Sunday 30 July 2006 - Brisbane

After my Duyfken visit I returned home then Darryl & I went cycling to look at some of the houses that family had lived in.

First stop was 1 Ricardo Street, Kelvin Grove. This house is called 'Coolgarra' and is the house the Grandpa and Grandma Anderson owned from 1948 to 1957. I took some photos from the outside before knocking on the door and discovering that the current owners are John and Maureen Murphy. John kindly invited me inside and I was astounded to see, that although it looks just like a Queenslander from the outside, the inside is quite remarkable. I was wondering if they knew that the name of the house was Coolgarra, as an old photo from Grandma showed a sign outside, but the moment I walked in the front door I knew that they were aware of it. Across the front door is a neoclassical with the name in huge letters. This is balanced by a similar feature across the front window. The inside verandah wall has large tiled feature panels - all unlike anything else I have ever seen. The ceilings have intricate plaster-work, and the Murphy's have decorated it in a style which matches the house style. I can see why Grandma loved this house, and was unhappy about leaving it to live at Fingal.

After viewing this house, we headed off the Arthur Terrace in Red Hill, where the Melchert's lived while in Brisbane. On the way there we passed Red Hill Fish Shop and since it was lunch time, settled down to some lovely fish and chips. Arthur Terrace was a disappointment, more due to the fact that is is over 1km long and I really didn't have any idea what number house I was looking for. I will have to do more research before returning!

We then rode down the buzzing Caxton Street and past Suncorp Stadium before heading to the bikeway along the river, back through the botanic gardens and home.

Today has been a lovely relaxing day. Graham and Diane Smith picked us up mid-morning and we experienced a beautiful brunch at the New Farm Deli, before strolling through New Farm Park and then touring nearby streets checking out all the apartments.

Saturday 29 July 2006 - up to the morning

I have just had an interesting couple of weeks. As you know, Shane was in Brisbane, and visited us. Then on Tuesday night I flew to Rocky. I was quite excited about going back to see everyone, but home wasn't quite the same. There are 3 households in one and as a result there is not much room - the only place I could find suitable to put down some mattresses was in the middle of the lounge-room floor. None of my stuff was in the right place, so it didn't quite feel 'right'. Marc picked me up from the airport and then helped me get the Camry back on the road. Darryl had disconnected the battery (which was new just before we left) and it started easily, but the tyres were down (the one with the very slow leak was down to 10 psi) and Marc thankfully came to the rescue with his 12 volt air pump.

It really was great to catch up with everyone again at work, and my training went well. On the weekend I was pleased to have a sleep-in and then did a bit of shopping before heading out to the Family History Society to catch up with everyone there. On Sunday I mowed...yes I said MOWED!!! This is the first time in my life! Shane has been doing it, but it was raining the weekend he came to Brisbane, and by the time I got there the seed heads were looking pretty untidy, so I pulled out the non-motorised one and did the footpath. I also fixed some loose palings from the fence and did a bit of pruning. I also washed all weekend as the linen in the cupboard was smelling very musty.

Monday saw me training again, and once again this went well. I headed back to Brisbane on Wednesday night, and it really felt like I was coming home. Darryl was very pleased to see me too! On Thursday evening I went out to 'The Banyan Tree' Indian restaurant at New Farm with a large group of people from work to farewell Sharon, who is heading overseas shortly for a holiday. The food was delicious, but I am dubious that it was all gluten-free, as they had told me, as I had some effects the next day. Shane came over to see us on Friday evening, before flying back to Rockhampton.

Yesterday Darryl convinced me to go to the river to look at an interesting sailing ship, and I discovered that it was the replica Duyfken, built originally in 1606 and the first dutch vessel to come to Australia. There was a large lineup of people, but I managed to get a few good shots.

Sunday 16 July - Brisbane

I had a great week this week - it was the third and last of the Super User training. Now they have to go out across the state, and over the next 6 weeks or so, train the other 500 staff in Information Division. It is very exciting for me! I also have my end-user training to do, and will head up to Rockhampton this week, returning Wed 26 July.

Shane came down from Rocky today - he is here to 2 weeks for training - and came around for a really delicious roast pork dinner cooked by Darryl. Of course I took a photo of him! He is looking really happy and healthy! In fact today has been quite exciting around here - first thing this morning there seemed to be a lot of police & fire-engine activity just down the road (Wickham St) so we went for a walk and discovered that someone had crashed their car into the front window of 'Paddy Pallin's' - the tow-trucks were out in force...I think we saw 4 hovering to be the one to pick up the wreck. Apparently the driver was ok - luckily! Later in the morning there was a car at the nearby service station which attracted police attention, and I was wondering what was happening as a paddy-wagon turned up to back up the original vehicle. The police proceeded to search the car carefully and pat down the two guys. Eventually they were handed a pile of yellow papers (defect notices????) and the car was towed away, with the two guys stomping and swearing...

Yesterday I went out to the National Archives at Cannon Hill, and I was excited to find in a  Register of Engagement of Seamen, Thomas Weinheimer, who was engaged on the Sailing Ship 'Croydon' on 21 Aug 1893.

Sunday 9 July - Brisbane

It was a pretty good week this week. My second week of training was even better than the first week. And, of course, this coming week will be even better!

Darryl cycled a couple of times to Mt Cootha. He is really enjoying these trips. I spent Saturday at the Queensland State Archives. I am continuing to get lots of interesting information there. I got home only just before I was due to meet Robyn, a friend, and my boss while at Concept Training. We had a lovely dinner at the Punjabi Palace, an Indian restaurant at West End, and then topped it off with coffee and dessert (which neither of us could finish!) at Vroom on James in the Valley. It was great to catch up again, as we hadn't seen each other since Robyn's birthday party in Mackay last year. Although she lives in Brisbane, she is very busy and doesn't get to spend much time here.

Monday 3 July - Brisbane

Wow - what a week! I had the first lot of Super Users to train in the new processes - the whole reason I have been here in Brisbane. It went very well considering it was a course never delivered before. Of course, after review, there were improvements to make, but on the whole I am very happy, and now am off to repeat it this week and next.

On Friday night Darryl and I headed out to visit my cousin Peter, his wife Kim and children Kelli and James, who were also being visited by his sister Paula and her partner from Adelaide. It was lovely to catch up with them all again. Over the weekend we planned to go camping and on Saturday morning packed up the car and headed north. We headed to Bribie Island, and had lunch then walked to the beach and saw dolphins just off the beach. We also took a walk near their arts centre..although the tracks petered out just out of sight of the centre! We also checked out their WWII Bunker which is in a dilapidated state with no history information and lots of graffiti. Nothing really inspired us to stay so we decided to investigate the Glasshouse Mountains. We found the lookout, and a bridal party soon turned up. We thought then that we would look for a place to camp, but once again couldn't find anywhere interesting, and drove as far north as Landsborough. I noticed on one of our brochures that there was a National Parks campsite at Coochin Creek, so we tried there. It was fully booked, so finally we decided to head home. (Probably not a bad idea, as by all accounts it was a pretty cold night!) At least the car had a bit of a run, which was one of Darryl's main aims.