GOLD PLATED BANANAS AND HUMBACK WHALES

Well it has certainly been a while since I updated this blog, we have done a lot since being bogged in Mullumbimby. Our next stop from there was the Gold Coast, an area of the coast that contains Surfers Paradise, which is a mass of high rise apartments that casts shadows over the beach, maybe keeping the sun out of the surfer’s eyes, this being why it is their paradise…?? According to Bill Bryson, Surfers Paradise used to be deserted in the 1970’s when it had a different, common name, until some smart fella renamed it Surfers Paradise and the real estate started to sell like hot cakes, smart eh? Bananas are very expensive at the moment due to Cyclone Larry having destroyed a lot of the crops, the price of these bent yellow fruit has risen to silly heights. Talking about silly heights and cyclones, I heard from a couple of people that roof plumbers are earning stupid money up in Innisfail as Larry tore so many roofs off and they cannot get enough tradesmen up there, so we are thinking that we may head up there so I can work for a couple of weeks. We went out on Phil’s yacht (Phil owns the house in Bowraville that we stayed at) and saw some humpback whales from close range which was fabulous, although Helen and Rennie lost their breakfast due to the rolling of the boat, ( no the breakfast did not roll off the deck, we ate it before hand). The whales were playing about 100 metres from us, breaching and rolling around while blowing clouds of water from their blowhole on their way north from Antarctica. We had a very social time on the GC, catching up with lots of our friends who we saw on our way down south a few months ago. A lovely home made vege lasagna with Brian; Pizza with Geoff & Kristy & Samuel; A cuppa with Rick and Jane in Brisbane; and various meals and sleepovers with Nicky, Pete, Steph and Dean. Our day at Dreamworld went very well, Tal is an adrenalin junkie, he loves all the fast and scary rides. His favourites were the Wipeout, The Claw and the Tower of Terror. He did not join me on The Giant Drop as he had just had lunch, probably just as well. You can see The Giant Drop from miles away, a 120 metre high steel column about 8 metres in diameter which has a row of 8 seats on either side which work independantly, one lot faces the freeway, the other looks out over the park and bushland. When all seats are occupied and everyone strapped in securely the row of seats starts to move upwards slowly, you cant see the top due to a cover above you and you feel as though you are quite high enough now, thanks very much, but up she goes, your breath quickens, heart rate increases, thoughts like, “What the hell am I doing up here?”, start to infiltrate your mind. How much higher till we are there? Come on, I can see Tasmania from here……still ascending……higher and higher……and we finally stop….phew. So we are sitting there, perched at the top of the tower, waiting, waiting to drop. Mind racing, empty feeling in stomach….come on…. Lets get this over with. Nervous laughter from the row of victims beside you, some bravado from the tough guys. Suddenly your bum is in your throat as you plummet faster than Newton would think possible, cant remember if my eyes were open or clamped shut (like my bottom) as we race towards the ground and within the last 10 metres the brakes are applied and you come to a sudden stop, whew, a big smile on your dial. On the way up to Mooloolaba where we are now we bought a little flat bottomed tinny, purchased a motor for it yesterday, we are looking forward to taking it for a spin soon and maybe catching us a fish. The fish we have caught so far are currently costing us about $4500/ kilo if you equate money spent on gear to fish caught…..will try and improve that ratio. . Went to the Eumundi market last weekend where there is an amazing array of very inventive stuff, including some inspirational art of all sorts, lovely food and interesting wares. We are staying at a lovely caravan park at Forest Glen, on the edge of a rainforest, it rained lots for the first couple of days here but has been lovely weather since then. We are not too keen on the signs on the big gum trees all around the park that read: CAUTION: limbs may fall without warning….. righto, sleep well….. A few developments on the art front. I dropped off three pieces at a cool décor shop on the Gold Coast called Senja, they stock very different and unique wares and my work fits in well there, they reckon they can sell it to their clientele so will see how that goes. Have been here a week now and were going to head off tomorrow but are staying another week now as I have picked up a bit of work. I went to a sheet metal factory around the corner from here the other day to get something for the trailer and they had a piece of artwork made from metal on their wall, so I gave the owner my card. The fantastically named Kingsley St. Clair had a look at my website and has asked me to do a couple of pictures for him, a portrait of himself and a picture of the beach at Mooloolaba. Kingsley is a lovely guy who is originally from Victoria and loves to talk footy. Jarra has been getting up very early lately, 6-6.30am although the last couple of days he has slept in till about 7am. He has been banging himself about, trying to get us investigated by social welfare I reckon. He has no fear unfortunately, he has almost drowned twice in the last week by jumping into the pool when our backs are turned after we have finished our swim and taken his back float off. At the playground the other day he would climb up to the 5-foot high platform and just jump off; it is the equivalent of me jumping off a house roof. Crazy child. And by crikey we went to Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo a couple of days ago. She was a little beauty mate, although overpriced in my opinion. Many tourists from an assortment of countries were there, it was pretty packed. Overheard an English guy talking on his mobile describing it as, “Well smart “ The group of shops around the corner from here have organic everything. An organic butcher, green grocer etc. Helen had her hair cut at the organic hairdresser…..what the…??