For all those who said 'have a nice holiday' today has been a typical day! We get as much food, rest and punishment as at a Health Farm!
Up at 5 a.m. with the fruit-bats and ravens, 2 Weetabix and a green tea for breakfast, 2 loads of washing and then an hour's cycling in 30c to get up a nice sweat. Round the Dowse Lagoon to keep an eye on the ibises, egrets, spoonbills and cormorants, also have seen Sacred Kingfisher, Noisy Miners, Bluefaced Honeyeater and lots of Rainbow Lorikeets. Then to coffee, slimmer's lunch and a rest before cycling to the pool for 6x50m lengths. Are you tired already? I am! Return, tea, 6 o'clock news, fruit-bat flyover and an evening of Grand Designs, Coast, Australia's Funniest Videos and Absolutely Fabulous! Bed by 8.30 p.m. with the rest of Sandgate it seems!
Oh the insects! For those of you who thought we would get eaten alive to date the in-house count has been one Bull Ant, one House Fly, a few little ants in the bath and 2 cockroaches (dead) We have lovely little 1 inch long lizards up the screen doors but no snakes, crocodiles or other man-eating pests! The glorious part of the wildlife are the birds - the air is full of them and their various attempts at song - a pleasure we will find difficult to forget.

It looks as if our honeymoon period with the weather may be over! There are two potentially nasty cyclones lurking in the Pacific, one due to hit the coast well north of here on Monday and the other who knows where next Thursday! For the moment the weather is beautiful! Blue skies, a few scudding clouds and 29c so it’s off for the Saturday shop, coffee and a trip to Salvos where we have seen a holdall for $10! Check it out, it’s good, and what’s even better it’s half price day so we get it for $5! That will sort out our overflow luggage!
Steak day – a nice porterhouse and salad, a rest and off to the pool. There’s quite a breeze, which feels like the edge of something bigger and brings a shiver to the pool. All the locals are going home but we battle on – raised on the beaches of Cornwall where you sunbathe in a cagoule and heat soup in a billy for lunch!
Anyway we have stocked up on packet food, batteries, matches and another torch so we will have to ride it all out if the second cyclone heads this way. It just seems so sad for Queensland that it’s had such a battering this year and may face more. The repair bill is enormous – at the moment estimate $8billion and rising. Not happy here - there’s to be a flood levy - getting very political! Feels like home!
Most of Victoria is flooded, Western Australia has its own cyclone and bush fires inland and Andrew Murray will have to play the Open final in 40c.

We had a lovely Sunday at Pullenvale with Jill and Les, Jeff and Keryn, Jeremy, Elliott, Amelia, Sophie, and Sian and Shep. Great steaks and a cupcake tier made by Keryn and the children for the birthday “kids”. Thank you all so much for these special days.
When it was obvious we were getting another bashing we tried to look as if we didn’t care too much about the cricket!! Our predicted loss for Andy Murray came up too!
Travelling through the western suburbs made real the pictures of the floods with dried out devastated homes and businesses, boats in trees and water-lines high up the sides of banks and walls. So much work to be done but it is amazing that many are up and running already, the roads are clear and the public transport is moving.
Happily the first cyclone reduced in strength overnight Sunday and only brought 14 inches of rain, high winds and no serious damage or loss of life. Alas the monster is still lurking out there and the State awaits Thursday with dread! In the meantime I have just done 2 loads of washing – out at 8.30 a.m. and dry by 9.30a.m.!

Oops! I forgot about Thursday! We cycled the coast path to Deckar Park – as far as the start of the Causeway to Redcliffe, back through Brighton to the Coffee Club for a risotto and the best lemon pepper calomares ever! Flippin’ hot so we came home to cool off before cycling to the pool for a much needed swim. Me, that is, Brian doffs sunhat and specs and reads his book gently under the big blue sail again!

Friday was Brian’s birthday! Full of surprises but won’t tell you all of them! Thank you for all your messages. His present was to spend the day visiting the Redbank railway workshops and a McDonalds whilst I had mine at Indooroopilly shopping centre. He took his bike on the train and was able to cycle all round the outside at Redbank. I walked but did not take a taxi from the station like last time. Everybody laughed at me as it is about as far as the end of our road!
Lovely time with Sue and Jessica and lots of happy talk about Jess and Matt’s wedding in September. It will be lovely and so happy for all the family too. Congratulations all round.
Back at the ranch exhausted, an evening in watching ‘Coast’ – HD, lovely – and a good night’s sleep. Thank you Janette!

Bonjour Sandrine! J’espere que c’est possible vous comprendez le blog ou cherchez l’assistance de Babelfish!
Decision! The cricket won! Our nearest Australia Day celebration was at Shorncliffe which is a strenuous cycle ride away. After the long ride in the heat and humidity of yesterday I wasn’t up to it so we went into Sandgate for coffee and a socialise and then retreated! Put all the fans on, opened all the windows and stripped off. Had books to read, painting, computers and the cricket on TV so content to make it an easy day! Won’t mention the result!
I forgot to say how good it was yesterday to put my Skype into action and enjoy long free phone calls to Wendy and David, Jeff, Jenny and Graeme. You should try it! Just register with Skype free and all calls to other Skype computers are free. For a call to a landline or mobile you buy time and use it as you go. My call to NZ cost 1.4p a minute! No! You don’t have to look at each other’s spoon faces! All you need is a set of earphones/microphone £9.99 from Amazon! Good stuff.
The other thing to bore you with is how seriously we are trying to lose weight! You know how much we like our food! Here we have the ideal opportunity – too hot to eat much! Cereal and skimmed milk for breakfast, light lunch and a one slice open sandwich in the evening! Only watermelon for dessert! No sugar, cakes, biscuits, ice cream, potatoes and lots of exercise! Six weeks should do something although not yet! Feel better though! I can hear you Kate!

Sunday we started cycling for real! Our target was to get closer to see the ibises along Cabbage Creek and to ‘do the bay’. We aimed for Curlew Park but that was disappointing – a football field and some big puddles! Two ducks! Then to Baxter’s Jetty, to the pier and Moora Park, only managed up to Tenth Avenue and around Einbunpin Lagoon before we had need of the Coffee Club’s beautiful risottos! A heavy ride home for a rest!
Brisbane called on Monday so off to this loveliest of cities! Good news! Stopped off at Toombul where they had found my hat – phew! I also got off at Central to do the shops and Brian had all the time in the world on Roma Street Station! Mission accomplished! Found the Ugg boot shop and fixed up Leah and Dodie but not Kate and me as they don’t cater for podgy ankles!! Will have to find some with a zip! Had a lovely time shopping my fantasy with Mum Bimbo, Kate and the girls searching for tops and frocks! You’d love it! Will have to do several pics of the city for you later. Looks amazing.
More serious cycling on Tuesday and we headed for the Boondall Wetlands Reserve by road and cycle track. Blistering hot! What fantastic butterflies! Sweated it to the Visitors’ Centre and back via Deagon Shops and a Red Rooster lunch. After a rest the pool called and it was sweet! Brian under a big blue sail with his book and me poddling up and down trying to lose weight! A quick call at the Post Office found him snapping up a cut-price bird watching scope with which he later found a Butcherbird nest with babies in our big gum tree! They may fledge before we leave. At the moment there are several hungry heads waiting to greet the parents who take it in turns to feed them. Now we know why dad got excited when a pretty grey and white cat visited the other night. Our wildlife experience was made complete by the visit of a white egret at the back screen door just before the biggest fruitbat flypast ever!
Wednesday is Australia Day and the country is celebrating. After a coffee we will decide what to do – barbie or cricket!

Thursday we took the train to Wynnum to see Jill. Over an hour-long ride there was very little evidence of the flooding as we travelled east of Brisbane - it is the inland and west where the inundations are - the rest carry on as near normal suffering only an occasional shortage in the shops.
Jill had arranged for us to do an official tour of the Port of Brisbane - a very impressive new and ongoing development reclaimed from the sea. Some very large enterprises there - coal, grain, woodchips, cement, cars etc with big ships, container depots and lots of automation. We were fascinated by the automated straddle carriers which raced around picking up and depositing huge loads with no sign of a human. Here’s a few ships for you Paul – British Osprey, Hoegh Xiamen, Medi Bangkok and Corona Infinity. Some very good wetland areas too and a smart Visitors’ Centre for a good lunch after which we went to visit Auntie Marjorie who is looking marvellous for 101! A good yarn about times old and new. A lovely day. Thank you Jill.
Friday we decided to visit the Toombul shopping Centre, a big Westfield shopping development a 15 minute (still) free train ride away, for some bits and pieces and saw things we decided not to buy! But Saturday, after a morning’s local run on the bikes we weakened and went back!
Firstly, our ride took us along the shore - what a difference a bike makes - and on an exploration of the locality! The sea was high, as predicted for the King Tide, but did not flood the sea front - just a few splashes. Lovely sunny weather, 28c and a cooling sea breeze made it a perfect morning complemented by the fillet steak we cooked for lunch back at the ranch! Mr Motivator and I then jumped up for the trip back to Toombul where a indoor bicycle trainer and other great cycling things from K-Mart called! It’s quite a big box but we will worry about that later! But Kate! I lost my lovely hat! Happily I called in at Salvos on the way back and got a Mumbimbo Aussie bowling hat for $2 to wear at Playa Blanca!! I will need it as we are forecast sun and 28c-30c for the next 8 days.
Afterwards I did some washing and was transported back to Te Kauwhata with my Hill’s Hoist and nappies that dried in 20 minutes on a good day!
For those of you who have missed them the photos are piling up below at the bottom of the blogs!

A few words about Sandgate. We could not have chosen a better place! Our little house is 10 minutes from the town centre and on our way there we pass our chip shop, a fancy costume store and Salvation Army shop – great for books and videos. The centre is well provided for with railway station and buses, shops, banks and other services although the locals complain that they have lost their traditional traders and acquired too many estate agents, pharmacies and cafes. We love our Coffee Club and already have a place there! On the first day I asked for an iced coffee and got a sundae glass filled with coffee, two dollops of ice cream and a mountain of whipped cream and chopped nuts. I explained the meaning of the word ‘diet’ to our nice girl and described what I wanted and she came up with the perfect result – a cold, flat white with ice cubes and a straw! ‘Ice-cold Katy’ is now on the menu!
In the centre of the town is a beautiful lagoon with birds with many places to walk and a pristine garden with shrubs and flowers and the war memorial – First WW, Second WW, Vietnam, Korea! Around it are the Town Hall, Town Office, Library and Community Centre. We have made a point of calling in at all of them and we get a huge, warm welcome – they are such great people. A further five minute walk brings us to the sea with miles of cycle tracks and green spaces, the huge swimming pool and lots of playground space. The ocean is not at its best! Normally a shallow, calm bay it is now muddy and brown and heaped with the sad detritis of the floods which the council clears away daily.
Being an early settled area all the houses are beautiful old Queenslanders and I think it should be declared a Heritage Site for the beauty of them. I will try to photo a few.
We are also surrounded by wetlands for resident and migratory birds and these areas are serviced by cycle tracks too so we are ready to be off! Our skies are filled with birds – ibises, egrets, crested pigeons, magpies, kookaburras, crows, mynahs but it is only the magpie which sings a melodious song to us! The rest twitter and squawk so it is hard to identify them!
On Tuesday after our trip downtown we paid our first visit to the pool - twenty minutes in the sun with Ambre Solaire and I burned! On Wednesday we had Jeff and Keryn, Jeremy, Elliott, Amelia and Sophie to look forward to. Wonderful to see them again and so very grateful to them for making the journey across Brisbane with all its road problems to deliver 2 bikes. Thank you Sian too. Happily both families, despite living in flooded west Brisbane, escaped without their homes being inundated with water. When you see the heartache of those flooded it is an amazing escape. Lots of storms still around – the weather will be turbulent throughout our visit but it is fresh and warm so we are not complaining!
A final plus! You can read the train numbers from our front gate! Could life be more perfect!

I shall have to be careful with this blog! If I do it too often you will be bored witless as we are not adventuring enough to keep you enthralled and if I don’t do it I will lose you! Anyway bear with me and click on the address about every 2-3 days and I will keep it going. It’s a good way of keeping in touch without lots of individual emails. I will try for some good pics too.
Lovely drying out weather so far and we are pleased for Brisbane so that the flooded areas can clear up and get roads back etc. The work done has been amazing but now the saddest sights are the huge heaps of mangled furniture, personal effects and driftwood building up on spare lots prior to being disposed of in landfill or incinerators. The aim is to give every flooded home the uplift of a clear view and start before repairs and rebuilding.
Sunday, after lunch at The Coffee Shop, (good) we took a free train ride as far as it went -Sandgate to South Bank, which traverses the city, and were surprised that apart from the very swollen muddy coloured river there was very little evidence of the tragedy. The CBD is still closed and I think the UGG shop survived so when it opens I will get there! Keep reminding myself! A 38, 39 and two 41s! Johanna, Leah and Kate await!
Monday we awoke to busy noises outside and found a lovely lady and boy cutting lawns and tidying trees - all neat now. While we could, we took another free ride down the Beenleigh line - you have to be with a trainspotter to understand why! It has become hotter - 30c - but we managed as the trains are air-conditioned!! It was the first get- back- to- work day and the transport system returned to normal. We had a few blips but great it happened at all so soon!
Good to have some news from our first blog. Thank you Kate, Elizabeth and Stewart, Liz E, Jenny, Russell, Sue. Nice to be in touch with Jill and Keryn - first meetings-up on Wednesday with Jeff and Keryn and on Thursday to have lunch with Jill and Brian’s Auntie Marjorie who is now nearly 101!
Tuesday already and we must stock up with provisions early as we are promised 33c and a thunderstorm!

We had been looking forward to this trip for so long and so course ‘sod’s law’ came into effect – the worst UK winter in living memory before we left and the prospect of a disastrously flooded Brisbane just when we said ‘we want to live in Brisbane for 6 weeks and enjoy this lovely city’.
Over the last weeks we watched flood news move up from last to first item on the UK news and despaired – for the city and for our holiday! Very flat as we left home but some spoiling by EVA Air (great flight) started the recuperation and because our house at Sandgate is in a safe area our arrival was normal, lush green and hot. I declared my teabags and Cup’o’soups at the airport as emergency rations and we were soon in a taxi on clear roads to our resort.
Our weatherboard house is solid and traditional with a palm and fern shaded garden, lawns and sunbeds, and we have all we need. Sandgate is a lovely, elegant old seaside resort and we have explored the many shops. Plenty of food at Woolworths, lots of great cafés and restaurants and visitor amenities. We spent the evening watching hundreds of thousands of Flying Foxes (fruit bats) flapping silently in a pink sky to their coastal roosts for the night, and warning our two resident kookaburras in the shrubs by the bedroom window not to wake us too early! We haven’t been to the beach yet but they tell us it it covered in debris which is very rapidly being cleared away by the council and an army of volunteers.
Plenty of crying but nobody’s moaning! The good Aussie spirit has risen tenfold and already a mass clear-up is on the way with everybody pulling together hard – councils, workers and a 12,000 strong volunteer People’s Army - that on the first day!’. Free public transport, refuges, free food and water exemplifies a caring local government which puts its people first!
After we have finished a marathon sleep-in we will tell you more!
By the way! The Gabba didn’t flood!