Hong Kong Phooey

This week I have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong with the school choir and orchestra for a week long tour.

So far we have only been here a few days, and already it has been pretty full on. We arrived around 6pm on Saturday after our 8+ hr flight, and then it was straight to the hotel - with a twist. Saturday was the start of the East Asia Games, and as such, they had scheduled a firework extravaganza to be staged in the harbour, which is incidently about 250metres or so from our hotel. As a result, all the roads were blocked off in the immediate vicinity of our hotel - thus our bus was unable to drop us to our door, and we were therefore forced to walk about 1-1.5 kms (with our luggage and instruments) to our hotel. This was fine for me, as I have wheels on my suitcase, but some of the girls didn't, and being the martyr that I am, I decided to help one of them. This therefore meant that for the majority of the distance, I dragged my own suitcase behind whilst carrying a students - and boy, was it heavy. I still have callouses on my hands from the experience.

We are staying at the YMCA Salisbury Hotel, which, for a budget hotel, is actually very nice.

Once we arrived at the hotel, we literally dropped our bags and ran so that we could see the fireworks. Alas, the roads were very crowded and we really couldn't get a good observation point, until Tim mentioned that his hotel room overlooked the harbour. Next thing, we managed to cram 39 people up in his room to watch the fireworks. They were pretty good too!

The next day we spent the morning shopping - or rather, the girls did - but Tim and I went looking for internet so we could sort out some arrangements for the next few days. Thank goodness for Starbucks, I say. The afternoon was spent on an organised bus tour of Hong Kong, where we went to Victoria Peak for wonderful views of the harbour (and actually could see some stuff because the weather was relatively clear), then to Aberdeen fishing village, and then to the Stanley St markets. Here is an excerpt from the official school blog, which details the day a bit more than I have: Today saw us take a little detour from our original itinerary and see some of the sights of Hong Kong, literally. In small groups we spent the morning, after breakfast, exploring the nearby streets to our hotel including Hong Kong’s ‘main drag’, Nathan Rd. Not too many things were open at this point, because the locals don’t really wake up until 10, so our body clocks have definitely had a substantial adjustment. Midday saw us have a beautiful lunch of yum cha, which seemed to be made up of pork, pork and more pork. Lunch also enabled us to sample some fragrant Jasmine tea and the more earthy-flavoured Pu-li tea. It was after this we met up with our experienced guide Maria for a trip to Hong Kong island. Each segment of the bus trip was filled with personal stories, weather patterns, Fung Shui and Local history which gives our trip a bit of context. One of the best stories related to the underwater tunnels - in the ‘old days’ during the typhoon season, before the rains struck the husbands of families would ring their wives to stock the house, gather the children and bar the windows. But the would also mention how they ‘would have to say the night on Hong Kong Island’. Suffice is to say after the underwater tunnels were built, they had no excuse to not be home! Today also saw us visit the Highest point in the state, Victoria Point that allows one to fully take in the massive skyline of high rises that sprawl around the country side and seem to rise like the eight mountains that surround the city. We then took a trip backdown the mountain to the Aberdeen fishing village and, the bit everyone looked forward to, the Stanley Beach Markets. So we happily spent the better part of an hour bartering over handbags, hats, shirts, pillow covers, bracelets and dresses. The selection was amazing and so we returned to the hotel on the bus with our backs aching and our suitcases looking a little fuller. Tonight, we once again split up in to year levels and picked a spot for dinner, most of us opting to eat western i.e. Macca’s and Pizza Hut. After dinner saw our first batch of rehearsals in preparation for our first concert tomorrow!

Welcome to the Macvolution!

I know, don't keel over from the shock - I'm blogging again.

Its not all that exciting, I just wanted to congratulate my lovely sister Mel on coming over to the dark side, and joining the Macvolution. She is now the proud owner of a very swish Macbook Pro - and I am desperately jealous, because mine is now 2 years old, and hers has all the bells and whistles...

Anyway, welcome Mel! Now we just have to get Dad and Beck on to it...

One Man Star Wars

Well as you all know (and if you didn't, then clearly you have been on another planet for the last few years), I am an avid Star Wars fan. Avid. So of course, it stands to reason, that if someone is presenting a "One Man Star Wars Trilogy" at QPAC - in the words of the Jackson Five - I'll be there! Which is therefore where I found myself this evening, alongside my nephews Lach and Haz, and my lovely sister Mel.

The 501st were there too, much to Harry and Lach's delight, and they posed with them for a few photos. Haz's favourite I think was Darth Vader...

The show was performed by Canadian actor Charles Ross, and was a very clever 1 hour long rendition of Episodes 4, 5, and 6 - which was perfect for Mel and I, being Star Wars purists (the original trilogy all the way baby!). This actor manages to give very realistic impersonations of the various characters in an abridged version of the 3 films that has you totally enraptured as you work out which scene you're up to next. It was just fantastic.

The boys seemed to get most of the gags, and seemed to enjoy themselves, which was just as well, as this was their first theatre experience ever (poor kids, hope I haven't scarred them for life!).

Anyway, I found some youtube clips of Ross performing this at other venues, which I link here:

And here's a few pics of the boys with the 501st...At the end of the evening, Ross gave us a sneak peak at his One Man Lord of the Rings...which was very good, although will clearly be a waste on me - I hated the films! Anyway, you can find his website here for more information.

So it was a very good evening!

Miss M's Birthday Party

Well yesterday was the lovely Miss M's 3rd birthday party. My sister Beck held it at her house, and there were hundreds of little kids there! Well, not literally hundreds, but it sure did feel like it!

It was my job to provide the 'pass the parcel'. Now when I was growing up, 'pass the parcel' basically involved layer upon layer of newspaper, with some sort of prize at the end. Usually the birthday boy or girl got the last layer, so they would get the prize. But in this day and age, everyone gets a prize - so that means instead of empty layers, you have to put a freddo or something in each layer. That also means that you need to know how many kids are going to be playing, so you can make sure that each kid gets a prize. And of course, you have to rig it so that the birthday child gets the big prize.

Personally, I think that's a pile of bollocks. And I know Beck does too - but its kind of hard to buck this new trend, as every kid that goes to a party now expects it. So I dutifully wrap up something like 20 odd layers of newspaper, each with a freddo - and then think to myself, gee, that looks a bit stingy. So I unwrap them, add in a chupa chup, a couple of freddos and a box of smarties. Much better. The prize for the winning child is the same as everyone else, plus a few more chupa chups, few more freddos - and a bag of lollies.

Anyway, off we go. And when the first child unwraps the layers, Beck can't quite believe what pours out. Apparently my version is way more generous than normal. Now I've been given the job of doing all the pass the parcels!

The funniest thing though, was watching Miss M all through this. As the parcel went round, and as each time the music stopped it never stopped on her, she began to get more and more distressed - to the point that she decided to leave the game and go cry on Daddy's shoulder. You can imagine she was more than relieved when on the last round she won the grand prize!

Anyway, it was a lovely party - and as it was also my Grandma's birthday, we had a little cake and celebration for her too. I love my Grandma, she has something like 15 Grandchildren, 17 or so great Grandchildren - and she loves each and every one, and makes time for each and every one. So there she was at the party! Fantastic!

Anyway, here's a couple of pics...

The Birthday Girls - Grandma and Miss M - blowing out Grandma's cake

Miss M's Birthday cake

Miss M's guests playing pass the parcel

The One Where Kylie Is Ripped Off - Again

Yep, you read it right. Ripped off...

Some might argue, that depending on how you look at it, I haven't really been ripped off - I've had a bit of a win. But I feel I've been ripped off..!

Why? Well, let's just put it this way, in Australia, unlike in England (well unlike I ever experienced anyway), every year you must put in an income tax return. The idea is that obviously throughout the year the Government rips off Australians through the tax system and therefore at some point gets caught out - through the income tax return.

The last income tax return I did allowed me to travel to England, it was that substantive. So you could forgive me for thinking I would have a bit of a windfall this time around - as obviously I haven't put in a return in 11 years - so surely I would be owed a substantive amount.

The problem is, during this 11 years, I have accrued 2 properties - which makes the income tax return somewhat tricky. Not the sort of thing I could do on my own, that's for sure.

So, I rocked up to my last accountant, the lovely (not) H&R Block, complete with my rather overflowing box of 11 years worth of receipts, contracts, and paperwork relating to my tax. The guy there, the so-called "manager", took one look at the box, and, I swear, audibly groaned. Suffice to say he was extremely unimpressed by the prospect of the honour of completing my tax.

But still I gave him my box, and headed off. Until 3 weeks later, when I phoned to find out the progress on said box - and discovered he hadn't even taken the lid off it. So, under the premise of "I need some paperwork from the box, and would sort it out into financial years", I rocked back up to H&R Block and picked up my box - never, ever, to darken the door of that establishment again.

Doing my research, I realised that I would need an accountant who knew a bit about property investment, which is how I found my current one. I made the necessary appointment and rocked up there with the box. A 30 minute consultation later and I had been assured that they would do the very best for me.

The only problem is, in choosing to return to Australia mid tax year, I would appear to have disadvantaged myself taxwise, as clearly I can only get back that tax which I have paid - and having only worked not even 6 months of the tax year, that is a relatively paltry sum in comparison to that which I could have earned had I been working for a full 12 months. Alas, this can not be helped.

But what could have been helped, and should have been helped, is that I should have checked what this new accountants' fee would be. I didn't, and now I am seriously paying the price.

Because the blighters have charged me a whopping $250 per hour to complete this return - and suffice to say with 11 years or so, it has taken the guy about 10 hours or so to do the work. So, today, he presented me with the outcome - a paltry sum in comparison for a return, similar to that which funded my airfare to England 11 years ago - which was achieved without the so-called 'benefit' of negatively-geared property - and from which will come the whopping $2500 fee for the privilege.

You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding!

So again, Kylie gets seriously ripped off - this pittance refund will only make a tiny dent on my credit card bill, let alone do what I had hoped, which was fund a return trip to England, or at the bare minimum, buy me a Mac Mini... or enable me to get proper broadband in my house...

Crap!

Bethany's Birthday

Well I know its been a while since I did some blogging, but alas, I have been somewhat busy.

Just thought I'd drop a quick line about the lovely birthday party we had at Mel's for Bethany a few weeks back. It was her second birthday, and it was really lovely because Nanny, who has been unable to leave the house for about 9 months or so now, was able to come too.

The whole family was there (well except for Mum and Dad of course who are sailing) and we just had a wonderful time!

The gorgeous birthday girl herself

Totally Tired of Tupperware!

A friend at school recently decided that she didn't have already enough to do in her life, and that she would go into Tupperware.

What's that got to do with you? I hear you ask. Alas... everything...

Because in order for her to get started, she needed to have a certain number of parties... which meant harrassing all her friends til they agreed to have one! But I don't have a flat big enough to hold a Tupperware party - and she kept pressuring me, and I didn't know what to do or say...

....So I agreed to have it at Mum's. Why? On what planet was that a good idea? I don't even know anyone who would want to go to a Tupperware party!

Or did I? Because for someone who didn't have anyone to invite, somehow I ended up with 20+ people there! And $2000 in sales, so I got a fantastic 'modular mates' set as my party gift.

The only downer is, with some people having made party bookings, I ended up having to go to their parties too - and of course that meant I bought more Tupperware...

I tell you, I am really over it now! No more parties please!

A Pleasant Sunday Afternoon

Growing up in Salvation Army circles, the phrase "Pleasant Sunday Afternoon" used to strike fear and dread into my heart, for a "Pleasant Sunday Afternoon" was anything but "pleasant". A "Pleasant Sunday Afternoon" was sheer, pure torture.

The phrase refers to a Sunday afternoon concert of band, timbrels, songsters (choir) and a bunch of old time songs, usually delivered by a visiting band / songster group, and nearly always lasting an indeterminable, excruciating, "poke my eye out, I'm dying" length of time, and almost always culminating in some form of massed finale massacre, where the relevant group from the home corps (church) combines forces with the relevant visiting group, and subjects the poor, unsuspecting audience to a poorly rehearsed, poorly executed and totally destroyed rendition of some Salvation Army "classic". Sheer and absolute torture, I tell you. Excruciating.

I haven't heard this phrase in a very long time - much to my relief, I can assure you. But last Sunday, whilst visiting Bundaberg corps, on my way home from sailing with the folks, it was mentioned - and the same fear and dread momentarily came over me, until I remembered that I was leaving that morning, and would miss the aforementioned torture.

But now that I've gone on about that, let me tell you, this post is not about that at all. Its about another type of "Pleasant Sunday Afternoon" which I experienced today. A totally lovely visit with my Nan.

See, I had phoned my sister Mel up after church to see if I couldn't wangle a lunch invitation to her place - who wants to go home, cook lunch, and then spend the afternoon maybe doing schoolwork, or grocery shopping etc, when one can go hang out with the fam and maybe score a free feed in the process. But when I got through to Mel, she was in the queue at Red Rooster, and informed me that she and her boys (and Kev too of course) were going to have lunch at Nanny's. I immediately envoked my new motto, carpe diem (I've been rewatching Dead Poet's Society), and 'siezed the day', inviting myself along too.

And how glad I am that I did! It was just lovely, just like a trip down memory lane. You see, when I was growing up, every Sunday we would go to Nanny's for lunch with her and Pop (and Kathy and Neville, when they lived at home), and it was just gorgeous. Nanny makes the best roast dinners I've ever had, complete with "Nanny's potatoes" - potatoes roasted to perfection. And there was always a comedy moment, as after we had sat down and consumed our dinner, and the plates were being washed up, Nanny would discover something left in the microwave which she had forgotten to dish out. Or she'd make some sort of faux pas quip at the dinner table, like the time we were sitting down to eat, and Nanny discovered a pea on the floor - there were no peas on the plate - and she said "A pea? I haven't had a pee in ages!". So Sundays were very special to us.

That's why it was so lovely, even if it was Red Rooster roast, to have lunch there today. But that wasn't the best bit. Later in the afternoon we sat down together for a chat, and Mel showed photos and videos of their recent Fiji trip. Bethany, my niece, was in her element, and was clambering all over me and laughing. Later on she started to get a bit fractious, so Kev decided to take her home, on the proviso that I would run Mel and the boys back later. And that's when it got really special.

How much I love these kids!

Nanny with her eldest Grandchild, and eldest Great-Grandchild

I went downstairs to play the piano (its my piano, but I just can't have it in my flat, so it stays at Nanny's). Then Mel and Nan came down, and we had an impromptu sing - all the old Army hymns - O Boundless Salvation, Crown Him with Many Crowns, How Great Thou Art, I'm Climbing Up The Golden Stair to Glory... Nanny got out her old songbook and we went through, singing all the old favourites. It was just wonderful, and very touching - especially when, for no apparent reason, as we ended the Founders' song (O Boundless Salvation), the three of us, Mel, Nan and myself, looked at each other and were stunned to see that we all had tears. I don't know why, but we did. Maybe it was a culmination of the loss of Pop, the realisation that Nanny is getting very frail, the memories of many congresses, the memories of days gone by - or maybe it was just a collective realisation of just how special the moment was, and a deep desire to hold on to it and treasure it for as long as possible, I don't really know.

And that, I believe, was a true "Pleasant Sunday Afternoon". One which I truly will cherish for the rest of my life.

The Apprentice Australia

When I first arrived in the UK, one of the things I was most critical of was the TV programmes. Instead of the usual dose of American sitcoms and dramas which I was used to in Australia, the BBC dished up a very dull diet of docu-soaps and Coronation Street, peppered with the occasional British comedy (thank goodness - the light at the end of the tunnel). Suffice to say I didn't watch much TV at first.

Then the first of the reality shows popped up - Big Brother. I didn't actually know about this show until the last few episodes of the first season, which I happened upon one day, and actually found it quite interesting. So the next year, when Big Brother resumed, I became a bit of a convert. It was about the 3rd season of this show that I started to lose interest, mostly because the people on it were a bunch of time-wasting wannabes, pathetic really, and it all became terribly dull.

Then came the onslaught of similar "reality" drivel - Pop Idol, Dancing With the Stars, Britain's Got Talent, yada yada - and the surprising thing was this formula of mindless, wannabe, talentless television was not just limited to the UK, no, it was being picked up all over the world! So when I came back to Australia, I was subjected yet again to the same crap.

Amongst this rubbish though was the occasional gem - my favourite two shows being "I'm a Celebrity, get me out of here!" and "The Apprentice". I guess I liked the former because it was set in Queensland, and usually there was at least 1 Z-List "celebrity" on there that I had actually heard of. As for "The Apprentice", well, the real appeal of that show is Sir Alan Sugar. I know that the original version of this show was made in America, with Donald Trump, and I know he was famed for his dressing down of the candidates when he fired them, but having watched that show, and having watched the UK version, Donald Trump doesn't have a jot on Alan Sugar. No man's fool, calling a spade a spade, the man is capable of whittling out the truth and reducing the individual to nothing with merely a look. Aided by Margaret and Nick, who are incredibly perceptive and ascerbic in their comments, the formula is pure entertainment.

I've also watched the US version, and although Donald Trump is no Sir Alan Sugar, the show still is quite watchable (although the UK version is by far superior).

So when I discovered that they were now making an Australian version, I was pleased, if not skeptical. Would it live up to the UK and US versions?

Sadly, no. Having watched tonight's episode, I'm left wondering 2 things -

1 - Where did they find these dropkicks, and

2 - Who on earth is Mark Bouris? What exactly has he done in the world of business that anyone has actually heard of?

The success of this show has to lie with the guy in the boardrom - and Mark Bouris just doesn't cut it. His so called "dressing down" of the candidates is purely laughable. The catchphrase "You're fired" just has no punch coming from him - there's no real build up, and no surprise when you see who he fires - its usually the project manager. Then there's the "Nick" and "Margaret" - not a jot on the real Nick or Margaret - in fact you wonder what on earth they're there for, they do absolutely nothing. When they finally cut to the Margaret figure for her opinion, I actually thought she was one of the candidates, as they hadn't actually showed her all episode! They might as well get rid of them! And the tasks are the same old, same old - nothing new there - for example today's task, to design and market a children's cereal, including creating a jingle, a cartoon character and designing the cereal box, is straight out of the 3rd or 4th episode of this years' UK Apprentice. Even the music is the same - not the theme tune mind - but the backing music for the various segments of the show is straight out of Apprentice UK.

Yawn, yawn. Come on people, can't you come up with something new? And with people who actually have some personality? Terribly disappointing...

Moore Boating

So in the previous post I promised to write about my trip with Mum and Dad - and here it is.

For the first week of the school holidays Mum and Dad took off on their yacht "Dragon Lady" on the start of their "Up North" adventure. The plan was I guess for them to go as far up the North Queensland coast as possible before the need to turn back in time to be home for Christmas. Or something like that.

Anyway, for the first week they took Harry and Lachlan with them. Having seen the photos, I believe they had a good time - at least, I'm sure Lachlan did - I'm not so sure about Harry though as I believe he was quite sick for most of the time. Actually, when he got back he was terribly ill, which resulted in a couple of days stay in hospital. We still don't really know what was wrong with him.

The plan was though that Dad would get the train back with the boys at the end of the week in time to attend a microtia conference on the Gold Coast with Mel, Kev, the boys and Bethany. After the conference, he would drive back to Brisbane, where I would meet him - and we would drive together back up to Hervey Bay. Well, the plan pretty much took place - except that rather than drive back up on the Saturday we went on the Sunday.

I had a fabulous week there - we stayed a few days in Hervey Bay and then sailed over to Fraser Island for a night. Whilst at Fraser I mentioned to Dad that I would quite like to see some whales - so he organised for a whale watching trip in Hervey Bay (thus meaning we needed to go back to Hervey Bay, but hey, it was good). We sailed for the last part of our trip up the northern end of the bay and ended up in Bundaberg, where we met up with Uncle Max and Aunty Meredith for lunch and dinner.

The next day I left Bundy on the bus back to Hervey Bay to pick up my car which I had left at the marina there (we had made arrangements that I could return the key then and I would get Dad's deposit back). Nice drive back to Brisbane - it was all good. A totally fab week, ta Mum and Dad.

A Whale of a Time

I do intend to write a proper post on this, but for now, here is the video of Whale Watching that Dad and I made during the second week of the school holidays. The first day, we went on a whale watching boat, Whalesong - and when we saw the whales, Dad, who had his personal GPS with him, wrote down the co-ordinates so we could go back the next day.

Which is what we did - two days later - and so the next bit of footage was taken on Dad's boat, Dragon Lady.

What a fab trip!

Hiking In Lamington

This week, after what has seemed an eternity, I finally found myself on holiday. I had totally forgotten what it was like to work a 10 week term without a half term break, and boy, was it tough. So finally, the holidays came - but unfortunately, the money didn't... Thus I found myself in a situation where I desperately needed a holiday - and desperately couldn't afford one. What to do?

I really wanted to go to Melbourne and visit with my mates Iva and Nat whom I know from England, but I had left it too late to get a so-called 'cheap' flight (I've not yet found a flight that I would consider in the slightest 'cheap' with the 'cheap' airlines here). Dad had been making some noise about the possibility of me joining him and Mum when they went cruising on their yacht, and so in the back of my mind was the thought that at least I could do that - but that still meant I had a whole week of no plans. And to top it all off, I was technically 'grounded' - I couldn't get away until at least Sunday, because I had been railroaded into having a Tupperware party (at Mum's - they wouldn't fit in at mine!) on the Saturday. Surprisingly, that was a real success (a $1400 party with 3 bookings, not bad eh?). And then there was the Broncos final on the Saturday night - so that meant I wouldn't be away until at least Sunday - and realistically, not then - you need a day or so to pack everything up and get sorted out.

Anyway, I needed to figure something out, and quick - time was getting away. So I woke up on the Sunday and thought to myself, I have a tent, I have a car, I have hiking gear - I can borrow what I don't have from Mum and Dad - why not go camping? But where? And will I be safe by myself?

I did a bit of research, and discovered the fact that the cost of camping in a National Park is - you ready for this? - a princely $5 per person, per night. $5! How cheap is that?

Remembering that I would probably need to come back to Brisbane on the Wednesday for Nanny's birthday, I decided upon Lamington National Park, allegedly an hour or so from Brisbane. Well that's a joke for starters - if you go the way the website tells you, it takes the best part of 3 hours! That's because the website stupidly takes you out through Beenleigh / Beaudesert. But if you go straight down the highway to Oxenford or something, you can do it in just over 2 hours. But the clincher for Lamington was the 160kms or so of bushwalks that you can do there in the rainforest. So I packed up the car, borrowed all the camping stuff I needed and headed off.

The "Green Mountains" camping ground is at the end of the Lamington National Park Road, next door to a resort called O'Reillys. This is some 35kms from the nearest town, Canungra - which doesn't sound far, but in reality, its 35kms along a very steep, very narrow and very winding road, which takes about 50 minutes or so to negotiate. Quite a tricky drive.

I arrived mid-afternoon on Monday and discovered pretty quickly that the best campsites were already taken, and I was left with realistically only one of two options - both of which were out in the full, stinking hot afternoon sun - and with no trees for shade. And my other problem was that I really didn't want to advertise that I was on my own, but I had no choice but to set up in full view of everyone - so they knew. I was, I admit, a little worried for my safety.

The site I eventually settled on (having attempted to set up on an alternate site first and deciding it was just too exposed to the elements) was next to a very loud, very annoying German-Australian family with 2 young kids and a young baby. The father kept insisting on speaking in deep, gutteral, throat clearing German, and the kids never once spoke back to him in it. I guess they understood him though. It wouldn't have been so bad if they weren't so loud, especially very early the next morning - and especially as I didn't sleep so well that night. So I woke very tired, and very cranky.

My breakfast 'nook'

My campsite

I spent Tuesday hiking the Box Forest circuit, which was some 11kms or so, a nice little jaunt. I originally wanted to do the Toolona Creek circuit, some 17kms or so - but they were dropping parcels into the Albert River area via helicopter, and that meant this part of track was cut off for several days.

Took me 3-4 hours I guess, as there was quite a lot of uphill and down dale type of walking, and the path was very narrow. Also, too, it took a bit of time because of the little friends I met on the way - like the not so little brown snake that crossed the path (it needed a little encouragement to move, in the shape of a poke with a stick), or the huge carpet snake sunning itself on a rock, or the large goanna on the path. I have to say, when I first saw these little mates, I was more than a little bit frightened!

The walk was lovely, just what I needed, and the waterfalls at the bottom were just gorgeous (if not spectacular drops). The thing I enjoyed most about this though was the fact that in the rainforest, it is at least some 5 degrees cooler than in the city, so heatwise, the walk was very easy.

I returned to my campground mid afternoon and decided to go for a drive to the Gold Coast, thinking it wasn't all that far. This was an bit of an understatement. With the winding road down the mountain back to Canungra, and then the highway trek to Southport - this journey took easily almost 2 hours! It was worth it though, because I really needed to sort something out for my bed. I had been sleeping on a roll out mat, but this provided no level of support and I was aching in the morning. For $19 though, I was able to buy a 'junior twin' blow up mattress - although having slept on it later, I fail to see how two juniors would've fitted on it!

On Wednesday morning, after a fitful night's sleep due to increasing winds, I decided to do 2 walks - the Python Rock walk, and the Moran Falls Lookout walk. So off I went. I particularly enjoyed the start of the Python Rock walk, because of the very many Strangler Figs that I saw. I thought that these plants were terribly interesting. The walk was easy enough, mainly because it has been adapted for wheelchair users, but when I got to the lookout there was a small problem. You couldn't see anything!

Why? Because Wednesday was the day of the major dust storm. It was a reddish haze, very thick, and you simply couldn't not see anything. Very disappointing.

This was also the case on the Moran Falls lookout walk, so I completed the circuit and then made my way back to my tent. It was my intention to shower, and then set off back to Brisbane for Nanny's birthday. However, when I arrived at my tent, I discovered the boot of my car had been blown open in the strong wind, and the tent was flapping around like nobody's business. This put me in a small dilemma. Do I leave the tent there, with all my belongings in it - weighed down by the esky - and pray fervently that the tent still be there and in one piece when I returned the next day, or - do I pack it all up and cart everything with me back to Brisbane, only to set it all back up the next day (and run the risk that I lose the tent space). The wind was getting stronger, and I decided to go with door number 2 - pack up - because I didn't want to run the risk that I would get back and find half my stuff blown over the campground. So I began the onerous task of packing up.

As I was doing so, a woman and 2 small children pulled up to the tent space next to me and started to set up. As that space was exposed to the wind and sun, I offered them my space.

The drive back to Brisbane was uneventful, except that the closer you got to the city, the worse the dust got. In the mountains, you could barely notice it, except at the lookouts, but in the city, you could taste it in the air. It was foul.

I had a lovely dinner with Nanny, Kathy, Tim and Josh, and then went home for a proper nights sleep in a real bed. Next morning, Thursday, early, I set back off for Lamington, arriving mid morning, and setting up on the exposed site next to the woman and her children. They were lovely, Jack, 5 and Lily, 3, and they helped me set up (as much as they could anyway).

I then decided to treat myself to lunch at O'Reilly's so I could enjoy the view, and afterwards took a fair stab at the accessible part of the West Canungra circuit - but due to failing light, I was unable to complete it. I did make it down to the Darraboola falls though, so I reckon I probably achieved maybe 6-7 kms that day.

Which brings me to Friday. I decided that this would probably be my last chance for any proper sort of walk, and seeing as the helicopters had now stopped going over, there was every possibility that the Border track, which makes up part of many of the walks I had wanted to do, would now be open. So after a quick breakfast, and a farewell to Sue, Jack and Lily, who were going home today, I set off.

When I reached the entrance to the Border Track, I didn't see a sign or a Ranger telling me the track was closed, so I took off. Further down the track I saw where it branched off to the Albert River Circuit, a loop which in total would take me some 20 odd kms, so I decided to do it.

It was a lovely walk, and a short distance into it I came across an older couple looking for lyrebirds. I'm glad I did, because later on I made a wrong turning, and had to wait til they caught up to discover the right way to go. We met up again later at one of the waterfalls, and they introduced themselves as Bernie and Chris from Victoria. She was a school teacher and he a farmer, and their map was infinitely better than ours. I had quite a chat with them because looking at how the time was going, and how much further I had to go to get back to the campsite, I wasn't sure I would be able to do it in the hours of daylight still afforded to me. But Chris checked the map and said we had further to go if we went back the same way - so we ended up teaming up and walking the rest of the way back together, which was very pleasant, especially when we crossed over into New South Wales and made it to the lookout from where we could clearly see the coast, and Mt Warning. They were lovely company and I had a really enjoyable, if not very tiring, walk back home.

That night, as I was cooking my tea, suddenly I heard a noise in the bushes. It was a man, who had seen I was cooking on my own, and decided to say hello. Kylie pulls again, eh?

Turns out his name was John, and he was a 60+ retired IT specialist who had an interest in Nature photography, which is not shared by his wife, hence he was up at Lamington on his own taking photos. He showed me his website, www.myozimages.com. His photos are really something.

Anyway, on the final day, Saturday, I woke up relatively early and decided I would do another walk if I could, before going home. I cooked my breakfast, and as I wanted to use up my bacon etc, I went over to John's campervan and invited him to share. We had a nice chat together, and then I packed up the tent, and headed off for my walk. I decided to do Python Rock and Moran Falls again, so that I could see the view without the dust. It was well worth it too!

Then I made my way home, having thoroughly enjoyed the week. It was truly something!

Box Falls

Eastern Yellow Robin

Moran Falls - the day of the Dust storm

Moran Falls

Bucking Broncos!

In Australia, depending upon where you live, the word "football" can have a very different meaning.

If you live in anything but the Eastern States, if you're talking about "football", you're talking about AFL. Aussie Rules football. But in God's own country, Queensland, (and its poor cousin neighbour, NSW) 'football' can only mean one thing - Rugby League.

Although I do like Aussie Rules (hey - men in tight shorts, what can I say?) I have to say that Rugby League is, in my opinion, a much more interesting game. And so when I found out that the Broncos (that's my team!) had made it through to the preliminary semifinals, and that they were to be held in Brisbane, I just had to go.

Beck and Dem came too - we managed to snap up some of the last few tickets, and although we were in the nosebleed seats, the atmosphere was electric, the game sooo exciting - and Brisbane the victors in the end! Fabulous!

Alas, the next week we were unable to consolidate and go on to make it to the Grand Final - but there's always next year, eh boys?

The One Where Kylie Finds Out Some Wonderful News!

Oh my goodness, I have found out something wonderful! Something so exciting, it makes life worth living! Something so fantastic, I just cried when I heard it - and then when I saw it, well! I was in Heaven!

I have just discovered the one, the only, Apple Store in Queensland! Granted, its about 60km (or an hours drive) from my house, but so what? I would do that sometimes from my home in London, to go to the Apple Store in Bluewater, if I couldn't get an appointment at Regent Street and needed to sort something out. And seeing as recently the CD/DVD burner on my computer has been playing up (probably because I kept having to change the region code on the thing to watch DVDs), I was dreading that my only option was Mac One, in James Street. These people are soooo not the real deal. They're just resellers, and they do 'repairs' - but not under the Apple warranty - so it was looking like being a real drag. But not any more!!!

I booked my appointment online, like I would usually have at Regent Street, packed up the computer, hopped in the car and using the dodgy GPS found the place with about 10 minutes to spare! And, unlike at Regent Street, because clearly not many people know about it yet, there wasn't a huge crowd, so I was seen very close to my appointment time. The problem was quickly diagnosed, details taken and all - and its off for repair (all free of charge, as it is still within warranty - how glad am I that I took out the 3 year "Apple Care" protection when I bought it!). Ok, so I now have to be without my Mac for a week or so - but that's not because of Apple's fault, no - that's just because it'll be a week before I can get back here! They say it'll be ready tomorrow! If I can get down here earlier, I will!

Meanwhile, I'm now just enjoying playing on the new Macs here in the store - oh joy, oh bliss!

Truly a sight for sore eyes!

P.S. I picked up my computer today - and am soooo thankful for having paid the extra to extend the warranty! It would've cost me $520 to fix what was wrong with it!

Where Kylie is Completely Mad

What's so unusual about that, you say? I know, I frequently demonstrate my moments of utter madness, usually quite spectacularly, and today was again one of them.

It all started a few weeks back, when I received an email from one of the ladies at school asking if anyone wanted to be involved in the Bridge to Brisbane. Not knowing what it was, I totally said yes. I mean, it sounded like fun, and plus, its such a rarity to be asked to do anything, so I need to take every opportunity I get. Anyway, turns out the Bridge to Brisbane is a 10km 'fun run' (who actually thinks the words 'fun' and 'run' go together?) to raise money for the Heart foundation. Ok... now I'm starting to get a little worried... but hey, 10km is only about 6 miles - that's not so bad... its Winter too, so that would help... it'll be alright...

Until you realise that the first km is a relatively steep uphill climb over the Gateway Bridge, and the so-called Winter we're having is non-existent (today was a scorching 30 degrees again) - and I haven't done any serious walking for quite a while (about 12 months) - so its starting to look a bit more challenging than first thought...

But I was still game, so I signed up and paid my entrance fee - and that's when they told me the start time... 6.25am on a Sunday morning! Get out of here, does 6.25 actually exist on a Sunday morning?!

It gets worse. That's the race start time, but the race starts at the Gateway Bridge, Murrarie, and how does one get there at that time of morning on a Sunday? The only option for me was to park the car at Bowen Hills and get the 5.15am train (specially put on for the purpose) to Murrarie, and then walk 1km to the race start point.

Which is what I did. Imagine though, my astonishment as this sight greeted me at Bowen Hills at 4.45am this morning!

The queue for tickets!

The crowded platform!

Anyway, I managed to be on the first train (and with a seat, too - no mean feat!) and we arrived at Murrarie at about 5.50 and tried to walk to the meeting points. With so many people getting off the train though, and trying to go through a tiny turnstile, it took some time to actually get off the platform. Anyway, once I was in the clear, I hotfooted it up the hill towards the meeting point and caught up with the other ladies from school - Anne, Michelle and Jenny. And then we waited. And waited. And waited.

Because although we had seen on the paraphenalia that the start was to be staggered for the different categories, we didn't actually realise that that would mean an almost 2 hour wait for us! If I'd've known that, I wouldn't have been on that 5.15 train!

Finally though, we were off - and heading straight up the motorway to the summit of the bridge. By this point it was already starting to heat up - so I don't know how these guys, dressed as storm troopers, coped!

Me and a Clone Trooper

Just after the start - the climb up the bridge

On the bridge

The view from the top

We paused a little at the top to enjoy the view - as you can never do that when driving because this motorway has a speed limit of 100km and you can't stop on it - so photos like the one above you just can't ever get. On the way up, Anne saw an elderly gentleman who appeared to be struggling. She went over to him, and it turns out it was her 80 year old uncle who was attempting the 10 km on his own! So we walked with him for a while to help out. Unfortunately though, I don't think that he made the full walk - because later on in the journey, around the 4 km mark, we lost sight of them, so we decided to wait for them. They were quite a way behind, and he was managing just to shuffle along, poor thing. We stayed and helped for a bit, but this then meant that the rest of the pack passed us, even the shuttle bus for the stragglers - so we were the very last! Anne and her uncle insisted we just go on, and I think they probably hopped out at the 5 km mark, which was the start point for those wanting to just do the half course. We managed to catch up to the bus and so on, but it put us as being very very near to the back.

By about the 5km mark it was really starting to heat up, and we had a new worry - if we didn't make it to the 5km mark before the 2nd race started at 9.15, we would be in trouble, because we would have a large crowd of runners baring down on us. They delayed that start a little, probably because there were still a fair few walkers from the 10km start - we had overtaken a few, including the stormtroopers, who were really in a bad way by around 6-7kms. Luckily for us they did delay it, because it meant that we beat the 5kms runners in by about 30 seconds! I really didn't want to get overtaken by the 5km people!

The finish line

We went for a nice brunch afterwards in the Valley (another 1 km walk away) and then I walked back to my car - another 2 kms - so all up I reckon I did pretty close to 15 kms! It was all worth it too - although my legs and back don't agree... oh to be able to walk pain-free again... what madness!

Some Recent Updates

Well as we all know, there has recently been quite a lengthy period where moi was internet-less at home. This has obviously resulted in a bit of a dry spell on the blog front - but mostly only due to connectivity, not just to a lack of bloggable items. Actually, I had taken some pics and so on with the intention of updating, but of course, never actually got around to it. So, here they are - with an albeit brief explanation...

So as you know, Dad has been helping me out most weekends with trips to IKEA, trips to fix things on my house and so on - but all this takes time away from his preparations to get his boat ready for their trip up north. So a few weeks back, it was payback time... I had to do some sanding, some varnishing, some screwing in of wooden panels on the roof of the boat... it was quite intense actually...

Funnily enough, that afternoon, after working on Dad's boat, I headed into the city to go see a movie with a friend from school. We saw Beautiful Kate (a totally bizarre film, give it the miss, seriously) at the Regent. The Regent is one of the oldest cinemas in Brisbane - and one of the most beautiful - as you can hopefully see from some of my photos below...

In the fashion of Ken, who used to fix my car in England quite regularly (let's be honest, it broke down a lot) - or prepare it for the dreaded MOT - here is Dad fixing the lock on my driver's side door. I went through a period where the only way I could get in and out of the car was through the passenger side door - not very dignified, I assure you! And you get lots of interesting looks from people at the supermarket, or kids at school, when you enter and exit a car that way! Lucky Dad was able to fix it - he even had to fashion a part out of a piece of metal!

Bookclub: I was invited to come along to bookclub with the ladies at church. It was actually a really lovely evening, and no one seemed to care that I actually hadn't read any books so I wasn't really able to contribute very intelligently to the discussion! There was a theme for the evening, which was Sci-Fi - and that meant you could come dressed up as something sci-fi (but I didn't), bring some sci-fi food (I brought some thin chocolate sticks which I renamed "Lightsabers"), and play the sci-fi quiz (which was in two levels, beginners or Louise - and we won the beginners, whilst Louise, of course, won the Louise level). Hehehe...

Here's Louise and a friend dressed as hobbits:

Karen and Karen as Star Wars characters Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker (Stormtrooper disguise)

And Louise wins the "Louise" level of the quiz!

Phew! So that's all for now folks!

Marcella's First Trip to the Movies

I'm sure that Beck will do a full on blog about this, but anyway, here's my contribution. Yesterday I had the pleasure of going with Mum, Beck and Marcella to the movies for her first ever experience of the 'movie experience'.

I captured some of it on tape, too. (well, HD - I've moved up in the world - borrowed the school's camcorder...) I had to be a bit Mission Impossible about it, because otherwise they might've thought I was videoing the show to do a bootleg copy - not that I would need to, there's enough out there already, because it is actually already out on DVD - yes, people, we went to see the enthralling "Dora the Explorer Saves the Snow Princess"!!! I know, you are all soooo envious...

Anyway, what was lovely was just seeing Miss M's reaction. She had no idea what to expect, and when we got in there, and there was this HUGE Dora on the screen - she just sat agog, eyes glued to the screen, and hand doing the reflex action - popcorn, mouth, popcorn, mouth - the whole time! Afterwards I tried to ask her what she thought of it, but she didn't say much - I was recording her at the time and she was more interested in what I was doing than in what I was saying...

Anyway, it was just a gorgeous moment, nice to be a part of a 'first' for one of the neices and nephews...

Mum, Marcella and I at the candy bar

Cella is engrossed in the movie

Beck and Cella after the film

Where Kylie is a Dufus

I'll be the first to admit, this is quite a regular occurrence, me being a dufus. But I need to vent a little today.

You see, a few weeks back I went to my friend's church, and at the service, ran into some people that I haven't seen in years, and who most definitely wouldn't normally go to that church. We did the usual swopping of the phone numbers and so on, and I didn't think anything more of it - it was just pleasantries, right?

Anyway, last week they phoned me to see if I wanted to come to their church, and also to stay for lunch at their place. Well, I'll admit, I was a bit apprehensive about it, but I accepted, because I kind of figured, if I didn't, then they'd keep asking til I did. The only problem is that their church is about 60km away from me - so 120km round trip.

So I went, and I'll admit, I had a good time. I saw some people I haven't seen in ages, and I enjoyed playing in the band and so on. It was kind of a bit strange to see traditional Salvation Army in action again, but it was nice, and I did genuinely have fun. The only downer is that I think they were kind of hoping I would say I would move there permanently - but I'm not doing 120 km twice a week (Sundays + rehearsals) - so that's not gonna happen.

Anyway, that's not the dufus bit - although part of it is, I guess, as who turns up to a traditional Salvation Army corps (where you know they're all wearing uniform) in black pants and a bright red blouse? Hmmm. Dufus moment part one...

No, the real dufus moment happened on the way home. You see, I got about 15 minutes into my hour long journey, and I got that real urgent call of nature, so I stopped off at shopping centre I happened to be passing at the time. After answering the call, I had a quick look at my surroundings, and discovered a Coles and a Woolies there. I thought to myself that perhaps I should do my grocery shopping now for the week. Immediately that thought entered my head, and the other half of my brain said "You kidding? Its 30 degrees outside and you have no chiller bag and another 45 minutes or so to go!" Plus, I thought to myself, at this time of day they wouldn't yet have reduced the cooked chooks.

"Why is that so important?" you may well ask. The answer is quite simple. You see, my 'investment' property has been vacant for sometime, with no income coming in, and I've been having to pay the full mortgage myself - on top of paying my own rent and bills. In addition to that, my other 'investment' property became vacant last week - and won't be occupied til the end of next week - so I'll have to carry that one too. This means that for the last few weeks, I have been living on a piece of bread and a prayer. Literally.

And that's when I discovered that if you go to Coles, or Woolies, about 30 minutes before closing time, they do the lovely markdown thing. They halve the price of their cooked chooks and their bakery items, and if you time it just right, you can get some good deals. The cooked chook is especially a good deal, as the price for a regular sized one goes down to $4 - I can't buy a chook and cook it for that - and that size chook will feed me at least 4 meals, so this is a real bargain. But of course, if I do my grocery shopping now, before 'markdown madness', I'll pay double for a chook that's been sitting there the best part of the afternoon. Wisely, I decided to wait til I got home before going shopping.

So I got home at about 4.30, and with the shops shutting at 6, I pottered about a bit, killing time before heading off for my reduced chook. I got to the shops about 5.15 and gathered up the other bits and pieces I wanted, and then waited at the chook section. No reductions yet - but alarmingly, not many chooks were actually there. Probably about 10 or so.

Just then, the bakery markdown announcement came over the PA, so I went to check out doughnuts which I knew I shouldn't buy for 50c (and actually I was very good, I left them there). I then went back to the chooks - still no reductions, and still about 7-8 chooks left.

Not wanting to hang out like some sort of chook markdown Nazi, I wandered up another couple of aisles to kill a few minutes, and then decided to head back to the chooks, telling myself that if they weren't marked down this time, I'd just pick one up anyway - 4 meals for $8 is still not so bad.

Only when I got there, some man picked up the last one, and it wasn't even reduced! And he took it over to the deli counter and asked them to reduce it, and THEY DID!!!!

What a dufus - I could've done that earlier, and I would've had a chook - now I have no chook, and I have to spend more money on those meals than intended!!!! Aaaaagggghhhhh!!!

Thanks a lot, Coles Nundah - what a waste of time!