Days 160 to 166 - Wednesday 7th September to Tuesday 13th September
Enjoying ourselves at Southport - Week 6.
- Weather: A mild night with no rain, it was 14.4° at 6am and it reached 23.6° at 1:30pm.
- Wind: Northerlies with gusts to 33kph.
Another mild night, I am still using 2 blankets, and only throwing off my blankets and pulling on my sleepingbag around dawn.
The morning was still beautiful, so I rode out to the seaway, it was very pleasant just sitting at the spit watching the surfers and jet skis having heaps of fun. On the way back to camp, I passed the blow up doll advertising the Moscow Circus. see photo.
During the afternoon, Marg and I walked around our CP in the beautiful sunshine, and as Russell and Karen were home in their 5th wheeler, we stopped by and annoyed them for awhile. Later in the afternoon, Jay rang and wanted me to pick him up from his home and drive him to his mechanics, as his chariot was being serviced, so I did. Fathers do that sort of stuff.
When I got back from being Jay's chauffeur, Marg and I changed into more suitable clothes and drove over to our 'Club'. We played the pokies and at 5:30pm, after I lost $6 and Marg won a couple, we walked over to the bistro and bought dinner. As it is my birthdat next week, the club gave me a 2 for 1 dinner voucher, a free pot of beer and some other stuff that I won't use, but I used the beer and dinner voucher. For $12.50, we received a roast lamb dinner (Marg) and a roast pork dinner (me) not bad value, even full price of $25 is bloody good, the servings are large and I usually finish off Marg's, so it is win win situation.
The forecast is still for some showers and sunny patches for the next couple of days. It didn't rain today. It was just beautiful.
The surfers waiting for the perfect wave.
The jet skis having a ball.
The Moscow Circus blow up doll.
- Weather: A mild night with no rain, it was 14.5° at 6am and it reached 25.1° at 12:20pm.
- Wind: Northerlies with gusts to 33kph.
Another mild night, I am still using 2 blankets, and only throwing off my blankets and pulling on my sleepingbag around dawn.
The morning was still beautiful, so I rode out to the seaway again, it was very pleasant just sitting at the spit watching the surfers and a Maritime Safety Qld Boat doing weird things, it would drive in beside the pier and then do a U turn and head out pass the breakers and then do it again, while I there, the boat did it about 4 times, but I don't know why. I also watched a Catamaran enter the seaway, but it didn't have a name on it, so it must be new. It could be on a shakedown sail.
Back at camp, Marg and I had lunch and then drove over to South Park (Centro Southport) for a coffee at Michel's and then some shopping at Woollies.
The forecast is still for some showers and sunny patches for the next couple of days. It didn't rain today. It was just beautiful.
The Maritime Safety Qld boat.
The Maritime Safety Qld boat.
The 'unnamed' catamaran.
Look, I can fly.
Who's a cute boy? George is, that's who.
George.
- Weather: A mild night with no rain, it was 15.2° at 3am and it reached 21.9° at 11:30am.
- Wind: Northerlies with gusts to 67kph with a Sou Westerley change about 1pm, with 10mm of rain in 10 minutes. Just what they forecast. Bastards!!
Another mild night, I only used 1 blanket, and I wasn't cold.
The morning wasn't beautiful, it was overcast and looking like it was about to rain at any moment, that moment came at 1pm, when the skies opened. We went to BCF to buy some long tent pegs and some SS clips for the shade awning, then off to South Park for lunch (pies and coffee), as we were driving back it started to rain and by the time we arrived back at camp, it was a full blown pissing down. (10mm in 10 minutes, that's heavy).
Anyway, enough of this crap, I just received a phone call from the Office, I had 2 parcels, it had stopped raining so I walked over and to my absolute amazement, my 2 pairs of shoes were there.
You may remember last week, Marg and I went to Harbourtown to buy a pair of walking boots, nothing out of the ordinary, except that I have size 15 feet, I have a good grip on Mother Earth. Mountain Design had 1 pair of size 15 in the shop and they were runners, so no good, but luckily, I thrive on rejection.
I received an email last Saturday from Amazon advertising one of their stores (endless.com, which sells jewellery, shoes etc), usually I just delete these emails, but something made me investigate this more closely. I got onto their site (endless.com) and did a search for size 15 footwear, to my surprise, it came back with 1,943 results. I sorted by price but $1,100 a pair for some fancy boots, didn't turn me on, so I sorted Lowest to highest price. The email said if you spend over $100, then international postage is free and it will be sent priority, I thought this is crap, but I was prepared to lose a $100, so I ordered a pair Columbia Lone Rock Trail shoes for US$65 and a pair Columbia Sportswear Coremic Ridge Hiking Boot for US$55 about US$120 or AUS$111. I ordered them on Saturday 3rd Sept and I tracked them daily and this afternoon, I had them and they even fit BEAUTIFULLY. So I am happier than Pigs in Shit, that is BLOODY HAPPY. I cannot believe firstly, that they arrived and secondly that they arrived in 5 business days and thirdly the cost was unbelieveable, so I will definitely buy more footwear from the States as in Australia you just cannot get what you want.
You will see by the photo that I am currently wearing my boots while I am writing this and they are SO COMFY. Marg has disowned me because it is not a good look, shorts, socks and hiking boots.
The forecast for the weekend is for sunny days, but cold overnight, we can live with that. Oh yes, I didn't ride today, due to the weather.
Columbia Lone Rock Trail shoes - Colour - Estate Blue/Wild Dove.
Columbia Coremic Ridge 2 Hiking Boot - Colour - Espresso/Treasure.
- Weather: A cold, windy night with no rain, it was 11.5° at 6am and it reached 21.9° at 11:30am.
- Wind: South Westerlies have set in with gusts to 50kph overnight, and today the wind remains with gusts to 57kph. The wind chill is cold.
An expected cold night, so I went straight to my sleepingbag and slept like a log. In fact, when I woke up I noticed the light outside and immediately thought that Marg had left the outside light on all night. It was the sun and it was 5:40am, I had slept without dreaming or getting up for a pee, unbeliebeable.
After I got up and went on to the Internet, I received a SMS from Luke, he was calling in about 8:30am, which he did. While he was here, I decided to wind the awning in, due to the windy conditions. I feel less stressed with the awning in, now it can blow like buggery and we will be safe and sound. Even though, there are no clouds and it is sunny as, the cold SW wind is still making it very cool, I will be wearing jeans and trakky top when we go to Pac Fair (Pacific Fair) this afternoon for a bit of window shopping. now it's time for lunch.
I didn't go for a ride because I am a wimp, the wind chill is bloody cold and it is blowing like buggery.
Back from Pac Fair, I was hot because in Pac Fair there wasn't as breeze only sunshine. There's no pleasing some people. We saw Jodi at work but she was too busy, so we didn't annoy her. Didn't buy much, which was good.
Spent the afternoon buggering about camp, and feeling the van rock due to the wind. Had a quiet night watching TV, mainly more episodes of Family Guy, as there was nothing of interest on Free to Air.
The forecast for the weekend is for sunny days, but cold overnight, we can live with that.
- Weather: Another cold night with no rain, it was 10.9° at 5:30am and it reached 21.9° at 11:30am.
- Wind: South Westerlies have shifted to the north and dropped to gusts of only 20kph. The wind chill has gone.
An expected cold night, so it was sleepingbag and slept very well. Woke up to a beautiful sunny morning with a gentle breeze, so it was time to turn into Cycleman and off I rode to the seaway, it was so nice. The dredge was back and many surfers enjoying the small swell.
My latest dilemma regards the Moscow Circus or more aptly the lack of the Moscow Circus. On the Gold Caost radio, they have been advertising the Moscow Circus on the Broadwater parklands opposite Aussie Fair starting on Sept 15th till early October. Well it is 11th Sept and there is NO sign of the circus, I expected to see the Big Top and tigers in cages, but there is nothing, diddly, nix, nobody, not anything, nothingness, nought, zero, zilch, zip, zippo, zot, get the idea. As I ride past the site, I will add further reports when something happens, if anything. Watch this space.
At lunchtime, we drove over to Luke's, he is giving me some movies. Back at camp, we went for a stroll along the beach it was low tide and sunny. A beautiful day.
The forecast for the weekend is for sunny days, but cold overnight, we can live with that.
The dredge was working on Sunday.
The surfers were out in force.
Strolling along our beach at low tide.
- Weather: Another cold night with no rain, it was 11.9° at 3am and it reached 20.8° at 11:19am.
- Wind: Southerlies around 20kph with gusts upto 50kph.
Another cold night, so it was sleepingbag and I slept very well. Woke up to a beautiful sunny morning with a gentle breeze, so it was time to turn into Cycleman and off I rode to the seaway, it was so nice. The dredge was back and many surfers were enjoying the larger swell.
Update on the Moscow Circus saga, still no sight of the Moscow Circus, it starts on Friday. After riding, Marg and I walked upto Aussie Fair and I had a haircut at the Gold Coast school of hairdressing, I thought that they couldn't stuff up a No4 crew cut, and they didn't. It was hard for Harry to improve on perfection, but he did a good job. After leaving Harry the student barber, we did some food shopping at Woollies using our 'nanna trolley' and then had lunch at the cafe beside the food court.
As it is my birthday, I decided to have dinner at our club and play the pokies, well, the birthday boy put in $10 and the attendant paid me $57.15 from my machine. I was happy and then we wandered over to the bistro for my Roast pork and Marg had roast lamb, both meals were very YUMMA.
During the day, I received birthday wishes from all my family, which was greatly appreciated. Tonight, we watched TV and the latest Undercover Boss Australia was
an excellent show. Currently, it is 9:55pm and it is raining intermittently.
The forecast for the next few days is for sunny days, but cold overnight, and maybe some rain. I wish the rain would piss off. I'm over it.
A bit of spray.
This catamaran came from the south.
I couldn't find a name.
- Weather: Another cold night with no rain, it was 12.8° at 3:15am and it reached 21.4° at 11:08am.
- Wind: South Easterlies around 20kph with gusts upto 33kph.
Another cold night, so it was sleepingbag and I slept very well. Woke up to a beautiful sunny morning with a gentle breeze, but by 8:30am, it had clouded over, we were going to walk to the Club for Bingo, but we drove due to the weather.
We arrived about 9;30am and bought 2 full sets and 2 extra jackpots, paid $52, by the end of Bingo we had won $30, so lost $22 overall. Back at camp, we had lunch and then while Marg had a nanna nap, I rode to where the Moscow Circus is meant to be. Well there is now one caravan and that is it, so I rode over to the marinas and checked out all the piers, as the weather was sunny and beautiful, I had a ball just riding around checking out everything. I even saw the 2 baby ospreys. While I was riding back past the Moscow Circus area, another caravan arrived, so now we have 2 caravans, but no big top. It is meant to start at 7pm on 15th Sept.
Dad rang me about 2:30pm, Mum and dad have arrived at Tweed Heads, all safe and sound after driving from Melbourne, they are here for a month or two relaxation.
Dinner tonight was BBQ home made rissoles, absolutely YUMMA.
The forecast for the next few days is for SUMMER with the weekend expecting 29°.
Moscow Circus - First caravan.
This is where the Moscow Circus will be.
The baby Ospreys with Mum eating a fish.
Marina Mirage.
The heliport on the Marina Mirage pier.
This boat used to be berthed at Docklands, Melbourne.
