There’s conferences….and then there’s CONFERENCES!

   

If ever you were going to go to a conference, THIS is the place to go!

The others would disagree with me, but I loved it.

 

 

       

Lady Elliott Island.  Located 70 nautical miles from Hervey Bay.  It’s totally isolated…no phones, no TVs, no radios, no outside communication.  Well, it DID have a general phone, and it DID have A computer if you REALLY NEEDED it.  But generally speaking, no forms of communication.     Ray White held their Central Queensland Conference here.  And since we’re now part of the Ray White team, we went along as well. 

I loved it!  Chris didn’t MIND it, but he’s not open to going there again. ( along with many of the other agents who attended)

 

You see, when we arrived, we were told that it’s the mating season for many of these birds.  These little fellows are called Noddys. And there were several other species of birds as well.  But in total, there were over 1 MILLION birds  on the island.  Lady Elliott island is the only the size of maybe 5 city blocks, roughly.  That’s A LOT of birds!  And of course, with that comes the smell.  Most people held their noses until they got used to the smell.  I noticed it, but didn’t mind.  I’ve smelled worse, like dirty nappies, rubbish tips, tanneries, to name a few.  So THIS wasn’t too bad at ALL.  AND!  I brought my wide brimmed hat! (smile)

We were then guided out to the resort area while our luggage was sent off to our bungalows.  Going through the dining/bar area, this is what greeted us on the ‘other’ side…

Tropical paradise.  Lady Elliott Island is an island made of coral reef.  There is NO sand.  It’s just crushed coral.  The whole island is surrounded by coral reefs.  The clarity of the water is unsurpassed.  And once we got passed the “oohs and aahs”, we followed our guide around as he led us to our bungalows.  Once we settled in to our bungalow, we booked in, picked up our snorkel gear, and headed in to the conference hall.

Our lead in to the conference was interesting for some, boring for others, depending on your own position within the company.  I for one, usually get something out of these even if it’s a tidbit that will improve my performance.  So I’m usually encouraged.

The first part only went for one hour to reconvene later that night.  By this time, it was lunch, so we headed off to the dining room first and had lunch over looking this beautiful reef.

 

 

After lunch, we geared up and headed out to the boat to get to outer reef edge.  Sorry, but there’s no pictures of old fat people in snorkel gear.  This is where “old people’s talk” starts.  My knee held up while paddling around in the water.  Mostly, because I used my left leg most of the time or my arms to paddle along.  And NO, I didn’t swim around in circles.  (smile)  Chris wrenched his hip while putting his flippers on.  Afterwards, we found out that he had one of MY flippers and one of HIS flippers and it was tough trying to put on the small size that wouldn’t fit.  And while the boat is bobbing around on the swell, it was tough going.  Some aspirin later on helped.  I didn’t notice that I had on two different sizes either, otherwise I could have saved him the trouble. 

Back to the story….the snorkelling was FABULOUS!  We saw HUGE sea turtles, manta rays, fish that you would LOVE to have on the end of your fishing line.  The colours of the coral were great.  There were little “Nemo” fish (clown fish) Angel fish, and a myriad of other marine life.  It was great.  I could just float around all day.

But, it was time to come in.  Dinner time was coming up and we needed to get ready for the next session.

 

 

Just as the sun was setting on the other side of the island, we waited and chatted a while until the dining hall was open and queued up on the buffet.

Once session two was completed, some headed for the bar, others headed back to their bungalows.  Chris and I made our way back to the bungalow dodging birds in our path.  The noise was almost deafening.  There were two birds on our deck cooing out to any females that might be flying about.  I don’t know if you’ve ever seen any bats or not, but the amount of birds that were flying around, it was like the volume of a bat colony.  The noise was extremely loud especially in the night air.  Chris and I settled in to our bed and another jolt.  The bed AND pillows were firm.  I mean EXTREMELY firm.  These old fat bodies were used to cushy comfort with foam underlays, a woollen overlay, and squishy pillows, so THIS!  was a little uncomfortable.  And those that drank heavily probably never felt a THING!  In the middle of the night those little birds who were cooing so softly started screaming like babies and screeching….ALL NIGHT……LONG!  it didn’t stop until morning.  And the morning…….despite not getting much sleep…….

The following morning was absolutely glorious!  Chris and I headed down to the water’s edge.  Chris talked to one of the other agents while I snorkelled in the shallow areas of the reef.  That morning, I saw blue starfish and some good sized Bream. (fish)  We decided to have breakky and we headed back in for session three which was all morning and we stopped at lunch.  Free time for the rest of the day.  We headed over to the light house as did some of the others.  I forgot my snorkel mask and fins, so I just took pictures.

  

  

 

 

Tonight was the night for AUCTION!  And who better to specialize in auctions that REAL ESTATE agents!  And of course, I was called up first to sell off a cooler that helps keep your drinks cold.  I don’t know how I did, but I got the thumbs up from the boss, so it must have been okay.  We were given some token dollars to play since we were new to the business, but it was fun watching all the antics that people got up to.  Chris was one of the last few called and he was very sneaky about selling off his product an electric “ mozzie repeller”.  he sold it to me without waiting for further bids.  I was shocked, but everyone else took it in their strides. ( I think…maybe not…who knows)  Well, there were laughs all around.  Once the fun was over, everyone headed out either to the bar, or the beach or their rooms.  Chris and I settled down for HOPEFULLY a better night’s sleep.

Well, even the birds settled down.  No more screeching like babies, no more calls to each other in the night.  Only soft cooing.  We slept much better.  Chris was up early our last morning.  He got up to watch the sunrise and got some very interesting pictures.

  

  

I knew he couldn’t sleep, so I made a coffee and walked down to the beach to watch the sunrise too.

Later in the morning, we had awards to give out to the top performers.  Three of our Hervey Bay group received awards this year.  Maybe we’ll see  Chris’s name up there next year!  After that we packed up and headed out to the airport to wait for our plane to arrive to take us back to the office.  It was back to reality.

  

I loved Lady Elliott Island.  I thought it was great.  And while there’s not that much to do except for snorkel, eat, drink, and RELAX.  It’s a nice place to simply unwind and just enjoy BEING.

Long Weekends…gotta love em’.

Oh what to do on a long weekend…  Well, this is what we’re doing. (so far.) 

A bit of fishing.  As you can see there’s barely a mouthful of this fish.  We haven’t figured out what it is yet or if it’s actually edible.  The water was like glass on the bay and that’s the first time we’ve ever seen it that way.  It was an absolutely spectacular day for being on the boat.

And the Hot Rod show came to town, so we went down to the esplanade and checked out some of the cars that were cruising down the road.  I don’t know who was more excited, me…. or Chris who was exclaiming “Did you get THAT one?!…Come on Kath! Get up here and take a picture!!!!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only car I know out of this lot is the Hudson and that’s ONLY because I watched the Disney movie “Cars”….well, that…and Chris told me.  But even if I don’t know what the names of the cars are, I still enjoy the lines and symmetry and, of course…. the paint jobs.

And the long weekend isn’t finished.  We’re starting the day off with a Blueberry Coffee Cake. After that a bike ride, and we’ll finish the day watching the Bay to Bay boats arrive this afternoon.

And while Autumn has returned, keeping the nights cool and the days warm, we’re settling in quite nicely.

Officially Australian.

Well, the time has come.  We’re about to be sworn in by the Mayor for our citizenship.  We’ve been waiting for several months for all of this to come to fruition. 

So what’s it mean becoming an Australian?  Mostly, it means we can now vote.  It means we have a say in which politicians we want, to run this country. 

It also means we can apply for government jobs….to be a part of the ‘red tape’ brigade. (oh goody)   No, we’re not going to do that.  But we COULD!

In truth, I already consider myself an Australian.  I’ve lived here for over 30 years.  I know the ‘lengo’, I know those ‘hidden’ rules of conversation and engagement.  I know about the flora and fauna.  I know the majority of its history.  I understand it’s sport,…well,…except for Cricket, but I don’t feel bad about that because nobody else does either.

There’s a subtlety in Australians that’s hidden by their bawdy humour and their larrikinism.  They’re quick to take on new mates and open their hearts and homes to those in need.  Australians are a light hearted group as a whole and most know what’s going on in the rest of the world and understand how it effects them.  But they don’t dwell on the negative either.  They seem to be philosophical, but will take on the world for the underdog. 

Yes,…I will enjoy being an “Official” Australian,  And for my relatives from America, don’t worry, I have dual citizenship, so I will be BOTH.  And while my accent is still as strong as ever, I will ALWAYS be known as an American to the Australians. But in my heart, I’ll always be an Australian.

A new family member added to our nest.

This is the latest member of our family. She’s VERY affectionate and purrs like a well oiled engine. The folks at the Animal refuge center called her “Genna”. (short for generator.)  Her name now, is Maddie and she’s four months old. 

Maddie has explored the whole house now.  And Bella has discovered there’s a CAT inside the house!  So she’s been glued to the back sliding doors as she watches this,..this…CAT scampering throughout the house like she OWNS it or something.

Maddie sleeps with us at night and promptly wakes us at 4am.  Well, she wakes CHRIS at 4am but I sleep on despite the purring whiskers in my face.

You’ll notice that part of her tail is gone.  I thought she may have been a Manx breed, but no, she’s had an accident somewhere along the way as there’s a tell tale kink in her tail as well.

And she’s house trained as evidenced by the sand gravel scattered across the laundry floor in the mornings.  After further investigation, I strongly suspect that Maddie may be of male gender too as certain parts of her anatomy look distinctly male.  I guess we’ll find that out when the vet looks at her at de-sexing time in the next couple of months.  (no, I’m NOT able to tell the sex of a cat.  You’d think it would be apparent. Go figure.)

Maddie loves exploring. She’s discovered the bathroom, all the bedrooms, the pantry, the linen cupboard, and she’s discovered that she can jump on the rubbish bin to get to the top of the desk where I have my computer.  And she tries to hunt the cursor and anything else moving around the computer.  She watches my fingers type away and tries to attempt to bat them and play too.   I have found out that she definitely DOES NOT like the vacuum cleaner.  But she’ll learn in time that it will go around her, not through her. 

Well, having Maddie around certainly has given me a new lease on life too.  It’s fun to play with her and talk to her.  I love watching her antics as she explores the house. 

She’s already caught one big black spider and ATE it. YUK.

I’m hoping she’ll be a good mouser too.  We may need that skill later on.

Well, I for one welcome Maddie into our home.  She’s going to be a great entertainment and a wonderful little companion.

Homeward bound, worn and weary.

Well, we’re homeward bound now.  We’ll be home in about four hours.  Washing needs to be done, groceries need to be bought, and Bella needs a cuddle.  (I know this cause we have a psychic connnection.)

All of us are worn and weary.  And as we make our way home, plans start formulating on what the next step is. 

Pam and Ron are due to fly out in the next couple of days.  Chris is due to go to school in the next month to get his Real Estate License, and I have plans to go to school and pick up a job somewhere.  So with all of that in mind, I’ll grab another cup of coffee before we go.

From out bush to the “Outback”

Okay, before I start here, I need to let you know that while we were in Undarra last night, I’ve written 5 postings, so keep scrolling down to the next five blogs.  This one is the latest news in what’s happening.

We landed at Undarra Lava Tubes last night.  We had a good meal and headed back to the carriages for a restful sleep.  These carriages contained two single beds.  There were no coffee facilities or bathroom facilities.  The bathroom/toilet were in a separate carriage.  We could have gotten ensuited rooms, but I’m not sure what happened there.  But it was a unique experience at any rate.

We were all up early in the morning and packed the car before having this “bush’ breakky.  There’s nothing better than bacon and eggs on an open grill in the bush.  And we had plenty of coffee to go around.  You just had to watch out for

these guys as they will take your bacon or sausages away from your plate in the blink of an eye.  They also operate as the morning alarm to let you know what time it is.

 

Once we finished breakky we headed off on our tour through the lava tubes.  We took the two hour tour because we had such a distance to go to.

 

 

 

 

As we walked down in to the cave, we prepared to get wet.  With all the rain they’ve had in the last few weeks, the caves had knee high water in one and in the other, it was shoulder height.

 

Here’s Chris and Pam in ankle high water listening to the guide talk about the lava tubes and how they were formed.

 

 

 

 

The view as we made our way back out of the cave.

 

 

 

 

Well, we finished our tour and started heading to Hughendon for a layover stop.  This road is a “development” road which means it’s being developed.  So there’s part tarred/bitumen roads, part dirt road, and part boggy mess road.

We even crossed a few creeks that were overflowing with water.

Einasleigh Station creek.

 

 

 

 

The view from the other side of the creek.

 

 

 

But we did see a bit of life along the road apart from the guys who were working on the road.

 

 

Just before we landed in to Hughendon, we stopped in at Porcupine Gorge to have a “sticky beak”.

The river above is Gregory’s River which cuts through the station.  And this little guy was just ‘hanging’ around.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it’s been a very long day and a tiring one too.  The driver is having a sleep and the others are resting before their dinner at the local pub.  Tomorrow we’ll have to see if the road out to Larke Quarry is open as we saw a couple this afternoon who booked in as well and said they couldn’t get out there because it was too wet.  It could be that we go straight to Longreach in that case.  We’ll see.

Today is the BIG DAY!!

We got up the next morning trying to remain relaxed but excited at the same time.  Chris took the bride and her ladies to Casey’s mum’s house early in the morning so they could get ready. The photographer was due at 11:30 for family photos.  Rob and Marc showed up mid morning, and Neil and Brett five minutes later.  Everybody started preparing for the photos.

Scotty and Cody chillin before the chaos starts.

 

 

 

 

Chris and I doing that last minute checkup on the dance routine.

 

Even grabbed Pam and Liz for a quick lesson.

 

 

 

 

The boys already to go.

The Bride and the Groom.  This is  the only picture of the wedding I’ll be putting on the blog.  There’s more on my facebook page for those of you who want more wedding pictures. For some reason, I feel that putting this on the blog is wrong, but I know that there are some who are not on Facebook and would like to see the photos.  If you want to see more photos, please email me and I’ll send them to you.

 

The wedding was magical.  And it wouldn’t be a typical wedding if some things didn’t come off without a hitch.  But for the most part, it went beautifully.  Even the weather behaved itself while the wedding party made their way across the golf course for more photos.  The meal was superb.  Each person received their own mini wedding cake to take home along with chocolates and candles.  Everybody behaved themselves and still had a great night.

Our congratulations to the bride and groom.  May they live “happily ever after”.

Catching up with family today….

It’s Saturday, the day before the wedding.  Al, Heather, and the boys arrive right after breakfast.  We decided that we would have a look in town to have a cup of coffee and see the esplanade.

 

It wasn’t raining, but it wasn’t too far off either.  Showers were the order of the day.

As evidenced to the left and right of the camera shot.

 

 

The groom, who seemed very excited.

 

 

 

 

The bride, who decided to drop off Camille’s dress at the marina where we were having coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

Camille tried on her flower girl’s dress which fitted beautifully.  She looked just like a fairy princess and it makes for a great “spinny” dress!

 

 

 

 

Here we are at the marina catching up.

 

 

 

 

After lunch we headed back up in to town so some of us could get the Easter shopping done.  We picked up some food for the night and eventually caught up to Al and Heather, who went their own way for the day.

Miss Camille certainly wasn’t shy about posing.

 

We headed over to Jenny’s unit for dinner.  We were going to have a progressive dinner in each of the units, but with Cody needing his sleep, we had the whole affair at their unit.

 

Heather brought chicken and salad, Jenny, the nibblies, and I brought the desserts.

The bride and groom catching up with family the night before the wedding.  But there was more to look forward too……

 

 

Everybody joining in the fun.

 

 

 

 

Scotty and Brett’s first go at dying Easter eggs.

Brett’s first attempt came out quite good!!

 

 

 

 

Well, with Easter Eggs done, Camille and Cody in bed, it was time to send the groom home and the bride upstairs to her unit.  Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!