Hi Folks,
Its 1030 and I am writing through bleary eyes. Rain is tumbling down on the roof the continuation of a few showers that have been falling this evening. Still warm, around 24 i am guessing. The rain is more a nuisance than anything. Unlike around Brisbane where 300 - 400mm falls have been commonplace over the last three days. Have you ever heard a gecko bark? They do it here all the time. It is more like a chirp than a bark though.
Today was spent continuing our projects. My pool box is mostly clad, the hinged lid fitted and a shelf for the controller installed. But still a bit of work to do. There was some excitment when i gently bumped the outlet pipe from the filter when it was cycling. Water spraying everywhere from a screw on fitting that was already leaking. Seva wrapped some plumbers tape around the thread and we repositioned the "O" ring seal. I then applied the required brute force to the fitting and no more leak.
Susan elected to do the shopping errands today for all manner of things from gas bottles to brake cables. She was fairly frustrated by the finish as not a huge amount was achieved. She then prepared the salad and dessert for tea the highlight of the day.
Please note that all name spellings from this point forward are phonetic. Petz returned to the house with two Japanese ladies Hiromi and Yui he met at the casino on Saturday night who work in Ceirns as tour guides for Japanese visitors. They were joined by Ramila who teaches in Cairns and her father Vasi who is visiting from Sri Lanka. Susan, Petz and Seva cooked a great meal consisting of three courses. Pumpkin soup for entree followed by thai curries, baked veggies and vietnamese salad. The desert was sticky date pudding. All dishes were fantastic. Plus the obligatory glasses of wine.
Ramila dropped the girls off in the city so they could ride back to their digs near the airport. They have a 4am start tomorrow. Those left behind assailed the dishes. It was a good evening. I will try to include some pictures tomorrow to brighten up the text!
Cheers Simon
Day 94 Sunday 10th October 2010
Hi All,
We pottered about the house today, I have become quite comfortable in our adopted "home". Seva and Petz came home about 0130 apparently.... we didnt hear a thing. I have been sleeping like a log here; unlike the broken sleep most every night on the Cape York trip.
After breakfast I finished off some gardening while Seva climbed into the roof space to deal with starlings again. Petz worked on the outdoor setting sanding and varnishing and Simon continued his pump housing "masterpiece".
A trip into town to Bunnings, Rusty's Markets and Coles with some hairy driving on Petz's part while Seva and I ate sausages enroute (from the stand outside Bunnings). I guess they do things differently in Thailand, had visions of a punch up with Petz's attempt to reverse back into a park cutting off the driver already queueing. Explanations given about parking protocol.
Big purchase today.... some "Itch eze" a local improvement on "Stingose"... (ahhh Lignocaine) much needed at the moment to numb the couple of mossie bites received in Cairns. Hard to comprehend that after all the horror stories of mossies and sandflies up north that I have only really had a problem in the city. There have been 10 cases of dengue fever already with predictions of a bad year. The Health Department has been putting on public talks advising people of precautions.
Spoke to my girls on the phone this morning and am anticipating my flight to Sydney next Sunday to see Maddie on her stopover enroute to Canada, also waiting Stephs latest video of the little one.
Tomorrow we have a list of purchases to allow ther completion of our current jobs, and then off for a creek swim. No Simon that wasnt a croc in yesterdays picture.
Susan
We pottered about the house today, I have become quite comfortable in our adopted "home". Seva and Petz came home about 0130 apparently.... we didnt hear a thing. I have been sleeping like a log here; unlike the broken sleep most every night on the Cape York trip.
After breakfast I finished off some gardening while Seva climbed into the roof space to deal with starlings again. Petz worked on the outdoor setting sanding and varnishing and Simon continued his pump housing "masterpiece".
A trip into town to Bunnings, Rusty's Markets and Coles with some hairy driving on Petz's part while Seva and I ate sausages enroute (from the stand outside Bunnings). I guess they do things differently in Thailand, had visions of a punch up with Petz's attempt to reverse back into a park cutting off the driver already queueing. Explanations given about parking protocol.
Big purchase today.... some "Itch eze" a local improvement on "Stingose"... (ahhh Lignocaine) much needed at the moment to numb the couple of mossie bites received in Cairns. Hard to comprehend that after all the horror stories of mossies and sandflies up north that I have only really had a problem in the city. There have been 10 cases of dengue fever already with predictions of a bad year. The Health Department has been putting on public talks advising people of precautions.
Spoke to my girls on the phone this morning and am anticipating my flight to Sydney next Sunday to see Maddie on her stopover enroute to Canada, also waiting Stephs latest video of the little one.
Tomorrow we have a list of purchases to allow ther completion of our current jobs, and then off for a creek swim. No Simon that wasnt a croc in yesterdays picture.
Susan
Day 93 Saturday 9th October 2010 & Postscript
Hi there,
Today was a full on WWoofing day.
However my first task was to look inside the roof bag per yesterdays blog. There was a couple of litres pooled on top from rain after we got home. Water was evident in the bottom of the bag. It was emptied, removed from the car and baked in the sun. I refitted it and gave it an extra spray of waterproof and did some more seam sealing.
Susan undertook gardening tasks pruning and moving plants plus house work. I started on the pool filter cover. At the end of the day i had the frame built and a plan in my head for the required doors. I think it is actually going to turn out better than I thought.
Susan went down the creek for a swim with Seva and Petz in the later afternoon while I kept working. The creek is very pretty pictures to follow.
We had two guests for tea Judy and Albert. It's now 1030 the guests have gone and Seva and Petz have gone to the free dancing at the Casino. Looks like the old people might have an early night. This old person needs it that's for sure! Working outside in the heat and humidity bathed in sweat is fairly draining for a mature person.
We had the obligatory downpour for half an hour at 930 tonight so I will be looking in the roof bag again tomorrow. Could be worse though. They had 260mm of rain on the sunshine coast last night!
Cheers Simon
......POSTSCRIPT
Little Mulgrave Creek
View downstream
Today was a full on WWoofing day.
However my first task was to look inside the roof bag per yesterdays blog. There was a couple of litres pooled on top from rain after we got home. Water was evident in the bottom of the bag. It was emptied, removed from the car and baked in the sun. I refitted it and gave it an extra spray of waterproof and did some more seam sealing.
Susan undertook gardening tasks pruning and moving plants plus house work. I started on the pool filter cover. At the end of the day i had the frame built and a plan in my head for the required doors. I think it is actually going to turn out better than I thought.
Susan went down the creek for a swim with Seva and Petz in the later afternoon while I kept working. The creek is very pretty pictures to follow.
We had two guests for tea Judy and Albert. It's now 1030 the guests have gone and Seva and Petz have gone to the free dancing at the Casino. Looks like the old people might have an early night. This old person needs it that's for sure! Working outside in the heat and humidity bathed in sweat is fairly draining for a mature person.
We had the obligatory downpour for half an hour at 930 tonight so I will be looking in the roof bag again tomorrow. Could be worse though. They had 260mm of rain on the sunshine coast last night!
Cheers Simon
......POSTSCRIPT
Little Mulgrave Creek
View downstream
Day 92 Friday 8th October 2010
Hello All,
We pottered today. Susan pottered harder than me doing our washing, dusting, vacuuming, sanding and varnishing the table and an old stool,and making a salad for tea. For my part the day was spent trying to bring the bikes up to scratch. Susan's broken bike is now fully operational. The touch up paint for the Pajero is a reasonable match (to my colour blind eyes) to the broken bike which now looks quite spiffy. The other 2 bikes had a lot of inground red dirt on them which is mostly removed and mine needed minor repairs. Now Susan needs to decide which is her preferred bike, the Norco or the Giant and the other can be packed away in the box acquired from bicycleworks to replace the last one which turned to paper mache in the downpours we have been having. My plan this time is to wrap it in gladwrap!
In the evening we travelled to Cairns to view an opening of an art display which included a work by one of Seva's (our host) students. We then travelled to a birthday party north of Cairns for a pleasant evening of drinking, eating and conversation. Susan volunteered our tables and chairs from the roof bag to help out.
We had the obligatory deluge at about 10 o'oclock which meant there was about 5 litres of water on the roof bag. I wonder what horror awaits inside when i have a look in the morning. It will be a gauge of how well the waterproofing is progressing. It was a late night when we got to bed after 1. This holidaying is very tiring.
Cheers Simon
We pottered today. Susan pottered harder than me doing our washing, dusting, vacuuming, sanding and varnishing the table and an old stool,and making a salad for tea. For my part the day was spent trying to bring the bikes up to scratch. Susan's broken bike is now fully operational. The touch up paint for the Pajero is a reasonable match (to my colour blind eyes) to the broken bike which now looks quite spiffy. The other 2 bikes had a lot of inground red dirt on them which is mostly removed and mine needed minor repairs. Now Susan needs to decide which is her preferred bike, the Norco or the Giant and the other can be packed away in the box acquired from bicycleworks to replace the last one which turned to paper mache in the downpours we have been having. My plan this time is to wrap it in gladwrap!
In the evening we travelled to Cairns to view an opening of an art display which included a work by one of Seva's (our host) students. We then travelled to a birthday party north of Cairns for a pleasant evening of drinking, eating and conversation. Susan volunteered our tables and chairs from the roof bag to help out.
We had the obligatory deluge at about 10 o'oclock which meant there was about 5 litres of water on the roof bag. I wonder what horror awaits inside when i have a look in the morning. It will be a gauge of how well the waterproofing is progressing. It was a late night when we got to bed after 1. This holidaying is very tiring.
Cheers Simon
Day 91 Thursday 7th October 2010
Hello from Gordonvale.
Low key day today as we started to come to grips with the our WWoofing tasks. Susan took on sanding a chair and a table in preparation for recoating. She also groomed the garden with, pruning and moving plants. I fired up the mower and gave our other WWoofer from Thailand a thumbnail instruction in the art of lawn mowing. Susan finished the front yard with the mower. My main task is to build a box with lift up lid and front and clad it with colorbond to enclose the swimming pool filter and pump. Not much progress as I could forsee several problems. After a talk with out host tonight I will start the build tomorrow now the expectations have been clarified.
This afternoon I toodled towards Cairns and called in at BicycleWorks spending $125 on parts to resurrect Susan's original bike. A couple of hours labour and it's just about done. Some fine tuning required of the front gear change which was a bit fiddly to get right mainly because i wasn't sure of the set up procedure. But it rides ok. I will clean and tizzy up all 3 bikes tomorrow as they are a bit dusty from the road.
That's all folks
Cheers Simon
Low key day today as we started to come to grips with the our WWoofing tasks. Susan took on sanding a chair and a table in preparation for recoating. She also groomed the garden with, pruning and moving plants. I fired up the mower and gave our other WWoofer from Thailand a thumbnail instruction in the art of lawn mowing. Susan finished the front yard with the mower. My main task is to build a box with lift up lid and front and clad it with colorbond to enclose the swimming pool filter and pump. Not much progress as I could forsee several problems. After a talk with out host tonight I will start the build tomorrow now the expectations have been clarified.
This afternoon I toodled towards Cairns and called in at BicycleWorks spending $125 on parts to resurrect Susan's original bike. A couple of hours labour and it's just about done. Some fine tuning required of the front gear change which was a bit fiddly to get right mainly because i wasn't sure of the set up procedure. But it rides ok. I will clean and tizzy up all 3 bikes tomorrow as they are a bit dusty from the road.
That's all folks
Cheers Simon
Day 90 Wednesday 6th October 2010
Hello from Gordonvale about 25km south of Cairns.
This is our first stop on the WWOOFing trail. What you say? Read about it here. Looks like we have chosen a good one to start with, Nice host, nice house large with a pool, nice town.
We packed up this morning in Cairns and of course yesterdays cloudless sky was not repeated. A few showers disrupting activites but we finally got finished around 1030 with a decent tidy up of the gear. Bathed in sweat so we showered before leaving the park for Cairns central. Called into the medical centre to see if I had left my Medicare card there. They confirmed I hadn't.... so a mysterious disappearance.
Susan returned a loaned book to Tanya and we said farewell for now. A stop to refill the gas bottles and we headed to Gordonvale a 20km trip. We spent the afternoon toodling around the town after the obligatory expresso. The town has a sugar mill so the the air has an aroma of moist raw sugar.
We met up with our WWOOF host Seva around 5 and have quickly settled in. She is an experienced host so has made us feel welcome. Our camper trailer is parked in the neighbours back yard so all seems good. Best of all the weather is cooler here, so far, with a good breeze It should be an interesting week.
cheers Simon
This is our first stop on the WWOOFing trail. What you say? Read about it here. Looks like we have chosen a good one to start with, Nice host, nice house large with a pool, nice town.
We packed up this morning in Cairns and of course yesterdays cloudless sky was not repeated. A few showers disrupting activites but we finally got finished around 1030 with a decent tidy up of the gear. Bathed in sweat so we showered before leaving the park for Cairns central. Called into the medical centre to see if I had left my Medicare card there. They confirmed I hadn't.... so a mysterious disappearance.
Susan returned a loaned book to Tanya and we said farewell for now. A stop to refill the gas bottles and we headed to Gordonvale a 20km trip. We spent the afternoon toodling around the town after the obligatory expresso. The town has a sugar mill so the the air has an aroma of moist raw sugar.
We met up with our WWOOF host Seva around 5 and have quickly settled in. She is an experienced host so has made us feel welcome. Our camper trailer is parked in the neighbours back yard so all seems good. Best of all the weather is cooler here, so far, with a good breeze It should be an interesting week.
cheers Simon
Day 89 Tuesday 5th October 2010
Hello through bleary 1130pm eyes as I have finally caught the blog up. My day consisted of typing the blog and adding the media. I also did a bit more roof bag sealing, a progressive project. It didn't leak driving in the rain yesterday so i might be winning..maybe.
Susan did a pile of washing, some research on caravans and bought me 2 nice presents, books, one on tropical frogs and the other on bushwalks around Cairns
We had fish and chips for tea. Enroute i nearly murdered the GPS as it sent us around in circles.
Tomorrow we head to Gordonvale to give the WOOFing a try.
An added bonus we had nice sunny weather today with no rain!
Right bedtime here. Goodnight.
Cheers Simon
Susan did a pile of washing, some research on caravans and bought me 2 nice presents, books, one on tropical frogs and the other on bushwalks around Cairns
We had fish and chips for tea. Enroute i nearly murdered the GPS as it sent us around in circles.
Tomorrow we head to Gordonvale to give the WOOFing a try.
An added bonus we had nice sunny weather today with no rain!
Right bedtime here. Goodnight.
Cheers Simon
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