Throw another shrimp on the bar-b

Whatever day this is, it's a catchup day, time to visit family of these friends of Becky's who we've inflicted ourselves upon; I do feel sorry for them as they're probably happy to see her but totally unsure what the "mother" is like. I have met some of them before but it was a long time ago and why would they remember, I didn't mean anything to them!.

We wake up to our first proper day on the Sunshine Coast thinking yesterday was just bad luck and today will be warm and dry and just as we imagined this part of the world to be! Ha Ha! Good trick all you Australians who thought it was a good idea to call it the Sunshine Coast when it's wetter than England in a bad summer! So, no rush, the friends we're visiting have planned the original Australian bar-be-que for us, not quite the beach but a house in the outback (spiders and snakes come to mind, but I have to dismiss this thought so as not to be rude!) and we're planning to head out that way lunchtime, about 12 after picking up Oli's mum who has prepared a load of food. All is going to plan until a phone call about 11 explains that the torrential rain we're having might have washed the road out and we may not be able to get through! Great, looking good!

Lots of rain, but the word is that the road is ok at the moment so of course we give it a go. We leave to pick up Oli's mum and the food and drive out into the outback. It's not that far, only about 20 minutes, and we get there without any problems and stop at the top of their road to pick up some alcohol, the only acceptable thing to take to an Australian bar-be-cue, handy this bottle store!


If you can read the writing on the side of this building, you'll understand the Australian psyche!
Eventually, we get there and the road hasn't quite been washed away but the torrential rain is more torrential than you can imagine! Continuous rain, bar-b-cue under cover in the garden and a selection of salads all combine with the lovely people we're visiting who have all put themselves out just for us and make it a really pleasant and welcoming afternoon. A real pleasure to be a part of this family's gathering, even though I feel like I've just turned up without an invitation just because I know someone they know, but they all make me feel very welcome! There was a lovely selection of food, but I don't know what happened to the shrimps, I thought that was all they had out here but I suppose we weren't on the beach so maybe that's the difference! You just can't rely on these stereotypes!

During the afternoon, Oliver noticed that one of his tyres on his lovely shiny car was flat and after re-inflating it, it soon started to go down again. That might be a problem in view of the weather, spare tyre is just meant for a short journey to the tyre shop, not for touring the Sunshine Coast which had been the plan for the following day, so the situation was under review. After some discussion, Oliver's brother kindly offered to let us have their second car and would change the tyres the following day when it might not be raining so much, and we at least would have a car to go sightseeing in the following day. Apparently, none of the tyre shops needed to put the problem right would be open on a Sunday, we had to wait til Monday. Poor Oliver and his nice shiny car, sorry about the fact that our bad luck, which we seem to manage to drag round with us wherever we go has managed to get a foothold here too.

When its time to leave, we get the substitute car and Oliver tries to reverse out of the drive, opening all windows and lighting all lights trying to find the appropriate gears and brakes but we get there in the end, never a dull moment with the Smith family, but I bet you wish we'd stayed at home!