Adventures in Hervey Bay

Sunday, 12 October, 2014

Our week was so full-on - it was supposed to be a relaxing week and it started off well. Monday was a holiday here (Labour Day) and so everything was closed. Dad and I totally relaxed - we even went for a nice walk along the Esplanade. On Tuesday, we went to Bundaberg - we invited Robyn and Geoff to come with us - Dad had to go there to have his interview to become an Australian citizen. He had to take a test on a computer with questions relating to Australia (a lot about the government and history of Australia). He passed!!! AND, he got 100%. We are so excited - he now has to wait for all the paperwork to go through and then he will be informed when he can go to a citizenship ceremony. It was a great birthday present for him! :-) After that, we went for a walk along a beach not far from there. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day to be outside - the sun was shining and the sky was blue and the temperature was perfect!

After our lovely walk, we went out for lunch to a chinese restaurant which Robyn and Geoff's daughter-in-law had recommended. We each ordered two small dishes which we shared along with a large plate of rice. The food was delicious and it was fun to try so many different choices.

Birthday lunch for the birthday boys (Geoff's b/day is on the 18th)

On Wednesday, Dad got a call from work to say that they wanted him to go to Newcastle (about two hours north of Sydney) to teach another course. We knew the course was coming up, but we thought we would have another week at home before we headed out. But, that's the way it goes sometimes with Dad's work - good thing we can be so flexible. :-)

I went to see my doctor on Thursday - I had to make a list of things to talk with him about since it was going to be a few weeks before we would get back to HB. He did take a look at my arm (tennis elbow) and told me to continue to do the exercises and take the meds which the physiotherapist in Perth had recommended.

On Friday, we went up to a little town called Toogoom (about 15 minutes from HB) to see Bill and Faye (Bill is an instructor with Dad's company and we spent some time with them in Melbourne). We went for a walk on the beach (with their dog, Holly) and then had a delicious afternoon tea of homemade scones (baked by Bill), a Boston bun, rockmelon and watermelon. It was nice to catch up with Faye and Bill - we get along with them so well.

Low tide at Toogoom Beach - with Holly

Dad, Bill, Faye and Holly walking along Toogoom Beach

Faye, Holly and Bill

After we left Toogoom, we went to Robyn and Geoff's to meet up with them so that we could go to dinner in one car. There's a restaurant here in HB called Hogsbreath which sends you a coupon for a free dinner on your birthday. Dad and Geoff both received their coupons this month and so we decided to go out and celebrate together. We were planning on going out next week to celebrate (closer to Geoff's birthday since we had had lunch out on Dad's birthday), but since we were leaving for Newcastle today, our plans got changed. Everyone enjoyed their meals and we saved a lot of money. Not only did Dad and Geoff get their meals free, but I also had a coupon for a 'buy one meal, get the second meal at half price' - score!! :-)

Geoff and Dad with their free steak dinners

Yesterday, our friend, Denise and her husband, Robert, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Their daughter and sons invited all their friends and family to join them at a local park for a barbecue and time to mix and mingle. We were really happy to be able to be able to share in this special day with them.

Me, Robert, Denise and Dad

This morning we flew to Newcastle (with a three hour layover in Brisbane). While we were in the airport there, we noticed a bunch of television cameras being set up by the major networks in Australia. A woman sat down beside us with a huge camera, so I asked her who the cameras were waiting for. It turned out that she was a photographer for a major Queensland newspaper. She told me they were waiting for the captain of the Wallabies (Australia's national rugby union team). Since we had lots of time to pass before our flight, we stayed where we were able to watch the goings on. After about half an hour, Michael Hooper (the captain) showed up. All the cameras surrounded him and when everyone was ready, the reporters started asking questions. It was interesting to watch and a good way to pass the time.

Television cameras setting up - the woman on the left is the newspaper photographer

Captain of the Wallabies being interviewed

Our hotel in Newcastle is very nice - two rooms - one a bedroom and ensuite and the other a living/dining room and kitchen. The fridge is a bar fridge and quite small and there isn't an oven, just a microwave and a two burner cooktop. There is a sport's club next door which provides very nice meals at a very reasonable price and so, after looking at the small kitchen facilities, we have decided to make our own breakfasts and lunches, but to eat our suppers at the sport's club. There is also a gym and a pool next door which we have free access to since we are staying at this hotel. I think we are going to enjoy our stay here. :-)

View from our hotel room - where the Newcastle Knights (rugby league football club) practice

Warren, this photo is for you :-) (from the right hand side of the above photo)

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Dad's boss's wife went home on Monday and so my shopping days ended this week. :-) I stuck with the exercising, though - back to the gym for bike riding and treadmill walking.

Dad's course finished on Friday and boy, is he ever glad to be done - that was a long five weeks. He had two more tests this week and scored 100% on both. Dad said that he was glad to have received the high marks when Harry was teaching so that he could see that Dad really did know his stuff. So, now that he has completed the course, he can teach it starting next year.

On Wednesday, after Dad got home, he drove me to my friend, Rosalea's place, so that I could spend a couple of days with her. Rosalea and her husband, Rob, lived in HB for a couple of years and we became friends with them when we first moved here. Rosalea's granddaughter was born four years ago and so they decided to move back to Perth shortly after the birth. Rob works in the mines and so he was gone for two weeks and Rosalea was glad to have me visit.

Rosalea and me

On Thursday, we went out for the morning/early afternoon. Our first stop was to a physiotherapist - Rosalea had a knee operation earlier this year and she needs to get physiotherapy to help her recover. I told her that my left arm was still hurting and she asked if I would like to see her physiotherapist. I originally was going to wait until I got back to HB, but I couldn't get an appointment with my doctor until next Thursday, so I decided to go for it with Rosalea's physiotherapist. Jane, the physiotherapist, was fabulous! She poked and prodded both my arms to figure out what was wrong - it's the tendon. She taped it for me and then gave me a couple of exercises to do. She also told me to take some medication to reduce the inflammation. So, I now have a nice bright pink bandage on my arm.

My lovely pink bandage

After that, we went to 'The Coffee Club' - Rosalea had never had an iced chocolate, so I HAD to buy one for her (and me, too, of course :-) She loved it! We decided to get 'Subway' for lunch and then head home as she was tired by this time. We spent the rest of the day sitting and chatting and watching a little tv. Dad picked me up the next morning (Friday) and we spent the rest of the day cleaning the unit and packing to get ready for our flight on Saturday.

Our iced chocolate from 'The Coffee Club'

Dad and I flew from Perth to Brisbane yesterday, arriving in Brisbane around 3:30pm. We caught a bus to the airport hotel and were pleasantly surprised when we saw our large room. After dropping off our luggage, we walked across the road to the outlet mall to look for a wallet (I'm calling it my 'Canadian wallet' as I will use it when I come to Canada so that I don't have to change my wallet over every time I travel). There are so many nice wallets out in the stores here, but I wanted one like I bought in Canada which has a wrist strap on it. We went into this store and asked if they had wrist straps for sale (the girl gave me an extra one she had in the back) and then I happened to find a really nice wallet at the same store - leather and at a good price!

My new 'Canadian' wallet

Dad and I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching tv. It was so nice not to have anything to do. This morning, we got up early to take advantage of the buffet breakfast which was included with the price of the room. It was a great hot and cold buffet and there was everything there you can imagine (except for waffles).

The flight home was uneventful (all 40 minutes of it) and Rob, our shuttle driver, was there to pick us up. It turned out that he had overbooked and so his wife, Bernie, came to drive us home along with another couple. After dropping them off first, we were going to be dropped off next - then Bernie got a call from Rob saying that she needed to do the pick-up at a hotel. She asked us if we minded going to the hotel and then to the airport before taking us home. We were quite okay to do that - we had had such a short flight and so were not tired. It was good to finally get home, though - we are hoping for a nice relaxing week. We still have no idea where/when Dad will be going next, but we will just take things as they come.

Sunday, 28 September, 2014

It was a very busy week this week - no more resting and relaxing for me. Dawn (Dad's boss's wife) likes to get out every day and so that's what we did. The train station is about a ten minute walk from the unit where we are staying and the city of Perth is only three stops from us. Dawn likes to shop and so we spent a couple of days stickybeaking in stores. I didn't buy much - just a purse and some stuff from the Body Shop - but we did a lot of walking and talking. We also ate lunch out every day we went downtown (so much for my eating plan this week :-) I did get to have a couple of curries which was nice - I don't usually buy it when Dad is with me cuz we usually share meals and his tummy doesn't like curries. I have also become 'addicted' to iced chocolates - they are so yummy - milk with chocolate syrup streaming down the sides of the glass with a scoop of ice cream and topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings - I had a few of them this week. :-) One day, we went to a museum which was really interesting and another day we rode the four free buses which cover the downtown area of Perth just to see what there was to see.

My new purse

Skull of a great killer whale

Jaws of a white pointer shark

Dinosaur skeletons

Examples of beautiful Perth architecture

Cranes are EVERYWHERE (Perth is a growing city)

More architecture

Perth Arena (used for sports games and concerts)

Check out the street sign - it's COLIN Street :-)

Perth Arena (another view)

More architecture

Dawn and I - taking a selfie on the bus (yeah, I know, I need some practice )

A beautiful park in Perth

Everyone is allowed to cross at the same time, even kitty corner

Beautiful church in Perth

Eating a meat pie for lunch - how Aussie, eh? :-) - and it was soooooooo delicious!

Another beautiful church in Perth

We also made another wonderful purchase this week. I was talking with Nana about how I wanted to learn to play the piano and she suggested that I found out how much it would cost to take an electric piano with me whenever we are travelling with Dad's work. I talked with Dad about it and he said it would cost a lot to do that as it couldn't just go as a piece of extra luggage. So, we decided that we would go onto the internet to a site in Australia which people list things for sale on and see how much it would cost to get one in each of the cities we travel to. We ended up getting an AMAZING deal on one right here in Perth - it's a Casio 61 key electronic piano which comes with a stand, a seat, a plug and a book stand AND it was only $30. We were so excited to find such a great deal! I also was given a second hand beginner piano book to practice with here (I have an adult beginner book at home from when Terri-Ann started teaching me years ago), so I have been practicing this week. It's a tough slog sometimes (I can see why you had a hard time sitting at the piano to practice for half an hour a day, Jennifer :-) But, I am determined to keep going and it's great having something else to spend my time doing during the day.

Our new electric piano

Dad had another test this week and it was quite a difficult one to study for. Dad spent a lot of time going over his notes and he was a little stressed while studying as there was so much information to go over and to commit to memory. He received 100% on the test - yay! He has two more to go in this coming week - he will be happy when they are all over with.

Dawn and Harry took us on another road trip this weekend - it was a very full couple of days. We walked around the mall, went to a used book sale (where I bought tons of books), went to a craft store (where I bought wool to make Dad some toques - he needs them when he is teaching practical training on the planes at night in the winter in Melbourne and Perth), ate lunch at a British style pub, went for a walk through a historical village (what life was like in the town of Kalamunda in the early 1900s) and had an iced chocolate at a cute cafe.