News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 27

After lower temperatures so far for most of summer, with just the odd hot day, todays temperature really let us know This is Australia where summers are HOT.

Thank heavens for air conditioning.

While we are renovating we only have one air con in the lounge at the moment and from lunch time on, that was our haven today.

Just after that photo was taken it peaked at 39.2 deg C. Our weather station is in the computer room so a little cooler in there. Back when I was a kid I remember hot days and a good thunderstorm in the afternoon.

With the weather globally a bit topsy turvy over the last few years Ive missed the storms. When we were in Hervey Bay Id see down here where we are living now getting storms and wish summer would revert to the hot day/storm in the afternoon.

In saying that we have just got a storm warning so fingers crossed it will eventuate to cool things down.

When these storms come through they can drop temperatures 10 deg in 10 mins. But I love summer over winter and glad we arent getting the flooding which weve had last couple of years.

This years fire season will be a big one after all the rain though.

Since finishing off the first 3 rooms of complete renovation of our new place, we have now moved onto the next stage of doing a spare room and the walk in robe.

The WIR was very small to the point that if both of us were in there there was barely room to move.

There was a room off the kitchen that we are going to turn into a walk in pantry and linen cupboard as there is currently no linen cupboard in the house.

The two rooms (pantry and WIR) shared a wall so first thing was to remove that wall and move it to make the WIR bigger.

You can see on the photo how much room we gained in there. We couldnt move the wall the full length as the toilet is on the other side at the window end.

The linen cupboard will be off the hall and the back of that will be the pantry on the other side.

So looking forward to getting the WIR, pantry and linen cupboard done so I can unpack boxes and suitcases and bags and put things away.

So the story continues….will update as things progress.

Last weekend we got together to celebrate son Brads 40th. His Mum and her partner came down from North Queensland to join in the celebrations.

We went to lunch at the Brookwater Golf Club and were joined by his daughter and her partner and his two sons along with his Dad and I and son Paul and his wife.

Jarrad a friend also joined us. We were looking forward to a lovely meal as the Golf Course itself (designed by Greg Norman) is classed one of the best in Australia, but we soon found out the restaurant doesnt measure up to that standard.

After waiting 15 mins to be shown to the table even though it was prebooked, we then waited half an hour till the meal orders were taken and then an hour for the meals to be brought out.

The youngest grandson also had a meal prebooked of steak and chips and he was given steak (cut up) and boiled potatoes!!

Most of us couldnt eat the meals so when Jarrad left he spoke to the owner to give some polite feed back.

The owner then came to our table and told us to leave and dont come back. We hadnt paid for the meals or drinks and she told us to not bother paying either. To say we were shocked is an understatement. We actually thought she was joking. We wouldve just paid and never gone back but the owner said dont worry about the bill.

Anyway we all went back to Brads place and spent a wonderful afternoon with good company, good music and good nibblies……and a delicious mud cake Birthday cake.I guess Brad wont be forgetting his 40th for a while.

Its the first time ever for all of us to be kicked out!! We all got a good giggle out of it though and it seems by reviews we arent the only ones that wont be going back.

Wednesday this week we had a temperature of 38.6 deg C….. it was a stinker of a day so the promise of storms sounded good.

So at 2.38pm the first warning came through saying: Damaging, locally destructive winds, large, possibly giant hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding are likely.

So all storm prep done, we watched in the distance and on radar a storm build as it approached us.

Now we have had storm warnings before from both BOM and EWN (Early Warning Network) saying large hail and in the 17 months weve been here not once have we had hail.

So it was sort of exciting when we heard the smacks on the roof and all these little white pea sized bits of ice hitting the ground.

Our place is the heart in the middle of the purple area.Hail isnt uncommon down here but in the 20 years since we left here I think weve only had hail maybe 3 or 4 times, something weve missed over the years in the summer storms.

Fortunately there was no large/giant hail this time as forecasted and just small stuff, but weird as it sounds it was exciting!!

And yes, our grass is really that brown despite the floods we had early in the year.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. It means another year is nearly done and dusted and a new one about to begin.

Our Christmas was celebrated in two parts this year. 23rd we had a dinner with my side of the family as my daughter was working over Christmas and Boxing Day.

We went to a place called the Beach House and had a lovely meal and exchanged our gifts then. No one opened them then and they were all left to open Christmas Day. I forgot to get a photo that night.

Then 24th we celebrated with hubbys side of the family at the sons place with a lunch. Another wonderful day and again lots of food. We exchanged presents and opened them there. This time I did remember to get photos! Christmas Day was spent relaxing at home with just the two of us. We had lots of phone calls and were fortunate to receive some wonderful gifts.

I wish everyone a very Happy New Year. May it be a safe, peaceful and happy year ahead.