Saying Goodbye to Spring
8 years ago
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I planned an excursion to South Bank on the day of the fight without realising it. The train was packed, Filipinos from every corner of South East Queensland turned up. It was a perfect day for a day out. It was the last weekend of the school holiday too.
We went to a museum and walked around in South Bank. We saw the tail end of the fight standing outside a bar in Queen Street - with others. It was packed in and out.
Oh and Jeff Horn won. I have a lot of thoughts on this but I will keep it to myself.
I have a son who’s in Primary School so I thought, I should run a series about school and maybe on the Educational system here in Australia. I will be writing about what I know and my experiences around the school where my son goes to.
As a background, the Tatapilla (my son) goes to a public school – here it is called State school. The school is about a ten minute walk from home. It is quite close to our home as I can hear the bells for the school session. In cold days, he is being driven to school but on warm days, he rides his bike or walk. One day, I picked him up walking wearing flat ballerina shoes – it was so hot that the glue on my shoes melted but that’s another story for another day.
The Primary school starts from Prep up to year 6. There’s a prescribed age when a child can start Primary school.
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We spent a few days of the previous school holiday the Coffs Harbour. It's about 5 hours drive from home but there were detours, so it took almost 7. On the way, there are lots of goods things to see so it's never boring.
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The Tatapilla went camping with the Scouts. The Scouts camping ground is located near the center of the town. It has powered sites and un-powered sites. Activities such as kayaking and abseiling. There are areas for bonfire at night.
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On my last business trip to Sydney, I stayed at the Castle Hill Lodge. The customer I was visiting was at the Hills area and they booked for my accommodation. The Castle Hill Lodge is a quaint place to stay. It is situated close the main road but it was not that noisy. I enjoyed my stay.
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Maleny is a historic town in the Sunshine Coast. It's situated in the hinterland. The town centre is quite touristy. There are boutiques, antique shops and cafes.
One of the places we visited in Maleny when my friend came over was the Botanic Garden. It's 16 acres of walking around. The views are awesome, the plants and flowers are pretty. I remember, Mcj's niece had her wedding there. The Tatapilla meandered around on his own and wanted to do it again when we finished.
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Driving to Maleny, the scenery are awesome. Lush trees and mountains are surrounding the roads.
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My friend and I went to Southbank as well. We played tourists of course and have some food there and browse at the markets.
The Brisbane River.
The Brisbane sign is never without people taking photos.
The "Eye of Brisbane" side view.
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A friend of mine visited for a weekend so we did a bit of exploring in the city. First stop, of course, is coffee at Starbucks. We shopped a bit too at the H & M, it's somewhat new in Australia.
Queen St is a bustling part of the city as most of the shops are there. The part that I know of is mostly for pedestrian. There are restos and cafe in the middle.
Here are some view of the buildings. There are always buskers.
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In my first few years here, I have only been shopping at Woolworths. I am not really sure of the reasoning. Mcj has always been shopping there. May it be due to convenience? And I remember now that he said, because Woolies are fully Australian owned. Okay, I am okay with that.
My MIL had been shopping everywhere, Aldi and Woolies. Plus she bought meat from the butcher.
We moved suburbs and then the prices of groceries are just sky-rocketing. I found myself shopping at Aldi for our main household items that I can get there like coffee, washing powder, frozen veggies and some fresh veggies. I still shop at Woolies though for items like ice cream, good quality meat, treats and drinks. I also shop at Costco. Can't be a member without shopping there. I buy some bulk products but primarily stuff that we don't need. Lol.
So where am I leading to this? With my location, I can shop to any supermarket. The competition is so high that it is good for the consumers as the price is really competitive. But I found that price is not the only driving factor why people shop at their favourite shops. It's also the quality, convenience and there's still some loyalty in there and I am not talking of the loyalty cards either.
I heard, there's another german shop coming up but I am not sure that we will get one near our place. I just hope that you don't have to be a member to shop there.
When I first got here, the price of fuel per litre was less than a dollar. I am talking about petrol or unleaded. That was the end of 2005. Now, when the cycle is on it's peak you get to pay almost $1.50. When it's the cheapest, you pay about $1.20. And that is in Costco where you have to pay $60/year to become a member and avail the discounts on the fuel and groceries.
My question is why is the prices so high. It can't be due to Australia dollar. When it was almost at par or over with the US dollar, the fuel prices didn't change at all. Now, it's around 70c and the price is almost the same.
Another question. Why is the diesel dearer than unleaded. You would think that a fuel that requires less processing would be cheaper, isn't it?
This I got from Facebook. And look at the house and the view. I could retire here. Amazing.
Today is Bathurst 1000. Bathurst 1000 is a touring car race. It's a 1000 km circuit in Mount Panorama, Bathurst, NSW. It's considered the pinnacle of the racing in Australia. It is called The Great Race by the people.
Every year, on the second weekend of October our lounge room is dominated by the sound of cars engine revving and whatever else noise the cars make. But this is normal in our household. We mainly watch sports of any form. I don't complain as I like sports myself.
I got the chance to see the opening of the program and it was electric even on TV. It's in Mcj's bucket list to see it live.
Some of the snaps I took of the super hornet at the start of the race.
At Redcliffe again. It's a quaint place with shops lining the streets fronting the water. There's a jetty for people to venture out or do fishing.
The Redcliffe council has put created a sort of shrine to honour the Beegees (Brother Gibbs). The Beegees Way. It's an alley way that goes from the main street fronting the seafront to the next street. I t is flanked by walls of the shops.
These are the photos I took and I'll try to give you an idea of what it looks like from the sea front towards the end.
The walls display their hits and their journey. There's a huge tv in the middle that plays one of their interviews and some of their music video. I learned that Bill Gates gave them their name and lauch their career.
One thing that I really like is that they all stayed with the same girl/wife. Quite different in the modern world.
