Homeward Bound

 

Up before six as we prepare to head home today.  Showers, packing last bits and sorting some smaller items.  I grabbed a luggage cart from downstairs and we loaded it up with all the gear. Kelly will be checking in two bags for the trip home as her carry on has become to heavy to lug around:-) I have my backpack employed to carry my 23” props from VLV’s Mark Hu. 

We arranged a cab to take us to the international terminal and within 10 minutes we were unloading at departures. Check in was easy and we won’t see those bags until Victoria. My back says thanks! 

Next was security where my VLV motor system got a second look but all good. Next was passport control for the obligatory scan and we were into the duty free area. Just to the right is the TRS kiosk and this is where you can claim back your taxes on goods as a tourist.  I only did my motor, spinner & battery tray but it was worth it.  I’ll get taxed in Canada (I think) because I am over the exemption by $920.  Oh well I seldom buy stuff on these trips.  Kelly wandered the duty free while I waited in line. 

I had gone online previously and did all my documentation so all I needed to do was present my unique QR code, sale receipt, passport and boarding card and they will credit my CC within sixty days. It only took about 2 minutes once I reached the agent. Hey I’ll take the $172! 

I met up with Kelly at the entrance to the Air New Zealand Lounge and we enjoyed a quiet bite of breakfast. 

We then headed down to the gate but there was a delay in boarding…. They said a catering delay but in actuality it was a temperature issue within the plane. No APU and no ground air available so they did a rush boarding and started an engine at the gate once the doors closed. If cooled down quickly. 

We pushed at 10:23 local ( 17:23 Vancouver time on Tuesday) and departed at 10:42. 

Had a visit from one of the pilots I flew with at Jazz, Cathy Copeland was one of today’s crew and came back and we had a nice catch up. 

Cruising… blogging…  cocktails… dinner… movie… snack… Jammies... sleep.. breakfast.. clothes 

Actually managed to write my Managers Report for the Team as well. 

Landed YVR @ 06:44 Wednesday morning and on the gate @ 06:50

Gathered our stuff and went through customs & immigration.  So to review, Immigration consisted of a photo/passport check that took 2 minutes and customs was a few questions on what we did, explaining the World Championship’s and what my $1700 purchase was.  A VLV Contra Drive airplane motor and various bits. He took our passports to process and presto we were through. A walk to gate C34 and we took our flight to Victoria. Kris & Anna picked us up and we were home by 9:15.

We are now fading... time for a nap! Will check spelling & grammar later.

 

Moving On

 One last morning on our deck with coffees!  While we enjoyed the clear blue skies and light breeze, I did some preliminary ArriveCan app work for our speedy arrival into Canada tomorrow ( yes it will still be Wednesday when we arrive :-) 

 We took one last walk out to the breakwater and back. They were busy setting up fencing near the point as there is a huge Ironman Event coming up here on September 10th.  Details here. We also breezed by the Osprey nest to say our goodbyes :-)

Back at the unit I cleaned out empty bottles, through away some garbage and left a neat pile of still usable goods on the counter.  Salt & Pepper, Cup o Noodles, sandwich bags etc. They can hopefully use some of the items.

Showers for both of us then we started to get serious after Kelly did a final final packing!

 We took the larger bags down to the car and started to load them up. Kelly grabbed the right rear door handle and it came off in two pieces.  Mmm looks like a plastic fitting has broken at the rear section. No alarms or anything so it’s “good to go”

Very streamlined now!

Once all loaded, we returned our keys and headed off to the Radcliffe area in search of a lunch spot. Fish & chips came to mind and so that was our plan.  We drove down to the Woody Point Jetty and found a nice spot along the waterfront. The place Kelly picked was called Seafood Town and we ordered a seafood basket for two. Very good. 

After lunch we walked down to the end of the pier. Lots of fisherman with both nets and rods. Unfortunately there was no action at all. 

Woody Point Pier

We headed off over Houghton Highway Bridge into the  Brighton area, back on the M2 to a Cole’s gas station.  ($11 AUD to fill from Mooloolaba so not to bad for fuel economy!)

Next stop was the Novatel Brisbane Airport Hotel which conveniently is right next to a huge mall! Bad planning for sure! 

I unloaded the bags onto a luggage cart as Kelly checked us in… she seemed in a bit of a rush now mmm... not sure why? :-)

I headed out to the domestic terminal to return the car. Easy process and the rental car agent was not worried about the door handle at all.  1,719 km total in 22 days. 

I walked over to the main domestic terminal and after a 10 minute wait, hopped onto the free Skygate shuttle back to the huge mall.  On arrival, I quickly tracked Kelly down with the iPhone app and touched base with her. She was going to shop so I went back to the Transit Tavern that I spotted coming in. Yes I'm still sharp after all these years! All good and the beer was thirst quenching!

Kelly hit the baby stores and most certainly, updated Lauren back home of her purchases. Once done, she joined me and had a glass of wine.

 

Back at the Novatel, we sorted bags and went over our purchases for customs back in Canada. I did the ArriveCan app and loaded all my info into it... hopefully it will work. Expecting to pay some gst/pst on arrival... never know though. 

I also sorted out my Tourist Rebate Scheme... yep that is the name. Lets hope this goes well in the morning.

 

Off to dinner downstairs and then back up to finalize our packing... some TV and blogging capped off the day... hey 9500 steps.. not bad!

Up early for tomorrow's check in.

 

Pool Day

 Up at 7am for coffee as I checked the highlights of the Italian Grand Prix.  There was no coverage here that I could find so YouTube saved the day!

Kelly was already up and was doing her EPP (English Paper Piecing) on the deck.  I made my coffee and joined her. Another gorgeous day with birds chirping away. 

 

We walked down to the Surf Club so Kelly could get her flat white.  Less people now that the weekend is over but you could sure see the increase in cars, people etc. 

The view never gets old.

Surf Club and start of the esplanade

Coffee in hand, we wandered the esplanade in search of a nice croissant.  It was easy to find and very good. 

We walked back towards our unit and noticed several people commenting on whales… sure enough we spotted  the telltale blow of the humpback whales about 400 meters out in the bay.  We watched for a while but no breeches. 

Collapsible ride!

 

A Spa day just might be fun?? :-)

Rocky section of the beach.

 Once back at the pad we decided to use the Beachcomber’s  pool for a swim & relax.  We have been at the beach everyday so this was a nice change.  A bit overcast & windy so it was perfect timing.  A FaceTime with Kris as he is in Calgary on an overnight.  He’s coming up with a laundry list of stuff to do at their new place…. when they get possession. 

Pool time!

We watched, via my Flightradar24 app, the Northeast’s flight leave on time from BNE on its way to Vancouver. They will then catch another flight to Calgary. Safe travels!

We lounged around the pool until 11 then headed up to the unit to get a few jobs done. Laundry, blogging and lunch making.

 

I had spoken with our contact person Fiona and arranged to extend or late checkout until 11 am on Tuesday morning. This will give us additional time to pack etc. before we head south towards Brisbane tomorrow.

 

I made a chicken sandwich (with leftovers) for lunch and Kelly ate up some of hers as well.  We then walked back towards the esplanade and found the surf club as Kelly needed a larger sized shirt for a wee sprog. Quick and easy. 

Next stop was to purchase some jibbitz for another sprog. :-) With the mission accomplished, we walked back to the apartment under threatening skies. Definitely going to get some moisture soon so we grabbed a beverage and headed to the top deck to watch the activity. Some thunder and lightning in the distance and some rain drops now falling.  It quickly turned to a heavier rain and we enjoyed the show from our covered deck. 

 

We came back down and I proceeded to beat Kelly at Five Crowns... straight 0's.  Yes it actually happened... I won a game!! ( Insert celebration gif here)

  

I gave away our folding chairs to a fellow and his daughter across the way in the RV parking lot. He had a nice camper van and after explaining my reluctance to take them home to Canada, he accepted them with thanks. 

We did some packing prep and put clothes aside for tomorrow’s move day and the flight home the next day.  

Our last Mooloolaba dinner was at the Surf Club tonight a mere 6 minute walk from our door.  We walked along the road as the wind was howling out near the beach. We went upstairs to the Bayview Bar & Bites and caught the last of the daylight views. 

 As we waited for our entrees (starters or appetizers here in Australia) we talked about next summers travel plans and how it and  already seems like the calendar is filling up fast!

 

It was very good….  prawns & calamari starters and lamb shanks for the two of us. 

We walked home along the boardwalk for one final evening and listened to the waves pound the beach.  I'm showing 11,900 steps so far… and we are done… some TV & blogging and it’s off to the rack one last time in Mooloolaba. 

Move day and car rental return tomorrow. 

Little Trip Day

 

Up at 7am for coffee as I checked the highlights of the qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix.  Ferrari is looking good... for once!! 

Kelly did some EPP (English Paper Piecing) on the deck while I made some toast.  I also made a garbage run down to the bins out front. They do recycled paper and bottles/cans but nothing for food waste that I could see. 

I went for a walk out along the pathway to the end of the breakwater while Kelly showered and prepped for our day. Lots of folks and lots of dogs, all on a leash I might add. 

Once back, we FaceTimed with Harper and Rory and brought Lauren up to speed on our activities. 

Kelly made her breakfast and we headed off to the Buddina area and the Point Cartwright Lighthouse. This is right across from the spit as the crow flies but took us 10 minutes to drive around. We found a parking spot after some maneuvering and we walked along the pathway that parallels the beach. We soon came across a surfing competition so we watched that for a while. 

 

Lovely views

 

Looking south.

 

Surf action!

We worked our way out to the lighthouse and the huge water storage tank beside it  it holds 6 mega liters of fresh water for the surrounded area. It is beautifully painted.

A huge water tank in the hill.

 A geocache was close by and after a fruitless search, I logged it as a “did not find” (DNF). Darn. 

We walked down the park area and around the point to the breakwater entrance, then back along the west side to the car.  One more DNF was recorded! Not a good day!! Like cards I guess. 

We decided to repeat our home cooked mean strategy and stopped at Cole’s again. More veggies, mushrooms and although I was thinking a nice big steak we ended up with beef skewers instead. (scratch that... didn't read the label very well in my old age... it was chicken. In all fairness it was in a soy marinade so had a dark, "beef like" appearance :-) )

Back at the unit, we dropped our dinner supplies and went over to the wharf area to the Rice Boi for lunch. Then after some liberal sunscreen application, we went back to the beach for a bit of swimming and relaxing. We choose a quieter area with less wave activity. Kelly and I both went in this time around! Yes it's true! She was a trooper!

After a couple hours, Clouds came in and the temperature drop from 24c to a point where we didn't like it so off we went home!  We played Five Crowns again… yet another shellacking.  End of that story.

We cooked up dinner and after discovering it was chicken cooked it a lot more! It was ok. 

We watched some TV and relaxed. My pedometer says 18,529 steps not counting my trip to the bedroom tonight. That's why I am exhausted!

Tomorrow... coffee, toast, top up the car with gas, relax, walk, dinner at the Surf Club @ 7PM and our last night in Mooloolaba.... sniff,sniff.

Shopping and Relaxing

Up at our usually time for coffee….  then searched for Kris’s flight to LAX on Flight Radar24.... and found him on short final to land.  Threw on the LAX live-stream and watched him taxi towards the gate… ah technology!   

We enjoyed our coffee and watched some Australian Bush Turkeys flying up into the trees just off our lower deck. Definitely much better flyers than the turkeys we have back at home.

We were about to head off in search of breakfast and some grocery shopping when Kris FaceTimed from his layover hotel. Had a good conversation on his plans for the “new” purchase once they get possession. 

 

After a short walk around the back roads of the town we spotted some unique looking buildings.

  So the cost of dinning out for breakfast, lunches and dinners is fairly high compared to Canada. We knew this and planned accordingly.  Today we stopped and had a couple flat white coffees, I had a breakfast bun and Kelly a egg chorizo avocado thingy called the "Mexican". This came to $58 cdn and it was very good, much like all the prepared food here. So after breakfast, we walked around the corner to Coles grocery store and bought tonight’s dinner. 

All the ingredients including several spices & olive oil came to $52 cdn for rack of lamb, veggies, garlic potatoes and a salad.  Not too shabby considering the price we paid for breakfast. 

Dinner supplies.

 We walked back along the shoreline and noticed the increase in foot traffic with the weekend upon us. And it’s the start of Spring here as well. Kelly stopped in at the Surf Club as we are planning a dinner there on Monday after the crowds die down.

Mega slides in the kid's area!

Surf Club

Back at the unit, we prepped the lamb and I then went and had a nap. The sleep has been a bit restless each night and I just needed a recharge. Kelly went to the shops :-) 

A couple hours later we lathered on the sunscreen and headed to the beach and our usual spot by the life guard station. Chairs, cooler bag, back packs all loaded up. Lots of families out and a lot more kids now. Once we set up our chairs, we FaceTimed my mom, dad & sister Carri in St. Albert and showed them our beach spot.  Nice to see them all. 

Into the water we.. er I went:-)  Kelly stayed close to shore but enjoyed the surf anyway. Back to the chair for a towel off and beverage and we watched all the kids playing volleyball. 

 

We watched some para-gliders doing their thing on the next beach over and thought maybe doing a trip over to that area tomorrow afternoon. Just an idea. It started to cool off so we packed up and headed back to shower and relax. 

 

Our BBQ on the upper deck is a different type than we are use to back home... no grills but a flat surface instead. I played around with the burners and did the best I could :-) 

 

Dinner was prepared and we enjoyed the home cooked meal.  We are both thinking a repeat tomorrow night with maybe steak & prawns?? We will see.

A different method than we are use to but it worked great.

Dinner is served! 

 

It was a success.

 

The City of Brisbane had their Riverfire 2023 fireworks display on tonight so we watched that on the TV after dinner... not sure what that cost but man that was some show.

Kelly kicked my butt again at Five Clowns!   Not impressed with this game.. but she loves it!