Diary 03

Saturday 2nd August

It was cold when I got up.   I turned on the heat pump and it seemed to be quite efficient.

I was up earlier than usual, as we had to leave the unit today and we wanted to be on the road as soon as possible.

It was 7 am when I got up.   We still had half a dozen eggs left and Ruth prepared scrambled eggs for our breakfast.

By the time we finally left, it was just a little past 9 am.   Early for us, almost an hour earlier than we had planned to be on the road.

After one false start and finding ourselves heading back to Noosa Heads, we set off in the correct direction.   We had planned to take the coast road, highway 6 to Maroochydore.  I had hear about this place and we expected it to be something out of the ordinerary.

It was a nice drive, but what a grotty place when we got to the city centre.   We had no time to explore, so set off to Caloundra.   Again, I was disappointed.  We typed in Lisson Grove, Brisbane and set off.   I had not been using Sally previously.

Sally took us there without any trouble and we spent a bout 15 minutes looking about that area where we have stayed on a couple of occasions.

We left there and went to the large shopping mall at Toonbul.   We had a light snack and I looked around Dick Smith's Shop.   They are nowhere as well stocked as N Z.   I bought a Vodophone recharge pack for $2.00.   There is no time on it but it can be loaded from credit card.   I still have my old Nokia Vodophone and this card could come in handy.

To by a pack in N Z costs $30.00 although it includes $10.00 worth of calls.

We left the mall and set Sally for Brisbane International Airport.   It was only about 8 k away.

We refueled the car at the Service station right next to the Airport and then drove and parked the car in the Avis Car Park.

We left our luggage in the car and set off on foot to see where everything was.  Ruth had twenty minutes to wait before she was able to check in.   I bought a Rail ticket to get to Ipswitch – just over twenty dollars.   It will cost me $5.00 more for the return as the fares go up on Monday.

We had a look at the entrance to the Rail Station and then returned to the car and got Ruth s luggage.

We got Ruth checked in and I returned to the car and got my luggage while Ruth waited in the Cafeteria.

I handed back the Rental car and the total cost of the hire was $403.00 for the ten days.

Unfortunately, I left the bracket and power cord for Sally in the car but I only realized that later when I was on the train.

Ruth came with me to the station.   We said goodbye and she left to catch the plane home and I waited for the train to take me to Ipswitch.

By this time, I had found that I had to get off at Central Station and catch another train to Ipswitch.

I was soon on the train and then got worried when the p a system kept saying this was an express train to the Gold Coast with limited stops – Bowen Hills and Beanleigh were about all.

At the first stop I saw some railway people on the platform and they assured me the train would stop at Central.

Sure enough, it did – and on Platform 5.

Ten minutes later I was on the way.   I sent a text to Dawnae telling her  was on the way.

A few minutes later, Bill rang me and said Dawnae would be at the station at about 6-20 pm.   The train was to arrive a little after 6 pm.   It was arranged for me to wait at the exit.

Dawnae was about right on time.   It was good to see her again.   I loaded my luggage and off we went.

I got D. to stop briefly at a liquor and I got thirty cans of Export for $40.00.

Soon, we were at the house.   I took everything upstairs and met Bill again.

We chatted and had a can.   It was quite a cold night and Bill had a heater on. 

About an hour later, we enjoyed a really nice meal that Dawnae had prepared.

I suppose it was about 10 pm or after b y the time we turned in.  Early for me – Very late for D and B.

Friday 1st August

Another nice day.   After we had finished breakfast and cleared up, we left the unit and headed down to the beach front not far from here – not Noosa Heads.   We think this may have been the area we stayed in last time but it is so long ago, we can't remember.

I refueled the car.   The tank was only about half full.  We had a good look around. We spent about an hour and a half walking along the river waterfront.  We took photographs, and spent some time sitting on the park benches under the trees.   It was nice spending time by the river, watching the boats and picnickers.

 We drove back to the heads.   We parked at the far end of the Main Street, the only parking spot I could find.

We locked the car, and walked along the track to the beach.   We continued along the beach to the mouth of the river.   I suppose about 800 meters along the beach.

We had to wade through water about knee depth to get around the rock protection wall to gain access to the river beach.  

About 100 meters from the mouth, a guy was fishing.   I spoke to him.   He as lived here for quite a few years but is from Ashburton.   He only recently sold his house there.

We left the fisherman and sat in the sun on the river beach for about 15 minutes and then set off back to the car.   We only had one hour parking.

We returned to the Motel.  It was far too late for lunch.   We had a cold drink and settled down for a rest.

We got ready early and went to the Noosa Slc for dinner.

At first, I parked in the Main street and we walked a short distance to the premises.  I was not exactly sure of the location and layout but I knew within about 50 meters where it was.

We entered the premises, and checked in.   It was a bit grotty, but I think mainly because the entire ground floor was closed for renovation, and upstairs was being extended.

I found that we could park in the car park and there was plenty of room, so I left Ruth to look after herself, and  I went and brought the car to the premises.

We each had fish of the day – fillets with baramundi and salad.    It came with potatoe mash which Ruth had – I substituted fries.

The meal was very enjoyable – I wished we had baramundi at home.

The only thing was, Ruth did not seem to have any salad.   There was plenty on my plate for both of us.   I did not query the issue and we were both satisfied.   The salad was also very nice.

By the time we had eaten, had a drink, and returned home, it was about 8-30 pm.

We are just settling down to a nice Riesling and finalizing packing for tomorrow.

This time, everything except the Laptop has to go into our cases – Ruths case ready for the plane – and mine ready for the train journey to Ipswitch where I am to meet Dawnae and Bill.

Thursday 31st July

It was a nice sunny day when we woke up this morning.  It was quite cold but the day warmed up and for most of the day, it was quite pleasant.

For the first time since I  have been here, I was able to walk around in shorts and jandals.

After we had finished breakfast and tidied the house, we returned to the Noosa Civic Mall.   I found the Internet Terminals – not in the mall but outside.

I sat down at a machine after being directed there by the attendant.  It was different to the last time I went to a kiosk in Surfers.   Incidentally, that was the first time I had ever used a public terminal.

Everything seamed strange on this terminal.   I was expecting to find the Word Processor open office that I use all the time.

It was missing, so was Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

I clicked on a few items.   There was a different Word Processor and one of the icons brought up what was obviously a Web Browser.

I plugged in my USB Flash Drive, and once again, I found that Control c and v did not work and I had to copy and paste by using the menus on each program.

Having pasted the  last couple of days of this Diary into a Blank Email form, I put the Email address on (it goes to the Blog Site), and hit the send button.  I checked my Blog about a minute later, and there it was for my thousands of readers (or more like both of them) – to see.

It did not take long – I was only there about ten minutes.   I then saw signs on the Terminals.   Some parked Windows – the one I had been using was Marked MacIntosh.   No wonder if was different.

I paid my two dollars and went off somewhere to was my hands after touching a dreaded Mac.

Ruth had been looking about the Mall and had bought Potatoes for dinner.  We are only buying a little of everything while we are here.   We don't want to be left with food as Ruth flies home tomorrow.

We drove to Noosa Heads, parked the car in a public parking area, and walked to the information centre to get directions to the Public Park with the walk along the cliff overlooking the sea.

It was only 1.5k up the road from their office, so we returned to the car and drove to the park.  We eventually found a car park and went for our walk.
It was quite warm and we enjoyed the walk.  We saw a Koala Bear asleep high in a tree.

As we progressed along the track, and one stage, in came down to beach level at a nice beach of golden sand.

We walked a few meters across the stones that lay in the way to get to the beach and we spent about twenty minutes there.  We lay down on the sand in the sun and if was very pleasant.  I had to put my hat over my eyes to shield the bright sun.

We reluctantly left the beach and continued along the track for about twenty minutes and turned around and returned to the car.

We thought we would have a Subway Roll for lunch.   We drove down the Main Street but could not find one.

I set Sally up to the nearest street  I could see in the vicinity of the Noosa Civic Shopping Mall and off we set.

We got close, but it took us an age to find it.   We got our Subway.   A foot long Meatball Subway sells here for about 6 dollars.   We bought one, had it cut in half and we had that for lunch.   This is the one Subway that  get toasted.   They are very nice but quite "messy".

While Ruth was finishing her meal, I went across the car park to Dick Smith's Shop.  There were a few things different, but all it all, I thought our local D.S. Shops are better stocked.

I saw some videos of trains around the world - $5.00 each.   I would have liked to have got some of those.

We returned to the Motel.  We wanted to go and try the Spa Pool.  I found where it was – there is another swimming pool – heated – on the other side of the tennis court and the Spa is next to it.  The swimming pool was quite warm but the Spa was cold – much colder than the swimming pool.

We went back to the Unit and settled down for a rest.   At about 5-30 pm, a drink or two and it was soon time to prepare dinner.

T V wasn't too bad tonight.  Ruth went off to bed a little earlier than I did.  It was getting on to midnight by the time I went to bed.

We have only one more day here in Noosa – Ruth flies home on Saturday and I travel to Dawnae's for about a week.


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Regards

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