Solos - Beerwah Sportsground

Monday 10 December 2018 -  Friday 14 December 2018

Not even a week later and I am on another short trip in the camper.  This week I have not taken any notes at all, so I will summarise the days as the get-togethers don't seem to change all that much overall.

So, this week the Rainbow Lorikeets got together again. Many arrived on Sunday, but as I had visitors from Singapore arriving on Sunday I didn't want to leave too soon.

Ne Sung, wife Elisa and son Joel arrived on Sunday afternoon and since we wouldn't have much time to spend together we went out for dinner at the local RSL where they had been with me before.

On Monday we spent some time together catching up and chatting in general and I left just before lunchtime.  They would have the key so they would look after themselves until they left on Wednesday.  I had to promise to make a stop-over next time if my flight would be via Singapore, a promise which will not be hard to keep as they are such delightful people.

On Monday afternoon I arrived and parked right next to Josephine who I had met at Bjelke Petersen Dam for the first time.  We both love walking and playing cards so it seems we are striking up a bit of a friendship.

Other people came forward and greeted me and it started to feel as if I was coming home to my second family.

On Tuesday I had to leave briefly, because I wanted to join members of the grief support group for a memorial service for our loved ones.  Beerwah is only a 45 minute drive, so, easy to do.  Good friend Ruth was there as well as a few members of our own little group from 5 years ago.  Time flies!  The memorial service was moving, not in the least because of the delicate touches so lovingly prepared by the group leaders.  We shed a few tears, but also had a pleasant morning tea together.

At Beerwah we walked most mornings as usual.  On the first morning we walked past a hidden geocache which we couldn't find quickly, so we walked on and I was going to get better prepared for next time.

On one of the later walks I had to find an ATM so I left the group and walked back home on my own.  As I walked past that cache again I decided to have a better look with a good result!  Found it!

#2012 - I Like Traffic Lights - Cloud Derge (cache)

As this week was also a Christmas gathering we had all brought a gift again (mine was the one that I received at the earlier gathering) and of course we had a Christmas dinner.  The dinner for this group was at the Beerwah Hotel, but no photos.  Sorry.

Gift giving was done like the grocery grab a few weeks ago, but in such a manner that everyone ended up with a gift to take home.  It was just as hilarious, thus lots of fun.  The gift I received was okay, but I don't know yet what I am going to do with it.  We'll see...

We had a good turnout and many happy faces

Besides all this we played cards.  It must be one of the most popular pastimes ever.  This week I learned to play Canasta, which is slightly different from Hand and Foot.  The complicating matter though was that people play in different groups and everyone seems to have their own rules for the game.  We have approached someone and asked to have a set of rules we, as the Rainbow Lorikeets, can all agree to.  Let's see how that is going to work.

Next I have a few pictures from our walks, the last one taken on the way back from dinner:

On Friday morning I packed up.  As it was raining I didn't go on the planned walk, but Josephine and I played a last game of Canasta as neither of us was in a hurry to leave.

A lot of people had already left as they were going on to a gathering at Somerset Dam, but I had plenty to do at home, so wanted to have a break.

Of course we all left with many hugs and Christmas wishes and the hope of seeing each other again in the New Year.

BSW - Maleny Showgrounds

Friday 30 November 2018

Friday morning I went on a walk with the walking group that I have recently joined.  They walk three times per week, but twice on a day when I go for a bike ride, so walking I do only on the Fridays.

Recently I took two pictures of birds that we saw on our walk, but which I haven't posted yet:

A Great Egret, standing still to stalk its prey

Two Rainbow Lorikeets crawling out of a tree hollow

After my early moring walk I packed the camper and left for a pleasant drive through the Range to Maleny.  I took the long way around, up and down on winding roads, but the view was beautiful.

I arrived in time for lunch and joined the people that had already arrived for afternoon tea, and a few games of cards.  The same was done at dinner time.

Saturday 1 December 2018

Usually I forget to take pictures, but today I remembered!

As I was at the Maleny Showgrounds two years ago with the BSW as well a few photos may be repetitions. Not so my camper, modestly decorated for Christmas. ;-)

I went for an early walk into town as I had discovered that I had forgotten to bring my toothbrush.  I did my thing for the environment and bought a bamboo one, but..... why for heaven's sake does it need to come in plastic packaging???  Defeats the purpose somewhat, doesn't it?

The walk into town is a pleasant one. There is a trail which leads through a remnant rainforest along Obi Obi Creek from the Showgrounds to the town centre.  

A nature care group is trying to revive the forest by planting new plants that belong to the area and getting rid of weeds like the Wandering Jew and Morning Glory.

Morning Glory (the blue flowered vine in the trees)

Wandering Jew (the green leaved creeping vine on the ground)

This part of the trail mainly is a 600m board walk along the creek.  I should go for an early morning walk some day as I am still hoping to see the elusive plattypus one day.  This is a photo of the beautiful creature (called vogelbekdier in Dutch).

I did see some other wildlife though: a big lizard and a bush turkey.

Bearded dragon

Bush turkey

Followed by a few pictures of the walk through the sub-tropical rainforest.  These rainforests are nested in the range because of the right climate, soil and rainfall.  They exist between the southern temperate forests and the northern tropical rainforests.

Love thes buttresses, and these are only small...

Hard to see perhaps, but the path contains leaves
and the long line is the way the creek flows

A viewing platform from where one
should be able to see the platypus in the water

In the town centre I took a few pictures of sculptures, the alternative Christmas tree and the back of the public library which has large viewing windows across the creek.

On my way I found a geocache as well:

#2011 - Heard of Cows? (cache)

As it is now in the middle of the day I publish this post, but will update it at a later stage....

... resuming...

I have been very remiss, as I haven't taken notes, nor have I remembered to update this post, but I do have some pictures to guide me....

As this was our Christmas gathering we had a big raffle in the afternoon.  We had all brought a gift of under $10 and these were deposited on a table, wrapped and all.  Numbers were called out and if you were lucky you went home with one or more gifts.  If unlucky, you had none!  And of course, Santa was there to assist:

I ended up with a nice gift, but as I am not really into all this gift-giving (I want to minimalise at home) I kept it for our next gathering with the Solos.

After the raffle we went briefly 'home' to our vehicles to get ready for Christmas dinner, which was going to be served in the big hall.

Overview of the campground from the big hall

I haven't taken any pictures of our dinner, but only of the decorated tables just before we went in:

A similar set-up as last year

This year chicken and ham were provided, but it was agreed that we would bring our own slaad or whatever we wanted to have with it.  Dessert, Christmas pudding with custard, was also provided and was really nice.

This year 'entertainment' consisted of a slide show of photo's taken at gatherings over the years.  A lot of people looked so much younger on occasion that I didn't even recognise them!

Sunday 2 December 2018

As I had not seen the elusive plattypus on my earlier walks I decided to go for an early morning walk, in the hope of spotting one.  I had nearly done the rounds along the creek and through town when I walked back via a bridge on the other side of the showground.  There I had a quick look and just as I was going to walk  on a lady appeared from across the road with binoculars.  She asked me if I had noticed the birds nest in the tree in front of me.  No, of course not.  I don't see these things..... :-(  I just don't have that keen eye.

Anyway, it was a restless flycatcher's nest with three fledglings in it and the parents were flying on and off to feed them:

Left bottom corner: camouflaged nest with black/white bird

A bit later she pointed out another nest to the left, which contained a spangled drongo, recognisable by its fishtail sticking up from the nest:

Bottom-centre: black head and tail above the untidy nest

And then I nearly missed it.  It was so quick that I couldn't even take a picture, but I saw the plattypus!!!  It came up right in front of us, but far away.  Swam a few metres and dived under again, but..... I did get to see it this time, thanks to this wonderful woman who pointed everything out to me.

The plattypus (not visible now) swam just near
the rocks in the water on the opposite side of the creek

One more picture of the flycatcher -
this time with the other parent feeding

And a funny wood carving on the roof of an awning:

A beaver with the cut wood next to it

As Sunday is usually our breaking up day I went back for morning tea and started packing to go home.  I wasn't too far from home, so had lunch first and then left.  On the way home I stopped at the fruitmarket along the road to get a watermelon as nothing is as refreshing on a hot summers day...