A Fiery Brew

The recliner chair weekend continues.  It was wall to wall footy over the weekend so far with several more matches on TV today!  Another good thing is that both Trish and my footy teams had great wins so far this weekend.

The weather looks great again but all is expected to change over night tonight.  It will be low 30's today we are told.

Computer Club was busy enough yesterday morning and I didn't get home till after midday.  But I managed to help a lot of people so that was good.

The brew I put on Friday seems to be quite fiery.  The photo left shows the 'top' of the brew container with its airtight screw top lid and the air lock which allows the build up of gas from the brewing process to escape.

When I awoke Saturday morning the top of the lid of the brew container had almost 1cm of beer in it!  There was froth all up through the airlock as well.  I managed to sponge the excess stuff off and washed out the airlock and put it all back together.

30 minutes later there was froth in the airlock again.  This time I ladled all the excess froth out only for the overflow problem to happen again about 40 minutes later.

This time I siphoned off about 1 bottle of beer and tossed it out.  Since then everything has remained under control.

Usually I slightly overfill the container but never before has there been any overflow.  I must admit this time I did quite overfill the container.  I added a heap of ice cubes to the brew to get the temperature down to 28º.  These ice cubes meant the brew level was around 1cm above the recommended level.

It will be interesting to see how this brew turns out!  Needless to say it won't be bottled until all bubbling has fully and completely stopped.

Because of the upcoming possible change in weather, I bottle washed this morning.

Getting Back To Normal

It is now almost two full days since we arrived back home from a great trip down south to Melbourne.  The weather on the Sunshine Coast has been delightful, not too hot and around 28 degrees each day.  Trish managed to get several loads of washing done and dried.  Two loads were washed on dried on Wednesday so good was the weather.

The pool is back in use again but the water is nowhere near as warm as it was even just a few weeks ago.  It was 24 in the pool this morning after my 13k bike ride and will possibly nudge 26 later this afternoon after a day's sun on it.

With the mammoth amount of rain the Sunshine Coast received while we were away, the lawn is green and almost 100% coverage.  There are still a couple of 'bald' spots but hopefully the grass will return soon.

Trish is again off to "Quilters" today which is fairly laid back for her.  Stitchers, where she is President, is the real busy one.  She enjoys today as others do all the work and she can sit back and enjoy the morning.

The installers from the sun blind place put the weather cover (pelmet) up yesterday.  They were two young guys who were only too willing to do everything really properly and exactly as I wanted.  I am quite happy with what they have done.

The blind has been repositioned ever so slightly and now looks a lot neater.  The weather cover fits perfectly and looks great and by repositioning it, we get even more shade.

We are just about to swap Health Cover providers.  The company we have been with for ever has really upped their charges.  Our coverage with them finishes in a week so yesterday (Thursday) we got in for new glasses for both of us.  They were paid for yesterday and should be available for us to collect in a fortnight.

It is a recliner chair weekend coming up.  Footy is back to normal, we are home and the pay TV is up and running.  We are giving Friday Drinks a miss this week.  With there still being Daylight Saving down south, tonight's game actually comes on TV here around 6:30pm.  The recliner chair will be set up and a weekend's footy watching is in store.

And I managed to get a brew on this morning as well.  Bottle washing and bottling will follow next week!

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

The "Home Straight"

Monday morning was all go again.  We did a "Chocolate" tour of Melbourne.  We visited many of Melbourne's best known chocolate spots.  You can put on weight just by looking at them.

We had a quick trip to Little Bourke St to see the many Chinese Restaurants there.  We had a quick bit to eat in a food court before Ian and I headed to Young And Jackson's and the famous nude painting of Chloe. A couple of pots of beer followed!

Early afternoon Trish and I caught the tram back to St Kilda for a rest prior to our night out on the Tramcar Restaurant.  We all met in the city at the Casino's Sports Bar for a drink and a look around.  By 8:30 we were at a nearby tram stop ready to board the especially fitted out trams.

This was another highlight of the trip to Melbourne. The food was great, the company exceptional and the drinks just kept flowing!

There were three trams, each with around 36 customers on board.  The food selection was limited but the quality was great.  There was enough to eat, we all had the rib eye steak as a part of our 5 course meal.  There was wine and beer as well.

Everyone was there for a good time and it had a real party atmosphere about it.

Trish and I eventually got back to St Kilda around midnight after a wonderful night out.  We were beginning to slow down just a little bit!

On Tuesday we all met again in St Kilda for a walk around and fish and chips for lunch.  It was over 30 degrees and the constant eating, drinking and enjoying was beginning to take toll.  We were heading home early the next morning so the day finished quietly with Ian and Kerrie heading back to the city to pack up and get ready for an early Wednesday morning aeroplane departure back home.

We had a steak with Kim in a St Kilda pub that night and eventually hit the sack around 9:30pm, exhausted.

The flight home went well.

It had been a never to forget week with friends in Melbourne.

You can read about the other antics we got up to in the two posts below!

Drouin, Then the Hoa Tran Springvale.

Early Saturday afternoon all four us packed into the car to drive around 90k's to Drouin.  We were spending the night with Russell and Irene then after lunch Sunday onto Barry and Rainy's before heading back to Melbourne via Springvale for tea!

It was a lot of fun with too much to eat and drink at Russell and Irene's.  Other friends Keith and June joined us as well.  The eight of us got on well together and ate and drank too much ... again.  The wine, beer, spirits and liqueurs was flowing.

Sunday morning was reasonably quiet as we enjoyed the view (photo left) from Russell's backyard.  They have a several acres and a large garden.

The weather had been great the whole time in Melbourne and Sunday morning was no exception.

It was great of Russ and Irene to put us all up Saturday night.  Breakfast Sunday morning was predominantly toast and several cups of coffee!

Then we had a quick trip to a local winery "Brandy Creek".  Yet another gorgeous small place with a fantastic view and great coffee.  We were all still in recovery mode I think.

Brandy Creek Winery is a place where you can have functions, weddings and parties.  It would be very pleasant.

Click on all photos for a larger view.

Yet more to eat and drink with good friends Barry and Rainy around 1pm.  It was great to catch up with them as well.  By this stage the eating and drinking was beginning to 'tell' and we all had slowed down noticeably.

Late afternoon we bundled back into the car to head to Springvale and our favorite restaurant the Hoa Tran for a meal. The weather remained quite warm the whole time.  We only had a taste of our usual Springvale fare but we wanted to give Ian and Kerrie a taste of what to expect in Springvale.

Exhausted we arrived back in St Kilda around 8pm Sunday night.  Ian and Kerrie insisted on heading back to their hotel by tram.  It didn't take a mass of talking to convince Trish as she had been doing all the driving.

We all slept well.

Read about the first few days of our Melbourne trip with Kerrie and Ian in the post below.

After the Footy We Go To Drouin

We collected Ian and Kerrie from Tullamarine Airport early on Wednesday afternoon and took them to their hotel in the City.  From there we did a very quick tour of Melbourne's Sporting precincts before stopping in Victoria St in Richmond.  We enjoyed a few drinks and then a Vietnamese meal at one of the numerous nearby restaurants.

Thursday morning was spent 'doing' Lygon St in Carlton.  We had a great lunch at one of the numerous Pasta places there and enjoyed a walk around.  Parking worked out OK too.  Parking the car is always an issue anywhere near the city.

The photos were taken with my phone so they aren't the best quality.

Ian and I had Pizza while the ladies enjoyed a pasta.  The pasta serves were so generous the husbands had to come to the rescue.  No one was hungry when we left.

Ian and Kerrie enjoyed it very much, especially the trip to Brunetti's, a totally revamped Cake Shop.  Now it is huge, ritzy and expensive.  The row after row of cakes stretched away before you with dozens of windows like the photo left.

It is a real tourist attraction and was almost worth the whole trip to Carlton itself.

Around 4pm Ian and I headed to the MCG and Richmond Vs Carlton.  Before the game I took Ian over to the infamous "Royal Hotel" in Richmond.  It was a memorable night, one which will have us telling stories for years to come.  It was sensational fun!

A close footy match with over 60,000 in attendance was another highlight of a sensational day.

Ian and Kerrie came to St Kilda by tram later on Friday.  Trish and I had packed up and left Kate's to spend the next few days with Kim at her St Kilda Unit.  We met up with them and had a look around Acland St before Kim and her partner Dave arrived home from work.

A wonderful Malaysian meal at the St Kilda Chinta Ria followed.  It was yet another great day.

The next day we were heading to Drouin!