Another morning, another coffee at Humpty Mick's :) Stu is impressed that he can get such good coffee, and wishes it was this easy to get near his work.

We decided to buy a couple of postcards to send to our works, so got those, then wrote them and went to the little post office to send them. In the back room were a whole pile of boxes with the same address on them. I asked the postie if someone was moving house via post, and she said basically yes - Australia Post is cheaper than other methods of freighting stuff.. scary!

Stopped at the old cemetary to have a look.

Next biked it around to Blinky Beach. It was quite windy and a bit rough.

As we walked down the beach we saw dozens of sooty terns squawking and hovering.

As we got closer we saw two rangers putting up barriers. heh. (later we read that in previous years they've tried to discourage them from nesting there due to them being in the flight path and all).

Wandered back, and went to the museum for a milkshake and to check our mail.

Then back here for lunch of leftover bbq chickie. Had a bit of a rest too.

Decided to brave the winds and blustery weather and go for a final snorkel at Ned's Beach. It was really freaky when the really big kingfish swum past.. they're as big as me and look like sharks when they pop up next to you. Had a good look at the coral and fish, even though there was no sun. I even saw a turtle! It was swimming very fast though, and only glimpsed it. When we were almost frozen we came back for a long hot shower.

For our last dinner we decided to go to Pandanus. It was quite expensive, but the food was very very good. I had a steak and Stu had a mushroom and bacon lasagna. We also had some polenta chips. It was all delicious.

After dinner we decided to try our luck with the uncertain skies and walk home. We went via the mutton birds, but it was very dark with clouds blocking the full moon, so only saw one bird on the road.

Going home tomorrow.....

Well didn't really get any cleaning done today, but did get quite a bit of sorting and tidying done.

A dude came to replace the smoke detector, so I can rent out this place legally now. My mum braved the 37° heat and came from the station to pick up some of the things I forgot to take over last night. The study floor is bare. The living room floor is bare. All my Lego (except a few bits I forgot) is all packed away. The main thing left to work on is the perimeter of the study which still has piles of stuff that needs to be sorted. Even convinced a freecycler dude to take both MMX 233s (he only wanted one). So only my original Pentium 166 (conspiracy) to chuck out. Will take it to the parents for whenever the next council cleanup is. Took my 486 to their place last night.. I paid $1400 for that computer and really only used it for a year or so before paying another $1400 to get the P166. And they'll both be thrown out at the same time 11-12 years later... *sad*

I think I might have more meals to be eaten than I have food in the freezer so that's a good thing (although I might have to have a couple of veggie-only meals :) ).

Definitely cleaning day tomorrow....

On Thursday night we headed over to Scott and Kerry's for dinner. Kerry had decided to make a special occasion of it, and had cooked up a storm. There was a fantastic lamb roast with tonnes of roast veggies, wine, and a lemon tart for dessert.

Friday night we went out to JusQytly with Damien.

We started with a bottle of sparkling shiraz..

Stu and I shared a tasting platter for entree..

Stu had spatchcock..

And I had steak..

Damien had a lamb tart and risotto and the boys shared a walnut and blue cheese salad.

The food was pretty good, my steak was cooked a perfect medium rare, although it was quite small. The service was if anything a little over enthusiastic. They'd keep refilling our glasses when they were only halfway empty.

A very pleasant night.

This morning we finished off the kransky, eggs, strawberries and blueberries...

Other meals for the last three days have consisted mainly of leftovers that we're still getting through.

So very (VERY) early Wednesday morning I pointed my car in the general direction of the Southern Cross (which was still visible in the predawn light, even with the full moon blazing) and headed for the snow. After stopping at Maccas in Cooma for brekky (two hash browns and a bacon and egg mcmuffin) and at Rebel in Jindabyne to hire some ski gear, I caught the 8:40 ski tube from Bullocks Flat and was on the slopes by 9am.

I did a couple of small runs at Blue Cow to get the hang of the skiing thing again. It was still a bit icy, but the sun was shining and the sky was an amazing blue.

Then wandered over to Pleasant Valley which is probably my favourite area in the whole place. Nice gentle slopes and very few bumps, so I could go fast without feeling like I could get out of control.

So did a few runs there and then headed over to Guthega for a bit.

Ended up on the middle traverse by mistake, which has a few "ups" in it. When I got to the second major up, I thought this is silly, and took the alternative route - down Schnaxl, a double blue run. Noone had used the run all morning and it was very steep and icy, but wide enough for me to zig zag down it without too much trouble. Did a few more runs at Guthega before heading back.

Did another couple of runs through Pleasant Valley and then down Copperhead Road and across to Interceptor (noone there!)

Went down Discovery Trails and then headed across to Smiggins. Quite enjoyed Smiggins. Did quite a few runs there, and met up with some school teachers from Bega who'd brought their year 3 and 4 kids on excursion. Did a few runs with them before they quit for the day.

Then I wandered back to Perisher, across Front Valley and up Forester. Down through Happy Valley and up Mt Perisher.

At this point it was 3pm and I was starting to feel very tired. I had some cheese and chocolate, rang Stu, and thought of my plan for the rest of the afternoon. However, getting down off Mt Perisher in my exhausted state proved difficult, and when I got to Pleasant Valley the snow was very heavy and slushy. Had a third and final stack where my ski got buried so deep in the snow I had to take it off just to get it out. So thought I'd make my way back to Front Valley and go home. Except at the top of the hill I could see my destination but it felt too hard to get there. I made my way very slowly down. Half way down a very kind lady offered to lead me down, which was lovely of her. Just following someone gave me the motivation to keep going and not stop every few metres. So then I got back on the ski tube and came home.

It was crazy hot weather. The beanie never made it on my head, and my gloves came off mid morning. I had two of my sloppy-joe jumpers on and a gore tex jacket, and was wishing I'd only worn one jumper!

Food of the day was maccas for breakfast and dinner, with mini cheeses and mini boost bars for continuous energy.

The drive down was quite peaceful. Got to see the very full moon set. I was a bit tired for the drive back, but got to see the golden moon rise again. A coach was on my tail out of Cooma, so I let it pass and then sat on its tail for the entire trip back to Canberra (it was doing exactly 100 and it's much nicer to be following someone at night than be leading). Oddly, the radio had "Can't Fight the Moonlight" on the way down, and "Dancing in the Moonlight" on the way back :) Four dead wombats and a few dead kangaroos which was quite sad. Never seen that many wombats hit, usually it's just the roos.

After two days, it's really my shoulders that suffered the most pain. All that silly traversing nonsense. Legs hardly suffered at all. Silly really :)

Continuing in my food commentary for the week. Today we had toast and marmalade for breakfast, cheese and chocolate for morning tea. Heated up the leftover chicken curry from the other night and had the last kangaroo steak sliced and cold, with some cheese and some apple for dessert. And tonight we had our obligatory roast pork with lots of roast veggies, and some awesome crackling. Yum. :)

Didn't have any plans for the day. Ended up mostly just doing my jigsaw and watching videos. We did get out for a walk which was nice. A slow walk anyway :) Hoping the weather stays clear tomorrow night for the total lunar eclipse.

And then I find out today that Stu can see the tower from his front door!! I never knew that in the year and a half he's been here. The fact that most of the year the view is obscured behind foliage is beside the point.

I'm the first to admit this blog is boring. Heck I'm still surprised that after four and a half years anyone actually reads it.

However, the advantage of it being boring is that I rarely get any sort of hate mail or idiotic comments. Except today I got one complaining that my blog is full of crap. Which made me giggle, because, well, yes it is, but if you think so, why on earth do you bother to read it? It was on an older entry though, so presumably they came from a google referral. Remind me to check the logs later.

In other nonsense. Well let's talk about food shall we? There was the Red Rooster we had today before going out in Scotty's new boat. There was the toffee apple I had while we watched some Veronica Mars. Then there was the delicious steak I cooked and ate while we watched some more Veronica Mars. And don't forget the dark chocolate Maltesers and Mint Intense Lindt square I had for dessert. There we go, is that a crappy enough entry for you? :):)

Went out with J&G and the kids tonight for dinner for me birthday. As usual there, we all ate far too much heh :) But it was delicious food. Could roll home afterwards :)

Next time I see them will most likely be in Canberra...

Breakfast:

* Sultana Bran Crunch (I actually forgot it was my birthday until over 30 minutes after I'd woken up)

Morning Tea:

* piece of smooth cheese
* square of Lindt caramel crunch chocolate

Lunch:

* five slices of pepperoni pizza on thin and crispy base

Pre-dinner Drinkies:

* vodka and vanilla coke

Dinner:

* bechamel lasagna topped with extra parmesan and tasty cheese
* garlic bread
* capsicum, roma tomatoes and zucchini roasted in olive oil and herbs
* toffee apple for dessert (I would have had a Cadbury Creme egg but I was too full - but even the apple made me feel very overfull.. oops! :) )

ahh.. the weekend... I think I need a weekend to recover.. :)

So Friday night the boy arrived, and we made wholemeal pizzas (exceedingly yummiferous) and watched Star Trek and The Bourne Identity, with strawberries for dessert.

Saturday we made wholemeal pancakes as per my recipe the other day. Without a blender or lemon juicer. (!) So had to whisk the batter with a fork and squeeze the lemon by hand.. really not recommended! But they turned out really well, and not lumpy as I thought they might be based on the consistency of the flour that went into the batter.

Then we meandered up to the blue mountains at rather a high velocity. M5-M7-M4 and we're at the Nepean River in about 40 minutes. The wattles are starting to look pretty now..

When we got to Leura, we thought we'd take the scenic route. Ended up at Leura cascades (after passing a sign on a restraunt for a Wayzgoose, I'm sure Stu would want that blogged hehe). Walked down to the cascades..

Next it was up to Echo Point to do battle with tourists for a piece of railing.

It was very windy..

Obligatory Three Sisters shot...

Next I thought I'd torture Stu, both mentally and physically...

The Skyway was even running in the insane wind...

The view at the end of the walk is good though..

And the Scenic Railway arrived just as we did

Stu was very brave taking the railway up. Woulda been better going down for his first time, but no intention of ever doing the Giant Staircase *up* heh

It only gets to a maximum angle of 52° but it feels a lot more vertical than that

So then it was a mad dash back to the car, cause we only paid for two hours parking :/ In fact the whole thing felt very rushed and stressful because of that. Next time (hrmm) will park at the Scenic Railway end, which has bucketloads of free parking ..

So then it was back down the hill to Striker's for a bbq for his birthday.

When Jess arrived, she hit the ground. I joined her.

Jess' glow in the dark apple

Jess and I doing Cousin Itt. Very impromptu so I didn't get to brush my hair into place..

Lots of yummy food..

No garage is complete without an anvil..

Or pistons..

Then we dropped Jess home and made it home quite late.

This morning we slept in and finished watching the Bourne Identity. Then off to my parents for a roast pork lunch.

Found some relics from my childhood while cleaning out one of my old cupboards of stuff I really should take to Canberra .. not this tho!

Or this.. which has been in my cupboard for as long as I have memories..

Stopped at San Souci on the way (sort of) home

We're going to Lord Howe Island in one of these..

There's some really cool trees..

And finally home where we spent nearly two hours pulling apart my big original fish tank - getting the fish out, then the plants, then thorough gravel vacuuming, cleaning and finally playing tetris to get it all into Stu's car.

So now the study feels a bit more lonely, and a lot quieter..
Oh yeah .. my calves.. *killing* me .. !!

So after the others had finished playing at AFK yesterday, we adjourned to the tables and had lunch. We had beer-battered fries, a mexicana pizza, and a caesar salad. All were excellent. Willett and Chef have done very well with the cafe setup. Very relaxed atmosphere, nice mix of peoples (normal people to geeks :) ), great food. Apparently the coffee was good too, but I can't be judge of that :)

If you're in Brisbane, go check it out. It's near the Gabba on Stanley St.