We slept in until 6:30am and I laid in bed listening to Macca and while listening to the news I heard about a house that caught fire in Melbourne. Something 'clicked' inside me and I checked out the MFB on the internet and it showed a position near Mum and Dads. I rang them, no answer. I rang the local Police, he told me to ring another Police station they didn't answer. I then rang my sister at 7:00am, she said "yep, they was a problem, but Mum and Dad are ok". Shit...
They are in hospital and told me to say in Qld, until they sort things out. SO I am waiting.

We did have lunch with our boys and their families that was beautiful.

This website will stop until I work out what is happening.

Considering the worry of Mum and Dad's saga, we slept well until 6:30am. I laid in bed listening to Bridge, Richard and Spida on 92.5Gold FM, they are back from leave and are very entertaining. We eventually got ourselves organised and headed off to Spotlight, Marg needed more wool for crochetting. I think life is getting back to normal.
Anyway, we got about halfway there, when Phil rang, he needed some of Dad's banking details, so back to camp to find them on my laptop. We got to Spotlight about 11:30am, got what Marg wanted and then drove over to 'South Park' and had lunch at Michel's (pies and sausage rolls). Very Yumma.

Finally got back to camp, so I changed into 'cycleman'and headed off to Surfers first, as the Southerly was gusting over 40kph. After struggling to Surfers, I had a beautiful tailwind, the whole way to The Spit. I stayed there for a couple of minutes, BUT I had forgot to bring my bananas (Dickhead). Went past Cafe Rockpool with another beautiful tailwind to Lands End before turning around and heading back to camp into another strong headwind.
Here is the summary of my Gold Coast riding - today's ride 35kms - Total to date: after my 7th ride is 248kms.

At 3:45pm, after I showered, Marg and I drove over to our 'Club" for pokies, beer and dinner. Bob and Val are joining us at 5:30pm for dinner. While here, I rang Val and told her to join the club as they are still having the "Life Membership for $1" then you save $3 off each meal. I think it is worth it.


Val and Bob joined us for dinner. I had a mixed grill, while the others had garlic prawns. By all reports, they were yumma.

After last night's web update, Marg and I decided that I should fly down, so I purchased a one way ticket $184 on Jetstar leaving 9:05am Wednesday 13th August.

Considering the worry of Mum and Dad's saga, I think that it 'hit me' and I slept absolutely ratshit last night. Marg and I were meant to watch Mont participate in the Gold Coast Eisteddfod, I just didn't feel upto it, so I dropped Marg there and went back to camp and got on the internet to check out ways to get to and from both the Gold Coast Airport and to and from Tullamarine without getting family to drive. I had everything worked out and was waiting for tonight's phone call from Dad who told me of the change of plans and that I was NOT to fly down, as there was nothing for me to do. So to keep harmony in the family, Marg and I are staying on the Gold Coast as originally planned. The only downside is that I have already purchased a Jetstar ticket. Well, as the saying goes "Shit happens".

As Marg and I are both feeling the stress, dinner was a very scratch meal, I had cereal while Marg had cheese on toast.

Tomorrow, we are doing bugger all, except I will ride in the morning and after lunch we will walk to cafe Rockpool for a coffee. Marg has taken a fancy to 'my' cafe.

I had a very good sleep, I awoke at 4:30am and then at 7:15am. Marg stayed in bed and watched Sunrise, while I went riding. I headed off to Surfers first, as the Southerly was gusting over 40kph. After struggling to Surfers, I had a beautiful tailwind, the whole way to The Spit. I stayed there for a couple of minutes, and ate my bananas. Went past Cafe Rockpool with another beautiful tailwind to Lands End before turning around and heading to Nerang river and then back to camp.
Here is the summary of my Gold Coast riding - today's ride 40kms - Total to date: after my 8th ride is 289kms.

After I showered, we walked upto Cafe Rockpool and had a coffee. Back at camp, we drove to South Park for some food shopping then back to camp for lunch. Our new neighbours behind us just happen to be David and Di, our Trailblazers RV twin. later in the arvo, we had a happy hour in their fiver.

Marg cooked a lovely 'slow cooker' casserole. It was yumma.

Tomorrow, we are doing bugger all, except I will ride in the morning and after lunch we will walk to cafe Rockpool for a coffee.

We slept well and woke about 6:15am, and I got up and put a load of washing. Marg stayed in bed and watched Sunrise, then I went riding. Identical to yesterday, I headed off to Surfers first, as the Southerly was gusting over 40kph. After struggling to Surfers, I had a beautiful tailwind, the whole way to The Spit. I stayed there for a couple of minutes, and ate my bananas. Went past Cafe Rockpool with another beautiful tailwind to Lands End before turning around and heading to Nerang river and then stopped at Cafe Rockpool for a coffee before heading back to camp.
Here is the summary of my Gold Coast riding - today's ride 39kms - Total to date: after my 9th ride is 328kms.

Back at camp, Marg felt like just hanging around camp today, so we did. We chatted with a few of our neighbours including David and Di (Our Trailblazers twin). The highlight today was, I applied to rebook our site for next year. The procedure is you fill out a form and it is checked by a particular staff member to asy "Yay or Nay". We should know within a week or two.

We finished off last night's lovely 'slow cooker' casserole. It was yumma.

Tomorrow, it's Bingo, as we were unavailable for Last Tuesday.

We slept well and woke about 6:00am, and laid in bed watching Sunrise then got up, had brekky and we left at 8:25am and drove to our 'Bingo club' aka Southport Sharks. I bought 2 full sets and the organisers told us all that there is a new game called 'Big Bucks' where you can win up to $100,000. Interesting. Upto interval, Marg and I were close but no cigar. Then it was the new game and a staff member came and supervised it. Anyway, I was the first person at the Southport Sharks to win the very first game of "Big Bucks". Two games later I had another win of $50, ohh yeah, I forgot to tell you my winnings of the UPTO $100,000 was $100, so on the day, we collected $150 for an outlay of $44, showing a profit of $106. After last week's loss of $47, our profit at Sharks so far this trip is $59. Not bad, but we have 5 more bingos to go.

After Bingo, we drove to South Park and had lunch at Michels, Marg had sausage rolls, while I had 2 pies they were very yumma. We are expecting about 50mm of rain in the next 2 days. Back at camp, the sky looked OK, so I went riding. My usual route, the highlight was seeing the black snake sunning itself on the rocks of the seawall. I glimpsed it as I rode past and immediately stopped to take a photo, but I only saw it slither into a crevase before I could photo it. Just near the Nerang river, I stopped and watched 'The Jetman' practising various tricks. I liked his dolphin routine, where he dived under the water and then out of it. It looked good.
Here is the summary of my Gold Coast riding - today's ride 41kms - Total to date: after my 10th ride is 369kms.

Marg cooked egg and bacon sangas, they were bloody YUMMA.

Tomorrow, it's a quiet day.

We slept well and woke about 7:15am and laid in bed watching Weekend Sunrise. It rained overnight and the forecast was for 20-40mm, (Update: as at 7:00am Sunday we have had 85.6mm)so we decided to spend the day at camp. We eventually got up, had brekky and buggered about outside in between the rain squalls. We spent most of today, sitting in the fiver watching various TV shows (Amazing Race Aus-NZ, Highway Patrol, The Force, TMZ etc) that I have recorded during the week from the VAST system. We even managed a nanna nap during the arvo, it was great laying on the bed, covered by a blanket listening to the rain on the roof and watching it through the window.

No riding today, I know, I am a wimp and also a 'fair weather' cyclist.

I haven't spoken to Dad since Thursday night, as he is still learning how to use his new phone. He can ring out without any probs, but is still experiencing problems answering it, anyway, I have spoken to Phil today.

Due to the crappy weather, we drove over the road to Maccas between rain squalls. Maccas was yumma.

Tomorrow, nothing is currently planned.