Rain, rain go away, come again another .......... year?

It seems that the rain has not stopped for the month of February with the exception of a few days.  Luckily there has been no wind.  Unfortunately, there are many people who have been battling floods, and water in general, since Cyclone Oswald in the later part of January.

In between the clouds and raindrops we've been managing to get a little exercise in with the Bayside Runners and Walkers (bright and early on Saturday mornings), a little biking and, in my case, a swim at Ormiston College once or twice a week. 

                                               Don't we look attractive when we bike?

The spikes on the helmets are to keep the magpies from swooping and pecking at your head.  Yes, they do that here.  We look silly, but we have seen many others with spikes too, and they say it works.

A couple weeks ago we popped down to Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast to have a look at the sand sculpting. The sculptors were quite amazing but the wind and rain played havoc with their work ( it was a week long competition/display).

Apparently the Surfers Paradise Meter Maids were introduced in 1965 to help beat the bad image created by the installation of parking meters on the tourist strip. This was a controversial promotion, using women dressed in gold lame bikinis and tiaras, who strolled the streets of Surfers Paradise feeding coins into expired parking meters. Gone are the outdated tiaras, and lame bikinis replaced by the sun-conscious and true Aussie Akubra hat ideal for this tropical climate and Gold Lycra Bikinis with the occasional sequin. But even after almost 4 decades that special Meter Maid quality still remains...

The sculptors hard at work on a "Safari" theme

 

Just this last weekend we drove to the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane and briefly camped at Boreen Point to test our exchangee's camping equipment.  Of course there were a few little things we forgot -namely, mosquito repellent!