"Crikey", Salutations, G'day and welcome to my April 2017 update.

What a start to April it was too, disastrous actually. Not for me, I just got held up due to floods, a bit wet under foot and gale force winds but thousands of people lost homes, cars and worst of all, family or friends. All due to Tropical Cyclone Debbie and her thrashing very dangerous tail. Enough on that.

My month? Well it actually started by arriving at the Glasshouse Mountains to house sit so the owners could go away to their Daughters wedding in SA and return slowly by road with their caravan in tow. The lady of the house flew over via Sydney first and the man of the house was left to drive over with CV in tow, us blokes get all the fun :)

I spent the first few days relaxing and familiarise myself with the house, chooks and fish as I needed to look after and feed the latter two on a daily basis. Never having to do either before it was an interesting start as the first night I couldn't get the chooks rounded up one little bugga just wouldn't go in the chook house at all, I finally coaxed her in and quickly locked the door. Even though the little buggers are supposed to go in by themselves, they didn't so I decided to ask a good friend of mine, Mr Google, 'how to round up chooks' and he told me some interesting facts indeed. No, don't laugh. The next night arrived for round up time, so nearly dark I went down the back yard armed with a yellow container full of goodies that chooks are allowed, "chook, chook, chook" In they went so got their treats scattered inside the chook house, locked door, job done. Why didn't that happen the first night? Mmmm, I told you not to laugh.

As for the fish, well there are quite a few of them in a big water tank with top cut off and for private use only throughout the year and they needed to be fed also on a daily basis but the good part was, they didn't need rounding up, phew! I needed to keep an eye on water levels and make sure everything was filtering etc properly. I did get training on all that though so my job was made easy thanks to their head lookerafterer, Robert.

I can now add 'chook whisperer' and 'fish breeder' to my house-sitting C.V. :)

I had use of the house but like my van so much I decided to sleep in my own bed as I just couldn't get to sleep in the bed provided but I did spend a few of hours each night inside so lights etc were on including watching TV as that showed someone was around. My car and van were in front yard with car visible at all times from the street, also showing someone was around. I did venture out during the day some days, usually every second day but not weekends, exploring and enjoyed looking around the Glass House Mountains and a couple of waterfalls, lookouts and small towns but must admit I still prefer being around the coast though.

If I had a 'Bucket List' One thing on it would be a visit to Australia Zoo. I was a big fan of Steve "Crikey" Irwin for many years and still follow what his Wife Terry, Daughter Bindi and Son Robert are getting up to and like the way the three are keeping his hard work etc going. Well, I finally made it to Australia Zoo after many years and wow! Shut the front gate! What a place. Well worth spending the $40 Concession admission and the day slowly walking around this beautifully manicured and maintained wild life experience. Everything is in top condition and it was a pleasure to see the animal keepers and other staff enjoying their work. Not only staff but all of the animals seemed to be happy and why shouldn't they, this zoo is excellent in every way. I'm sure I saw smiles on the animals faces too. If I was asked to improve one thing it would be to provide a little more transport around the place for those that can't walk as much these days. They do have two carriage diesel powered small train like things going from one end to the other but when they get to one of the four stops they are already full and us older folk are left behind. That happened to me down the far end in Africa and after two trains I ended up slowly walking back and was buggered by the time I got back to car and that was even after a few rest stops.

What was the highlight of my visit I hear someone down the back asking? Well, the Crocoseum would without doubt be it. That place holds 5,000 people and is much bigger than I thought it would be and set up like a small stadium, I was sitting there waiting for my Atlanta Braves Baseball Team to come out but then remembered it was crocs about to come out, no not the ex-Townsville Crocs Basketball Team, Crocs, you know, big lizards. The day I was there it was about 70% full. Terry, Bindi and Robert featured throughout along with other keepers. They are all polished and great entertainers that know exactly what they are doing. The show starts off with Bindi and the Jungle Girls singing and dancing on a stage set up at the end of the Crocoseum, then beautiful Macaws, large beautifully Coloured Parrots and Red Tailed black         C-ockatoos  flying around the stadium and coming to rest right in front of you, they are that close you could touch them, some even land on your shoulder, what an amazing treat.  Terry seems to be doing mainly what Steve was and probably would still be doing with the big crocs and is a pleasure to see doing what she obviously enjoys. Bindi, well she is an all-round entertainer and wild life lover, with excitement she dances and sings, as mentioned then works with the crocs and other wild life throughout the 75-minute show. Now for Robert, what can I say, this 14 year old young wild life warrior is just that. Not only is he the spitting image of his dad, he is following in his dads footsteps with perfection. He is just as excited as Steve and knows what he is doing. He is still learning and has a way to go yet but he is still young. Not only is he doing what he loves with wild life he is an amazing photographer of both wild life and landscapes, in fact, photography in general. There is even a display of his works and all are for sale and would give any professional photographer a run for their money. Look out Ken Duncan, MY hero in the photography world.

Am I a fan of this family and what they are doing? YOU BET YA!    

I mentioned being around water earlier and I did that too as I also explored many parts of the Sunshine Coast, one day I headed up to Noosa via Cooroy, just to the west of Noosa. I checked out a few places and decided to drive down the main shopping area, Hastings Street. Now this is strip shopping and set up for the tourist and very, very expensive, as is Noosa in general, narrow tree lined street with a 10kmh speed limit. You can access the main beach from this area as well. Nice surf beaches, some patrolled and very pretty in most parts. Very busy though and near impossible to get parking. Noosa didn't quite cut the mustard for me, sorry.

From there I headed south along the coast road, David Low Way. Passed through a few little towns and not all that interesting until I arrived in Coolum Beach, now this place is my type of place, strip shops one side of the road and the most amazing surf beach the other with a patrolled area. Very nice indeedy. As with other places, very touristy but the area just mentioned took my mind off the tourism side of it.

Moving right along it was getting close to lunchtime so headed further south and still on the same coast road until crossing the Maroochy River and onto the Nicklin Way and into Maroochydore, not that exciting, so onto Mooloolaba and lunchtime. I tracked down the RSL and found no parking anywhere close however, they have a multi-level car park opposite with a 2metre height limit, bugga, I need just over 2mt clearance so had to give the RSL a miss. I drove around a little and came across the 'Wharf Tavern' overlooking a marina and where the river and whale watching cruises leave from. After a lovely reasonably priced lunch, it was time to move on.

Continuing along the Nicklin Way I arrived at Caloundra and checked out Kings Beach, Bullock Beach and Golden Beach. All nice in their own ways but not as nice as Coolum Beach as talked about before. By this stage, it was getting late so decided to head back to the van and house sit so I could make sure my by then friends the chooks were tucked in for the night. Fish all checked as well so time to relax and think about my day.

Visitors? Nope, but I visited a few GN's during my stay and met up with two at 'Bucks Bakery', a lovely bakery in Landsborough, not that far north to where I was staying. I had met Beth a few years back now and Pam two years ago while in Townsville, it was lovely catching up with both of them again and enjoying a nice lunch in good company, thanks for the invite Pam and Beth.

A few days later I had been invited to visit another GN in a Brisbane Suburb so took up the offer and headed down to Brisbane on the Saturday to meet Graham and Carol. We started off with a lovely morning tea/coffee then a BBQ lunch while chatting away like long lost friends, as you do when you meet up with new GN's. A few hours spent with two very lovely people so thankyou also Graham and Carol. I planned to leave in time to be back at the house sit before dark but nope, not to be, not long after dark though so all good. Chooks and fish all checked by torchlight that night, they must have thought they were special being in the spotlight and all.

Now some of you would have seen this and some not but one of the photos below shows a contraption that looks like some sort of time machine but I found some information about it and it was actually used for picking Pineapples between 1931 and 1957 by a local farmer, 'Speedy' Joseph King. He never hired anyone to pick his crop but it was noticed that the pineapples were there one day but not the next. This machine was discovered in a shed on the property after Joseph disappeared in 1957. The arm with bowl like looks is what picks the pineapple up and places it a bin alongside. An amazing contraption that was never seen until found. I still reckon it looks like a time machine.

The end of April was with me very quickly indeed and it was time to hand the keys back to the owners, Robert and Molly, thank them for the opportunity and trusting me to look after their pride and joy, say my goodbyes and make a move further north, eventually arriving in Townsville early May all being equal.

So that brings this update to an end.

What was the highlight of my house sit I hear someone ask? Did you really have to ask? Well it was Australia Zoo without doubt.

A busy month but very enjoyable and partly educational, so until next we chat. Keep Safe on the roads and out there.

Some pics below as usual.

Looking from the Glasshouse Mountains Lookout.

Hastings Street, Noosa.

Terry talking to 'Mongrel'

Bindi feeding 'Mongrel'

Robert about to feed 'Mongrel' after talking to him.

The 'Crocoseum'.

The time machine/pinapple pickerupera.