Adventures in Hervey Bay

Sunday, 23 April, 2017

What a wonderful week it's been! It started out with me having an aromatherapy hot stone massage with the lovely Helen - she always does such an amazing job and I am always so relaxed afterwards. That was followed by dinner with Robyn and the missionaries. We love having them all over and especially love the spiritual message which the missionaries leave with us each time they come.

Tuesday, we drove to Nambour (about 2 1/2 hours south of HB) and set up our new camping trailer (which we have named 'Sylvester') for the first time. Can I tell you that we LOVE our new camping trailer!!! It's so spacious and we especially love the couch (which is separate from the seats we sit on at the table - we used it a few times while we were away (from Tuesday afternoon to Friday morning) and it was so relaxing and comfortable. The best part of our time away was that Dad completely relaxed once we got the camping trailer set up. The campground was pretty average, but clean and situated in the middle of lots of beautiful vegetation. There was a pool there, but it wasn't heated and it was too cool to go in - I was disappointed about that as we had planned on doing some aquafit exercises in there.

Our first stop on the way to Nambour - we stopped to have a snack here

We spent most of our time at the campground reading, playing games, doing puzzles, knitting (me 😊) and playing on our ipads. While we were sitting outside one of the days (in our luxurious new camping chairs), a woman who was camped in a bus up the road from our campsite, came over to chat with us. She saw me knitting and mentioned that she does a lot of knitting, so I asked her if I could come up to her campsite and she could show me how to sew up something I had finished knitting - she said 'sure'. I have been knitting a lot, but haven't been happy with the way I have been taught by a few people how to sew up my creations. Camping people are quite friendly and we said 'hi' to a few people at the campground and waved to a few as they were driving in and out of the campground.

Rainforest Holiday Village - our first campground with our new camping trailer

Dad sitting eating our lunch at the campground before we set up the camping trailer

Our camping trailer set up and me reading (I am wearing my bathing suit as we had gone down to the pool to do some aquafit exercises, but the water was way too cold)

Dad eating our first dinner at the campground - Dad insisted that we had to have weiners and beans 😊

Dad eating breakfast outside - note the beautiful rainforest behind him

Me knitting (doesn't it all look so relaxing) in our new luxurious chairs

Dad relaxing doing a puzzle in our new luxurious chairs

Wild turkey in the campsite next to ours

There were three wild turkeys there

Dad cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast on the cooktop in the camping trailer

The final product

Dad, the scruffbucket - he forgot his shaver and so went the whole three days without shaving

While we were camping, we drove in to Maroochydore (on the coast) to visit with our previous Bishop and his wife, Diana (the Browns). They moved from HB while we were in Canada last year. Last week, we ran into them at a mall here in town (they had come up just for the day) and they told us to call them when we got to the campground so that we could come and visit with them in their new place. They live in a cute little unit right across the road from the Paynter River - what a magnificent view! We chatted and they served us a delicious lunch (curried egg salad sandwiches - yummy!). It was great to catch up with them again.

Diana, me and Bishop Brown

The view from the Brown's unit - isn't it beautiful

It poured rain the night before we were leaving which meant that the camping trailer wasn't conpletely dry before we had to pack it up to come home. Fortunately, yesterday was a decent enough day that we were able to put it up in the backyard and dry it out before we packed it away again. It is now parked in our back yard up on cement paving stones until we figure out how we are going to permanently store it. We were going to go away camping again this coming week, but the forecast is for more rain and, since we are going to Melbourne on Friday and the trailer has to be completely dry before we come home from camping, we didn't want to take a chance on it. So, it looks like we won't be taking Sylvester out again until August.

As soon as we got home from camping and we had brought our stuff into the house, it was time for me to go to see Helen again for a facial. It has been seven weeks since my last one - way too long! 😊 It was as heavenly as always and I am looking forward to having another one next week which will have to do me for three months.

Yesterday, I met up with my teacher friend, Luise, for another iced chocolate and catch-up time. Both of us can yak up a storm, so we had no problem filling up the hour and a half we were together. I am meeting up with her and some other teacher friends again on Thursday. 😊

Me and Luise

Today at church, I saw Scarlett who is one of the little girls who I babysat just before we went to Melbourne - that was the day I jumped on the trampoline, made cookies and read with her and her sister, Indiana. Scarlett's mom, Lisa, is pregnant with twins and I was just talking with her last night and let her know that I will be here this week if she and her hubby, Ben, would like to go out or if she would like me to take the girls while she rests. I told Scarlett that I had asked her mummy about looking after them this week. She was quite happy about that, so hopefully Lisa will call and I can go over there to hang out with the girls again - it was nice that Scarlett wants me to come over and do that.

Sunday, 16 April, 2017

What would a week look like for us if it wasn't full - haha. First, our big news.............we picked up our new Jayco camping trailer last Monday and we are so excited - it looks beautiful set up in our back yard - we can't wait to set it up in a campground. 😊 That afternoon, we went to a local camping store and checked out some supplies we knew we would need. When we were in the store, we saw the manager of the store who we had talked with at a prior visit and I told him we were there to get a ton of stuff and would be coming to him to see what kind of a deal he would give us (yeah, I know, a little assertive of me, eh?). 😊 He readily agreed and told us to come to him once we had completed our list. We ended up buying over $1,200. worth of stuff and we got a really good deal from the manager which we were thrilled about. We went to a number of other stores to complete our list of items we think we will need. There will likely be more things to buy once we have gone on our first camping trip in our new trailer.

Our brand new Jayco Swan camping trailer at the Jayco Service Centre

Dad and Tim (the Service Centre Rep) - Tim showed Dad how to set up the trailer and use all of the items in the trailer

Dad winding up the trailer

Dad pulling out one of the beds on the trailer

The couch in the trailer - we love the colours we chose

Dad checking out the cook-top -- there is a grill and a microwave as well, but no oven

Dad and Tim putting up the door of the trailer

Dad hooking up the trailer to the car

Dad in front of the trailer on our driveway

Our car and trailer in our driveway

Dad and I need to get our temple recommends renewed and so we decided that our first camping trip would be to a place near our Stake Centre called Nambour. That way, we can get our temple recommend interviews and try out our new camping trailer at the same time. We are going for three days (Tues., Wed., and Thurs.) and it is just what Dad especially needs - camping is so relaxing and there is no work to be done while we are there. We are also planning on taking another three day camping trip the following week up to a beautiful little place called Woodgate which is not far from Hervey Bay.

I only got to go to one exercise class this week - an aquafit class - but, I thoroughly enjoyed being back in Ann's class - she is such a great instructor. While we are camping, I want to continue to get some exercise and so I am going to get an aquafit routine off the internet which I can use in the pool at the campground. Dad and I bought pool noodles (long floating tubes) to float on in the pool (and which I can use to do some of the aquafit exercises).

I had two social visits this week - both at the "Coffee Club" - one with my teacher friend, Brownyn and one with my church friend, Haidi. Two iced chocolates in one week - yummy! 😊 It was great catching up with my two friends and I have a couple more catch-ups next week which I am looking forward to.

Haidi and me

On Thursday, I went over to Robyn's place for lunch and to try out her new hot tub - I was her first official guest! 😊 It is a really beautiful one - big enough for five people - we had a wonderful time soaking in it and chatting away - I am hoping to get in more visits each time we are back in Hervey Bay. Thursday was a busy day - I also had a facial (it's been way too long - seven weeks 😊) and it was as fabulous as I remembered. We also had the missionaries over for dinner (along with Robyn) which is always a favourite thing of ours to do.

Robyn's new hot tub

Look at all the bubbles 😊

Me in Robyn's hot tub

On Saturday, we had our friends, Bill and Faye over for dinner (Bill used work with Dad at QAC) and it was great to catch up with them again. They also bought a Jayco camping trailer exactly like ours (except their's is an outback model which is built with a stronger frame, bigger tires and suspension so that it can be towed by a four-wheel drive off-road). They have taken it out a couple of times already and so we talked a lot about their experiences and they shared some of their ideas with us on changes/improvements we can make to our trailer to make it better.

Dad gave a talk in church today - he was the final speaker - and spoke on the Atonement. As usual, he did a great job of delivering his talk and received a number of compliments after the meeting on how good it was. It is always nice to have your long hours of research, preparation and practice of the talk be appreciated.

Sunday, 9 April, 2017

Phew! We are back home and Dad is very happy to be done this course. He really enjoys teaching, but this course has been quite draining since he basically had to create the course. The guys all passed - all of the guys already had experience working on the B737, but needed to take this course to make it official on their licenses.

I spent my week going to the gym and socializing (big surprise there, eh? 😊) On Tuesday, I met up with my Aunt Beth (Poppy's sister) in Brisbane. We met at 'The Coffee Club' and sat there the whole time we visited (5 hours). I enjoyed an iced chocolate (of course!) for morning tea and we stayed there for lunch as well (I was good for lunch only having a ham, cheese and tomato sandwich). It was so nice visiting with Aunt Beth - we get along really well and never have trouble filling in the time chatting with each other. It's nice to find out what my cousins and their families have been up to, as well. Because Aunt Beth is nine years younger than Poppy and she moved to Sydney when she was quite young, I never got to know her kids when I lived in Australia, so this gives me a chance to get to know them, through her, a little better..

Aunt Beth

See the bird in the middle of the picture behind the table? It just flew in the cafe - it happens all the time and it doesn't faze anyone - it walked around checking for any crumbs on the floor and then made its way back outside again

A beautiful church I saw from the bus on my way home from hanging out with Aunt Beth

On Thursday, Dad and I met up with Niles, a fellow instructor of Dad's, for dinner. Niles chose the restaurant, a little German place called 'Des Alpes', which he raved about to us. The meals were a bit pricey, so we figured that they would be big portions - Dad and I decided to get a salad each and then share the main meal. Not such a good idea. The portions were quite small, although the food was tasty. We had a great time catching up with Niles - he is such a nice guy and so easy to talk with. We were hungry after we left him, though, so we drove to the nearest Hungry Jack's (Burger King) for a kid's burger. 😏

Me sitting outside of 'Des Alpes' waiting for Niles

We noticed the doll and teddy on the 'swings' near 'Des Alpes' - how cute!

Table which we sat at to wait for Niles - I love the saying written on it

Here is the meal Dad and I shared - three little pieces of meat - pork and beef - about four bites each and a glorified hash brown

Dad, me and Niles at 'Des Alpes'

On Friday, I walked to QAC (Dad's work) to meet up with Dawn and to see Melinda (one of Dad's bosses) and her new baby - Ava Grace - she is three weeks old and such a cute and healthy looking baby. I got to snuggle with her (when I could get her off Dawn {the grandma}) and it was so nice having a baby in my arms again. After we got our cuddles in, Dawn and I went off to the mall to spend some time hanging out there together. Even though I am not a big fan of shopping, it always seems that I end up buying something while I am with Dawn. 😊 This time, it was a blue purse I have been looking for for ages, a security bag that I am going to use when we go to France and Italy in June and some dresses for my granddaughters (yep, spoiling them again, what can I say? 😊

Ava Grace Murphy - isn't she such a cutie

Me holding Ava

Dad and I spent Saturday morning cleaning the house and getting it ready for the next instructor to come to. Then, finally, it was off for home - it was a 3 1/2 hour drive and we drove straight through. Even though we enjoy travelling around Australia for Dad's work, it is always so nice to come home. We are here for three weeks now, which will go fast, I am sure - we always seem to end up having no trouble filling up our time while we are home.

Sunday, 2 April, 2017

We only have one more week here in Brisbane. Dad's first week of the practical course went okay. It started off well with the airplane being available for Monday and Tuesday, but then it wasn't available on Wednesday or Thursday. Fortunately, it was available on Friday again. Dad really enjoys this part of the course and his students are really liking being able to look at the airplane and talk about things they have discussed in the classroom. Dad has also made up a number of troubleshooting activities for the guys to do and that's really helpful and useful to them as it's really applicable to their work.

I continued on with the gym this week and by Tuesday, I had reached my second weight goal. I decided to treat myself to a manicure, so off I went to the mall after my yoga class. I went back to the same nail place I had been to before and had another lovely pampered session. The photos don't really show the colour I chose - but, since the nail polish on my nails comes off after about three days, I chose a silver sparkle polish which doesn't show as much when it chips off.

My silver sparkly nail polish - how long before I start biting my fingernails, though :-0

Thursday was a very exciting day here in Brisbane - on Wednesday, Cyclone Debbie hit land way up north in Queensland and created a ton of devastation. On Thursday, however, the effects of the cyclone were felt all the way down the coast of Queensland and into New South Wales. The rain was so heavy all day and the wind was whipping around like crazy. So much so, that the government closed a number of schools in Queensland as they were really concerned about flooding and suggested that businesses close at noon and allow their employees to get home safely. I had been following the news all morning and was messaging with Dad to let him know what they were saying. Shortly after 10:30am, Dad told me that he had sent the guys home and that he would be home in half an hour. I was glad that he did that as we had no idea how bad things would get. Fortunately for us, although it rained a ton that day, it never amounted to anything in Windsor (where the house is located).

Today, Dad and I drove to a city called Ipswich (about 40 minutes from where we are staying) to visit with our friends, Trudy and Peter (I am annoyed with myself that I didn't get a photo of them while we were there - grrr). They used to live in Hervey Bay, but when Trudy retired from teaching at the university in HB, they decided to move close to one of their children (about ten minutes away) and closer to the Brisbane Temple. They have a lovely home, although, as it turned out, their daughter has since moved away from there (lesson: don't move close to your children cuz they will move away :-) Trudy made us a delicious lunch and we visited with them for about four hours. It was really nice to catch up with them and to see how they have been making out since they left HB.

Sunday, 26 March, 2017

Dad was home all this week prepping for next week when he will start the hands-on part of the course. It was nice to have him home for lunch every day. He spent most of his days in the office, so I spent most of my time either at the gym or knitting. I did go out on Wednesday to the mall and met up with Dad's boss' wife, Dawn, for another round of shopping, chatting eating and iced chocolate. :-)

Yesterday, I took the bus to the mall so that I could get a pedicure. I decided that my reward for losing the first ten pounds was to get my nails done. I love being pampered and it was wonderful at this nail place. I sat on the massage chair and relaxed while the young girl gave me the spa pedicure. It took her an hour from start to finish (including drying time) and it was heaven. :-)

I love getting bright colours on my toenails :-)

Dad picked me up from the mall and we drove to a restaurant called 'Harry's Diner' for dinner. We have decided that we will go out once a month for a meal. This place is set up like a 50's diner - mostly hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries and milkshakes on the menu. Dad and I shared a meal: hamburger, french fries, onion rings - and an A & W root beer for Dad and an iced chocolate for me. The food was delicious, but Dad and I decided that it was a bit expensive for what we got. It's always nice to try new places, though.