Our trip to Surfers Paradise
posted by Robert @ 7:26pm, Friday 16 October 2009.
Friday evening, 6pm local time (Queenslanders opted out of daylight saving).
Its the last night of our six day holiday to Surfers Paradise and I'm out on the balcony of our two bedroom ninth floor apartment. Just got back from the shop down the street with a six pack of the local beer (Its called XXXX Gold for those not familiar with Queensland). To complement it I have a big bag of thin cut potato chips. Smiths Barbeque to be exact.
So we flew in Monday afternoon on the flight from Melbourne. We were still a long way from Surfers Paradise as we'd landed at Coolangatta Airport. My wife did some investigation and discovered a taxi would be a cheaper option at around $50 for the trip to the hotel compared to $21 each on the Airport Shuttle bus. We collected our keys, settled into the room and made for the Thai restaurant that is part of the apartment complex on the ground floor. That was it for us. We hit the sack.
Surfers Paradise plays host to a car race every year. As luck would have it the race is on next week end. Many of the roads around our hotel had been barricaded in preparation for the race and this made traveling difficult. Our taxi driver had to take several detours to get us to the apartment complex. Part of the street race circuit goes right past our hotel.
Tuesday was shopping and pool day. We walked past huge towering hotels that dominate the skyline of Surfers Paradise and into the myriad shops selling everything imaginable. A fashionable looking coffee shop on Cavill Avenue looked too good to pass up so we had a great breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs then finished with some cups of cappuccino. We visited the local Woolworths and loaded up on food we'd need for the next few days. We still managed to forget sugar.
The apartment complex boasts a lagoon pool with sandy beach and separate shallow pool with pirate ship water slide. We spent a lazy afternoon on deckchairs and watched Zane playing in the sand. Late afternoon in southern Queensland often produces thunderstorms. Today was no different and dark clouds started to spoil our fun. We went indoors to the undercover swimming pool where my wife discovered the spa and later, the sauna.
We hired a car Wednesday morning. The plan was to drive to Australia Zoo in Beerwa, Steve Irwins legacy. The road signage in Queensland (at least where we were) is terrible. A wrong turn on the M1 (main motorway in Brisbane) resulted in us doing a tour through Brisbane itself and out the other side. We stopped at a petrol station and the female manager, obviously well rehearsed with previous lost travelers, gave us directions.
We didn't arrive at Australia Zoo until well after lunchtime but quickly found the feeding hole where rampant visitors were devouring the interesting array of food. Zane opted for chasing the local birds that had made the food emporium their home. We went over to the Crocasiem and caught the show. I imagined Steve Irwin himself amazing us with his crocodile friends. It was a poor imitation of an amazing guy. After traveling to many exhibits Zane got to feed the Elephants. We stopped for a rest in the Brown Kangaroo enclosure, an expansive grassland with a walkway through it. The friendly kangaroos came up and nuzzled us hoping for some food. We walked to the exit which was cleverly disguised as a shop selling Steve Irwin memorabilia, Bindi Irwin dolls and every other form of money making objects. Suffice to say we did our part in supporting the Irwin family and endangered species everywhere.
Thursday is DreamWorld day. Fortunately we already had a good idea on how to get there as we had passed it the day before. Something like a Foxtel sponsored theme park, Dreamworld is designed to make you enjoy spending money. The entrance fee of $69 per person, the food shops and theme based shops littered throughout the complex slowly suck money out of your wallet (or purse). I didn't go on any rides (I'm not a ride person) even though they were free but Zane did go on a few with his mother. The best fun was in the Nickelodeon section. A cage with the foam balls where air powered weapons could be loaded up with the foam balls that littered the rubber coated floor of the 10 meter square cage. Zane kept falling over backwards and landing on the balls that were about the size of tennis balls. His laughter was infectious and I found myself laughing with him. I showed him how to load up the air cannon and shoot the balls across the cage to other kids.
Zane likes The Wiggles. So do millions of other kids. If I had a theme park I'd have the Wiggles there. We went on the Big Red Car ride before we left. It was only $15 for the 4x6 photo of the four of us in the Big Red Car. Time to go. We've been sucked dry.
Today is another beautiful day in Paradise. I took the hire car back this morning. The Hyundai I30 was a nice machine to drive. We'd passed through a few toll points on Wednesday so I went online to pay them. We're off for a walk to the shops again. Zane was wanting a bucket and spade to play in the sand at the resort pool so we'd planned on finding one at the local 'two dollar shop'. Of course my wife and daughter are shopper-holics and a simple walk became a three hour marathon.
With bucket in hand, Zane and his mother prepared to head for the pool. Some idiot had carelessly tossed a cigarette butt into the garden at the resort. As we headed for the lift we could see through the window that the undergrowth outside was well alight. Fascinated, my daughter stood watching the fire burning a small patch of garden. A resort employee ran around with a bucket in his hand and we discussed how inadequate the fire response was. Fortunately someone found a hose long enough and started putting out the fire. A few minutes later and the siren from a fire engine could be heard. By this time we were up in our room and we watched the vehicle enter the exit driveway of the resort. We couldn't see the end result of the fireys arrival as the fire was on the opposite side of the apartment complex to our room.
My wife and daughter and grandson headed for the pool. I relaxed with a book I'd bought on Tuesday during our shopping trip. Finally I was alone for a while. I promptly fell asleep. A message arrived on my phone and woke me up. My jobs for next Monday had brought me back to reality. I wanted beer. I imagined an evening of drinking and taking in the view from the ninth floor. I walked past the pool and waved to my family, indicating the beer drinkers sign language of hand in front of mouth with an imaginary beer.
A quick walk past the barricades along the road placed there to keep racing cars away from people and I arrived at the bottle shop. Of course, due to concerns about glass bottles in the hands of drunks during the GP race they weren't selling anything in glass bottles. I opted for the XXXX beer in cans. The shop next door provided the bag of chips and I headed back to the apartment.
Its now 8pm. I managed to squeeze in a meal of leftovers from the last four days that my wife had heated up and I'm on my fourth beer. I missed out the part about my wife tripping the electrical safety switch with the toaster. It took a little while to work out how to reset it.
I'd hoped to rent a scooter today. Would have been nice but my daughter hates motorbikes. I'd have liked to spend more time on the beach. Maybe a visit to the local Marina and check out a few yachts. Maybe next time.
Roberts Websites
posted by Robert @ 11:28am, Saturday 6 June 2009.
For the past six months I have been hosting my own websites.
Many people that read this may not understand the full implications of that statement. Let me just run quickly through what that means.
For the last six years a friend and I have run a small business providing website space on servers for customers. We never did particularly well, we grew too fast and didnt expand enough. We lacked confidence and experience and worked 24 hours a day for little monetary gain.
Sounds like a typical small business right?
Now, for the past six months I've managed my own server, starting a new business called Robs Websites. I registered a business name here in Victoria so I could trade under that name. I bought the domain name 'robswebsites.com' and looked around for a Data Center that I could lease a server from. A Data Center is a huge (usually) building with airconditioning, backup power generators and row upon row of computers connected to the internet. The Data Center lease the use of a computer to customers that can manage the computer remotely through the internet.
Having done some homework, I decided I had enough friends and relatives ready to help me support the cost of a small webserver. A company in the USA called ServerPronto had budget priced servers for lease that were in my price range. I still needed software to let me manage the server. After exhaustive searching I found a relatively new program called EHCP that gave me everything I needed.
Before I commited myself to leasing the webserver I set up a test computer at home. I installed an operating system called Ubuntu which is based on Linux, a free, open source system based on UNIX that was popular in Universities in the 70's and 80's. I then installed EHCP and got familiar with how it let me set up websites, email and databases.
I was ready. I knew what I was doing!
I leased the server and set up the software to manage it. I started slowly, not wanting to make too many costly mistakes. I set up this site, www.robertarrowsmith.com since I figured if I do screw up its my own site and not someone I needed to do a lot of explaining to. I had quite a few of my own sites on servers in my other business that I moved over to this new one. As I moved each one I grew more confident, learning as I went.
I set up an account with Paypal so I could receive payments from customers. I set up a customer management system where new customers could log in and make payments or purchase hosting for a new website.
Now after six months I have around 20 websites and 10 customers helping me to pay for the server. Its been a really interesting and exciting process and something I hope to continue for a long time.
If you want your own family website, email addresses or just want to learn how to make websites give me a yell. I will look after you personally.
Zane tours the neighbourhood
posted by Robert @ 6:15pm, Monday 23 February 2009.
Zane turned one last week and had a fantastic time at his birthday party with his friends and relatives!
Among the gifts he received was a 'Smart Trike'. Designed to be customisable as he grows up it can be changed from a pushed trike with a steerable handle to a pedal trike when he is two or three.
Here's a video I took with my phone while we were out.
