Days 147 to 152 - Thursday 25th August to Tuesday 30th August
Enjoying ourselves at Southport - Week 4.
- Weather: A mild night with no rain, it was 15.9° at 6:30am and it reached 21.8° at 2:30pm.
- Wind: 10kph with gusts upto 41kph S. It's lightening off.
Another mild night, I am still using 2 blankets.
I tried ringing Dad at 8:30am, to wish him 'Happy Birthday', but his phone was having problems, so I rang later and got through, so I wished him the best.
Still no riding due to the increment weather.
This morning Marg and I decided to go to Bingo at the Southport Workers Club, we checked their newsletter which said 'eyes down' at 10;30am, so we got there at 10am and to our surprise, as we opened the doors to the Bingo room, they were already calling the numbers. It had started. So we dipped out, but we inquired at the office, the newsletter had the wrong time, so we left the club and drove over to Robina Shopping Centre and checked that out. Each year that we visit it, there is some sort of renovations or extensions going on, this year is no different. I reckon that is is now bigger than Southland and smaller than Chadstone (just).
Mid afternoon, the weather was sunny and most of the park were putting their awnings back up, as the wind had died down. The rain has stopped for the moment, but the forecast is still for some showers and sunny patches for the next couple of days.
We plan for another quiet night.
No photos were taken today.
- Weather: A mild night with no rain, it was 14.0° at 3am and it reached 22° at 10:30am.
- Wind: 10kph with gusts upto 30kph SE.
Another mild night, I am using 2 blankets.
I was booked in at 8:30am at the Bridgestone dealer at Nerang (Lukey's dealer) to get 4 new Bridgestone Dueler tyres. It took about 1.25 hours and I was on my way. The tyres feel great.
The weather has returned to being sunny, so late morning, we drove to Aussie Fair to do some food shopping and on the way home, I dropped Marg off at our Club to play the pokies and I came back to camp and changed into Cycleman, I hadn't ridden since last Friday, due to the shit weather. I rode out to the seaway as usual and it was magic.
The forecast is still for some showers and sunny patches for the next couple of days. Tonight it did rain a little, so we had another quiet night.
Surfers after all the rain. No change.
Waves breaking at the end of the seaway. Very relaxing.
Atlantic 42 ft Catamaram - Duality - entering the seaway.
- Weather: A mild night with no rain, it was 16.4° at 3:30am and it reached 19.5° at 10:00am.
- Wind: Light wind at camp.
First off, the weather forecasters are pretty accurate up here. Bastards!! They forecast rain for over a week and so far, they aren't wrong.
Another mild night, I am using 2 blankets.
Last night, we decided that we would go to the Carrara Markets this morning, BUT as it drizzling most of the morning and when Luke rang to say he would be calling in about 8:30am, that was it. We are not going to Carrara Markets today, maybe tomorrow. Luke arrived about 8;20am, he had just dropped Jodi at work and was on his way home, so he called in.
Luke rebuilt my laptop last week and I am using a new TV capture program "Windows Media Centre" which works very well to record TV shows BUT it has one problem, the saved file is .wtv format and I need it in .mpg so I can use my video editing program. Anyway, Luke has found a way to convert to my desired format. It nows does what I wanted. After Luke left, Marg and I drove to Centro for a coffee at Michel's and to do some shopping. As it is still drizzling, we had to leave the fiver just for a break. So we did.
It is currently 6:30pm and it has been raining constantly and with some heavy patches since 1pm, I feel sorry for the 3 camper trailers that arrived yesterday behind us, because they are underwater and are all sitting in their mates' camp drinking, because there is nothing else to do. Unless you are inside a nice warm, dry fiver, on the internet listening to GoldFM, occasionally, turning up the volume to hear above the rain.
The forecast is still for some showers and sunny patches for the next couple of days. Another quiet night.
It does rain in paradise - taken from our bed.
It does rain in paradise - taken from our bed.
Inside the fiver - during the rain. Marg is hiding at the left.
- Weather: A mild night with no rain, it was 16.5° at 3:30am and it reached 22.3° at 2:00pm.
- Wind: Light SE wind with gusts to 35kph during mid afternoon.
Another mild night, I am using 2 blankets.
Woke up to a beautiful sunny morning, and confirmed that we would go Carrara Markets, so we got our As into gear and drove over to Carrara, being 8;30am on a Sunday morning, you could shoot a gun off without hitting anyone. We arrived at the markets about 9am and were shocked with the lack of people, we walked around to nearly every stall and Marg bought some beads stuff and with great self control, we walked past the licorice and fudge stalls. We were there for over 2 hours and when we got back to the mighty Navara, the carpark was chockers. We called into Lukes, to pick up our/his popcorn maker, which he took when he left home.
Back at camp, by mid afternoon, we met our new neighbours (Keith and Nicole) who own a 27ft Ultima 5th Wheeler. A lovely couple and a nice rig. The rest of the day was spent buggering around camp.
The forecast is still for some showers and sunny patches for the next couple of days. Another quiet night, inside.
- Weather: A mild night with no rain, it was 13.5° at 5:30am and it reached 24.9° at 12:56pm.
- Wind: Light wind at camp.
Another mild night, I am using 2 blankets, but at 5;30 I swapped the blankets for the sleepingbag.
As the morning was absolutely beautiful, we decided to visit Harbourtown, but first, I had to ride to the seaway. It was a great ride there and at the end of the seaway was the dredge slowly deepening the entrance. The surfers were out and about in force, even though it was Monday. On my return via the boat launching area, I nearly died, George and his cousin or brother George were both sitting on street lights, they looked awesome. see photos. Then at Southport Marina, I watched a catamaran (Imagine - a Seawind 1250 design) refuel, this cat had sailed up from Blairgowie Yacht Club on Port Phillip Bay.
Back at camp, after I showered and got ourselves organised, we drove over to Harbourtown, I wanted to get some shorts and I had to post a DVD, Marg just wanted to shop. I found some suitable shorts at New Balance and we went into Mountain Design, to buy some walking boots, I tried on a pair of size 14, too small. The shop had one size 15 and it was a runner style, not what I wanted, so the end result was no shoes again. The joys of being BIG.
We spent the afternoon back at camp in the beautiful sunshine, playing with some of our rocks. I got out all our Amethyst and photographed them.
The forecast is still for some showers and sunny patches for the next couple of days. A normal night, waching TV and on the internet.
Calm seas.
Port Frederick - The Dredge glistening in the sunshine.
The seawall - looking easterley.
George standing on the street light.
Cousin George sitting on the other street light.
Big George.
Southport marina.
Imagine - the Seawind 1250 catamaran.
Imagine under sail.
- Weather: A mild night with no rain, it was 15.1° at 3am and it reached 21.8° at 2:30pm.
- Wind: Light wind at camp.
Another mild night, I am using 2 blankets.
The morning was absolutely beautiful, BUT I didn't ride as we were off to Bingo at our club (Southport Workers Club). We arrived at 9:30am for 'eyes down' at 10am. I bought 2 full sets ($20 per set), it took us 20 minutes to get ourselves organised and we were ready for the 10am start. There were approx 50 people there and probably 4 males, Marg won twice and I won once, but by the end, we came out $15 in front, so we are now 'Professional Bingo players'.
After lunch, we visited Telstra to see if Marg's modem, that we left with them on the 4th Aug, is ready. To our great surprise, yes, it was ready, and Telstra had replaced it with a new updated model, which was great, BUT the old power cord does not fit the new modem, so tomorrow, we have to go back to Telstra to buy a new power cord. I also wanted to check our data usage, but there is nowhere to do that, so tomorrow, I will ask them to show me.
Now, we are back at camp, and over the news comes that there is a severe storm warning that has hit Brisbane and may reach the Gold Coast, the weather does look a bit shabby, so I batten down the hatches, but I didn't roll up the awning, as there was no wind. We saw the storm clouds all around us and heard the thunder over the Hinterland, and saw the lightning, but all we received was some rain, about 11mm in 6 hours and very light wind. Again while watching TV, I had to turn up the volume, due to some heavy rain.
The forecast is still for some showers and sunny patches for the next couple of days.
No photos for today.
