Day at the Beach

With the temperature around 35 and very warm this morning I decided it was time to hit the ocean. I had not been swimming since we got to Australia this year. Partly because of the rain and partly because of the effort. I did not realize how much I was missing. The water temperature on the life guards board was listed at 23 but I think it was much warmer. It was very very refreshing. After the swim Beth and I took a long walk on the beach. We live across the road from the beach and can see the ocean from our balcony. Our local surf club is call Kirra North and we like it a lot. It is small, family orientated and sits right on the beach. The food is good and the beer is cold. After our swim we headed to Kingscliff to do some business. There is a fellow there that wants to get in the golf business and he wanted to pick our brains. After a coffee with him we went over to Dan's for a cold one on his nice deck. There we spent about an hour watching the kids swim, fish and enjoy the river. Tonight a group of us are going to the Opera in the Park. We will take some food and drink and sit on the grass and enjoy the warm summer evening, the music, the food and the company of our fellow Canadians.

Cruise

This year about 30 of us took the 4.5 hour Tweed River Cruise. It was a great day, about 32 degrees and a nice breeze. The cruise took us up the river for about 2.5 hrs. Gave us an hour in the town of Tumbulgum where the ladies went shopping and the men went to the historic pub. On the return trip we had a very good lunch of steak, snags, salads, prawns and fruit. On the way up we feed the birds. There were a lot of hawks and eagles. Everyone said they enjoyed the cruise. This is the 4th different cruise we have taken over the years and probably the best. It is a little expensive but we got a group discount and the price came down to $42. Those of you still to arrive, I believe we have 14 more to come, will be able to take the cruise at the same price. The staff was excellent and the captain gave a good commentary on the trip up the river. On the way back we were joined by a large pod of dolphins that played around the boat and surfed on our wake. Today the temperature was to reach a high of 36. This past few days of hot weather is the way I remember Australia. It is so nice to sit out side in the morning and have coffee on the balcony and have the temperature around 23 degrees.

Golf Tournament

Yesterday we had our annual tournament at Lakelands. This is a Nickolaus course. The weather was the same as it has been for a while. The mornings are nice then it clouds over and we get some showers. Yesterday that is what happened. Everyone had a good time and Twin Towns donated the prizes once again. A group of them,12, have booked tee times at Coolangatta for Thursday. Dan and Darryl got the low net team score and received a nice wine cooler with glasses, cheese board and knife.

A number of golfers tried to order hot dogs at the turn only to find out that the course does not serve hot dogs. I had to explain that you order meat pies or sausage rolls. In a number of cases if you want tomato sauce you have to pay extra. Just one of the reasons you travel so that you can experience different cultures and customs.

Coffee is another custom that is different. It is hard to find filtered coffee unless you go to Starbucks or MacDonald's. Australians drink a lot of coffee but they go out for it. They order Cappuccino, Long Blacks, Latte or Flat Whites. Cappuccino is espresso topped with steamed milk and froth. Long Black is espresso topped with hot water. Latte is espresso with steamed hot creamy milk, topped with dense froth. A Flat White is espresso topped with steamed hot creamy milk.

You will also find plunger coffee served at a number of restaurants. You might not have a coffee pot in your accommodation. If you do not I have a number of plunger that you could use.

Today Beth and I went for a walk along the beach to watch the large surf. Australians measure the surf from the top to the back. Today it was about 4 feet but from the front it would measure about 8 to 12 feet. They measure the swell. This is high surf and a number of pros were out getting ready for the pro event that starts this weekend.

The large waves are caused by a large low pressure system sitting off the coast. The surfers wait for these to come along like we would wait for large dumps of fresh powder.

The spell checker on this machine does not work so you will have to forgive my mistakes. After all Mark Twain once said" a man must be very boring if he only knows one way to spell a word".

Noosa

We spent two nights in Noosa ( 3 hours north) with the Clarke's. We took this time to catch up with friends from Sydney from way back in 1968. They have a lovely home. We dined at the Harbour Master on the Warf and at the Surf Club. Took the Clarke's up the coast and back by the highway stopping at the Ginger Factory. The Ness's and Tucker's had two nights as well in Noosa. We also checked out our home exchange family for Jan 2008 and back to Mermaid Beach for March 2008. The rain continues but we did get to golf yesterday. The course was very wet but they were permitting power carts. Today it continues to sprinkel. We have a game planned for tomorow. Hope we can get it in. Next Tuesday is our little golf tournament and we will play it this year at Lakelands. The on Friday the 22nd we will take the 4.5 hr Tweed River Cruise. Should have about 25 B&B clients for this event. Four more golfers arrived today but their golf clubs did not. This is the wettest season we have had in Australia. The dought has broken around here.

Updating

Hi: We are back on line. I am using a computer in the shopping mall in Coolangatta. They charge $2 for 21 minutes so not too bad. We have a number of golfers here and more arriving next week. Beth and I have been here for 9 days now and the weather has cleared the last few days and it is sunny and hot now. We had a lot rain and high seas. So far we have only played two courses, Banora and Coolangatta. Both in very good shape. This year we are staying in Coolangatta where a number of our golfers stay. We are heading north for two nights to Noosa to meet some old friends and see the people we are going to exchange with next January. Tonight we are going to Club Banora for the free entertainment. We try and go each weekend as we sometimes see some excellent bands and performers. Last night we dinned at The Rusty Pelican. There were 8 of us and we all had coupons so we got 50% off. The meal was very good and we said we would go back. We had a scare the other day as we were sitting at Dan's place having a drink and waiting for the storm to pass through the area. There was a lot of lighting and thunder. All of a sudden the room lit up with a flash of orange, red and white light. This was followed immediately by the thunder. We all said holy crap what was that and then we discussed the lighting that had entered the room. We could not find any damage. We also agreed that we were now not afaird of lighting as we would never know what hit us.