We were going to visit a koala sanctuary today but when we woke up it was so sunny and hot we decided to put that off to later in the week when the forecast is set to deteriorate.  We decided instead to stay in Broadbeach.

On the first Sunday in every month there is a large market all across the seafront so we walked down to that after breakfast.  Although it was only 9am, it was already brutally hot.  We were wilting by the time we got to the beach promenade.  The market was quite large and filled with (mostly) arts and crafts stalls although there were also quite a lot of food stalls.  Had a good walk around, frankly dodging from shade to shade.  Bob found a leather stall and bought himself a new man bag.  His first bag, and the smallest, was bought 7 years ago in Hong Kong.  Its a Timberland bag, canvas and leather, and the canvas outer bag is now beginning to go holey.  The inner lining is still whole though and it is a useful sized bag so he’s going to keep in for trips out to rougher places.  He’s since bought 2 bigger man bags capable of carrying Ipads and devices but he wanted a new small bag.  They had a great one there in hide at a very reasonable price, so we bought that.  He’s now got nearly as many bags as me!!!!!  Had a good mooch around the rest of the stalls but nothing else tempted much.

We stopped off in a cafe to get a cold drink on the way back, just to get in the a/c really.  It was boiling.  Then we went into Woolworths to pick up a few missing grocery items.  Woolworths in Australia is not like the old store back in the UK.  It is purely a supermarket and we were quite impressed with it.  Much cheaper than Coles.  Much.

Came back, got changed and down to the pool by 11am.  It was empty, and we had a lovely few hours wallowing in the water.  Got busier after lunch as more people with children turned up.

I then had a major, major disaster!

I put my kindle into a waterproof case so that I could read in the pool.  Got in, and suddenly the screen froze.  I looked closely and there was about an inch of water in the bottom of the bag.  The dratted thing had sprung a leak!  Whisked it out right away but it was badly frozen and of course all the openings for charging and the electrics are on the bottom where it was sitting in water.  I was so, so angry and upset.  I’ve nurtured my kindle for 5 years!  We tried drying it out, but no luck.  There was a bit of movement on the screen after a while, when it reverted to the signon screen and then went blank.  Bob eventually took it upstairs to dry it even more and to try charging the battery.

I gave up the pool about 3 and came upstairs.  The kindle was still on charge and we tried to boot it and it came up with an error message that said it needed repair, battery damaged, call customer services.  We tried rebooting it a lot and in the end I called Amazon.  They walked me through a whole load of tests which ended in total failure.  It was dead!  They offered me a 15% discount off a new one and I arranged with Lu to have it shipped to her and that she would bring it to Sydney on the 23rd so that I could get it.  I would have to manage with reading on my Iphone or tablet up till then.  To say I was depressed would be an understatement.

I ordered the new Kindle – £140 even with discount!  After that I needed a glass of wine.  Poured it and took my old kindle off charge and pressed the power button.  It rebooted!  I couldnt believe my eyes as, after all the tests and trials, it ran though the initialization and came to life!  Ran off and cancelled the new Kindle!  Well, I can always reactivate it if the old one dies again.  What a huge relief to get it back.  I have about 2000 books on my kindle in various collections and I was dreading having to download and get them all set up again.

Still very hot tonight but the forecast for tomorrow and the rest of the week is rain, storms….  We have learned to be a bit suspicious of forecasts here.  They are not always accurate.  We’ll see what our eyes tell us when we wake up in the morning.  We have a plan A, B and C.  so we should be prepared for whatever we find.