Cheekyricho Queensland Holiday with Klara

We sat around chatting until about lunchtime then drove the short distance to town. I bought 5 pairs of Birkenstocks and Klara bought 2 pairs. Giggling all the time and joking with Francis the shop owner. If this keeps up we will be hit with excess baggage. 

Now for lunch the choices are amazing. Vietnamese won. A warm Chicken Salad with a huge bowl of Chicken Pho. Off to Woollies for some viddles for breakfast tomorrow, some giggle water and a lovely sleep. Forgot to have dinner, still full from lunch. Waddled around all afternoon and lying Apple Watch said I only did 3 minutes excercise all day.

Note to self"Tomorrow Waddle Faster!!!"🤔😉

This is the pool at the hotel. It looked very inviting and the water was definitely warm enough to swim. Klara could've but refrained as I was unable to due to my recent foot surgery and she didn't want to make me feel left out plus she was a afraid I might take some sneaky pics of her.... Now would I do that? Guess she knows me better than I thought.

My toe has sort of been chopped off and stuck back on, the middle one has somhow been lengthened and seems to be stuck out sideways and won't move. The whole foot is swollen and has an odd ' that's not MY foot feeling' but I can shower without a foot bag now, I just can't swim. So here I am in tropical far North Queensland in the middle of winter staying in a nice little hotel with a lovely pool full of inviting warm water and I CANT get my foot wet in the pool! Talk about bad timing!

Cheekyricho mini break to Cairns

We decided to drive up to Port Douglas and stop along the way and check out anything that took our fancy.

Flying close overhead were these para thingies. Klara & I stopped watch them. The colours were so pretty and bright. They simply danced around each other it was so serene, they made it look so easy. Three of them were in these hammock/sock things and one was in a sling chair arrangement. They ducked and weaved about over the cliff, rising higher then dropping down so low I thought they would land before gently lifting up over us again. So many cars stopped and jumped out to take photos because they were so close you could see their facial features and easily read the decals on the kites.

We ended up at Port Douglas and wandered around the Main Street before settling for a steak and chips and a barramundi and chips at the Iron something? Hotel. It was fresh fast and reasonably priced pub grub. Klara had a wine and I was driving so I waited until we got back to the hotel for happy hour.

Klara was wearing her new Butterfly Sundress, it looked so summery and pretty on her. I hope she wears it until falls to bits. Teamed with her new FlouropinkBirkenstocks she floated about like a little fairy. 

Flagstaff Hill is the name of the lookout in Port Douglas. It's pretty well in town up quite a steep street and the vista was lovely. People swimming, azure blue skies, steep mountains fringed the beach and the ocean was flat as a tack because we were protected from the waves inside the Great Barrier Reef. Plenty of tourists stopped to enjoy it. I was so pleased they talked in hushed tones and quietly enjoyed the view posing in selfies and photographing each other. I hate it when tourist destinations are crammed with loud talking people who spoil it for everyone by taking up all the vantage points and allow their kids to run rampart. Scream up in a cloud of dust and tear away to the next spot. This was perfect nobody disrespected their fellow tourists, the spectacular place or the residents living in such a gorgeous location. 

I do love it up here in winter. The weather is balmy, the nights are warm and the skies are clear. We got here a bit late to wander around the Sunday Beach markets because everyone was packing up their wares but we enjoyed a walk around town. Klara tried on some swimmers but couldn't find any she liked and I was happy just walking around the little tourist town.

The Xtrail gets a nudge bar Cheekyricho mechanical

We bought a nudge bar for the Xtrail and decided to fit it ourselves, me in my moon sandal and protesting back, Richo providing the muscle power while he did another job painting the drop down table mounted on the Mercedes sliding door. That's where we'll be doing most of our cooking on our camping trips. 

The nudge bar is on and we are particularly proud of  our efforts, first time attempting such a job and no instructions. The trickiest part was cutting 4 holes in the bumper bar to receive the brackets. I was nervous because you only get one crack at it and we had no template to work with. Takes Nissan about 2 hours, it took us most of the day. It looks schmick and hopefully will protect us from the odd bump. It also has a bar on it for the new light bar we bought for country road driving.

It's getting cold of a morning and my little old chihuahua is feeling the cold so I brought out my favourite little ceramic heater to keep her warm. After hibernating all summer it worked great for about 20 minutes, then the fan went off and it went 'POOF' then 'BANG' I switched it off immediately and pulled it apart to see if it was something simple but it wasn't so I bought another one and tonight my little fur friends are warm 'n toasty again. Tilly spends much of the night worrying about the possums in the avocado tree and so she should. I don't mind sharing a few avo's with them but they are downright greedy. Needless to say  Tilly 'the keeper of the avo's' has trouble getting up in the morning, in fact, she has to be kicked out at about 9 o'clock.

Tomorrow we go to Queensland. I see my orthopaedic surgeon re my foot. We camp overnight and I am in a 6am flight to cairns onFriday. I am meeting up with my friend from Melbourne I found on YouTube. We are going to have the best time, eating, drinking, laughing and talking. I can't wait.... 2 more sleeps til we get to the top end of Australia where the weather is twice as warm. This lady is a Thermomix wiz and an excellent cook, I I hope I will be learning heaps from her.

Off to Sydney Cheekyricho road/plane/train trip

A friend needed a van for work before the  30th of June for tax reasons. The trouble is he didn't have time to find one so he entrusted me with the task. So for the second financial year in a row I found Malcolm a van. Negotiated a price he was thrilled with now Richo & I are sitting on a plane going to bring it home for Malcolm, sort of a minbreak. It's going to be a whirlwind trip but it's s gorgeous winters day and with the voting out of the way we can stop on the way home anytime we want with a big empty van. Have a meal takes some photos and listen to Richo's plans to visit every inland dam he can see from the plane. Did you know we can earn Velocity Frequent Flyer points for Tilly the Terrier. I wonder what she would think of a plane trip? It's another fun flight with the Virgin Australia crew, they have a great sense of humour. A complimentary snack of hot coffee and 

A Cadbury crackers in chocolate was offered for morning tea. Richo gobbled his down before the coffee arrived, raving  about how yummy it was and then not soSurreptitiously eyeing mine off. Resisting the urge to hunch over it a glare at him I decided to nibble it slowly starting at the edges while my Apple Watch. Heralded the fact that I had already burnt off a 3rd of my calorie /kj for the day. Shhhh don't tell Apple I've been eating chocolate bwahaaahaaa !!!🍫🍏⌚️

The Cheekyricho camper conversion has started

The Camper conversion has started, the new awning, drop down table for outdoor cooking and the solar panel with big expensive lithium house battery have heralded the start of what is to become our cosy home on wheels for holidays with our two darling little dogs. We can't wait. The bed and UHF radio are also in and the fridge and cabinetry and sink have been waiting patiently in storage for the opportunity to join our merry little troupe.

Ahead of us lay many arguments about the right way to do things. I don't know why Richo persists in challenging my design ideas, it is so much easier and quicker to let me have my way in the first place. I always win... Why fight it?🤔😉

Back home & hit the floor running

Well it's been a fortnight since we got back. I've had another operation on my foot.

This time to straighten a couple of toes that protested at the previous tendon transfer and bone fusions. So more tendon work and metal Implants to sort that. Not painful really except for these muscle/slash nerve spasms that have given me grief every night. Mind you  pain medication is keeping the bad stuff at bay. 6 weeks in a Moon Sandal and I should be able to wear my normal boots and shoes again. Yesterday was very cold so I baked bread and made pots of soup. Richo is installing some lights etc in our new carport and we made an unscheduled trip to Bunnings Hardware for more bits for the job. 

I bought another car, it's not a new one but we should have plenty of fun in it.. We don't like the new model, they have downsized the diesel rnfine, removed a heap of storage compartments, squashed the sides in around the luggage compartment and now the new back seats don't lay flat. This is similar to the one I relocated for a company from Melbourne to Brisbane a year or so back and let me tell you, I did not want to give them back the keys. Doesn't everyone lie flat on their back after foot surgery and research & then buy a car. Or is it just me? Oh and my tricky back has sent me off for another MRI. Please please just be  muscular  and not some random hardware issue, I really don't want anymore spinal surgery.

Great news though my friend has invited me to Cairns, in a week or so,  for a few days catch up, sort of of a girls long weekend. So excited, I need a holiday and I've only been back a fortnight LOL, how did I ever find time to go to work. Retirement is just so busy.

Airfares, accomodation and restaurants all this while I'm being followed by a moon sandal, moon sandal, moon sandal my cat Stevens fan friends will understand..

We Love Virgin Airlines. Well done Sir Richard!

We boarded our Virgin Australia flight home. It left on time we had an ample luggage allowance included with our flight. There were complimentary pens, masks, blankets, pillows, ear plugs,  water, USB charges for our devices,  head phones and an extensive entertainment system with oodles of variety for us when we arrived at our economy (cattle class) seat which was larger, with more leg room than any plane we have flown in in years. The information over the speaker was easy to understand, clear, concise and audible. The safety information was also displayed in an entertaining fashion on each and every headrest as well as a live demonstration by the cabin crew ( who were amazing throughout the entire flight)

Food service was a choice of 3 hot meals, we opted for the beef casserole with parsley mash and root veges. Salted caramel gelato and a Fat yak beer. With a bread roll. It was really nice, no I'm serious I'd happily eat it at home. This airplane food had flavoursome taste, variety and texture. Good job, and we weren't that hungry but it was a decent sized portion. There was the alternative of Thai chicken or a vegetarian pasta dish too, so most tastes were covered. I was impressed with the selection of complimentary drinks, wines, beers, juices and tea or coffee offered as well.

Full belly, lights out, goodnight.

I watched The Martian on my personal entertainment device, snoozed on my head hugging head rest with my pillow and awoke to surf the movie channel again. Sometime during the night the flight attendant offered us a crisp icy cold, juicy sweet apple and a napkin to mop up the juice and store the spent core. Perfect, freshen your palette after the the cabin air dried you out a bit. 

Breakfast was an egg and sausage wrap, it was tasty, hot, not soggy with a blueberry muffin and creamy fruit yoghurt, coffee and juice. All great, tasty, healthy, not too heavy yet satisfying. Well Done Sir Richard!!!!!

We Didn't have to queue for the loo until last thing, a delivered call before landing where passengers were fixing hair and brushing teeth to greet the morning and even then it was a short wait. We were given destination arrival information, temp, time, weather etc and arrived a little early.

This is our view of the daybreak over the ocean a pink hue tinged the wings musky pink as they carried us safely home.

Our first view of land. Moreton island with its sandy beach fringe and blue waters.

Not long now and we were safe home in one of the loveliest  countries in the world. 

I have been collecting Qantas frequent Flyer points for decades and have been saving them for this trip. A one way flight for the two of us would've used around 300,000 Qantas points. That would've used up nearly all of my carefully amassed points. I have also

Been collecting Virgin Velocity points for a little while. This trip home, for the two of us, used just over 100,000 points plus a couple of dollars for taxes etc. we were shy of a few points and Richo's son was able to gift us the short fall of 10,000 points which we can repay anytime as I have them connected to the credit card we used whilst away. This was without any doubt the most welcoming, comfortable long haul flight we have ever experienced. It's the thing you dread your whole holiday. It's the thing you need days to recover from when you get back, it's the thing that wards people off travelling big distances, that dreaded long, dragged out, cramped end or beginning to any holiday or business trip. The time passed quickly and we arrived home refreshed.

Sir Richard and your friendly welcoming staff, catering crew and entertainment design team nailed it, really aced it. You deserve a big hug for the outstanding service Virgin Australia provided for us on VA8 from LAX to BRIS this week. 

Oh and I'm not collecting Qantas points anymore, why would you?!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to you and your entire team.

Goodbye USA

It's been a wonderful holiday but now it's time to go. Thanks for looking after us Anerica, we have learned a lot about you and enjoyed your hospitality.

Disneyland Adventure

The Happiest place on earth is also the busiest. We left on a cool morning that looked like it was going to rain, by mid day the sun was out and it was really warm. Richo was quite happy to ride Splash Mountain and cool off.

After dining on a feed of sticky, spicy moist and tender ribs with some baked beans with bacon and coleslaw and potato salad washed down with a glass of iced tea we ventured back out into the sunshine to stand in more lines and be thrilled by the rides. Richo passed the time quickly chatting to fellow passengers. Everyone was interested to hear more about Australia, discuss our gun laws and politics and share stories of their home town. Everyone including old people to tiny tots were so well behaved. Despite the incredible crowd, which we were assured was 'not that busy', people moved about in an orderly fashion. Richo hates crowds but he enjoyed Disneyland we were tired when we got there after the last couple of massive days. He had no intention of staying for the parade but an exmarine we met in line talked it up and told us the best vantage point so we stayed and Richo was just as enthralled as the fellow park patrons, some of whom had seen it many times. On the way out we stumbled across the Buzz Lightyear ride which only had a 30 minute wait, this had lines up to 2 hours long earlier so we decided to check it out. I had no idea what to do, I should've asked a kid, but Richo cottoned on and flogged me in the game 2:1 back out into the crush, the last of the fireworks and onto the bus home. We had some chicken and salad on ice in our room with cherries and beer, an odd but welcome combination to get us through to breakfast. There simply wasn't time to stop and eat dinner at Disneyland with so much to see and do.

The parade was stunning and everyone was dancing and singing.

Buzz Lightyear giving Richo some last minute flight instructions. To Infinity & Beyond!

Goodbye Disneyland and thank you for another magical day.

Death Valley

The Consisently Hottest temperature on earth. Death Valleytoday is a cool one.

We had a picnic lunch under the only tree we could find.

Meat & cheese roll with a zero coke and a banana. Even a crow was walking around with his mouth wide open in the heat. Richo reckons he was wearing a poor colour choice. Black Jacket, explain that one Darwin.

134 is the record here so this would've been a cool day in comparison. The little Jetta is just coping with the air con. We turned it off a couple of times to avoid overheating. Richo is enthralled with this place. The different coloured sands, rocks and mountains are impossible to describe.

Deep valleys of long forgotten glaciers. This place is a geologists dream. The highest mountain in North America is Mount Whitney and every time we round a bend we see a huge mountain, we are already   about 5-7,00 ft above sea level and these mountains loom up way over that he still continues to predict that mountain over there must be Mt Whitney.

I thought it would be a good idea to buy an egg and fry it on the bitumen and Richo thought that would be too messy. Just bake it in the sand instead. You can buy cold hard boiled eggs in their shell at service stations for 45c perfect for a protein snack or impromptu picnic. Off to Vegas.