Summer!

After a very slow start caused by a dull grey drizzly day, we decided to venture out to Mcdonalds, as our house swappers said it was free wifi. The wifi here is pretty slow compared to Edinburgh, and I thought it might be nice to download the Sunday Times, which I subscribe to.

So off we set, and braved the mayhem that is a McDonald's on a wet day at the weekend. It was swarming with families. The parents generally sat staring into the middle distance, in a kind of trance, as their offspring were fairly peacefully occupied with stuffing chips as fast as they could into their little faces.

The wifi did not work. The coffee was awful - I should have stuck to an ice cream- I know I like them. When we realised that no UK Sunday paper was forthcoming, we escaped as quickly as possible.

However, the day brightened considerably from then on. It got warmer and sunnier and there were spectacular clouds. We went down to the beach. Loads of people swimming, surfing, boogie boarding, kicking footballs. It's a lovely white sandy beach that goes on for miles. There are no high rises on the beach, as there are further down the Sunshine Coast. The temperature on the Surf Club said 24 degrees. Summer!

We spent ages just watching everyone. I had fun taking photos on burst - came home with about 250! There were a couple of kids running in and out of the water and their mum was taking photos, and I asked if I could too. I must come down another time and try to get a good action surfie photo.

Then we came back along to the river, nearer home. Beautiful in the evening sun, with the usual array of folk out walking dogs, skateboarding, fishing, cycling or jogging. The jogging track also has wee gym machine things dotted along the way!

We'll get the bikes out tomorrow if it's dry!