Coogee construction zone

We visited Coogee twice in the last week or so .. there is so much going on .. AT LAST!

We remember how our unit looked in this pic taken at the end of July.........   

And two weeks later ... the new windows are in ... and looking beautiful!

But there was some collateral damage. The brickwork above our new living room window did not survive its first significant disturbance in almost 100 years. We'll be up for some serious repair work here and then a complete new paint job on the surrounding walls.

The bedroom wall was not nearly as damaged - and the new window there looks just great!

There was some damage to the kitchen cupboards next to the new window (small loss) but the new window is definitely worth it.

We met up with Joey our painter in Coogee last Friday and chose the final colour for our wall repaint from this short list. (We picked the lower colour of these two - Dulux Hammer Grey).

When we were in Coogee the week before, on the way back from our Q'ld stay, our Carrington Road footpath looked like this - a serious construction site!

And 6 days later it looked like this ..... very raw and very new, but transformed!

Rob and I are especially happy about this outcome as we've been pressuring Randwick Council to fix our footpath for about two years now. We took this photo (and many others) in mid March this year to show Council how bad our footpath had got.

And there's more ........

This picture was not taken in our unit but in the now demolished bathroom of our neighbours in unit 7 (awaiting a complete renovation). We're really hoping that our bathroom (a mirror image of this one) will be next on the list!

And finally back in Canberra, everything is very neat and tidy around the lake, construction sites are out of sight, behind closed doors (and fences) and Spring is definitely in the air. 

We were rewarded with this view of the Prunus grove near Blundell's Cottage on our lake walk at the weekend.

Not so sunny coast

This was the early morning view from our balcony on day 3 (Monday) of our "Sunny Coast" break this week.............

And it really didn't change all that much for the next THREE days!!

Luckily there were enough breaks between downpours that we could walk to the Velo Project on Careelo Street most days for the best cup of coffee on offer on the Sunshine Coast........

Rainwear was obligatory most days, even sitting under "cover" while enjoying our coffee (it was very windy too!).

In between coffees we did a lot of reading, relaxing, and even a bit of shopping for Rob, at the extensive (but somewhat depressing) Sunshine Plaza in Maroochydore. In fact we managed to fill in the three rainy days pretty happily - and a highlight was catching up with my friend Jane on Wednesday afternoon for a long talkative session at the W.a.T. (Whisky and Tequila) Den below our hotel in Mooloolaba.

The sun came out for our last day in Mooloolaba yesterday. Still a fair bit of unruly looking cloud cover, hazy horizons and foamy, choppy seas ....but no rain!! We were ecstatic to be out walking and feeling the intermittent sunshine on our skin. We walked for about 10 klm, right up to the end of Cotton Tree near the (depressing) Sunshine Plaza and then back to Mooloolaba, taking in all the rain soaked beaches along the way.

Views of Alexandra Headlands Beach ......

Me out walking with my winter white legs ......

and Rob .......

The long view back to Mooloolaba and the mouth of the Mooloolah River beyond.

By yesterday afternoon, just to spite us, the unruly clouds had disappeared altogether, the seas had calmed and there was a beautiful golden glow over everything....as we finished our packing for an early departure the next morning!

To celebrate our last fine weather day at the Sunny Coast we took ourselves out to Sole Restaurant at Marcooola last night. Sole is run by the same people who run the Velo Project so we knew the standard would be high. We were not disappointed: carefully prepared (mostly seafood) dishes in a refined classy environment (unlike the rustic retro style of Velo) in a very upscale part of Marcoola Beach.  It was a lovely way to mark the end of a week we had enjoyed together, despite the weather, here on the not so sunny coast!

We drove for a good eight hours today, making it as far as Karuah, a very unpretentious river front town just off the M1 at the mouth of the Karuah River where it feeds into the waters of Swan Bay and Port Stephens. We plan to make it back to Canberra tomorrow after a stop off at Coogee to check on progress with the window project at our apartment.

Late afternoon looking out to Swan Bay at Karuah.

Sunny Coast break

We set out last Thursday, heading north in search of some sunny beaches and warmer temperatures than winter Canberra. We had our usual overnight stop at Park Beach (Coffs Harbour) along the way, arriving at beautiful Kirra Beach, just across the border in Queensland, in time for an early lunch at our old fave "Cotton Living", just opposite the beach.

It was a slow trip from there to the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane - heavy traffic all the way and lots of hold ups where lanes were merging. It was around 3.00pm before we got to destination Mooloolaba. This is the view from our 9th floor room at Mantra Mooloolaba Beach!

We didn't take too long before setting out for a walk, heading north along the beachfront, to stretch out the long drive stressors.

........ as far as Alexandra Headlands ..........

Saturday morning dawned cloudy, but with some patches of blue sky. We decided to set out walking south towards Point Cartwright and the mouth of the Mooloolah River.

Closer to the river entrance there is a very gentle protected area of beach for kayaks and canoes.

The end of the Mooloolaba Spit.

We walked quite a way around the harbour area, stopping for a coffee on the river and checking out the best seafood suppliers (Rockliff!!). Mooloolaba Beach looked quite inviting on the way back to the hotel.

We walked back to Rockliff later in the afternoon and picked up some locally caught Pacific Oceans prawns for our dinner. Superb! - and well deserved after clocking up at least 10klm of walking today!

We woke early this morning - there was a lot going on outside. I took this picture from our balcony at about 6.00am. The Sunshine Coast Marathon had started and there were crowds of runners on the streets below.

We set out walking ourselves an hour or so later - up towards the start of the race alongside Alexandra Headlands

The crowds were intense around the start and finish lines - not surprising with over 5,000 runners. There was a great vibe on the streets this morning with so many serious runners but plenty of not so serious runners too doing the 20k, 10k and 5k versions of the race, alongside the marathon runners. The positive Aussie spirit around the Paris Olympics contributed to the vibe today too I'm sure.

We eventually walked as far as Maroochydore, and Cotton Tree, bordering the Maroochy River.

Our coffee stop this morning was at The Silva Spoon on the Esplanade at Cotton Tree. The coffee was great, the pastries were superb and we had a front row seat to watch all the runners working hard outside.

We had a bit of a paddle on the way home - water cool but perfectly refreshing!

This afternoon Rob drove me up to Coolum Beach which we both remember fondly from family holidays in the late 1950s and 1960s. Of course it's changed a lot since those times.

But that beach hasn't changed at all ............. 

Looking towards Point Arkwright .......

We set out for a nostalgic walk around Coolum Beach, but a rainstorm came over and we got semi soaked before making it back to the car. We ended up driving down our Greenoaks Drive. All the original beach shacks (60-70 year old by now) were still standing but our family's looked the saddest of them all today.

The old remaining shacks were surrounded by much more substantial looking houses and quite a few luxury villas further up the street - such a contrast! I'm glad Mum and Dad won't ever see what their little holiday house has become.

We made it back toMooloolaba in time to order more wonderful seafood from Rockliff. The cooking and dining facilities are very limited in our unit - but we produced a stunning meal tonight with these superlative ingredients.

More Young Ones

Our Canberra winter continues - but at least we've seen more of the sun over the last few weeks bringing us some beautiful clear sky days. 

This may well be our last photo of Ringo, with Abi, out at Redlands, taken a week ago. What a cracker shot Rob captured just as the sun was setting!

 

There are mobs of kangaroos everywhere, busy munching away at the winter grasses. The top horse paddock was filled with them as we drove into Redlands last week. They must have been hungry as there's not much grass left after Ringo and his mates have been munching on it all day.

The next morning we walked up Mt Ainslie and the kangaroos were feeding right next to the walking track - not fazed at all by the early morning hikers. The kangaroo nearest me had a very mature joey in her pouch.

And small miracle - there was significant progress with the Coogee windows last week too. The big new frames have arrived (no easy feat bringing them up to the third floor) and all beautifully painted ready for the install. 

And the kitchen sashes are finally in ...... We have waited a long time for this!

We got to have a dinner date with Ella and Abi at the end of last week - at their favourite Japanese restaurant - a wonderful way to end the week and catch up with all their news (and there was a LOT!)

On Sunday night we had a another lovely dinner date with Angus - of Bodyshirtttt fame. He loves Japanese food too so we introduced him to our Campbell local "Maji". We were all impressed with the refined, delicious food - and so much of it too.

We feel very fortunate to share the company of these beautiful, thoughtful, creative and very funny (and sometimes hungry) young ones, who are growing up so fast.