Nice to see you!

Three major events occurred for me last year (2010), all in the space of about 2 weeks. I turned 50. The following day I got married. Two weeks later, my oldest daughter became pregnant with her first child and my first grandchild.

Most middle-aged people will tell you that in their minds, they still feel 20 something. It's the same for me.

Wasn't it only yesterday that I was planning a night out with guys from the surf club? That gorgeous new perm. Flaired, cuffed denims and the red t-shirt with the off-the-shoulder frill. Corked platform wedgies. **sigh**

Suddenly I'm looking in the mirror and wondering how 30 years can flash by so damned quickly!

So here I am in cyberspace, sharing my genuine shock and horror with anyone who'll listen and maybe I'll even meet some other over 50s who find themselves in the same predicament!

Welcome to my dilemna!!

Friday, January 15, 2016

We Made it!

We enjoyed a pleasant breakfast in Noosaville with Chicklet and Vegan Chickie before we began the drive home, but then, impulsively, we took a short detour by turning left, instead of right,  making our way to Sunshine Plaza for a spot of shopping.

We didn't spend much money, but we spent a lot of time .. maybe 3 hours wandering around the plaza looking for something 'different', but we decided that Sunshine Plaza is like Miranda Fair or Westfield Geelong or Westfield North Lakes. Same shops, same clothes, same shoes, same bags etc etc etc.

Finally, just in time to cook dinner, we arrived home. It was a long day and we had stopped at Sexie Coffee at 5pm for a coffee, which was a mighty mistake for me because I was still awake at 2.45am unable to relax and sleep.

I did manage to wake up at 7.00am and got to pedal down to spend a brief amount of time with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge and then buy some groceries and coffees to bring home.

I had to spend the entire morning editing the remaining town Christmas party photos to send through ready for the January town newsletter.

Next on the agenda was to cook a late roast chicken and veg lunch, which was quite yummy.

I went to the Bowls Club alone tonight, so it was a matter of scratching leftovers and nibbles together for dinner.

I had a chance to briefly look at our holiday photos this afternoon, but no chance to edit them .. I hope that I get to post some next week for your viewing pleasure.

Right now, after only 4 hours sleep last night, I am feeling decidedly tired and need desperately to sleep.

We are taking Adoring Husband into town (or he is taking us) to watch the new Star Wars movie tomorrow. BGWLBH and I also want to have our nails done, so it will be an early start.

For now ...

Nite all.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Hot and Sunny

We had fairly big plans for today, but the hot weather and an exhausted Chicklet reduced the plans somewhat.

Breakfast at a little cafe on the marina, overlooking the water was a nice start to the morning. Beautifully cooked bacon and eggs and delicious coffee with excellent service from the very friendly and efficient staff.

We walked up to the Tewantin shopping area and utilised the new, albeit disappointing, children's park. It has no cover for shade, all of the equipment for playing was too hot to use, there is no fence around it, which seems unsafe considering there is a road on one side and open water on the other.

The main problem being that the main slide is such a big construction that you can't see what your child is doing from one side to the other. As a parent, it's impossible to see where your child is at all times unless you follow closely behind and use the equipment with the child.

We left there and bought some new stickers for activity play and a mini cold bag to keep my coconut yoghurt cold.

Our plan was to go on a ferry ride on the river, but the weather was getting hotter and the walking had sapped the energy from some of us, so we convinced Chicklet that a better idea was to go home to the air conditioning and have fun with the stickers instead.

So we grabbed a couple of take away coffees and headed home.

There was sticker play, then some outside play with the new wind up bird toy, then some quiet time with Mama, then some Minion game play on the bed, then some play with Dadu when he came home for a break, then BGWLBH and I took Chicklet to the park across the road.

Another 'dud' park .. surely built for teenagers, because there was no way for a (not even) 5 yr old to climb onto the equipment and the only way for Chicklet to get to the top of the slide, was to walk up the slide itself (while we held her hands) and turn around to slide back down.

Not even we adults were able to get to the top of the equipment. The rope ladders had such big gaps between each rung that you needed to be a circus acrobat to reach them and there was no solid ladder or means to reach the top level. It was a very strange design.

Anyway, we had a bit of fun with Chicklet there and then returned home for a bath. Waited patiently for our take away Thai dinner to be delivered and then Chicklet headed off to bed early.

We had fun for a couple of hours playing trivia from various web sites and I actually beat BGWLBH for the first time in about 20 years!! Yay for me!!

Tomorrow, we are heading home. It's been fun catching up with the Chicklet family and Chicklet loves BGWLBH, so the visit has been a huge success.

Adoring Husband has been very patient and is looking forward to seeing us tomorrow.

It'll be fun going through all the photos from our trip and I should be able to post some of them in a few days.

Time for sleep now.

Nite all.

Monday, January 11, 2016

Terrific Toowoomba

We loved our room so much, we decided to stay a second night.

We do like Toowoomba. Great shopping. Great food. Great golf club. Great people.

We shopped til we dropped today, spent some time relaxing in our room, played the pokies at the club before enjoying a delicious Thai Chicken and Veg meal in the bistro. The courtesy bus wasn't running, so BGWLBH left earlier than me and walked back to the motel. I got a lift with the security guy on an electric golf buggy through the golf course in the dark .. saw a tawny frogmouth in the headlights too!

Tomorow, we head towards the Sunny Coast to spend a couple of nights with the Chicklet family!

We were saddened to hear the news of David Bowie's passing today ...


RIP David Bowie.
Nite all.

Bloody Ballina

Ridiculous prices for average rooms in bloody Ballina.

We've decided that we don't like Ballina and probably won't include it on our road trip lists in the future.

The only special thing about our accommodation, was the lovely Border Collie, Zac, that greeted me when I arrived ...


We decided to drive to Lismore for breakfast this morning and found a little gallery cafe in town that made delicious food and great coffee.

From there we found some more back roads, stopped in Wiangaree (between Kyogle and Woodenbong) just to take some pics of the river there .. they are on my camera, so you will have to wait for those.

What we noticed most about the properties all along the roads there, was that the lawns and gardens, especially on the acreage properties, were meticulously kept! Very impressive. It was all so lush and green and beautiful too.

We stopped at a little spot that we'd photographed on one of our previous road trips, where there was a running stream and lots of dragonflies. There was a man there this time and he recommended a place called Tooloom Falls and told us that between the falls and the water treatment plant, there were a LOT of platypus (platypi is the incorrect term), but we would need a canoe or kayak to get to them.

We were very excited about the prospect and decided to go in search of the falls and the platypus!

Surprisingly, we found it without too much difficulty and it's a beautiful spot, great for campers, if you like to do it rough. Very picturesque and a lovely swimming hole with good flowing falls. Alas, there were too many people there for platypus to show their faces, so we missed out the wildlife.

The road from there was very tricky. Very windy. Very narrow. Very beautiful. Very lush. Thick rainforest for a good section of it and I could hear so many birds as we drove along!! BGWLBH is a great driver and I felt completely safe - although it seemed the big 4WD vehicles didn't like to move over and we were close to the edge getting out of their way. Luckily, there were only a few to worry about.

It was a lovely drive and we ended up in Toowoomba.

We ate at the golf club, which is pretty special. Nice food. Music. We watched some couples dancing to the slow music for a while and checked out the view of the golf course from the massive glass windows at the rear of the building.

We checked in to a lovely motel and have a beautiful room with very comfortable beds and since it's heading towards 1am, I am going to sleep now!

Having a great time ... wish you were here!

Nite all.