Monday 10th December
Up early and drove to The Broadwater for a walk along this most magical of locations. So many other people of different ages and abilities are also walking and riding. Here it is, 5.30 am and already there are people walking or riding in both directions. I even see an elderly lady pushing a wheely walker. One of the residents here goes walking along the Broadwater pathway at 4.15am every day. By the time I arrive after 5.30 she has already finished and gone home. The only sour note this morning was a cyclist riding on the same path was trying to write a text message on his phone while weaving among the walkers. Grrr! It makes me so angry to see this. No wonder there are so many stupid people in the world who simply think it is OK to text and drive or even ride a pushbike and text.
As soon as it is light enough about a dozen people wander into the Lagoon. As the morning wears on the number of people in the lagoon will increase. High tide, low tide, mid tide makes no difference. At midday swimmers and waders have to share with a hundred or so Pelicans which come for a fishy handout. This morning there is a strange sausage shaped dark cloud suggesting it will bring rain. It does not. The sun is shining in all its glory/vengeance by the time I am ready to come home. It is Tshirt sticking to the body time of year. Mostly it is perspiration but some is humidity. Summer is here.
In the afternoon I took i30 to Bob Jane T Mart to have my tyres checked for their 5,000 Klm service. Actually I was 5,000 Klms overdue.Nonetheless I left i30 for an hour and had a stroll around The Broadwater Parklands.
Arriving back at Bob Jane, i30 was ready. Perfect tyre wear and no need for a rotation or even a wheel balance. I run Nitrogen in the tyres which means the tyres never run hot even in summer. That means no heat inflation and cooling deflation and driving habits maintain even tyre wear.
Thursday 13th December
Tonight our friend, since early this century, Glenda, accompanied me to a National Australia Bank Financial Advisors seminar. Before I explain further I should say I do not know why I received the invitation, nor the invitation last year at this time. I knew none of the advisors and none sought me out to introduce themselves. So long as I get an invitation each year I am quite happy to attend. Donnis suggested that as she is unable to be here, I should take Glenda as my guest. Instead of parking in town I drove to a shopping centre at Fairfield about 6 klms from the city. The bus starts and terminates here every 15 minutes and takes right to the door of Southbank Cultural Centre which includes the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Queensland State Library, Museum of Queensland, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA). Buses to all parts of the southern suburbs, city centre and northern and western suburbs all pass through a transit hub here. A bus arrives or leaves every 30 seconds.
I fully expected a financial talk from experts in the trade. The evening was held at the Rooftop Garden Centre of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) perched in a prominent position, surrounded by gardens, walkways and cycle tracks along and beside the Brisbane River and the Go To Bridge.
This is a really special location.
The evening started with drinks, beer, wine, champagne or orange juice plus a hors d’oeuvres or two. Instead of a financial discussion we were given a talk by two young men who started a charity, Orange Sky, about 4 years ago. https://orangesky.org.au/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAxs3gBRDGARIsAO4tqq04lFE6avLCrtn6Ok2EnfzRr1xs_a6O4oubI587p90vRhiqwc8f3IMaAvW9EALw_wcB The charity began by providing mobile washing and drying services to homeless people in Brisbane. It expanded to provide a place to sit and talk over a cup of coffee in a non- judgemental way. It expanded further to include a mobile shower and now has 22 locations around Australia. It also provides laundry, shower and talk vans for remote services and disaster relief. There is now a van in New Zealand and the first US van has been built and operational. This was a remarkably worthwhile and heartwarming presentation. There was no financial talk except for the NAB welcome and thanks for coming. It was followed by what they called drinks and canapes which was all very nice but left us, in Brisbane, at 8pm with not enough to eat and at least another 90 minutes before we got home. The drinks and canapes quickly finished. I had assumed that the talk etc was presented at mealtime for most people we would be given enough to eat. Not so. I had a beer by Burleigh Brewing Company. https://burleighbrewing.com.au/ It was called California Pale Ale 28. It was a very heavy hop tasting beer not to my liking but would suit others. They have about 8 beers in their range so it may be worthwhile trying some of the others. After all we should support locals.
After leaving GOMA we walked along the River Walk
to the Ferris Wheel at South Bank then caught a bus to Fairfield where we had left i30. I was home a little after 10pm after dropping Glenda at her home.
Friday 14th December
Our big event of the year, the Christmas Party took place tonight. In the morning three of us set up the tables in the clubhouse to accommodate 80 attendees. They had been warned NOT TO ARRIVE before 6.30 as the caterers will need to get in an out with HOT food. They all arrived on time which meant many arrived before time and a big queue snaked its way along the pathway. Our guest of honour was Sam O’Connor MP for the State seat of Bonney in the Queensland Parliament. https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/members/current/list/MemberDetails?ID=2704686237 Sam is a personable young man and seems to be popular amongst 100% of our party attendees. Amazing for a parliamentarian, he did not eat and run. Sam stayed for most of the night, helping out, talking with people, gave a brief speech and even donated two raffle prizes of a 3 course lunch with him at the 150 year old State Parliament Members Dining Room and fully guided tour of Parliament House with him. Winners of the raffle prizes had a choice of his invitation or the $100 Christmas Hamper we provided. The first two winners chose the lunch at Parliament House. Sam further offered to attend our future events and to provide a lunch as raffle prize every time he attends. I told him to expect to be busy as we will invite him to 12 events next year. Just as an indication the Dining Room also does a High Tea …it is totally booked out months ahead and the cost is $49.50. There is also a Chef’s Table Luncheon which is only once a month and the cost is $190 per person. These are two very special prizes.
Here are some images of the dining room https://www.google.com/search?q=queensland+state+government+dining+room&safe=active&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZz6vGh6bfAhXEEHIKHfk6DuYQsAR6BAgAEAE&biw=1920&bih=938
It was a great night for everybody but the noise level was astounding. You could not hear the music. If people are talking then they must be enjoying themselves. Judging by the exit comments, they did. That said, as we were the last to leave, Frank W, Maree P and I just felt worn out but pleased with way the evening unfolded. Our President Graham S went home early as he been away on holiday and just returned today and was simply too tired to stay any longer. I had planned to have some line dancing or Rock and Roll dancing but people were happy to eat, drink and enjoy themselves with conversation. Who would have thought that meeting and greeting guests as they arrive and socialising at various tables and keeping the evening running smoothly could be so tiring.
I was home by 11pm.
Saturday 15th December
Our little group of four met at 9am to clean and tidy the clubhouse. We all know what has to be done and who does what and soon the job was done. That was the last of our official functions for the year but the clubhouse is booked for a couple of private functions but they are responsible for cleaning and tidying. As well we have an unofficial New Year’s Eve party open to all residents and guests.
In the afternoon I played bowls and forsook the after game happy hour…or two… to talk with Donnis still chilling out in Canada.
Sunday 16th December
Up north, ex tropical Cyclone, Owen did a turn around in the Gulf of Carpentaria and came back over land to dump incredible amounts of rain around Cairns, Townsville and Mackay. For example Townsville a traditional dry parched city had 612 mm of rain in 24 hours. For those who still talk in the old Imperial system of measurement, that is over 2 feet of rain in a day. We had to put up with some rain here, about 30 or a little over 2 inches. It was a good day to stay home, stay dry and edit photos.
Hmmm! I start my road trip to Mackay next Saturday. I hope Owen has left and the bad weather has gone.
Christmas is on its way and I thought you might like to see this.
FrankieG Home & Travel Gallery 