The big 60!! This was always going to be a strange birthday - thousands of miles away from friends and most of the family. Bob had only two requests - he wanted a surfing lesson at Surfers Paradise followed by a meal with Bill, Fay and our two good friends Paul and Brenda overlooking the beach! Simple enough I thought and the lesson was bought and booked for the morning of the 15th. Now to find a restaurant - this was not so easy as Bill, Fay, Paul and Brenda tend not to go into Surfers Paradise to eat so Brenda and I sat, on the train back from Brisbane one day, googling "Surfers Paradise restaurants with a sea view"! This yielded a few possibilities so Bob and I actually went off on a recce one evening to find 'the' place and it was duly booked.

Unfortunately, the weather has a part to play here in Oz too, and it became increasingly obvious as the week went on that the weather was not good for surfing - the beaches were actually closed on the two days before! So, lesson postponed, Bob, Bill and I headed for the golf driving range instead and enjoyed a morning of hitting, or trying to in my case, a bucket of balls.

The prearranged taxi for the others now became our taxi too and we arrived at Seascape, Surfers Paradise as planned but the view was not blue skies and surfers - more, grey skies and empty beach! However, the mood soon lifted as Brenda produced birthday banners and table decorations from her bag and proceeded to decorate the table. Bubbly was produced, presents opened and all was well! Seeing as it is winter here the restaurant was almost empty, which was probably just as well given the noise we made! The food was awesome and the staff were great, presenting Bob with a birthday cocktail and taking photos on everyone's cameras and phones.

And then the cake was produced! Unbeknown to Bob, 'his' girls from the Bourne Club had liaised with Bill, Fay and a local bakers and had the most perfect cake for Bob delivered - a white chocolate mud cake. I'm sure he won't mind me saying that, when he realised who it was from, he shed a tear or two - he was very touched so a big thank you Bev, Alison and Jane!! The house speciality coffees followed - dark rum, butterscotch, coffee and cream and they were to die for.

An Uber ride later and we were back at Fay's where we took over the residents' lounge. Wine, cheese and biscuits were produced and many games of snooker were played - not very well I hasten to add as copious amounts of alcohol had been drunk by this point!

This must also go down as the longest ever birthday as texts, videos and messages from everyone back home started to pour in from 4pm onwards. I can honestly say that, despite the lack of surfing lesson, Bob had the most wonderful day with his big bro and close friends, made even better by the thoughtfulness and kindness of all you lot back home!!