My birthday celebrations and other events...

Greetings to all...

Its me, Louise, again with more  goss on the great and good of Magnetic Island:  and what a busy and exciting month it has been, with birthdays, visitors galore and (ahem!) some job/work issues - its been non stop - but more of that work problem later on.   I'll start with the jolly stuff.

Like my good chum Phil Stephens (Stagedoor Theatre) said recently, "I put the whore in Horseshoe Bay!"

But enough of my sordid past work history, let me start off with saying recently,  I was for once, dear readers, speechless!  How could this possibly be you ask, when this writer of the best blog on the Net, is NEVER short of something to say?

This amazing spectacle came about on my birthday, April 26, when my two good chums Jason and Geoff came up from Sydney to see Matt and I for a week.  Jason had pre arranged with Matt to meet himself and Geoff getting off the plane at the arrival gate.  On our arrival at Townsville airport (and I should add there is only ONE terminal -  domestic -  there is no international!) Matt dragged me up to Gate 4 with a twinkle in his eye, as we waited for the plane to land.

Suddenly there was a loud noise, then shouting and whistles blowing, and Geoff and Jason came through the doors singing 'Happy Birthday"   -  what a spin out!   Everyone looked around, a bit shocked I think, including me.   --  See photo below   --

Jason (L) Louise and Geoff;  26 April 2012

What is a girl to do but stand there and cop it sweet?   What a birthday greeting and one I shall remember for a long time... Thanks guys!

We gave the guys a quick ride around Townsville before we caught the 4.30 car barge back to the island and over to our house...  the fun and games continued after Matt's lovely BBQ and champagne dinner that we had on the deck.

Jason, Louise and Geoff (in fiendish disguise) 26.4.12 (that banner actually played 'Happy Birthday to you' when a string was pulled)

The next day - Fri 27th -  the unthinkable happened:  It rained!  I was mortified -  And the temperature dropped from a balmy 33C to a cooler 26C.  We had to go into town to see Matt's half brother Guy (who I had not met) for lunch and left the car with Geoff and Jase to have a look around.  The lunch went well and it was fab to put a face to the voice at last  - we got the 2.30 ferry home to be met at the Nelly Bay terminal by our drivers, Geoff and Jase.

Guy and I, at Cactus Jacks, Townsville. 27.4.12 (note rain pouring...)

On Saturday I am happy to say, the weather cheered up a bit and Jase and Matt got a quick swim in at Horseshoe Beach, while Geoff and I walked leisurely around the bay. 

I had booked in for the Stage Door Theatre Restaurant for the 4 of us that Saturday night to see the 'Frocky Horror Show' which did not disappoint...  Now I told you all of my gushing over Phil Stephens (one of the stars of the show) on Valentines Day, and I was amazed when as we entered Phil was at the door and said 'Good evening Louise -  I have a table at the front for you.'   

Hubba hubba, a girl can get used to all this five star treatment.   And sure enough there we were bang at the front.  

The other thing we all agreed on was how good the food was -  the chicken I had was superb and not many establishments like this have both a fab show and fab food.  Recommended.

28.4.12 Stage Door Theatre Restaurant, 'Frocky Horror Show'

But it only got better,  a bit of audience participation was called for, and here is Matt doing the Time Warp with Franken FARTER (bad case of flatulence, or fatulence depending on your viewpoint) next to him...

Phil Stephens dressed as Frankenfarter with Matt, doing the Time Warp; 28.4.12

And better again;  Geoff was brought on stage with 2 other chaps, and asked after the 'Touch me, I wanna be dirty" song, to demonstrate their girl 'touching up' techniques.  

Geoff brought the house down with his routine, especially when he lifted his shirt and started groping his own chest; there was a 'voice vote' for the best one at the end of the song and Geoff won by a country mile.  Laughed?  My undies never dried out!   

Geoff, unknown male, and Bernadette Smith as Monroe Monroe 28.4.12

If you are on Facebook, the Stage Door theatre restaurant magnetic island, has a page and the 2 ladies next to us added some more of the night's proceedings to that.   Worth a look...

www.facebook.com/StageDoorTheatreRestaurant

The next few days were spent visiting the lovely beaches on the island and seeing the sights...

Picnic Bay Jetty 29.4.12, Geoff, Matt and Jase

1.5.12 Blue on Blue restaurant, Nelly Bay

                     and the obligatory lunch at our fave place for the $20 lunch special. 

When visitors arrive,  there are a few certain  'things to do' here on the Island, and one is to feed the rock wallabies at Geoffrey Bay,  so we did...

Geoff at his bay; 2.5.12

Jason with a furry friend; 2.5.12 "more please"

Geoff with chum; 2.5.12

and what a blast it was;  Two big beefy guys absolutely having a fab time... Lovely!

One of the main other attractions here is the world famous Wednesday Night Toad Races.  

It works like this, eight toads are auctioned off, the prize money is usually $30 over the price paid and when all eight, with different coloured ribbons attached are sold, they are released from the middle of the circle they are held in.  The first one to hop over the outer circle line is the winner.  Sound simple?  Well, it is but the auctions can be a bit wild to say the least, especially with about 50 backpackers yelling and screaming in 10 different languages behind us.   It was all good fun though and despite buying a few toads that looked like winners, we won bugger all... 

Here the toads get their ribbons and names; I liked Peter Slipper(y) but it came nowhere!  2.5.2012

 Geoff, Louise and Jason, 2.5.12

The perspex cage about to be lifted to start the race:  2.5.12

And to quote 'Monty Python'  -  And now for something completely different...

This is one of the new male possums that was visiting us while Geoff and Jason were here; I know bugger all about possum anatomy, but check out the goolies on this chap!  Like 2 "Cool Mints", as my lovely husband Matt cleverly pointed out...

Hellooo Ladies!  Mr Possum; 2.5.12

Our pals departed the next day on the ferry;   It was sad to see them go, and we realise that we are such a long way away here in the tropics, so its great when our friends make the effort to come to visit us.

Geoff and Jason depart Maggie Island, 3.5.12

We waved the guys off, jumped in the Maserati, (our pet name for the Charade) and drove home to quickly strip the beds, tidy up for our next guest arriving, our chum Kelly, who was arriving the next day - Friday 4th May  - for a quick weekend visiting Maggie Island.

Kelly's flight was due at 2.30pm and landed 15 mins early, and quickly donning the leis that Geoff and Jason had used for my birthday, we held aloft a sign saying 'Welcome Kelly'.

Matt and Louise, Townsville Airport, 4.5.12 (taken on Kelly's Iphone using the Instagram App.)

It was a quick tour of Maggie for Kelly; we squeezed as much in as we could in the short time she was here.  And the weather was fab I am happy to say.   On Saturday 5th May we had a lovely picnic at Arthur Bay and a bit of a snorkel;  that night's dinner was at Noodies, the Mexican restaurant at Horseshoe Bay Beach.  I did a strange thing that night, I drank beer!  Yep, the Corona's were going cheap, and as that stuff does not taste like beer to me, I downed one and loved it.

Kelly at Horseshoe Bay Beach at sunset; 5.5.12

Across the road at Noodies Mexican, and those beers;  Lovely!  5.5.12

 The 2 ladies at the wallaby feeding station; Geoffrey Bay,  6.5.12

Matt and Kelly, Geoffrey Bay 6.5.12

We sadly said 'farewell' to Kelly on Sunday 6th May.  Any quick visit by pals is a good one.

Now for the 'work issue' I mentioned at the top of the blog.

The Monday 7th May was a Queensland public holiday, so we went back to our job after a week off, on the Tuesday 8th May.

I think I've explained how Matt and myself took on this job, as casual cleaning workers, which means no holiday or sick pay, just payment for hours worked;  thus when visitors come to see us, we can happily take time off.  We always gave our manager, Maureen, at the Beachside Apartments plenty of notice when taking holidays and she was able to get another cleaner in to do our work.

On our return on 8th May, Matt and I should have realised something was up, as her husband Ian was wandering around looking unhappy;  but as Maureen said 'please come into the office, I need to speak to you' - well, this maybe meant things were amiss?

After a very long ramble about how she was unable to find another cleaner while we were away, and how some chap named Luke had come to the rescue, I thought in my naivety that we were going to get an extra person to help us out... of course I was wrong.  The rambling went on, how he could clean 4 rooms in only 3 hours by himself and was such a hard worker,  until finally she said ' ... and so I gave him your jobs...'  Now, you know when you hear something completely unexpected, and have to sit for a second to make sure your wits are not deceiving you?  Well, it was NOTHING like that - my brain raced like greyhound on crystal meth and I just blurted out 'WHAT!'  Maureen looked a bit shocked but then said  'but, but, but  - Louise he has kids to support!'  What about our bloody support?  

I will not bore you with it all, suffice to say when she had the hide to ask us if we wanted to work that day, as we had turned up, Matt and I passed a knowing look and he said, 'No thanks, we have things to do at home', stood up, shook both Ian and Maureen's hands, and walked out.   Can you believe it?

We were in a way, grateful.  Grateful that we did not have to deal with Maureen being 'unwell' and laying down in her own unit in the complex, while I was trying to get her to order a plumber to fix a leaky sink pipe in Unit 17 before the guests arrived for the Easter break.   Grateful we did would never again have to get a call from her while at her son's graduation in Melbourne, at 10pm on a Friday night begging us to let in some guests with our pass keys, who had booked a room on the Internet at 5pm as she had forgotten to turn off the website booking page:  (We did let the guests in, who had 2 young kids with them, luckily they were good about it.)     Yeah, to be fair, we did get a 'nice drink' as they say in London, for doing that for her:   But I had been "on the vino" a bit that night, and luckily Matt only had one, so he was able to drive legally, and sort out the mess.    

All I can say is Luke, whoever you are, good luck.  It will be all sweetness and light until a stress trigger is introduced and bang!  You will see what we had to put up with for the past 10 months, on and off.  

Matt and I have had a few ideas about starting our own business up;  we are making baby steps in that direction, and I will have more about that in my next blog.

Plus that wardrobe full of stuff I have been meaning to put on Ebay has finally been gone through, with clothes washed and ironed, and heaps of things listed;  Its slow and steady on Ebay, but all  extra dosh is good in my humble view, and those designer labels need a good home.

On Thursday 10 May we were feeling a bit dejected, but it was a glorious sunny day and we decided to do a long walk we had been putting off; the walk to the WW2 Forts; so grabbing my walking stick we merrily set off.  This walk is famous for sighting koalas and we were lucky enough to see one...

Koala at the Forts, looking up his bum unfortunately:  10.5.112

Louise at the gun turret at the Forts 10.5.12

Matt looking out over Horseshoe bay; 10.5.12

Next day we had a call from Matt's good chum Jono to say he wanted to come to the island with his wife Kate and their 2 1/2 y/o Sienna, but as our house was not really toddler proof they wanted to rent a house in Horseshoe bay and not stay with us;  No bother, the whole island is practically a big house rental and we gave them some numbers to call...

On Sat 12 May, we needed a bloody good laugh, so we went into town to see the Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshow at the Townsville Civic Theatre, and it was really, really good.

Comedy Festival home page

So good, in fact, that we then went to the next Saturday's entertainment at the same venue, Stephen K. Amos, who was an absolute bloody riot - we were amazed though that the theatre was only 1/3 full: What?!   But he made jokes about that and the audience really warmed to him.  'Laughter is my agenda' was the name of the show and it was worth every cent...  Here is a clip of him for those of you who don't know him.  

Stephen K Amos on Youtube

On Sunday 20th May Jono and his wife and child arrived; the weather was not too bad, but I am embarrassed to tell you it was not that great for the week they were here.  

Sienna in the pool... 23.5.12

We managed to get a few beach days in to half cloudy skies, but the day they left (Fri 25th) it was dreadful -  Howling gale force winds, 19C (cold for these parts) and raining;  I caught the ferry into town with them as I had a hair appointment at the wonderful Mondobassi Hair salon, with Hayley and Georgia...

http://www.mondobassihair.com

and for once I was able to drag the Burberry raincoat out from its hiding place at the back of the wardrobe.  I sadly waved bye to Jono and Kate but we are going to Sydney soon for a few days and shall see them then.

Well dear readers, that's about it for this edition of the Magnetic Island Diary;  what a big month - 3 lots of guests, job losses, weight gains, (Matt asked me not to mention that) so its been a big blog and I hope you have read thus far.

Maybe next month will be a little less exciting? 

But I shouldn't wish for that, what on Earth would I have to write about in my blog if it were so?

Adios Amigos

L.

Stick insects, snakes and other new chums...

Good Morning all:

 Louise here again at the helm of the blog, letting you into all the goss, glamour and goings on that make Maggie Island so attractive;  what an exciting time Matt and I have been having since my last post on 16th March;  so (like Julie Andrews says in that dreadful song)  I should start at the very beginning and take it from there...

Weather wise its been rain, heat (32C) and more rain, but mercifully since the La Nina event we are having in here in Australia has been ending, the high humidity has gone down.  And that concludes the weather report for the tropics; same, same;  Honestly  - when we get a correct forecast here, we cheer!

As my blog title suggests we have had a few run ins with critters, and below is the biggest one for sure.

After much rain, on 20th March, we decided to get off our bums and go for a walk up the road, and we found a HORSE!

20.3.12 Apjohn St, Horseshoe Bay.

As with most things in my life, there is a story attached;  Across Apjohn Street runs a creek about 50cm deep and this horse was on one side of it, and we were on the other; it obviously was lost, and being a bit of a 'dog whisperer', I called to it.   The horse just trotted through the water towards me and followed Matt and I up the road;  We assumed it had come from the local horse ranch. (see pic below)

Matt outside Horseshoe Ranch April 2012

Luckily for us a lovely lady named Hiker drove past us and stopped us and asked us where we had found the horse, we explained that it was following us home and she explained that she knew the owner:  he was one of the wildlife carers at the Bungalow Bay Backpackers.  She then kindly drove to the Backpackers to let the owner know that his horse was out.   By now we are out of the front of our house, the horse is munching away on the grass and the police have turned up.  Did the local constabulary think we were modern day horse rustlers?  I lamely explained to the officer that we 'found' the animal and the owner was hopefully coming soon.  

A few minutes later a blue Ute truck arrived with the owner of the horse:  A small nuggetty man who looked about 50 got out and gave me a stern look.  There was no 'Thanks so much for finding my horse " or similar.  I explained what had occurred and twice he said to me in a very 'I don't believe you' tone of voice 'my horse walked through the floods on the road?'  He then made a bridle from some rope and walked "Primrose" down to the Horse Ranch, leaving the girl he was with to drive his Ute; it turned out she couldn't manage the clutch, so Matt drove it down to the Ranch; again not a word of thanks was offered.   Maybe I'm just being old fashioned here but when someone helps me out I profess my thanks in no uncertain terms.  I thought we were being neighbourly but maybe I am wrong.

On Sunday 25th March Matt called me into the garden to show me a praying mantis he had found, I grabbed the camera and as I was making clucky noises the damn thing actually turned to look at me... Who said insects are dumb...???   He was big too, about  6 inches (20cm).

Who are you looking at?  25.3.12 In our garden.

The next day I was wheeling out the rubbish bins onto the street and I found this:

Here is the junior version of his Dad (or Mum) I found 2 days before.  He/she is a spotted python and is harmless I am happy to say.  Snakes don't bother me, but Matt ran for the broom on seeing this!

Our neighbour Sally is not too keen on snakes, so when I told her what we found (above) she turned   a bit pale.  She found a black whip snake under her bin the next week, and it was then Matt called the council to get the next door empty block mowed to prevent any more snakes visiting.

On Thurs 5 April we ventured into town to see stand up comic Ross Noble do a show at the Townsville Civic Theatre; and very funny he was too:  How that man can just pick on a subject and go off on many weird tangents is just beyond me.  But he does and bless him for doing so, as Matt was nearly choking with laughter next to me in Row X at the back.  Our next show is Stephen K Amos and then the Melbourne Comedy Festival is coming to town.  Should be good.


On Friday 13th we decided to go mental and attend the Full Moon Party at the Base Backpackers down the road, a Sydney DJ, Tydi, was playing and we have been saying for ages that we should go and see if its any good.   I should point out that if one is a resident of Magnetic Island, the entry fee is $10 and not $20!  Bargain!  So we went and gyrated around for a bit and left at 4.30 am so it must have been good.  Tydi did a banging 2 hour set, and we will go again if he is on:  the DJs on before were not that good and I can't remember their names, which says it all I think.


Rain,  lots of rain, rain like I've never seen before, like the roof was going to cave in it was drumming so hard, and the garden turned into a lake;  welcome to the tropics, where it RAINS!  As mentioned in my opening, a rain storm came over the island on 16 and 17th March, and we drove around to see how bad it was;  On Horseshoe bay beach, which is always flat as a super model's chest, it was blowing hard and it had waves (see photo below) rolling in.

Horseshoe Bay beach 16.3.12

And driving around was a major achievement, due to all the streams emptying from the surrounding hills, onto the main road.

Horseshoe Bay Road; 17.3.12

And outside our house, the road gave way with the rain!  18.3.12

Now for something completely different:  

Yogurt, do you love it or hate it?  Me, I love the damn stuff and eat tons:  So, luckily for me,  I was poking about the Internet when I found on Youtube a vid on how to make yogurt at home, using, wait for it...  a crock pot (or slow cooker ): no need for a thermometer or double boiler, and its all in 3 easy steps.  Well -  I gave it a whirl and it came out fan bloody tastic! Highly recommended and very, very easy.  check out the link below and give it go; I am never buying the shop stuff again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrX-dAPd5vY

Last Wednesday, 18/4/12  Matt was taking some lentils out of the microwave (yes, we eat hippy food!) and the dish slipped and he badly scalded himself over his left wrist;  Lentils were strewn all over the kitchen floor and I rushed him to the laundry sink to run the cold tap over his arm for about 5 minutes.  It looked very pink, and I left him there while I cleaned up the floor and then sat him in the chair, with his arm resting in a 3L stainless steel bowl of cold water; he was not happy!

About 830pm we heard a commotion on the decking.  Thinking it was the wallaby and the possums fighting over the food bowls, I put on the outside light to check what was going on;  the next thing I am yelling at Matt 'Quick its a Koala!'  For there,  before my eyes, was a koala hanging onto one of the the poles that supports the roof.  Matt sprang out of the chair, water flying in all directions, to see for himself (as I suspect he thought I was on a wind up).  'Get the camera Lou!' was his cry and I ran for the compact digital and Matt got close and took this shot:

8.30 pm: 18.4.12  Our furry new chum on our decking.  What a spinout!

Now for all the David Attenborough fans out there, koala eat gum leaves and nothing but.  There are NO gum trees near our house, so we are confused as to what he/she was doing at our  house...  We quickly turned off the decking lights and our chum ran along the side of our house, never to be seen again...  It was all very bizarre...  The noise was the possums and wallabies fleeing in terror; those claws in the pic are sharp and these animals are not to be trifled with.

And he left scratch marks on the pole too, the little bugger.

 I have seen koalas here on Maggie before, about 1999 I think, on the way to 'The Forts' an old WW2 area south of Horseshoe Bay on top of a hill.   But this one being so close take the biscuit;  Nah,  the whole packet!

Now dear reader(s), I shall end on this furry note.

 I have some good chums coming from Sydney on Thursday for a week, so I will regale my fans with all the adventures we have with them next time I write.

Adios amigos

Louise

Our visit to Sydney and the Mardi Gras

Greetings,  moovers and groovers!

Louise at the helm of the Maggie Island blog, the blog that brings you all the goss, glam and goings on on our tropical little rock.   You've heard no doubt that our quiet lives have been transformed by a visit to our old stomping ground - Sydney. And great fun it was;   but more of that later down the page.

As I mentioned in my last blog, it was just about to dawn 'Valentines Day'.   Now of course, you have not read in the newspapers that a certain Matthew on Magnetic Island got slashed by his irate wife for forgetting 'V-Day'?  Although, I have to say,  Matt "half" forgot, but made up for it by taking me (again) to Blue on Blue at Nelly Bay for a spot of lunch.  And very nice it was too.  A $20 special jobbie, but I am certainly not complaining, I even got to wear the new dress (with the help of some shape wear, but that's just our little secret - OK) to lunch with my bling shoes. ( A gift from my chum Dewi, she knows I have only size 35 feet, and got me some cracker sandals while in Bali.)

What did I get Matt you ask?  I went mad and spent a whole $10 on 2 DVDs from the local supermarket.  Do I know how to give a guy a good time or what?  And no, they were not that kind of DVD!

Blue on Blue restaurant, Nelly Bay, 14.2.2012: 

After Valentines day lunch, Nelly Bay marina in the background: Our yacht in the background (yeah -right!  - Matt - ) 14.02.2012

Now I have to mention that while having lunch I espied one of our local celebs, Phill Stephens, who is one of the stars of the Stagedoor Theatre here on Magnetic Island.  (Bernadette Smith being the other).

www.stagedoortheatre.com.au

As Matt was paying the bill, I saw young Phill  and decided a bit of 'schmoozing' was in order.   As I gushed about how much I loved the Abba send up show I saw a few months past, he listened politely to my rantings and told me a little about the new one,  "The Frocky Horror Show" which starts on the 17th March.  

He is playing FrankenFARTER (a tranny with a bad case of flatulence!) and will be donning the fishnets and corsets for the role.  I told him how years ago I had seen in 1973, the original Rocky Horror Show on stage in London, with Tim Curry playing Frankenfurter.  To which the lovely Phill replied 'Daaarling, you must have been about all of 2 years old!'

Blushing with gratitude,  I told him, 'There's only 2 people who know my real age, myself and the plastic surgeon...'  and anyone who wants to shave 15 years off my age, well, they will be definately be seeing Matt and myself at their new show in April, with my chums Geoff  and Jason in tow, as they come up and stay for a few days.  If the new show is half as funny as the 'Abba-fabulous' show that has just ended, it will be a riot.  I have to say, Phill is a true comic,  and he can sing too; not to mention that partner on stage, Bernadette has the best pair of legs!   We shall see how good Phill's pins look in those fish-nets.  Maybe the odd barramundi fish could be wandering about in them too?

Changing the subject -  my lovely husband is a great swimmer - an ex lifeguard no less, unlike his "brick" of a wife - but he really wanted to go somewhere to swim a few laps without too much hassle;  I don't want to give too much away, but he 'borrowed' a lap pool at one of the many hotels on the island for a quick dip.   When we arrived the sky was blue with the odd fluffy cloud, and literally after 5 minutes the sky turned black and lightning was flashing!  Time to leave before he got zapped and I would have to explain to the hotel manager, that we were not exactly staying there...

Matt in pool; with huge storm front coming behind him -  it bucketed down later on;   20.2.12

During a visit to Matt's Nana, Joy,  later in that week, she asked to be taken to lunch by us, so who are we to refuse?  She's 92,  so at that age, I guess each day is precious.  (She was modelling clothes for the local boutiques in their fashion shows up until she was in her late 80s.)  

She loves the Blue on Blue at Nelly Bay and we obliged, as it is always a chance for dressing up a bit...

Joy, Matt and the author: 22.2.12

As my past blogs will testify, this is one of our favourite places to have lunch, and we go so often, I am half tempted to ask them if they can start a loyalty program for us, or at least impart on us the odd free coffee for our continued patronage?  Yeah I know, dream on...

Confession time:  we did something on Sunday 26.2.12 that I thought I would never do living here -   And we only did it as there was $1000 up for grabs:  we went to play Bingo!  

The Hotel Arcadia was putting on FREE Bingo with $1k as the main prize, and I am sorry to have to say, we did not win it.  But it was fun and we've been back since and still not won a cracker.  And, as those who know me well will testify, free is my second favourite "F" Word.

On Thursday 1st March we did something a bit more thrilling and jetted away to Sydney for the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras.   Our dear friend Geoff put us up for 2 nights at his home in Freshwater and we later joined our other chums Al and Dewita at Bondi Junction for a 2 nights stay to attend the Mardi Gras Party on Saturday 3rd March.  But Matt and I tried to squeeze the most out of Sydney that we could while down there. 

After landing on Thursday 1st March, we drove to Geoff's flat and he was, as usual, a fabulous host.  It was an early night and we were up at 6.30am for one of Geoff's legendary breakfasts,  then we all plunged into our busy day.  Geoff was kind enough to come along with us, and the 3 of us set off.

I must add it was at this point 21C and raining; On Maggie when we left it was 33C and cloudy; what a difference a few thousand kilometres makes.

First stop: 8.45 am - to see my dentist;  I can't find a good dentist in Townsville, so back to Dan Pechar of Manly and I saw Julie, who fixed me up luckily with just a "wax and polish" (Matt got his teeth checked too!) Julie was the previous dental nurse at the practice, but with more determination than most people, she enrolled  in Adelaide Uni and is now back working with Dr Dan and staff as a dentist.  Julie, we salute you!  

Julie the dentist, Manly, NSW :  2.3.12 

I paid a lightning visit to another Julie, my hairdresser in Sydney for 13 years at The Salon, Narraweena, and her partner in crime, Rose;  I only stayed a few minutes as they were attending clients, but is was good to see both of them again.

 Next stop:  to get my eyes checked at Master Specs at Warringah Mall;  After being examined, I found out I need to go up a strength in my reading glasses, so I took advantage of their 2 for 1 offer, and they kindly agreed to post them to me in Queensland for only $10!  This is why I keep them on as my opticians, as Matt and I are usually in Sydney at least once a year.

A quick lunch followed at the Mall foodcourt, then we drove into Darlinghurst to visit the Tap Gallery in Palmer St.  to see an exhibition by one of the best artists I have seen for ages, Peter Skirrow:  he works in pencil on paper and his subject matter is the male form.  This exhibition was entitled "Beefy Burly Blokes" and did not dissappoint.   This was part of the Mardi Gras festival, which comprises films, exhibitions, the main parade and the party.

Peter Skirrow : Pencil drawing 2008

Later that night, the three of us attended a play at the Darlinghurst Theatre in Kings Cross, "The Paris Letter";  Peter Cousens starred and whoa! what a change from his usual opera /vocal performances.  He plays Anton a very gay man, who takes us on a journey back 40 years to the show us the young man he loved, but let go,  in the 1960s America, when to be homosexual was a crime.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/review/stage/the-paris-letter-20120301-1u5q1.html

see review above from the Sydney Morning Herald : I really liked it, but it all depends on one's view of drama I suppose.  It got mixed reviews, but the ending had a nice twist.

On the way to the theatre, I saw this 'garden' in an alley of Kings Cross, Sydney and had to take a shot of it.

How plants can cling on anywhere - Even in a Kings Cross alley; 2.3.12 (there was half of a wedding dress laying underneath it in the rain soaked gutter - only in the Cross!)

Now I have to relay the sad state of the weather in Sydney the last few months; one word covers it nicely ; Rain.   Now as the phrase goes, 'Don't rain on my parade' : but that's what was going to happen on Saturday 3 March for the annual Mardi Gras Parade through Sydney.  Our Kylie Minogue was the star attraction but would the 'singing budgie' get showered on?    A tiny bit, as  it turned out.

Not sure that we cared at this point, as we checked  into our apartment (with 2 bedrooms) and met Al and Dewita there. After some grocery shopping, Dewi made a fab seafood pasta dish that set us up for the nights dancing at the Mardi Gras party which starts when the parade finishes.   My only worry was that I would be wearing a black garbage bag over my outfit, if queueing to get into the venue.   But the Weather Girls (Its raining men) must have been chatting to the weather gods as it stopped raining about 10 mins before we left for the party (11pm) and stayed dry for the rest of the night/next day;  and speaking of them, here is the link to that FAB song, which by the way, I would like to be played at my memorial service, when I cark it.  (No cremation or burial, I am leaving my body to science or to be plastinated by Dr. Gunther Van Hagen)  but I digress!  Check on link below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGLZqDXau98

Oh yeah, the party!  It was FAB;  here we are before the party, one can take cameras into the big gay parties now, years ago it was a no-no and they were confiscated:  now that all and sundry have a phone/camera and who cares if the bank manager is out and proud, they abound! (Cameras that is, not gay bank managers...)  But I leave mine behind as I want to concentrate on dancing and having a good time.  As the party had Kylie doing a turn, for the first time in 13 years the damn thing sold out!   So 15,000 people attended and best of all, it stayed dry.  Although on our arrival in the very, very long queue, people pushing the floats of the parade, were looking a bit damp.  

The Gang's all here!  Dewita, Big Al, Louise, Matt: 10.30 pm 3.3.12  before the party.  As I always say this is the one time I can go out dancing in my underwear: that's a 1960s snakeskin slip I'm wearing...

On our return at 5am we looking nothing like the above; more like chewed rag dolls after a turn in the spin dryer!  Ah.... You gotta love the big gay parties, they sure know how to enjoy themselves at them: thanks to all chums who found us and danced with us in the Hordern Pavillion:  As for Kylie Minogue, we didn't venture into the Royal Hall of Industries (RHI) were she was performing, as we would all be crushed to death, but there were huge 10m x 10m screens dotted around the venue, inside and out, and we saw her live on the screen in the Hordern.  And very good she was too,  well, what I remember of it anyways.  The Singing Budgie did a full 30 min show which I was amazed at, as most "big name acts" as these parties, do a max. of 2 songs, then retire to guzzle Moet & Chandon and snort coke.    Good effort Kylie!

The next day (Sunday) was spent in recovery, with Al and Dewi returning to Newcastle on Monday.  We stayed on another night and bumped into our good chum Kelly with some chums at the Kings Cross Hotel for a few red wines,  but kept it low key as we were off flying the next day.

We arrived back on Maggie Island on Tuesday 6 March, to a very hot and humid Townsville:  "Yes, yes, yes,"  I was saying to Matt -  "Back to not wearing a jacket and jeans."  I do love tropical weather.

Speaking of which, Matt did warn me about the heavy rain that comes down here in the wet season i.e now - but I thought he was prone to exaggeration, but NO, it absolutely pummels it down and has done for the past 2 - 3 weeks, so much so, that the TV reception goes completely out, and the grass lawn needs mowing every few days or so.    Luckily for us its the size of a postage stamp and it takes 5 mins to mow.

It was begrudgingly back to work on 8 March to the Beachside Apartments, and it nearly killed us after that short break, cleaning 3 rooms, but we got through it somehow.   There are few guests due to the rain and on Friday 9th March we were told to have a week off as no bookings had been taken.   Ooooh errr!  Not much we can do but enjoy the time off - which we did;  here is  Matt in the secret Horseshoe Bay waterfall near us...  It has a much smaller and shallower pool than the one at Arcardia, but we can skinny dip here without a problem  ( or chunky dunky as I call it ...)

 Yes -  Matt was starkers - while channelling Axel Rose with that headband... 11.3.12

Last Monday we had a trip into town for our monthly big grocery shop and decided we needed a new fridge;  the one that came with the house was way too small so time for a new one.

Thanks to Harvey Norman ( or Hardly Normal as I call them ) who talked turkey on prices and we ended up with this:

New fridge!  13.3.12: We sold the old one for $150 a few days later 

And just to end on:  this sign was inside the Bungalow Bay Backpackers (up the road to us) and I had to take a snap of it... Only in the tropics!  

10.3.12: inside the patio of the Bungalow Bay backpackers.

Please leave any comments that you may have.   I have a Facebook page now too for this blog: magnetic-diary/facebook.com   that has some extra photos on and has a wall that also will take comments...

adios amigos

More coming soon...

Louise

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

Feeling hot and sticky

G'day all...

Well I have to say, Matt and I are doing something today we do not normally indulge in -
for those of you with a boggling mind,  I have to spare your brains racing,  and say we had to put the air con on...

Which lately, is unusual, the ceiling fans normally do the job of keeping us cool.
Its 33C and the humidity is creeping around and for once, even I, the reptile who loves the heat, is feeling a tad warm.   Yes, I, the woman who said she loves it when the temps soar into the 30C area of the mercury, has had to admit defeat, grab a cold drink and sit listening to the ceiling fan whirring and the purring of the cold air.  Aaaahhh - Lovely...

Now, as I mentioned at the end of the last blog, we had our chum, young Navarone from Newcastle NSW  staying with us for 2 weeks, and he had an action packed time.  Matt took him fishing, (I was excluded as we only have 2 rods, and 2 fold out chairs - but a bit of 'male bonding' is a good thing), and we all went snorkelling at Florence Beach,  and fed the wallabies at Geoffrey Bay.   (For those of you who won't know a Mr Butler (I believe it was, but I can't find confirmation on the Web) named the bays around the island after his brood of children, we also have Alma Bay and Arthur Bay too.

But I digress -   we enjoyed having Nav stay - and any teenager who thinks I look good in a bikini is welcome here anytime.

Navarone with Matt's stinger suit on - this stops the Box Jellyfish 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_jellyfish

stinging as it can't contact with flesh - Florence Beach; 10.1.12 (see link above for info on them)

Navarone meeting some of the local rock wallabies 13.1.12 

At the local skate park, 12.1.12 (Matt had a go and fell off and hurt his wrist, but I've been told to keep quiet about that)

Nav loved the horse riding so much he went twice.  15.1.12

Oooh! Err!  Dig those the action men!  Matt and Nav on jetski 21.1.12

Rock climbing at Arthur Bay; I, wisely, stayed on the sand - too much exertion for me ...19.1.12

Louise and Nav after dinner at Noodies Mexican - 9pm - local beach - 21.1.12

So after he left on 22 January, we decided that now our guest had gone, it was time to take the bull by the horns, and get rid of the excess baggage we are carrying.  Matt bought a weight set in town and we are also going for hour long walks and running too;  I am trying to give up the choccy, but as any addict knows, its hard I tell you; HARD!!  I've developed back strain /sciatic nerve probs too, mainly due to the spare tyre around my hips pulling on my lower spine.  Now if that doesn't give me a kick up the Arsenal to lose weight, I don't know what will.  

On 24th January  at 3am we had a massive, huge storm (again) over Horseshoe Bay, which resulted in the power being cut off for 12 hours!   I couldn't Adam & Eve it  - sorry that's the Cockney rhyming slang coming out in me - ( believe)  it?  Too bad if you have any life threatening conditions, cos you've just died.

Luckily for us, we had the generator that we took on our trip around Australia (loma2010.blogspot.com) which sprang into life and saved our fridge/freezer from melting in the 32C heat.   We kept calling Ergon Energy to be told it would be restored ASAP, but at 3.30PM we got a result when the electric came on again.  Not happy Ergon, Not Happy...

To change the subject re: a different kind of Sh*t - I should also mention we have 2 night time visitors to our deck, who make fertiliser for us:  

Our resident female possum 24.1.12

Our resident rock wallaby; a female, she has a joey in the pouch but its not seen in this shot:

the possum is also female and they kind of get on OK the two of them: sometimes they compete

for food, but the wallaby backs off and comes back later... Or is smart and gets in first!  24.1.12

When we moved into the house we were going to get all green and eco friendly and buy a worm farm, BUT it is easier to give the scraps to the above, collect the droppings, sit them in a bucket of water for a bit, and use the diluted 'tea' on the garden plants...  The plants love it, and are thriving, especially the tomatoes.

Worms need watering most days, so this system (I think) is much easier and these two look much prettier than a bunch of hermaphrodites!  (Worms, that is people, not my odd bunch of pals...)

Apart from that life has been back to work, work and more work, but as the rainy season is upon us, the bookings will probably dry up.  This may be a good thing as the house needs a few things done to it, and as I am so fond of saying, if you clean for a living, the last thing you want to do when you get home is get the Vacuum out!  

Please leave any comments ;  see also magnetic-diary/facebook.com :  I have my own FB page for the blog!  Woo Hoo; 

Kind regards to all my readers

Louise

Happy Australia day!

Just to let you all know I am working on (slowly) getting a Facebook page linked to the blog; if you want to have a look go to facebook.com/magneticdiary.


a new blog coming soon, we have just waved goodbye to Navarone, who had a fantastic time for the 2 weeks he was with us.  Lots to tell about that...

stay tuned...

thanks

Louise