Tapp's Travels

We arrived on the Monday.  On Tuesday morning I was “brutally” woken at 10.30 am by Glenda (with a cup of tea, to be fair)!  After that I’ve been getting up (most days) with the dawn.

Around here this happens at about 5 am!  True enough our night-time sleep is a little interrupted, but the effects of jet lag are wearing off fast.  Thankfully.

Preparations for the school run with Jack and Ben (AKA Phroggy) start soon after 06.30 …

One of the great things here is the ready availability of whole body skin checks for sun damage.  Before we can do this we need to get our temporary Medicare numbers.  This, we have found in previous years, involves a lot of form filling and a protracted interview process in a CityLink (social services) office.  A tedious, time consuming and generally unpleasant experience.  The staff do have to deal with some fairly “difficult” customers, so I guess their view of life may be a bit “coloured”.

Still, to get our 49% refund of medical expenses under the reciprocal arrangements between Oz and the UK, we need Medicare numbers!  So, numbers we will get!  The nearest office is in Maroochydore.  So we head off there with bad memories of the Kawana branch three and a half years ago.

First, we need to get parked within 20 minutes walking distance.  OK.  So the parking spot immediately outside the office door was vacant.  But only for an hour.  We could be waiting three hours like last time.  Just in time, I remembered that I had to park facing the correct way on the street.  So a U-turn in position was required.  Surely much more dangerous than parking facing the wrong way!  Still, this is Australia – and they have rules which must be obeyed!

We were met by a very friendly and helpful young man.  We were called to a desk five minutes later – which was when I started to think we were in the wrong place!  However, this call up was just to be issued with a 47 page form to fill in before our interview.  And yes, this was the correct place.  Before I had completed page 2, we were called up again by a very pleasant lady who escorted us to her desk in the back of office-beyond.  There followed a brief “I’m Glenda not Brenda” – “No I’m Brenda not Glenda” thing.  She then started filling our form in from the back until we met in the middle.  Out popped our temporary Medicare cards.  All done in just 31 minutes.  And very pleasantly too!  Mental note.  Use the Maroochydore office in future!

So.  Armed with the appropriate numbers we called the Golden Beach Medical Centre to make an appointment for a skin check.  The doctor I had previously seen had left the practice and the earliest date we could get to see anyone was late November.

Plan B.  Try the clinic Robin uses.  “OK.  Can you come in this afternoon or tomorrow morning?”  “Woah!  How about next week?”  “”Monday good for you?”  “Deal.”  So, it’s in Landsborough, out in the sticks, but on closer examination it’s actually nearer to Robin’s place than is my old doctor’s.

Glenda’s brother and his wife, Kirsty, have been in Oz since August giving their house in Buddina a complete overhaul.  Outside painting and lots of garden improvements.  They are due to leave in about a week’s time, so we make the most of our time here together.

Coffee at La Balsa on the river…

… on the balcony of their apartment in Gemini. The new break in Bribie Island where storms have broken through can be seen behind.

Then a closer inspection of the new breach by tinny.

We landed at the northerly tip of what is now “South” Bribie Island.

Here John and John show their best sides while studying the newly formed (and rapidly shifting) sand bars within Pumicestone Passage.  Trying to work out where the channels will take us when we leave!  And they are being watched with disdain by the local pelicans and ospreys!

Back on the mainland, we inspected what remained of the old exit channel to sea.

This channel had been predicted to take five years to silt up after the island was split in two.  In the event, it took less than three months to become impassable to all but the shallowest draught boats.  The coastguard certainly can no longer use the old channel out to sea.  Their rescue boat now needs to be taken out of the water and trailered to a suitable launch spot.  And even then it can only get to sea at the highest of high tides.  Useful!  “We’ll be out to rescue you in five hours.  Hold tight!”

Another day, we took the tinny to “North” Bribie Island.  More or less bang opposite where the girls are sitting in the photo above.

It was a bit damp for the front seat passengers going into the breeze!

… but the swimming was very peaceful this side of the water!

We had a farewell breakfast with J&K at Chill Cafe 89 near their apartment.  Ben came too and ordered a massive milk shake with fish and chips – for brekkie!  Tried to talk him out of that choice.  But talking Ben out of anything he wants to do is “challenging”!  Afterwards a walk along Golden Beach (which stands a fair chance of being a surf beach in the near future).

Then a swim (for rocket-man Phroggy) in Gemini’s pool.

After a couple of false starts, John and Kirsty eventually got away to Singapore and onwards to HK and London respectively.

More adventures to follow.