LOVE THAT COLD WEATHER

Here is an extract from todays paper (the Courier Mail )

"BRISBANE residents have woken up to a bleak morning with showers and grey skies adding to the piercing chill.

The Bureau of Meteorology's Peter Otto said the showers came in from the northwest overnight but should start to disappear over the next few hours.
"The pattern we've got is for conditions to dry out over the next several hours," he said.
But while the clouds are set to vanish, the cold is staying put.
"We should see a clearer morning tomorrow and colder temperatures," Mr Otto said.
Early morning temperatures on the weekend are forecast to reach double digits with 13C the low and a maximum of 17C on Saturday."

So today the temperature hovered around 13 degrees all day and the citizens of Brisbane shivered and told eachother how cold it was!!

I  LOve  it !

I'm searching through my clothes and pulling out the stuff with long sleeves.

I'm trying on jackets ......

.....and cardigans

.....and boots !!!

Yippee !!

Better hurry and wear all the wintery stuff

 'cos it doesn't last long !

Cheers.

 PS. If you follow this link you will see more photos of the whales that are off the Gold Coast ( our fantastic  holiday beaches ) about 60km east of Brisbane.

BRRR RR RRR......

Br rrrr rrrr
Winter has come to Brisbane!
Today was chilly.
The temperature didn't get above 15 degrees.
The sun refused to come out of the clouds and warm us up today
and it's 9:30pm and 9 degrees and falling.
Heading for a cold one tonight.

Our houses are built to be cool,...
lots of big sliding glass doors.,.
shutters and blinds to keep the sun out and let the air in, instead of curtains,.....
So they can be a bit chilly unless you are lucky enough to have reverse cycle air-conditioning ( and can afford to pay the high price of electricity to run it )

I'm off to snuggle down in my cosy bed.
Cheers

MIGALOO IS COMING !

Yes Migaloo is on his way!

Who or What is Migaloo?

Do you remember I mentioned him last year when I was telling you about Hervey Bay?
Every year at this time ( Winter ) hundreds of humpback whales cruise up the eastern coast of Australia from the waters of Antarctica where they have spent the Summer.
Most of the females will give birth to calves ( baby whales weighing about 2.5 tonnes at birth ) when they reach the warm tropical waters to the north.

They will stay there for a short time, mate again and when the babies are strong enough, they will begin the long swim back to Antarctica where they will spend the next Summer. When they are in Antarctica they feed on krill and plankton and small fish but while they are in the tropical waters they do not feed at all but survive on their stored reserves of fat ( blubber ).
Sorry for the lecture, I got a bit carried away !!!

Anyhow back to Migaloo.

Way back in 1991 a pure white humpback whale was first sighted off the coast of New South Wales cruising north.

Since then eager eyes watch out for him every year. He was named Migaloo which is Aboriginal for "White Fella".

Whale Watching has become a popular tourist activity especially in Hervey Bay where the mothers and babies appear to stop for a rest and can be seen frolicking - breaching , spy hopping and tail slapping - in the protected waters of the bay.

Of course there are all sorts of regulations to protect the whales from harassment. These include slow approach speeds (6 knots) when within 300m of an adult humpback, and vessels are prohibited from approaching closer than 100m of adults, or 300m if a calf is present.

Because Migaloo is such a unique whale he has special Queensland and Commonwealth Government legislation that is enacted each year to protect him from harassment. For this reason all vessels including Jet-skis are prohibited from approaching Migaloo any closer than 500m and Aircraft no lower than 2000 feet. The Fine for breaching this law is $16,500.00

However whales are curious creatures and often they swim right up to the boats to take a look and then some lucky whale watchers get the experience of a lifetime as they actually make eye contact with the whale !!

Last year Migaloo was seen swimming with a friend - we don't know if it was a girl friend but we are waiting eagerly to see if any more pure white whales appear.

So he's on his way.
He's survived another year.

He will be off the Queensland coast soon and there will be pictures on the news and in the papers.

I'd  love to see this astonishing creature.

Wouldn't you ?

Cheers.

PS.  None of these fantastic photos are mine !

IT'S WATTLE TIME !

After attending an old colleague's Retirement Breakfast this morning my friend Ro and I decided a walk was needed to make up for the bacon and egg on a muffin that we had scoffed for breaky.

We have a suburban shoppingcentre not too far away so we walked in the winter sunshine through this pretty neighbourhood park to get there.

After a nice cappacino ( and raisin toast - but that was lunch !!!) we walked home again and on our way we came upon this symbol of Australia just beginning to bloom.

I just love it -the smell just makes me think of Australia.

and those sunny yellow flowers ........

DElightful !

Cheers

TOO TEMPTING

Do you remember the young Scottish couple I wrote about who are here on a university exchange? I wrote about them here.
Their time in Australia is coming to an end, so we met them for dinner this week at the Gold Coast where they are staying with my daughter.
After dinner Sally took us to this shop.

The sign says " Chocolate by the bald man "

Sounds interesting ......?

Then come inside .......

First thing you pass is this huge vat of melted chocolate !

Then there are showcases displaying all these goodies.

Next you order a dessert ........ like this .......

that oozes melted chocolate when you pierce it with your spoon ! 

or this little pot of melted deliciousness and strawberries to dip.

There's no doubt about it, the young people of today know all the good places.

What's a girl to do except dip and enjoy !

Cheers.

SUNDAY OUTING - Part 2

As we were leaving the Petrie Markets we noticed people looking up into this tree.

Can you see what they were looking at?

Yes, it was a koala high up in the tree !

Fast asleep of course.

  

Doesn't look very comfortable all scrunched up on the little fork in the branch.

It is so rare to see a wild koala as they are very hard to spot way up there in the trees.

I got a better view of it when I came home and was able to crop the photo.

Next we drove down to Shorncliff, a beach on Moreton Bay.

 

Lots of families were out picnicking in the sunshine.

  

There were even two people fishing down below us standing in the water and lots of sailing boats out on the bay.

 As the tourist adds say

"Just another day in Paradise !!!"

Cheers. 

SUNDAY OUTING - Part 1

After a pretty cold Winter's night when the temperature went down to around 5 degrees, Sunday 's sky was bright blue and the forecast was for 24 degrees so we set off for the Petrie Sunday Markets.

These markets are held in the old historical village at Petrie on the northern fringe of Brisbane about a one hour drive from home.

The reserve is dotted with old pioneer buildings( wooden ) and the stalls are scattered throughout the site.

\

There were the usual stalls ........

plants ........

colourful whirly-gigs for the kids

The old Bakery

with the old wood fired ovens at the back still going strong .......

baking these goodies.

All sorts of goodies in this little shop

Old pioneer residences tucked among the trees.

Some pretty vintage stuff ....

  

 

All in all a great place to stroll around in the sunshine.

More tomorrow.

Cheers