A musical interlude and a feast.

We have had a restful day today......along with the Sun who, for today at least, seems to be visiting friends elsewhere.We spent the second half of the afternoon at a music concert by the folk trio 'One Step Forward'. It was their last concert performing together and Will has known them all for many years but it was the first time I had seen them sing. It was a lovely afternoon and a musical treat to listen to their lovely harmonies.Will was happy to meet up again with lots of his folk friends and they were very happy to see him again.Afterwards we went into the city where Anne took us out for a meal. We went to the 'Next Door Kitchen' at South Bank and had a wonderful meal;CALAMARI toasted szechuan pepper, smoked sea salt, vietnamese salad, coconut lime dressing (shared)TWICE COOKED BEEF BRISKET roof top honey, whiskey glaze, smoked potato puree, pickled carrot (shared)CONFIT PORK BELLY spiced pumpkin puree, black pudding, apple-ginger cider gel, scratchings (Will)

DUCK A L’ORANGE braised potato, fennel ’n’ onions, burnt orange vinaigrette (Me)

PRESSED LAMB SHANK fried zucchini flowers, ricotta, lentil vinaigrette, smoked tomato relish (Anne)

ROCKET PARMESAN SALAD salt-roasted almonds, balsamic vinaigrette (shared)TRUFFLED PARMESAN FRIES (shared)It was all utterly delicious!

The (almost) Perfect Day!

So........today we headed up the Bruce Highway and firstly stopped off at Eumundi to visit the markets there.The Eumundi markets are fabulous and even I wish I could spend, spend spend when there. Talk about leading Anne into temptation.....but she was very restrained and bought nothing apart from some Turkish Gozleme for lunch.We carried on up to Tewantin to visit Cutty, Will's Mum, Dulcie's best friend who is in a retirement village there. We have been meaning to visit Cutty for ages since we promised on our last visit to take her a picture of Dulcie but have not had the time or opportunity until now.Cutty was not well and another resident in her block told us that she had had a bad turn a few weeks ago. She recognised Will and I, saying our names and was pleased to see us. She loved the photo of Dulcie but whether it was her medication or her illness she was able to say very little and seemed very, very weak.We did not stay long as we had woken her and wanted her to rest but it was very sad to leave her after finding her so weak. We said that we would be in touch and visit again when she was feeling better.She had said to us on our previous visit that she felt she would be with her best friend (Dulcie) soon and after today I feel she might. I am so glad we were able to give her the picture that we had promised her today.....but the visit coloured the rest of the 'Perfect' day for me.(It was all such a shock that I went and left my hat there, in her room, and only discovered it was missing when we got back home.)We drove to Coolum Beach and had a lovely dip in the ocean and then an ice cream before we carried on down to Caloundra watching the storms move in from the west and the forked lightning in the distance.We stopped at Shelly Beach and had a paddle....the storm clouds and seascape made for wonderfully atmospheric photographs and the whole thing was quite breath taking.We continued back to Brisbane via the Glass House Mountains......but Anne slept most of the way and I nodded off a few time too!We saw more storms and lightning over the city as we approached and parked at The Cliffs to watch the sunset over the city. We missed it by about 15 minutes but caught the last rays reflected upon the storm clouds and again the sight was just 'awesome.'Will cooked kanga bangers and kangaroo steaks on one of the free electric barbecues that are along the top of the cliffs and we watched the city lights come on. Over on the Riverstage across the river in the Botanical Gardens we listened to 'The Vaccines' playing their set as support act for Mumford and Sons who are in Brisbane tonight.It was (almost) the perfect day!

Setting Sun.

So.......Anne's time with us here is nearly over and soon she will be returning Up Over.......but we still have a little time for a few more adventures over the coming days.Today I dropped Will and Anne off in Indooroopilly at about 11.30 am and they headed off for a four and a half hour stint at the shopping mall. Anne has been keen to return since her first visit.I had an appointment at the P.A (Princess Alexandra) Hospital for my 6 monthly CT scan.For those not in the know, last year while having an ultrasound for another problem they discovered something attached to my lung. Various CT scans and a biopsy later found nothing conclusive but they have been monitoring the 'lump' to see if there are any changes.I cannot believe that it is six months since my last scan.......where did that time go? Such a lot has happened in those six months.I was 30 minutes early for my scan appointment but even so I was only waiting for less than 5 minutes before I was taken in for it and I was out and on my way back home before the actual appointed time arrived.I now have to wait until the 16th for my appointment with Dr Fanning to discuss the results of this scan.I picked Will and Anne up from the 'Valley of the Leeches' at 4.00 pm.......of course Anne was carrying shopping bags.Will had a little grocery shopping but said he had the chance to visit all the shops on all three levels in the four and a half hours whereas Anne had not progressed further than one level and in fact had only managed to visit three shops! To make it slightly worse she said that most of the four and a half hours were spent in only two of those shops.WHAT?...............I find this difficult to comprehend. It is utterly baffling and I am stunned into silence.............

The Blue Lagoon.

We escaped the heat today by heading off to Springfield to the newly built Orion Lagoon.Springfield is a completely new city on the outskirts of Brisbane that is being created in former bushland. We had a dip in the pool and then wandered the new and growing shopping precinct and had some lunch.This evening we were chased by a storm out to Victoria Point to see 'The Dressmaker'......a very strange new Australian film with Kate Winslet.....

See ya Sydney!

We are now back in the heat of Brisbane.......but spent the morning in Sydney before catching the flight back to Brisbane in the early afternoon.Our trip to Sydney only cost us £130 each......a bargain!