Hey - moovers and groovers, Louise here again.

Here is all the latest news from that attractive bit of real estate, known as Magnetic Island.  No cleaning work for us, this past week at the Beachside Apartments as the monsoon rains are here and I think most tourists think its a waste of time coming to Maggie,  and needing to use an umbrella.

So with this lull in work, Matt and I have been trying to get fit as our calories are not getting burned up cleaning, and thus, its time to hit the road and do some exercise, but new shoes were needed we realised.

On Monday 6 Feb we took the car into town on the barge to do our big monthly shop and we each bought ourselves a new pair of Asics Cross Trainers on sale in Sportscene.

www.sportscenesuperwarehouse.com.au/;

Mine were the kids ones on sale for $59 (I have very tiny feet)  and Matt got his for $99 - Lovely -  plus we found a fitball going cheap in another shop.

So filled with enthusiasm we have been walking/running each morning and keeping a log of it all on mapmyrun.com  which I recommend to you all if you want to do something about your fitness;  to register it (and one must to use the site) will ask you for a Zip Code (as its a USA site) but just enter 10001 (NY City zip code) plus your normal address and it somehow works.

Now I meant to enter on the blog last time the quirks of one our local eating establishments at Arcadia, a suburb up the road to us;  Caffe Del Isola is the name of the cafe and its a great pizza place (plus extra stuff) but this sign is what made me look twice:

I spoke to the owner, who is Italian and I had to completely agree with him re: that pineapple should NOT be stuck on a pizza: what an awful thing to do to it.  (the pizza that is!)  As I say to friends who eat this fruit on top of whatever pizza, 'would you put a  peach or watermelon on top and eat that?   I think not.'  

 It has been absolutely bucketing down as seen on the Australian news, they are copping it bad in S.E Queensland with mammoth floods, though here, we have had some cracker rain storms; Matt called about 10am yesterday from Melbourne (more on that later)  and said 'any rain?' I said 'no, its fine up here'.  Just as I hung up the phone and still looking at a clear blue sky it absolutely pissed down. It was very surreal. (Life in the tropics I guess).  But the good thing is with all the rain the 2 local waterfalls are running well.  There is one at the back of Arcadia, up a very steep path, but worth the walk.  

Matt under the waterfall at Arcadia, 7.2.12

Lou at the pool!  This pool is quite shallow, but lovely and cold!  7.2.12

Some tourists from Essex,  UK joined us.  7.2.12

Now I have to tell about the other waterfall on the island, its in Horseshoe Bay, about a 20 min walk away from our house.  Matt told me about it, and said he had been there as a kid when one of the girls in his class, had a birthday party there. Armed with this knowledge,  we set off on Weds 8th Feb to try and find it.  Walking, walking, until eventually we came to a gate that said 'Entry by invitation of owner only' and we climbed over the gate to follow a path to a much smaller waterfall and rockpool.  Very pretty it was too.   It was about 10am and 33C and very hot after our long walk.   So what to do in these circumstances?  Well, considering the heat, there was only one thing to do;  take off our clothes and jump in... Which we duly did and very refreshing it was; I reasoned that if anyone else turned up, I would just be brazen and say hello and smile.  I was cranky I had no camera, but we shall go again I am sure, but I will wear bathers next time!

 Not that I am a big fan of 'skinny dipping', not with the extra layer of blubber we are carrying,  but the heat made me do it!   Can this be our little secret, dear reader?  

The other minor excitement was at last, we got our pedant lights fitted by our lovely local electrician Trevor Headrick who I cannot praise too highly; after roaming around in our ceiling on a 33C day, to get the cords hooked up, he looked like someone had thrown a bucket of water over him.  

1.2.12;  Matt and Trevor measuring up (before)

The after photo; how good do they look?  Bloody Lovely! 1.2.12

Now as tends to happen in marriages, Matt has decided that he wants to get into the gardening, despite the fact it was my good self who rescued a box of gardening books, in the local council cleanup, ages ago when living in Sydney.  (I have read a few of them, but not the whole lot.)

As you can see from the pic below, sometimes pulling out those weeds and digging plants in, can take its toll.  Now why Matt didn't jump into our spa bath, instead of using the hose I have no idea.  Maybe it was at that critical point where your body says 'bugger it, cool me down NOW!' and luckily for Matt, (if he was having this thought)  he had a hose in his hand.  I heard him going 'Aaaaah' in relief and just had to grab the camera.  I should explain that on top of the Axel Rose bandanna, Matt wears a very large straw sombrero hat, and the bandanna is there to catch his copious amounts of sweat!

Matt cools off in 33C heat while gardening; 8.2.12

I sit here typing away, awaiting 3.45pm when I shall go and pick Matt up from the ferry terminal at Nelly bay. I shall explain now, why Matt was in Melbourne.   No doubt many of you have heard of the term 'grass widow' for a lady who has a hubbie that plays golf?  Well,  I am (sometimes) a DJ widow; not heard of that one?  Then please let me explain...   Matt and his pal Jono are mad passionate keen for certain DJs, especially DJ Sasha or DJ John Digweed.  (Both UK DJs).  

Matt got the news that Mr Digweed (or Diggers to his fans) was playing in a club Melbourne on Friday 10th Feb. and of course after a few phone calls, Jono and Matt had things all set to go.  So I took Matt on Thurs 9th Feb.  to the ferry terminal to catch a plane to Sydney, pick up Jono, stay overnight at his place, then fly to Melbourne on Friday 10th go out, stay in a hotel for 2 nights, and fly back to Townsville on Sunday 12 (today). 

Now you may be thinking, 'poor Louise, left alone like that...'   but please, perish those thoughts;  As Matt and I are stuck with each other most days, I feel a bit of a 'boys night out' can be a good thing occasionally.  I was kept abreast of things with a few phone calls from him, and it seems they had a fan-bloody-tastic time.  

Now,  as not to be bored during this time, I decided it was time to do all those little jobs that keep getting put off: y'know the type, clean out the fridge, clean out the car, etc etc.    I made a list of 'things to do' and kind of got stuck in.  But this type of hard work needs a stimulant -  I am not a big coffee drinker but I find a very strong one, before tackling these kind of jobs can be very invigorating.     So filled with a strong Nescafe, I began.

Now we have a small rug (about 1.4m x 1.5m) in the bedroom which I realised in my caffeine induced state, looked a bit dirty.  I then had a 'lightbulb' moment, and remembered that we have an indoor spa bath, big enough for 2 people, and I could easily grab the rug and throw it in - perfect.   I threw in a scoop of Omo, and turned on the cold tap to fill it up.   I half filled the spa and realised I needed to get the whole carpet (which was folded in half) to get wet.  Again the bulbs flashed in the old brain box and I got in to the spa, and like those chaps in Italy who tread grapes, I began 'treading' my soapy carpet.   After a few minutes of pummelling, the water turned the colour of black coffee.  I couldn't believe my eyes, this rug was bloody filthy!   So after a bit, I decided that I had to change the water and start again, it was so yuk.   I did this 3 times and after the last time, and by now getting a bit weary with the exertion, I decided to leave the bugger to soak until the next day (Friday).    I had a hair appointment in Townsville city with MondoBassi hair  www.mondobassihair.com   (who are great), on Friday afternoon, so I wanted to get the rug out and drying somewhere while I was away.  A cunning plan flashed into my mind,  why not drape it over the spa pool fence?     Just rinse the rug a few more times, to get the soap and sand out (which there was heaps of) and then plonk onto the fence to dry in the 33c heat (right side down of course, to avoid fading...)   Easy peasy.

But yours truly had not realised that a WET rug is a lot heavier than a DRY one.  And yep, even with me jumping up and down in the empty spa bath onto the rug, most of the water would not come out.  Oh bollocks!  What to do?  Another lightbulb flashed;  I recalled a great episode of "The Bill' years ago, where a woman murdered her husband but had trouble moving the body.  Maybe it would work for me and this bloody wet carpet?   I rushed to the wardrobe and found the huge plastic bag that had our double bed mattress wrapped in it.  Spreading this out onto the bathroom floor,  I pushed and heaved the sodden heavy carpet out off the spa bath.  It landed - splat - onto the plastic.  Sweating like I was in a sauna with a naked Brad Pitt, I grabbed two corners of the plastic bag and pulled hard.   Success! It moved.  Realising I need a clear run over the tiled floor,  I made a path to the outside decking.  Girding my loins once more, I grabbed the corners and walking backwards managed to drag the load onto the decking, down the stairs (Whoa; I had momentum now!) and across the grass to the pool fence.  

OK, so far so good, but then I had to somehow get it over the fence to dry.  As my old gym instructor in the Harbord Diggers Club, Clive, used to tell me, keep a big load close to the body and use your legs, not  your back.  Luckily, I was wearing a very daggy T shirt and shorts that I wear to clean the rooms at the Beachside Apartments.  Bending down, I bear hugged this big wet cylinder and managed to stand up and somehow, heave it upward.   Five minutes or so later I had managed this Herculean feat and the damn thing was over the fence, drying in 33C of sunshine.  

 On leaving the hairdressers about 4pm the storm clouds were gathering at the back of the city.  Praying to the weather gods, I jumped on the 4.30 ferry, and got home at 5.10 to a very dry back yard; but just in case, and as it was 70% dry I dragged the carpet to finish drying on our deck... 

my rug drying out:  12.2.12

Just picked up Matt from the Nelly Bay wharf, back home now, and he's feeling a bit tired, and he must be, as he is asking ME to cook dinner.   I think something simple is on the menu?   

Don't forget Valentines Day on Tuesday folks, or you will be 'dead meat' as they say in the outback here.

Louise