Melbourne To Sizzle While "The Coast" Is Blown Away

Our time in Melbourne visiting family and friends is almost over. Saturday evening was spent quietly after a hot day. A cool change dropped the temp to the high 20's late in the afternoon. On Sunday I went to a computer "Swap Meet" and was blown away by the range of things available as well as the cheap prices they were charging. There was heaps of interesting stuff there. The afternoon was spent either baby sitting (giving Kate and Arj a chance to do things without the kids being there) and doing some last minute purchasing (photos etc).

From there it was to Malaysia Garden for tea. Boneless Chicken Curry with Coconut rice was exquisite, the Char Koay Teow was pretty good too. Arj ordered some "Ikan Bilis" which was rich with flavour and we finished with some sensational Lobak. All was great and enjoyed by all. Charli just loves her curry and rice!

Today Melbourne has a forecast top temp of 42 degrees! For our West Texas reader that is almost 108 degrees!

This afternoon we head across to Chris' place to spend the night before flying out for the Sunshine Coast first thing tomorrow. Unfortunately Chris doesn't have any inbuilt cooling and the temp is expected remain above 30 degrees overnight. We might be a bit stroppy from lack of sleep when we get home!

Meanwhile at home the weather remains pretty windy with beaches being closed and strong winds being the order of the day. These two photos lifted from the Sunshine Coast newspaper give a bit of an idea how wild it is there. I have been pleased to read that the storm centre is now moving slowly away from the coast.

Remember to use the live webcam links on the right to get the latest views from King's beach.

It is also good to hear that winds are expected to slowly abate. Foolish swimmers continue to enter the surf with lifesavers carrying out numerous rescues. People choose to enter the water despite many beaches being "closed" for swimming. This surfer though appears to be having a wonderful time!

Hopefully it won't be too windy when we land there tomorrow at about 9:30 am.

Too Hot For The MCG

Friday was spent quietly in front of the TV watching the cricket. Then it was out to "The Palms" one of our very favorite Asian eateries to try all our favorites. Needless to say the grandkids loved it, Charli got to eat her Curry and Rice again and also to have a play ride on the "Trishaw".

Then it was home to watch the movie "Fracture", one of the ones I had downloaded from the internet. However before the movie it was time for Charli and James to have a quick bath! It was fun!

Saturday we awake to a howling north wind and an expected maximum temperature of 38 degrees, that is over 100 degrees for those who read this from Texas! Too hot for venturing out so I cancelled the day at the cricket, a decision that everyone who I was planning to meet there thought was the right one!

So it was time for another day in front of the TV.

The weather looks like being a bit nasty back on the Sunshine Coast today with strong wind and heavy rain forecast for this afternoon.

We managed to catch a short movie on our camera of Charli singing the theme to the children's show "Playschool". I have uploaded it to Youtube and the link is to the right in "Rogue's Gallery".

Friday Is Rest Day

Wednesday and Thursday were two very busy and tiring days after a late finish to Christmas Day. Christmas Night with Arj's family was good fun. It was off to a late start (if you have little kids) and finished about midnight. This is a bit too late for them!

There was gift giving, a few carols (which is traditional with Arj's family) and then a wonderful meal of various curries, plenty of rotis to go with it all and sweets to finish up with. I ate too much and suffered into the early morning. Charli though tired was only too keen to try out Dad's keyboard as you can see here. Opening presents was good fun too.


Boxing Day for us was the traditional day at former neighbours Barry and Rainy's down at Drouin. Another great day with plenty to drink and too much to eat but with friends around it was good fun. We arrived back home about midnight after another long day out.

Then on Thursday I was into the MCG to watch Australia Vs India Day 2 of the cricket Test Match. John Logan with whom I had enjoyed the day before with caught up with me and we found the Frank Grey Smith Bar in the MCG Members a very pleasant spot indeed. What was going to be a quiet drink developed into a bit of a session I am afraid! I arrived back at Berwick about 6:30 ready to go out again for meal with Pat and Graeme at their home. Another great night followed with a very pleasant meal. However it was midnight before we were in bed for some well earned sleep.

Therefore Friday for me was a day in front of the TV watching the cricket!

Weather forecasts for home in Queensland indicate some nasty wet and windy weather for that part of the world. The links to 'live webcams ' on the right can give you an up to the minute look at current weather conditions in Caloundra.

Christmas Day 2007

Christmas Eve was spent quietly as usual watching Carols By Candlelight on TV.

Christmas Day is nice and sunny if a little cool. A few wispy clouds but at least it isn't raining.

This is a special day for the kids. Charli is starting to understand a little about it and has grasped the concept of "Presents" fairly rapidly. Needless to say they were both spoilt with heaps of gifts from us as well as Kate and Arj. In "Rogue's Gallery" to the right is a quick movie clip taken this morning.

James thought the bag his presents came in was the best gift, he spent much of the morning trying to eat it.


Charli received her first trike from us but is having a few problems getting it mobile. She also received books, puzzles, games and toys. She had to tip her gifts bag over and crawl in to get her gifts! She handled this pretty well. Mum and Dad were left to unpack the toys. The Fisher Price toys come very well packaged indeed!

Trish received a 'Drink Package' and I got a "Breathalyzer Reader" which I hope to give a bit of use to over the next few days.

As I said earlier, today is a day for families!



We will have a quiet lunch at home here and then early this evening we set off for Arj's family's Christmas Night. It is gift giving, carol singing (which the teenage kids hate!) and eating wonderful Sri Lankan curries.

Tomorrow it is a 60k drive to Drouin for a BBQ with the people went on the Whitsundays Trip. Then I hope to get to a few days of Australia Vs India Test Cricket Match at the MCG before we fly back home again on New Year's day!

Merry Christmas to everyone from Trish and Les!

Family Christmas Celebrations

Every second Christmas we need to have our family get together on a different day to Christmas Day. This year was one of those years. However it worked out well as we were able to get both my sister and her family as well as my brother's family all together for the first time for quite a few years. Nowadays there are wives and girlfriends to involve as well so this makes getting everyone together a real challenge.

Though it was showery early in the day, the weather slowly improved so we were able to get outside and stretch our legs.

For some of the cousins it was the first time they had seen each other for years. My brother's son Jason and his new wife 'Than' had just arrived from Thailand where he had been working for 6 years. We had a great time.

There was Christmas gift giving which was the kids favorite part. Here our son's daughter (and our granddaughter) Emily is transfixed by a new extra large parcel. She really enjoyed the day.


My sister Judy's boy Marcus had trained as a chef so he 'whipped' some Garlic Prawns up on the BBQ along with some mussels and some great sea food sauce to go with it all. Cold meats, salads and a variety of sweets complemented the seafood. No one left the table hungry and there was still plenty of leftovers to wander back to as the day progressed.

It is not an easy job squeezing 18 adults and four kids around the table but we got there!


An Aussie BBQ or family get together always has a sporting part to it whether it is the traditional game of backyard cricket or a swim in the pool. There is always something which happens later in the day! For our family day it was a game of Bocce! Everyone joined in for a bit of fun.

My sister's 'other half' is Peter. We have always enjoyed quite a few drinks together but this Christmas celebration saw Pete have a couple of glasses of red wine. I have travelled to India and have enjoyed the Taj Mahal, I have been on another wonder of the world, the Great Wall of China! Now I have experienced a third wonder of the modern wold, a Christmas day Celebration with Peter NOT having a cool beer!

Everyone enjoyed the day, hopefully we can get everybody back together again not too long into the future!