Author: Snoskred
Gold Coast Day 5
On our final full day on the Gold Coast, we mainly wanted to go for a walk around the Grand Prix track, and get ready to leave early the next day.
In the morning, we saw whales from our apartment balcony. That was pretty cool. ;)
We also ended up doing a beach walk. The weather was gorgeous as always, and we had a lovely few hours out and about, wandering.
At some point this morning while we were getting ready, I said maybe we should try to organise a helicopter flight for today, as it was one of the “things you do” when you are on the Gold Coast, and it was something Sephyroth had never done before.
I called Seaworld Helicopters and managed to organise a flight for 4pm that afternoon. We very nearly missed out entirely, though. This was the only opening they had for the day.
It was fantastic. Those folks over there have everything running like clockwork, they know what they are doing and they are excellent at it. You can take as many photos as you want while in the helicopter, and they even have a spot where they get you to stand for a picture of yourself with the helicopter just behind you.
You do not have to pay for theme park entry – they have an office at the side of Seaworld, and a staff member comes and gets you and takes you to the helicopter area.
Here we are, coming back in to land. It felt like a great end to our Gold Coast holiday. But our trip was not over yet – we still had a night in Tamworth and two nights in Bathurst on the way home, plus almost two weeks more of time with Sephyroth before he flew back to the USA, during which we had a Canberra overnight trip planned to see the Doug Anthony AllStars, and my aunts and uncles were coming in from Adelaide for a local concert.
Next week – Gold Coast to Tamworth, with the most expensive hamburger lunch ever known to man, and a very annoying blue car with no place to overtake it, for over an hour.
Savory Mince
This one is an easy and super quick recipe we eat once a week or so. It is usually not the same recipe each time, if I have brussel sprouts in winter I will use those rather than frozen peas, and I will tend to use whatever veg I happen to have on hand.
Due to The Other Half having high blood pressure, I dilute the oyster sauce with boiling water, which is what you see up top there. I do try to use the most low sodium oyster sauce I can find at the supermarket, which locally happens to be this one at 560mg per 20g –
Remember I am rural though so you might be able to find one with less sodium than I can. Check the bottles and remember to try to compare the same amounts. The same goes for the soy sauce.
The recipe is so easy and simple which is one reason I love it. I do not use amounts for this one. You simply sweat the leeks, capsicum and carrots for a few minutes.
Add in your beef mince to the pan, I always add some red wine here before I put the lid on, for more flavour and to cook the mince slightly quicker. Up to you if you want to do that.
Once the mince is done, you break it up, mix in the veg, add your soy and oyster sauce, let it simmer for a bit, defrost the frozen peas in the microwave then at the last moment add them in and stir through.
I top mine with some Grana Padano and Costco Cheese – The Other Half only gets the costco cheese as Grana Padano is too salty for him.
Because there are two of us, we get half each and therefore we do not need to use rice underneath it. You may want to add rice either underneath or to the pan if you have more people to serve. You could add in cabbage if you wanted to make this stretch a little further without rice.
Kitties On A Friday 7
Gold Coast Day 4
Sometimes you have an experience that you will forever remember, and today at Currumbin Sanctuary was one of those times. I will never, ever forget one particular moment from this day. But more about that shortly.
Our original plan for today was to go to Dreamworld, but they were closed still and would in fact remain closed for over a month. So we decided to go to Currumbin Sanctuary instead – not a place I would have chosen myself but we did have an American Tourist with us, and I thought maybe he should get to experience some of those classic Australian experiences that you never forget. Like holding a koala, and/or a snake, even though said American tourist was a little afraid of snakes.
There you have a water dragon sitting on top of a freshwater crocodile.
Me, I completely am not scared of snakes. Once upon a time I was, but then I became a zoo volunteer and somewhere along the way grew to absolutely love them.
As always, getting up at 5am tends to get the day started very early and we were in the car by 7:40am on our way to the place, whch opened at 8am. The place was already chock full of students from places like Japan and China, who had arrived early for the bird feeding which happens just at the entrance to the park, and they were now queuing to get into the park. Luckily this was a quick process.
We wandered around the park mostly trying to avoid the other people while still getting to see the animals. That photo above is two male kangaroos having a bit of a fight. That is pretty normal behaviour for them – the volunteer nearby was a bit worried about the tourists getting too close.
In trying to avoid the other people we actually stumbled upon my favourite experience of the day, the one moment I will never forget. We had found a place to sit slightly up hill near the crocodiles and were relaxing when two Eastern Water Dragons decided to have a bit of a territory fight right in front of us. Nobody got hurt but the posturing and circling was Quite A Thing To See.
We decided to take in a couple of the shows – the free bird flight show was great, and the snake show even better. While waiting for these shows we decided to purchase some photo opportunities – The Other Half got a photo with an owl, and Sephyroth and I got a photo with a snake, plus koala holding photos for everyone. You get to hold a koala, and you get to hold a koala, everyone gets to hold a koala for a very reasonable price which I cannot recall but it was all packaged together for us very nicely.
And there you see our new koala friend just about to be handed to Sephyroth. I have to tell you, I had a special moment with that koala. We talked. It was a thing of beauty.
All up we spent about 4 hours at Currumbin. We were not sure what to have for lunch, nothing there appealed to us. We threw around a few options, then those zucchini chips called us and we decided to visit Grill’d at Pacific Fair again on the way back to the apartment. On the way back to the car, we visited HoneyWorld and bought some honey – which I have been mixing into my Greek Yoghurt for a good couple of months now.. There was also SurfWorld but that did not tempt us. Everything is a world, on the Gold Coast.
If we had gone to Dreamworld this day, we had planned to stop at NightQuarter on the way back. This was our one and only planned eat out at dinner time meal, so we decided to head out to Helensvale and keep our appointment with some Cronuts, which I had read about in advance. Cronuts are a cross between a croissant and a donut. They are awesome.
But before one ate the sweets, one had to eat the dinner. That is a thing, apparently. There were samples of various things given out – Sephyroth and I ended up with two things we sampled, calamari and juice which happened to be right next to each other, while The Other Half went for a curly sausage of some kind.
Both of these things were extremely delicious but so filling we did not have space for the cronuts. So we bought them and took them back to the apartment, where we cut them in half and shared different flavours.
Cinnamon
Salted Caramel with Chocolate
All in all, this was probably my favourite Gold Coast day. Though tomorrow, we did something pretty cool, which I will tell you about next Wednesday!
New Year, Same Goals
Almost the same goals as 2016, because I do not really want to eat less than I presently am. I am aiming for 1200 calories each day.
Move more is back on the agenda after taking a break since late October when I injured my hip. At the moment I am aiming for 30 minutes on the treadmill each day and adding in a minute more of running each day.
Across 2016, I lost over 20kg – that’s 44 pounds. More importantly, I am a lot fitter than I used to be. It has made a huge difference.
This journey to better fitness has not been without problems – I had a big interruption in February 2016 when I had diverticulitis. In September I was diagnosed with thyroid problems – antibodies are attacking my thyroid as a surprise to myself – and I began taking a small dose of Thyroxine daily.
I only need to lose another 5kg to meet my goal weight and I would like to do that by mid-February when I have my colonoscopy scheduled.
The Other Half is having some health issues which required us to reduce our sodium intake. We ate much less processed food in December as a result, and I am cooking almost everything from scratch. Rather hilariously, I’m now having to make sure I get extra salt because I have the opposite problem of low blood pressure.
Happy New Year everyone! :)
Kitties On A Friday 6
They like to sleep near each other sometimes. When they are not fighting over the best spots to sleep in.
Orchid Job Scam
Here is yet another scam job email. It should be noted that these posts help thousands of people each week who arrive here on the blog after searching the web for email addresses, phone numbers, or text from these emails.
I know these posts are terribly boring for regular readers here but I hope you won’t mind – it is for a great cause.
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As one of the most prospective international distributing companies, Orchid delivers different kinds of sale, shipping and logistic service to private persons as well as to companies all over the world. Today we are glad to announce part-time and full-time positions in Orchid. If you are willing to join our friendly and creative team in Australia please do not hesitate to apply.
Attention please!
We can accept applications from Australian citizens or from the candidates with valid work permit only!
Your future tasks:
– communication with our customers in the USA as well as East European and Asian countries;
– maintenance of the orders and purchase data;
– distribution and sales support.
Your salary:
1. 4300$ per month if you work on a full-time basis.
2. Up to 7800$ monthly if you prefer the part-time option.
Your salary can be completed with some bonuses according to the rules of our bonus system. You will have to withstand a payed test period prior to being chosen as a long-term employee.
Our expectations:
You have a computer (laptop) at your disposal with stable Internet access. We expect that you also have Microsoft Excel installed and you are able to work with it. Communicative skills and good writing are crucial for this position. It is a big plus if you are able to keep positive mood in most situations.
We are looking forward to receiving a reply from you if you are determined to start your career in a friendly team under the guidance of a strong leader.
Kind regards,
KRISTIE GARCIA
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They are using the email address – acerogbgmurielpsj@outlook.com
Keep in mind the golden rule –
NO MONEY IS COMING TO YOU AS A SURPRISE VIA YOUR EMAIL INBOX.
I may update this post with further emails when I receive them. :)
What Should People Do Now?
If you are in contact with this company, stop emailing them. If they will not stop emailing you, try sending them this – just copy and paste it from here –
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I am now aware that this is not a legitimate job and that you are trying to scam me.
Do not email me anymore – I have reported your emails to the local police and I will send any further emails directly to them. Do not mail me anything – I will not accept any deliveries that you send to me.
Leave me alone!
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Be aware they may pass your email address onto other scammers, so you may see other scams coming to you via your inbox. There are so many different and varied scams, there is no way I can warn you about all the possibilities.
Just remember that golden rule above, and hit delete. If you think something might be legit, you can forward it on to me at snoskred {at} gmail {dot} com and I will check into it for you. If you receive too many scams, it might be worth changing your email account.
What If I Receive A Fake Check?
DO NOT BANK IT.
Please contact me in the event that this occurs, and I will advise you further. If possible I will ask you to send me a photo of the check so I can try and warn the company or people named on it, and I will contact the bank involved as well.
Merry Christmas!
Now that is my idea of a Christmas tree. :)
Taking a break until Friday!
Kitties On A Friday 5
A box in the sun = kitty heaven!