Hiking

Mariana and I went hiking with another couple from work on Saturday. Rej and Clo were nice enough to invite us out for the day and we headed up to Mt. Glorious for a trek.

The weather was great and the hike was scenic and a good time but not without some drama...

Rej and I were talking away with the girls walking up ahead of us when we heard a scream. I looked up to see Mariana hopping really fast for a few feet and looking kind of scared behind a tree.

When we got to the scene there was a medium sized snake sitting in the middle of the trail looking kind of mad. Mariana had been walking along talking and mistakenly almost stepped on this guy and he slithered accross her boot and stood his ground.

Fearlessly I took out my camera and used as much zoom as was available to me and got a picture of him before he slithered quickly off the trail.

After some reaserch the concensus is that he was a King Brown Snake and quite venomous.

Mariana was not to be detered. She made the rest of the hike and liked it enough that we went to Anaconda the next day and got outfitted out with some really cool hiking gear.

We are in Australia and might as well make the most of it. There are quite a few hikers and campers at Pandemic and we are hoping to get invited out again soon.

Livin' Large

Winter Wonderland...

Winter is upon us in all of it's fury. Or not. Winter in Southeast Queensland is surprisingly pleasant. The days are sunny and dry and tend to be about 70 - 75 degrees with a breeze. At night the temps drop to the low 60's and maybe once into the high 50's.

It is a welcome change from the tropical, humid climate we had for the first six months although I am looking forward to summer again. Something about that 82 degree water. I can't complain now as it is the height of winter and the water is still 72 degrees.

We had such nice weather yesterday I snapped some pics from the balcony...

Strike up the Band...

Big Winz...

Just heard on the ticker...


Change is coming to American and a test passed for racial progress. It seems that just six short months ago Hillary Clinton was the presumptive and all but crowned Democratic nominee. So solid did her prospects look that I imagine it must not be an easy task, gazing in the mirror and wondering what happened? Where did it all go?

A campaign well run and fought and I think he will make a good president but what a mess he has to clean up after...

It's a start.

Publsihed...

A strong south swell is filling into the Queensland Coast today and peaking on Sunday and Monday with what is projected to be 8-10 foot surf at the points. Snapper Rocks was stormy and wild this morning but the waves break within the wind shielded pocket and was five foot, hollow, and super fun. The sand on the point is perfectly groomed. The picture from the right was taken of snapper's this morning.

I got what i think is the best wave since my arrival here in Australia, a head high gem that seemed to go on forever or at least 150 yards and included two solid tubes and the third one ate me, ending the wave. My legs were jelly after that. I got three waves in two hours, with the length of ride it felt like i surfed a lot more than three waves.

When I got to work this morning and was reviewing the early morning (7:00) surf cam and was surprised to see myself walking back up the point. I know it was me because just on I remember the guy with the yellow twin fin in the mid right of the screen and the guy with the beer gut on the upper right of the screen entering the water. After I saw them, I saw the couple to my right and there I was, on the lower left, in the short john. Too bad the camera feed was not a few minutes earlier as it might have captured me getting SHACKED...

Sunday should be epic and I am taking Monday off work for more...

Climbing Critters...

Our building is currently being repainted and they have constructed a large scaffolding just outside our deck window.

The other night we were watching TV when the cats both raced to the screen door and went into alert mode. We were all surprised to see this little Australian Possum climbing around, three stories up, like it was nothing. He was kind of a big guy but balancing on the steal beams as if it were nothing. We have seen these before, they tend to run around the ground level but now that there is a scaffolding they seem to like to explore the upper regions.
He was a brave little sucker, we went outside to investigate and he did not seem to be bothered that we were there.