On the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Did I mention that I was in Queensland - maybe I did, the memory gets a bit vague these days. I liken my memory to a computer, in that it over the years it collects all this data and like a computer you need to either delete data to allow for more data to be installed. Being a bit of a Bower Bird (collector of shiny things) I'm reluctant to delete data. Maybe I just need a bigger hard drive.

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yes - why am I here?
Well, I have family here, Jack my father, Faye my sister and my daughter Carly. My daughter is returning to Melbourne and I'm here to see the family and help with driving the 4000 km trip to pick up belongings and help Carly settle back in Melbourne.

Brought my bike with me so I could explore my surroundings so here's a few photos with captions.

We arrive after a 20 hour drive and 2000 kms from Melbourne to Surfers Paradise.
Except for the last few hundred kms the highway is pretty much a multi-lane divided highway. Many of the small to large towns are now by-passed making the trip faster but less interesting.
Note that my hat came along.

I may or may not be aware that I am a man of many hats.  My Brooklyn cycling cap joined Carly and I for a ride to Robbie McEwan's cafe on the Gold Coast. Piccolo is a cyclists stop off point for many local cyclists.
Robbie won the Tour de France green points jersey on three occasions in his international career and has a home in Belgium as well as here on the Gold Coast.

It's a long way to come to have a beer with my Father Jack but well worth it.

On one of my rides, I encountered this interesting restored building from 1896 which sits on the slopes of a huge lake.

Living in Melbourne by the bay, the terrain is mostly flat so when I uncounted inclines of  12% and 13% I found myself confronted with a challenge. The challenge was well worth the sights.

There's not many of the true Queenslander homes left as new modern estates take over the hilly terrain out the back of the Gold Coast. I spied a few in my rides and this one only slightly out of the path of the Gold Coast to Brisbane freeway. 

Grand gates to the side of a main road that lead to the modern estates made me do a u-tune to see where the dirt driveway went. There up on the hill at the end of the dirt track was one of the area's original farm homesteads. I wish I could have been bold enough to knock on their door for a closer look.

All along the modern roads there was much road kill, snakes being the most prevalent. There were also several lizards, frogs and the occasional kangaroo, but the suburbs are quickly encroaching upon their natural habitat.

Our stay comes to an end when we repack the car tonight and take off for Melbourne early tomorrow (Friday) morning. I expect I'll need to get Sue out of bed in the early hours as I left my keys at home.

Happy New Year to all and have safe and healthy 2014

Holiday Shopping and a Long Drive

On holidays - time to relax, yeah right, not on your Nelly!!!!!

Up at 5.30 that's AM to go for a ride with my son Mitch on Beach Road - the Bay looks fantastic at that time of morning and we finish off with a muggachino while telling each other tales and experiences of  the past.

Mostly exaggerated of course. our memories extend the tales to humour with much guffaws - that's what blokes do.

Mitch didn't join us for coffee and when I arrived home, I discovered he went back to bed. Young fella couldn't live up to us old blokes. (mind you, I feel like a nano nap now at 4.00 pm)

Mitch is working at a music festival so we dropped him of at a friend's home so he could get a lift. I said to Sue, "Why don't we do some shopping at Mediterranean Wholesaler". It's a traditional Italian Supermarket in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. Brunswick is not easy to get to from Bayside but its worth it when you get there.

And we always buy more than we really need - then there's the coffee and little Italian pastry to enjoy during the shopping expedition.

Five different pasta we bought - there were more but we didn't want to go overboard.

Arborio rice for Risotto and Fine Italian 00 flour for making pasta.

Pesto, capsicum, artichokes and Italian peeled tomatoes.

I picked the spreads for my morning toast.

Porcini stock cubes - dehydrated porcini that Sue will use to enhance  risotto or pasta meals.

Montipulciano D' Abruzzo takes its name from the grape not the town in Tuscany.

While I write this today, I'm on the Gold Coast with My daughter Carly. We drove approx 2000 kms in 20 hours door to door with stops. Being a southerner, I find the heat up here in Queensland takes a little getting use to so I can't imagine what it might be like as you drive further up into the tropics. Its a big country which I'm yet to discover and may never.

Hopefully I can get some photos and words on the blog while I'm here. There's not a lot of history, well old history about the Gold Coast. Being developed over the last 100 years, I find its more like a mini Miami or Los Angeles. "All Show"

Anyway I'm here to help my daughter to pack boxes to drive back to Melbourne at the end of the week so she can settle back in the town where she was born. While here I'll also spend some time with Jack my father and sister Faye.