Travel Day Tomorrow

Our drive from here down to Melbourne will begin at about 5 am tomorrow morning! The total trip is about 1900k's (about 1200 miles) and will take a couple of days. As we drive via the Newell Highway through central New South Wales we expect temps to get to about 40 degrees. With such hot weather we will need to take it a bit easy with the car. We will get to about Gilgandra and hopefully arrive there mid to late afternoon. We would then hope to finish the trip off the next day and get into Melbourne late Thursday afternoon. Melbourne is expecting a cooler wet day on Thursday which will be a lot easier for driving.

Our bags are pretty well packed now. We are all (Tony, Angela, Paul and Linda) heading to our newly discovered little Thai restaurant this evening for a Christmas meal and will get back home tonight about 8:30 and finish packing the car.

I awoke this morning to find this chap swimming in the pool. I fished him out with the leaf net and put the three iron to work. These toads are pests in this part of the world and authorities want them disposed of! Speaking of the pool, Tony came round yesterday and we went through the watering and pool maintenance routines. Tony will keep an eye on the place while we are away. The most important job is to ensure the water level is maintained in the pool. If the level drops too much it will not feed the filter and then the pump will overheat and require replacement!

We did a 14 kilometre bike ride this morning and decided to do the 'beach' ride. At last the wind has backed off and the riding is a lot more comfortable now. However it was about 28 degrees this morning at 7:30 am and humidity was around 75% so plenty of sweat was lost during the ride! How great the pool is to come home to after a ride like this today!

I am considering changing my Internet Service Provider from Netspace to Internode. I currently get 30GB download per month for $60 where Internode will give me 50GB for $50. Internode will charge me for upload too but this would still see me much better off. Still thinking about it right now though! It is a hassle changing your email address and we use the Netspace Address as our main email contact address!

There isn't much more news. The next post I make on the blog will come from Melbourne.

A Little Cooler

The pool has had quite a workout this week with most days sunny and above 30. Nights are pleasant enough, we put the ceiling fan on "Low" and sleeping is no problem. As usual at this time of year there is always some humidity around. I usually have a quick swim before heading to bed at night, this too ensures a good night's sleep. A 'cool' change went through yesterday so today is expected to be high 20's rather than 30+.

Busy doing the pre Christmas and a trip to Melbourne things the last few days. Pool water has been checked at the Pool shop, lawns are to be cut, and general tidy things up prior to getting away. One of my riding mates (Tony) will be looking after things while we are gone and I am sure he and his wife will use the pool.

Trish has been busy with End Of Year Christmas lunches this week for Stitchers and for Quilters. Trish also attends a Trivia Night each Thursday with a group of girls (including our GP). They were just pipped for first prize on Thursday night with a Tie-Breaker question required to split the top two teams.

Yesterday was the last day for 2009 for the Computer Club. Again I was busy helping some people out. When I got home I did another bottling. My beer supplies are now all up to date! The boxes are looking a bit tatty now and are probably due for replacement

We have enjoyed a couple of good movies which I have recently downloaded or copied from the TV. One was Samson and Delilah (which has just won the best Australian movie award) and the other was Balibo. We found Samson and Delilah a bit slow but Balibo was a very good movie.

The pool filter cover has been painted and all looks pretty good back there. My shoulder is improving but could be another three weeks yet till all is fine again. It is to do with the shoulder Rotator Cuff. These can take quite a while to heal.

Noticed some oil under the car during the week. It appears to be the result of a spill when it was serviced recently. It certainly sent shockwaves through the place as we are driving to Melbourne on Wednesday! Not sure if I will use that car service centre again after this. I even had oil dripping on to my driveway yesterday.

I had a call from Eddie saying tests had all proved OK and he was pretty fit for a guy his age. We will enjoy a couple of beers together when we get to Melbourne.

Trish Is Home

It has been quite warm here lately with temps into the low 30's. The wind has been strong though making it unpleasant to sit outside for long. The wind generally freshens during the afternoon but by then it is a sea breeze bringing slightly cooler temps to the coast.

I collected Trish from Maroochydore airport yesterday. She left Melbourne in driving rain and arrived here into blustery north wind.

Trish is off to a Christmas Lunch today with one group of quilters. I have been putting a How To sheet together on editing the Bellvista Community Association website this morning. At this stage I am the only one who knows how it all works.

Tony and I did our 13k bike ride this morning. This looks a pretty good way to spend a few months of the year doesn't it! We spotted the yacht on our ride this morning! The strong winds made the bike ride a good workout for us.

Trish went through the mail upon her return. It was intersting to see the many entries on the bank statement which read one after the other, Paypal, Paypal, Paypal! This is the way I pay for stuff on the internet. It looks like I have been busy buying online.

My most recent purchase is this power board. When I look at the entertainment unit I can count over 11 items plugged into cheap power boards. This one will allow me to individually turn items off when we travel away from home. I now need my back to come good so I can bend down behind the unit and put the new power board to work.

Looking Busy Already

Trish is due to fly home from Melbourne tomorrow (Tues) and then on Wednesday Dec 16th we are planning to drive to Melbourne for Christmas. Already our time in Melbourne is looking busy.

We expect to arrive in Melbourne during the late afternoon of Thursday 17th. We already have babysitting duties for Friday afternoon/evening. I am then hoping to catch up with Keith and the boys on Saturday afternoon. Our "Thomas Family Christmas" will happen on Sunday 20th and we have a commitment for the evening of Monday Dec 21st. We also have a 'booking' for Tuesday night as well.

Christmas Eve will be spent with the kids getting ready for Christmas Day! Christmas Day I expect will be with Kate, Arj, Kim and two of the grandchildren while Christmas Night we will be with Arj's family. Boxing Day is traditionally spent with Barry, Rainy and friends at Bazz's place in Drouin while on the following four days I am hoping to get to the MCG for the Test Cricket match at the MCG.

Soon after that we will be driving back north to the Sunshine Coast where we are hoping to catch up with friends or relations in Canberra, Newcastle, Nelson Bay, and possibly Burleigh Heads.

During the day seems the best time for us to try and catch up with people.

Let us know if you want us to catch up with you while we are in Melbourne and if you have a time and date that suits everyone.

It Is Saturday Already!

Time flies! I did not realize it was so long since I last posted here on the blog.

My trip to Kingscliff was great. Kingscliff is about 200kms from here just over the border with New South Wales. I have to drive past the Gold Coast and its theme parks to get there. The road is quite good and there are improvements to it each time I drive down. Graeme lives in an apartment which overlooks Gudgen Creek. As you can see from this photo taken from Graeme's balcony, it is a bit more than a creek. The new boardwalk footpath will take away his privacy and the unit right next door is now a permanent rental. Graeme has just sold the unit and with the changes going on and the loss of privacy it makes selling the apartment seem less of a loss. We had a few drinks, a lot of laughs and a bit of a look around the town. I drove back home on Wednesday.

I had put a brew on the previous Sunday and this means a bottle washing session as well as a bottling has to be done during the following week. It is now Saturday morning and I have just finished bottling. The brewing equipment is drying in the sun after it has been cleaned. 32 bottles are now spending at least two weeks completing the brewing process before they can be chilled and enjoyed.

There has been plenty of cricket on TV the last couple of days so much of my time has been spent camped in front of the TV. Trish is still in Melbourne and she is loving her busy time down there. She is flying home on Tuesday.

In between I have been finishing off the pool filter cover by re staining the timber and putting primer over the metal side strips. I have added a small cover for the Controller which keeps the hot sun off it, especially the plastic covered control pad buttons. The plastic cover can harden in the sun and crack allowing water in.

This afternoon I have a public meeting of the Community Association to attend. 6 of the 8 Committee members are unable to be there today so I have to drag myself away from the cricket on TV to run the meeting and help with a sausage sizzle. Not happy about it at all! I will give the Computer Club a miss today.

I had a call from my brother this morning where he is now at Beechworth. He hopes to give us all a call again on Christmas Day when we are all in Melbourne.