Did the Earth Move for You??

Yesterday, was an eventful day. We spent the morning preparing for a visit from my sister and family on their way north on their Easter holidays. They arrived around lunch time and we fed them soup and sandwiches. Forgot to take photos, sorry. It was a lovely day and after lunch we took them for a walk around the estate. They really liked it, especially the quiet and the sea view!
After they headed off, about three, we got the camper out to give it a clean and a good airing. It had been August since we used it last and with the wet we feared it would be all musty. So we hosed it all down and soaped it all up, and hosed it all down again. Then we left it to dry.
During this process, KISA was standing on the lawn and I was heading into the garage, when the door to the garage started an almighty rattling and I thought it was trying to close itself.
At the same time the drainpipe started making a funny noise and I thought it was the wind picking up, and the pipe was moving which was weird. My brain could not figure it out and it stopped. There was also this loud noise like a train or a plane. Maybe 15 seconds or so, hard to remember. I asked KISA if he had set off the door by having the remote in his pocket, and he said "that was an earthquake, I felt it through my feet!" He was in direct contact with the ground.
In 51 years, I have never experienced an earthquake, they are not a regular occurrence here at that magnitude, it was 5.5 or so. It has been 76 years since something similar had happened and the epicentre was 60 klm west of here! Wow!
No damage, nothing broke or was shook off inside, though we were outside when it happened. Just a strange feeling!
We put up the camper and got on with our day, aware we had experienced something unique in our lifetime.
By the way the camper didn't smell musty at all! Looks good now, roll on camping season! These rosellas came to visit. We get different birds here, dry tropics, and lots of grasses.

To say sorry for scaring us, Mother Nature put on a wonderful show while we were having drinkies on the patio that night.

We get some fabulous sunsets here. You will probably have to see most of them. It's my blog, I can if I want to!

Have I mentioned I love sunsets???? Which one do you like best?

KISA relaxing on the patio. See that little table? That was my grandparents'. I think it is VERY old!

Today was ice cream at the beach. We deserved it, we worked hard cleaning out the inside of the camper. And cleaning all the camping gear and repacking the camper then putting it down and away in the garage.

It was 5pm before we got here. Still lots of people but the surf lifesavers were packing up for the day.

Bowen Sunrise

KISA and I are early risers. Which makes us not much fun at late night events. The kids laugh at us and others may think our habits are strange. But there are some perks, and this morning, there was time before KISA got ready to go to work to do this. The newly reopened Horseshoe Bay Cafe opens at 6am. So we went for an early morning coffee. This is what you miss by sleeping in.

Tough life.

My Precious

My Precious.

For my birthday this year KISA bought me my very first Le Crueset Dutch Oven. It is divine. If you look up the price you would have a conniption! We got it in the half price Myers sale after Christmas and even then it was an outrageous price.

But my lordy it is a dream to cook in. I just love it. It creates so much flavour because it caramelises food when you fry it instead of burning it or just steaming it. It must just hold its heat just so.

Last night I made French Onion Soup in it and it was perfect. The onions were just lovely and browned without any burnt bits, which add a bitter flavour. They were so sweet it was almost like dessert! KISA had two helpings and I had to hold him back so we could have some for lunch today.

Next year I might ask for a Le Crueset frypan......

Come on in!

Well I thought you might like to see our home now we are settled in it. We have only had one set of vistors so far, the OLNA's. And A&P&L are coming for a coffee or breaky or something on this coming Saturday morning. We are excited about that. So for those further afield who can't pop in...just yet...come on in! But first, this is the sunset from last night. It was one of those blue red black sunsets we get in Australia from time to time. By the time we got the camera out it had faded a little, but you get the idea. This morning it is bright and sunny and not windy, so will be a warmish day I think. This is the patio, it is quite a large one.

This is the herb and tomato garden, so far. I hope to add lettuces and chillis once the weather cools a bit more.

The view from the patio never gets old, the sea is very blue today. If you click on the photo you will see a bigger version.

This is the lounge area. There is one big room that fits like an "L" to the kitchen beside the patio area. There are big sliding doors that meet together at a right angle and you can open up the lounge/dining to the patio like one big outdoor room. Pretty nifty.

The dining bit.

The front door and entry. There are two steps up on the left in the picture to the lounge dining kitchen area.

On the other side of the entry is this big front room. On the house plan it is called a "media room". In the old days it would have been a "formal lounge". In our home it is currently a "box room" but KISA thinks it will make a good office then we will have 2 spare bedrooms. This house is way too big for us, by the way. But we wanted a double garage to store the camper the motor bike and assorted carp.

This is the spare room/Son 19s room. It is much bigger than either of the two rooms he had in the past.

I have my own office room! First time ever! The trestle table is covered with photos that I am currently working on sorting and digitising. It is a mega project as I haven't sorted a photo since 1993, and that is just the print ones. Once it is done we will have them all on computer and discs and can give one to each of the boys and spares for back up. Then we can chuck the hard copies and free up boxes of space!

This is KISAs office. The tidy bit.

The main bathroom. Which we don't use. I mean who wants to clean two bathrooms?? One is bad enough!

The laundry. Which is in the house. Such luxury! Small though, the dryer lives in the garage.

The main bedroom is very very big. KISA likes it really big, I kind of liked the small cosy one at the unit better. Horses for courses.

The ensuite bathroom. Same fittings as the main bathroom, separate loo, which I have never seen in an ensuite before. That's a very good feature.

Walk in wardrobe. No shelves but we have chests of drawers in the room part. Notice that KISA has more hanging space than me. He has half the main rack and the off set rack as well. Tell me, is that right?

The tidy bits of the kitchen. If you wanted tidy shots you wouldn't be seeing this today. It has gas, I love gas, have missed it. The oven is electric.

The tea making corner has a nice view to look at while you wait for the jug to boil.

So does the coffee and toast corner.

So does the sink. There is more to the left, but it was too messy this morning. To the left is a big wide bench/breakfast bar with the phone, and my diary a few papers and assorted carp.

We had to get a water filter as the water here tastes like mud. Some days it looks like mud too.

Well, you can't have everything!

Since we've been gone....

In the month we had no internet, and were moving into the Bowen place, it mostly rained and rained. And rained some more. So excursions have been limited and so has photo taking. After a bit I started to get out of the habit of regularly taking the camera with me, and I have obviously lost the regular blogging habit. Both of which I intend to rectify. On the last weekend in March, Our Lovely Neighbours from Andergrove (OLNA) came to Bowen for a weekend. They work in the hospital and came to do a relief weekend for the local equivalent. We got together a few times. The first night they were here we went to The Cove Restaurant, which is a chinese overlooking Queeens Beach and the north. It kind of faces North West and we were treated to a lovely sunset. This beautiful picture was taken by the OLNAs. The food was great and as we were on an outside table, we had a nice breeze too. The following day we visited them at the staff quarters at the hospital. The hospital here sits on top of the biggest hill in town and has fabulous views and breezes. In the early 1950s, my uncle was the medical superindent at the hospital just after he and my aunt were married. They lived in this house which is right beside the hospital.

This is an archway over the gate leading from the house to the hospital. It has an interesting vine growing over it.

It produces these cucumber looking things, which burst into an interesting flower.

Then it drops red wet sort of seeds. Mrs OLNA did tell me its name but I forget it.

This is the view from the staff quarters verandah. It was not a great day, cloudy, damp and very windy. The little building right in front is the morgue. You could fit may be 4 max 5 people in there. Tops.

Moving westwards.

This is Mrs OLNA. She is such a sweetie. We all went down to the harbour for fish and chips and a glass of wine for lunch in the gale force wind. Nice though.

Over the harbour to Glouster Island and the south east.

The Monday after that weekend, it started to rain, and rain and rain again. The ground was sodden and couldn't soak up any more after the summer we have had. So the result was more flooding.We live on a slope, so the water runs off. We saved the bin, just.

The lawn is struggling to survive it was all but dead when we moved in.

There is a drain under this water, it was just coming down too fast to cope.

It was ankle deep. Under the 2 inches of turf is clay. It just won't soak through the soil. The unit had sand under the turf and that drained really well.

For Dad

Our baby has doubled in size. He is loving all the rain.

Back online!

Well after nearly 6 weeks we are reconnected to the internet at home. What a relief! I thought I would get used to not having it around and not miss it after a while, but that didn't happen.

My name is Tropigal and I am an information junkie.

I don't log on to Facebook much and I don't Twit or play games or stuff, I use the net to find out things. I am a Stickybeak, natural born and the net satisfys that curiousity. Anything I want to know, I can find online. I love it. And life has just proved I can't live without it.

So all my romantic fantasies about living in the past and doing without modern conveniences are just that..fantasies! Well living without it permanantly anyway, camping is ok. And a month is doable. Just. With free Wifi at Maccas and the library, it is.

Banking has been different. I have had to go into the branch, and it is is nice to talk to a real person, though they try to sell you other "products" instead of a chat. And I like to see my transactions myself on a screen not just get a balance.

We didn't find out about the Japanese earthquake for two days after it happened when KISA's sister told us about it. We didn't have TV for that week either.

We have just had the wettest March in history and everything is sodden and in places hills are slipping down. Potholes are swallowing trucks and KISA couldn't go to work for two days last week as the highway was under a metre of water and the road was closed. When that happens they ferry the staff to work by chopper! He missed out this time, but maybe next time!

Still we have now finished moving, everything is unpacked and sorted, the TV has been installed, the phone is connected and the net on. We are home.