On the Starting Blocks

Here we are, in a coolish Tweed Heads in an older but great motel with a large room, heaps of seating, lots of bells and whistles and all good.

We have just wandered home from the Tweed Heads Bowls Club, literally just over the road from where we are staying. We arrived here mid afternoon and after settling in had a quick drive around town. How lucky we are to live in such a pretty place. Great surf beaches, heaps of sunsine and everything at your fingertips.

Our meal at the Bowling Club was great, and as the photo shows, some lawn bowlers were out there in 22 degree cold plying their skills.

Trish has been waiting for a last minute call from one of the kids to wish us a happy trip away but all is to no avail.

I am delighted to say the TV dongle works great, but we need a better internet service rather than the freebie supplied by the motel for things to really work well.

We've grabbed some nibblies for the 8 hour flight tomorrow and Trish has a new Sudoku book to keep her occupied. I have several TV series on the tablet to fill in the 8 hour flight.

Needless to say we are getting excited and can't wait to be on our way tomorrow.

All is good. I wonder if the kids will miss us while we are away?

Not Packed But Getting Sorted!

We are having unseasonally cool weather at the moment.  It will possibly make 24° later on today if the sun gets a chance to pop its head out this afternoon.  This time tomorrow we will be heading to Coolangatta ready for our flight to Kuala Lumpur departing around 10am Tuesday morning.

We have heard back from our AirBnB host giving us directions on how to collect the key and requesting our schedule for arrival and departure. So it is getting really close now.  The bed here at home is covered with shorts, T-Shirts, Polo tops, bathers and the like ready to pack.  But as we are going to somewhere 'hot', our selection for clothes is much easier.

But as is the way, Trish is caught up with an Arts Association Fair this weekend so she has been flat out since Thursday when they started getting things ready.  Today is the last day so it will be great when it is all over.  She will finish her packing tomorrow.

Yesterday afternoon (yes even on a Saturday) there was the final Community Association Meeting for 2017 followed by a Christmas Breakup which explains why I am moving at less than 100% today.  I took some care of myself but it seems I could have taken even more.

But that job is now over as the Association moves into hibernation for a couple of months.

We have worked out that after tomorrow we will be 'at home' for only 8 more nights between now and New Year as our trip to Newcastle and Melbourne happens a little over a week after we get back from Malaysia.

Being away for about 6 or 7 weeks of the last 8 weeks of the year we feel we will be happy to eventually get home after Melbourne.  We may even get home a few days prior to New Year yet.  We will spend Boxing Day with Barry and Rainy as per usual but we won't stay overnight this time.  I must get value out of my MCG membership so I want to get to as many days of the Test Cricket as possible before heading back to home, the pool and the heat.

My replacement H96Pro TV dongle turned up during the week.  For its size and cost it is a fairly impressive gadget.  I think I have worked out why the first dongle died.  I was using a generic USB charger and it really needs to use its own supplied charger to give it enough umph to work properly. With the generic usb charger the dongle would crash when I put a 32GB usb drive into it.  Use the correct supplied charger and everything works fine.

As you can see from the size, it will be ideal for travel purposes.  I have loaded the 32GB drive with a few movies and several TV series if we have any 'quiet' moments while away we will have that option.  If we have anywhere near decent wifi (as we did in Bali) we could stream the odd movie or two.  But it is easy and light to carry so ideal for heading away.

My elbow and forearm are still both badly bruised from the bike bingle though there isn't any real discomfort for everyday purposes now.  It may struggle a bit if I have to lift something heavy, but otherwise it feels much better than it looks.

So therefore the next post maybe from Malaysia.  I will use the 10" Samsung tablet to post my blog. The tablet lacks a few of the Blogger features that the PC version has.  I can't easily position pictures for example when using the tablet.  But it will be a bit of fun.

Next post, Kuala Lumpur!

A Day At The Caloundra Races

On Melbourne Cup Day (yesterday) we joined around 6,000 others on the Sunshine Coast and travelled to Caloundra Racecourse (Corbould Park) for a day at the races.  Horse racing isn't quite my thing but the opportunity to join with great friends, have a day out and enjoy a few beers was always going to be enticing enough for me to get along.

The ladies prepared lots of nibblies.  Uber got 4 of us to the track comfortably while Ian and Kerrie drove there.  We were sitting back in bright sunshine and balmy 28° enjoying a few drinks.  Beverage tickets were $3 each and you needed 2 tickets for a beer and 3 tickets for a small champers.

With so much to eat, the warm sunshine, cold drinks and wonderful company, it made for a great day.  However as predicted the clouds began to arrive but it didn't effect us having a great time.  The young 'things' were all out in their 'going to the races' finest.  There was plenty of lace and plenty of tanned skin to take in.

People passing by just stopped for a chat or ask us how we were enjoying the day.  The big screen was up and running showing all the horse racing events across the country.  We even had races at Caloundra to watch as well.  The food and drinks flowed throughout the day.  Sometimes you just wonder how you could fit it all in.

The clouds did begin to build up and it became pretty obvious storms were brewing.  The Melbourne Cup was to be shown on the big screen at 2pm local time and it became a bit of race to see what would happen first, the Cup or the impending storm.  It was pretty much a photo finish with people scurrying for cover from the huge raindrops and flashes lightning or bashing of thunder.

We scurried up under cover and out of the rain.  It didn't dampen the day at all.  Trish won around $30 while John cleaned up with about $80 profit on the Cup.  But we had a great day and probably ate and drank too much.  Eventually, we left for home as the rain had eased, again via Uber arriving back home around 6pm.

We didn't need an evening meal as we had been eating and drinking so much throughout the day.  I estimate we went though a little under $90 worth of Beverage tickets so we were filled to the brim upon our arrival home.

But shock, horror! Upon our arrival at home, I discovered there was no internet, the storm had knocked out our home internet connection!  But by around 8:15am this morning (Weds) full internet service had been returned.  It rained on and off across the night and into the morning.  This morning I tipped 44mls from the rain gauge!

All in all a great day was had by all, it was so good as a matter of fact, we have already agreed to do it again in 2018, possibly at one of our homes where there is a pool and a BBQ!

But we will see!

A Week To Go!

Around this time next week (early afternoon) we should be on our way around 200k's from here down to the Gold Coast Airport at Coolangatta.  We fly out on Tuesday around 10 am for our trip to Malaysia and Sri Lanka. We jumped online and saw we were allocated a window seat each right at the back of the plane, almost the last two rows actually.

These rows only have 2 seats in them so at least no one will be 'in the middle'.  They will suit us.  We could sit side by side but that will cost another $20.

I reckon on the day we may be able to work out a swap with other passengers once on board.

It is around 8 hours to KL and we get in there around 4pm their time.  I have checked transfer fares from the Airport to our AirBNB accommodation in the city.  It seems you buy a 'voucher' at the airport for your trip into town around 80k's away.  The voucher system should ensure we are not ripped off at around $25 Australian.

Then we have 5 nights in KL before flying to Columbo.  We are staying in Galle which is a good 2 hour car trip from Columbo.  Though quite expensive on the surface to get transfer from the airport to Galle, when you take the total cost of flights for Trish and me as well as accommodation at a little under $700, an expensive ride to and from the 'resort' in Galle works out OK.

As the photo above shows, the bruising from my bingle on the bike almost a week ago is beginning to 'come out'.  It looks much worse than it is.  There is way more bruising than I first thought so no wonder it is still a little 'tender'.

Except for full strength in the arm, the rest is back to normal.

I have a Public Meeting to chair tonight.  Then we are off to Caloundra's Racecourse "Corbould Park" with friends for "Cup Day" tomorrow.  The weather is expected to be stormy but you never know.  It is a fun day with lots of laughs.

I have a Community Newsletter to finish for later in the week as well as a lengthy insert to prepare for the Association's website following tonight's meeting.  But most things are currently 'in hand' so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

I am off to the Chiropractor now so I had better get sorted.

I Forgot To Look!

I remember well, many many years ago when we lived in Penang. The kids were young with only Chris being of school age.  At that time Kate was a keen climber, especially over the lounge room furniture.  She had a nasty fall this day from the top of the main lounge chair and hit her head on the concrete floor and then burst into tears.  "I forgot to hang on" she cried.

On my bike ride on Tuesday "I forgot to look closely".  Council has opened a couple of the 'barrier gates along a pathway I use infrequently.  There is a zig-zag path to negotiate or you can use the open barrier gateway.  You do have to be a little careful on your bike as at times there can be a 10cm drop from the concrete pathway to the grass below.

I was on my way down a long hill and was just about at the bottom and ready to use the open barrier gateway instead of the zig-zag slow you down method.  I saw a sign saying "Beware of Construction Vehicles" which caught my attention.  Then I checked to make sure I didn't have a drop from the pathway down to the grass and finally looked up to negotiate the gateway!

Oh sh#$#@! I said to myself as I looked up and saw that today the gate had been closed. It had been painted a light green as well which helped it blend into the environment.  No way known could I stop so I went for the brakes and broadsided into the closed gate.  Now I can tell you that being almost 72 years of age, a collision like this with a metal gate, it was easy to work out who the victor would be!

I took the full brunt of the impact on my left arm across a couple of the bars of the gate.  The doctor described it as a 'soft tissue' injury.  I had it checked out as we head off overseas in less than a fortnight and I wanted to be sure I hadn't done anything nasty to it.

It is much improved today but still is extremely tender.  My upper arm remains quite swollen and a huge bruise is brewing ready to pop out. No way can I lift anything with my left arm.

Ah well, as I used to say to the kids at school, "Isn't it about time you acted your age!"