Not too many staying on their surfboards!!!!
A happy canine on Burleigh - love to see a contented German Shepherd - reminds us of our wonderful dog "Count" in Chester, New Hampshire!
We followed this by spending the rest of the day planting the potential building-disguising trees, 6 so far, one more to go. Sunday was a bit nippy and glum, we decided to try a Farmers Market at the Gold Coast Turf Club, excellent will be back there next Sunday morning. We trotted on to the huge Carrara Markets - but very crowded - plus it is school holidays as well, so another time when the kids are back in the classroom!!!
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Last night we met with our neighbours - Kumi, Bob and Kevin, and drove into a Japanese Restaurant in Surfers Paradise.
It was a Chanko Nabe evening - yes, run by the Australian SUMO Association (the Championships on the Gold Coast are next week!).
Kumi and Frank prior to the Chanko Nabe
Prior to Sumo wrestling the Taiko drums are beaten (very loudly) to announce the event. 
There is a tremendous amount of energy used - and actually I didn't need to cover my ears at all, in fact I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Okay, we have been drummed in, so now we are going to eat what the Sumo wrestlers consume - Chankonabe - which is basically a hotpot consisting of chicken, pork, fish, beef, tofu and assorted vegetables in a broth mix, along with side dishes of rice, noodles, etc.. The Sumotori (strongmen) eat this twice per day - in great quantities, then take a nap to store up the "potential muscle"!! Instead of tofu our chankonabe had rice cakes, - I left them well alone, but no, the Brig just had to dig one out of the hotpot - a sorry boy afterwards - one could say his mouth was all glued shut!!! The rest of the chankonabe was very good, and the company delightful - loads of laughs, and we have now sooh much knowledge on the Sumotori's - do we need it, I'm not sure, but hey the information is tucked up there somewhere in the ole brain!. We eventually dragged ourselves from the traditional table, and we were absolutely "chankonabe" full, all waddled to the car - time to go home for that nap!!!.
When reaching home I made the mistake of turning on the TV, and there was Mark Webber racing and leading in the Formula 1 race at Silverstone. Many moons ago - when I first arrived in England, I had spent some time attending racing events at Silverstone. Anyway as Mark W. had a terrible accident a couple of weeks ago, I thought it was worth watching - Frank just wanted to nap, so I obliged and turned off the noise of the F1's. Fortunately when I woke from that long "nap" this morning, I found Mark W. had won, HOWEVER I felt and looked like a very tubby SUMO dumpling - the diet starts for REAL today!!
