A Day At The Races

Trish has been keen to do something in the "Volunteer" area as a way to meet people and get involved with the local community.

She rang one of the local organisations and was told about an 'Expo' at the local race course for yesterday. We were sent a couple of free passes to get into the expo to have a look around. As it turned out the Volunteer Organisation was sponsoring the day's horse races and the 'Expo' was an extra event for the day.

Neither of us is really interested in horse racing but we had a great time. We only stayed for about 2 hours and watched 3 races. It is not expensive to get in and there are heaps of tables and chairs freely available to use. Other groups had brought there own platters of nibblies or cold meats and salads. There were a couple of bars and other eateries around. The weather was about 24 degrees so it was a glorious day to be at the races. Click on each of the photos for a larger view.

We enjoyed walking around and checking out the place and finding out what happens. As well as TAB facilities there were several bookmakers as well. I am sure these photos will show you how pleasant the day was.

As we had driven there it was wise of us to head home early. The several 'schooners' I had enjoyed were very 'moreish' and Trish enjoyed her wine and later a Bundaberg rum! The sight of a jockey with the surname Thomas was too much of coincidence so I just had to have a bet. It ran third so I got all my money back (and a little bit extra)!


The 'Expo' provided some information but it was not exactly what we were after. Trish has a few ideas and I am thinking of attending the local "Computer Club" and see what happens there!

We have several heavy showers moving through today. The sky is very dark and we must be getting close to 10mls of rain giving the garden a good water. It looks like Brisbane has missed out on any rain again.

A Glorious Saturday On The Sunshine Coast

We awoke to what was forecast to be a rainy morning but discovered clear blue skies and and a temperature which was on the way up. By 10 am it was 27 degrees poolside.

Caravanning friends Russell and Irene have discovered Woodgate, a small coastal town between Bundaberg and Hervey Bay. It is a pretty spot with a great beach (but no surf), a great caravan park, a hotel and a Lawn Bowls Club. They have booked in there for a week. They have to be back in Melbourne by the end of June.

Yesterday we drove into Brisbane's northern suburbs to check out Chermside Shopping Centre. It is one of Brisbane's biggest centres. A new Dan Murphy store had opened there (a large liquor retailer) and we stocked up on wine. I also saw the guy who had sold me the faulty modem/router and he said that what had happened to me had also happened to others.

I gave the pool a vacuum this morning and noticed a couple of marks which resisted vacuuming and good scrub with a brush to remove them. The only other way to get rid of them is to use some 'wet n' dry' sandpaper and sand the offending marks off and you have to use your foot to do the sand papering!

Today's weather was beautiful but the pool is still a cool 20 degrees! However following the 11k bike ride I ventured in with the 'wet n dry' and removed the marks.

No my foot is not that long, the water plays tricks and my foot looks longer than it actually is in this photo.

I had my first problem with purchasing on eBay yesterday. I was sent the wrong thing! They sent me a bike computer (I have already bought two of these from the same seller and I paid $18 each for them) and I was meant to get a cordless mouse for the laptop computer.

I emailed the seller telling him of their error and he suggested the easiest way to solve the problem was for me to purchase the bike computer. He said they usually sell for $30 and he would sell it to me at $15. I emailed him back telling him that I had already bought two of them from him at $18 each late in 2006. I told him I thought $10 was a fair price and I await his email reply.

A Timely Update!

It has been a few days since I have done anything to my blog page. Our caravanning friends from Drouin have moved on and are currently in Childers, the scene of a horrific fire at a backpacker's hostel a few years ago. They are using it as a 'centre' to explore Hervey Bay and other nearby spots. Russ informs me his digital set top box is providing them with an excellent TV picture! They seem to think their next spot to stop may be around Yepoon, a popular spot with caravanners on the coast about 40 k's from Rockhampton.

About 3 months ago I began to subscribe to a monthly computer magazine. It is full of interesting news and is accompanied by a DVD disk full of software. The software is usually free programs or what they call "Trials". Trials are usually active for 30 or 60 days before they no longer operate unless you buy them.

However with some of the internet sites I like to visit I often come across these trial programs and a way to convert them from "Trial" to fully operational full working programs.

One such program off the magazine DVD is a program which is part of the Office 2007 Suite called "Expression Web". The trial program is due to run for 60 days but following a quick "SOS" request to one of 'my' sites I received a message containing the code to 'unlock' the Trial to a fully working version. Expression Web (valued at over $300) is used for creating and modifying Web Pages. It is the follow on program for Microsoft's Frontpage 2003.

So the last few days have seen me slaving over the computer updating the web site of our trip to Vietnam and China last year. A link is on the right hand side of this blog page. I have been able to put much larger pictures on the web site and you can see them all much more clearly now. Have a visit and tell me what you think.

http://users.bigpond.com/thomfam1/

This photo shows the computer screen as I uploaded the reworked web page to the Bigpond server on the internet. The pane on the right of the computer screen is my computer while the pane on the left shows my web space at Bigpond. You may need to click on the photo for a larger view to see this more clearly.

It is a bit frustrating at times and requires a fair bit of trial and error. I began to do the page with "Dreamweaver", then modified it a bit with "Frontpage" and I have now reworked it with "Expression Web" So some of the things Dreamweaver does is not fully compatible with how Frontpage or Expression Web like to work.

I am due to get my replacement Router/Modem I had to return to DLink in the day or so and we can get out home network fully operational again.

I expect to move to Broadband late in July after we return from Melbourne.

Last night I had my first try at a "Black Ale" I had recently brewed and found it very pleasant to the palate!

A Great Night Out

Friends Russell and Irene from Drouin in Victoria are still in the local caravan park with their new caravan on their first real 'trip'.

A couple of days ago Russell bought himself a Navman GPS system for the car. This is going to be a great addition and add to his travelling comfort. It is difficult enough when you are in a strange city or town and don't really know your way around. It is a lot more difficult when you are towing a 20' caravan.

The Navman will mean from now on Russell will just have to enter the name of the caravan park (or any address in Australia) he wants to get to and then hit 'enter'. The Navman provides voice directions to ensure he gets to the exact place he wants to, thus removing much of the stress and pressure of looking at maps and guessing which road he should take.

Russell also bought a Digital TV Set Top Box. We got it up and running on Friday and the quality of the TV picture is now sensational and it is so easy to tune. Each time you get into a new town to stay, you have to retune your TV. Now all he has to do is hit Autotune and available stations are added to the TV.

Last night we had a combined Mother's Day and Wedding Anniversary celebration all together at The Spirit of Tibet Restaurant in Mooloolaba. This photo shows us at the restaurant.


It is a great spot. The food is just sensational with plenty of exquisite flavour, variety and a tremendous side serve of special chilli sauce. It made for a great evening. We had plenty to eat and couple of bottles of great red wine.

The owner of the restaurant (seen here) gets in with the customers and ensures everyone has a great time.

Even though it is now a cooler time of year and well outside regular vacation times, the restaurant was full of happy customers. We always have a booking nowadays when we want to go to The Spirit Of Tibet.


The night concluded with a walk along the shop fronts and then back along the pathway overlooking the sensational Mooloolaba beach.

Thanks to Keith

We have had over an inch of rain (27mls) overnight. It is the best fall we have had for almost 3 months. The garden and lawns are getting a great watering!

We continue to do lots of things with Russell and Irene who are caravanning here in Caloundra. Time means they will be on their way further north on Tuesday.


I received the following joke from Keith today! I enjoyed it very much.

Two 90 year old men, Mike and Joe, have been friends all of their lives. When it's clear that Joe is dying, Mike visits him every day. One day Mike says, "Joe, we both loved football all our lives, and we played Sunday football together for so many years. Please do me one favour, when you get to Heaven, somehow you must let me know if there's football there." Joe looks up at Mike from his death bed," Mike, you've been my best friend for many years. If it's at all possible, I'll do this favour for you."

Shortly after that, Joe passes on.

At midnight a couple of nights later, Mike is awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to him, "Mike-Mike." "Who is it?” asks Mike sitting up suddenly. "Who is it?"

"Mike-it's me, Joe." "You're not Joe. Joe just died."

"I'm telling you, it's me, Joe," insists the voice." "Joe! Where are you?"

"In heaven", replies Joe. "I have some really good news and a little bad news."

"Tell me the good news first," says Mike.

"The good news," Joe says," is that there's football in heaven. Better yet, all of our old friends who died before us are here, too. Better than that, we’re all young again.

Better still, it's always spring time and it never rains or snows. And best of all, we can play football all we want, and we never get tired."

"That's fantastic," says Mike. "It's beyond my wildest dreams! So what's the bad news?

"I've just seen the team sheet and you're playing Tuesday."