Maryborough Ball - on Saturday 14 May 2011

was such a terrific night. I travelled up there with a carload of friends on Saturday, and the hall was decorated with bright flowers and Elvis pics, and everyone was dressed up, men in Hawaiian shirts and ladies with leis around their necks, heads, arms, and grass skirts on over other skirts or dresses. It was so colourful. I knew a couple of tables of people so had a “ball”. I enjoyed going over some of the dances I haven’t done for a while, the Merrilyn, Jacquelin’ Cha Cha, and learned Strollin, Colorado Cha Cha, Butterfly waltz, progressive rumba and wildflower, as well as doing rock ‘n’ roll, and other partner dances we usually do. We crashed about midnight. After breakfast at Robin’s Nest Cafe the next morning, we had a leisurely trip back down the coast, stopping off at Caloundra for lunch, before stopping again at Brisbane at Jill’s Jive, where we did the lesson and danced till 9pm, so went a couple of good dances, and had a lot of laughs too. What a great weekend.

STOMP - show at Jupiters Casino

This is a MUST see - what a great show. They make music out of anything...while they dance around, and give the audience lots of laughs, and involve the audience too. Whew! To have half their energy!

DRACULAS - have a new show on - which I really enjoyed too.

I’ve been a couple of times before, and enjoyed it all again.

JOHN ROWLES CONCERT - in Brisbane Friday 21 May 2011

I was lucky enough to see John at this concert, and was very moved when he mentioned the tragedies in New Zealand, and Greymouth (my home town), and Christchurch (also very close to my heart). He still has a marvellous voice. I’ve put my picture with him on my My Albums page.

GOLD COAST ROCKERS - MYSTERY BUS TRIP

We had a great day out on Sunday 22nd May, leaving the Broadbeach Bowls Club at 9am. We called in to the Sirromet Winery for a coffee/tea or wine tasting for an hour (a good start to Anne’s birthday), and then on to the Markets for 45 minutes near Redlands. (I had a dance with Errol on the street, where a man was playing the spoons along to rock ‘n’ roll on a portable CD player.) Then we moved on to the Redlands RSL for a lovely lunch and dancing to the Rockin’ Bodgies from 1-4 before we made our weary way home. A very enjoyable day out with a lovely bunch of friends.

HEARTBEAT DEMO AT MUDGEERABA SHOW - SUNDAY 26 JUNE 2011

It was a perfect day with warm sunshine, and a great crowd, and the dancers put on a great show for the crowd. We showed them a variety of the dances we do, and had a wander around the rest of the show before going to Woodchoppers Inn for refreshments.

ROCK THAT SWING DANCE - at Kirra Sports Club

The class was well attended, and Charlie and Karen did a good job of teaching their moves. Well done, and it will be good to see this class grow. The night was made better for me when I won the raffle as well, a lovely Elvis salt & pepper shaker set.

CATFISH & THE DEE JAYS

There was a good crowd dancing at the Broadbeach mall The Oasis on Sunday with Catfish and the Dee Jays, you will be able to check them out on Utube soon, on Gold Coast Videos / Catfish and the Dee Jays.

WISHING MARJ HILTON A SPEEDY RECOVERY

from open heart surgery on Friday 22nd July.

Marj has many friends in the dancing circles, and she is in our thoughts at this time. As she is allowed no visitors or flowers while in intensive care, we send our best wishes through Phil. I had a report on Saturday that the operation went well and she is doing O.K.

Update: Marj is making a good recovery and is looking a lot better. It’s good to see her out and about again.

PAULINE NOW LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB

Well, I had a go at Telemarketing, but it’s not for me. I’m too soft. I rang a customer recently who had lost everything in the Lockyer Valley floods, and they are STILL waiting for a payout, and there are no volunteers going out there... he has lost faith in humanity. I felt so sorry for him I felt like paying for a holiday for him myself. What ever happened to the Disaster Fund that we all put in for to help these poor families???  What can we do to help them????  I felt like yelling out to the office, “right, lets go up to Lockyer Valley and have a working bee”.

Then when I left work on my last day, I saw a young person in a wheelchair, and I thought to myself, I’m so lucky, I have good health, can afford my rent, food, and petrol to go dancing, and have so many wonderful friends and acquaintances through dancing. I have my website to keep me busy and bring me a bit of income, thanks to those who pay me for advertising.

I had a couple of private lessons recently for wedding couples as well, and if I can get some more private lessons, that would be great as I love teaching dancing.

However, I do need to get a day job as well, as I can’t get any government help, and have to support myself.

I’m skilled in all office work, reception, data entry, accounts, customer service, and have sales experience. I loved working with Tourists selling the Gold Coast to them, and helping them make the most of their holidays. I also enjoy working with the elderly and talking to them.

If you hear of anything that I could apply for, please phone me, Pauline 0410 291 173. Available after 27 October.

TOOWOOMBA JUST ROCK DANCE

A group of 8 from the Gold Coast attended the Just Rock Toowoomba dance with the Dance Dance Dance crowd from Brisbane. There was also a busload from Lismore’s Summerland Rockers, so the hall was full with over 150 people there. The band Triple Beat played some good music, keeping the floor full all night. The  Indoor Bowls Hall is a great venue, huge dance floor, with supper room, and a good size stage. Check out the photos on the My Albums page.

SHONA’S BIRTHDAY BUS TRIP

Blacky organised a bus trip for some of Shona’s friends for her birthday surprise.  We all had to wear something purple. We all met at 8am at Mudgeraba and Blacky drove to Shona’s house, and parked the bus down the road and we all crept up and hid by the garage while he went in to get her, and when Shona came out we all sang Happy Birthday. She got a huge surprise. We went south for morning tea at the Red Rattler, a cafe made up of two old railway carriages by Murwillumbah (where Shona played the piano for us), and then we went to the Brunswick Heads Markets where we got some bargains, the lighthouse at Byron Bay, Bangalow, Nimbin (that was interesting) and Tyalgum for a late lunch at “Flutterbies”, about 3.30 or 4pm, where three of Shona’s other friends had been waiting for a while, sorry Lyn, Noreen & Carole. We got back about 6pm. We had a good old singalong and dancing in the isles, and that was before Nevis cracked open the bottle of Champagne. We had lots of snacks passed up and down the isles, and played pass the parcel, where we learned a bit more about Shona with each unwrapping. It was an excellent day out, and we all enjoyed helping Shona to celebrate, thanks Blacky. I’ve put some photos on My Albums page.

GOLD COAST ROCKERS BBQ AT MT NIMMEL, 11 SEPTEMBER 2011

We had a great turnout of people for this, on a glorious sunny day. The vast array of food that people supplied was lovely, there were plenty of leftovers, lovely salads, fruit platters, and desserts. Thanks to all those who cooked, and helped in the kitchen. Route 66 kept the dance floor full all day with their great music. It’s a great venue for this. I’ve put a couple of photos on My Albums page.

PAULINE’S HOLIDAYS

It’s great to be back!!! even if only for a few days.

I’ve been keeping a diary on a separate page under Thailand Trip if you are interested in checking out what I’ve been doing. I’ve finally put up some photos on My Albums page, under Phuket 1. I’ve put some more photos on 30/09/11 after I’ve got temporary caps on, so you can see my over-cheesy smile in there amongst the scenery ones I took later, under Phuket 2. Phuket 3 is also there now.

I had a great time in Sydney catching up with my ex-sister-in-law, and I also had the pleasure of meeting Amanda from Let’s Move and Groove, for a walk and a drink. What a lovely lady, hope she does well.

I really enjoyed my time in New Zealand, catching up with two sisters and two nieces and family, in Christchurch, before driving to Greymouth, and caught up with more family there (a sister, and brother and their family), as well as a few friends I visited, but the highlight was seeing most of the girls I was in Form 3 with in 1968, when we were all 13 or 14. We a good turnout of 24 out of 34. We have only lost one of our class, so we all visited her grave and put some flowers on it and included her too. We had a great get-together on the Friday night, and a walk around the school on Saturday with one of our old teachers, Sister Anne, and a walk around town. Had a nice meal at Kings, and then around to the Workingmen’s Club for some dancing and drinking. I was pleased to find a couple of the girls can do Rock ‘n’ Roll, and caught up with a few other friends there too. Sunday we all went to church, (with our black berets on as a reminder of our old school days), followed by morning tea at Kings. One of our class, Lynda, is a professional photographer, so we are all going to give our photos to her and she will send us a CD of them all, which will be great. I’ve downloaded mine and one other girls photos, and put them on my website. I really enjoyed staying with my friend Anne, as the pair of us just talk all the time. Then it was back to Christchurch on Monday, and I borrowed my nieces car. I met Sandy and Adi on Tuesday at the Arts Centre and Botanical Gardens, and we watched the Welcome Back All Black parade after lunch, and I videod it, Sandy took photos and Adi also videod it.  Then I had a big stroll through the gardens and took lots of photos. They are magnificant with lots of colour with azaleas and rhododendrums and tulips all in full bloom, with lots of others. No wonder they call Christchurch the garden city. It was nice to focus on the beauty of the city instead of the damage, although I saw a fair bit of that too. I didn’t travel too far as the roads are pretty bad out New Brighton way. On the way out of the airport I bought a couple of books on the earthquake. If any of my friends would like to borrow them, please let me know. I read all of one and half of another on the plane, and there were a few tears just reading them.

I was really tired when I got home, as I’d been up since 3.15am NZ time (12.15am Qld time), so I was in bed at 8:30pm and slept till 6:30am. It was sooo good to be in my own bed and wake up in my own room, and pull back the curtains and see a blue sky. Great to be back.

Now I just need to get a job to pay for all these holidays I’ve had. I’ve had a great time, but it’s good to back into my real life again.

HEARTBEAT ROCKERS AT MUDGEERABA OPEN DAY

Sunday 30 October 2011.

A large group of dancers from Heartbeat Rockers crowded into the Mudgeeraba Open Day, were some of the ladies were models for “What Women Want” fashion parade, followed by a demo of dancing in the street for what seemed like an hour in the heat, but it was probably only about 20 minutes, followed by an hour break for cold drinks, and then another demo for about 20 minutes. Then we all headed back to Rob and Kath’s home for a lovely BBQ and drinks, and a game of Putt Putt on Rob’s practice green, which was lots of fun. A great day out with friends on a lovely Gold Coast day.

GREAT WEEKEND WITH THE BANDS

Saturday 5 November at Sandy’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance at Nerang RSL, with the band Reminiscing (formerly Good Rockin Daddies)- what an excellent night. This band is very enjoyable - great harmonies, and just danced all night, singing along with them. I’ll be following them around.

Sunday 6 November.

I had a great day out, first at the Oasis at Broadbeach dancing to Catfish & The Dee Jays, always a great day there with them on the first Sunday of the month.

Then caught up with Black Cats Reloaded at the Robina Bowls Club, another great new dance band, Swing and Rock ‘n’ Roll. Keep your eye out for this band too for a good dance. They had the floor pumping.

CHRISTMAS DANCES

Whew! It’s been a busy week with Christmas dances. I’ve had Sandy’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Xmas dance at Nerang RSL on Saturday, Charlie and Karen’s Rock That Swing Xmas dance on Tuesday night, Heartbeat Xmas dance on Friday night, and Gold Coast Rockers Xmas dance on Saturday night. All were very enjoyable, lots of laughs, lovely meals, great music, and I’ve taken quite a few photos. Will have to download them during the week and upload them to the website. I feel very lucky and privileged to have so many lovely friends and to have the opportunity to make  new friends all the time through these outlets. Dancing can offer us a really good social life.  I’ve had another lovely Xmas party on Sunday afternoon with a good group of friends too.

Personally I am going to have a rest now from dancing for a month to give my back injury a chance to heal, as dancing seems to aggravate it. So hope to have made a full recovery in a couple of months, so I can dance like I used to. It’s really hard to be going out to a dance and not get up and give it my all. And I hate to turn down the men when they ask me, but I’ve promised to have that dance when I’m better. 

ROBINA BOWLS ENTERTAINMENT - THE place to go.

Robina Bowls have been putting on a great Sunday afternoon lately with rock ‘n’ roll music from 1-4pm. I went along today to see The Taylor Brothers, and they were amazing. What a great sound, faultless singing, lovely harmonising. The dance floor was busy the whole two hours I was there. I was very frustrated as I still can’t dance much due to a re-occurrence of my sore back.  So if you are free, come along for a good dance floor and good music.