Had a great riding session today with lisa. She took me out into the outback and we had so much fun. we were gone 2 hours without realising! I was riding Buddy and she let us have a gallop...i havent had a proper gallop since Kierra and it reminded me of the times i used to go hell for leather on Ki up Rudry Common...the horses love it! Buddy was really good and listened to all my commands so i felt really safe on him and was able to apply the brakes when needed...its always good to be able to stop a horse! Lisas phone rung whilst we were riding through the cattle farm and a cow was stood behind us inquisitively staring. We let the horses graze whilst she talked on the phone...5 minutes later when she hung up, over 200 cattle had proceeded to join the lonely cow and all stood motionless watching what we were up to. The horses werent scared, we just rode on past them and they moved out of the way. On the way back to the paddock we spotted 3 kangaroos not too far in the distance. When we got back, Lisa said we would take the horses to the lake to let them cool off. she handed me a long lunge rein and said 'you'll need this.". The lake is just around the corner from the paddock and Lisa's horse, Hayley was straight in the water and rolling around with her legs in the air. Buddy got knee deep and pawed the water with his front leg and soaked me! He was so funny to watch, he was splashing around making a lot of noise and sending water flying all over the place...now i know why i was given a LONG lead rope!
Back at the house Gaz had a good day on the computer. I nipped over to woolworths to get some food supplies and then realised i had forgotten something so ended up having to go back but Gaz came with me. I have started bumping into patients in woolworths now...its horrible and really awkward! I then had a little kip before doing some last minute tidying up before Gaz's parents get here in less than 48 hours! we are both very excited about seeing them...its going to be good fun!
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Saturday 29th October - Bake day...FAIL
Gaz was up at 6am and got ready for his boating licence....i lay snuggled up in bed, just like he does when i go to work...it was bliss! He said the day was very boring and didnt get home till 3pm. There were 16 people on his course and the clever clogs was the first to finish the theory test at the end and was the only one to get 100%. Am very proud of him! He is now the proud owner of a boat licence!
I spent the day cleaning the house and sorting out some paper work. I thought it would be nice to cook Gaz this treacle sponge pudding he had been bleating on about for the past 2 weeks. I walked over to woolworths and picked up the ingredients and had it all weighed out and ready to go by the time he got home. I managed to mix all the ingredients with a little help from delia smith and loaded the mix into a pudding steamer that Gaz had bought from Big W last week. Hmm...it said it had to go into a saucepan and be steamed....but we didnt have a saucepan big enough so i was trying to improvise. I had told gaz the steamer pot with the mix in was at an angle because it wouldnt fit in the saucepan we had and he told me to balance it so that it was level or else it wouldnt set properly. I spent the next 5 minutes faffing around with the bloody thing only to try moving the saucepan to a smaller hop when BANG CRASH AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Gaz leaped out of bed and immediately ran down the stairs to see what the commotion was about. The handle on the saucepan had broke causing it to fall off the hob, boiling hot water splashed my belly and the treacle sponge pudding (still in liquid form) fell all over the floor. Gaz was concerned that i had burnt myself but i was more concerned about the mess on the floor :( We took a picture to portray the devastation. I have made a pact that i am NOT cooking anything else on Gazs request...he keeps picking the hard things to cook and we dont have the right utensils. ill stick to cupcakes!!!
we have been for a drive in the car and around the corner from our house was a childrens Halloween festival with belly dancers dressed as witches and little kids dressed up as ghosts and ghouls...was nice to see the community spirit...that was until a big mean ant bit my foot - OUCH!
We have just devoured a pizza from the eagle boys pizza place and are snuggled in bed watched arrested development.
I spent the day cleaning the house and sorting out some paper work. I thought it would be nice to cook Gaz this treacle sponge pudding he had been bleating on about for the past 2 weeks. I walked over to woolworths and picked up the ingredients and had it all weighed out and ready to go by the time he got home. I managed to mix all the ingredients with a little help from delia smith and loaded the mix into a pudding steamer that Gaz had bought from Big W last week. Hmm...it said it had to go into a saucepan and be steamed....but we didnt have a saucepan big enough so i was trying to improvise. I had told gaz the steamer pot with the mix in was at an angle because it wouldnt fit in the saucepan we had and he told me to balance it so that it was level or else it wouldnt set properly. I spent the next 5 minutes faffing around with the bloody thing only to try moving the saucepan to a smaller hop when BANG CRASH AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Gaz leaped out of bed and immediately ran down the stairs to see what the commotion was about. The handle on the saucepan had broke causing it to fall off the hob, boiling hot water splashed my belly and the treacle sponge pudding (still in liquid form) fell all over the floor. Gaz was concerned that i had burnt myself but i was more concerned about the mess on the floor :( We took a picture to portray the devastation. I have made a pact that i am NOT cooking anything else on Gazs request...he keeps picking the hard things to cook and we dont have the right utensils. ill stick to cupcakes!!!
we have been for a drive in the car and around the corner from our house was a childrens Halloween festival with belly dancers dressed as witches and little kids dressed up as ghosts and ghouls...was nice to see the community spirit...that was until a big mean ant bit my foot - OUCH!
We have just devoured a pizza from the eagle boys pizza place and are snuggled in bed watched arrested development.
Friday, 28 October 2011
Friday 28th October - Bundaberg
Gaz and i went on a road trip to Bundaberg today. We will be visiting again for new year to watch the turtle hatchlings and maybe visit one or two of the islands around there but today we thought we would go and check out the Bundaberg Rum Distillery. We were up and out of the house by 8.30am...a time of day that Gaz has not seen since our last road trip! Along the Bruce Highway, Gaz spotted a sign for 'Childers, Snakes Down Under' - Next turning right. We thought we would give it a go. We pulled in to a very empty car park at the same time as a family of 4 pulled up. We ventured inside....there was no one else around apart from a very chirpy tour guide. She gave us a talk on snakes, pulling out a numerous number of snakes from different bags. The family of 4 was made up of 2 young boys who had no interest in what the lady was saying but more interested in running their toy cars along the serrated metal edge of the snake pit. Very annoying. After the talk about snakes, the guide gave us the oppertunity to hold one of the snakes from the talk and the fresh water baby crocodile. I dont mind snakes so i was more than happy to have one around my neck...Gaz was in his element and asked lots and lots....and lots of questions. Its nice to see him so interested in something, i didnt realise he had such a passion for reptiles! Here is trevor the black headed python...
Thankfully the family wondered off but the tour guide took Gaz and i on a talk of the park showing us each reptile and holding them up for us to touch. I think she appreciated someone (Gaz) being so keen and interested in each reptile. She was very knowledgeable which is just as well to keep up with Gaz's questioning. I took quite a few snaps of the reptiles (which are all on my facebook) but here are 2 of my favourite...
We spent a lot longer than anticipated in the reptile park which wasnt a bad thing. We continued up to Bundaberg and were impressed with the number of shops there. I was expecting a clock tower with a dental practice and maybe one or 2 cafes but no, there was lots there...it reminded me of Hervey Bay only without the beach. We stopped for lunch in a steakhouse and wondered towards the clock tower as my brother, Adam, said his dental practice where he and Gemma worked was nearby. ....I must have looked very crazy taking a picture of the dental practice but here it is...this ones for u, Adam and Gem!
And the fresh water croc....
Thankfully the family wondered off but the tour guide took Gaz and i on a talk of the park showing us each reptile and holding them up for us to touch. I think she appreciated someone (Gaz) being so keen and interested in each reptile. She was very knowledgeable which is just as well to keep up with Gaz's questioning. I took quite a few snaps of the reptiles (which are all on my facebook) but here are 2 of my favourite...
I like this bearded dragon picture because hes so cute! .....
We spent a lot longer than anticipated in the reptile park which wasnt a bad thing. We continued up to Bundaberg and were impressed with the number of shops there. I was expecting a clock tower with a dental practice and maybe one or 2 cafes but no, there was lots there...it reminded me of Hervey Bay only without the beach. We stopped for lunch in a steakhouse and wondered towards the clock tower as my brother, Adam, said his dental practice where he and Gemma worked was nearby. ....I must have looked very crazy taking a picture of the dental practice but here it is...this ones for u, Adam and Gem!
Eventually we made it to our destination - The Bundaberg Rum Distillery. We rocked up, cruised over to the door....and read the sign. 'Enclosed Shoes ONLY to be worn around on the guided tour'. Gaz and i looked down at our bare feet...flip flops. Doh! Luckily inside you could hire plimsoles to wear around. i dread to think how many other peoples sweaty feet had been slipped into them before us. It was very impressive with how much work goes in to making the rum and i offered to drive back to Hervey Bay so that Gaz could enjoy the tasters at the end of the tour. We found out why they use a polar bear as their logo and its apprently because in the 60's no one down south was drinking the rum because they felt it was more of a holiday drink in the hot weather up north...the Bundaberg rum people wanted to change this perception and so wanted an animal that would scare the cold away and warm you up...the only winter animal australia has is the penguin on phillip island so they went for the polar bear....and it worked! Gaz doing his usual questioning thing asked if the Bundaberg rum polar bear came before the coca cola polar bear...the tour guide didnt know. Any way, we didnt end up buying any rum as we already have some in the house but it was an educational afternoon!
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Wednesday 26th October - Good Day!
Today i feel like a good dentist. Gaz reckons i am a bipolar dentist...i think 9 days out of 10 i feel good and then a rubbish day hits me. The day went really well and i successfully managed a surgical removal of an impacted wisdom tooth which i am really happy with. I baked 2 batches of cakes last night to take in to work. Gaz had a cake last night but i left him one this morning on the counter with a little note saying 'i love u' (lol). When got home for lunch gaz had returned the message putting 'i love u 2' on the saucepan next to the stew i was going to heat up. bless!
Gaz has had a productive day today. He went to the place that issues boat licenses (as he wants to do a test to get a license so that he can drive a good boat for when his dad, Ian, comes to stay with us so that they can go fishing). Unfortunately they said the course was full so he left his name and number....by the afternoon they had rung him back and said there had been a cancellation so it looks like he will be doing it after all! He also went to Big W to get a football so that we could have a kick around after i finished work. We got down to the beach but the tide was coming in....we kicked the ball for a few minutes and decided we had had enough so strolled for a bit then came home. Gaz has just cooked me spag bol and we are going to relax and watch some TV. It is my last day in work 2moz before the weekend! 6 days till ian and chris get here! yay!
Gaz has had a productive day today. He went to the place that issues boat licenses (as he wants to do a test to get a license so that he can drive a good boat for when his dad, Ian, comes to stay with us so that they can go fishing). Unfortunately they said the course was full so he left his name and number....by the afternoon they had rung him back and said there had been a cancellation so it looks like he will be doing it after all! He also went to Big W to get a football so that we could have a kick around after i finished work. We got down to the beach but the tide was coming in....we kicked the ball for a few minutes and decided we had had enough so strolled for a bit then came home. Gaz has just cooked me spag bol and we are going to relax and watch some TV. It is my last day in work 2moz before the weekend! 6 days till ian and chris get here! yay!
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Tuesday 25th October - Tough day in work
Today work was sooo frustratng. The DA i work with is great but she has so much energy and likes to talk...even when your running really late shes still talking to the patient and you just want to get them out of the room! she even finds me extra patients to see...for instance 10 minutes till our tea break and shes grabbed me a denture review from one of the other dentists...i said are they running late? she said no but i thought we could see them because shes writting up her notes. In the end the guy came in and there were all sorts of problems with the denture so i was late for my break then....nice one. Just before lunch i had to deal with post op pain from a patient who another dentist had taken a tooth out on. She was a right drama queen and thought she was dying and was trying to hold her breath to make herself pass out. She said her eye was sore and persistently kept rubbing it which made it worse and screamed with tears when i said i had to numb her up to clean out the socket. Her poor boyfriend. Then after lunch i had a guy, really lovely patient but hes in a wheel chair and needs the skippy lift to get into the chair. Its a big ordeal for him to get to the clinic and the whole skippy lift things takes forever and we need so much consent. This guys wife has been with him for every appointment and then the DA turned round and said...whose going to sign for the consent....the patient has no use of his hands so the wife was going to do it but no...shes not allowd because she doesnt have a piece of paper saying she has rights of looking after the patient. what a load of crap...so they were going to send the patient away just because of no signed consent...in the end i got the patient to grab the pen between his arms and scribble something...i wasnt going to send hm away the poor guy. It went from bad to worse anyway because the guy has previously been on oral bisphosphonates....so 1.we have protocols to give all this antibiotics coverage crap which i had done but 2. the fosfomax makes the bone like lead! i had 2 teeth to take out. the first one took 45 minutes...and the second one a further 45 minutes with bone removal (not ideal) and the help of another dentist. The poor patient didnt moan once and everytime i asked f he was ok, nodded and smiled. What a trooper. I felt like a really crappy dentist...and then 4.30 i still had 2 patients to see before 5. Denture inserts. One wasnt my patient and of course there were problems with the denture....eventually he was happy with it and the DA wanted to make sure he could take it out...which he had already shown me he could do...but VERY slowly. So i was running even more late....and then she talks.....4.50pm my last patient in....convinced him the denture fit fine. What a day!
I got home...could easily have fallen asleep but i had cooked a stew so we had some of that. Gaz and i even had our first argument since being out here...and it was over beef stew (lol). I was grouchy from work any way and served up the stew but gaz said he didnt want the veg, he only wanted the meat so could he pick all the healthy stuff out. For some reason it became a big deal that he didnt want the veg, only the meat...the argument only lasted 5 minutes but its all sorted now and he ended up eating the veg (bless him) but we have compromised and ive agreed to put extra meat in the stew next time so he can pick it out lol.
We then watched the rest of Arrested development series 2 which we have now completed.
I got home...could easily have fallen asleep but i had cooked a stew so we had some of that. Gaz and i even had our first argument since being out here...and it was over beef stew (lol). I was grouchy from work any way and served up the stew but gaz said he didnt want the veg, he only wanted the meat so could he pick all the healthy stuff out. For some reason it became a big deal that he didnt want the veg, only the meat...the argument only lasted 5 minutes but its all sorted now and he ended up eating the veg (bless him) but we have compromised and ive agreed to put extra meat in the stew next time so he can pick it out lol.
We then watched the rest of Arrested development series 2 which we have now completed.
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Sunday 23rd October - Day of rest
This morning i had my riding lesson, leaving gaz in bed and very confused about where i was going so early in the morning...he was completely out of it! I rode buddy again and Lisa let me go off gallivanting on my todd with him which was fun. when i rode back to where she was giving a lesson, she offered me the chance to ride through a field which had 2 horses already loose in it. She said they wouldnt bother me and they will stop following when i get to the trees on the far end of the field. This was not the case. I rode buddy through the field and one of the horses, Toby, followed. He didnt stop when we got to the trees and buddy had tolerated him up his backside this far but was becoming frustrated at Toby following so close. We rode through the trees and toby began to get restless and i could feel buddy getting annoyed. I turned to go back as i didnt feel comfortable having a loose horse so close to us and toby started getting excited and kept trying to get in front of buddy and puttng his ears back. Each time toby did this i steered buddy away n a different direction, weaving in and out of the trees so that toby couldnt get so close .Lisa and the owner of toby had got concerened and i could see them waiting by the fence in the distance. I rode buddy calmly back through the field but toby was getting all excited. Buddy put his head down and bucked at toby to keep him away. I was glad to get out of that field...i dont think lisa will be letting people ride through there again with loose horses...not a good idea! Driving back from the riding lesson i almost ran over a lizard. Ive called him ALMO...which is short for 'ALMOST run over'. I braked suddenly in the car and the daft little thing didnt move, just carried on sun bathing. I ended up having to reverse the car back and pulling up onto someones garden to get past. He did give me the opportunity to photograph him on my phone...i say he was lil but actually he was quite big!
Here is almo....
I fell asleep for 2 hours beneath the air con whilst gaz played on his computer. He had a good day today which was nice and put him n a better mood. We went out for lunch and ate it on the beach which was going to be really nice only some stupid idiot was banging a tree the whole time. We thinking he was trying to break the branch off or something but it was soooo annoying! We got back to the house and watched some 'Arrested Development' and had a sudden urge to go to the gym....which we did. We were home in time to watch the france vs new zealand final and were amused by the hacker and the way the french walked forwards towards it...will they get into trouble for that? We have just had a takeaway from the thai place down the road...yummy. 12 cupcakes baked 3pm yesterday have now become zero by 11am this morning. Oh dear.
Here is almo....
I fell asleep for 2 hours beneath the air con whilst gaz played on his computer. He had a good day today which was nice and put him n a better mood. We went out for lunch and ate it on the beach which was going to be really nice only some stupid idiot was banging a tree the whole time. We thinking he was trying to break the branch off or something but it was soooo annoying! We got back to the house and watched some 'Arrested Development' and had a sudden urge to go to the gym....which we did. We were home in time to watch the france vs new zealand final and were amused by the hacker and the way the french walked forwards towards it...will they get into trouble for that? We have just had a takeaway from the thai place down the road...yummy. 12 cupcakes baked 3pm yesterday have now become zero by 11am this morning. Oh dear.
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Saturday 22nd October - Successful baking!
Thursday evening neither of us could be bothered to cook so we headed to the Hervey Bay boat club for some dinner. Nothing much happened. Friday i worked and in the evening, because i finished at 4.30, we drove down to the esplanade and enjoyed the last hour of sunshine sitting outside in a restaurant for dinner. We then watched the wales vs australia rugby match...gaz got the time wrong so we missed the first half hour but i wasnt upset as i lost interest in the game after 5 minutes of watching. Gaz told me off for shouting OH GOD HOOKS GONNA MISS, HOOKS GONNA MISS...but i was right, he missed. Then once i stopped watching, my shouting was replaced with Gaz's 'OH FFS! and punching the bed with his fists.
Argh! today i did 2 lots of washing and the clothes have been hanging on the line. Ive noticed the grey clouds wafting over but i thought i would write the blog first before getting them in off the line. Ive just heard the rain start pouring on the roof...its a bit late to get them in now as the rain here is heavy :( Also i have been baking again today! not wanting to be defeated at the last attempt, i have returned to good old delia smith recipe. I went out and bought scales and a tube i can fill with icing and twist to squirt it out into patterns. The kitchen became a bomb site but i took my time and made the best cupcakes ive ever made! i was so happy, i took a photo. What i should do in future is bake on one day and decorate on another as i must admit after all the time spent baking, i did get a little bit bored by the time it came to decorating. Gaz was my taste tester and he didnt keel over so they must be ok! he hovered around me doing the butter icing and kept wanting to put his finger in for a taste like a little child! The only problem now is work is not until monday so i am now stuck with 10 amazingly tasty cupcakes in my cupboard...how can these NOT get eaten by us two!
We cant be bothered to cook again tonight so it looks like we are goin gto get a pizza take away. oops!
Argh! today i did 2 lots of washing and the clothes have been hanging on the line. Ive noticed the grey clouds wafting over but i thought i would write the blog first before getting them in off the line. Ive just heard the rain start pouring on the roof...its a bit late to get them in now as the rain here is heavy :( Also i have been baking again today! not wanting to be defeated at the last attempt, i have returned to good old delia smith recipe. I went out and bought scales and a tube i can fill with icing and twist to squirt it out into patterns. The kitchen became a bomb site but i took my time and made the best cupcakes ive ever made! i was so happy, i took a photo. What i should do in future is bake on one day and decorate on another as i must admit after all the time spent baking, i did get a little bit bored by the time it came to decorating. Gaz was my taste tester and he didnt keel over so they must be ok! he hovered around me doing the butter icing and kept wanting to put his finger in for a taste like a little child! The only problem now is work is not until monday so i am now stuck with 10 amazingly tasty cupcakes in my cupboard...how can these NOT get eaten by us two!
We cant be bothered to cook again tonight so it looks like we are goin gto get a pizza take away. oops!
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Wednesday 19th October - baking = FAIL!
i was up at 6am today and went for a 30minute cardio session at the gym...go me! Gaz was still in bed when i got home and ready for work. I bought a new cake cook book today and let Gaz pick which delicious sounding cake he would like me to make....he went for the caramel cupcake. Off i popped to woolworths and picked up all the needed ingredients. I never knew baking could be so stressful! put it this way...i made a complete pigs ear out of it! Firstly i didnt know how long i was meant to be cooking the sugar and water for to make the caramel and got rather worried when it all started sticking to the pan so i got Gaz down to lend a hand. Big bits of sugar remained unmelted....then i thought id salvage the bits that HAD melted....only it solidified as soon as it touched the cake mixture?! i dont understand how the caramel is meant to mix into the mixture...i got extremely stressed and very angry and ended up wacking in any ingredient...not measuring anything and just having had enough of it all. the cake mixture tasted ok but didnt manage to rise....they looked more like yorkshire puddings. these cakes certainly arent going in to work 2moz and will just about make it to the bin! this weekend i think ill start by mastering the simplest of cupcakes....and purchase some weighing scales and a proper whisk. ill go back to my recipe i used at home as i know it works! anyone got any tips?! perhaps maybe not bother...it seems cheaper to just buy them ready made these days!
Gaz has had a rubbish day on the computer again but also made it to the gym.
Gaz has had a rubbish day on the computer again but also made it to the gym.
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Tuesday 18th October
Last night i got home from work and cuddled up next to Gareth in bed watching episodes of 'Arrested Development'...an American sitcom that Gaz and i have become addicted to since we finished all 42 episodes of Peep Show, 26 shows of futurama, 18 episodes of The Inbetweeners, 8 episodes of extras plus the many films we have seen since arriving in Hervey Bay. We both fell asleep by 6pm and woke up 2.5hours later...looked at each other and decided it was a solid NO GO to going to the gym.
Work went well today but nothing interesting to report. After work i came home to a clean house and a very happy Gaz (even though his day on the computer has been rubbish). He had even been out to buy food for the evening...so well trained! We sat on the balcony and chatted before satisfying our addiction of 'Arrested Development' and watched episode after episode....i eventually fell asleep and Gaz kept trying to convince himself he would go to the gym. Needless to say, neither of us went to the gym and instead tucked in to a lovely steak sandwich cooked by Gaz. I gave Nanny a ring from my phone...i have free phone calls from my mobile so thought it would be nice to see how she is and it was really good to hear she is well apart from the sore throat! We are currently searching portable air conditioning units as we want to put one in the spare bed room for when people come to stay. Pay day tomorrow!
Work went well today but nothing interesting to report. After work i came home to a clean house and a very happy Gaz (even though his day on the computer has been rubbish). He had even been out to buy food for the evening...so well trained! We sat on the balcony and chatted before satisfying our addiction of 'Arrested Development' and watched episode after episode....i eventually fell asleep and Gaz kept trying to convince himself he would go to the gym. Needless to say, neither of us went to the gym and instead tucked in to a lovely steak sandwich cooked by Gaz. I gave Nanny a ring from my phone...i have free phone calls from my mobile so thought it would be nice to see how she is and it was really good to hear she is well apart from the sore throat! We are currently searching portable air conditioning units as we want to put one in the spare bed room for when people come to stay. Pay day tomorrow!
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Sunday 16th October - Trip to the Hinterland/Noosa
Incase you are wondering where my blog has been, i didnt take my laptop with me on our road trip but do not fear, i am back in Hervey Bay on the comfort of my own bed and will fill you all in on everything from what we did each to day to yes, what we had to eat.
Thursday evening Gaz was craving another tapas but we thought we would try a different, less up market tapas on the esplanade. Unfortunately the food wasnt as good as the Roasted Pepper which we ate in not so long ago. The food didnt taste as fresh and didnt have as much flavour so we shan't be going back there again. Friday morning I had Gaz up and ready to go at 8.30am. We had been informed that the weather was going to be stormy but luckily the sun was shining amongst the clouds and it was still very warm. Our journey took us from Hervey Bay, along the Bruce Highway down to Gympie where we turned off the highway and joined the backroads. First stop, Imbil.
Imbil wasn't priginally on the plan of places to stop at but im a sucker for those brown tourist signs on the side of the roads pointing you in the direction of touristy things. This sign read 'Borumba Lake'. "Come on Gaz, lets go see that!" ..."Do we have to?" Gaz replied in his less than enthusiastic tone. "YES!". So we took the turning to this lake which we did not know how far away it was, but it seemed like a good idea. The single track road was empty (luckil) except for a few sunbathing goannas on the side of the roads and a snake in the middle of the road which Gaz didnt see until we had run over its tail. It wasnt there on the way back so it mus thave slithered off, a little bit sore perhaps! One goanna was happily tanning itself in th emiddle of the road, ignoring our car that was threatening to run it over. Gaz did the british thing to get it out of the way and gave a very polite 'toot' on the horn. The thing just looked at us and carried on its duty of tanning itself. A violent rev from the engine and it soon scarpered. We commenced driving and eventually came across the lake...although it was more of a dam - and a very big one! The lake was set amongst the hills and surrounded by trees and birds feeding from the water. It was very peacful, very romantic ...until....BRRRRRRRM BRRRRRM BRRRRRRRM...what on earth? A guy with a very annoying chainsaw disturbed the peace cutting down some nearby trees. Oh reak at well. There was also a handful of teenagers in school uniform fishing on the lakes edge. What a cool school trip! Gaz was very jealous that no teacher ever taught him how to fish during school hours.
After a break at the lake we headed back in to imbil to get back on the road we were meant to be on in the first place. Imbil was not really worth stopping at as it consisted of a butchers, a convenience store and a post office...and a very quiet railway track. We drove through very beautiful scenic places to get to our next stop, Kenilworth...bang on time for lunch! I had been told that the pub in Kenilworth does great food so it would have been silly not to have sampled it! Gaz and i wolfed down a steak sandwhich and chips from the Kenilworth Hotel...which was quite an old building....but by old in australian standards, i mean early 1900's. We had a stroll down the main street in Kenilworth. All through the Hinterland, peoples houses had these weird scare crows outside. We worked out that these people werent nuts, they were part of some regional scarecrow copetition...a bit like what Auntie Carol participates in in West Wales. Even the shops in Kenilworth had these scare crows outside...i took some pictures of some of them. I must say, a lot of time and effort had been put in to these things and every one of them was different...this is probably because there is nothing else to do around here and they probs spend all year making these things and take the competition very seriously. I can imagine these things in cardiff getting vandelised or kidnapped and being held ransom.
Before leaving Kenilworth, Gaz spotted a brown sign for the historical museum...we HAD to check it out! thankfully it was only down the road a few yards but it did appear to be someones back garden. Maybe someone who had collected so much junk in thei rback garden, they felt it would be easier calling it a museum than sending the junk for scrap. Needless to say, we didnt go in. Gaz wouldnt allow it and i notice he didnt even slow the car down past it. Our next stop, Maleny.
Maleny was a pretty little town. The street began to feel very oldy worldy and a little bit british. Even the sweet shop there was marketing itself as a british sweet shop where you could pick up british chocolate for three times as much you would pay for it back home! Gaz and i were literally like kids in a sweet shop. So much choice we didnt know what yto have! The lady behind the counter could see we were suckers for chocolate and knew we were an easy target to sell to. She let us sample some of the fudge there for free....it was yummy...i ended up with a block of mars bar fudge and gaz had some caramel vanilla thing. Sickly but yummy and worth every calorie and gram of saturated fat! There was a nice, safe, relaxed feeling to Maleny. Some young children, ,around 6/7 years old were getting off a very brightly coloured, hippy lookign school bus all laughing, joking and looking as though they had been having a great time...we could have sworn these kids were high on something.
We drove down the road and came across a random tributary which people seemed to be stopping at. We had a little paddle...me trying not to drop the camera in the water and Gaz trying not to get in my pictures. We even tried to do a walk along a designated footpath but the signed warned of these 'stinging leaves' that can leave you with a sting for hours/days and even months! We felt it best to avoid the track...especially when we would not be able to decide what leaves are stingy and what arent and believe me, there were a lot of leaves on the ground. Even the TREES want to kill you here!
Back in the car and we headed to our next stop, Montville. I had no idea what to expect in Monville and luck may have it that the timings had all worked out perfectly. We reached montville around 4pm which left just enough time to have a browse int he arts and craft shops and grab a drink in the cafe before everything closed for the evening. The drive to montville had the feel of being amongst the Brecon Beacons...very green and lush grass, cows grazing and the mountainous surroundings. It was beautiful. From the tops of the mountains we drove along, the views were spetacular and the roads were quiet...for a moment the only thing that reminded us we were in aus was the weather...it was hot! Montville was very touristy but the buildings were unique for australia. One building, which we ended up having dinner in had a tudor appearance with the white wall and black beams, Another shop was made of stone with a big water wheel outside. Overall, the buildings were very british. We had a quick drink in a cafe that overlooked the blackall range right out towards the sunshine coast. I managed to get a photo of gaz who by this point was getting irritated by me telling him to stand in certain places so that i could take a shot. He doesnt make much of a model! I didnt want to whack VJ on the ledge either incase she fell off...she doesnt like heights. We checked in at the motel...it was pretty basic and the owner was a little miserable. We had a nap before dinner and at 8.30 went to the tudor looking restaurant next door for grub. The food was very good....expensive but worth the money because it was freshly cooked and the service was excellent. Our main was going to take a while (because they were so busy) so they handed us a complimentary bowl of calamari to apologise...its a shame Gaz isnt a fan of seafood...it meant i had to eat more or it. The atmosphere was pefect - we sat upstairs amongst a crowded room where people dined and a soloist on her guitar sang. What a lovely meal it had been...that was until Gaz took one last mouthful of pie and looked like he was going to die. I was getting ready to jump up and give him a bit of the old heimlich maneuver but he was up and out of his seat choking away already. He went red int he face and siappeared off to the toilets without even telling me what the hell was going on! By the time he got back he announced he had been sick in the toilet having got a bone from the beef stuck in his throat. He was ok once it was dislodged.
About 3am i was woken by a huge loud rumble. There was a wild storm happening outside which was great because it meant it would get it all out of the system so saturday would be a nice sunny day....and that it was! I had gaz up and out of bed again by 8.30 with the intention that i wanted to get us to Eumundi markets bright and early. Gaz reluctantly dragged himself out of bed (poor thing) and dragged himself into the car. As we set off, i saw a sign for Kondalilla falls...ive heard this is a pretty waterfall and its on all the tourist attraction guides of things to do. "We must go!" i declared all enthusiastically as Gaz sat drapped against the passenger door looking shattered. It was a bit of a walk to the falls....a whole half hour walk which i hadnt anticipated when i felt the urdge to see the damn thing. It was all downhill and Gaz moaned the whole way...which was funny because on the way back up we passed a family with young kids who were very excited about seeing the falls! Gaz reckons they had been bribed with ice cream if they behaved and acted interested. So the walk was a little bit muddy from the rain during the night and i managed to flick all the mud up my legs from my flip flops. We treked down the steep stone steps, not really dressed for the occasion and marched towards the waterfall. Just when Gaz had seriously had enough, we reached a lookout point of the waterfall. It was kind of romantic but i guess it was just a waterfall afterall. I darent ask if Gaz wanted to go to the bottom of the waterfall so i settled for having at least seen the thing.
Eumundi markets were crazy! For starters we had to find somewhere to park...there were cars EVERYWHERE! it was huge! We ended up parking in some old mans front garden for 5 AUD along with 20 other cars. He said he rents his garden out every week for the market...he must make a fortune! There were lots of stalls but lots of them sold pretty much the same things. the one that stood out to me was the guy that made decorations out of forks and spoons...he had a great big eagle made out of this stuff and other impressive creatures. There was lots of massage stalls and people selling hippy stuff but Gazs main interest was int he food stands. He hadnt had breakfast so he had a stir fry from one stand, some chicken skewers from another and we both tried some south american cakes. The guy asked where all our purchases were when we returned to our car and Gaz joked "well i ate all the stuff i bought!". Having made a big skid mark on their front drive trying to reverse the car, Gaz and i scooted from Eumundi.
We reached Noosa by lunch time but agreed we would not eat lunch so that we could save ourselves for The Hogs Breath Cafe which we had spotted on a leaflet for Hastings street, noosa. We had the afternoon by the pool at our hotel and enjoyed half our in the jacuzzi before getting ready for the wales vs france match. We watched the game in the irish pub which i had remembered the wareabouts from when i visited noosa 5 years ago. Gaz an di both agreed when we had last visited, Noosa was made up of mor eof a retirement village with no shops other than an ice cream shop down by the beach. We were very amazed to see just how built up it is now. There were so many designer shops along the waterfront and posh hotels along hastings street, none of whcih existed when i was there last! It was like a different place. We found a park that overlooked the river in noosa and admired the houses on the other side whose gardens backed onto the lake. you could walk out of your house, down your steps and onto your boat, leaving behind your 5 million AUD house for a pootle on the river. Anyway, back to the match...AWFUL DECISION REF! yellow card i say, not a red! unfortunately the irish pub i remembered because it was ov er the road from the hostel i stayed in..and with hostels come complete a*seholes. There were some young welsh guys and girls watching the match in the irish pub which was nice....but with them came the english idiots that would rather support the french and would cheer loudly when wales missed their many penalties, and messed up their many lineouts, and screwed up thei rmany scrums....oh yes not to mention when the welsh captain got sent off 10 minutes into the match! Oh well, disappointing but nothing a hogs breath steak wont cure!...
I booked a table because I knew it would be busy and Gaz has been talking about how great this 24 hour cooked steak is. It is expensive but you pay for what you get....we turned up and were given the most miserable waitress who told us in a very blazay mannor "oh by the way, theres no 24 hour steaks left but you can still have a normal cooked steak."....its 8pm on a saturday night and they have no steaks left? devastated! Next, she brings us 2 schooners of coke zero which tasted like soda water so i informed her of this and she merely went to the bar, poured some more coke zero and brought them back. She didnt think to change the syrrup. I wasnt in a good mood so i marched up to the bar and demanded they were changed so we were given bottle of coke zero instead...much better. The food was ok but very slow and i could see lots of peopel complaining about their food, or waiting for their food whilst other people on the table had theirs...and even people being given the wrong bill and having to debate with the waitress what they had and hadnt had.
Gaz and i were both up again at 8.30 and went to have breakfast down by the beach. We both had some very lovely pancakes before having a little sunbathe by the river. It was very sunny and very very hot so we didnt spend more than half hour outside.
Gaz jokingly pointed out a sign to another historical museum off the bruce highway. Yes, i made him go and check it out and yes it looked rubbish so we didnt go in...on the way back to hervey bay we took a detour up to toogoom for a salty squid lunch and milkshake. It was a lovely way to end a very lovely weekend :)
Thursday evening Gaz was craving another tapas but we thought we would try a different, less up market tapas on the esplanade. Unfortunately the food wasnt as good as the Roasted Pepper which we ate in not so long ago. The food didnt taste as fresh and didnt have as much flavour so we shan't be going back there again. Friday morning I had Gaz up and ready to go at 8.30am. We had been informed that the weather was going to be stormy but luckily the sun was shining amongst the clouds and it was still very warm. Our journey took us from Hervey Bay, along the Bruce Highway down to Gympie where we turned off the highway and joined the backroads. First stop, Imbil.
Imbil wasn't priginally on the plan of places to stop at but im a sucker for those brown tourist signs on the side of the roads pointing you in the direction of touristy things. This sign read 'Borumba Lake'. "Come on Gaz, lets go see that!" ..."Do we have to?" Gaz replied in his less than enthusiastic tone. "YES!". So we took the turning to this lake which we did not know how far away it was, but it seemed like a good idea. The single track road was empty (luckil) except for a few sunbathing goannas on the side of the roads and a snake in the middle of the road which Gaz didnt see until we had run over its tail. It wasnt there on the way back so it mus thave slithered off, a little bit sore perhaps! One goanna was happily tanning itself in th emiddle of the road, ignoring our car that was threatening to run it over. Gaz did the british thing to get it out of the way and gave a very polite 'toot' on the horn. The thing just looked at us and carried on its duty of tanning itself. A violent rev from the engine and it soon scarpered. We commenced driving and eventually came across the lake...although it was more of a dam - and a very big one! The lake was set amongst the hills and surrounded by trees and birds feeding from the water. It was very peacful, very romantic ...until....BRRRRRRRM BRRRRRM BRRRRRRRM...what on earth? A guy with a very annoying chainsaw disturbed the peace cutting down some nearby trees. Oh reak at well. There was also a handful of teenagers in school uniform fishing on the lakes edge. What a cool school trip! Gaz was very jealous that no teacher ever taught him how to fish during school hours.
After a break at the lake we headed back in to imbil to get back on the road we were meant to be on in the first place. Imbil was not really worth stopping at as it consisted of a butchers, a convenience store and a post office...and a very quiet railway track. We drove through very beautiful scenic places to get to our next stop, Kenilworth...bang on time for lunch! I had been told that the pub in Kenilworth does great food so it would have been silly not to have sampled it! Gaz and i wolfed down a steak sandwhich and chips from the Kenilworth Hotel...which was quite an old building....but by old in australian standards, i mean early 1900's. We had a stroll down the main street in Kenilworth. All through the Hinterland, peoples houses had these weird scare crows outside. We worked out that these people werent nuts, they were part of some regional scarecrow copetition...a bit like what Auntie Carol participates in in West Wales. Even the shops in Kenilworth had these scare crows outside...i took some pictures of some of them. I must say, a lot of time and effort had been put in to these things and every one of them was different...this is probably because there is nothing else to do around here and they probs spend all year making these things and take the competition very seriously. I can imagine these things in cardiff getting vandelised or kidnapped and being held ransom.
Before leaving Kenilworth, Gaz spotted a brown sign for the historical museum...we HAD to check it out! thankfully it was only down the road a few yards but it did appear to be someones back garden. Maybe someone who had collected so much junk in thei rback garden, they felt it would be easier calling it a museum than sending the junk for scrap. Needless to say, we didnt go in. Gaz wouldnt allow it and i notice he didnt even slow the car down past it. Our next stop, Maleny.
Maleny was a pretty little town. The street began to feel very oldy worldy and a little bit british. Even the sweet shop there was marketing itself as a british sweet shop where you could pick up british chocolate for three times as much you would pay for it back home! Gaz and i were literally like kids in a sweet shop. So much choice we didnt know what yto have! The lady behind the counter could see we were suckers for chocolate and knew we were an easy target to sell to. She let us sample some of the fudge there for free....it was yummy...i ended up with a block of mars bar fudge and gaz had some caramel vanilla thing. Sickly but yummy and worth every calorie and gram of saturated fat! There was a nice, safe, relaxed feeling to Maleny. Some young children, ,around 6/7 years old were getting off a very brightly coloured, hippy lookign school bus all laughing, joking and looking as though they had been having a great time...we could have sworn these kids were high on something.
We drove down the road and came across a random tributary which people seemed to be stopping at. We had a little paddle...me trying not to drop the camera in the water and Gaz trying not to get in my pictures. We even tried to do a walk along a designated footpath but the signed warned of these 'stinging leaves' that can leave you with a sting for hours/days and even months! We felt it best to avoid the track...especially when we would not be able to decide what leaves are stingy and what arent and believe me, there were a lot of leaves on the ground. Even the TREES want to kill you here!
Back in the car and we headed to our next stop, Montville. I had no idea what to expect in Monville and luck may have it that the timings had all worked out perfectly. We reached montville around 4pm which left just enough time to have a browse int he arts and craft shops and grab a drink in the cafe before everything closed for the evening. The drive to montville had the feel of being amongst the Brecon Beacons...very green and lush grass, cows grazing and the mountainous surroundings. It was beautiful. From the tops of the mountains we drove along, the views were spetacular and the roads were quiet...for a moment the only thing that reminded us we were in aus was the weather...it was hot! Montville was very touristy but the buildings were unique for australia. One building, which we ended up having dinner in had a tudor appearance with the white wall and black beams, Another shop was made of stone with a big water wheel outside. Overall, the buildings were very british. We had a quick drink in a cafe that overlooked the blackall range right out towards the sunshine coast. I managed to get a photo of gaz who by this point was getting irritated by me telling him to stand in certain places so that i could take a shot. He doesnt make much of a model! I didnt want to whack VJ on the ledge either incase she fell off...she doesnt like heights. We checked in at the motel...it was pretty basic and the owner was a little miserable. We had a nap before dinner and at 8.30 went to the tudor looking restaurant next door for grub. The food was very good....expensive but worth the money because it was freshly cooked and the service was excellent. Our main was going to take a while (because they were so busy) so they handed us a complimentary bowl of calamari to apologise...its a shame Gaz isnt a fan of seafood...it meant i had to eat more or it. The atmosphere was pefect - we sat upstairs amongst a crowded room where people dined and a soloist on her guitar sang. What a lovely meal it had been...that was until Gaz took one last mouthful of pie and looked like he was going to die. I was getting ready to jump up and give him a bit of the old heimlich maneuver but he was up and out of his seat choking away already. He went red int he face and siappeared off to the toilets without even telling me what the hell was going on! By the time he got back he announced he had been sick in the toilet having got a bone from the beef stuck in his throat. He was ok once it was dislodged.
About 3am i was woken by a huge loud rumble. There was a wild storm happening outside which was great because it meant it would get it all out of the system so saturday would be a nice sunny day....and that it was! I had gaz up and out of bed again by 8.30 with the intention that i wanted to get us to Eumundi markets bright and early. Gaz reluctantly dragged himself out of bed (poor thing) and dragged himself into the car. As we set off, i saw a sign for Kondalilla falls...ive heard this is a pretty waterfall and its on all the tourist attraction guides of things to do. "We must go!" i declared all enthusiastically as Gaz sat drapped against the passenger door looking shattered. It was a bit of a walk to the falls....a whole half hour walk which i hadnt anticipated when i felt the urdge to see the damn thing. It was all downhill and Gaz moaned the whole way...which was funny because on the way back up we passed a family with young kids who were very excited about seeing the falls! Gaz reckons they had been bribed with ice cream if they behaved and acted interested. So the walk was a little bit muddy from the rain during the night and i managed to flick all the mud up my legs from my flip flops. We treked down the steep stone steps, not really dressed for the occasion and marched towards the waterfall. Just when Gaz had seriously had enough, we reached a lookout point of the waterfall. It was kind of romantic but i guess it was just a waterfall afterall. I darent ask if Gaz wanted to go to the bottom of the waterfall so i settled for having at least seen the thing.
Eumundi markets were crazy! For starters we had to find somewhere to park...there were cars EVERYWHERE! it was huge! We ended up parking in some old mans front garden for 5 AUD along with 20 other cars. He said he rents his garden out every week for the market...he must make a fortune! There were lots of stalls but lots of them sold pretty much the same things. the one that stood out to me was the guy that made decorations out of forks and spoons...he had a great big eagle made out of this stuff and other impressive creatures. There was lots of massage stalls and people selling hippy stuff but Gazs main interest was int he food stands. He hadnt had breakfast so he had a stir fry from one stand, some chicken skewers from another and we both tried some south american cakes. The guy asked where all our purchases were when we returned to our car and Gaz joked "well i ate all the stuff i bought!". Having made a big skid mark on their front drive trying to reverse the car, Gaz and i scooted from Eumundi.
We reached Noosa by lunch time but agreed we would not eat lunch so that we could save ourselves for The Hogs Breath Cafe which we had spotted on a leaflet for Hastings street, noosa. We had the afternoon by the pool at our hotel and enjoyed half our in the jacuzzi before getting ready for the wales vs france match. We watched the game in the irish pub which i had remembered the wareabouts from when i visited noosa 5 years ago. Gaz an di both agreed when we had last visited, Noosa was made up of mor eof a retirement village with no shops other than an ice cream shop down by the beach. We were very amazed to see just how built up it is now. There were so many designer shops along the waterfront and posh hotels along hastings street, none of whcih existed when i was there last! It was like a different place. We found a park that overlooked the river in noosa and admired the houses on the other side whose gardens backed onto the lake. you could walk out of your house, down your steps and onto your boat, leaving behind your 5 million AUD house for a pootle on the river. Anyway, back to the match...AWFUL DECISION REF! yellow card i say, not a red! unfortunately the irish pub i remembered because it was ov er the road from the hostel i stayed in..and with hostels come complete a*seholes. There were some young welsh guys and girls watching the match in the irish pub which was nice....but with them came the english idiots that would rather support the french and would cheer loudly when wales missed their many penalties, and messed up their many lineouts, and screwed up thei rmany scrums....oh yes not to mention when the welsh captain got sent off 10 minutes into the match! Oh well, disappointing but nothing a hogs breath steak wont cure!...
I booked a table because I knew it would be busy and Gaz has been talking about how great this 24 hour cooked steak is. It is expensive but you pay for what you get....we turned up and were given the most miserable waitress who told us in a very blazay mannor "oh by the way, theres no 24 hour steaks left but you can still have a normal cooked steak."....its 8pm on a saturday night and they have no steaks left? devastated! Next, she brings us 2 schooners of coke zero which tasted like soda water so i informed her of this and she merely went to the bar, poured some more coke zero and brought them back. She didnt think to change the syrrup. I wasnt in a good mood so i marched up to the bar and demanded they were changed so we were given bottle of coke zero instead...much better. The food was ok but very slow and i could see lots of peopel complaining about their food, or waiting for their food whilst other people on the table had theirs...and even people being given the wrong bill and having to debate with the waitress what they had and hadnt had.
Gaz and i were both up again at 8.30 and went to have breakfast down by the beach. We both had some very lovely pancakes before having a little sunbathe by the river. It was very sunny and very very hot so we didnt spend more than half hour outside.
Gaz jokingly pointed out a sign to another historical museum off the bruce highway. Yes, i made him go and check it out and yes it looked rubbish so we didnt go in...on the way back to hervey bay we took a detour up to toogoom for a salty squid lunch and milkshake. It was a lovely way to end a very lovely weekend :)
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Wednesday 12th October - Welsh cakes part 2
Last nigh tit was BOILING! we both had a restless nights sleep and according to my phone it was over 21 degrees during the night...we had the fan on but tried not to put the air con on as we wanted to acclimatise...but bugger it, air con is going on tonight!
Gaz did well on the computer today and work was so so. My patient threatened to kill herself if i didnt manage to finish the root canal on her...and i didnt manage to finish the root canal because the canals were blocked so i couldnt get access to them...so will be interesting to see if she turns up for her appointment to have the thing out.
Gaz and i went to the gym again and did our hour of cardio. I think next week i will up the half hour to combine some weights with the cardio. When we got back, gaz cooked us dinner and afterwards i cooked some welsh cakes to take in to work 2moz. It took me AGES to make the damn things because i had to cook one at a time over the flame on the stove. I made gaz a few welsh cakes minus the sultanas aswell....he seemed to enjoy them. One day left in work before our road trip!
Gaz did well on the computer today and work was so so. My patient threatened to kill herself if i didnt manage to finish the root canal on her...and i didnt manage to finish the root canal because the canals were blocked so i couldnt get access to them...so will be interesting to see if she turns up for her appointment to have the thing out.
Gaz and i went to the gym again and did our hour of cardio. I think next week i will up the half hour to combine some weights with the cardio. When we got back, gaz cooked us dinner and afterwards i cooked some welsh cakes to take in to work 2moz. It took me AGES to make the damn things because i had to cook one at a time over the flame on the stove. I made gaz a few welsh cakes minus the sultanas aswell....he seemed to enjoy them. One day left in work before our road trip!
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Tuesday 11th October - Stew yum yum
Yesterday nothing much happened hence no blog. Gaz and I are back to our healthy eating and managed a hardcore 30minutes at the gym yesterday doing cardio and a further 30 minutes tonight. Gaz has had 2 rubbish days on the computer but tomorrow is another day!
I made a stew last night for us to have for dinner today. It had leeks, suede, potatoes, carrots, beef and onions with a hint of red wine. It was very yummy and i was really impressed to see Gaz eating it! (bar the carrots which he picked out and donated to my bowl). He was about to pick out the suede but i encouraged him to try some (like a mother coaxing her 5 year old boy to eat his greens) and he hesitantly tasted some to find it didnt taste of anything and was a lot like potato! We went to woolworths after the gym and bought a bit of bread to have with the stew. On leaving the house i always check to see if Gaz has his keys. "yes ive got them!" he told me. As we got to the front door upon returning, he couldnt find the front door key and panicked around in his pocket...a bit like he would do at the airport to Berlin every time he looked for his passport. His eyes pop wide open and the look of rabbit in the headlights dawns upon his face as he pauses to re-think where he had the damn things last. He smacked his pockets and delve a hand in a little deeper...PHEW, they were there. I said nothing lol.
Work is going really well and im really enjoying it although i do find i am hanging around a lot because i have 40 minute appointments and usually the patient is in and out within 20 minutes. The receptionists love me because im quick lol.
The weather has been really hot here since the storm on saturday. It is around 28/29 degrees in the day and humid. Gaz keeps sticking the air con on and telling me not to worry about the electricity bills....gulp! Dont know how we are going to cope in the summer if we have the air con on already! 2 more days in work then road trip!!!
I made a stew last night for us to have for dinner today. It had leeks, suede, potatoes, carrots, beef and onions with a hint of red wine. It was very yummy and i was really impressed to see Gaz eating it! (bar the carrots which he picked out and donated to my bowl). He was about to pick out the suede but i encouraged him to try some (like a mother coaxing her 5 year old boy to eat his greens) and he hesitantly tasted some to find it didnt taste of anything and was a lot like potato! We went to woolworths after the gym and bought a bit of bread to have with the stew. On leaving the house i always check to see if Gaz has his keys. "yes ive got them!" he told me. As we got to the front door upon returning, he couldnt find the front door key and panicked around in his pocket...a bit like he would do at the airport to Berlin every time he looked for his passport. His eyes pop wide open and the look of rabbit in the headlights dawns upon his face as he pauses to re-think where he had the damn things last. He smacked his pockets and delve a hand in a little deeper...PHEW, they were there. I said nothing lol.
Work is going really well and im really enjoying it although i do find i am hanging around a lot because i have 40 minute appointments and usually the patient is in and out within 20 minutes. The receptionists love me because im quick lol.
The weather has been really hot here since the storm on saturday. It is around 28/29 degrees in the day and humid. Gaz keeps sticking the air con on and telling me not to worry about the electricity bills....gulp! Dont know how we are going to cope in the summer if we have the air con on already! 2 more days in work then road trip!!!
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Sunday 9th October - Welsh cakes
Today i mastered the art of baking welsh cakes using delia smiths recipe online. I also made a lot of mess which was great fun until i had to clean it all up. The welsh cakes were practice for later on this week when im going to bake some for people in work.
After getting flour all over the kitchen, Gaz treated me for a steak lunch at the hervey bay hotel. It was really hot and sunny today so we sat outside int he beer garden overlooking the beach. We had a nice stroll down to the rock pools after lunch whilst the tide was out. In west wales Gaz liked to lift all the rocks up to find the crabs hiding underneath...but we felt it best that he left the rocks alone here as everything wants to kill you...even some of the sea shells are deadly!
We were really naughty and had a mc donalds for dinner. we have got a bit relaxed with the naughty jar so as of tomorrow, we are going back to our old ways of the fine jar for eating naughty food! I have bought some veg to make a beef stew...gaz even said he would try some so i will get cooking that tomorrow.
This evening we snuggled up in bed and watched a film. I got 4 days in work until our trip to glass house mountains, i cant wait! oh and dad tells me that Nanny is now reading my blog so...hello Nan! hope you are well xxx
After getting flour all over the kitchen, Gaz treated me for a steak lunch at the hervey bay hotel. It was really hot and sunny today so we sat outside int he beer garden overlooking the beach. We had a nice stroll down to the rock pools after lunch whilst the tide was out. In west wales Gaz liked to lift all the rocks up to find the crabs hiding underneath...but we felt it best that he left the rocks alone here as everything wants to kill you...even some of the sea shells are deadly!
We were really naughty and had a mc donalds for dinner. we have got a bit relaxed with the naughty jar so as of tomorrow, we are going back to our old ways of the fine jar for eating naughty food! I have bought some veg to make a beef stew...gaz even said he would try some so i will get cooking that tomorrow.
This evening we snuggled up in bed and watched a film. I got 4 days in work until our trip to glass house mountains, i cant wait! oh and dad tells me that Nanny is now reading my blog so...hello Nan! hope you are well xxx
Saturday, 8 October 2011
Saturday 8th October - Wales vs Ireland
Boooooo my horse riding lesson was cancelled. I left sunny Pialba and drove further and further towards the dark black angry looking clouds. By the time i got to my riding lesson in Booral, i had entered the start of the storm. Four people were having a lesson before me and got absolutely soaked from the heavy rain and the horses battled agains tthe strong wind, dodging buckets that blew towards them. I braved getting out of the car to speak to Lisa who said to hang around to see if the storm passed. Sadly it only got worse. After 20 minutes we decided to call it a day and i had a very dangerous drive home. I did think about waiting a while for the storm to pass but i looked on my phone at the met office to see the storm pattern and it appeared it was only going to get worse and the longer i hung around in Booral (20 minutes from home) the more the roads may flood. One of the main roads to get from Pialba to Booral is a high flood risk road so i knew if i was going to be leaving, i should leave as soon as possible. The drive home was horrible because even with headlights on, i couldnt see much. Cars over here for some stupid reason dont have back windscreen wipers so i was driving slow and only knew someone was up my arse when i squinted in the mirror to see two little lights shining back at me. I pulled over to let the car past and he sped past me at full speed. By the time i got around the corner and further up the road, he had collided with someone and was stood on the side of the road checking the damage to the poor victims bonnet. I was very glad to get home. Looking like a drowned rat i headed straight for the shower to warm up a bit and listened to the thunder and watched the lights in the bathroom twitching to a dim light every now and then as the lightening striked.
Gaz played on the computer today and i slept. The rain was so heavy, i didnt fancy driving to the gym. Gaz and i thought we would watch the wales vs ireland match in an irish pub - brave or stupid? We picked a seat in front of the tv screen and we sat with our bottles of coke zero and a little stuffed VJ next to us in her little wales hoody. It was nice to see one other welsh girl in the pub, surrounded by at least 100 irish supporters. Whenever ireland had the ball or did something good the place roared with encouragement...whenever wales had the ball i didnt want to show my excitement too much incase i got lynched. Gaz and i cheered the welsh tries...and the girl on the opposite side of the room gave the odd WOOP! and everyone else in the room glared daggers at us. One very annoying woman sat behind me laughed when priestland missed a few penalties...bit rude i thought. At the end of the match i could breathe a sigh of relief to see the final score 22-10 to wales. The pub was silent but i cheered. The annoying woman came to shake our hands? and some old irish guy came over to congratulate us on how well we played! Gaz and i basked in the glory and agreed yes it was a good match, didnt we play well ...and took all the credit for how well the guys on the pitch played.
We went back to the flat to watch the england vs france game...i fell asleep cuddling a pillow. I woke up and we went to get food...i had a chocolate bar and gaz had some ice cream...again! going to watch a film now. well done wales!
Gaz played on the computer today and i slept. The rain was so heavy, i didnt fancy driving to the gym. Gaz and i thought we would watch the wales vs ireland match in an irish pub - brave or stupid? We picked a seat in front of the tv screen and we sat with our bottles of coke zero and a little stuffed VJ next to us in her little wales hoody. It was nice to see one other welsh girl in the pub, surrounded by at least 100 irish supporters. Whenever ireland had the ball or did something good the place roared with encouragement...whenever wales had the ball i didnt want to show my excitement too much incase i got lynched. Gaz and i cheered the welsh tries...and the girl on the opposite side of the room gave the odd WOOP! and everyone else in the room glared daggers at us. One very annoying woman sat behind me laughed when priestland missed a few penalties...bit rude i thought. At the end of the match i could breathe a sigh of relief to see the final score 22-10 to wales. The pub was silent but i cheered. The annoying woman came to shake our hands? and some old irish guy came over to congratulate us on how well we played! Gaz and i basked in the glory and agreed yes it was a good match, didnt we play well ...and took all the credit for how well the guys on the pitch played.
We went back to the flat to watch the england vs france game...i fell asleep cuddling a pillow. I woke up and we went to get food...i had a chocolate bar and gaz had some ice cream...again! going to watch a film now. well done wales!
Friday, 7 October 2011
Friday 7th October
Last night we went out for food as Gaz wanted to have a roast dinner. We drove to the boat club and by the time we got there, he had decided he was going to have a pasta dish instead, leaving me with the roast. It was a bit disappointing as the only veg were green beans, lots of meat, a strange looking roast potato and pumpkin...it didnt really fill me up so we were really really naughty and went to the ice cream parlor...and no, its not even cheat day. I had waffles with maple syrup and ice cream...gaz had his usual hokey pokie ice cream. It was naughty but tasted great!
I have had some trouble still getting my radiation licence as they are still not accepting my Cardiff University BDS and are failing to realise it IS THE SAME as BDS Wales just that the name has changed. I spoke to a really arsy woman yesterday who basically started reading out the letter i had been sent. I asked what she was doing? "im reading you the letter we sent you." I was so annoyed at this point i told her i could read and i know what is being asked of me but that they were out of order making me do extra training to take x rays when i already have the equivalent of the BDS Wales and that they were out of date. She didnt help me at all and made me really agitated. I rung up today and some other woman answered who was a bit more helpful. She said she would try and sort something but she said they have lost my file...she also said she would ring me back once she had found my file...i never got rung back.
Work was long and tiring but managed to get through it and now its the weekend - yay! We have had some people move in to the 2 houses opposite...they have nicked our parking spot so we are a little peeved. Gaz was on watch today to move into the space when they left but unfortunately their car hasnt moved all day.
We went for a drive down one of the side roads and came across a really lovely tapas bar. The food was excellent, all prepared and cooked fresh on the premises...we were naughty again and had desert! but we couldnt resist as it all looked so amazing. Im going to become a fatty if im not careful :(
I have had some trouble still getting my radiation licence as they are still not accepting my Cardiff University BDS and are failing to realise it IS THE SAME as BDS Wales just that the name has changed. I spoke to a really arsy woman yesterday who basically started reading out the letter i had been sent. I asked what she was doing? "im reading you the letter we sent you." I was so annoyed at this point i told her i could read and i know what is being asked of me but that they were out of order making me do extra training to take x rays when i already have the equivalent of the BDS Wales and that they were out of date. She didnt help me at all and made me really agitated. I rung up today and some other woman answered who was a bit more helpful. She said she would try and sort something but she said they have lost my file...she also said she would ring me back once she had found my file...i never got rung back.
Work was long and tiring but managed to get through it and now its the weekend - yay! We have had some people move in to the 2 houses opposite...they have nicked our parking spot so we are a little peeved. Gaz was on watch today to move into the space when they left but unfortunately their car hasnt moved all day.
We went for a drive down one of the side roads and came across a really lovely tapas bar. The food was excellent, all prepared and cooked fresh on the premises...we were naughty again and had desert! but we couldnt resist as it all looked so amazing. Im going to become a fatty if im not careful :(
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Wednesday 5th October - Curry
I was working with a different dental assistant today, Juilie, she was really good fun and we both had a laugh. I also did my first ever surgical extraction of a lower left impacted wisdom tooth which i really enjoyed! It was great slicing the gum back to see the mandible and then cutting away at the bone with the bur. I had to get a little help from the oral surgeon, Nick, who attends clinics once a month as i wasnt sure which way to cut the tooth apart. But it went really well so im pleased! The patient is coming back to have the wisdom tooth on the right hand side taken out...im hoping i can do it all by myself next time!
After work Gaz and i made it to the gym for half hour of intense cardio. thankfully Gaz didnt come up in his rash so we had a good workout and he offered to take me out for a curry. We have driven along the esplanade a number of times and seen signs for a British Curry. We thought we would brave it...only to find it had actually closed down. Oh well. We then wasted the next half hour looking for places to eat...in the end we drove home and i cooked a chicken korma...courtesy of Pataks! We were both feeling naughty after the gym so we went and spend about 20mins in woolworths trying to choose the right chocolate bar.
After work Gaz and i made it to the gym for half hour of intense cardio. thankfully Gaz didnt come up in his rash so we had a good workout and he offered to take me out for a curry. We have driven along the esplanade a number of times and seen signs for a British Curry. We thought we would brave it...only to find it had actually closed down. Oh well. We then wasted the next half hour looking for places to eat...in the end we drove home and i cooked a chicken korma...courtesy of Pataks! We were both feeling naughty after the gym so we went and spend about 20mins in woolworths trying to choose the right chocolate bar.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Tuesday 4th October
A strange day of interesting patients today so was glad to get work over with. I managed to numb a patient up ready to take a tooth out whilst waiting for the x ray to develop (trying to be time efficient). When the x ray was put up, it appeared the tooth behind the one i was about to take out had the problem. As the patient was already numb, we couldnt test which tooth was the cause of the pain, therefore she has to come back in on friday. OOPS! At least i didnt start taking the wrong tooth out.
My radiation licence enables me to press the button to take an x ray. I had a letter today saying the QLD radiation unit are declining giving me a radiation licence because my qualification (BDS Cardiff University) is not recognised over here. they gave me a list of what IS recognised (BDS Wales being included). I had to ring up the radiation unit to inform them that in the year i graduated, the dentists merged from BDS Wales into Cardiff Unitversity, therefore there is no such thing as BDS Wales any more. The woman was a little rude and didnt really understand so i went to the director in work and he seems to have sorted it. Little things like this really frustrate me!
After work i went to the gym. Gaz didnt join me because hes worried he will have another reaction again (excuses!) I managed half hour of cardio and then came home to a lovely steak sandwich cooked by Gaz. We spoke to Enid, Gaz's Nana on skype. It was really nice to see her and she had a grand tour of the house.
My radiation licence enables me to press the button to take an x ray. I had a letter today saying the QLD radiation unit are declining giving me a radiation licence because my qualification (BDS Cardiff University) is not recognised over here. they gave me a list of what IS recognised (BDS Wales being included). I had to ring up the radiation unit to inform them that in the year i graduated, the dentists merged from BDS Wales into Cardiff Unitversity, therefore there is no such thing as BDS Wales any more. The woman was a little rude and didnt really understand so i went to the director in work and he seems to have sorted it. Little things like this really frustrate me!
After work i went to the gym. Gaz didnt join me because hes worried he will have another reaction again (excuses!) I managed half hour of cardio and then came home to a lovely steak sandwich cooked by Gaz. We spoke to Enid, Gaz's Nana on skype. It was really nice to see her and she had a grand tour of the house.
Monday, 3 October 2011
Monday 3rd October - Mundane Monday
No blog was written yesterday (sunday) because nothing really happened other than Gaz got up to play on the computer...i got up to hang some washing on the line and then fell back asleep until 2.30pm! We then went to the Hervey Bay Hotel to watch the wales vs fiji only the sound was off on the screen showing the match and the middle aged men surrounding the bar had really foul language that was uncomfortable to listen to...so we decided to move over to Hoolihans (the irish pub). The pub was very busy however, despite the array of 'watch the world cup live here' advertisements, spread on banners all over the pub ceiling, they ironically werent showing the wales v fiji match! I said to a waitress 'excuse me are you showing the wales match?' "ummm i dunno, it aint on till later." she replied. "um no, its on now?" i corrected her. She didnt seem sure and told me i was wrong so i explained we have been watching the match in another pub before coming here. "oh ok." she said and gave an awkward shuffle away from my table and disappeared into the crowd, never to be seen again. So we didnt get to see the end of the game but we did enjoy a steak sandwich.
In the evening we went to the gym and did half hour of cardio which was great as the gym was empty. Poor Gaz came out in his weird reaction thing he gets which he thinks he has pin pointed down to temperature change. He comes out in hives all over his body which become really itchy...we headed straight home and as we didnt have any anti histamines, we doused him in tiger balm. He spent the rest of the night wearing my dressing gown - very fetching!
Work went well today and the plan was to get to the gym but Gaz was still a little bit itchy from yesterdays reaction so we will go tomorrow instead. We have been watching 'Limitless'...what a load of poo.
In the evening we went to the gym and did half hour of cardio which was great as the gym was empty. Poor Gaz came out in his weird reaction thing he gets which he thinks he has pin pointed down to temperature change. He comes out in hives all over his body which become really itchy...we headed straight home and as we didnt have any anti histamines, we doused him in tiger balm. He spent the rest of the night wearing my dressing gown - very fetching!
Work went well today and the plan was to get to the gym but Gaz was still a little bit itchy from yesterdays reaction so we will go tomorrow instead. We have been watching 'Limitless'...what a load of poo.
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Saturday 1st October - Maryborough
I woke up at 8am to start the washing (how sad does that sound!). After having all our visitors last weekend, the sheets all need cleaning, on top of which i washed the towels and clothes. At 10am i had a riding lesson. I took Lisa a nice bottle of red wine (recommended to me by the guy in the liquor store) and also a big bag of carrots for the horses as a thank you for taking me home after my last lesson. When i turned up at 10am, lisa said i could take Buddy off for a ride on my own. It was good fun, she obviously trusts me enough to let me go off...again, it isnt so much of a lesson, just a chance to get on a horse and ride for an hour! Buddy wasnt too keen on leaving the other horses but he listened to me and did everything i asked of him. Lisa says next week she will let me ride her horse (although i can never remember the name of her horse!) but shes a bit more crazy than Buddy so should be a good challenge!
Back at home, Gaz was playing on the computer so i cleaned the whole house from top to bottom. We then went to a hair dressers on the esplanade so that Gaz could get his hair cut. Im not letting anyone touch my hair just yet as i dont want it any shorter! Afterwards, we went for a drive over to 'River Heads' an area SE of Hervey Bay. There is a ferry crossing here to take you over to Fraser Island but also a community is developing. People here seem to buy a plot of land and then design their own house to plant on top of it as every house was unique in its own way. Some houses looked amazing and others looked like a tragic attempt at being modern. River Heads didnt really take us long to drive around so instead we took the Bruce Highway down to Maryborough. For a Saturday afternoon, this place was like a ghost town! We must have seen about 5 people the whole time we were there.Maryborough is the birth place of P.L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins...hence the Mary Poppins statue we had our picture next to. The whole town is like going back into an early Western Movie. The buildings are old, some quite impressive, but there are bars on every corner, none of which were open. The park was very scenic, with strange artistic statues scattered around, some very random. We didnt stay more than an hour, mainly because we had seen everything in that hour so drove back to Hervey Bay. We must have both been shattered because we fell asleep for 2 hours but awoke just in time to catch the last 20 mins of the England/Scotland rugby match....to find scotland were winning 12-3!
After a yummy subway, we spotted some wild possums being fed by some kids. The possums were so cute!
Back at home, Gaz was playing on the computer so i cleaned the whole house from top to bottom. We then went to a hair dressers on the esplanade so that Gaz could get his hair cut. Im not letting anyone touch my hair just yet as i dont want it any shorter! Afterwards, we went for a drive over to 'River Heads' an area SE of Hervey Bay. There is a ferry crossing here to take you over to Fraser Island but also a community is developing. People here seem to buy a plot of land and then design their own house to plant on top of it as every house was unique in its own way. Some houses looked amazing and others looked like a tragic attempt at being modern. River Heads didnt really take us long to drive around so instead we took the Bruce Highway down to Maryborough. For a Saturday afternoon, this place was like a ghost town! We must have seen about 5 people the whole time we were there.Maryborough is the birth place of P.L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins...hence the Mary Poppins statue we had our picture next to. The whole town is like going back into an early Western Movie. The buildings are old, some quite impressive, but there are bars on every corner, none of which were open. The park was very scenic, with strange artistic statues scattered around, some very random. We didnt stay more than an hour, mainly because we had seen everything in that hour so drove back to Hervey Bay. We must have both been shattered because we fell asleep for 2 hours but awoke just in time to catch the last 20 mins of the England/Scotland rugby match....to find scotland were winning 12-3!
After a yummy subway, we spotted some wild possums being fed by some kids. The possums were so cute!
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