'Another' full moon in the tropics...and a bit of flesh

Header Photo: (taken from our day on the Strand, and 'Homegirl' is shocked at what she sees [below])
                          Yes, you guessed it folks - a NUDE lone bather on our family friendly beach. ;)

Oh, I digress from my post's title. 

Here's another stunning full moon rising behind 'Spicegirl's' house this evening.  

It was quite wonderful to be able to easily watch the partial lunar eclipse happening tonight but the photos I took did not show it at all. :(

PS: Just recently Blogger has (once again) changed it's format for the dreaded Word Verification.

I discovered this when visiting a few of my favourite Blogs who insist on keeping Word Verification

(which is simply NOT necessary) sorry no offence intended. Anyway it is now even more difficult,

with 8 tries at one Blog, 4 tries at another and 5 tries and 2 knock-backs at yet another!!

I am almost at the stage where I will be joining hundreds of others who now refuse to comment on

Blogs with Word Verification. I will continue to visit but am unsure if I will continue to comment,

such is the frustration of this unnecessary feature.

The ONLY WAY you can tell if you have Word Verification turned ON is if you SIGN OUT of

your own Blog and visit your own Blog as a visitor and have a try at COMMENTING!! If you

find your first try 'easy', you were just plain lucky!

(Get rid of your Word Verification and if you feel its necessary, select the "wont show until after Blog owner approval" instead.)   :)

HAPPY BLOGGING!

Day 32 ...... weekend trip north to Cairns

Header photo:  taken by Rose from lookout near top of Atherton Tablelands


We left Townsville 6.45am Saturday and arrived in Cairns at noon.  The trip up was picturesque, green, lush and oh-so-tropical, but with a twist - it was bordering on chilly which is unusual for the far north tropics. It showered on and off which was kind of nice as well.  I took hundreds of photos but more than half are either fuzzy due to travel blur or, blurry due to 'shake'. And many of the perfect shots are totally uninteresting!  Hence, why I am not and never will be the world famous photographer I see in my dream-state.

Travelling north to Cairns we kept to the coastal highway, with the return trip on Monday being via the glorious Atherton Tablelands.

The further north we traveled the more sugarcane farms and banana plantations we passed.

We got that 'room with a view' but no sunshine!

Coming home via the Atherton Tablelands - beautiful farms abound up here.

and the jungle meets the road in many sections....

..... beautiful rainforest trees at every turn

Catch one of these in the many lakes Jim!

With many towns on the t'lands averaging an elevation between 600-920 metres I could easily live up here!

One would need a week up here to fully explore all of the t'lands natural wonders - pristine creeks, rivers, waterfalls and deep volcanic lakes. And not to mention the quaint little villages.

HAPPY BLOGGING

I am now looking forward to paying everyone a visit and catching up on your posts!

Day 21.... architecture.... and some oddities...

I have a busy weekend ahead and it starts tonight with a sleep-over at my best friend's house. And on Sunday there's a pool party here at 'Spice-girl's' to celebrate her hubs birthday. So I may not get the chance to visit your Blog until Monday. But I will, and look forward to it as there are sure to be lots of new posts up out there.
I'll leave you with some Townsville architecture and other bits and pieces. Enjoy!

The old (above) and the newer (below) - inner city

The old above and the newer aquarium - inner city

Two lovely old pubs on the Strand - above is the Queens Hotel and below is the "Cri"

Some beautifully designed homes on the lower reaches of Castle Hill overlooking Cleveland Bay

I'm awfully sorry to interrupt this post, but I no longer feel comfortable in calling this local 'strange', 'weird' or 'odd'.  The dedication to the 'sport'/'past-time'?? is striking to say the least,  and my admiration swells - she's been at "it" for 3 days straight now. . . . . . .

On a far, far more worrying note is how these locals dress to go out for afternoon tea.  I can only but fervently pray that neither of these peculiarities are in any way catching or heaven forbid that as time passes they become appealing to the visitor...er, you know, like to 'give it a go'.............

And I'll leave you with the lovely old Customs Building on the Strand.

Happy Blogging!

Day 18 .... a day at the local beaches

We visited the Strand, Cape Pallarenda and drove the windy road to the top of Castle Hill today.  It was very difficult to decide which pics to post as there were so many good ones. We had the best day - please enjoy the local scenery and a couple of, er ..... very strange 'locals'.

Taken from the look-out top of Castle Hill (above & below)

Along  the Strand (above and below) looking out over Cleveland Bay

A lone kite flyer at Cape Pallarenda (above and below) with Magnetic Island in the background.

And here - those very strange locals doing very strange things in a Moreton Bay Fig tree.

Blogger has given me more grief tonight than it ever has before. Inserting the photos was an absolute nightmare. This is the first time it has really frustrated me. 
Here's hoping the next lot will be easy-peasy. I'll try again in 48 hours.

HAPPY BLOGGING

House Rules........for everyone??

Header photo: park and running paths throughout this suburb and most others.

Within 48 hours of my arrival, 'Spice-girl' couldn't get this wall decal up fast enough (or so it seemed to me) nor could she do it without my help.  Most of the Rules were really cute and nice (but I reckon designed to lull one into a false sense of security) and not even a problem to adhere to - for example No. 1 & 3 (easy), but 'some' of them made me pretty nervous, and well, couldn't but wonder..........you know where I'm coming from here right?  Like No. 4 & 8; (well OK if you insist) but No. 12 invited paranoia, and in capitals (well, r.e.a.l.l.y). But the very last Rule (God love whoever created this masterpiece) put my world right again.

'Home-girl', 'Spice-girl' and I are off to the Strand (beach-front area of the outer city) today and hope it will be lovely and clear to get some super pics for the blog.

HAPPY BLOGGING

       

Day 14 ......The tropics .......

Header Photo:    Full moon in the tropics, taken from the backyard last week.

Any post is better than no post right?  It's difficult to believe that it's been a fortnight since I arrived!! Time flies. Well I've caught a very nasty bug/cold/virus thing and this girl is not feeling too bright, but I am suffering post withdrawals and just must post!!  Missed photo opportunities abound because on numerous occasions I forgot little S.S. in the excitement (drat and darn)

The weather is kind (it can only get cooler)  My home town has changed for the better in 16 years.  More shopping centres, population has now reached 200,000 - there's a large military base here and RAAF (both of which I'll get photos of) tremendous improvements with city and suburban parklands; roads, and the beachfront areas of the Strand.  When I left I felt it was strictly an industrial working town, but now it is tourist oriented with its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. Also I'm very impressed with many of the modern clean and beautifully laid out suburban estates .  A lot of miners and their families call Townsville home, and fly in/fly out to the mines west of Townsville. It's expanding, growing and a seemingly very prosperous city but still with a laid back lifestyle.

For the past fortnight I have done little other than immerse myself with family and enjoy some quiet time-out for me.  Having said that, and with feeling really quite under the weather today I thought I'd do a family introduction.  (photo notations under each photo)

First born daughter aka 'Home-girl'; Hubs of 'Home-girl'; and 'grandson extraordinaire' Jack almost 6 yrs, photo taken a week ago at the park just a few doors from their family home.
And below is their two young and very exuberant, very large sweet pups Jethro 8 mths and Molly 12mths.   Also 2 felines (no photos yet)  No photo of 'Home-girl' & Hubs house yet either!

       

Last born daughter aka 'Spice-girl' & Hubs. Photo taken Christmas time NYC !!

(they did not take me.......)

And below is their dear old Eddie 11 yrs (there's 2 felines here too)

He's a bit like me really, still awfully good looking just a little frayed around the edges.

And he was good enough to turn his dear old paw over for me to play MACRO FEATURE!!

(no, the novelty hasn't worn off yet ...... nothing is spared, or sacred in the quest for macro perfection)

Also at 'Spice-Girl's' is this..........

where you will have to line up and pay, to see me expertly swimming wading around

in my itsy-bitsy, teen-weeny yellow polka-dot bikini  sedate one-piece. Oh, who am I kidding

I don't own a swimsuit of any kind!  Actually I don't do swimming. Anyway there's oft snakes

having a dip.  I kid you not we found one under the outside rubbish bin only yesterday (a deadly brown)

I had walked by that bin about 6 times  twice yesterday back and forth to the washing line.

We killed it relocated it back to the bush area where the other 10,000 hang out. 

(Ooooh dear I hope I don't lose blogosphere friends through this admission, I promise it was a very sticky situation, perhaps even life and death!)

Here is 'Spice-girls' Hubs work car which he gifted to me lets me borrow because he feels sorry for me thinks I'm the greatest mother-in-law e.v.e.r and deserve such sacrifices.

and here I am doing the blog on his Mac lappie so I can practice and familiarise myself

with it before I make a decision on what I'll buy - but he will probably just gift it to me.

Now I'm just going to laze back on this comfy couch and catch up with all of your blogs.

Thank you for your kind words and I feel very humbled that I've been missed!!

I'm sure I'll be back on top very soon and will have lots of pics of the Tropics.

HAPPY BLOGGING

The tropics..........Day 2......a quick word only

Header Photo:  Street where I'm staying!  (Townsville's Mount Stuart in the background)

I survived the arduous trip.......I did not get lost at the Sydney airport, because I knew I had to change terminals so therefore followed the 'Terminal 3' signs. So easy huh? and besides I had insurance - I overheard a lady on the plane saying she was continuing her journey from Terminal 3 so I followed her, but mostly just followed the signs........

I only have 20 mins to get on here and have a little say (tomorrow I will do a 'real' post - with pics!)

I am in hot demand for the whole day and evening - it is my birthday :)  I am 55 today. Woo hoo.