Xmas Day

Xmas Day and its 30C.
Quite hot in a santa hat...Inge is in the garden doing some weeding. I have a seafood xmas meal to look forward to of prawns and mussels. A lot of people have a BBQ lunch or visit the beach for a swim.

Blackbird nest along the path

The photos are of a small blackbird sitting on its nest by the side of the path we walk along by the creek. The blackbirds here are really cute and fly around wagging their long tails.

When we saw how close the blackbird had built its nest to a path which is used a lot by people we were worried that vandals or children would destroy it as it was quite easy to spot.

Sure enough a week later and there's no trace of the nest, its gone! People here have no respect for the nature that surrounds them.

Storm season again

Storms are a part of living in Brisbane, a sub-tropical city. The storm season runs from approximately October until March each year.

Thunder and hail storms often develop in the afternoon, moving across from the west. Less common is the threat of a cyclone, but it can happen.

Today was a classic storm. It moved in quickly, big black clouds, lightning, wind and lots of rain. 10,000 home without power, chaos on the roads with car accidents.

Wine cheaper than water in Australia

Wine is now cheaper than water in Australia due to the surging dollar and changing tastes.

Some shops are now selling clean skin wine for as little as two dollars a bottle.

The plummeting prices are being blamed on a grape glut and the subsequent oversupply of wine.

In the past the excess was exported, but the rising Aussie dollar has made it harder to be competitive.

Australia Road Trip

This weekend I did a 1800km round trip to pick up my glider which I bought together with a fellow club member.

It was a good trip with nice weather underway. Shame to see the deathtoll of kangaroos along the roadside, there must have been hundreds!

The temperature inland was 39C.

The journey down took 11 hrs with brief stops for breakfat and lunch in McDonalds. We stayed in a motel and drove back on Sunday another 11hrs.

So I am now the proud co-owner of a sailplane.

Brisbane River

We recently took a walk along the Brisbane River near where we live. This stretch of the river is only 15km from the city centre but is a small patch of wilderness. The water is salty not fresh as the seawater comes quite far up the river on the tides. Brisbane has quite a few suprises one of which is its river.

Acacia Trees in Bloom

So after the purple Jacaranda bloom of October comes the orange acacia bloom of November. It really is beautiful to see the trees in bloom here along the roadside, its a real sign that Spring is turning to Summer, not that you need reminding with the increase in temperatures day by day. Soon we will be sweltering at Xmas dinner...

Dutch Shop in Brisbane

Sorry for the break in blogging, its been a hectic time the last few weeks we have been busy buying a house more of that to follow in the New Year.

Xmas is not far away now and the temperatures are heating up, today 34C. Its hard to believe we've been here over 1 year already, time flies.

So with Xmas around the corner we start to think about dutch food we miss so today we went to Brisbane's very own dutch food shop where you can buy all sorts of goodies like ollieballen mix, speculaas and other festive food. We dont go shopping here that often maybe once every six months or so, so time to stock up.

The Race that stops the nation..

Tomorrow is Melbourne Cup Day, which is as they say "The race that stops the nation"



This country is obsessed by sporting fixtures and this is the biggest on the calendar, like the Grand National horserace in England only about 10 times bigger. Everyone has a bet and god knows how much is fluttered away on the horses.

Its Halloween so we went on a Bat Boat Cruise

This evening we took a boat cruise up the Brisbane River to visit a bat colony on an island in the river. The bats, called Flying Foxes are fruit bats and roost there during the day and at sunset the whole colony of 20,000 bats takes off to feed on fruit and nectar. No photos of that Im afraid it was too dark and the batteries gave out on my digital camera...
The bat sight seeing tour was organised by a bat friendly group who nurse orphan baby bats, the volunteers brought two baby bats for the visitors to look at...strange to see a little baby bat face sucking on a teat. They may be a bat but they are cute at the same time and the volunteers said they are very intelligent





Of course Inge being a orphan squirral rescue veteren was very interested in the baby bats and how to look after them so expect more photos in the future.

Storm season has arrived

After the long winter dry season of almost 4 months of blue skies and sun the summer rains have arrived. Heavy rain last night, almost 70mm so good for the garden and the plants that have suffered with no water. Pretty heavy lightning as well which blacked out 26,000 homes for a day.

Of course this means heaven for the bugs and cockroaches who come out to party and mate when the rain arrives so this morning we had over 13 of them dancing all over the patio...god do we hate cockroaches but at least they keep the cat busy as he seems to have a knack to know they are there even when we cant see them

Jacarandas in bloom

Springtime here means the Jacaranda trees are once again in bloom.
As Inge says they are like "bluebells blooming on trees"
We went to a park in Goodna, about 15km from us to have a walk around the park.

The trees in bloom against a blue sky make a visually spectacular impression.

We just dont get bored of looking at these trees.


It is a nice feeling to look and admire these beautiful trees.

The trees originate from Brazil but can be seen around the world in sub-tropical countries, I remember them as a child in Africa.

Canungra Classic HG Comp - watching only..

Last friday I went to Beechmont to watch the HG competitors launch and go cross country.
I was still suffering from jatlag and flu so there was no way I could have flown in the competition.

This is a photo of the crowded launch site.

There was more than 50 hanggliders competing.

It really is a beautiful spot to fly.

The goal was to fly to a lake near Boonah, some 99kms away. I believe almost 20 gliders made it there. Oh well there's always next year.

Summer is here

The days are getting hotter now, today was 29C and we have been having 32C days last week which means summer proper (hot and sticky) is not far away. The increasing temperatures has had an effect in the garden with the tropical plants and flowers really starting to come out of their winter sleep. Our favourite is the frangipini tree, the one we have has pink fragrant flowers.

This one is called the "desert rose".

My Dad - Rest in Peace

I shut down the Blog early in September as my dad was taken ill and admitted to intensive care.

Inge and I made quick plans to return to the UK asap but unfortunately we were too late to see my Dad and he passed away on 3rd September as a result of pneumonia, we arrived on the 5th after flying non stop.

The funeral was on 16th September and I read out the eulogy which was really hard to do but I felt that it was right that I did so. We spent the next few weeks with my Mum. It still feels really weird not being in touch with my dad, he was an avid blog reader and we talked almost every week. I miss him very much.

We are now back in Brisbane. I will try to get back to doing my usual reports.

Off line for a few weeks

This blog will be off line for a few weeks.
Back from early October onwards.

Wave Day at Boonah

Last Sunday I went out to Boonah to take my mind of things

It was windy and in the winter months you have the chance to fly in wave air.

Wave is special flying at in certain parts of the sky special clouds called lenticulars form and you can literally surf the air and make big height gains.

I was lucky to connect with the lenticulars and soard upto 2700m which gave an amazing view of the mountains...of course I didnt have my camera in the glider with me.

Winery Visit

Today we visited a winery and had a nice lunch in the chic restaurant

Plenty of wine on tap

Inge and Sonja knocking back the wine.

Great location and worth another visit.

A few of the locals having a snack

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

We have our friend from Perth (Sonja) visiting us at the moment which explains why we are doing all the touristy things. Photos of Koala's are compulsory!

We visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which is 10minutes from our house. Lots to see there including all the old favourites like kangaroos, wallabies.

I was fascinated by the birds of prey. They had a beautiful white bellied sea eagle.

The other bird of prey was a wedge-tailed eagle, the one's I fly with often at Boonah. This one was hit by a car and had his wing injured so can no longer survive in the wild, a shame.

The last photo is a shot of a baby koala, a 'joey' about 6 months old and just out of his mother's pouch.

Even more whale watching photos

I forgot to mention that a group of dolphins were swimming with the whales and jumping out of the water...difficult to photograph but it looked spectacular.

The woman captain gave a running commentary all the time, shes really knew her stuff.

We had a nice buffet meal on board and could still watch the whales through the windows, really spectacular....