BEER 2022

BREW BOYS CELEBRATION of OKTOBERFEST

Gympie's Home Brewers'  - group of guys sitting in Dave's shed drinking German beer, listening to German music and eating German food, obviously in October.  

Jean marked the occasion by taking photos AND trying some Apple editing of shots to extend my skills and also to try and make the photos a bit more interesting.

Admittedly the editing is a bit basic but with practise down the track ….

In case you can't read the red print "happy lads, talking recipes, style of beers, which hops are best … They are Joel, Mike, Graham, Dave the host, Rob, Doug and Stuart'.

Doug and Stuart wearing some fun T-shirts (about beer)

There was a lot of talk about when they were in Berlin, place to buy squealers etc. etc   but it was all friendly memories and chatter.

Mike, the voice of experience in the group, relating how you make sauerkraut and German pretzels.  He also baked some nice sausage rolls.

They drank and (praised) each others beer and ate Dave's Kransky sausages all afternoon.  In the early evening,  their lovely womenfolk collected them and drove them home safely.

 

The Pokes Family Funtime - April 2022

 A family visit ...

We were lucky to have our Darwin family (Jodes, Van and Kai) visit for a short while recently.  They were wanting to have a break from Darwin’s awful humidity which occurs at the end of the monsoon season.  Anyway, good old Queensland weather didn’t disappoint - lovely cool temperatures in the evenings, overnight and early mornings followed by dazzling warm days.

It had been a long time since they’d been down so it was no wonder they had ‘shot up’.  I believe Van is over the 6 foot mark

The menfolk, Kai 11 years, Vance 14 years and Pops Peters.

Silly photographer had subjects looking into the sun.  It's positive evidence of clear blue skies in Qld tho'.

We had limited time but we managed to cram in a whole lot of activities ...

Our first outing was Kai's choice of adventure and that was the Tree Top Challenge down at Nambour, near the Big Pineapple.

Van, Kai and Mum waiting excitedly for the place to open. 

As the name, tree top challenge suggests, the activity takes place up in the tall timber of the park.  A series of ropes, cables, netting, pulleys, carabiner and wooden platforms etc. are set up in such a fashion to give the climbers a bit of fun and challenge.  It requires a lot of upper body strength, confidence and sense of adventure.  The climbs are rated for beginners through to advanced, starting with a 30 minute safety talk and then climbers are free to use the equipment at their own pace.

It's a great set-up even for observers as there are paths to wander and watch the climbers in the shade of the bush.

Which one first?

Mum strutting her stuff

Van making the climb

Kai negotiating the carbine

Kai with a bit of a wobble happening ...

From all accounts it was a lot of fun but also pretty tiring.  It was Kai's idea for the outing so he got a terrific amount of enjoyment out of it, Van went along with it cause it was something different and Jodes was the biggest kid of all! 

Pops and Nana got weary from just watching.  Kids slept heavily that night.

Some home time ...

Boys having a bit of fun, careering down the driveway in Pops gorilla cart - steering but no brakes.  Van being the stronger one pulled the cart up the hill … photos do lie, not to mention Nana's finger in the way!

On an off day, we stayed locally and we took the visitors to the bone museum.  It was a small exhibition but the kids got to see a horse skeleton and there were several skulls of different animals and many small creature skeletons like frogs, toads and parts of larger creatures as well.  It was one of those places where everyone 'oohed' a lot, but extremely interesting as well.

We also managed to get some time kayaking at Tin Can Bay.  Jodes and the boys kayaked around Snapper Creek, nosing around the Marina and different boats moored in the creek.  After I finished paddling training we had a snack and drink at the Yacht Club before heading home.  A nice relaxing time to find Pops had tea cooked when we arrived home, very nice.

Jodi being the crafty weaver couldn't resist making something out of the palm seeds.  Over a couple of hours she had weaved various useful containers for us and a decorative hanging.  She leaves a mark and impression wherever she goes that girl.

A big day, Wednesday we hit the Theme Park.   Down to Aussie World at Palmview which features a range of rides and attractions and suited to families.  The only disappointing comment is that I can't convert the videos of all the rides into a format the blog will accept.  So folks there is no evidence of any of the fun, screams of delight and terror had by anyone.  

Jodes and I were the only ones that 'rode' the SX360, a thriller of a ride.  It's a 360 - degree pendulum, reaches speeds of up to 80km/h while launching 32 metres into the air and completing 360 degree inversions with up to 5G's of force.  Amazing fun ???? I did only travel it once!

Another one of the scarier rides was the Redback, a Disk'O ride.  Van joined Jodes and I for that thrill, we got up to 70 km/h and to a height of 13 metres.  

However words can not do justice to these rides, if only the videos would work!  Anyway the day was filled with lots of fun and entertainment and proved to be excellent value (you could ride multiple times as there was an entry fee only).

 Boys did their own thing at times, had Mum with them in the Mayhem Maze in the Asylum, I was going to thrash everyone in the mini golf so we stopped playing that after a few holes, yummy ice cream and beautiful Qld weather to make everything even more enjoyable.

Go Karting was another thing on the 'to do ' list.  As it turned out it was the only event that was operating on Good Friday so it was a good idea.

Before the race

We're all Winners!

Anyway it was a week of go-go with many fun activities and pretty flat out for everyone.  

Upon saying farewells, Dave related the tale of his Step Grandfather, Pop Hougham, taking a white hanky from his pocket when the family were getting into the car and leaving after an hour of visiting, dabbing his eyes (pretend tears) and waving goodbye.  I guess he was able to relate to how Pop felt.

Lovely visit Jodes, Van and Kai.

SEVENTY YEARS young! March 2022.

My annual birthday present is a  ‘golf play and stay’(my choice) compliments of my beloved.  However this year regardless of being a 70th, birthday plans were thwarted by the "good old" weather god.  Not the original rain bomb that affected the south east coast of Queensland and New South Wales but another couple of days of rain and storms on top of ground that was already saturated.  

The plan was to travel up to Elliot Heads, about 2 hours drive north from Gympie and play golf at the Coral Cove club.  This course apart from lining the coast for stunning views from tees, also boasted a course consisting of two par 6 holes so a bit special, in my opinion.

 

 We booked a lovely bnb beside the ocean for 3 days.  A lovely Bali setting in the front yard and it was pet friendly so even Norman could enjoy the little holiday break.  Well, that was as far as all the activity went … it rained morning and night. There were short periods of fine weather but the golf courses were closed because of all the excess water lying around.  Trees had been uprooted, bunkers became ponds, fairways were too wet for any traffic and heavens only knows what would happen to your handicap if you tried to hit a ball in those conditions.  

Flowers compliments of KG and Deb

A lot of relaxing was done and a little bit of drinking.  We had friends over in Burnett Heads so spent time with them.  However an incident that nearly spoiled the occasion, Norman went missing.  Each time we went away from the bnb, the rule, was for the dog to accompany us.  On the last night we were there we went into Bundaberg to one of the Craft Brewery eateries for a meal.  We secured Norman beside the vehicle with water as was the practice every time we left him.  Lo and behold, he was not there when we returned.  Complete disbelief, there was no way he could have escaped and besides he always felt secure around the car cause he knew we'd always go back to the car and he wasn't going to be abandoned.

Anyway we patrolled the streets to see if he was loose in town, rang the police and eventually returned to our accommodation very teary-eyed.  In the morning, the day we were scheduled to go home our hosts suggested we call into the dog pound as it was in the area.  As soon as we pulled up, we heard Norman's bark.  Some meddling do-gooder was the cause of it all.  In retrospect, it was a time when things did not go to plan, but all’s well that ends well.  In future, Norman will be going into a kennel when we go away from home.  Maybe I’ll get to play at Coral Cove at a later date.

Our dragonboat club always celebrates significant birthdays.  Barbie and I qualified and decided  to have a combined party.  Barb is the baby by 3 days, she’s quiet and cute and usually one of the stroke paddlers.  I am part of the powerhouse, won the Whinger Award but we both love paddling.   We probably have about 20 years of paddling between us.

Birthday birds.

Some Dragon friends

Another paddler had her Mum, who turned 91 on the night of our gathering, so she joined in as well.  She was a lovely lady and we learnt she immigrated from the UK 15 years ago, an amazing adventurous person in her latter years.

Barb, Joan and Jean.

Some beautiful bouquets, birthday cake, restaurant dining vouchers and plenty of pizzas.  It was a lovely night.  Thanks paddlers.