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Published: October 27th 2008
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Jacaranda Tree
There are thousands of purple flowering Jacaranda's at this time of year. Well, we're back! We need a holiday now! Our little hire car did us proud as we chased around the North West of England visiting as many friends and relatives as we could. It was great to see everyone despite the trip being short, cold and wet. I think we managed to see most of you - if we didn't get to see you then we are sorry, but hopefully next time. It seemed somewhat strange coming to the UK for a holiday when usually we are leaving the UK for a holiday.
Leaving the airport was one of those 'teary' moments, and a few tears were shed all the way to Dubai. It's hard leaving everyone behind!
Dubai was first port of call. What a strange place. Everything is clinical and no expense is spared. The hotels are bling bling, with gold and marble. Service is fairly impeccable and the food and drink is excellent - if not expensive. 40 degrees at 8am is a little hard to bear even though we are getting used to heat, living in Brisbane and all.
We landed in Brisbane first thing in the morning and suprisingly it only took a few days to
The Big Storm
The view from our balcony as this storm ripped through West Brisbane get over the jetlag. We arrived to early spring, mid 20's and the Jacaranda trees in full bloom. These purple flowering trees line Coronation Drive and blanket every suburb of Brisbane. We arrived home on the Monday and on the Wednesday night we were treated to our first major storm of the storm season. It was a 'ripper'. As storms go we probably havnt been in one as bad. It lasted well over an hour and seemed to be overhead for the duration. Ipswich, 50km to the West had golf ball sized hail, smashing car body work and house windows. South East Queensland had 22,000 lightening bolts in one hour - I managed to capture a few! So the joys of being in a tropical climate! It's not all sunshine and beaches - just nearly all!
We are settling back into life here again. Work is work! But play is play! I am quickly learning that Insurance is all about corporate hospitality. Maybe we could all have cheaper premiums if it wasn't for vast amounts of money spent on entertainment by the Insurers. One Insurance firm ( I better not mention names as I do not want to bite off
Indy Race Track & Surfers
The view from floor 22 of the Holiday Inn, courtesy of Insurance Hospitality. the hand that feeds ) took me out for a night on the town last week. Firstly, a slap up meal, Oysters, Steak, Wine, Beer etc, etc, then onto a Soccer Match at the Suncorp Stadium ( Sorry, it's football not soccer - I have been here too long ) to see Brisbane Roar against Adelaide United - Brisbane lost. Not that it mattered by that time, as the alchohol was still flowing. From here it was into the City for further hospitality.
Only a few days later, another Insurer chose to take me away for two days to the Gold Coast to watch the Indy 500. For four days, Surfers Paradise is a Mecca of 'petrol heads', where the streets are closed off, the race track winds its way through the sky scrapers and thousands of people roll into town. We were wined and dined for two days, put up in a unit overlooking Surfers Paradise, the Ocean and the Indy Track. From here we had fantastic views of the races which included The Porsche Cup, Formula 3 racing and Indy qualifying.
So I now need a detox!
Caz and I have started our running regime. The alarm goes
Formula 3
The Formula 3 Race Event at 5.45am and at 6.00am we are running. Just 3km to start but this will increase. Already after four days doing it, it is getting easier - slightly!
We hear the weekend in the UK was a little wet. Angela (my sister) and her husband had a lovely weekend trudging the Lakeland Fells on this two day race that by the sounds of it was completely washed out - they are ok though if not a little cold and wet.
We had a slightly drier and warmer weekend. It was in the upper twenties again this weekend. Saturday was a lazy day! We drove for an hour to the South West, to the Gold Coast Hinterland. Here we went to a little place called Canungra, where, just up the valley in the foothills of O'Reilly's Plateau and Lamington National Park, is O'Reilly's vineyard. We ordered a picnic basket, cold meats, salmon, salad, cheese, biscuits, french bread and sparking wine, or Champagne as they keep calling it, and just sat by the river all afternoon. We must confess we had a little snooze! The river is a breeding ground for the infamous 'Duck Billed Platypus'. Unfortunately, this still remains an iconic
On the lawn at O'Reilly's
Picnic lunch by the river. Australian 'critter' that we havnt seen and Saturday brought no further success.
Sunday was another relaxing day. This time, it was spent on the Ocean. We met John ( my brother ) at the boat club and we 'zipped' out of Manley Harbour in his boat an hour later arriving at Sandhills on Moreton Island. On the stove we rustled up some 'bacon butties' for breaky and soon had Brahimny Kites flying above us, searching for meat scraps. We tossed the bacon rind into the ocean and got some great shots of these magnificent birds swooping down for their breaky!
The crystal clear water revealed a large stingray and two turtles. We had a swim and then moved on to a lovely little spot on Moreton Island, where we had the beach to ourselves and set up camp for the day with the cold box ( with a beer or two inside ) and a luncheon spread fit for Royals. We spent the afternoon here and then jumped on the boat as the sun was beginning to go down.
Just out from Moreton Island, then ocean changes colour to an intense blue. This is where the shelf drops off to
Brahimny Kite
Breaky off the back of the boat. around 20 metres of water and this is usually a good fishing spot.
So we drifted in the boat and threw in the lines, jigging off the bottom with lures. We hooked quite a few small 'flatheads' but nothing of size, until something hit my lure hard! OK, so this is the one that got away story! But I had witnesses as to the power of this thing! It hammered into my lure and nearly took me overboard with it. Serious rod bend followed along with a screaming ratchet on the reel followed by a crisp 'crack' as the line snapped in two. That was the one that got away.......local sources seem to think it was probably a good sized Tuna or Spanish Mackeral but hey, it doesnt really matter. IT GOT AWAY!
Anyway, back to work today. Bloody work! It does interupt a good life! So for now, by to all. Was great to see everyone the other week and we will continue to miss you all.
Stay in touch.
Matt & Caz
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