18th to 28th July, 2023 Jon & Annalise’s place, Cairns, Qld

Tues, 18^th 

Sky clearing, only a little shower of rain here and there. Last of the bits we ordered have arrived. Just need an engine!!

Finished off the cross-stitch for the wedding and found a nice frame.

Lovely afternoon chatting with Andrea.

Steve arrived home from the Palmer River.

Rang Terry - having fun learning all about his new caravan.

Out to Trinity Beach for dinner with Daniel & Fran and her mother Val. Lovely time chatting.

 

Wed 19^th

At last the engine has arrived. Sadly some things aren’t in the box and the bolt up thing has changed so he will have to ring the auto lot to see why. I hope the changeover goes smoothly as this has been a bit of an uphill battle since we ordered it all. I sent off an email to Diesel Conversions Aust for him.

 

Thurs 20^th

DCA emailled back - they acknowledged they had left the bolts out - bit poor but at least they were honest and said they had them and would overnight them up to us.

Griffo had got the old auto transmission down (from the wrecked Nissan we used for the lazy axle) from his mezzanine so Steve got work getting it ready to send back to Wholesale Auto so we can get the refund on the exchange box.

Quiet day. 

Sky has gone grey with clouds again after lunch. We are all praying for sunny weather for next weekend.

 

Fri 21^st

Visited Dan and Fran in the morning then went line dancing after lunch. I was much better this week - remembering the steps better.

Steve took the old auto down to Dan’s workshop and swapped it over with the new one to send back for our ‘exchange’ refund. Then went he looked at the new one and noticed they have 8 bolts now holding the torque convertor on instead of the 4 as original. He can get around that but then there was something else about it being too close and bolts rubbing - I got a bit confused with all that. He rang Wholesale Automatics and they said the torque convertor company had changed the number of bolts due to some coming loose. Steve was ok with that as he can fix that but the other bit they didn’t really have an answer for. Bit poor as they knew from the start what engine we were putting it with. Steve got onto the torque convertor company as well but they weren’t interested in helping - no pride in their work obviously. Steve then had a big chat with David about it and they will try and sort something out themselves as David is very skilled in this department. 

Lovely roast dinner with Kaylene and Rick then we watched the new Top Gun movie - Maverick. It was just as good as the original.

 

Sat 22^nd

Steve took the automatic transmission down to Dan’s work and met David there so they could work out how to fix the problem. They have a solution which is good so the changeover can get started next week.

Steve helped Annalise with some palm tree pruning then we went around to her Mum, Lynda’s place for dinner. Myles and Lynda’s parents were there so it was a great night.

 

Sun 23^rd

Steve coloured my hair then I helped Annalise with the weeding. Steve put the new actuators on the camper. These are very quiet and stronger - hope they last better.

Cooked dinner for Annalise then played a few games of Sequence.

 

Mon 24^th

Today would have been Erica’s 87^th birthday. Thinking of her and wish she could have been here with us to celebrate Jon and Annalise’s marriage.

After lunch Steve headed down to start working on taking the engine out of ‘Smokey’ to get ready for the changeover. I hope it all goes smoothly from now on for him. He is such a hard worker and he has achieved so much with the changes to the truck to take the camper then the mammoth job of the camper creation and everything along the way that he has had to sort and fix.

Max of 25 today so it as a cold day for us!

Terry rang to say he was all organised for the train and had got a taxi arranged.

I spotted a Facebook post about Erica & Terry’s friends, Carmel & Merv who had found a beautiful sapphire a few years back. I took screen shots of the articles to keep and to show Terry when he arrives. It certainly was a very lucky and wealthy find.

Annalise picked up Jon from the airport. So lovely to see him again. No sitting around though as his first job was to mow the lawn - what a good man. Annalise is making his favourite dinner and I am making Sticky Date Pudding for dessert.

David texted at 5.30 to say that the train was delayed leaving from Brisbane and would be 2 hours later getting to Terry. After all the organising to get to the station on time with a taxi now he has to sit around there waiting for the train.

Lovely dinner with Jon and Annalise. I gave them by hand-made gift made with love - a framed cross-stitch.

Then we gave them a gift for their honeymoon - just in case they get bored! Annalise had said how much they enjoy cards and board games.

Tues 25^th

Winter has arrived with a minimum of 14 degrees!!

Steve went down to the workshop with the truck while I went and had a cuppa with the girls at Tuckshop and helped with some washing up etc.

Terry rang from Townsville - they are now 3 hours behind time so we will pick him up at 5.30pm now. Brian is busy till 7pm so he can have dinner with us.

Into town with Jon & Annalise for a run through of the ceremony at the Pullman. It will be lovely as long as it isn’t too windy or wet! They have a back up plan on a balcony area inside if the weather turns. So far it is looking like Sat will be ok.

Dropped Steve off at the train station just in case it gained time and comes in earlier than 5.30pm. We went home then I drove back in the corolla. The train hadn’t gained any time and it rolled in just after 5.30pm. Terry looks great and had a reasonably good trip except for the delay.

We had drinks up in the house and Terry gave Jon & Annalise their wedding card and gift. Erica had written the card when I was there in January which is a lovely keepsake for them. 

Brian arrived at 7.30 to take Terry back to his place to stay. Sam is there too. Terry looking forward to a restful day tomorrow after the train trip and as it is going to rain it will be a good day to just hang about.

 

 

Wed 26^th

The rain started in the night - quite heavy at times too. Very overcast and clouds hanging on the mountains behind the house this morning. The weather bureau says today is the only ‘wet’ day.

Steve went into the workshop to continue with the process of pulling the engine out of the truck. The other parts DCA forgot have arrived.

I hung about with Annalise and Jon sorting out a few things and playing a few games of Sequence.

The rain continued into the night.

 

 

Thurs 27^th

Wendy and Matthew’s birthdays today. Sent Matt a message as he is in Brisbane. Joining the ladies for lunch at Trish’s for Wendy’s birthday and to look at Trish’s photos from their trip to Africa.

More rain - so sad for Jon and Annalise but after seeing the 1^st floor balcony they are happy to change the site of the ceremony to there as it has a lovely outlook and we won’t have to be worried about the weather.

I went to Officeworks and printed out all the ‘help’ pages for the engine changeover - the modern online stuff isn’t for Steve.

Drove over to Trish’s house and joined Trish, Andrea and Tammy in wishing Wendy a happy birthday. Had a lovely lunch chatting away then we watched the photos from Trish and Bertie’s recent trip to Africa. Amazing experience.

Home again to change for the wedding ‘meet & greet’ at Kangaroo’s Football Club down the road. Great idea of Lynda’s for a few drinks and she arranged some lovely food too. Met all their family and they met ours which was so nice.

 

 

Fri 28^th

Early shower of rain then the sun came out but they are happy to have made the change now and not have to worry if the weather changes.

I ducked down to Rebecca’s to see Megan and little Theo before they headed off to the Butterfly place. He is so cute but not so happy with teething.

Uncle John rang to wish Jon and Annalise all the best and get the latest on the engine changeover.

Annalise and I went into town and had a foot massage and got our toe nails painted - a first for me.

Down the road to Brian’s place for our Geck gathering with Grandad, Maralyn & Greg. David, Amanda and kids have arrived now. Unfortunately Mitchell & Marijke and family couldn’t make it.

Jon had taken his groomsmen out for hair cuts then they joined us for a short bit before taking off with Steve, Terry (Grandad) and the other men for a drink at the Tradies Bar. Steve had taken Jon there when he finished his apprenticeship and Terry had been up and couldn’t get over the ‘topless’ ladies. Well he certainly had some fun tonight as the boys were buying lots of raffle tickets and made Terry claim the prize. He is very happy with the photo Jon took! Boys will always be boys and the Geck boys are ‘boob’ men!!

Maralyn & Greg and Daniel & Fran headed off so us girls went back to Amanda’s accommodation in town. We walked around to an Italian restaurant and ordered takeaway. Went we got back we got in the lift but nothing would happen. We couldn’t open the doors either and we trying to sort it out when the doors opened and in came a lady. We thought it might have been Amanda’s life fob but hers didn’t work and we still couldn’t open the doors from the inside. We tried the lift emergency button but that just said the address and then made a loud alarm sound. I tried the phone number on the board but not connected. Eventually I tried the doors and with the help of the other lady we got them apart and we all piled out. The other lady rang another permanent and she got us a stair access key so we could go up the stairs and into the apartment. Well that was exciting - not quite the excitement we were looking for though. Had our dinners on the patio but we all were very disappointed with the meal. Not going to well so far. Then we heard fireworks going off and realised it was the Italian Festival on the Esplanade. What a display - it was fabulous. I texted Annalise saying I was hoping she was enjoying the display I put on for her - ha ha. I only had my phone but I got a few good shots.