Nanango day trip August 12th - 2012

 The above two photos are of the "Blackbutt Range" there is huge earthworks going on here to hold back the hillside and re-align the road. Last time we came through here it was one way only controlled by traffic lights  - a year on and it is still going on, it is looking great and is a mamoth job, the hillside slide down over the road and into the valley below - you can see the hillside has been sprayed with fibre glass underneath this is layers of wire netting with drainage also for the run off.

 Above 3 photos show Jan and Trev's van and our BBQ lunch thanks guys it was great to catch up - see ya in Townsville.

Day off for us Sunday yippeeeeee, we had friends come for a visit a few weeks ago they were doing some house sitting and were leaving to go back to Nanango. Jan & Trevor Appleton we first met up with them when we were living at the Sunseeker Caravan park and have stayed in touch since they/we left there, Jan and Trev still go back to Sunseeker when they are staying in Caloundra. They are currently staying at the Nanango Caravan Park where they have been doing a little bit of work in payment for camp fees, so we decided when they were leaving us that night we would call out and see them before they head north to Townsville on the 15th August. It was a lovely drive out and we arrived there at midday and had a nice BBQ lunch and spent the afternoon sitting and chatting until it was time for us to leave for the 2hr drive home. We arrived back at FKS at 6.15pm feeling still full from lunch so decided an easy light tea would be the answer. Thanks Jan and Trevor we hope to catch up in Townsville for another BBQ and chat, in the not too distant future.

Almost time to head to NZ for a break

Today Saturday 25/8/12 is the really last time we have to get clothing washed and ironed and packed for our departure on Monday, we are flying into Auckland this time just for a change - not really. We are staying in Auckland overnight at the Hotel by the airport as on Tuesday we fly to Rotorua where we will collect our rental car and drive down via Taupo to our accomodation at one of the Police Houses at Turangi, we are staying 8nights and the main reason for heading here is so that Brian can do some trout fishing, he has wanted to do this for some time. After the 8days we find ourselves back in Rotorua and fly to Christchurch where we will be staying for 7nights with Yasmine , Adam and little Rory. Flying back home here on September 5th, where it will be back into work and everyday routine again once more.

Just a few things in the bags as you can see ( hope Yasmine has an empty boot when she collects us from the airport )

Moyse Mob N Mooloolaba

Last Sunday August 4th 2012 saw Brian and I meet up with Terry and Patricia, their younger son Colin his wife Annie and daughter Brianne. They were staying at a friends timeshare apartment on the 10th floor at Moolooaba, we decided we would meet them there for brunch - umm we arrived in time for brunch but after much chat it was time for lunch. Again the weather was just perfect and the cafe's were doing a great trade, we all headed for the Coffee Club as you cann't beat that. Much chat and eating we decended to the Mooloolaba boardwalk to have a look at the beach and the ocean it was just delightful, notice the beach scenes and this was WINTER!!!! -  Enjoy the photos of a great family get together.

Brisbane River and Nepalese Temple

Sunday 29th July 2012


Finally here are a few photos of the beautiful Brisbane River which looks very tranquil in these photos however on January 11th 2011 it was a very different story as the Brisbane River flooded peaking at 4.6metres, about a metre below the level of the 1974 floods. In the flood of 2011 - 21 people are confirmed dead and 11,900 homes were completely floooded.  The beautiful Nepalese Temple  sits amongst the lush bush and trees along Southbank.

Maritime Museum

Sunday 29th July 2012:

As I said on the way back from the river cruise we stopped by the Maritime Museum and Brian went in and had a good look around while I sat relaxing and enjoying the warm sunshine.

Sunday 29th July - 2012 - river cruise

River Cruise was the order for the morning, we decided on Saturday that we would see more if we did a river cruise, we found one that included morning tea - why not I say. Once again a sleep in and as we were going to go on the crusie at 1030 we decided against breakfast, so a nice lie in once again getting up and having our showers, bags packed and taken to the car as check out was 1000am.We left the car still in the carpark and walked back down to Southbank to where the boat cruise departed at 1030 sharp, it was a nice old boat and once all aboard and the ship shape rules etc out of the way we were off on a nice relaxing trip departing from Southbank and up stream as far as the Gateway Bridge and back again. It was such a beautiful day and a nice way to relax and see place we would never get to see. Once we arrrived back on Southbank we headed toward the Maritime Museum where Brian spent an hour or so and had a chat with the staff and taking a look at the communications room on board the HMAS Diamantina. The large metal bridge structure is the Storey Bridge if you are feeling very energetic you can do a bridge climb however I think you would need a good head for heights, the last photo of the bridge is the Gateway Bridge that you need to go over to get from Brisbane and Sunshine Coast if you wish to head to the Gold Coast and onto NSW. We made our way back along Southbank and called in at the nice Italian Cafe where we stopped yesterday for a coffee however today we stopped and had an authentic Italian Pizza topped with Buffalo Mozzerella cheese, tomatoe and fresh Basil, it was very warm and the only table available was out the front in the sun  - oh well we had a fantastic view of the river and surrounds, from here we made our way back to the car for the 1hr drive north and arrived home around 1630pm nice and relaxed and said we must go away more often. Enjoy the photos of the river cruise.

Mummy - Secret of the Tomb

Saturday 28th July 2012:

Mummy of Nesperennub

Egypt, around 800 BC
The mummy of the priest Nesperennub, discovered at Luxor in the 1890s, has recently been the subject of a ground-breaking experiment. Non-invasive X-ray and Computerised Tomography (CT) scanning techniques have made it possible to look inside the mummy without disturbing the wrappings in any way. This has provided a unique insight into the complex process of mummification and life in ancient Egypt, and it has even been possible to reconstruct Nesperennub's likely appearance.
Nesperennub was alive around 800 BC and died aged approximately forty years. His skull shows a small unexplained hole above the left eye, which might indicate an illness which could have proved fatal. After death Nesperennub would have had his internal organs removed, except for the heart, before being embalmed with resin. Next the corpse was decorated with pieces of jewellery - the X-rays show rings on both hands - as well as amulets. The body was wrapped, then placed inside its painted cartonnage case, which was in turn put inside a wooden coffin. The text on the cartonnage case reveals that Nesperennub and his father worked as priests in the great religious complex of Karnak.
The 3D images of Nesperennub show that, very unusually, he was mummified with a shallow, irregular-shaped bowl on his head. This does not belong to any known ritual aspect of embalming and was probably part of the embalmers' working equipment. Perhaps during the embalming process the bowl was placed on the head to catch surplus resin. This may then have hardened unexpectedly quickly, cementing the bowl firmly to the skull. Damage to the skin at the back of the head may have been caused by attempts to remove it. The embalmers may then have decided to carry on with the wrapping of the body, hoping that their mistake would pass unnoticed - which it did for nearly three thousand years.

So who was Nesperennub?

Nesperennub lived nearly three thousand years ago in Thebes. Thebes was one of the greatest cities in ancient Egypt and was full of temples and grand palaces. Nesperennub himself worked as a priest in the greatest of these temples, Karnak. He was also a fan-bearer to the King, so was an important man.
Nesperennub's wooden coffin has his face painted on the outside. He wears a wig, and his headband and collar are made of lotus petals. The hieroglyphs down the centre are a prayer asking for 'life, prosperity and health' for Nesperennub. Inside the coffin a goddess holds her arms open to protect his body.

The Mummy Case:

Inside Nesperennub's coffin is a case containing his mummy. The case is made of cartonnage - layers of linen covered with glue or plaster, then left to set hard. It is brightly painted. At the top the scarab beetle with a falcon's head is the sun god Ra. His wings are stretching out over Nesperennub's chest. Under this the god Sokar is shown as a mummified falcon.
Lower down, a yellow dome with two feathers coming from the top is a sign of the god Osiris. Osiris and Ra both hold the key to life after death. The hieroglyphs below the knee tell us that Nesperennub and his father both worked at Karnak.

This truely was a most amazing experience and one that we are both so pleased we decided to make the trip to Brisvegas and if you get the chance to see the exhibition it is well worth the money and guess what, all seniors get a concession  - even better

Saturday - July 28th 2012

For once we had a sleep in as we are usually up and ready to open the office back home by 0800, we had a cuppa in bed and watched some of the replay of the opening of the Olympics on TV coming in on the final team to enter the stadium Great Britian. With our showers over it was time to go downstairs for breakfast in the small dining area, a buffet breakfast for us of fruit juice, bacon,eggs,sausage and tomatoes finished with a cuppa all very nice and all we needed. Today was the day we were booked to go and see the Mummy Secret of the Tomb, and as we were booked on the 1500 showing we had the morning to take a stroll to Southbank and just made the most of the beautiful day. Where we were staying was only about a 15min walk to Southbank which meant we did not have to use the car to get around which was great as we don't know Brisbane at all and were told that parking was really expensive therefore our car remained safe in the hotel carpark and a saving on fuel and good exercise for he and me hahahaha. We walked down and had a look through the fence of the Maritime Museum and noticed a very familiar Pink sailing boat - yes it was Ella's Pink Lady that the young Sunshine Coast girl Jessica Watson sailed single handed around the world, Brian decided he would go back on Sunday and have a good look at the boats they had in the dry dock. It was time to head back to the hotel and make a cuppa before getting our Museum tickets to the show and walking down along Southbank to the Museum - no photos were allowed to be taken so I have nothing to show unfortunately. The only photos shown below taken at the museum are the whales that are suspended from the entry to the museum, Brian sitting waiting for me - hehehe and the bronze statues of the Pelicans and the fountain, the big wheel is actually along Southbank.

A weekend in Brisvegas - July 27-29 - 2012

The weekend had finally arrived for us to head to Brisbane or Brisvegas for the weekend  - we had booked to go and see the "Secrets of the Tomb" show at the Brisbane Museum. Sue a friend of Kerry that works in the office during the week had offered to work our Saturday so that we could have the weekend there rather than driving down and back the same day. We didn't leave until around 6.30pm on the Friday night waiting for the peak hour traffic in Brisbane to go before we headed in getting lost, which we did anyway even with the GPS. We arrived at the Diana Plaza Hotel around 8.30pm, the hotel is in the area of Woolongaba and hotel is just along the road from the famous GABA sports stadium. We decided dinner was needed and rang down for room service as it stated 24hr room service to be advised NO ROOM SERVICE ummmmmmmmmmmm ok off next door to a lovely little Thai restaurant and purchased some yummy food and brought it back to our room. A bit of TV watching and then into the slab of a bed, Brian was soon asleep however I was woken with a helicopter landing on helipad atop of the Mater Hospital and dejavu we had same thing Saturday night hahahahaha. Ok so what did we do well read on and enjoy and if you get a chance to see the Mummy - Secrets of the Tomb at all it is well worth going and having a look. Below are just a couple of photos of church spires/domes one daytime and lower a late afternoon/evening shot and the middle picture is the archway covered in Bouganvillia leading into Southbank.