Misc

We got up at 4:00 on Christmas to go for a surf. The surf was terrible until the tide came in a bit, but at least we arrived just in time to see the sun rise.

So I was in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago for work, and stayed at the Oaks on Margaret. I stayed there in November last year as well, and the building next door, 234 Margaret St was being constructed, but was full of water as a result of the flood at the start of the year. Was pretty cool to see, there was even boats that I am assuming the construction guys use.

I’ve always thought it would be cool to see a solar eclipse. I knew about the one in Cairns for a few years now and had intended to head up, but what with not knowing where I would be working couldn’t book travel. And since we are going to Fiji early next year, and there is no airport in Toowoomba, it wasn’t worth trying to get time off work to drive up, and Rachael definitely couldn’t.

So a while a go I discovered a really nice route to go for a bike ride, by looking at Strava segments. The segment had a ridiculous amount of people riding it compared to all the other ones, and it is quite close to where we live. After riding it, the reason why it was so popular became pretty clear. It has incredible views looking out over a valley and there are various farm animals along the way.

Rachael and I went to see The Beards on Thursday night at The Spotted Cow. It was a very strange venue, basically a pub where they had blocked off the front room. Was very cramped but was a pretty good atmosphere. The first support, Kim Churchill was excellent. Rachael likened him to a cross between Xavier Rudd and Ash Grunwald which I agree is a fairly accurate comparison. He had an incredibly full sound for a single person.

While Mum and Dad were down, we went for a drive to check out the prize garden winners. It was a bit like looking at Christmas lights. The Reserve Grand Champion was by far the best garden, with a massive house and garden overlooking the range - they must be quite rich.

In addition to the prize gardens, the council does up all the parks around town as well.

On the Saturday morning there was a parade. The amount of people was insane, apparently the road up the range from Brisbane got backed up that many people came up from the city. Some of the floats were really amazing, they must have put a lot of time into them. Having previously worn the Ergon Energy Man suit in winter, I felt really sorry for this guy, it must have been stinking hot.

Last weekend was the start of the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers. We bought 3-day tickets to the Flower, Food and Wine Festival so we could check out all the bands. Friday night was our first glimpse of the festival. It was sort of like a show with various art and flower displays, but nothing overly exciting. Other than that there was stalls selling garden stuff, and food stalls. One thing that was a very good set up was the wine stalls though.

Rachael and I are doing a fitness challenge on account of us being lazy in Brisbane and not playing any sport. We are also trying to eat better and lose weight, but my main goal is to start going for runs and ride to work again. I have gone for a few runs last week with Strava on, and it records your personal best times: My Strava Statistics Best 1k 00:04:28 Best 1 mile 00:08:52