Low Tide

We went across to our beach around 2:00pm and set up away from the crowds. It's both Franster and Anna's birthday today so happy birthday to them. They are both staying away from Collendina due to COVID issues.  We needed the tide to go way out yesterday but for some reason the tide waited until today for a low one.  Debbie did her first snorkel for the Summer today and did quite well. We went along the pole line for 200 metres before coming back. There were a few fish around and lots of soft coral colour but no rays today.

Brisbane City

Just when I thought I was having a rest day, I went over to check out a mountain of seagrass balls. Some blowins built a huge construction which is now just a heap right in front of our prime rock seating and which now has a blocked view. I have news for them, I spent 45 minutes heaving the garss into a ditch at the back.  Now we can see agian. 

Brisbane is the least visited city for me, now rapidly becoming the most visited. We did a city walk on NYE and it is the first time I have seen the city centre. It's has the same mall, the same shops and the now the same masks. There are hidden gems though which I will check out in future.

Sea Glass

 I would have thought pieces of glass washed up on shore were more like rubbish and also a cutting hazard. We  walked from our beach towards Port Arlington which is something we have tried at least once, each Summer. We carried our umbrella and other gear, so stopped along the way after 45 minutes. It was a similar spot to last year but the low tide was not as low as previous.  We saw a lady coming along from the other direction. Turns out she is an artisan, specifically, a stained glass worker in lead lighting, who specialises in using seaglass. So seaglass is any old glass that has been tumbled by wave and rock action to knock the sharp edges off. She sells this stuff at the local market.  So we have spent two hours swimming, etc and contemplating the seaglass lady. And we start fixating on bits of glass which seem to be all over the place. We gathered a few and will give them to her at the next market. This seems to ring a bit of a bell with the glass furnace at Lake Tyers. Any way we found this old looking piece stamped G S & Co Ltd all green and nicely rounded from the bottom of a bottle. maybe we will keep it.

pick a spot

Sea Glass

Riding fancy that.

 Continued with loads of washing again but have come to the end of it and all beds have been remade and it seems just in time as Nana Beryl is being rescued from the asylum that COVID forced her into but that will not be for a few more days.  We got the bikes out and Debbie did her first ride for at least 5 months.  We kept it short (14km) for a starter. The vast majority of all the bikes we saw were electric motor driven. The revolution is now complete. In those five months we have seen the balance tip to electric. It is only a matter of time before we get them.  We stopped for coffee at Drysdale Station where the new railsheds are coming along nicely.

Because Nana Beryl is coming to stay we changed over the shower head to one of those hose headed hand held jobs. (Good alliteration).  Then it was onto the awkward removal of 40 metres of entwined LED lighting around the front door entry porch.

green swan pond

Blues Train shed

Beach My Beach

 We stopped the chores around 2:00pm as the Sun had come out so we crossed the road for an hour or two of beaching.  We had the big shade set up but I had forgotten the towels.  These wern't an issue as we dried off in the breeze. When we were in the water I had left to take some ball bats back but a huge dog came charging at Debbie. She was screaming and turned her back to it, the owner was 50 metres away and yelling that it was friendly. For some reason it just stopped a few metres short and went back to its owner. Later we saw the same dog fighting with another dog. This time he put it on a leash. 

blue poles

Evie Kazoo

 We have been at it for a few hours now putting everything back. It was a lot of fun and too much work but the reality is we have to clean up. Our neighbours snuck in and put the bins out, which was good, as one thing we did do before we left, was put everything from the fridge into the bin and with those hot days it would have been ripe. It seems like Summer lasted three days of 30+ and we missed it. Yesterday was mostly a travel day. At least three Melbourne bound planes were cancelled and ours was delayed and the crowds were getting restless but finally we got under way and made it back here around 6:30pm. This interstate grandparenting is a tiring business.

A proper tea pot at York Espresso

Brief Evie Visit

Had time for a one hour visit before we head off to deliver the car back. The last two cars we have had here suffered some damage  but the VISA card payment covered all repair costs. This time we were determined to get it back in one piece and we have driven it a lot but always for short trips. Evie is quite relaxed with us now and recognises every time. Her one year birthday is at the end of Feb and there is talk of them visiting Melbourne for it.  

Tower Wrecker