Committed Travellers

We were having an early morning cup of tea in bed, when Blue projectile vomited yellow bile. He was having a quiet cuddle and gave no warning of the impending discharge. Only our pillows escaped! Anita was hardly awake while we were stripping the bed.

Our window tint workers arrived soon after that first problem was sorted out. They did a very careful job of scrapping off excess silicone and other spits and spots before using a special machine to clean the glass. I asked what the machine did and learnt that essentially it foamed up baby shampoo. After the film was applied, the windows looked brand new. I haven’t rushed to replace the flyscreens or blinds as I want to assess the impact of the tinting on the claimed heat reduction.

I saw my GP about the lingering Covid symptoms, but there doesn’t appear to be any treatment to speed up recovery. I will continue with a puffer to reduce my coughing and rest as much as possible.

We spent the afternoon watching the cricket and researching flights and hotels for our European trip. Bluey was quiet all day, but wanting to sit on a human lap. He recovered well enough to want to eat, so he had two small meals.

I had to empty water from the pool again as the level had risen 70 mm from the rain. I carefully opened the doors and lifted the roof off the pool equipment shed, and managed to complete the job without disturbing this blue tongue lizard.

I walked Bluey to the park and caught up with a couple of friends. When I got home, Anita was mopping up water from the bathroom floor, the result of the bath overflowing. She got distracted and forgot she was running a bath. I siphoned water out of the bath into the floor drain and helped dry the floor. She had run a hot bath so the floor was warm under foot.

I went downstairs to see if any water was dripping through the ceiling of the bedroom under the bathroom. I could hear dripping onto the top of the ceiling, but so far, it has not soaked through the plasterboard. We moved the mattress, bedding, and lamps to another room in case water does start to drip through. We will just have to wait and see if there will be any significant damage.

We don’t know what material was used for the floor under the bathroom tiles, but house plans state the bedroom ceiling under the bathroom was to be soundcheck gyprock lining and acoustic bats were to be installed between the bathroom floor and the ceiling of the bedroom. I think this was done as it is quiet in the bedroom when someone walks around upstairs in the bathroom, except the sewerage pipes were not soundproofed! Both downstairs bedrooms have sewerage pipes hidden behind a plasterboard wall in the wardrobes. These should have been installed outside the house.

Just after finishing that job, a neighbour rang to say she had an alert from her alarm company. She is away so asked me to check her house from the street. It all looked OK, but I will suggest she upgrade her sensors as she often gets these alerts and they are probably caused by geckos or insects.

By mid afternoon, the rain finally stopped. It hasn’t been torrential here but there has been a lot of rain. The Nerang River is in minor flood with lots of vegetation floating near the shore.

I decided to wash the flyscreens we removed yesterday. This proved to be an unnecessary task as our housekeeper has kept them clean. We don’t often open the western windows because it is easier to open the bifold doors onto the verandah.

Furniture has been moved away from the wall to allow access to the windows for tinting, which is confusing for the critters.

We went out to dinner with friends at the casino. There was a lovely display of pink flowers in the foyer.

We could see some of the early fireworks from our balcony. It was scheduled to start at 8 pm, but started just after 7.45, probably because of the severe thunderstorm warning.

The thunder and lightning show was very impressive. A lightning app records lightning strikes, but there were thousands more lightning flashes.

We spent New Years Day removing blinds and flyscreens from our upstairs western windows. Heat reducing film will be fitted on the 3rd.

It rained for most of the day over a wide area of the Gold Coast, resulting in flash flooding and multiple road closures. Our street flooded again, but it was not as bad as last week. The drain was blocked with leaves and grass cuttings.

I hung a painting that was large enough to cover the bad paint job. I hung another print near the kitchen which I took from my study where I rarely see it. We have an assortment of photos, prints, and artworks that need to be framed, so I headed to Spotlight to buy some half-price frames.

While Anita was at the movies, I did some more research into our overseas trip for 2024. Later I joined her for lunch with some of our friends.

Tilly is so comfortable and relaxed in her outdoor area that she sleeps in the garden.

When we took Bluey walking this morning, I realised that yesterday I had lost part of his harness. We looked for it as we walked, and found it on our way home tied to an access gate. I have now sewn that part to the harness.

This afternoon I walked with my friend who had an extra dog who is not good walking on his lead. I took hold of his lead, letting Bluey follow.

Our part of the coast escaped today’s storms, but other areas experienced flooding rain, damage from lightning, and large hail.

Anita came walking with me and Bluey early this morning. It felt like we were walking through a sauna. Later we took Bluey out to breakfast at Salt Cafe with our friends. This is his favourite outing for the week. He spent the afternoon resting, after making himself comfortable on our pillows.

I packaged up spare towels and bed linen to take to the op shop. It should be easier to keep the linen cupboard tidy.

Painting the patched wall has become a challenge. After using primer paint over the area of the patch, I used leftover paint tinted the correct colour. Unfortunately, it looked shiny and did not blend in with the surrounding painted area. When I checked the paint tin, the product was low sheen Dulux. The house was painted in 2013, and I had a sample pot of the low sheen trade paint that was still usable, but this made little difference. I don’t want to paint the whole wall or room, so will hide this messy paint job with a picture.

When I walked Bluey this afternoon, there was a cool breeze. At sunset the sky was very unusual, with the cloud formation having a distinct edge. Houses in our street reflected the strange light.

While not fully recovered from Covid symptoms, I have been able to do some jobs. On Christmas Eve we had a very large cane toad on the path inside our front gate. This is the area Bluey goes out for a wee, so I am now accompanying him with a torch after dark.

I researched how to keep toads out of gardens, and should be able to make it very hard for them to get into a couple of areas of our garden. We already have acrylic sheeting at the bottom of aluminium fencing and the front gate, but need to stop the invasive critters from crawling under the fence and gate. I will attach shade cloth along the bottom of the fence and bury it under sandstone pebbles. The gate is more complicated, but hopefully I will come up with a solution.

I removed the acrylic sheets to give them a clean and drill some extra holes for securing them on the fence. It was way too hot to work outside today, so refitting the sheets will wait for a cooler day.

Our house came with an intercom system with stations in every room. This technology is outdated and apparently difficult to repair. Our doorbell rings at the front gate but no longer rings inside the house. Fortunately Bluey generally hears the bell and barks excitedly to let us know we have a visitor.

I removed one of the stations that has been out of action for years. The hole in the plasterboard had to be filled, the wall area painted, then we will be able to hang a painting on that wall. At least there have been significant improvements in spakfilla, which dries within 30 minutes and is easy to sand.

Our new pool cleaner had stopped working, so I pulled it apart. Hedge trimmings were stuck at the end of the hose. Once those were removed, the cleaner started working again.

I started decluttering our linen cupboard, making a pile of sheets and towels to be donated to our favourite op shop.

Anita was washing our bed linen, but Tilly kept lying on the sheets and pillows that were going to be washed

.

Bluey has become very demanding, constantly wanting to sit on my lap. I put the cushion beside me as a barrier, but he just climbed over it.

At the beach he just sat and enjoyed the scenery until these two big dogs became overly inquisitive.

Anita cooked figs with prosciutto and brie, which was delicious. While we were eating, Bluey was fascinated by the TV. He stood watching up close for over 20 minutes.

Our latest severe thunderstorm warning has been cancelled. The storm cell was to the south and caused some interesting cloud formations.

Last night we had over an hour of lightning, thunder, rain, and wind. This morning there was a lot of leaf matter on the roads and in swimming pools, but no obvious damage.

One of our neighbours rang to ask us to visually check their property and temporary fencing around a skip bin. Their relatives with a young baby at Wongawallen lost the house roof and power.

I took Bluey to the beach three times, avoiding threatened storm activity. He joined the golden retrievers, but was more comfortable with Odin and Maggie.

The strong winds combined with a high tide to repair most of the beach erosion that occurred two days ago. The largest hole may be filled with the full moon high tide.

We otherwise hid in the air conditioning researching our overseas holiday, reading the travel books on loan from our local library.

There was a heavy downfall around lunchtime on Christmas Eve. Our pool received 50 mm of rain, but blocked drains at the corner flooded the road and caused damage to the beach.

When I was walking Bluey on the beach, a boy asked me to help take photos of his catch, which was an impressive 50 cm mangrove jack on a lure.

We hosted an evening gathering, and everyone had a laugh over the Kris Kringle presents. Bluey went from lap to lap, and Tilly surprisingly joined the party.

Today we had a late start relaxing with the critters before leaving them in the air conditioning to go out to Christmas lunch at the Little Truffle restaurant with two of our friends. We enjoyed a selection of starters, Mooloolaba prawns for entre, followed by Wagyu beef with lobster tail. Dessert was souffle with custard, and panna cotta topped with freeze-dried berries. The servings were generous, so we brought home treats for Bluey and Tilly.

After taking Bluey to the beach for a walk and a brief catch-up with one of his friends, we visited a neighbour for a Christmas drink. Her warning alarm alerting her to visitors is this gorgeous bird. He is kept in a cage near the front door but has free time flying around the house.

We had a quiet breakfast with our friends. Ferry Road Market was very busy, but the cafe was quiet after the early crowd had left.

We returned home to an unexpected parcel. It was sent by Jetset, the plumbing company that relined our sewerage pipes. We were pleased to find a set of knives and knife block, all made in Japan.

Our friend Sue delivered a bunch of Christmas bush. I cut some foliage from similar coloured bushes in our garden, but I have no idea what those bushes are called.

Our friend had not been able to buy rum essence to use in her rum balls. Anita found some in our pantry. It could be more than 30 years old as it was bought from Safeway, a Victorian supermarket chain. Anita hasn’t lived in that State since 1989!

When I googled McLintocks, I found an ebay seller charging $14.95 for an empty McLintocks bottle!

Three months ago, we enjoyed excellent weather exploring many of the north Queensland towns now ravaged by flooding, including Port Douglas. This amazing photo of St Mary’s by the Sea was recently taken by a professional photographer.