Sunday May 11, 2014

Mat took us to a local farmers market this morning.  It was at the race course and had lots of good food stalls where we had breakfast.  Mat bought some sausages for the BBQ tonight.  We also spotted this stall and wondered how we could dress Mat’s friendly possum.  I thought he would look very cute in these dungarees.

Mat then took us to the Breakfast Creek pub, an institution in Brisbane. The main bar has tiled floors and a tiled bar – almost like a public toilet in England.

It has been flooded on several occasions, the most recent in 2011.  Mat was in the pub at the time and said that in typically Aussie fashion, they announced that the river was rising, so patrons would have enough time to order a couple of more beers before they would have to evacuate the building. !

Monday May 12, 2014

Mat took us to a couple of bike shops today to see if we can get Ralf’s bike fixed.  Unfortunately, because there is not a big “touring” culture here, we couldn’t source the parts.  One store suggested that they could build new wheels for him, but my concern was that they are not familiar enough with touring bikes to ensure that the wheels will stand up to the weight that Ralf carries.  We have decided to wait until we get to the UK and then get new wheels.  The repair that was done to the wheels in Ballina is holding up well.

After the bike shops we headed into downtown Brisbane and went to the museum and a wander around the downtown. The museums are free, although when they have a special exhibition like the one on the Deep Oceans, you pay an entrance fee for the special exhibition, but not the rest of the museum.

In the museum we spotted this information, and laughed when we spotted the resemblance between George Kiprios and Mat’s Dad – Baz.  Wendy (my sister) and Baz now live in Cyprus and Baz is often mistaken for a Cypriot not a fella born and bred in Stoke on Trent.

Mat and I also decided to move some of the street art. He got one end and I got the other, I think you can see I was carrying the heavier end.

We had a very nice lunch on the river then headed home.

 Tuesday May 13, 2014

Mat had to attend some meetings today at work, so we are on our own.  We are doing household chores and I will surprise Mat by doing all his ironing for him.  Ralf is doing yard work.

I miss ironing, I wonder if I could take an iron with me on the next leg?

In Mat and Kelly\’s garden are a pair of stone curlews.  Ralf got this great photo of them, they can be difficult to spot – one is standing, the other is close to the ground. When they are scared they stand stock-still and make a strange call almost like a baby crying.  They are endangered in parts of Australia, and under-threat in other areas due to habitat loss.  My guess is that by standing stock-still instead of running or flying away might contribute to their predation.

Wednesday May 14, 2014

Mat had a great day planned for us today, but, I needed to book flights etc.  We now have our trip booked for Alice Springs and Uluru.  We leave for Alice on Tuesday May 20, 2014 and return on Sunday May 25, 2014.  We have a three day, two night tour to Uluru (Ayers Rock), we will have an extra day in Alice.  There is a 25 km cycle route into the desert we might take if we can rent some good bikes.  I also want to go to the Flying Doctor Service Museum.  We then have a couple of more days with Mat and Kelly before flying to the UK on Wednesday 28 May, 2014 and arrive in London on Thursday 29 May, 2014.

Tomorrow Mat is going to take us on a drive north of here.

Thursday May 15, 2014

We had a wonderful day today.  Mat took us to the Ettamogah pub, again this is for historic reasons not to drink at 10:30 in the morning.

The Ettamogah pub started its life in a series of cartoons drawn by Ken Maynard and published in The Australasian Post for 40 years. The Ettamogah pub was an important part of his cartoons as it epitomized life in Australia at that time.

Mat and I felt sorry for the delivery man who was hauling his delivery up these stairs, there has to be a better way.  We didn’t drink but we did have a good wander around the pub and other shops.

I asked the fella in the wood shop if the wood for a didgeridoo made a difference in the sound.  He explained that the original didgeridoos were made from a hardwood and the sound depended on the size of the hole, the size of the didgeridoo and the player.  Apparently women were not supposed to play as it either made them sterile or fertile, depending on which tribe they were with.

After the pub we went to the Giant Pineapple, unfortunately we couldn’t go inside it as there is going to be a big music event happening this week-end and they were getting prepared for it.

We had a lovely drive through the countryside north of Brisbane to a village called Montville.

It was quite busy, even in the off-season. I cannot imagine what it would be like in the height of the season.  There were some lovely little boutique shops which, if not riding a bike I could probably have bought some souvenirs. However, we did buy some fudge.  I hadn\’t realized what a chocoholic my hubby was until we started this Grand Adventure.  I think this was written for Ralf.

We had lunch in Montville and then carried on to the Glass Mountains.

We spotted camels, (for Andrew) but no Alpacas for Melinda.

The Glass Mountains are incredible.  Mat said this is how he had always imagined Australia to be, with mountains and bushland.  I had always imagined it to be more of the bush land that we have cycled through and not these types of mountains, with the exception of Uluru.

The Glass House Mountains were once lava plugs within volcanic cones.  The volcanic cones and surrounding Landsborough sandstone were eroded by wind and water over 25 million years to reveal the lava plugs which can be seen today.

 

Mat and I took the circular walk which was very nice.  We were looking for koalas but no, we still haven’t spotted any in the wild yet.

Friday May 18, 2014

Another lovely day with Mat.  We had brunch and then went over to his friends place where Mat’s boat is moored.  Mat has bought a small boat with two of his friends (Will and Digger) and it needs a bit of work doing to it.  Mostly cosmetic, cleaning, new cushions etc and some electrical work.  Fortunately one of the three is an electrician.  Tomorrow we have promised to help with the clean up so that we can go fishing on it on Sunday.

Discussing work to be done and naming of the boat.  Three English guys from Burton, Stoke and Bristol – any suggestions.

Saturday May 19, 2014

Boat cleaning day.  Ralf and I spent most of the morning cleaning the inside of the boat, what a brilliant job we made of it too.  Mat and Will went out to get fabric and other stuff needed to clean the boat and Digger worked on the electrics.  By the time Mat and Will got back we were almost done inside.  After a bit of lunch Mat and I covered the benches for the inside with the fabric they had bought and again we did an awesome job.  Although, I hate the fabric.  It is the kind of fabric that when you sit on it leaves a pattern so I had to keep brushing it to make sure the nap all goes in the same direction.  I could never have a sofa made of this stuff, it would drive me insane.

When we got home, Mat and I then attempted to use Kelly’s sewing machine to make the curtains.  We managed to get 3 out of 6 done.  Eventually we gave up and went to bed at well past midnight.