Wednesday 30th July

We woke up to a really nice sunny day and it was quite warm. The weather forecast is quite good for the next few days. Typical – We leave here today.

It was a little before 10 am when we were ready to hand the Motel Key back and head off to Noosa.

When we got to the Smith Street turn off, which leads to the Motorway, Sally was telling us to continue another few kilometers ahead.

I disregarded, and turned into Smith Street. The roadworks there are causing a lot of congestion and it took quite a long time to travel the first few hundred meters.

When we had cleared the roadworks area, we were off. I had set Sally's destination as Lisson Grove, a street not far from the Brisbane Airport. We have stayed in a Motel there a couple of times.

Probably about two thirds of the way to destination covered, I noticed a Motorway turn off to the Sunshine Coast. I almost took it but decided against.

As we got closer to Brisbane, I saw the Airport turn off. I almost took it, but again decided not to. I remembered previously doing this, getting confused and had quite a time to sort things out.

I continued on, wondering what had happened to the Toll Gate. Well, we missed it and the road took us right into Brisbane.

Sally, of course, was still attempting to take us to Lisson Grove. We drove along the Section of the river that we had taken a Ferry trip on, during our last vist. I knew where we were and we had walked along the section of road. I knew weof were close to the Casino. When Sally told us to turn right, we probably probably passed it.

We followed Sallys instructions for quite awhile. With my limited knowledge of the Geography of Brisbane, I knew we we going in the right direction. After some time, I saw a road sign for the Sunshine Coast. I took it and from there on, I had given up going to Lisson Grove. For awhile, Sally was telling me to turn right. As we continued on, I saw a road sign for Sandgate. Lisson grove was not far from Sandgate Road.

I found a spot to park. To do so, I had to turn off the busy road on which we were travelling. For miles, there had been nowhere to park. There were no signs but if a vehicle stopped, it would close off the entire lane.

I reset Sally for Noosa heads. We continued and after quite some time, Sally directed us off the Motorway. We found a road sign and it showed Noosa heads 49 kilometers away. I thought we should have been closer. I stopped at the University, which was the only sign of civilization around. A young student was playing basket ball against himself in the gym and doing quite well. He was a local and when I asked him the best way to Noosa, he just about had a heart attack and said he didn't know where it was.

I checked the Reception. The lady there had be in Australia two days. She was from Germany and didn't have a clue.

I saw a young woman getting into a car in the carpark. She has only been here two days but she was quite helpful.

We continued on and not much later, we were in Noosa Civic. I parked and asked a man if there was an information centre in town. He told me there was, he had just been there. Like us, he had just arrived and was a stranger to the area.

We went into the Mall and I got the address of the Palm Grove Complex from the Information Counter.

We bought some fish for dinner. The woman in front of me bought some fish called Basa – and it was only about 11 dollars a kilogram. I asked her what it was like and she said that it was very nice.

I bought enough for dinner for tonight and also for tomrrow night. Later, when we had our dinner, it was very nice indeed.

We stopped at Subway and bought a roll each for lunch. We sat out in the bright sun outside and ate or lunch. He was a change to be warm.

We had a bit of trouble finding Ivory Palm. I did not ask the lady for the street number.

We found the road without any trouble and drove along looking for it. We passed a roundabout and there were Motels after Motels but not what we were looking for. I found the road name had changed. We turned back and eventually found the place.

We checked in, paying the remainder of the required money and settled ourselves in the unit.

It is very nice indeed, with our own balcony next to the swimming pool. After we had set up camp, we had a drink out on the balcony and then grabbed a quick half hour rest. We left and went to Noosa Heads. We wanted a bottle of wine. After walking up and down the street, making an enquiry at the Information Desk, we found a wine shop. It was not the sort of place we were looking for so we set off "over the hill" in the direction given us by the lady in Information and we found what we were looking for. We got a bottle of Riesling and half a dozen cans of Carlton and set off home.

It was about 5-30 pm. We sat out on the balcony and enjoyed a drink. I turned the tv on and it came alive. Problem – Not one of the remote controls would have any effect.

It is a sharp tv and the only sharp remote was for the stereo system. I rang the office and I was not happy when I was told there is nothing that could be done until tomorrow.

I voiced my disapproval. He asked me if I could control it manually. I had tried and I could not get it to work. I told him so.

He rang back a short time later and told me his maintenance man was still here and he would have a look.

In the meantime, I found that I could change channels manually, but it was difficult.

The man arrived about half an hour later. He was a nice young fellow. He had found a sharp remote in his truck. He tried it and it worked. He asked me if I had searched around for it. We had of course, behind all the cushions, in drawers, cupboards and around the bedroom.

I gave him a hand to lift up the heavy two seater chair, and the missing remote was underneath.

Probably my fault, but it should have been found by the cleaners.

As it turned out, we could not find a lot on tv even with two movie channels.

We went to bed and after turning off the light, Ruth tried out the tv in the bedroom.

It was high up on a bracket facing down towards the beds. We watched it for awhile and then closed down for the night.

Tuesday 29th July

It was a sunny day today but if was very cold.

I am not sure if I have mentioned yesterday, that I broke a large dinner plate. I put in in the drying rack after washing it. There is not much to hold it in the rack and it fell out and smashed on the tiled floor.

I went and saw the Reception lady and she told me that as it was one of the older plates, she would not worry about charging for it.

She also told me that maintenance men were going around all the units this morning changing the light bulbs for energy saving types, and also, changing the shower rose heads.

The workman arrived a short time later with the manager. He replaced the plate that had been broken and the workman did his jobs. He was not here long.

At about 11 am, we set off for Coolangatta. It is a nice drive and takes I suppose about half an hour.

We went into what appeared to be an unimpressive shopping mall. While Ruth was looking around, I found an Internet Kiosk. I put in my two dollar coin for twenty minute access and prepared to send the first part of this correspondence to my Web Blog.

I had it prepared on a USB key ring. The first thing I found was that Gmail does not seem to accept copy and past.

I eventually tried Yahoo Mail, and I was able to do it there.

A few minutes later, I checked my Bl, and there it was – Success.

I just had time to dash off a couple of very short Emails and then my two dollars ran out.

We went back to the car, as we were on a one hour park and time was nearly up.

Ruth decided she wanted to visit a shop she had seen. She set off on foot and I shifted the car to a two car park on the beach front. It was about 100 meters from the Surf Club.

I left the car and went inside the explore. The dining room and bar look out across the sea and the high buildings at Surfers Paradise could easily be seen.

I phoned Ruth and told her to come in when she was ready.

I was not feeling well and I did not want a large expensive meal I would not have enjoyed it. We had a couple of glasses of Riesling and and Steak Sandwich. It was a good cheap meal.

We spent some time there and I headed back to the car to wait for Ruth When she arrived at the car, we decided to head back to the unit. Although it was a sunny day, there was a strong chill wind and it was not pleasant at all.

It was probably about 4 pm when we got back. We had a quick rest and then at about 5 pm, we went and explored the park at the end of the street. It borders the canals and at one place, there is a very narrow strip of land, about 6 meters between two canals and there is a large pipe under the ground connecting the two.

The tide was coming in and there was a large swirl at the pipe entrance as some of the water was held back.

It was very pleasant in this park. There were some birds, about the size of a thrush, with a yellow stripe on its wings. Some of them would come up and take bread out of our hand.

We came back home, and after watching the news on tv we prepared our meal. The rest of last nights chicken with vegetables.

That has just about ended or stay at Surfers Paradise. We leave for Noosa in the morning.

Diary at Suerfers Paradise

Monday 28th July We only have two more days left in S P. We leave for Noosa on Wednesday. It was a cold day and the weather forecast was not good. We have not yet been to Seaworld and that was to be the highlight of RuthsRuth s We discussed what we were going to do today and she said she wanted to go to Seaworld. We set off, and I thought about it and said I would thing about going to. We went to the ticket office. Using Auntie Helen s Gold card for myself, and the Entertainment Book Gold Card for Ruth, we both got in for a total of $76.50. Quite a good price really. It was cold moving around the Park. At times, it rained a bit. We enjoyed the day – the highlights being the underwater viewing of the large fish and animals (from a tunnel we walked through – we could see through huge glass windows that formed a wall holding back the water). Also special, was being entertained by the dolphins and their instructors – the ride in the Gondola across the entire park, an the ride (two) in the Monorail was threads its way around the entire park. We left at about 4 pm. I set Sally for Australia Fair Shopping Complex. I knew where it was, but with the busy roads and right hand turns across the four lane main road, she gives plenty of advanced notice about what to do. We parked and went to Woolworths Supermarket. We got a large cooked chicken for dinner tonight and also for tomorrow night. We also got some potatoes as we are almost out of them. I got a bottle of wine and we set off home. We found the car ok and 15 minutes later we were back in the unit We cooked dinner and settled down to T V. While doing the dishes, I broke a large dinner plate. I suppose the Motel will want the earth for it. Sunday 27th July After the busy day yesterday, we decided to take it easy today. We slept in, getting up at about 9-30 am. We had breakfast and tidied up a bit. We went for a short walk around some of the nearby streets. We discovered a Park at the end our street which we have not yet explored. Just a few hundred meters from here, there is a bridge across a canal with boats everywhere. Many houses have boat ramps at the back. Another few hundred meters along, we came to another Canal. There are heaps of them around here. We came back to the unit for lunch. Later in the afternoon, we drove to the main shopping area of S P. We parked along the waterfront (angle parking – Pay and Display). We only had parking for ninety minutes. It was enough time to have a little bit of a look around. We bought a few small things from Woolworths Supermarket, and some wine and a few cans of ale from a liquor out. We took a few pictures near where we had parked the car. We went back to the unit. The Spa pool was empty, so we did a quick change and enjoyed ourselves there. Later, we cooked a light meal and settled down to T V on the movie channel Police Academy and the same but version three. Saturday 26th July It was a sunny day when we got up this morning. We received a text from Andrew. I had sent him one yesterday and he had only just discovered it. He told me that he had sent an Email to Dawnae as I had requested. After breakfast, we left to look around Pacific Fair Shopping Complex. I wore shorts and a summer shirt and also a jersey. It was quite pleasant and it was not long before id took off the jersey. We did find anything of interest there – Except Tandy Electronics and the Australian outdoor shop which had a good range of Astro Telescopes. We came home and had lunch, followed by a short rest. We left for oasis Mall whee we parked the car and I used by N Z Phone to see if I could connect to the internet via 8011G wireless. I found the oasisfreehotspot and I could read the front page. I could read the part about if a member, login and also, if not a member, click here to join. There was also a link for information, but I could not get any of them to work. I examined the internet terminals there – a kiosk. It is coin operated and there is a two dollar charge for twenty minutes. I found a usb slot in the panel, so I will put this diary onto a usb flash drive and maybe tomorrow, Email it to a secret location, whereupon, almost immediately it will appear on my Blog Site. The main purpose of this trip was to explore the area across the road where there was a food court. We had dinned there a few times on our last trip. There is also a very small bar there. Nothing had changed much – except prices – but that was to be expected. We may go back for a chinese lunch sometime. We returned home and after doing a few routine jobs, while waiting for a couple to get out of the Spa Pool. I went and checked, and the young woman was just getting out and her male friend was about to also. I went back to the unit – we quickly changed – and went to the Pool. The young guy was still in it. We thought we would frighten him off and asked if he mind us joining him. He had no objections. We hopped in and chatted to him. After about ten minutes,he was gone. A short time later, an older guy – probably around my age entered the pool area . He had togs on and a towel wrapped around him. He sat down at a table nearby. I called out to him to come in, adding that he would freeze sitting out there. He accepted, and joined us. We chatted to him for about twenty minutes. He was from Dunedin and comes here regularly. Apparently, he was in the hospital umbrella, involved with catering – or was – he took early retirement and now works part time. I didn't catch what he is doing now. Ruth wanted to return to the Casino tonight and would not take any notice of my objections. As planned, we returned to the unit, showered and prepared our evening meal – fish (deep sea cod) that we had bought yesterday. We had a good meal and got ready for the Casino trip. When we had been making our way home this afternoon, we drove around the Casino, past the entrance and Car parks, to familiarize ourselves with the layout. Tonight was the Rugby test – Bledislo Cup – Australia v New Zealand. It is the first text match that Robbie Deans has faced as the New Australian Coach sitting taking office. I don't take much interest in the game, especially since it was commercialized several years ago. However, like a lot of others, I don't think J Henry should have been replaced as coach of the All Blacks following the recent World Cup loss. The Kiwis got nowhere near the finals. Even I could see that Henry's ideas were not very good. Deans has worked miracles as coach of the Canterbury Team and in my view, like many others, he should be the All Black Coach. While preparing for our Casino trip, we were watching the pre amble on T V. I decided when I got there, I would watch the game – support Dingo Deans and the new Canterbury team. We arrived at the Casino – and struck the first problem. Apparently, there are three car parks with several levels. Everything was full and I could not find access to higher levels. There were about twenty million cars, driving around looking for parks. I dropped Ruth at the entrance and went to the furtherest away car park. Nothing had changed. I gave up and decided to go back to the Motel – Ruth could phone me when she was ready. When I arrived, I realized I did not have the key and there is a $55.00 call out if a key is lost. I went to the Reception with the intention of phoning the manager from the direct line and asking to be let in. There was a young Malaysian there – booked in for a couple of weeks, and he could not access the Safe to get his key and instructions. He told me he had phoned the Security and was on the line to them. He also said the Guard was on the way. I spoke to the Security person who was on the phone and I was told that if I was lucky, the Guard may let me in without paying. He arrived a few minutes later. Not a chance - $55.00 to get in. I returned to the Casino and tried the car parks again. Things had changed, more cars. I gave up, and I drove to Pacific Fair and parked in the Car park. There seemed to be no way they could lock it. I asked a bus driver it it closed and he was of the opinion that it didn't. I walked back to the Casino and went inside. The entire population of S P and New Zealand was there. Everyone spoke to was a Kiwi – including a young woman working there. It took me half an hour to find Ruth – and then she told me to go away – she likes to be alone there. The second half of the Rugby game had just started and I watched it to the end. I think the A B's may have crossed the centre line once. They were having a hard time. I saw a kiwi tackle an Australian who was chasing a ball – miles from it. I think it resulted in a penalty which cost A B's. The new Canterbury team were victors – 34 19 – Congratulations Dingo Deans. Ruth would not let me stay with her long. I did not feel like fighting through the crowds to get a drink. There were not many people at the Cafeteria, so I bought some more beer battered chips and I ate them. I could not get Ruth to leave and even the worry of the car being locked up at Pacific Fair all night did not faze her. I went and sat in an area that looked something like a T A B – with one of those large (about 9 feet x 7 feet) tv screens with lots of large tv screens around it. I watched tv obout 5 different screens and channels at once – all except the big horse racing tv – it has sound. Ruth eventually turned up and was ready to go home. We left the building and it was very cool outside. We walked back to Pacific Fair, running the Gauntlet of all the drunks – including one who asked if he could get credit on his cell phone at the Casino. I told him I didn't really know what a cell phone was and to ask the Casino. We waited at the traffic lights for a green pedestrian lights, and crossed to the other side, while all the traffic departing the Casino waited for us. Our next hurdle was to get to the other side of the road to Pacific Fair. Four lanes of traffic. We waited until the road was clear in both directions and stated out. We got to the Median Strip in the middle – It is about 18 inches high – possible more. I stepped onto it and jumped to the road on the other side. I saw Ruth on top and I saw her start to step down. Then I heard a yell. I looked around and she was lying on the road. She had tripped and tried to save herself by putting her hand out and had shave some of the skin off. Fortunately, she broke nothing. We walked on to the Mall Car park – passed two drunks who were apparently waiting for a bus and through the darkened area into the car park. The car was till there, we got in and drove out and set off home, feeling very grate full that got there safely. It was about 1-30 a.m. We had a G and T. I turned the T V on and there was a good program – So an hour and another G and T later, we went to bed. Friday 25th July It rained hard all night and was still raining this morning. While we were having breakfast, the rain stopped. The forecast was for clearing weather but packing up tomorrow. As the weather seemed to be clearing, we set off for Sanctuary Cove. I set Sally and off we went. She took us there without any problems. There has been a lot of building done since we were there last, and it would have been a lot harder to get there without Sally. The blue line ahead shows our direction hundreds of meters ahead. The direction of the next turn and distance to it is shown in a separate window. I can relax and not have to look for road direction signs at each intersection. We arrived all right and parked in the car park. We walked into the Marina town. I was amazed that there were so many electric vehicles (Golf Cars). They were everywhere. There were special parking areas for them. There was a cold wind blowing and it was almost raining. It was not such an enjoyable visit as our previous ones. We had a drink in the bar that we had been in on our last visit. We spent about an hour there. We went back to the car after taking some pics. I told Sally to take us to Harbour Town Shopping Centre which was on the way home. We set off and at one stage, Sally directed a right hand turn which was wrong. I am not sure what happened. I think sometimes, it loses data for a bit and gets confused. After this incident, we had no trouble. We parked the car, and we took note of where it was parked so that we would have no trouble finding it. The last time we had visited here, there was an electrical storm with thunder and lighting and torrential rain. At least, today was a bit better. The shopping complex was not at all like I remembered it. There was nothing of interest there and it was quite disappointing. We got a few things from the supermarket and went back to the car. We could not find it. It took us about twenty minutes of walking all over the place before we found it. We set off home, setting Sally for Santana. We were home a little after 4 pm. We had a kip for about an hour, and then watched tv and prepared a meal. We had bought some nice deep sea cod fillets for dinner and we had them with vegetables. After the meal we settled down to watch t v with a drink or two to finish the day. Thursday 24th July Day two in Surfers Paradise, but our first full day. It rained hard most of the day and also rained most of the day. It stopped briefly at times. At about 10 am, we left here and went to the oasis shopping mall. We parked the car on Level 1A and went exploring. We looked around the mall and went to Woolworths Supermarket and bought food and cleaning items to last the next few days. At about 1 pm we decided to go home for lunch. We set off with our trolley and headed back to the car. The trouble was – where was it. We found a sign pointing to Level B 1 and B2. We went there and got to the car park and we were utterly confused. Locals we spoke to looked blankly and didn't have a clue. They just park where they usually do and didn't know. We went back to civilization in the shopping area. We asked a Mall Workman and he came and helped us. We had both pushed the supermarket trolley around a couple of levels of car park without finding the car. I walked around the entire mall – outside looking for we had entered so that I could work fr there, but without success. It was raining hard and I got soaked. I eventually found the car. I picked up Ruth and we went back to Santana for lunch. We had bought a nice cheese and bacon and pineapple bread role for lunch. It was about the size of a dinner plate and like a pizza, but was bread. We had one each for lunch. I put some chopped up tomato on my and it was very nice. We had a sleep and later, at about 3 pm, we went back to the mall and parked the car. Ruth wanted to visit Jupiter Casino and we might as well do it on a wet day. We got the Mono Rail which goes from the Mall to Jupiter. I had a boring 3.5 hours waiting for Ruth. During that time, I had a couple of drinks and a plate of beer batter chips which I enjoyed very much. When Ruth came out, she claimed that she was even – she had not won or lost any money. It was still raining very lightly and quite cold. We decided to walk back to the Mall. There was a nice meandering track with an overhead cover across the river. The trouble was, when we got to the other side, we were at the Convention Center and it was across the other side of a very bush 4 lane road. We saw a young couple walk away, heading where we wanted to go. I said to Ruth that the looked like they knew their way around. They were heading to some traffic lights They must be locals. We stopped behind them while waiting for the lights. The young woman asked us if we knew our way around. They were looking for Valentino Restaurant. Another couple of lost kiwis and they thought it funny when I told them that we had been following them, believing they would get us to safety, Fortunately, I did know where the restaurant was and I was able to tell them that it was around the bend on the left, as soon as they had crossed the bush road. As it turned out, we all got to where we were going safely. We entered the Mall, and once again had difficulty finding the car, but it did not really take long. We had left it far to late to get anything for dinner, so we repeated last nights meal. A Subway Sandwich. The same young fellow had served us last night and he remembered that Ruth had a Turkey Subway, and asked if she would like the same. He was a very nice guy – black as the ace of spades, and perhaps from Aarika somewhere. I ducked into the liquor shop and got half a dozen cans of Carlton (beer). We came back home and we have found a better method of getting from our parking place in the locked secure garage, to our unit, without having to walk miles and go outside. We came inside and enjoyed our meal and drinks while watching T V. T V seems a bit useless though. It is hard to find anything good to watch. Wednesday 23rd July We were up at the usual time this morning. It was not a nice day at all, and a southerly is forecast for this afternoon. After breakfast, we finished packing and prepared to leave the house for ten days as we were due to leave for Brisbane this afternoon Andrew was due at 1 pm to take us to the Airport. The last hour really dragged as we waited for him. At 12-30 pm Ruth phoned to make sure he had not forgotten about it. He was just about to leave. Andrew arrived about 1 pm and at about 1-15 pm we were on the way to the Airport. Andrew dropped us at the front of the terminal and had to leave right away as he had things to attend to. We went into the check in area and quite a large queue had formed and it was obvious that no one was working at the counter. After about ten minutes, staff appeared and the queue started to move. We checked in and our two suitcase disappeared into the system. We went upstairs to the cafeteria and got a snack. Tea/Coffee and I ordered a chocolate and raspberry muffin that was on display. I got a muffin but it was obvious that it was another flavour. Ruth had one of the bananas that we had taken. When we had finished, we went downstairs to the ATM and took out some money, so that Ruth would have some when she went home. O We went back downstairs and paid our departure tax - $25.00 x two, We then entered the departure lounge and went through customs and Security. While waiting, I bought two bottles of gin – with the advertised discount, it was around forty dollars for the two. I had told Dawnae that I would take a bottle to her place. We waited patiently and eventually boarded the plane. As we were waiting, the weather was closing in, and I wondered if we would get away. The take off was about 15 minutes late. The captain came on the intercom and told us the weather was not much better that Chc and he expected head winds and that would result in an extra 30 minutes flying time – and it would be a bit bumpy. He was wrong about the bumps. Against Wenlins advice, we bought something on the plane. Ruth got tea and I got a small bottle of wine. We finished our bananas on the flight. Before leaving Chc, and while we we waiting for Andrew to come, I phoned Social Welfare and informed them that I was leaving the country for weeks – as all people over 65 who receive GRI are required to do. I know most people don't bother but I do. I also got them to Email me an acknowledgment – which they did. As usual, we had to fill out the Arrival Card for the oz government. The question about drugs was very clear-r – Includes medicine – If unsure – put a cross to indicate – but it was clear that we had to click the yes box as well – and I insisted that Ruth did also. We told the Customs person at the counter what we had done, and I was told that he would send us to the appropriate place. As we worked our way passed the Customs person, clearing passengers in line to enter the arrival hall – He directed us to a Customs person in the search area. She asked us what we had, and a few simple questions. She thanked us for telling them and sent us on our way. We entered freedom, and went to the Avis Counter. A very obliging clerk was expecting us and in no time at all, we had completed the paper work and we were ready to take possession of the vehicle. He had upgraded us and the car we got is a Mitsubishi and quite a big car. It has an aeroplane thingy across the boot – I think it must be a connector to tow skate boarders. It was raining hard but quite warm when we went outside. We found the car without difficulty. I don't think the remote locking system is working properly, as it only unlocks the drivers door. We stowed the luggage in the boot. I set Sally up and decided not to spend time anchoring the holding bracket to the windscreen. I asked Ruth to hold the unit. I entered Santana, the name of the Motel we were to stay at and set off. It was not long before I realized that the external rear vision mirrors were not set correctly. They were both down far to low and I could not see behind at all. Everything seemed ok in the parking bay. I decided that as soon as possible, I would stop and adjust them. The problem was, there was no where to stop. I found that by getting my head down as low as possible, I could just see vehicles that were close behind – on the right hand side of the vehicle. We were soon on the road crossing that large bridge than spans the river and leads onto the M1 Motorway and the Toll Gate. Somewhere along the road, I had to stop for a traffic light. I opened the window and pressed the mirror upwards, and fortunately, it moved and I could see. It was raining hard. I can't remember if this happened before the Toll Gate or after. We saw the Toll area approaching and I followed the truck in front of me. The trouble was, he kept going without slowing down and I suddenly saw all the Toll Gates out to my left. I had to keep going and we were suddenly passed the area without paying and were then a running fugitive. After awhile Sally started to mis behave. When I set Santana, I did not mention Surfers Paradise. Maybe there is another one. She kept wanting me to turn off the Mi to the right. At one point, following her instructions, we were heading back to Brisbane. She was obviously trying to bring me back on track, as after about 3 minutes, she told me to do two right hand turns, and I was back on the M1. When we got to the point that we had gone wrong, she told me to turn right again. I did so, but disregarded the next right hand turn, which would have taken back to Brisbane again. A short distance down the road, I turned left onto a busy road heading in the correct direction. After a minute, a block of shops were coming up on our left. I pulled into the parking area and inquired at the liquor shop. The young guy working there was very helpful. He told me to continue in the direction that I had been, and I would soon be back on the M1. We set off, but before doing so, I canceled Sally s instructions and made sure I selected Surfers Paradise, and entered the destination as Santana. We were soon back on the M1. This time, I stayed in the left lane of the two that were marked straight ahead by overhead lane directions. From then on, we had no problems. Just one minor one. As we approached our destination, I knew we had to turn across the median strip somewhere, and head back a short distance to make the final turn to our destination. Sally, said, turn right, followed immediately by then turn right. I made my first right turn and found myself entering the Gardens. I did a u turn in the driveway, headed back and turned left. Sally had meant a "U" turn. A minute later, we were at Santana. It was locked up like Fort Knox. It was raining and I could not find a way through the Security Gate. I kicked and shook it, and then read the sign that said, "Push knob to open". There was no one on duty at the Reception. There was Comm Phone there. I picked up and it a few seconds, I was talking to the staff. There was a security safe there. I was given the instructions to open it and there was an envelope there addressed to me with full instructions – where to park – a key – and the number of our unit. The manager came down and spoke briefly to me. Soon, we had parked the car, and lugged our luggage miles up and down steps, through the rain and settled into the unit. By this time, it was about 9 pm or after. We went back to the car and went to get food. We finished up with a Subway sandwich and we bought bread, milk and one or two essential items from the Mini Supermarket next door. I also bought a couple of small bottles of Gin and Tonic from the liquor store. We went back to Santana and had our meal. That just about ended our first day in Surfers Paradise. Much like a wet day in Christchurch, only slightly warmer.

: Diary 22nd July

Tuesday 22nd July

It was not all that cold when I got up this morning.  I lit the gas fire for awhile but it was not going for long.  It was raining for awhile but got better about mid day.

We went to Andrew's house, taking Joey (the Budgie) and the two gold fish.  Andrew and Wenlin are going to look after them while we are in Australia.

It was quite a nice day as we drove over at about midday but rain is not far away.  Bad weather is predicted overnight and for tomorrow.  

We leave at 3-45 pm tomorrow so I hope we get away before the bad weather hits.

I took the route to his house along Locksley Avenue.  The sun was shining and I enjoy the drive along the river.  We passed the Arawa Canoe Club.  It was on the opposite side of the river (we we attended the party on Sunday afternoon).

When we arrived at Andrew's house, he was just unpacking a brand new 500 gig usb drive.  He had bought one for himself a few months ago   This was for Danny.  He of course had given Andrew the money for its purchase - fare enough seeing it was for him - and Andrew was loading some files for him.

We did not stay long there.  Just enough time to instruct him on how not to kill the bird and the fish.

We stopped at the Palms on the way home.  Ruth went into the Mall to get something from the Supermarket.  I dropped into Westpac to pick up an Insurance Booklet and while waiting for her I went to Dick Smith's.

While there, I looked at the Acer eee 900 - or is it the 9000.   It is a very nice little laptop and very popular   This little P C gets excellent reviews and at $750.00 would be a good buy.

By the time we got home, it was after 2 pm.  We had a light lunch and settled down for a rest for a little over an hour.

We got up, took a couple of bags of old bread, and went down to Halswell.   I topped up the car fuel tank - We had travelled 170 k since the last fill.

I checked the oil before going to the petrol station.  It was getting down so when I paid for the petrol, I bought a litre of oil - Cost $12.00.

We left there, and went to Westlake to fe


ed the ducks.  We had to be quick as time was running out and I had to be at the IPA meeting at 5 pm.

When we had run out of bread, we went home.  I did not have time to change.  I dropped Ruth at home and left directly for the meeting.

The meeting did not take long.  There was onot much to discuss.  We set the date of the AGM for 23rd September.

Tony had brought a guest - A member from Southport, Brisbane. 

After the meeting, he stayed and had a drink with us.  I got a bit of information from him that will be hand tomorrow.

Chris C. brought my spare hard drive and its case back.  He had not been able to get his pc to recognise it.

I stayed and had a meal with a few of the members.  Ron P usually stays, but it was his wife's birthday and he left early to take her out to dinner.

I left for home about 7 pm after a good roast lamb dinner - mint jelly, gravy, roast potato's - vegetables and some other nice dish which I am not quit sure about what it was.

I took Garry H home.   It is not far off a direct line to our place.

I was home in time to watch Coronation Street.

It will soon be time to head off to bed.  Andrew will pick us up at 1 pm tomorrow to take us to the Airport.

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Regards

Laurie Leathem
http://www.leathmac.com
http://www.leathmac.blogspot.com

Sd Jump Drive

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Diary 19th-20th July

Sunday 20th July

We were around the house all morning.  There was not a lot of activity.  We had two birthday functions to go to during the afternoon.

We had an early lunch and Ruth went down for a rest.  While she was resing, I put my clothes for the tip into the case that I am taking to Oz.  I packed up the Laptop and sorted out all the computer bits that I am going to take.

I have to be careful as the Airline restricts the weight of luggage to 20 k.  I have just about everything in the case now and I still have between 5 and 10 ks to play with.

I got out my old waist belt bag and I put another bag onto its belt.   I will be able to carry cell phones, my electroinic navigator and its bracket on this arrangement.

At 2 pm Ruth and I left here for the Arawa Canoe Club (located on Kerrs Reach).  We had been inivgted to Bret L.s 60th birthday party.

There were several IPA members there and there were also people  from the canoe club and the Hoon Hay Scottish Dancing group.  It was good to talk to all, including the people that we had not met.

We enjoyed the three hours there and Brett and his wife put on a fantastic spread of food.  The hightlighs of this feast, were the salmon on small slices of bread (rolls like garlic bread) and also, the slices of ham sliced from an extremely large cooked and decorated ham.  It was still warm and obviously had not been out of the oven long.  It was magnifient.  Thank you very much Brett and Jenny.

Soon it was time to leave.   Our next stop was Chrissy Martyns house.  Dianne had invited us to Bills 70th birthday party.  We had told Dianne that we would be late in arriving.   The party started at 4-30 pm and we arrived at 5-30 pm.

John and Dorothy were there - Also Dorothy and Gordon T. There were a lot of people we did not know and it was nice talking to some of them also.

It was a thorougly enjoyable time and we had not seen Dianne and Bill for ages.   Bill spoke to me about some P C matters and I told him that I would arrange to visit him when we get back from Oz and have a P C session.

Also, at Bretts party, I arranged with Alex De.  to arrange a visit for a pc session when we get back.   He is not into computers but he and hsi wife want to buy a new Laptop and they need to know a bit more about preparing digital photos.

We are going to be busy when we get back.

By the time we left this party and got home (only about 7n minutes from home), it was about 9-30 pm.   We watched tv until about midnight and then ended the day. 


Saturday 19th July

It was a fairly quite day today.  Not much happened.  We are keeping a low profile until we leave for Ox next week.

We have even decided not to really have any or very  much wine or beer between now and the time we leave.

Andfew and Wenlin came around during the evening and spent a couple of hours with us. Wenlin is on days off until Tuesday.

During the afternoon, I got some clothes out and put them aside ready for packing for the trip. 


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Regards

Laurie Leathem
http://www.leathmac.com
http://www.leathmac.blogspot.com