A new bicycle

I got it last week and have been riding daily. I do not feel nearly as threatened by the area dogs!!! Good exercise and fresh air all in one! The part that I don't like is that bike helmets are "the law". A ticket for getting caught w/o one is $70! Ya, I'm wearing the stupid thing.

Sunrise

The sky here always seems to be so colorful. I snapped these yesterday morning.

I know, remember where I am!

We went out to dinner on Saturday evening. It was one of the nicer restaurants in town. Please keep in mind, how big the town is. I used the lady's room while waiting for it to open. (the lounge was open) As we were being seated, I told the hostess/waitress that the lady's room needed attention. She said, what's wrong w/it. I told her that 2 of 3 stalls were out of TP and there were no paper hand towels (or hand dryer). I was quickly told that the restaurant staff does not "attend to" the restrooms, that they have cleaning staff come in, once they close for the night. EXCUSE ME?

DUH!

The storms have taken their toll on this city street. I'm not really sure that the sign was necessary.

Melon Fest

A small town near here is the top melon producer in Australia. The festival is this week.
Some of the people here are going, as it's apparently a total hoot!
i'm attaching the link that includes pictures of past festivals.
Frank's working, so we are not attending. and anyway... not sure that sking w/a watermelon on each foot is something that someone my age should be doing. (Even though I might do alright in the pit spitting contest!)
http://www.melonfest.com.au/

Bedtime excitement!

(ok, first get your minds out of the gutter)

It stormed Friday evening (last night). Great lightening show. As the satellite dish was OUT b/c of the storm, we sat in the garage and watched the show in the sky.

*edited to add*
*Frank said that there were at least 4 areas where the roads were totally flooded on the way to work this morning. The guard in security told them that we had 1 1/2 inches of rain in just an hour last night.*

At bedtime I was paged to the main bath to find another of the little green suction footed friends.
I got a small plastic bowl (w/a lid) and he quickly cooperated and got inside. Once inside the bowl, he decided he did not want to be there. As I just had ahold of the bowl on one side, he quickly pushed the lid up and crawled out and was hanging on my forearm (by his arms), kinda Tarzan style. I did a dance, like I have not done since the 60's and Frank was worried about me hurting the little critter. (that was the last thing on my mind when he was hanging on my arm!) He was quickly returned to the bowl and put outside, unharmed! We've decided that we are not so fond of the open sewers and floor drains in all the bathrooms!

Another beautiful sunset in OZ

Dinner on the barbi

Last night we did crumbed boneless chicken thighs (done in a bit of Australian olive oil) and zuccini slabs on the grill. I added a fresh cuke and onion salad and had fresh pineapple, but we were both full for the fruit!

It was a wonderful dinner. The meat and veggie/fruit selections here are truly amazing.

Comments

having some issues w/comments.
blogger says that it's broken...
trying to get it resolved, sorry!



I'm thinking that it's fixed... plz email me if you have problems!

AND if you are reading, plz comment, as sometimes i get the feeling that no one is reading at all!

These little guys...

were posing so well, that I could not resist snapping a picture of them.

4 more, including my favorite!

I don't think that anyone will have a problem figuring out which one is my favorite!

More Cottages

The cottages of Dalby

I'm going to just post some of the pictures of the houses here that I took today.

Most of the homes in town are cottages, most are built on some kind of posts or pilings.

Most are colorful and most have fences.

Egg Noodles

I wanted to make chicken noodle soup.

I looked for egg noodles in all 3 groceries in town. No one had them... there was not even a place for them on the shelves. Finally I asked a stockman at the largest grocery and he said we have them.

He showed me these. they are round, not flat.

they come in balls...

So, I made the soup yesterday...

it looks a bit odd, but it tastes great.

It's going to be supper tonight.

Yellow faced whip snake

Ok, so we were sitting on the patio having a beer this afternoon and the very yellow faced snake peeked under the fence. After spotting us, he left quickly...
No picture as I could not move.
after a bit of research, I have found that he's considered venomous, but not poisonous.
His bites hurt badly and there will be a lot of local swelling. They are very active during the day and can move very quickly. They are skinny little suckers but can be a meter long.
Ok...so from now on, the beer will be served in the family room.

Back in Dalby again

The first picture is of the Treasury Casino at the end of the Queen Stree Mall area in Brisbane.

The second is of a waterfall that was created by the heavy rains that hit the Mall area.

The last is just a funny little truck that we saw at the fueling station just outside of the city.

We were going to head up the Sunshine Coast on Friday morning, but it was raining and it's still raining and it's supposed to keep raining for 3 more days. We decided we might as well be stuck in Dalby rather than stuck in a hotel room at the beach. Frank decided that he might as well go to work today (our Saturday). I guess that I'll do something exciting like maybe laundry.

Visa's are PERFECT

NO WORRIES (as they say here)
As Frank has the weekend off, we're going to stay in Brisbane and relax.

HI HO, HI HO, it's off to...

immigration we go...
tomorrow in Brisbane.
Visa are still a mess, they've told us we need to "face" them.
if this is the last post, assume that we are in immigration jail!!!

Australian Bacon

It's another thing that is very different (but wonderful). BLT's have become a regular item on our menu here at home. The other night we cooked it on the griddle side of the Jackeroo and even kept the mess outside. They were SO GOOD!

As you can see from the picture, it's not at all like North American bacon.

American Earwig-poofing

It's not pretty, BUT not a single earwig managed to get into the house last night.

In case you cannot tell from the picture, it's duct tape!!!

I've always said that you can fix anything w/duct tape or tie wraps...

Who needs front doors anyway?

Earwig season

I'm not really sure, if that's what it is, but we had an invasion of the little critters last night that was like nothing I'd ever seen. They were coming in, under the threshold on the front door, faster than we could kill them.
Cleaned them all up b/f bed last night and found over 100 this morning. They were in every single room of the house.
When we went outside to look at the porch last night, there were 4 of my little green suction footed friends. Must have been quite the feast for them.
Will go to the hardware today to get some caulk for under the threshhold to see if we can get this under control.
SO TOTALLY GROSS...

Brisbane, a lovely city!

Brisbane is a lovely city. It is very clean and appears quite safe. People walk or bike everywhere. Shops and restaurants are open-air. The city center is packed w/people shopping, no matter what time or day it is. The pictures are of our hotel and the bridge over the Brisbane river.

The hotel was the Hilton City Center. It had a perfect location, as it opened right onto the pedestrian mall.

It is NOT a mall in North American terms. It is blocks of shops, that are several stores tall and fill entire blocks. I found it way too easy to become disoriented once inside them. There are even stores in the basements...sometimes even two levels of basements! They use every foot of space. Stores range from discount stores and souvenir shops to Tiffany jewelers.

School uniforms

They vary greatly. Those here in town wear burgandy gym shorts and gold polos, except those in the church schools and they are in black slacks/skirts and white shirts and ties.

In Brisbane, the outfits were much more elaborate. The girls were all in dresses, socks, black oxfords and hats... the boys were in shirts w/ties, shorts, knee socks, hats and black oxfords. The girls all wear their hair up.

I happened to catch this group of girls at the shopping mall in city center on Friday after school.

There are few middle/high school aged kids here in town, despite tons of little kids. I have been told that most are sent out of town to boarding school.

Workers

All of the workers here wear uniforms. Any of the jobs that are outside require "high visibility shirts" and boots. The shirt sleeve cannot be rolled up past the elbow, despite the 100 degree temps. This guy is very typical of what you see around town.

Back in Dalby

Frank's meetings ran late, so we decided to spend Friday night in Brisbane also.
We headed out first thing this am.
We are now back in Dalby... going to throw some steaks on the barbie tonight.
Will have pictures and more time to update tomorrow.

BTW... Brisbane City Center is just under 3 hours from here.

Brisbane

We arrived in Brisbane yesterday (Thursday) afternoon. Frank has meetings here today.
Had a lovely dinner on the waterfront.
Frank is off to his meetings and I'm off to shop. We are staying at the Hilton downtown Brisbane and are just a few steps from the Queen Street mall.
Will head back to Dalby later today.

The movers...

Just called... the stuff will be here at the house by 10...that's a bit over an hour from now.
suppose that i should get out of my jammies.
i hate to get showered b/f i finish my laundry and cleaning.

There were way too many dead friends in the house today...YUCK. I just know that they have to be alive when they arrive and that totally creeps me out!

sheesh.

Odd things about Australia

• there are no white eggs, all brown. yolks are dark gold, almost orange.
• cars are very plain and small, trucks (utes) are the same.
• there are no pay-at-the pump stations... ya always have to go inside.
• pancake syrup is all real maple syrup
• produce is all super-sized.
• they do not have applebutter
• they eat a ton of lamb (YUCK)
• restaurants and pubs do not offer tableside service. you go to counter and order, tables have numbers and they deliver it. they do not give you a bill, you go to the register and give them your table number.
• tipping, rarely done. they are surprised if you tip.
• they snort teaspoons of tequila w/a swizzle stick (looked REALLY painful)
• they drink mainly beer and rum (bundaburg is the fav. local brand-another yuck)
• the guys still wear really short shorts (usually w/work boots) or bare feet.
• getting dressed to go out consists of taking off your high visibility work shirt.
• DUI here is .04
• one local bar/club has a shuttle bus to keep people from driving after drinking.
• they have you blow (randomly) when going into the jobsite.
• bare feet are acceptable anywhere.
• they don't take enough showers
• the coffee is amazing
• coffee pots (drip style) are almost impossible to find.

I'll have more later... think about these for a while!

BIG NEWS

They have finally released our stuff from customs...
it's supposed to arrive tomorrow afternoon!
WOO HOO!!!

Happy 30th Birthday, Michael!

A big 30th birthday SHOUT OUT heading from Dalby, QLD, Australia to Loveland, CO, USA.

May the coming year be everything you're wanting it to be! If it's not, I trust that you WILL make it happen.

You continue to make me one proud mamma!

The birds of broadwater lake

I was so excited, as we were leaving the lake, and a whole flock of cockatoos performed for us.

There were 100's. They are such beautiful birds but SO noisy. They don't have a song, they kinda scream.

Bush Camping

There was nothing there. Just a circular drive, a few slightly cleared areas and a fire pit in each of the cleared areas.

I'm including the camping sign... don't know if you'll be able to read it, but it says that it's $4.50/night/adult to camp...

BUT that if you want the key to the bathroom, it's another $10!

And NO, we're not going to be camping there!!!

Lake Broadwater

We were desperate for something to do yesterday, so we decided to drive to Lake Broadwater. It is the only natural fresh water lake in Queensland. We were expecting a lake, what we found was a large puddle/slew. There were 2 caming areas and lots of picnic areas. The one camping area was lake view camping, the other was bush camping. There was NO ONE camping. There was one other vehicle there, that had some sort of decals on the side talking about their bird pictures. The whole park was just deserted. The lake was WAY LOW. They've been in quite a drought here. There was no way that a boat could have used the ramp, as the whole ramp was out of the water. I'm not sure that there was any of the "lake" that was over 2 or 3 feet deep. There were weeds sticking out of it everywhere.

The trees here are ugly. The bark on a lot of them peels constantly and the limbs twist and turn.

An update...

will be coming.
I finally found all of the ingredients for my homemade fresh salsa yesterday. I was very busy!
The peppers were the HOTTEST that I've ever run into, my hands are still burning.
I had to run back to the produce market and get another BUCKET of tomatoes!
It is one of the BEST batches ever!

We went to the movies last night. We saw Australia... imagine that! I'm not a Nicole Kidman fan, but it was good. REALLY LONG!!!

Today we're working on the business books, then heading out for something to do!
We think that we're going to wash the car and do a bit of local sightseeing.

Should have more pictures tomorrow.