I used my blankets last night and it was beautiful, we slept well and awoke around 7am and laid in bed and watched Sunrise. For something different.
Today I couldn't drive Marg to our club at 10am as I went riding, so Marg walked there and back, being Friday it is her pokies day. It took her 3 hours to lose her money, but she enjoyed it.
While Marg was losing her money, I was riding along in beautiful sunshine with a gentle breeze. I rode along the shared paths down to Surfers then out to the Spit and finally back past the CP up to Angler's Paradise, a total of 36kms. Thankfully, I didn't encounter any Qld wildlife of the reptile variety.
Latest riding update: Today's ride of 36kms brought my total at Southport to 328kms or 3,832km so far this year.

We had lunch at home and then drove over to South Park's Michel for a coffee and some food shopping. For the rest of the afternoon, we took our chairs to the beach, BUT it was too windy, so we sat outside of our camp which was protected from the wind. Before we left the beach, the soldier crabs tried to invade us, also this dud 'flew' past us using some sort of water jet motor.
We have two girls staying in a cabin beside us and their car is bloody magic, it also sounds great, you can't beat the sound of a V8.

As it is our anniversary, we planned to have dinner at our 'club', so we left camp about 5:15pm, as the bistro opens at 5:30pm. Marg ordered roast lamb and vegies, while I had roast beef and pork with crackling and vegies, plus finished Marg's dinner. Marg had a lemonade and I had a XXXX Gold, that's about as romantic as it gets. We were back at camp by 6:20pm. Dinner was very Yumma. Marg's cost $8 and mine $12.50. Not bad value.

Tomorrow, I have arranged to meet with my mate Johnno for a beer and chat. Marg is going to battle on without me. She can't wait.

Ditto from last night, I used my blankets again and it was mild, we slept well and awoke around 7am and laid in bed and watched Weekend Sunrise.
Today I have a get together with my 'old mate' Johnno. So we were in no hurry to do anything this morning, until Marg received a phone call. All she would say was that we had to go to Harvey Normans, I immediately thought that she bought me an anniversary present. We DON'T exchange gifts.
About late morning, we drove to Hardly Normal in Bundall, near where our boys used to rent, I sat in the mighty Navara, as Marg went in and picked up this mysterious package. I thought that it would be another photo book, BUT it wasn't. Check out the photo below.

I arrived at Johnnos about 1:30pm and we had a 'man cuddle' on his front porch. It was great to catch up, we talked shit and drank a few light beers. While we chatted we had TV on Carlton-Essendon match, a bit one sided. About 5pm, we said our goodbyes and I drove back to camp.
Dinner was just a scratch meal and we watched Michael Douglas's "Romancing the Stone".
No riding today.

Tomorrow, Lukey and Jodi are bringing Mont around here and we will probably go to the beach.

My sleepingbag made a very warm return. For something different, we laid in bed and watched Weekend Sunrise.
Today, Mont was coming around for a few hours, so her parents could buy her birthday presents, without her. She arrived about 10:30am with her bike with flat tyres. Good ole Grandpa pumped them up. Gee, I'm a great guy. Mont and I both rode around the caravan park, so I could see her riding ability. She passed. While Grandma (old Marg) walked along the Broadwater Parkland shared path, Mont and her sprightly granddad rode. The swings were about a kilometer away. Believe it or not, it is Sunday morning, the sun is shining brightly and warm, with a very gentle breeze, WELL, every bloody kid on the Gold Coast were at the swings. I am never going back there again.
When Grandma finally arrived at the swings, we muscled our way onto the monorail train thingy that you peddle. Marg and Mont started off and after about half a lap, I noticed that Marg looked wrecked, so I thought, me being the great cyclist, I would take over from Marg, and Mont and I would beat everyone. In reality, I think that having a 120kgs sitting at the back of the 'train' wasn't such a great idea. I struggled around for a lap and a half, continually being shuntered by these little kids behind us, then I stopped and died. I do think that it was a tad too small for me.
From the train, Mont went on the 'flying fox', no drama, she loved it. We then started heading back to camp, first stop was the "Broadwater Parklands Rockpool". Here Grandma and Mont walked through it and a couple of tricky water spouts wet them, Unlucky, I sat on the edge and took photos. By this stage, Mont was getting tired, so good ole Grandpa carried her bike while she walked about 50 meters to the next swing area. After finishing here, she had more energy and we rode to the next swing area, it was sort of a 'pub crawl' but swing areas. That is one good thing about the "Broadwater Parklands" there are plenty of different 'swing areas' probably six between the Caravan park and Australia Fair.
The three of us finally made it back to camp, with Mont beating Grandma, even though Grandma was hiding behind the van, so Mont would beat her. As one does. We made lunch and then walked over to the beach, it was sand castle making time. We had previously bought Mont a smaller bucket and spade, and I used my normal size bucket and spade and we made a few sand castles. The tide was going out so we walked along the edge and found some 'clear' jellyfish, Mont was scared of them, but before we left the beach, she was picking them up in her fingers. Grandma is still scared of them. We drove Mont back home mid afternoon, after calling into Bunnings to buy Mont some flowers for her little garden, that Grandma bought her.

We eventually got home after a wonderful day with Mont, absolutely knackered, we asked each other was it OK to go to bed before the sun set. We did sit up a little later, but still an early night. Dinner was easy frozen pies.
No riding today.

Tomorrow, I may go and look at a new bike, that I am thinking of buying and we have to buy a birthday present.

I had to throw off my sleepingbag and put on my blankets, it really annoys me when I have to do that. Also when we woke and looked outside, there were rain clouds, BUT when we got up they had disappeared, so it is still sunny, warm and windy. We still laid in bed and watched Sunrise.
Today, I went looking for a new bike and we drove to Helensvale Shopping Centre to buy Mont a birthday present.

While Marg was getting ready, I drove over to Ferry Rode Cycles about 3kms away and checked out the bike I am interested in the Giant Talon 29er 0. They didn't have an XL in stock, but at least I saw a medium in the flesh and was very impressed with it. back to camp to pick Marg up and check if there were any more Giant dealers within cooee. There was another one on our way to Helensvale opposite Harbourtown, so we stopped there and they also didn't have a XL in stock, but Sean was quite happy to order one in, without any obligation for me to buy it, so he will ring me when it arrives so I can test it. We continued on to Helensvale SC and thoroughly checked it out and found a nice present for Mont at Target, hopefully she should like it, just before we left we had a coffee and some donuts at DonutKing.

Back at camp for lunch and while Marg was relaxing alternating between sitting in the sun and shade, I went for a ride out to the Spit. Luckily, I didn't encounter any reptile wildlife today, BUT I did meet a 13month old labrador who 'sooled' me at the end of the Spit. I played with him for a couple of minutes while I talked with his owner. He reminded me so much about our Lazza.
Latest riding update: Today's ride of 20kms brought my total at Southport to 348kms or 3,852km so far this year.

The rest of the arvo was spent talking to our various neighbours. Neil drove his boat 5 kilometers offshore and watched the whales.
Dinner was Marg's world famous hamburgers. They were the best yet and the YUMMISH.
Tomorrow, it's Bingo.

No photos today.

I had to throw off my sleepingbag and put on my blankets, it really annoys me when I have to do that. Also when we woke and looked outside, there were rain clouds, BUT when we got up they had disappeared, so it is still sunny, warm and windy. We still laid in bed and watched Sunrise.
We buggered about on our laptops, as we were not leaving until 9:50am and then driving to our club for BINGO. We arrived just before 10am (Opening time) and waited outside with the other 'old farts'. A couple of minutes after 10am, the doors opened and everyone rushed in. We wandered in, paid $42 for 2 sets and sat down. I won 1 game totalling $20, so we lost, Marg let the team down big time. BUT we still had a ball.

After Bingo, we drove over to Aus Fair, we had to buy Mont a Dinosaur pack for her birthday, it contained 200 dinosaurs and trees etc. Quiet impressive. Back to camp for lunch, but I couldn't be bothered riding, so I didn't. We just relaxed. There's a lot of that going on in this park, as you walk around, there are people everywhere, you guessed it, relaxing. It's good to see.
About 5pm, Marg and I drove over to Lukey's house, for Mont's birthday, she turns 6 today. The immediate family was there totalling 6 people. We gave Mont our present, a dinosaur pack, she was over the moon. Good. I drove Lukey to the local Fish and chips to collect dinner, good ole dad paid. We sang "Happy Birthday" had desert and wandered back to camp. It was great, being there.

We recorded Big Brother and watched it when we got home, then went to bed and read, I am still reading Michael Jackson's ebook. It is still a great read.

No riding today.
Tomorrow, the mighty Navara is book ed in for its 100,00km service.

No photos today.

It was a single blanket night, which was very surprising, as the temperature dropped to 13.3°, which isn't that warm.
I was up at 7am and driving to Von Bibra Nissan about 7:25am. The mighty Navara is booked in for its 100,000kms service. The dealer has a courtesy bus and Greg the driver took 3 of us home. An add bonus was that they also pick you up. Two years ago, when I last was at Von Bibra Nissan, they only dropped you home, they didn't pick you up.
As we were house bound, I went for a ride up to Surfers and then the Spit and finally up to Angler's Paradise. Shock, horror, out the front of Cavill Ave, I rode past a MeterMaid, I thought that they had 'died' a natural death. SO on my way back, I stopped and talked to her about being a MeterMaid. She told me that the Gold Coast City Council no longer funds them and they are sponsored by a group of local businesses and also sell their own merchandise. I wasn't game to ask what that merchandise entailed. I asked if I could take a photo of her, she said that they charge $5. SO I paid. Her day consists of a 7 hour stint, walking around dressed like that. Each to their own.

Latest riding update: Today's ride of 36kms brought my total at Southport to 384kms or 3,888km so far this year.

Back at camp for lunch and waiting for Greg the Courtesy Bus driver to ring and confirm our pick up time. I received a text phone message at 12:20pm, saying that the mighty Navara is ready and Greg rang about 1:30pm and I asked if he had enough room to pick up Marg as well, he agreed. SO we paid for the mighty Navara and drove over to South Park for a coffee and some food shopping.

Dinner tonight was Chicken Kiev and vegies. It was YUMMA.
We watched Big Brother and I may go to bed early and read Michael Jackson's ebook.

Tomorrow, off to Officeworks, riding and dinner at our club.

The nights are getting warmer, so I started off with just a single blanket and by the morning about 5:30am, I pulled on my 2nd blanket. We laid in bed watching Ch7 Sunrise before poking a toe out about 8am. After buggering around on the internet, I finally left camp about 9am and rode over to the Spit via the coastal path. Last week, I saw a "coastal carpet python", well today about 10 meters away from where I saw a snake last week, there was Monty sunbaking on the path. I stopped, put my bike on the ground and walked over to him/her Monty. He was in no hurry to move and just laid there.
Question: How do you get a 2 meter Python to move, when he is quite happy sunbaking, spread eagle across the path. I said "Boo" then remembered that I read somewhere that snakes are deaf. I jumped up and down, but all to no avail. So as a last resort, I picked up some small pieces of gravel and tried to hit him in the mid sections. I eventually made contact, enough for him to move his head. I thought that he would slither straight ahead. Oh No, not this Monty Python, he lifted his head turned and looked at me, thank God, I am too big for his dinner, and then slithered back from where he came. I am fairly certain, that Monty is the same Python that I met last week. To an untrained eye, ME, he looks to be in excellent condition. Very similar to the pythons that Marg and I have 'cuddled' at zoos, but bigger. Once he was off the path, I continued on my ride to the Spit.
About 1 kilometer further along the path, not far from where the path meets the Spit, I came across 2 policemen walking the beat. I spoke to them about Monty and they said that Monty and his mates are common along the coastal path and that he was probably sunbaking on the path. He definitely was.
That was the only real excitement on this morning's ride. Isn't that enough for you? :) It is for me.

Latest riding update: Today's ride of 30kms brought my total at Southport to 414kms or 3,918km so far this year.

After I was showered, we decided to visit Officeworks to buy some crepe paper and other stuff. Mont has to dress up as a book character, so Grandma, the retired primary school teacher, is making a costume. Anyway, we got in the mighty Navara and it didn't start BUT made some weird noises and the dials went crazy, all moved below their normal levels. Ted, my neighbour came to my assistance with his battery charger, but it didn't work. Then I remembered that I had a automatic battery charger, so I connected that, after 30 minutes, it had recharged the battery enough, that it started under its own power. BUT in the meantime, I had rung RACV (we are Total Care members), who put me onto RACQ, who took all my details and told me that someone will come in about 45 minutes. Within 5 minutes, Darryl was ringing me from out the front of the caravan park, that was bloody good service, bearing in mind, it took me longer than that to speak to a human when I rang RACV. Anyway, Darryl rang me and I walked to the entrance to let him in. He put his battery gizmo on the battery and confirmed that it is crook. He had a suitable battery with a 3 year warranty anywhere in Oz for $215. Done deal. Darryl was a great guy and we got on really well, he has a very friendly personality. We said our goodbyes and drove off to Officeworks. While I was reversing in, my mobile rang, it was the RACV checking that I was under control. I thanked her for the prompt service.

Just an aside, over the past week or two, I noticed that the battery was very, very slowly going flat, then yesterday at the service they told me that the battery is dying. THEN today, it bloody well DIED. unreal.

At Officeworks Marg got what she wanted and we then went back to camp. The afternoon was spent, me on the internet and Marg making a costume. About 4:20pm, we drove over to our club (Southport Worker's Club). As it is Thursday, we go to the club for Marg to play the pokies until 5:30pm, when the bistro opens and we have dinner and leave. I am currently sitting in the club, by myself, updating this website, with a chilled refresher very close.

Dinner tonight at the club was Marg - Lamb Cutlets with vegies and Me - Roast Pork and Beef with vegies. It was YUMMA.
Back to camp, in time to watch Big Brother and I may go to bed early and read Michael Jackson's ebook. For something different.

Tomorrow, riding and whatever we want to do.