Days 132 to 138 - Wednesday 10th August to Tuesday 16th August
Enjoying ourselves at Southport - Week 2.

Day 132 - Wednesday 10th August - Our day on the water.

• Weather: A cool night, it was 8.4° at 6:30am and it reached 22.1° at 3pm. A beautiful day for boating. What a giveaway!
• Wind: 10 - 45kph NW.

I used my sleepingbag as a doona and was warm as. Woke about 7am and we laid in bed and watched Ch7 'Sunrise'.
Today is very special, we have been invited by Bob and Val (we camped beside them in Dicky Beach) to go boating in their friend's boat with them and another couple (8 people in total). This is no ordinary boat it's a Riviera 4400 Sport Yacht and to say it is beautiful, is a gross understatement.

Bob and Val picked us up at 10am and drove us to their friend's apartment near Runaway Bay, we were let into the secure parking area. Unloaded the car and were led to where the boat was moored, it was simply stunning. We met Lawrie and Marg and the first order was 'please take your shoes off', so we walked around bare foot. We cast off and Lawrie drove the boat from its mooring using a joystick, it was so cool.
Out into the Broadwater, we motored down towards Southport marina and once there, we motored around the marina, checking out the various boats, including the 65m 'Family Day', then dropped anchor opposite the Broadwater Parkland and had morning tea. After morning tea, it was up anchor and off to find some whales, so we headed out through the seaway, passing the beacon where I ride my bike too. As we were heading out to sea, the commercial whale watching were coming in, so we didn't know where the whales were. It was all eyes searching for whales, while we headed about 10kms offshore. We did find a friend of Lawries who was out in his yacht, so we motored over to his boat and said 'hello', but couldn't find any whales. Bastards. We took it well.

After looking for an hour or so, we conceded defeat and headed back to the Broadwater for lunch, so on the way in, Lawrie gave Val and Marg separate goes at being skipper. I immediately issued everyone with lifejackets, just to be safe. Nah, only joking. Marg loved driving the boat.
We motored up the Broadwater towards the north end of South Stradbroke Is and dropped anchor just off a closed resort and had lunch. The 6 guests all put in for lunch, which consisted of prawns, chicken, etc. It was Yumma. While at anchor for lunch, I managed to take a couple of photos of George. After lunch we motored around some islands near the entrance to North and South Stradbroke islands and then made our way back to the dock. We arrived back at the dock just on dusk. We said our goodbyes and Bob and Val drove us back to camp, arriving about 6;30pm. It was a long day, but one of the best.

Tomorrow, hopefully a quiet day.

Day 133 - Thursday 11th August.

• Weather: A cooler night, it was 11.7° at 1:00am and it reached 21.0° at 12:15pm. There were a couple of drops of rain.
• Wind: 10 - 25kph SE.

We laid in bed and watched Ch7 'Sunrise', until about 8:30am, when we went got up and dressed and walked over to say goodbye to Bob and Val. They are heading back home in Melbourne. We have only known them for about 3 weeks and have got on exceptionally well and will visit them when we get home, as they live only 15kms from us.
Later in the morning, I turned into Cycleman and rode off to the seaway as usual. Back home around lunchtime and the weather was starting to look like it was going to rain, so I dropped the sides of the awning and just as I finished, there were a couple of raindrops. During the afternoon, we had thunder but no more rain. The forecast is for rain Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I hope not, but we are ready.

Day 134 - Friday 12th August.

• Weather: Another cool night, it was 10.3° at 3:00am and it reached 21.8° at 1:00pm. Clear sunny, cloudless sky.
• Wind: 10 - 25kph SE.

We laid in bed and watched Ch7 'Sunrise', until about 8:30am, while in bed, Marg decided that she was going to the Southport Workers club to play the pokies. So about 10am, I drove Marg to the club and then returned to camp and changed into Cycleman and off I rode to the seaway again. I got back about 11:55am, just in time to watch Cadel's parade on TV. I taped SBS on my laptop, while I watched Ch 7's telecast on TV. All I want to say is that Ch7's coverage as absolute shit. Examples, when people were interviewing Cadel Ch7 goes to a bloody commercial, it was so frustrating. I felt so pissed off, that I wanted to send an email to Channel 7 but I couldn't find their email address. Channel 7 did not show the interview with Gerard Whateley for whatever reason, I don't know. So as you may have observed, I was bloody well pissed off with Channel 7's coverage. Thank God, that SBS's coverage, as usual, was just great.

Marg walked home just before the end of the telecast, then we drove over to Runaway Bay shopping centre, to do some food shopping. the rest of the day was quiet.

Day 135 - Saturday 13th August.

• Weather: Another cool night, it was 11.2° at 5:00am and it reached 21.9° at 12:19pm. Clear sunny, cloudless sky.
• Wind: 20 - 40kph SE.

I laid in bed until 7:30am expecting Marg to wake at any second, but she slept until 8:30am. I was on the internet when Marg woke and then went for today's ride, out to the seaway. It was close to 20° when I left, so it was a beautiful ride even though it was very windy.
There was a head wind to the Southport Yacht club and then a nice tail wind to the seaway. Out at the end of the seaway, the seas were rough due to the onshore breeze. While at the end of the seaway, I watched a yacht head for the seaway from a couple of kilometers away. This yacht (Courage twin masted) caught my eye, because there was a helicopter flying over it for a good 5 minutes, I thought that it may be a promotion or something like that, but it was the Westpac Rescue chopper, so I am still 'in the dark', as to why it was doing what it did. I also watched a couple of larger boats leaving the Broadwater and heading for the open sea, one of those boats was the Seaworld Whale Watching boat, which we caught this time last year. On the way back to camp, the 'Duck' drove past me but I caught it at the boatramp, where I also photographed two awesome HSV utes. They were very nice with some unreal graphics. Due to the nice weather and it being the weekend, there were people everywhere.

Back at camp, our hot water had been fixed in the amneities closest to our site and the shower was bbeeaauuttiiffuull. During the afternoon, Marg and I drove over to Southport Park for a coffee. A minor hiccup, I forgot to bring my thongs, so we bought a new pair $2.99, I think I can afford that. We had coffee and then did some food shopping at Woollies.

During the afternoon, we walked about 600 meters from camp and went looking for a cache. Found it. see photos.

Day 136 - Sunday 14th August - Corvettes galore.

• Weather: Another cool night, it was 12.2° at 6:30am and it reached 21.2° at 11:00am. Clear sunny, cloudless sky and rainy by mid afternoon.
• Wind: 15 - 25kph E.

It was Corvette day at the Broadwater Parklands, so I rode down there about 7:45am and the majority of cars were already there with a couple stragglers still arriving. I only took 70 photos, there were about 5 1969 models there (my favourite Vette). I spent about 1 hour there, just walking around taking photos and chatted to an owner who was sitting near my bike. There is nothing like a V8 burble and a big block is even better.
I continued my ride to the end of the seaway and back.

During the afternoon, we took my laptop over to Luke to get him to rebuild my PC. We went back around dinner time and it was ready, so I was a happy chappy.

Day 137 - Monday 15th August.

• Weather: Another cool night, it was 10.8° at 5:15am and it reached 20.8° at 12:15pm. Clear sunny, cloudless sky, but cloudy by late arvo.
• Wind: 10 - 20kph SE.

Back to our normal day, laying in bed watching 'Sunrise' and then I turned into Cycleman and rode off to the seaway beacon. At the end of the seaway, I met a man Ron, whose daughter lives about 300 meters from our street in Mordy. Unreal. Ron used to live in Melbourne about 17 years ago.
Back at camp, after I showered, we went to Spotlight, where Marg is making fairy stuff for our grand daughter's birthday party this Saturday. Marg is in her element making all this stuff, it bores me to tears. After Spotlight, we drove over to a Bridgestone tyre dealer that Luke uses, as I need to replace the mighty Navara's tyres and by pure coincidence, Luke is also replacing his tyres on his HSV Clubby. So we were happy with the quote.

Day 138 - Tuesday 16th August.

• Weather: Another cool night, it was 12.2° at 4:15am and it reached 21.1° at 11:00am. Clear sunny, cloudless sky, but cloudy during the arvo.
• Wind: 10 - 25kph SE.

Back to our normal day, laying in bed watching 'Sunrise' and then I turned into Cycleman and rode off to the seaway beacon. The ocean was nice and blue and calm, there was a large catamaran moored near the Seaworld Resort, I couldn't see any name, so I will try and find a name so I can track it. It's great riding during the week, because there are so few people about.

Jodi came over just before 11am and the three of us went off shopping at Spotlight, well Marg and Jodi went shopping, there were no empty parking spaces nearby, so I parked about 200 meters and I nearly fell asleep in the mighty Navara, when they were finished, Marg rang me and I went and picked them up. We drove over to Centro Southport and 'shouted' Jodi lunch. We had a very enjoyable day with Jodi.

About mid afternoon, Marg and I drove up to Aussie Fair to do some food shopping for dinner.