“31st December just another Summers day”

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DAY 54

31ST December 2008 (New Year’s Eve)

Today waking up on the sunshine coast you can definitely feel the difference in the strength of the sun compared to Port Stevens, 10.00am and it was already very hot.

Andy got out of bed fairly early as usual, tended to the needs of Moffy and Charlie and settled down at the Internet with a cup of tea. I got up at 8.00, as the day was already blistering, I jumped in the swimming pool to cool down a bit. In this heat the water is naturally heated so is not freezing cold when you get in, it is all the same refreshing.

There was a knock on the door, hastily I went to the front door, anticipating that it was the parcel from England that we were expecting. Yes, the postman was standing there with parcel in hand, addressed to me.

My Mum and Dad very kindly sent a new camera out to us for Andy, as you may remember Andy’s Sony Cybershot broke a few weeks ago, so we purchased a replacement in England via Ebay. I tried to encourage Andy to get a new design camera out here for simplicity sake, however the problem with that is the memory sticks, batteries etc are all different so what he already had would become wasted. We could not find the same camera over here.

After that bit of excitement we pottered around for a bit and then went out to pick up our fridge replacement from Jarrod. When we went into Camping Country we had our usual cursory look around the store to see if there was anything new in. One thing that I noticed was a set of sieves, they come in a pair, one fine and one coarse that are used for fossicking. At $55 for the pair, Andy buys me a set for a late Christmas present, as we will be heading back into fossicking country in the near future.

Another thing that we really had to sort out today was a UHF radio so we could have it fitted in the truck, Australia is a huge user of UHF, and there are many repeater stations all over Australia. Andy had looked into the different makes, the technical bits and pieces and finally made a decision on what we should get. It has not been a big problem not having one, but it will come in very handy as we commence our journey in the New Year. More so for sitting on the Truckers channel 40, unwittingly they will keep us informed of traffic, and other road conditions. Not to mention if we have any problems, i.e. breakdown, get stuck in sand etc then we are able to put a call out for assistance. When we go out west we may have to invest in or hire a Satellite phone as extra precaution.

We got back mid afternoon, went out and walked the dogs as soon we would have to leave them as we were going out to a new years eve party.

We arrived at Ruth and David’s place in Mooloolah, and enjoyed a great party with them and their friends, most whom we already knew.
We had a great time and got away at around 1.00am after seeing the new year in.

Ruth is a most lovely person and she rescue’s ex racing greyhounds, and other less fortunate dogs. King an ex greyhound was huge, I didn’t think greyhounds were that big, very slim but very tall with the most sedate face, they have to retrained , as their life as constantly been in cages and don’t understand certain things. King is a very loveable dog and as soon after meeting you he would rest his head against you.

She also had a big jack Russell called Oakey who was just adorable.

Finally their house is fab, a really pleasant bungalow set in a ½ acre of grounds.

It was great to see out the old year and welcome in the new, with such nice people who have so far made our trip what it has been, though it was bizarre as it was so lovely and warm all evening, and the BBQ was in full flow.

Strange fact Fireworks are Illegal in Queensland for private usage.

See you next year bloggers!

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