South to North

Monday 5^th December to Tuesday 20^th December 2016

Most of the time, so far, has been spent on working for me, getting some things done around the house that Sam either could not do or was reluctant to start – she isn’t a great one for getting too involved with the backyard (as small as it is); but by far the biggest thing that has been happening has been the building site directly outside our front door.

We live in a townhouse in a group of 19 units with a central security area which is not open to just anyone. It is a walkway for the exclusive use of residents and guests, but it is an area over an underground car park and the garages for each unit.

Over the relatively short time since the units have been built, the waterproofing membrane has failed and the underground area, when rain is falling outside,  has resembled somewhere between an underground river and a series of limsestone caves – with Stalactites appearing in various places.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the residents (as a group and of which we are one couple) took legal action against the builder and we won the case – meaning that the builder has to fix the problem.

This has involved ripping up all of the outside tiled areas as well as the existing non-performing membrane and the screed – this has been a messy, noisy and dirty job – but the guys doing the work have been very good, keeping us informed about what the timing is.

Fortunately, part of the job has already been completed, so we can see what the outcome will be, but Xmas approaching has presented new time limits and constraints.

The upshot is that the screed will be laid before Xmas and the job will be finished off in early February (the building trades take 4 weeks off at Xmas).

This would be the "before" photo, with the preparation all done

This is the "after" photo - the area already completed

At the start of our time back home, Diane flew to Maroochydore to see her parents, which was our primary reason for coming home at this time of the year; she has reported back that they are much more frail than they were last year when she saw them, but looking forward to their upcoming renewal of vows – well at least her mother is looking forward to it, Dad is very much ambivalent about it all.

Sea and sun - oh and snorkeller

Not looking too bad here - this is a very good day.

After 10 days in Melbourne doing things as I needed to do – this included organising some things for Xmas in Melbourne, I have flown north as well, and now we are both in Kawana (near Caloundra) where Diane’s brother and sister-in-law – Robert and Sonia manage a beachside resort – they have been able to have a large unit available to us – 3 bedroom apartment with a private rooftop terrace and overlooking the beach – in the prime holiday season for a fraction of the normal price – very nice indeed.

Not bad really - this will do us for the week

From the baclony this is the short path that leads to the beach

The view from the apartment to downtown Maroochydore

The sea was a bit rough during one of the days - the remnants of a storm
had just blown through - but the surf lifesavers were out - and remember
to swim between the flags

The only problem about being here is the damned weather – as anyone reading this blog will know, we do not like hot humid weather and that is what you get here at this time of the year – all of the time; night and day. Temperatures have been between 25 and 30C everyday.

The sunrises have all been quite magnificent as these should show

But we are enjoying the air-conditioning and seeing the oldies; Diane’s sister, Vivienne, arrived on Saturday, so we only have Sam to fly in on Wednesday and we are complete – Mitch and Sara, understandably were not able to get here from LA.

Sisters - Vivienne and Diane

There have been a few periods of quite heavy rain here, which as we are in a sub-tropical region, is quite usual – it only helps to increase the humidity, but as we have been told before, we need to get a grip!

So, a bit of sun, a bit of surf, lovely pristine beaches, BBQ’s as much as we want – there are worse places to spend some time.

We did find this little fellow on the beach