Sunday, 27 August, 2017

Dad started his course this past Monday - he is teaching a course on the Fokker 100 airplane for five weeks - three weeks of theory and 2 weeks of hands-on.  He has 17 students on this course, including one girl, and most of them are pretty young fresh engineers.  They are all keen and enthusiastic students and have been asking lots of questions which Dad really likes.  It did take a couple of days for the students to 'warm up' to Dad after having had a previous instructor who began the course.  They all passed the first exam and Dad was pleased about that.

I started attending my classes at the leisure centre and I am really enjoying them.  I was able to get in three aquafit classes this week and the instructor really has us moving fast and hard in the water.  The same instructor teaches a 'Movement to Music' class which is basically exactly what it says - and I love the music as it's 70's stuff which I can sing along to (in my mind 😂).  I also did two 'Body Balance' classes (a combination of tai chi, yoga and pilates).  I had my first 'Face2Face' appointment with Brendon, the fitness trainer, at the gym part of the leisure centre.  He asked me a bunch of questions about what I am hoping to get out of the work I do at the gym and took some of my measurements.  He was to prepare a workout program for me during this week and we will meet again this coming week to discuss it.

On Friday, after Dad's work, we drove to Bunbury which is 2 hours south of Perth to spend the weekend with John and Sheila, a couple we had met on our last cruise.  They were in our trivia group and we got along so well with them.  They are originally from England, but have been in Australia for about 35 years.  They were fabulous hosts.  When we arrived, they showed us to our room and there on the bed were two towels which Sheila and bought for us and had embroidered our names on them.  We had a delicious lamb shank meal for dinner and then spent the rest of the evening chatting and catching up on what we had all been doing since January when we met on our cruise.

The towels waiting for us on our bed - such a thoughtful gift

Yesterday, after a delicious breakfast of crepes (made from scratch by John) with fresh fruit and Canadian maple syrup, they took us out for the day.  We started with a drive around Bunbury (not a lot to see) and then it was time for 'morning tea' - white hot chocolate for Dad and iced chocolate for me.

View of Bunbury from a lookout

These coloured houses in Bunbury reminded me of San Francisco

More views of Bunbury from the lookout

Dad with his hot chocolate for 'morning tea'

and my iced chocolate - what else?

More views of Bunbury from our cafe where we had morning tea

 We then drove to 'Gnomesville' - it is a 'city' in the bush with a population of about 7,000 garden gnomes.  No-one knows exactly how it started, but someone placed a gnome in one area and others added to it.  When it got to be a traffic hazard where it originally started, it was relocated to the bush area where it is now.  People from all over the world have placed gnomes there - it is truly an incredible sight to see.

Gnomesville

By this time, it was lunch and so we drove to a lovely little vineyard and winery with a little cafe attached.  It's called 'The Green Door' and there is actually a green door in the restaurant which came from Spain.  We shared a couple of nice lunch platters (crackers, cheese, pate, fruit, bread, pickles, etc) which were delicious.

Our platters for lunch at the 'Green Door'

Dad and I standing in the doorways of the 'Green Door'

The other side of the doors of the 'Green Door' (vineyard and winery)

The view from where we were sitting at lunch

We went back to John and Sheila's house for the afternoon and just had another relaxing time chatting with them.  We had asked them to choose a restaurant which we could take them to for dinner and they chose one called the 'Back Beach Cafe'.  They had never been, but it had been recommended by their daughter.  The view was fabulous (see pics below) from the restaurant and the food was quite tasty (although it was barely warm).

Parrots and galahs on Sheila and John's lawn

Me with the sun setting behind me

The sun set quite quickly so we didn't have to wait long for Dad to get all of these photos

Dad's seafood basket for dinner

My dinner - chicken parma

Sheila, John, me and Dad having dinner

Today, John and Sheila invited some friends over for lunch - they met this couple on the cruise they took in May, and the woman, who spent some years in Canada, wanted to meet us when Sheila told them we were coming.  The wife had spent 12 years growing up in the Jane and St. Clair area of Toronto - she enjoyed reminiscing about her time there with us.  We had such a lovely relaxing weekend with John and Sheila and we hope to be able to do it again next time we are in Perth.

Sunday, 20 August, 2017

The weather in Hervey Bay has been so beautiful - we love living here - our winter temperatures this week have been a high of 25C - but, still a bit cool at night.  It's not hard to live with, that's for sure.

The first half of this week was filled with appointments (including another facial 😁) , a morning tea with a bunch of retired teachers, a lunch with my friend, Bronwyn, and a dinner with Robyn and friends, Thea, Rachael and Fiona (and yes, more iced chocolates were had 😃).  My friend, Maureen gave me a wooden giraffe that her daughter wanted to get rid of - Maureen knows how much I love giraffes and so she rescued it and gave it to me - so thoughtful of her - and now the giraffe has a place of honour in our front hall.  It's quite worn, but we are just saying that it has a lot of character. 😊

 Lunch with Bronwyn

Morning tea with the teachers - this is my friend, Luise

Dinner with Thea, Fiona, Robyn and Rachael

On Wednesday night, Dad and I went to Robyn's for dinner - she also invited Thea and her daughter, Rachael, to join us.  Thea and Rachael used to live in Hervey Bay, but Thea's husband, Martin, could not find work here and so they moved back to Perth.  It was great to catch up with them (they had stayed at our house on Tuesday night and at Robyn's on Wednesday night).  It was also great to be able to spend more time with Robyn since we are travelling so much right now.

On Wednesday, Dad texted the instructor, who was staying in the Perth unit which the company recently purchased, to let him know that we would be coming out on Thursday (early) and staying with him at the unit.  Dad got a text back saying 'no, don't come until Saturday when I have left'.  Dad texted him back and told him that the flights had already been booked.  He received another text back saying that he (the instructor) was 'very angry' about this.  Dad didn't know what to think about it all and so he messaged the training manager to find out what was going on.  It turned out that this instructor has been really ornery for the past three months and so we thought it better to not stay at the unit.  Dad found it all a bit unsettling and I was upset that this instructor upset Dad.

We decided that we would still like to go early and so we booked into an Airbnb just down the street from the unit.  It turned out to be a perfect place to stay.  The guesthouse was in the back yard of a house owned by Crystal and her brother, Joel.  It was built for their grandma and then rented to a friend and now Crystal has decided to list it as an Airbnb place.  The design was really well thought out and it was quite roomy.  The bed and pillows were so comfortable.  Crystal provided cereal, milk, bread, peanut butter, jam and vegemite for breakfast which was really appreciated.  Dad and I mostly relaxed for the two days we stayed there.  It was great after being full-on for the past 2 1/2 months.  We also spent some time walking around the area to get to know the neighbourhood - it's close to the airport where Dad will be teaching, as well as close to the leisure centre/gym (which I signed up for), the library and a large mall.

 The Airbnb unit

We moved into the company unit yesterday and it's really nice - a two-storey, three bedroom house in an eight house complex. There's a nice park down the street which we could go walking around when Dad gets home from work each night.  We need to get back to our exercise and eating plan - we didn't do so well when we were in Canada. 😏

 The company house

The living room looking out into the back yard

Today, we went to church in the Cloverdale Ward (which we attended last time we were here last year) and the Bishop still remembered us, which was nice.  Some other members also welcomed us back to the ward and one man even said that, since we were going to be here for five weeks, they could extend a calling to us.  We laughed and told him that they had said the same thing to us when we were in Melbourne. 😊

Sunday, 13 August, 2017

Yay, we made it home safe and sound - and were greeted with heavy rain when we arrived in Hervey Bay.  No matter - we were just happy to be home! 😃

This week has been full-on as it always is when we get home after being away for a while.  We did take Monday off to recuperate from jetlag - even though we do get to sleep up front in the airplane, we still find that it takes a few days to get back on track.

Starting on Tuesday, though, it was 'hit the ground running' time.  We had to drive to Bundaberg on Tuesday to have the Jayco people do their three month inspection on our camping trailer.  We have only used it once, but we had noticed a couple of things which needed repairing and the mechanics found one more thing to fix, so it was a worthwhile trip.  We were hoping to spend a couple of days camping up near there in a place called Bargara which is a cute place on the coast, but the night temperatures were a bit too cool for us without some kind of heating, so we decided to give it a miss this time.  Hopefully, fingers crossed, we will have some time to do some camping when we get back from Perth in five weeks.  We did go to Bargara for the day and enjoyed lunch there and lovely walk along the beach.

Enjoying lunch by the beach in Bargara (me eating a chiko roll and Dad with his fish and chips)

The rest of this week has been filled with pampering myself (a massage and a facial), catching up with friends (Maureen, Robyn and Haidi (all from church) and Luise (a teacher friend) and appointments (chiropractor and optometrist).

 Maureen at 'Happy Days'

 My lunch at 'Happy Days' - a pulled lamb sandwich

 My first iced chocolate after returning from Canada (oh, how I have missed you 😁)

 The view from the restaurant, the 'Homemade Cafe', where Robyn and I had lunch

 Robyn with her iced chocolate

Me with my yummy lunch (quiche, chips and salad) and my iced chocolate

I forgot to take a  pic of me and Haidi at 'The Coffee Club' where I had ANOTHER iced chocolate and my phone had died when I tried to take a pic of me and Luise at 'Happy Days' with another iced chocolate (do you see a pattern here ).

While I was out socializing with my friends, Dad spent his time relaxing at home - well most of the time - playing his racing game on the ipad and watching episodes of 'Star Trek'.

This following week doesn't look any less busy - it will be nice to get to Perth for a break.  We actually will fly out Thursday to Perth so that we can get ourselves familiar with the new townhouse Dad's company, QAC, has bought and with the area surrounding the unit.  We are also going to catch up with some friends in Perth which will be great.

Sunday, 21 May, 2017

Another week pretty much the same as last week - from Monday to Friday, anyway.  Dad continued on with his course - another exam with all passing - and only having to prep a short time each night.  I continued on with my knitting group and exercise groups.

Yesterday, we went geocaching - it was so nice to be able to get out in nature and do some treasure hunting at the same time.  It was a bit of a windy day, but the sky was blue and the sun was shining, so it was a really good day to be out and about.  Dad had downloaded four geocache locations for us to find.  We didn't have any luck with the first two even though we spent quite a bit of time searching for them.  We found the third one which was a bit of an easy one and we also found the fourth one, although we think that the co-ordinates might have been off a bit.  The co-ordinates led us to a stone wall and I checked in every crevice with no luck.  Dad then read the clue and it said something about a hinge - there was a gate to the parking lot which was near the wall, so we checked out the hinge area on the gate, but couldn't find anything.  We then thought to look at the other end of the gate and we found the geocache inside a part at the end of the gate.  It was listed as a micro geocache and was it ever micro - it was magnetic and was about 1/2" x 1/4"!  Even though we didn't find all four, we had a great time being outside together!

 The orange stuff on the tree is sap - I have never seen sap like that

Me pointing to where we found the easy geocache

We went out to dinner last night with Niles.  We wanted to try some Middle Eastern food which had been listed on our eating plan and so we headed off to a Lebanese restaurant close to where we are staying here.  It turns out that we both really like Lebanese food - we had lamb and chicken shawarma (basically cooked and shaved meat in a sauce) served over rice, with tabouli (parsley, tomato, mint, bulgur and onion with an oil and lemon juice dressing), chicken and sausage shish kabobs, falafels (deep fried chick pea balls) and pitas.  All of the food was so yummy and we will definitely be heading back there again next time we are in Melbourne.

 Dad holding our iced chocolate which we shared - it was really really nice :-)

 Me with our dinner which we shared

The brown goodie on this plate is a falafel

Sunday, 14 May, 2016

Not much to report this week actually.  Dad's course continues to go well and he only has been spending a couple of hours each night preparing for the next day's class.  The guys had another exam this week and they all passed.

I went to my Aquafit, Body Balance, Tai Chi and Body Basics classes again this week.  The Body Basics one this week was interesting - our teacher had us doing Tae Bo which, according to Google, is an exercise system combining elements of aerobics and kick-boxing.  I can tell you that it is a really good aerobics workout - I was sweating a lot (dripping) by the time we were finished the class! :-)

We spent yesterday morning working (Dad on his course and me on the cleaning the house) and then we just just relaxed for the rest of the day.  We had thought about going geocaching, but we just never got ourselves in gear to get going.  We did get take-out for dinner - on the eating plan we are doing, it was suggested to have Tandoori chicken.  After checking with Niles (the other instructor staying here) if it was spicy or not (it's NOT), we decided to go and buy it at a local Indian take-away restaurant.  We had the chicken with rice, raita (yogurt with cucumber and carrot), dhal (lentils and kidney beans in a sauce) and naan bread - Dad also tried a mango lassi (like a smoothie) - all of the food was so delicious and we are definitely going to put it on our menu plan for the future.

Today is Mother's Day and all the women at church were given a lovely corsage when we came in to the chapel.  We were also given a homemade cookie which the Bishop actually made himself - it was very yummy. :-)

Me wearing the lovely corsage given to all the women at church today - Mother's Day

Sunday, 7 May, 2017

It's been a good week here in Melbourne - and Wagga Wagga....more about that last one later.

We are sharing the house with Niles, another one of QAC's instructors, who is teaching a different course at the same location as Dad.  We have shared with Niles before and we all get along really well.  Dad's course is going well so far - there are 14 guys on the course - and they all passed the first exam, although one guy made it right on the least amount he could get before he would have had to sit it again.  Dad has only had to do about an hour of work each night, so we have been able to go for a walk every day when he gets home from work.  It's nice for us to be able to walk together for health reasons, but it's also good for us to be able to chat and get caught up on each other's day.

I went to the Leisure Centre on Monday and signed up for the four weeks we are going to be here.  I started classes on Monday and have been able to go to a class every weekday: Aquafit twice a week, Body Balance, Tai Chi and a Back to Basics class which is a very easy aerobics class for over 50's.  I have enjoyed the classes so far - people who met me last time we were here welcomed me back which was really nice, too.

On Friday night, Dad and I drove to Wagga so that we could spend some time over the weekend visiting with Auntie Norma - she is still in the nursing home and will be for good.  She isn't happy being in the there, or rather she isn't happy with her body which has let her down and the cause of her having to be in there.  She has been such an independent woman all her life and it's hard to go from being like that to having to depend on someone for everything.  She can move her arms a little, but not even enough to change the channels on the tv or take a drink - it's sad to see actually.

The beautiful sunset nearing Wagga Wagga

It turned out that my cousin, Rosie, and her daughter, Lauren, came in from Sydney earlier on Friday as they both had time off work and wanted to come and see Auntie Norma again.  Dad and I got to Wagga around 6:30pm (a five hour drive with one stop) on Friday so, after grabbing some dinner, we went and got in a 90 minute visit with Auntie Norma.  She had already seen Rosie and Lauren twice that day and then a visit from us in the evening, so that really made her day.  Auntie Norma is very quick witted and there is definitely nothing wrong with her mind. 😊  It was sometimes hard to understand what she was saying - I am not sure if she just isn't able to open her mouth bigger or if something else is causing her to not speak clearly all the time.  So, sometimes, I asked her to repeat what she said and sometimes I just nodded or laughed if she was laughing - I just didn't want to keep asking her to repeat everything and have her get frustrated.

We stayed at my cousin, Beth's  place - she is Auntie Norma's daughter and lives down the street from the nursing home.  I really didn't know Beth when we were growing up in Wagga as she is four years younger than me, so it's nice to be able to get to know her better now that we have both grown up and we get to spend time together when we go to Wagga.  Beth is really nice and we have some things in common, so it was really easy to talk with her.

Me and my cousin, Beth

Yesterday morning, we went and spent another 90 minutes visiting with Auntie Norma - she was much more animated this morning - I guess having a good night's sleep made her feel more alert.  When the nurse brought Auntie Norma her lunch (the nurse has to feed it to her), Dad and I drove downtown and met up with Rosie and Lauren for lunch.  Rosie suggested a Thai restaurant - I remember Terri-Ann saying that she liked Pad Thai and so we decided to give it a go.  I loved my Pad Thai - it came with noodles - not sure if that is 'normal', but it was delicious!!!  Dad had a different meal and he enjoyed his as well.  We had a great time chatting with Rosie and Lauren while we ate - they are both easy going people and very easy to talk with.  After our meal, they wanted to go for a coffee, so we joined them and had an iced chocolate.

 Lauren, me and Rosie eating Thai

Dad with his iced chocolate

On the way back from lunch, Dad and I stopped at the Wagga Showground where the Rotary Club was having a book fair - you know I can't resist books, especially those at great prices.  We stayed for about 45 minutes - I would have loved to have stayed longer, but that's about as long as we could stay since I wanted to get in another visit with Auntie Norma.  I only bought 8 books - pretty good, eh?  😊  I would have bought more if we had been in Hervey Bay, but there is only so much room in our suitcases to take books back. 😊 Dad went to the 'Health' section at the book fair and actually found a book we have been looking for - it's a Low GI Diet book - our chiropractor suggested we look into going on that I had found one in a bookstore, but it was $25.  I have been humming and hahing about buying it after looking at a copy from the library and finding it very useful.  Dad's find meant we only had to pay $2.50 for it - pretty good find, eh?

Dad needed to get some work done during the weekend, so I suggested he drop me off at the nursing home after lunch and then go back to Beth's to work.  Rosie and Lauren were there when I got there, so we all four visited for about 90 minutes before they had to meet a friend for dinner.  I stayed on for another hour and chatted with Auntie Norma - I think she enjoyed all this attention she was getting.  She does get visitors occasionally during the week, but never this many people or for such long visits, either.

 Me, Auntie Norma, Rosie, Lauren at the nursing home

Close-up of the four of us

Dad and Beth picked me up at dinner time and we went out for dinner - we wanted to take Beth out to thank her for letting us stay at her place.  We went to a local club which has a bistro with yummy comfort food.  I got a chicken parmagiana meal and Beth got Bangers and Mash and then Dad shared with both of us. 😊  The food was as good as we remembered it from the last time we went there and we had another nice time chatting with Beth and getting to know her better.

Today, we got in another hour long visit with Auntie Norma before we had to leave to get back to Melbourne.  It was so nice being able to spend the time in Wagga with my rellies (Aussie slang for 'relatives' 😊) and especially to spend time with Auntie Norma.

Sunday, 30 April, 2017

This week was our last week off before Dad starts work again.  It was, as usual, full of activities....haircuts, doctor's visit, missionaries for dinner, chiropractor appointment and a facial.

 My new haircut - I decided to go quite short and I really like it!

There were also two social outings (for me, of course 😊)....the first was with my friend, Maureen - she is the same age as Nana and we just clicked when we met each other in Hervey Bay years ago.  Every time I get back to the Bay, she and I do lunch and a movie.  We ended up going to a little cafe in town, 'Chatters on the Bay', which Dad and I had checked out on Monday (and we loved it) and Maureen and I really enjoyed our meal as well.  Maureen chose the movie which was 'Beauty and the Beast' and I wasn't really looking forward to it, but it turned out to be really good - I was surprised.  I wouldn't take Sienna, Juliette or Kendall to see it until they are a little older as it's a bit scary in parts (especially the beast), but I think it would be suitable once they are about 8 years old.

Me and Maureen at 'Chatters on the Bay' 

My second outing was with my teacher friends - six of us met for morning tea (another iced chocolate for me 😊) and we had a nice yak together - it's always great to catch up with them (most of whom are retired and very happy to be so).  The one teacher who isn't retired and teaches grade one told us that there are a few behaviour issues in her class and she is tired of it all.  I definitely got out when the going was good.

Dad and I ate lunch out on Thursday at a new place called the 'Happy Days Diner' - it is pretty much like its name says .... a diner which basically serves hamburgers, hot dogs and shakes (among other things).  Dad and I shared a hot dog and fries and they were quite good.  I took tons of pics of the place as it really has a 50's vibe.

 Dad with our hot dog and french fries - that's my iced chocolate in the pic 😊

 Me in a booth at the 'Happy Days Diner' - 50s/60s music actually plays on the jukebox

 Decorations on one of the walls

 Large jukebox in the diner

 Another wall

 Just inside the front of the diner

 Where you place your order

 One of the employees in 50s garb

 One of the creations at the 'Happy Days Diner' - it was made for a young boy and I asked him if I could take a pic of it - it's an iced chocolate with chocolate, candy, a donut and candy floss added - sugar high to be sure

Mural painted on the outside of the diner

On Friday, Dad and I flew to Melbourne and stayed the night in an airport hotel as one of Dad's colleagues and his family were staying in the unit.  Dad is teaching a four week course here on the A320 - it will be nice for him (and for me) to be teaching this course as he has taught it a number of times before and he won't have to spend a ton of time prepping.  After the number of hours he had to put in each day on the course when we were in Brisbane, it's nice to be teaching a familiar course.  

Today, we went to the Glenroy ward - the one we always go to when we are here - and we received our usual warm welcome from the members.  Our Canadian friends, the Bishop and his wife, Colin and Debbie Coates, were still there so it was nice to sit and chat with Debbie again.