Having a Whale of a Time

Just made it by the skin of our teeth! Got a good deal on a whale watching trip (thanks Liz) and drove up to Surfer's Paradise - yes this is the name of a resort on the Pacific coast! We sneaked on board at the last second and got a senior citizen price with 50% knocked off. We would have been quite happy with a couple of hours on the high seas on a nice day but the skipper knew where to find these humpback whales. Very impressed with the size of them - I took this photo from the bridge of the boat - just as well we were up there - all these folk at the front got drenched with sea spray and whale's not! Got lots of photos and the poor old dolphins who followed us all the way didn't get a look in.

Had some useful beer lately. 4 Pines make some nice stuff and Bees Neez is from one of the pioneering microbreweries in Oz (good honey beer). Thomas Cooper is a long established small brewery from South Australia (over 100 years old) and we've enjoyed their bottle conditioned mild which is very refreshing at 3.5%. The bottle on the right is a special selection which was a little stronger. And what's this just one fron the right? Silures from Celt brewery! In between the XXXX and the Carlton Draught in our local bottle shop we found some Celtic Experience beer from South Wales - not a bad price and it was wonderful!

And here he is - the 'Huntsman Spider' - sitting on the side of the photocopier, I managed to get the camera out just in time. These guys are quite  common little so and so's in Queensland and by gum they can shift. There's Vicky's finger to show you how big this nipper is, as with the python the other day I stayed well clear! They do bite but unlike many other spiders over here, large and small, they don't kill, they just confine you to hospital for a few weeks. No snakes so far but we're still in early spring (i.e. only 27 degrees today.) Shaun showed us a St Andrew's Spider on Sunday just outside our bedroom window - it's web has a pattern just like the Scottish flag! Could this be an omen?

Finally, Vicky got a parkrun PB on Saturday at Yarrabilba and I came second overall - what is the world coming to? Here below is a piccy of some pretty parrotty type things whch I took on Sunday.