Slowly Getting Back To Normal

We have now spent a couple of days getting back to normal following the departure of our visitors. We tend to eat out a lot when we have visitors so to again return to chops on the BBQ and plenty of vegetables for our evening meal is almost as good as 'going out'.

The floor at home required a bit of attention so that was done. We found time for a 1 hour walk down to the lake which was great in the sunshine. Some other 'odd jobs' needed doing too, pool cleaning, clean up the BBQ, update how we set the BBQ up etc. all were done.

This morning (Tuesday) was the time to replenish my beer supplies so I put two brews on. They may be ready to bottle in a week or so. I have been making a 'black' ale from time to time lately so one of the two brews was a black this morning. This will make about 60 large bottles of beer. However brewing times will be longer than usual because of the cool weather at this time of the year.

I am beginning to catch up with emails again too which is good. I have also been busy accessing movies via broadband. I have discovered a download program which allows me set the time for a download to commence. I have two download allocation types in my broadband package, peak and off peak. I am able to use the download program to set a movie download to happen overnight in off peak and not impact on my regular broadband access time. I am beginning to build up quite a collection of recent release movies to watch later in the year.

Visitors Have Returned To Melbourne

Barry and Rainy flew back to Melbourne and their home in Drouin yesterday.

While the ladies ventured to Montville on Friday, Barry and I took in some of the local beach side spots. Montville is a hinterland town and a very popular spot for tourists. It is a 1 kilometre strip of shops selling everything possibly of any interest to tourists. There are chocolate shops, a Christmas Shop, Puzzle Shop, Lolly shops, clothes, tourist items and just about everything else you can think of for sale to the tourist. It is not a spot I really enjoy going to any more. As you can imagine, the ladies enjoyed it very much.

They even have 'Husband Chairs" outside many shops so bored husbands can sit and rest as their shopping crazed wives can peruse all the items for sale at their leisure!

Barry and I visited a couple of the beaches for a quick look before arriving at the Dicky Beach Surf Club for a refreshing ale and a quick meal for our lunch. One quiet ale developed into four 'schooners' and as I was driving, this meant it was time to head home. Strict alcohol related driving offences here in Australia meant I needed to take the back way home ASAP.

Despite being full of food and alcohol from the week's visit, we headed out to a Thai Restaurant for dinner. It was then home to watch the footy live on TV.

We then drove them to the Maroochydore Airport before lunchtime yesterday (Saturday) for them to catch their flight home.

Today Sunday will be another R & R day to catch up with rest from a wonderful but hectic week!

Rest and Recover Day

The busy role of hosting is starting to catch up with us. There is so much to see and so little time to do it all.

Thursday was a recovery day. While the ladies hit the shops and the Display Home scene, Barry and I carried out some fine tuning on my home theatre speaker levels. We checked a few connections out and reset some of the speaker settings.

After lunch we drove up to the Buderim Tavern. As the weather was about 25 degrees, the Tavern has one of its full wall windows open and the view from the lounge area was great. We enjoyed a quiet drink and the view overlooking the Sunshine Coast. A very pleasant spot. By this stage the 'quiet drink' is beginning to tell just a little! Yes, Rainy does have two drinks in front of her. Rainy has taken a liking to the black ale I brew so when there is a shout, we have to buy a black ale for her!

For our evening meal we enjoyed the $12 for two "Surf and Turf" meal at one of the local pubs. It is great value and and a terrific meal.

Then it was home for a quiet evening and a good night's sleep.

A Day In Brisbane

One of the good things about having visitors is that it forces you to do some things you had been putting off as "too much of a hassle". A day in Brisbane was just one of those things.

It is about 70 kilometres to Brisbane's outer suburbs from home. We then left the car and caught a train to Southbank. This is the former site of the Expo 88 which virtually put Brisbane on the world map. Southbank has been transformed into a people's park with facilities for eating, drinking, swimming and enjoying some beautiful gardens and it is situated right in the middle of the city on the Brisbane River.

Brisbane uses its river very well indeed. It serves as a beautiful backdrop to the city and provides transport opportunities to get people around and provide for tourist trips as well.

Transport can either be by ferry or by river cat. We caught the River Cat from Southbank and travelled downstream for about 20 minutes. The city is really growing into a modern metropolis with tall buildings and breathtaking view.


The old "Story Bridge" seen in this photo above is a part of Brisbane's history.

We caught a bus into China Town and enjoyed a Vietnamese meal which consisted of many of our favorites we enjoy when eating in Melbourne.

A quick trip to the converted Treasury Buildings which is now a Casino and we were soon on the train again heading to get the car and head back home.

After a light tea we were out again, this time to the Caloundra RSL for a night out and a band which doing all the hits from "Queen". A great day and night was had by all.

Glasshouse Mountains and General Business

It has been quite busy for us with our visitors Barry and Rainy.

Tuesday saw us drive around the Glasshouse Mts. which are in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. They are they remnants of about 5 or 6 volcanoes from millions of years ago. All that remains is the molten core with the rest of the mountain being worn away over the years. The mountains were named by James Cook as he sailed by in the Endeavour on his voyage of discovery. The mountains provide some impressive views. The Bowls Club was our venue for an evening meal.


Tuesday was a general business day. The girls hit the shops while Barry and I did some investigative work and visited the "Mens'" shops. We grabbed a couple of DVD's which required copying and took care of a few minor chores. The evening meal was at "The Spirit of Tibet" and usual was sensational!

I guess we are showing our age to a certain extent with getting in to bed by 10 pm most nights.

Our new neighbours have moved in next door.