Queen's Day comes early to Queensland

There is a small retirement village here in Brisbane called the Prins Alexander Village which is for elderly dutch residents who emigrated to Australia in the 1950's. Its aim is to create a happy, homely environment in pleasant surroundings promoting and incorporating the Dutch culture, whilst maintaining the Australian culture to enhance and maintain links with extended family, friends and the general community. At least that's what their website says.

In mid April they hold their own "Konninnedag" celebrations with goodies and food imported from Holland and dress up in traditional clothing so it looks like Volendam, Marken. So a chance to taste worst, poffertjes, cheese, etc and well as a 2nd hand market, so just like Holland on Queens Day. The houses are a bit like the Volendam sort and it all feels very surreal...more like Holland than Holland itself!
So is this where Inge and I will end up when we retire in 2035....I hope not!

Garden finally finished

After getting the paving works done and creating a new patio area and getting a shade sail installed we got a horticulturalist in (Dean) to advise us on the garden and landscape and plant it out. The planting is in a tropical style with plants that do well in the climate here. The shade sail above the patio means that we can now sit down there at the bottom of the garden admiring the garden in the hot summer months. Its nice sitting down there reading a book or having a beer, it has a different feeling than sitting on the verandah.

We are very pleased with the result, see photos below

Sue out of hospital and goes gliding!

Its been quite a few hectic weeks visiting Sue in hospital. Sue had an operation due to a blockage in her bowel and spent 10 days in hospital in total. Five days ago she was discharged and could come home with us. So now she has to recover before she can make the flight back to the UK. She will leave on 25th April.

On Sunday I took Sue and Inge out to the gliding club and took Sue for a passenger flight, see photos

Sue in Hospital

On Tuesday night, the night before she was due to leave I took Sue (my cousin) to hospital as she had severe abdominal pains. She was admitted to the Royal Brisbane Hospital the same night and is now waiting for a keyhole operation to remove a blockage in her small intestine. So I was quite busy rebooking her flight, speaking to the travel agent and insurance company and taking everyone to visit her in hospital.
Fingers crossed all goes well. I rebooked her flight until 3 April but that may have to be extendeed again based on her recovery.

Cyclone damage

Here's a link to some more photos of the Cyclone and the damge which resulted

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/gallery-e6frer9f-1225843212680

Cyclone Ului hits north Queensland

A MAJOR cleanup of parts of Central Queensland will take days as dozens of communities work around the clock to recover from the devastating affects of Cyclone Ului.

Many homes, businesses and farms had trees, powerlines, parts of buildings and signs that came crashing down in the winds that reached more than 200km/h.

But less than 24 hours on, conditions in Mackay - one of the worst-hit communities - remain calm with minimal wind conditions and clear skies.

SES workers and emergency services have worked around the clock to clean up the mess after ripping winds and heavy rainfall hit the region.

More than 50,000 homes in Mackay remain without power.

North Queensland residents cleaning up damage from Cyclone Ului now face the prospect of flooding with up to 450mm of rain reported in the area.

My cousing Sue was up there a week ago, she was really lucky going when she did...

Swimming in the freshwater lakes on Moreton Island

These are the freshwater lakes on Moreton Island that you can swim in. The dark lake was like swimming in tea, said Sue. Nice and cool in the heat, it was 29C that day.