We had morning smoko with Keryn and headed off towards Brisbane.
We stopped at Archerfield to buy some spares for the Motley from Camec.
We drove to the Anderson's house at the Gap where we had been offered a site during our stay in Brisbane
We arrived at about half past one. Peter asked me to walk their turning circle as it was very tight and had a tree in one corner. I decided it would be OK. When I tried to get around the tree I got stuck. I had to uncouple the trailer and work it around with the jockey wheel. As it was on the side of a steep hill we had to chock a wheel and take care to ensure that the trailer didn't escape down the hill but eventually I was able to back the Motley up to the trailer and couple up. We drove back down to the camping spot and set up.
We headed for Ferny Hills, stopping on the way to do the shopping, and spent the rest of the afternoon with the kids.
We stopped at Great western on the way back to The Gap to buy some Indian takeaway. We had to wait so we bought some coffee from a place advertising Di Bella coffee. It was really disappointing, probably a three and a half out of five. We got back to the Motley at about seven o'clock, had supper and veged out in front of the TV.
Up early to find it was raining again. Al rang to say he wouldn't be at work today so we arranged to go to Nundah for coffee after Jean's hair appointment in Mitchelton.
We spent the middle of the day with Al and in the afternoon we went to Everton Park to do the laundry which took until well after five o'clock. Jean had an appointment with the Podiatrist at six o'clock at Mitchelton so we didn't get back to the Motley until about seven o'clock.
We went to town to visit Next Byte. Al was out doing the banking and the young fellow said you must be his Dad! We bought a new MacBook and a new iPod. The G4 iBook was left for repair. It probably needs a new motherboard but we'll see.
We went to Brookside to do a bit of shopping . I bought Jean a new mobile phone as an Anniversary present. It is a pink Sagem prepaid Vodaphone device so she can chat to the family free. Unfortunately Vodaphone have no coverage in Barraba but it will work in Tamworth and in Brisbane. My phone had chucked a wobbly so we were able to use Jeans to keep in touch with the people in we are meeting Brisbane.
I also have a problem with the wireless modem at the moment. It appears to be working correctly with the new MacBook but the network refuses to connect. It might be a problem with Minimax modem and the MacBook but it might be something else. I hope I can find a fix for this otherwise we'll be back to the old days of having to beg landline connections to do all our internet business.
I loaded up a whole lot of music to the new iPod and Radio Motley is on the air again.
Up at sparrowfart again. I spent a bit of time checking out the new MacBook and all seems well and it goes like a dream with all the extra grunt and extra memory. I also has a lot more free space on the hard drive. This computer is called Nein (after Won, Too. Free, Fore, Fife, Sex, Severn, Ate). and the hard drive is called Aurac (after Marvin, and Zaphod)
We, Ross and I, spent the middle of the day meeting with the Chairman and the General Manager of the CMCA to negotiate the terms of the ECA licence for the CMCA Self-containment Scheme. It was a very good meeting with positive attitudes on both sides. We came away with a few things to do.
Jean took Ross's wife, Chris, to Patricks Rd and they went for a girls day out with Sarah and Kelly doing the extended shopping thing. Ross and I went back to Patricks Rd to meet them after the meeting and after their shopping expedition.
We retired to the Motley to rest after a tiring day.
Another bright clear day. We had a quiet morning. I did replace the regulating water inlet which had been leaking. The task only took a few minutes and happily the leak has now gone so we don't have to keep turning the pump off whenever the taps are not in use.
We went to the Summit Restaurant on Mt Coot-tha to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We had invited all the family who live in Brisbane , our daughter Sarah and her family, our son Alain, my sister Barb and her husband Ron and my partner in Eco-Camping Australia Ross Kassebaum and his wife Chris. We had a very nice lunch, much good wine, several recitations and lots of chat. We didn't get away until after four o'clock. Everyone had a good time and we were very pleased to have had such a lovely celebration.