WauloK’s BangRocks Blog

Two nights ago Sienna and I went to pick up some bread from our Freecycle free bread supplier.  On the way home we got a call from Catherine and talked to her for about half an hour before Sienna needed to use a loo.  We popped into a nearby MacDonald’s and had a quick snack and used the facilities.  While we had nothing to do Sienna played on the kids playground equipment at Maccas.  Not long after I had a phone call from Chris and we headed off.  I met up with Chris, Jo & Caitlin down the Gold Coast and directed them back to our home.  On the way I used my GPSr’s Handsfree Bluetooth system to phone ahead to Dominos Pizza and order our dinner.  By the time we arrived the screen said it was already made, but it wasn’t. We still had to wait another 5 mins while they put it together.  We came home and had a feast.  We watched some DVDs while we ate and the kids nodded off to sleep.

The next day we went shopping as Chris needed to buy a present.  We drove down to the nearby Harvey Norman store.  It is in an area on it’s own far away from any shopping centre so I knew we’d be able to easily get a park.  Unfortunately, I’d not been there in ages and promptly drove past the tiny turnoff road. We zipped around the block past a Good Guys store and back to HN.  When we arrived Chris said he wanted to check out the GG store first so we hopped back in and drove there.  The shop wasn’t opening for about 5 mins or so and we waited in their car until the doors opened at 10am (ffs).  We got in there but they had sold out of all but the expensive models so we went back to HN.  Santa was there and you could get a photo taken with him for free and pick it up.  Sienna had her photo taken with Santa, but Caitlin wasn’t keen.  Chris had a look around for the present but they also only had the expensive ones (No I’m not going to say what it was even though there’s no way the person concerned will be reading my blog heh).  I decided to pick up Sienna’s photo before we left but after waiting for ages while the staff member did some tech support to tell someone on the phone how to use his photoshop he told us it takes at least one day to process!! A digital photo and it takes a day? Last time I was at HN and had Sienna’s photo taken a couple of years ago they took it and we picked it up on the way out.  Oh well. We drove off to Redbank Shopping Centre to look at the shops there.  I knew there’d be more of a chance to park there than Indooroopilly shops which would be PACKED OUT.  We parked and went shopping.  It turned out Target had exactly what he wanted at the right price.  We picked it up and went to Tandy to get the SD memory card to go with it.  After that, we left and came home since Caitlin was getting really tired. In fact, she fell asleep as soon as they got out of the car park.  We came home and rested while watching more DVDs and then they headed off.

Today we got up early and had breakfast then hopped in the car to find some Geocaches.  First we popped into HN and I waited again for ages while they printed the photo which they didn’t print as they said they would. *Sigh* They served several people while we waited and I tried not to fume.  Once the photo was in hand we drove off to find the first Geocache.  If you want to read all about it, hit the Geocaching link to the left in the sidebar.

Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens, Two Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree!

Today, Lil Dwarfette and I found FIVE caches! We sure had a fun day out.

The caches we found are:

The Outlaw’s Hideaway by Team Rhino

Name that cache! by Steve & Family

The Kiss That Missed by happyharries

The 7 Dwarfs – Grumpy by Steve & Family

The 7 Dwarfs – Sneezy by Steve & Family

They were all in roughly the same area. The first one we found rather quickly. In fact, Lil Dwarfette pointed out where she thought it might be. I looked but didn’t find it there, then searched around for another 5 or so minutes before looking in the same original spot at a different angle.. There it was! She picked out a small blue and white chequered ribbon (looks like a police one heh). We dropped off a compass thermometer and went to play on the nearby swings and other kid stuff. After that, we jumped into the car and drove off again to the next one.

We stopped near the next one and hopped out of the car and walked down the hill. Another car pulled up and another family (of four) got out and walked down a path past where we were standing near the cache. They wandered off into the bush so we grabbed out the cache and did our swap, this time dropping off a poker chip keyring with builtin LED light. We hid the cache away and the other family came straight back, walked up the hill and drove off. Very strange?! Lil Dwarfette had picked up a half-empty little bottle of kids nail polish with sparkles, so she was very happy with that find.

Back in the car we followed my new Navman S50 to the location of the next cache. We stopped on a narrow road which doesn’t even look like a real road but is because it goes past homes further down. We got out and followed the Garmin eTrex Basic GPSr until I saw we had to go way down a very steep hill. We walked around for a bit to find a less steep trail which we carefully walked down while I held Lil Dwarfette’s hand. We got to the bottom and followed the GPSr until I saw something unusual. I took a photo of it and told her what it was and just as we were about to walk off, I decided to have a look inside it. Lo and behold the darn geocache was hiding inside it! I grabbed it out and it was a large one! Luckily we had a large-ish prize to put inside.. a combination lock and keyring light. We dropped it off and Lil Dwarfette grabbed out a pair of kids scissors which cut in zigzag lines. We wrote our note on the notepad inside and carefully put the cache back. Next we had to find our way back up to the top. We followed the track until the embankment became really steep. It was then I realised we missed a turn as the track had split into two. We walked back and I found the other part of the track which we turned up. Next, we had to find a way up that wasn’t so steep that Lil Dwarfette couldn’t climb. I held her hand and at times pushed her up the hill, but we made it safe and sound.

In the car, we ate some salt and vinegar chips. I had bought a pack of 20 packets of chips so I thought we should have something to munch on while we were hunting. I also had a couple of mini bottles of drink so we polished all that off and drove off following the ever-present Navman and the sweet dulcet tones of the lady’s voice guiding us. We parked near the next cache on the above list. It was a micro cache in a small film canister. We walked along the walkway and quickly discovered the cache. I wrote our note in it and got the clue to a bigger cache. This one and the next are a set of 7 caches which have clues. Each is named after one of the Seven Dwarfs. It sprinkled a little rain on us and LD was worried, but I didn’t think it’d really rain so we hopped in the car one more time and headed off to the last cache on the list I had printed out earlier.

We stopped near a very big parkland and followed the walkway. I had parked 300m away from the cache but figured a nice little stroll would do us the world of good. Unfortunately, it had become rather hot so I didn’t want to be out in that too long, particularly with a little 4yo LD. We took our time and enjoyed our walk. A few times we came across some bearded dragon lizards and got within about 10 feet of them before they scarpered off into the bushes. We passed some birds whom took to the skies.. well one actually just ran away from us. Silly thing, considering he has wings for that very reason. We walked over some bridges in the beautiful park and stopped at one to watch the wildlife. Even though there was a big sign saying “DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS AS THEY WILL GET SICK” the ducks, other birds, turtles etc came up to us obviously expecting some nosh. We didn’t have any so the birds flew off but we looked into the murky water at the turtles therein. One turtle had moss growing on his head, looking much like a green wig of hair on top of his head. Rather amusing! I will upload a photo of him and hopefully you can see him well enough. I lay down on the bridge to photograph him as close as I could get but the murky water didn’t show well in the light. After watching them for a while we got up and followed the GPSr again until we passed a playground and over another bridge. We soon found the other micro cache carefully hidden near a very big spider. Fortunately, the spider was quite dead so I flicked him out of the way with a twig and pulled the stones off the micro cache, intending to free it from it’s cavern. Just then I heard a noise and saw some sightseers coming near. I turned around and talked to Sienna to make it look like we had just stopped on our tour of the local natureland and we waited until they had passed. I turned back and grabbed the canister, quickly wrote a note and got the last clue of the day and carefully placed the cache back and hid it once again. We wandered back to the playground and LD had a quick play but the sun was beating down upon us and it was after 1:15pm and we had not had lunch as yet. I needed to go back to the car, but there was a large number of pathways to take. Fortunately, the GPSr records your every step and turn, so I followed our trail back to the car quite safely. We hopped in and told the Navman “There’s no place like HOME!” and it guided us back again. We stopped off at a bottle shop to get some alcohol for my visitors later in the week and popped into Coles to get some other supplies, then home for lunch and a nap.

A really good and fun day out for the both of us.

Yertle the green-haired turtle.

Curious George the bird.

A bad taste top ten of Christmas carols poking fun at mental illness has been slammed as “degrading” and “insensitive” after it was published with the backing of a social services department.

The booklet contains a list titled “Christmas Carols for the Mentally Disturbed”.

1. Schizophrenia - Do You Hear What I Hear?
2. Multiple Personality Disorder - We Three Kings Disorientated Are
3. Dementia - I Think I’ll Be Home For Christmas
4. Narcissistic - Hark The Herald Angels Sing About Me
5. Manic - Deck the Halls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and…
6. Paranoid - Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me
7. Borderline Personality Disorder - Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
8. Personality Disorder - You Better Watch Out, I’m Gonna Cry, I’m Gonna Pout, Maybe I’ll Tell You Why
9. Attention Deficit Disorder - Silent Night, Holy, ooh look at the froggy - Can I have a chocolate? Why is France so far away?
10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells.

I haven’t blogged in a couple of weeks or something so it’s about time.

The weekend before last - well actually the Thursday night before that evan - Cath and I went up to the Springbrook mountains cabin for 4 days away together.  It was a lovely break from the hustle and bustle of the big city.

Friday night we went to see an art gallery put on by her friend Sally Harrison. We had a nice time there looking at all the paintings. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling 100% well so we didn’t stay long, but just long enough to appreciate the art.  Sally told us she had sold about four paintings (iirc) and was very happy with that.  There was more to the night so she may have sold more.. I’m not sure.  We went to the local Mexican Restaurant, Pancho’s.  We had dinner there and after a few glasses of coke and water I was feeling better. We were surprised to see some young guys ordering daiquiris. It’s not something you see that often.

On Saturday we went to the Glow Worm farm again and checked out some fireflies. Unfortunately, there were only a dozen or so and usually the place is lit up so brightly with hundreds or thousands of them. It was still awe-insipring to see them first-hand.  We also took in the Glow-worm tour again as it is part of the firefly tour and saw the most amazing glowing mushrooms. They glow so brightly you can read a newspaper from the light. Since they actually create the light and not just reflect it, you could read all night if you wanted to.  Because the hill down to the firefly valley was steep and slippery we had to ride on the back of a tractor. That was an experience in itself!

Sunday we went looking for a Geocache but didn’t have much time as we’d wiled away the mornings (every day).  Also, the cache was along a well-used footpath and there were people walking past every few minutes.  We gave up after a while and headed back to the car. On the way down the hill, I put my feet under the footwell air conditioner and noticed something black wriggling on my socks. They were THREE LEECHES!!! ARGH! I ripped two off and threw them out the window and Cath stopped the car so I could get out and rip off the other one.  Only one had actually latched onto my skin so it wasn’t that bad.  In fact, when we were looking at the fireflies Cath had one jump onto her leg.

That night we went to see a theatre show at Dracula’s Caberet Restaurant.  We got there just on 6pm and got in the very long line.  We went inside the “Whispering Hemorrhoids” funeral parlour and had a quick introduction. Cath correctly guessed our host was one of the actors as he carried himself and his dialogue so well.  We jumped onto the indoor Ghost Train and had a fun ride into the restaurant.  Cath was dressed in her Goth gear and a girl looking for the toilets asked her where they were. Apparently whenever Cath goes to Dracula’s people think she works there, due to her clothing. It was most amusing… for me anyway hehe.  We sat down in our seats which were not facing the best way to see the stage show and promptly asked if we could move to the other side of the table if the customers expected there did not turn up.  Of course, they didn’t turn up and we moved over. The waitress suggested we probably cast a hex on them so they would not show. heh.  We had a fantastic night with some great shows.  There were many songs we already knew and lots of funny acts in the stage show called “Fangs and Fetish”.  It was the most entertaining show of my life. Cath says I have been starved of theatrical entertainment as she knows other shows which are much better than that.  Either it was that or the good amounts of wine we drank that added to the show, but I really really loved it.  Cath even got a free glass of Brown Brothers Shiraz which people sitting near us didn’t want.  It was so nice I bought a bottle of Brown Brothers Cabernet Sauvignon last night to drink.

Monday we got out of bed late and slowly tidied up the place and made our way back home again.  It really was a fantastic weekend away and I can’t wait to go again. Cath has been given some other places as suggestions from her friends to try out up there, including one that allows you to take your dogs since it has fenced off areas.  Since Cath’s oldest dog doesn’t have much time left on this Earth she would like to take them along some time just for a nice experience away from home.

Last Friday evening I picked up Sienna from her mum’s and we went back home.  Saturday morning was a trip to the swimming school for her last lesson of the year. She had a fun time learning swimming and didn’t do too badly swimming without help.  After that, we went to the Redbank Shopping centre near where I used to live before I moved to this place and did some shopping. Poppy had sent me some money for her Christmas presents, so instead of picking something for her I let her do the choosing. We were already in the Crazy Clarks shop as I wanted some cheap toiletries and that’s the best place to get them — $2 for 1L jar of hair gel! Bargain!  She picked a dolly and some clothes for it, a Dora game (in the style of the “Headache” game) and a big lollypop.

We were heading out and Sienna saw the cinemas and wanted to see a movie so we put all our stuff in the car and got back just in time to see the Bee Movie. It’s not brilliant but a nice watch for kids.  About 15 mins before the end, Sienna wanted to leave, however.  We stayed on and headed home where she went to bed.

Sunday we went to the indoor playground I had taken her to some time ago.  We got there about 2pm and it was only open until 3pm so she didn’t get a big lot of time to play, but enough to enjoy herself. There were no other kids there when we arrived but a little girl of about 2.5 - 3yo arrived soon after and Sienna had fun arranging for things for Samara to do as well as getting her to help Sienna carry things around.  After that, we headed home and Sienna went to bed until it was time to go home.

We’re hunting wabbits. ehehehheheheh.

Yes it has been rather quiet. I’m waiting for my ADSL2+ to be reconnected Naked-style boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. iiNet disconnected me about last Friday and I get reconnected next Wednesday 12th December. Whew! No more line rental from Optus there! Hooray!

I spent an hour at Tandy’s shop today trying to return my faulty GPSr Navman S50. It was working fine then suddenly it’d boot up, load the maps into memory and reboot, etc.  I emailed Navman support on Monday and have not heard back. I phoned them yesterday and they said I should return it to the store and have it transferred to them for repairs. The store said they don’t do that and I have to pay for returning it. I said I wouldn’t do that as Navman told me to return it to them.  I also asked if they would just swap it for a good one.  He phoned a couple of people and eventually a manager at Navman  who had to go ask the Customer Support manager what to do, so put me on hold. He came back and said the manager was at lunch so couldn’t help me. I said not to worry because I’d been there for 45 mins already and was going to get a refund. He didn’t think it’d be possible and talked to the Tandy manager for a while. Eventually they decided Tandy would send it there but I was getting frustrated after waiting 55 mins for something to happen so said I’d only accept a refund. At that, the manager had to ring his Area Manager to ask for permission. He was told they would ring back, so I had to wait again for yet another phone call. Eventually they did phone back and said I could just have another GPSr. They asked if I wanted a TOMTOM or Garmin or something. I said I’d just take the same make and model as the one I already had since it had all the features I wanted for the price I paid and none of the others had so many features, plus I was sure not all models of Navman S50s would be duds.  He seemed surprised, but did the swapover and I left after having spent just over an hour in the store. ARGH!

Last night I had a massive migraine and took some paracetamol but that didn’t help so I went to Coles shopping centre and got some ibuprofen and took that then went to bed about 9pm. I felt like I was going to be sick so kept a bucket next to the bed, but didn’t need it as I fell asleep straight away.. only to wake at 6am due to having slept 9 hours. I felt somewhat better tho, but took today off work to rest up anyway.

Well yesterday some time while I was at work iiNet disconnected my phone line in preparation for Naked DSL. Once that is completed (est 2-3 weeks) I will have a phone line with no line rental and just Broadband on it with VOIP for telephone.

The VOIP will be quite handy because…

“iiTalk is a broadband phone service included free with every Naked DSL plan . It lets you make calls to fixed phone lines (and VOIP) Australia-wide for nothing.”

Free phone calls Australia wide. Nice. Pity I don’t make many calls but if I ever did I don’t have to worry about how much it’ll cost I might phone my parents from time to time or my sister. Everyone else talks to me on the internet anyway via chat or email.

I phoned ‘3′ yesterday and had Broadband added to my mobile phone account. Unfortunately, they only work in Billing Cycles so it won’t be enabled until Tuesday. That means I have no landline nor internet until Tuesday. Well, technically I can use Broadband through my  phone right now.. at ridiculously high rates for casual use.