{"id":3836,"date":"2022-11-02T23:46:28","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T23:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=3836"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:27:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:27:47","slug":"2-jet-lag-and-other-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=3836","title":{"rendered":"2. JET LAG AND OTHER PROBLEMS!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We arrived on the Monday.\u00a0 On Tuesday morning I was “brutally” woken at 10.30 am by Glenda (with a cup of tea, to be fair)!\u00a0 After that I’ve been getting up (most days) with the dawn.<\/p>\n

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Around here this happens at about 5 am!\u00a0 True enough our night-time sleep is a little interrupted, but the effects of jet lag are wearing off fast.\u00a0 Thankfully.<\/span><\/p>\n

Preparations for the school run with Jack and Ben (AKA Phroggy) start soon after 06.30 …<\/p>\n

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One of the great things here is the ready availability of whole body skin checks for sun damage.\u00a0 Before we can do this we need to get our temporary Medicare numbers.\u00a0 This, we have found in previous years, involves a lot of form filling and a protracted interview process in a CityLink (social services) office.\u00a0 A tedious, time consuming and generally unpleasant experience.\u00a0 The staff do have to deal with some fairly “difficult” customers, so I guess their view of life may be a bit “coloured”.<\/p>\n

Still, to get our 49% refund of medical expenses under the reciprocal arrangements between Oz and the UK, we need Medicare numbers!\u00a0 So, numbers we will get!\u00a0 The nearest office is in Maroochydore.\u00a0 So we head off there with bad memories of the Kawana branch three and a half years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, we need to get parked within 20 minutes walking distance.\u00a0 OK.\u00a0 So the parking spot immediately outside the office door was vacant.\u00a0 But only for an hour.\u00a0 We could be waiting three hours like last time.\u00a0 Just in time, I remembered that I had to park facing the correct way on the street.\u00a0 So a U-turn in position was required.\u00a0 Surely much more dangerous than parking facing the wrong way!\u00a0 Still, this is Australia – and they have rules which must be obeyed!<\/p>\n

We were met by a very friendly and helpful young man.\u00a0 We were called to a desk five minutes later – which was when I started to think we were in the wrong place!\u00a0 However, this call up was just to be issued with a 47 page form to fill in before our interview.\u00a0 And yes, this was the correct place.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 There followed a brief “I’m Glenda not Brenda” – “No I’m Brenda not Glenda” thing.\u00a0 She then started filling our form in from the back until we met in the middle.\u00a0 Out popped our temporary Medicare cards.\u00a0 All done in just 31 minutes.\u00a0 And very pleasantly too!\u00a0 Mental note.\u00a0 Use the Maroochydore office in future!<\/p>\n

So.\u00a0 Armed with the appropriate numbers we called the Golden Beach Medical Centre to make an appointment for a skin check.\u00a0 The doctor I had previously seen had left the practice and the earliest date we could get to see anyone was late November.<\/p>\n

Plan B.\u00a0 Try the clinic Robin uses.\u00a0 “OK.\u00a0 Can you come in this afternoon or tomorrow morning?”\u00a0 “Woah!\u00a0 How about next week?”\u00a0 “”Monday good for you?”\u00a0 “Deal.”\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Glenda’s brother and his wife, Kirsty, have been in Oz since August giving their house in Buddina a complete overhaul.\u00a0 Outside painting and lots of garden improvements.\u00a0 They are due to leave in about a week’s time, so we make the most of our time here together.<\/p>\n

Coffee at La Balsa on the river…<\/p>\n

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

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Then a closer inspection of the new breach by tinny.<\/p>\n

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We landed at the northerly tip of what is now “South” Bribie Island.<\/p>\n

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Here John and John show their best sides while studying the newly formed (and rapidly shifting) sand bars within Pumicestone Passage.\u00a0 Trying to work out where the channels will take us when we leave!\u00a0 And they are being watched with disdain by the local pelicans and ospreys!<\/p>\n

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Back on the mainland, we inspected what remained of the old exit channel to sea.<\/p>\n

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This channel had been predicted to take five years to silt up after the island was split in two.\u00a0 In the event, it took less than three months to become impassable to all but the shallowest draught boats.\u00a0 The coastguard certainly can no longer use the old channel out to sea.\u00a0 Their rescue boat now needs to be taken out of the water and trailered to a suitable launch spot.\u00a0 And even then it can only get to sea at the highest of high tides.\u00a0 Useful!\u00a0 “We’ll be out to rescue you in five hours.\u00a0 Hold tight!”<\/p>\n

Another day, we took the tinny to “North” Bribie Island.\u00a0 More or less bang opposite where the girls are sitting in the photo above.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a bit damp for the front seat passengers going into the breeze!<\/p>\n

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… but the swimming was very peaceful this side of the water!<\/p>\n

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We had a farewell breakfast with J&K at Chill Cafe 89 near their apartment.\u00a0 Ben came too and ordered a massive milk shake with fish and chips – for brekkie!\u00a0 Tried to talk him out of that choice.\u00a0 But talking Ben out of anything he wants to do is “challenging”!\u00a0 Afterwards a walk along Golden Beach (which stands a fair chance of being a surf beach in the near future).<\/p>\n

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Then a swim (for rocket-man Phroggy) in Gemini’s pool.<\/p>\n

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After a couple of false starts, John and Kirsty eventually got away to Singapore and onwards to HK and London respectively.<\/p>\n

More adventures to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We arrived on the Monday.\u00a0 On Tuesday morning I was “brutally” woken at 10.30 am by Glenda (with a cup of tea, to be fair)!\u00a0 After that I’ve been getting up (most days) with the dawn. Around here this happens… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3836"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3890,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3836\/revisions\/3890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}