May 2014

On Saturday, May 10th, Dave and I picked up our friends Mike and Teri Kelly from the airport.  We had a lunch at French Twist here in Bulimba, then packed up to go on an overnight trip.  We drove to the Currumbin Wild Life Sanctuary and not only saw all the animals and birds, but also had Mike hold a koala....perhaps a highlight for him!

We picked up some wine and munchies and went to the patio area of our hotel, the Sand Castles, for a small happy hour before dinner.  We walked to the Surf Club and had dinner on the outside patio overlooking the ocean.

Sunday the 11th and we are up and eating breakfast at a cute and cosy place called The Deck.  We need some energy if we are to get not only to the beach, but also the Springbrook National Park for a hike.  The Gold Coast does not disappoint and the hiking is always incredible!  We have a late lunch at Hakata Yaramen for ramen.  Very authentic and deliciously hot and spicy!

Rushing back to the apartment to go to the Brisbane Reds rugby game at SunCorp stadium.  I have no idea how this game is played, or the rules, however it was fun to cheer for  the Brisbane team!

Monday was a day of sightseeing in Brisbane....walking through the Botanical Garden, South Bank, Modern Art Museum, Queen Street Mall and points inbetween.  After at nice dinner at George's Seafood, it was time to head back to the apartment so the Kelly's could pack up for the next leg of their journey.

Vacation time!

On April 21st,  Dave finally has a few days off and we can go explore a little more.  First stop is Tweed Heads  beach.  A lovely beach and a great view.  On to Balena  to Shelly's beach for lunch at the Belle General. It's across the street from the beach and we had an afternoon stroll along the shore before driving on.  We stopped at the Boonville Golf Resort for the night.  Small cabins overlooking the golf course which was on a hill/small mountain.  We walked down to the main building and had dinner on the open patio overlooking the long expanse of the golf course.  This was whetting Dave's appetite for golf in the morning...

April 22-

After breakfast Dave was all set to play a round of golf.  I drove the cart and we were paired with another couple.  They were from Sydney and were very nice.  I chatted with the wife, while Dave and her husband concentrated on having a good round of golf!


April 23-
Aqua cafe for lunch in Coffs Harbour.  Drove to the quaint town of Bellingen.  A walk up and down the Main Street and popping into shops.  Although small, the town had a craft shop with yarn and I picked up a few skeins and a magazine.  We also bought some fruit in a produce shop.  In the car to find Domingo National Park.  They had a great skywalk and a short hike that wasn't too difficult.  Next stop is Armidale which is Australia's highest city.  We had a nice coffee in the square and a walk around to stretch our legs before the last bit of driving to Ballandean. They had some really great old looking buildings and a huge park. Ballandean is in wine country and we stayed at a B&B on the Sancerre Estate Winery.  The grapes had just been harvested, however it was a beautiful landscape.


April 24-
Tobin winery to have a lengthy talk with the owner, sip wine and signed up for their wine club.  By the time we left it was lunch and we knew right where to go!  Suttons for a small toasty sandwich and a big slice of apple pie with vanilla ice cream!  Yum!  Satisfied and happy, we drove home.

March 2014 happenings

My Riverbend Bookstore bookclub went to an author event on the 6th of March.  We had just read the book, Empress Dowager Cixi by Jung Chang, and she was giving a talk at Brisbane's City Hall.  She had brought shoes that her grandmother had worn over her bound feet. These were so tiny!! Jung Chang was very interesting and we all had a great time listening to her and getting books signed.

On the 15th, we went to a St Patricks party hosted by Kevin.  We showed up in the late afternoon and there was a little swimming, a little drinking, a lot of food, and a lot of card games.  It was loads of fun....

Sunday we drove down to Sunshine beach to relax and enjoy the nice weather.  Sitting on the beach soaking up the sun is not a bad way to spend a Sunday!  Lunch and being by the ocean...priceless!

I went down to the Brisbane Convention Centre to the craft show with my craft group.  I don't suppose I got into too much trouble, although I did come home with a magnifying light so I can cross stitch again!  I wasn't the only one either!  Maree and Lanaia also bought one...how crazy to see the three of us walking down the street to the Citicat with these under our arms?!  I took a jewelry class and made two pendants.  There wasn't much yarn again this time, but tons of other things to see.  Sandi picked up some crafty things for her grand kids and I believe everyone else in our group had a bag or two of goodies...

I played mah jongg for the first time.  It's a little overwhelming at first with the pong and kong and all that, but it was fun!  There were 12 of us and I was just subbing for someone.  I'm really good if I don't have to pass the tiles out and I always get confused on the last 3-4 tiles, but other than that I'm ok.  I'm sure I will be playing again soon.

February 2014

Our last tennis lessons as a couple are this month.  We've had a great time and hopefully we will continue to play often.  We will be on the look out for another couple for doubles.

February 8th we drove to Tamborine mountain to check out a hotel we are thinking of staying in when some friends come to visit in May.  We had a nice lunch on a patio overlooking the mountains.  It started drizzling at the end of the day after we took a short hike.

On the 15th we went to a farewell party for Marina and Bob.  They will be moving back to England when Bob retires at the end of the month.  It's going to be terribly sad to see them go. They have become one of our favorite couples to hang out with at night and Marina is in my craft group every Tuesday.

Now comes the crazy that I seem to fall into every once in a while.....although I don't think it sounds crazy at the time!  Lol. Here goes....there is an Etsy site that sells striped sock yarn.  I have never seen it in person but hear it's great.  The dyer puts it up for sale once a month and all her stock sells out in literally 45 seconds.  You know how I know this?  I have sat in a chair refreshing my computer screen, put one skein in a cart to buy and gone to buy it and it's been sold to someone else.  I've had Dave leaving for work late so that we can BOTH be sitting in front of computers to buy this yarn that sells out faster than you can click the buy button.  I'm a seasoned shopper, but this is beyond crazy!!  I even wanted Dave to ask the Cerner IT team to help me out!!  Well, persistence pays off. I did score some finally and Dave no longer has to listen to me wail in frustration..

February 27th- Di's friend from England came to town.  Jane is quite the character and loads of fun.  Since Di needed to work, I volunteered to take Jane to an art exhibit called Falling Back To Earth by Cai Guo-Qiang in Southbank.   It was really cool to see, although modern art is not something I really like.  Afterwards we sat outside on the patio of a restaurant and had a bottle of wine and some nibbles and watched the Wheel of Brisbane go round and round....

January...continued

Our friends (about 8-10 of us) in the apartment want to start a "sausage sizzle Sunday", so we are going to go down tonight by the pool.  It's supposed to be an easy get together with just sausages on the grill, then put on a bun.  I know these people and I don't have any hope that it will just be a lonely sausage on a napkin!  Chips have shown up and a birthday cake at one point and of course the bottle of wine and cans of beer have been snuck down as well.  We are quite the rebels!  :)

On the 26th we drove down to Sunshine Coast beach.  It was a bit windy and our sunshade was flapping about, but the sun and surf were worth it.  They had a coffee shop on the top of the hill and so we grabbed that and a dessert.

January 31- February 2nd we went to Hervey Bay so that Dave could work.  We were staying in the Ramada and this is how it went.....check in and say no to the bargain priced $25 buffet breakfast in the morning. This is a one time discounted rate, but no worries, I know we can eat somewhere across the street cheaper.  They put us in a room on the first floor.  All rooms are horse shoed around the pool area.  This room had a nice patio with a glass wall around it.  It was also a handicapped room....the sink came to below my waist and the bed was lumpy. At this point I might also add that people were out on their balconies having happy hour and watching us.  Ok, then Dave goes to the front desk and says we would like another room and we go up one floor and over a bit.  This room had a cement wall around the patio and if you were sitting in the chairs you couldn't see anything but the bright blue sky...sigh....we decide it's no big deal and Dave goes to wash up for dinner.  "Happy hour People" have now seen us on two balconies...Dave gets out of the bathroom commenting that the sink was stopped up from him washing his face.  Down he goes to the front desk to get us yet another room.  We are now upgraded to a suite that has a kitchenette.  The balcony has glass and we are happy.  Meanwhile the "Happy Hour People" are being entertained and wondering why we keep showing up on different balconies!

January 2014

After a very busy December, our January is quiet.

Our tennis lessons with Andres has been so much fun!  I think I've been surprisingly good....and when Dave plays just with Andres it's crazy great to watch!  This is one exercise I don't mind

January 12-13 we are in Stanthorpe, which is wine country in Queensland.  It's the off season and so very quiet around town. We started at Suttons for lunch.  They are an apple orchard/restaurant which has the best and biggest slice of apple pie ever!  On to Summit winery for wine tasting.  An ok wine, but we are looking for better.  Stopped into Castle Glen to see their selection.  This is a huge building that looks like a castle and has flavored liqueurs and is a major tourist trap. We left there in a hurry!  On the way out we saw The Dairy Shop.  It has various cheeses and we tried several before buying a few.  Still time to go to one more Vineyard and we picked Ravenscroft.  Luckily for us we have hit the jackpot!  These wines were incredible, his method of making wine is natural with no additives and I was able to drink his red wine without a migraine!  The first red wine I've had for about 20 years!!  We loaded up...hahaha. We were coming up to dinner time and checked into our #16 cabin at Happy Valley.  Happy Valley is a brewery and also has these cabins set into some trees.  We are eating at the restaurant that they have.  During dinner we have some live entertainment in the form of two singers.  If you didn't know the songs they were singing, you wouldn't know the words.  I'm not sure they even knew more than two words to every song!  There was a lot of mumbling going on...the couple sitting behind us also provided some entertainment, as they got up and started dancing.  This is a big, mostly empty restaurant and they were the only ones grooving to he tunes!  Brave

Sunday we had breakfast on the patio outside and went into town for the market.  The market was in a city hall and very small. Not much to buy, but I did get a raffle ticket to win a quilt (which I didn't win) and some lavender oil.  Girraween National Park is close by and we hiked up to Castle Rock.  No one around at all and it took us 2 hours.  Have I mentioned that Dave loves to hike uphill??  Sigh......for a well needed rest we found Wisteria Cottage on our way back to town and I ordered a mocha.  What I got was a chocolate coffee with a scoop of ice cream on the top.  We had time to stop into the town of Balladen for the Symphony Hill Winery and some wine tasting.  This was also an exceptional winery and we picked up a few more bottles. Dinner this night was in the Barrel Room at Balladean Estate Winery.  A husband/wife cook for the restaurant and the food was soooooo good!!  Dessert wasn't half bad either!

Monday was the 3 hour drive home.....

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I'm back!

Hi all!

I am determined to catch up the blog and finish our time here on a high note!  Lol
You might all want a cuppa and have a seat, because this might prove to be a commitment!

First week of December saw us back in Bulimba and happily tired from a great vacation.  But no time to rest because the first week was packed every night with activities.....Tuesday was a going away luncheon for my dear friend Kitty.  Her and her family will be going back to Taiwan and are excited to be near family again.  That night found me at the bookclub Christmas party at Riverbend books.  "Light" dinner consisted of one feta/watermelon skewer and one prawn spring roll.  I came away being very hungry, but on the plus side I won at a game we were playing and the prize was a book!  Of course....
Wednesday, my dear friend Pauline had a few women over for lunch.  A four hour lunch at that!  We were having such a great time and were still talking and laughing out the door.
Thursday was knitting night at our apartment and we decided to have a small nibbles dinner with bubbles.  Everyone brought a wrapped gift and we played a passing game that was hilarious to see who received each gift.  Thanks to Kath's partner, Arron, we didn't have to read and pass at the same time!!
Friday was the Cerner party at a bar in Fortitude Valley.  It was nice to catch up with all my Cerner friends and start our weekend...
Saturday was a picnic at New Farm Park.  We went with James and Di and met some of their family and friends.  A long afternoon sitting on blankets under a tree.  It was lovely.
Sunday was a golf morning for Dave and Dale, so Ria and I went out for brekkie and a catch up.  The weather is just how I like it.....hot and steamy!!!  For dinner we went to New Farm to he BBQ place called Smoke.  I'm always dubious when a restaurant says BBQ (or Mexican!!!!!) since I know it's really a sad imitation.  We met Heidi and Charles, Elly and Joe, Marina and Bob there and pretty much ordered a whole table of food!  It was ok, but not BBQ that we Americans eat....so we will keep searching.

Of course in between these things and until Christmas we led our regular lives of work, coffee and lunch dates, tennis and workouts...

We were invited to over for Christmas at James and Di's apartment.  They had invited 3 other families over.  I was in charge of desserts...cause I know my desserts!  Lol. I brought a berry trifle, sugar cookies and pecan pie bars. A lot of dessert for 8 people and a baby to consume after a full on dinner of many courses!  But....every single thing was eaten and licked clean!  I was so happy That there were no leftovers!  We had a nice day, although a little melancholy for me, and we appreciated being near friends and great conversations.

Dave was not feeling so great on my birthday, so we are going to schedule something in January...

New Year's Eve was celebrated at our house with James, Di and Liz....the bubbles were flowing!



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