 8 years old.  And I had a 2GB external hard drive that would not come up when plugged into the PC.

The keyboard has been replaced but the 2TB hard drive was eventually recognized so (touch wood) it has again gone back onto my Seagate cloud drive to give me an extra 2TB of cloud storage.  I keep backups of my very favorite Movies on that drive but will keep my eyes open for a super good 2TB hard drive deal and possibly replace it.

Recently my 6 month old Dell PC did an update of the operating system (Windows 10) and an upgrade of the Bios, the underlying computer system which first is used as the computer starts up.  I have never had a computer which has had an update of the bios.  So the next morning I was a bit worried when despite pushing the power button, nothing happened.  I did it again, still nothing.  So I turned the power off, let it sit for several minutes and then powered it up again.

This time a Dell Support Assist program began and because of the failed boot up, it carried out a 10 minute check of the whole PC.  It found everything was OK so it then restarted and operated perfectly.  So this morning, with fingers crossed I powered up the PC and hit the 'start' button.  Thankfully everything now seems to be working OK again.  I don't think I will agree to any more Bios updates on the PC!

Trish is back into the swing as President of the Arts Centre Association while I am beginning to get my head around an upcoming edition of the Community Newsletter.  She had meetings today and I have a meeting to chair tomorrow night.

It didn't take long for things to get back to normal!

As The Rain Pelts Down......

A top temperature today of around 15 degrees is the first really cold day we have experienced since leaving the Sunshine Coast around 3 weeks ago.  Our drive down to Newcastle from home was fine except for the 100 or so kilometres of roadworks going on along the Pacific Highway between Ballina and Grafton. 

Along this stretch speed was limited to 80k's and there were many very large trucks as well.  Once stuck behind one of these large trucks, that was where you stayed!

But then the road opened up to be dual highway for most of the rest of the drive all the way down to Newcastle.  When roadworks are completed in a year or so it should be dual highway for the 1000k trip from Caloundra to Sydney.

Our two days in Newcastle were great catching up with friends.  After two nights there, it was time for our longest driving stretch, just under 1000 k's for Newcastle to Attwood, a norther suburb of Melbourne where we spent a night with the Chris Thomas family.

It sure is great to catch up with family and friends which has been the major focus of this trip (as well as to get to a few AFL matches and use my MCC membership).

We have been staying with Kate Arj and the grand kids for much of the remainder of our time here.  Arj, James and I all went to a footy match together and saw Richmond and Carlton along with around 85,000 others.  The next night it was back to the MCG again this time with grandson Andrew a fellow Geelong barracker.  We went home unexpectedly very happy after the game.

Needless to say eating Asian food has been high on the agenda as well.  The local huge Fountain Gate Shopping Centre nearby has a small eatery called China Bar which sells our favoured Malaysian dishes.  So the occasional quick trip to Fountain Gate has resulted in yet another sampling of crispy skin chicken or Char Kway Teow or Chicken Curry and Rice.

Speaking of Asian food we have also managed trips to Clayton and Malaysia Garden as well as to Springvale where we find fantastic Vietnamese food and all so inexpensive.

Trips to Indented Head where my brother lives and Drouin where other great friends now reside have occurred as well.  I have had too much to drink on numerous occasions and it has been a great time for Trish and me.  Our stay here has been interspersed with AFD's (alcohol free days) days of doing very little.  Perhaps we are beginning to show our age or that at last that we are maturing!

The family BBQ which we had at Kate's along with Arj's great BBQ skills was a day to remember. Our youngest daughter Kim attended along with Brad and it was really great to have the whole family together.  However the following day was a very quiet one for us.

One day to remember was the day we went out to lunch with my brother Geoff and Jeanette while staying with them at Indented Head.  We were going out somewhere for lunch.  After around 30 minutes or so we arrived at GMHBA Stadium, the home ground of my AFL footy team, Geelong. There was a small cafe there where they sold OK meals and there was the possible chance we may run into a Geelong footy player.

As we entered the cafe there sitting at several tables were Joel Selwood, Scott Selwood, Paddy Dangerfield, Tom Hawkins and another 6 or so of the players from the footy team.  We were all gob smacked.  I loved being there and being so close to many of the players.  It was a special occasion.

So our time in this part of the world is coming to a close.  Today is pretty cold and wet as the photo above shows but Trish and Kate and several others are off to Arj's singing gig tonight at a restaurant here in Berwick.  Possibly the terrible weather today will keep some others who were coming away.

I am doing the baby sitting with James and Charli tonight but then my footy team's match is live on TV so I will have to watch it I suppose.  Tomorrow the weather is expected to clear a little with some sunshine as Trish, Kim, Brad and I are again to the MCG this time to see Trish and Kim's team Hawthorn play Footscray.  If the weather is OK it should be a fun day.

We are back on the road again Monday morning but this time heading for home via Omeo where my sister Judy and Peter live. After a 350k drive to Omeo we will have a two night stop over before finally heading on the road again but this time back north again on Wednesday.  We hope to arrive home in Caloundra before lunch on Friday.

We will have achieved many of the aims we set out with when we first headed this way a few weeks ago.  I have caught up with my brother and sister and managed great times with good friends as well.

As one gets a little older these times we can spend with family and friends becomes even more important.  However the lure of warmer weather, our own shower and en-suite and our own beds is becoming more attractive the longer we spend away.

Stinker Before Hitting The Road!

With 34° as a max today and then 35° tomorrow, we are getting a last blast of summer here on the Sunshine Coast prior to hitting the road tomorrow as we head to Newcastle. We expect to arrive there Wednesday morning.  As mentioned earlier, morning peak traffic between here and Brisbane and the hour gained with daylight saving as we enter NSW makes the first day's travel a little messy.  We are aiming to cover around 600k's in the day.

Because of the heat today will be a lock the house up and give the air con a run on 26° with the ceiling fans on High sort of day. 

Not a lot of news in this part of the world.  Haircuts, lawn mowing, sorting out what to pack, getting the Waco ready have been a few of the smaller things that have mounted up over the last few days.  A small bout of gastro hasn't helped me either.

Trish is acting as CACA President at her first "Committee" as I type so she was quite hyper getting sorted before heading off.  I have a BeCA meeting this afternoon and as it is a holiday in Victoria today, for good measure there is a final practice footy match on TV this afternoon.

So we look forward to arriving in Melbourne later this week! The prospect of running into low 20's temperatures is a little inviting I must add.  It has been a very hot summer in this part of the world!

Not Having A Cyclone Part 2

The way the wind has been blowing over the last two weeks you could believe that Cyclone Oma is still with us!  The wind isn't as strong as it was when the cyclone was off the coast but it is still blowing at over 30k's per hour right now and it seems to have been like that forever.

We are getting rainfall totals of just several mls per day but it sure makes bike riding a lottery as to whether or not you will get wet as yet another brief shower blows in off the ocean. Yesterday I managed 16k's but got caught in a shower of rain.  Those 16k's were done around the local area here where the wind can be blocked just a little bit.

The pool has plunged to a cooler 24.5° which is still OK.  Regretfully the showers are not quite enough to offset the pool's wind powered evaporation rate.

We are beginning to get our head around travelling south to Melbourne for several weeks.  We didn't manage to catch up with everyone over our recent Christmas trip when we flew down.  This time we will drive.  The car has been serviced, some worn parts replaced and with 4 new tyres, it is ready to do the trip.

We expect to hit Melbourne late on Friday March 15th and make our way back to the Coast around Thursday April 4th.

Trish has become the President of the Arts Centre Association and she has her first real meeting as President on Monday March 11th.  Therefore we will set off for Melbourne around 8:30 on Tuesday 12th.  This puts the morning peak behind us but with daylight saving in NSW, it will actually be a 9:30 am departure.

Last time we travelled down the Pacific Highway 12 months ago there were long sections of roadworks and an 80kph speed limit, especially on the northern leg of the drive.  Hopefully it won't be quite as bad this time but we hope to do around 600k's as the first day's drive.

We share the driving as much as possible, however Trish seems to do the major share.  We are not sure as to how many more drive to Melbourne and back trips we have left in us.  Flying is certainly less expensive for us.

I've recovered from yet another birthday and Trish has her next in the next day or so.  We are both well and looking forward to catching up with friends when in Melbourne.  The odd spot or two of great Asian food will be welcomed as well when we hit town down there.