Bloodvale

Yesterday morning I got up and checked the rain gauge - 28mm. That had all fallen overnight as it was empty around dark the day before.. and I didn't hear any raing when I went to bed around 11pm so it must have fallen between 11pm and 8am the next day.

By 11am when we got home from our morning rounds the gauge had an additional 26mm in it! Sheesh that was a lot of rain. By the end of the day it was up to 30mm.

This morning when I got up and checked again it had another 16mm in it.

So in the period of 48 hours we've had 28mm + 30mm + 16mm = 72mm of rain! Wowee that's a lot of rain!

Yesterday the parks were flooding quite profusely when we left in the morning, but by the time we had returned in the afternoon they were back down to almost normal ... and I wanted to take a bike ride to see what it was like along the rest of the parks too....

Had organised to meet her there and we sat and talked for a good 30mins or so.

Was lovely.

Can't wait for training to start so I can see her more often.

Yesterday was my birthday and I got the BEST EVER BIRTHDAY PRESENT from my beloved wife!

No, it's not what you think it is

My wife organised an evening with my daughter.

She went out around dusk with the pretence of getting something for dinner.

She came back with my daughter.

I could not have been happier

We played a game of Cluedo then went out to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner.

Right now the stars could explode and the sky fall and I'd die a happy man

What a wonderful wife I have

Got 90% (2 questions wrong).

Quite annoying actually as up until today I was told it was an open book exam. So I studied, but not as much as I would have it was a closed book exam.

Got there with my study books and asked, was very surprised when was told "no". Kinda threw me badly.

Never to mind, I still managed to pass ok

If you've done some ab work the day before and today your abs are hurting...


DON'T SNEEZE!

OUCHIE!!!!

Yup, gave it a shot today.

Weather was ok-ish and I had the time available so I gave it a go.

Lets just say it wasn't a huge success.

I couldn't get the spray right. I thinned it and thinned it until I was loath to thin the mixture anymore but it still wouldn't spray right.

Would come out in spurts. If I left it for a bit then I'd get a big spurt of paint that would last me for 2 or 3 strokes, and then very little paint would follow.

So I'd wait a few seconds, then try again. The "paint with spurts" technique.

Obviously I still have a lot to learn about spray painting

I might give it another shot later on if this first coat dries in time.

Ouchie!

Had a busy day today, including another bout at the gym with my beloved.

We even did some ab work today.

Be interesting to see how much pain I'm in for the rest of the week

Also this evening went and saw "I am legend". Was a little scary in parts (I'm easily scared at the movies) but overall I enjoyed it and thought it was a good movie.

Just watched Pirates of the Carribean 3: At worlds end.

Reminded me of something.

You live, you fight, you die.

You fight hard for something you believe in, then whether that belief is right or wrong you die with honour.

Believe it or not I didn't take any notes about todays journey. I basically got up and tried to find out if the roads were still closed but to no avail, so headed up and found they were open then hi-tailed it back to Brissie.

Apart from getting saturated whilst driving it was a most enjoyable trip, full of adventure and excitement

AND I got a good Series II firewall from it, couldn't be happier

Last night I had difficulty sleeping again sigh

So far in my travels I've seen at least 3 Tvan's - I even waved at one of them but I'm sure they thought I was insane as I didn't have my own Tvan in tow!

This morning I woke to the alarm at 7am and thought I'd sleep in for another 30 mins or so - and awoke to the sound of John thumping on the door at 7:40am asking if I was awake.

After I got up and had brekky I began todays journey. I got about 15kms past Scone at a town called Winton to realise I didn't have my wallter. After back-tracking to Scone so I could get some signal on my mobile phone I called John to see if my wallter was still there. Elise answered, checked for me and sure enough it was there sigh

I started heading back to john's when he called and agreed to bring my wallet up to me at Scone to save me the trip. He got there about 20 mins later, I thanked him and we headed our seperate ways (again!).

I was making good time and was planning to stop at the Caltex outside Warwick for lunch and fuel but got turned around between Tenterfield and Stanthorpe at a little town called Wallangarra - road closed due to flooding. Apparently there was about 4ft of fast flowing water across the road and Stanthorpe was basically an island. Bugger.

Oh well at least whilst I was making good time I decided to stop at Moonbi lookout. A fantastic view down the valley and nobody else was there except for a bloke and his dog. I figured the rain would scare most people away however also knew the rain would help clear the air - I was correct on both accounts, there was basically nobody there and the view was spectacular

To get up to the coast road I would need to head back to Glen Innes and then out to Grafton anyway.

So I filled up at the BP at Tenterfield which I must have had the slowerd bowser I had ever had the misfortune of using. Why must they always put the Diesel bowsers our in the weather? I was absolutely saturated by the time it had finished filling my tank. Unfortunately it was not only a slow bowser but as I learnt to my dismay it did not have an automatic cut-off either, so I spilled diesel all down the side of the truck :-\

I decided against staying at Tenterfield so I headed back to Glen Innes and the motel I stayed in a couple of nights ago. According to the locals there it was a good decision - Tenterfield can easily become and island whilst Glen Innes is nice and high. Heading back to the coast road is begging for trouble as that's the way the water is going anyway and both Lismore and Grafton get flooding in at the first drop of rain. Heading west would have been potentially dangerous because the creeks out there can rise up really quick and you could end up stranded between 2 creeks with nothing to do but wait until they subside.

Had a bugger of a time getting to sleep last night and unfortunately awoke tired.

Went for a walk around the block looking for somewhere to have breaky. Eventually I found somewhere as I was heading back to the motel!

Left Glen Innes at about 10am'ish but filled up at local Mobil before leaving.

Stopped at Armidale for an hour to look around central mall.

Passed "Guyra" which is wehre we stopped with the doggies when we were bringing them back from Quarantine in Sydney. On that occasion it was misty and horrible, today was overcast but clear Guyra is 4330ft above sea-level and boasts one of the highest caravan parks in N.S.W.

Stopped again at Tamworth for lunch @ 1pm, then proceeded to wander around for a bit. Bought a book on learning to play the guitar Left at around 3:15pm.

Arrived at Muswellbrook around 6pm and saw a series I coming down the main drag towards me, so we both waved at each other. Turns out that was John taking a friend for a drive in his Series I

I got to his place first but he arrived basically as I was shutting down / locking up the vehicle etc.

He has a lovely wife and daughter to be proud of (Elise).

We loaded the truck and salvaged some extra goodies then had a BBQ for dinner. Afterwards I showered and we spent the rest of the evening talking about Land Rovers and military vehicles. Went to bed around 11:30pm'ish.

Left home around 12:30pm.

Had lunch at about 1:30'ish at the big truck stop Caltex outside of Warwick.

Whilst at the Caltex I saw a guy in military garb. Outside he had a military vehicle with a trailer and 2 camels Unforutnately it was too windy / rainto get out and take a photo, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Stopped at Glen Innes and stayed at a budget motel for $77 a night.

I even got a free DVD to watch (the motel supplied a DVD player in each room). I chose "Casino Royale".

I had dinner at the Imperial Hotel down the street. I ended up having dinner with a local 1 armed man named Ken who now-a-days is a song-writer - he even has a place at this years Tamworth Country and Music festival this year! Congratulations Ken, I hope you go well

After dinner I went and watched "Casino Royale" in the motel room. Boy I'm glad I didn't go and see this at the movies. Whilst an ok film by it's own right, it just doesn't tally up with the rest of the James Bond movies. Totally confusing.

Also because of the movie it buggered up my plans for studing for my next flying lesson - d'oh!

Almost missed out on dinner too because N.S.W. was in daylight savings time and it threw all my clocks out by an hour :-\

On New Years Eve I went to the gym with my wife for an hour or so.

She's quite fit and has a personal trainer etc. and I'm.. well.. me.

But it was my idea, I needed something to keep my mind off the upcoming evening and to blow away some time.

It's now 2 days later and I'm still sore

My biceps in particular seem very sore

Ouchie!

Had another bowl this afternoon with 2 of my brothers and their families - 7 people playing in 1 lane, got pretty cramped but was a ball of fun.

Tony started by showing off to us all by getting 5 strikes in a row for his first 5 bowls. Bastard.

Was a good game though, lots of fun