Annie,Sister & Nieces goes to Eumundi markets near Gympie
Annie,her sister and two nieces did a round trip to visit these unique Australian markets ( I had to stay home watching horror movies on my own !!)These markets are about 120 kms from our home and they are situated near Gympie,central Queensland By 1985, The Original Eumundi Markets had 97 stalls, with an estimated attendance of 143,000 people for the year.By 1990, it had grown to 203 stalls, with some 260,000 visitors for the year.From the outset, the markets were popular with locals, but as the market community grew and grew, so did the interest from tourists visiting the Sunshine Coast.By the early 90’s, Eumundi Markets had became a ‘must do’ for interstate and overseas visitors holidaying in the region. It also proved the perfect distance for day trippers from Brisbane after some quality retail therapy.By the year 2000, the market had grown to 350 stalls, and in 2002, the Original Eumundi Markets expanded to include Wednesday as well. Over the years, several independent organisations, including the Eumundi and District Community Association, have also set up other market operations adjacent to The Original Eumundi Markets, making the overall Eumundi Markets now the biggest art and craft market in Australia.The market community has now grown to more than 600 stalls and boasts an annual visitation of 1.6 million people! The Original Eumundi Markets continue to focus on handmade products, with the ethos of “make it, bake it, grow it, sew it”. (courtesy http://www.eumundimarkets.com.au/About/history All these stalls and Annie hardly bought a thing !!!
PRE Christmas Rush ! and jobs well done !
This has been a very busy week for us,firstly we had to take the bus and car to Bundaberg (home of rum making !) for towing bars to be fitted in readiness for the BIG trip in Feb when we can now tow (free wheel) our 4 wheel drive in order we can reach in accessible areas ! On the way there we passed a house that has a railing (straight bars ) around the house containing what seemed to be live animals ! On further inspection they are all plastic BUT unbelievably realistic !! I towed the car home and considering it was the first time I have ever done this it worked out extremely well without incident (110 kms !) We next encountered a building in the shape of a HUGE barrel and of course? they make barrels!! We also had the opening of our new community centre showing life around Hervey bay and some of the BEST mural type panoramic photo s I have ever seen ( sadly,to buy? around $5000 each !) featuring Whales,insects,sea life,all of which are also displayed in the HUGE cinema room. Annie attended the Xmas lunch run by her her PROBUS group of ladies and she has also landed a job in St Vinnies and best of all she gets job seeker allowance that doesn’t impact on my pension !! Mid week we went to the Boat Club for the annual Toy Raffle attended by Father Xmas,sadly NO win for us BUT the table next to us won FOUR prizes !! Our number plates,sadly, have also had to be changed over from Western Australian plates to Queensland plates and I no longer bear my personalized LUXXIE plates ,however, the rego numbers are 243 exactly the same as my old house in Perth ! I dont understand the rationale of each State over here having different licence plates,Maybe one day Australia will do just that !!!n The plan is coming together nicely (2013 trip)and I think we are expecting visitors next week
Annie takes me Walking
We are lucky enough to live a few minutes from the Coast.Strolling around the Boat Harbour we were fortunate enough to take good photo’s. I don’t take for granted what this Planet can offer. Hervey Bay is a really pleasant place and walking around I realise more and more how I am blessed ! My suburb is called Urangan with the Harbour and beaches in the same area.Boats a re a plenty and the wild life (as usual) is fantastic ! Eagles,jelly fish,kookaburras and even a lovely bug were on display today.Father Christmas was about doing a charity run in order for those people who are struggling may just have a better Xmas ( If you see him? donate !) Flowers and a variety of roadway signs are also very evident.The boat Club holds 3 massive raffles a week offering mostly Xmas Turkeys and Hams ( beer,dinner tickets and other prizes also on offer) We were lucky enough to win a HUGE Turkey on the very first raffle !! This time last year we were on our way to Melbourne and the ferry to Tasmania (see blogs from mid Nov 2011) This year will be spent at home with family (resting before the BIG one in Feb 2013) A Crocodile was spotted in the harbour (Tis a statue !!) Whales hang in side shopping centres and a Harpoon from well bygone days is on show ( Hervey Bay is world renown for travelling whales and the spectacle is a huge revenue raiser for some local business,s)
NOT to forget the GIANT Koala,s on display in the Market entrance !!!
Gimme a Sign !!!
I dont usually advertise and have rejected lots of adverts in over 550 posts BUT a visit to these guys have prompted me to praise their product ! We sent in a simple plan for our new sign (designed to cover a few sins on the back of our much travelled bus having removed the toolbox to make way for our tow bar!) They have sent a slightly different design than one we sent them and we are delighted with the result !! Putting the sign on is because we are about to change our number plates (from WA to Qld) and it will cost too much for the change of personalized plates.However I am keeping my favourite colour (NOT the wifes !) Pink as a back ground and the Recycled Teenager bit was acquired at our very large BOONAH motorhome gathering .SO if around this area and you want a sign of almost any description give these guys a go !
These people even sent me an URL for downloading photo resizers (at NO extra charge ! I think?)
Tis the Season to be Jolly !
December the first and our first Carols by Candle light for the Xmas season is about to commence! The Hervey Bay Historical Museum which is a village designed from days gone by ( which opened in 1974 with one building that was the first Public Hall at Dundowran ) was the venue and the carol singing appropriately named Carols in the Village .Lots of children were dressed in Christmas costumes (as were some adults!) Although we took our chairs we managed to secure a park bench just for the 2 of us..Proceedings began with a lone Scottish Piper..SO..let the night begin !!!Entertainment was of the highest calibre and we were treated pre Carols with songs from a local entertainer by the strange name of Jack Vea Vea. We settled in with our bottle of wine,cheese,biscuits,grapes and enjoyed the warm evening.Local groups Mansong,Fraser Coast Chorus and the Community Centre Kids were all in fine voice.One particular carol had been re written by a 94 yr old local man,who we were fortunate enough to sit next too! and the first verse is (Sung to the tune of Jingle Bells)
DASHING THRU THE BUSH IN A RUSTY HOLDEN UTE
KICKING UP THE DUST,ESKY IN THE BOOT
KELPIE BY MY SIDE,SINGING CHRISTMAS SONGS
ITS SUMMER TIME AND I AM IN MY SINGLET AND SHORTS AND THONGS-HEY!
There of course more verses BUT too long for my blog ! (for those outside Australia..Kelpie is a dog,Thongs are sandals,and an Esky is for putting COLD beer in and a Holden is a VERY popular Aussie vehicle) As the skies grew darker with the coming of evening we were treated to seeing hundreds of BATS flying overhead and methinks our singing may have thrown them of their returning to home ritual. The evening ended with the grand entrance of Father Christmas to the delight of lots of kids all fighting for good viewing vantage points ( at this stage I managed to restrain myself!) and he didn’t disappoint ! Thru out the evening drinks/raffles/sausage sizzles were sold at very reasonable prices I sincerley hope in years to come,these events are not over ruled by politically correct zealots. Bring on the next Carol Session (altho I am an atheist, most of the songs I used to sing door knocking at the Xmas run up to make a bit of pocket money AND I do enjoy getting involved in this great tradition …..
He updated Jingle Bells inOzzie slang !
107.5 FM Hervey Bay Radio
Today this community radio station had an open day and fundraiser in the hope of gathering some much needed funds for this mainly music station run completely by volunteers.I was impressed with the announcers who went out of their way explaining the run of the place . My Lancashire accent may just be a hindrance and I am seriously thinking of applying to do some voluntary work.Staff are very pleasant and helpful With us getting back on the road in February (stay tuned for some upcoming great pics of our journey The website could do with a bit of tweaking with some listener input. Heres hoping the station makes lots of money on this fund raising day Website is http://www.frasercoast.fm/ and they are also on Facebook and Twitter
The Boat Club and the Melbourne Cup Tuesday 6th November
Today was a great day we went in the Club at 10 am (the race was at 2pm !) After buying a $5 book of vouchers that got us reduced beer and food prices and a selection of raffle tickets PLUS a $3 mystery bet and a free scratch n match sweep ticket the day began !! We sat in the main lounge and a jazz band was playing to keep us entertained ( I,m not a fan of jazz BUT these elderly players were really good)playing Temperance Seven and sing along stuff .Upstairs in another concert hall a duet were playing old rock n roll music.The place was ALIVE and thru out the day we were kept busy with raffles/music/keno/pokies etc.For lunch I had a cheese board and it was just the ticket !! Annie had Prawn mango Salad.People around us were very friendly and chatty.At 4pm ish we were ready to go.Revellers were probably going to stay till club closing (the club has a free pick up and drop off bus service) Ive reached the age where I can no longer (like in my younger days !) spend all day boozing !!
Melbourne Cup 2012 First Tuesday in November
The Melbourne Cup is Australia’s major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as “the race that stops a nation”, it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest “two-mile” handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races. Conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, the event starts at 3pm (daylight saving time) the first Tuesday in November.
The race has been held since 1861 (see list of Melbourne Cup winners) and was originally held over two miles (about 3,218 metres) but following preparation for Australia’s adoption of the metric system in the 1970s, the current race distance of 3,200 metres was established in 1972. This reduced the distance by 18.688 metres (61.31 ft), and Rain Lover’s 1968 race record of 3min.19.1sec was accordingly adjusted to 3min.17.9sec. The present record holder is the 1990 winner Kingston Rule with a time of 3min 16.3sec. At this moment in time The government are in the process of curbing pokie (one armed bandits) machines because of the hight rish of gambling addiction ,and yet this race alone takes in millions of dollars EVERYONE is encouraged to “have a bet” even school kids are allowed to watch the race during lessons ! Very contradictory eh? Being a responsible adult (yeah right !) we start our day at 10 am in The Boat Club and entertainment,dining and boozing will spread across 4 0r 5 hours until after the race SO? Cheers and Australians all have agreat winning day
All Set ready to Go !! with my new pages
Having obtained the rights to own this Blog outright I can now make extra pages and over the next few months will put absolutely tons of photos New,Old and VERY Old if you are interested click on top right P1 or P2 It is mainly a record for me that will live forever within the cyber space that is known as the Internet and also act as a quick reminder of where I have been and what I was doing at the time !I am having fun creating these pages altho it is very time consuming turning large photos into smaller ones (approx 4MB to 200kb) using HTML which I am slowly learning to do Good job I,m retired !! We are also preparing out next BIG adventure around Oz commencing Feb This time we will be towing our 4 wheel drive and hopefully get to more off road places .Cant wait !!
I LOVE this travelling
No Balloon and updating this blog
Sadly Annies Balloon trip was called off because of very high winds and Bush fires,money was refunded and she will now buy a bird bath instead !! I am experimenting with this blog at the moment and normal service will resume shortly !!
It dont get much better than this !!
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 