Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A post... at long last

So I know we have been mega slack and have not posted anything on here for over a year (yikes... how time flies...) You can blame Facebook if you like. But I like the idea of an online diary and I don't think Facebook quite cuts it for that. And we understand if no-one is even checking this anymore. I know I would have given up!!

My nephew Chase is 14 months old now and has started walking. It is the greatest thing to be greeted by him, all smiles and walking towards you. Here he is with his Uncle Geoff, watching the footy. Chase is holding a massive anzac biscuit (for his size anyway) but managed to get through the entire thing. :-)


Last weekend we went on an impromptu camping trip to Inskip Peninsula with a couple of Geoff's dentistry friends. We were camping pretty much on the dunes and the view was spectacular.


The water was pretty much flat with gentle rolling waves and the view out to the coloured sands was pretty cool.

Geoff caught two bream, two whiting and a dart but they were all very under the legal limit. On the Sunday morning we headed to Bullocks Point and fished off a very old, very rickety jetty. We watched as a young boy pulled in quite a few fish. Beginners luck I say!


You know you've had a good break when two days feels more like a week. :-) We are hoping to go camping again in September so I'm looking forward to that.

Hope everyone is well. :-)

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Mama and Chase

Recently my gorgeous nephew Chase had the pleasure of meeting his Great-Grandmother, our lovely Mama.

Mama cannot always express in words what she is thinking, but the smile on her face when she laid eyes on the little boy was priceless.

It kinda makes my head spin that there is over 90 years between the two of them. I am just so glad they have had the chance to meet each other.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Camping underwater


Here is our luxury accomodation. Ignore the grey sky.
The lads out for a spot of fishingJulissa and Katherine enjoying a break from the rain.

The wet McGregors.
Demon Kangaroo.

The new way to enjoy a campfire. Wet, cold, miserable. Not yet drunk enough to not feel the cold. Drunk enough to stay in the rain a little longer waiting for it to stop.

El likes sitting in the rain too. Until her chair filled with water and she almost drowned.
Isla hitching a ride with dad. Geoff smiling sweetly for camera. Duncan not so happy later when Geoff wanted a go.

Well. Its been far too long since we put stuff up on this blog. It is even harder now that the keyboard has died after having red wine spilt in it. We are constantly fighting the 1 key and the 2 key wants no part of it either.

I have recently turned very old(according to El) and turned the big 30. My eyes and bones feel the age, I got new be-spectacles and feel smart now but this cold weather is wreaking havoc with me old bones.

At least at uni where I spend the far majority of my time, the kiddies keep me feeling young, just like a spring chicken. El says I am rambling but she doesn’t have the wisdom that only comes with the age that I have.

I survived my first semester of second year. It has been more full on than I thought it would be. We spent six weeks doing anatomy of the entire head and neck and had to try to memorise all the little branches of all the arteries, all the veins, all the muscles, all the nerves, all the bones, all the connections and so on. Then we had to do other parts learning about the heart, a crash course in pharmacology and respiration and so on and so forth. We had exams at the end of the 1st semester and a third of the class failed the exams for this one subject. Luckily I wasn’t one of them and don’t have to sit any supps.

But that’s enough on uni, El is sitting here pestering me to talk about camping.

After my exams we went down to northern NSW to go camping with friends. Tash and Dunk and their little girl and Julissa and Jason and kids came down to go camping at Bundjalung national park.

The days leading up to our camping trip were wet and miserable and unfortunately the camping trip weather wise was not much better. WE did get two days of semi-dry camping in before torrential rain and cold temperatures drove us away. Poor Julissa and Jason’s tent turned into a shower on the 1st night so we rigged up a tarp to protect them the next night.

We pretty much had the entire campground to ourselves except for the other brave souls that were out in the elements. One night the group of us sat around the fire with umbrellas trying to enjoy the atmosphere. There is only so much cold that the fire and green ginger wine can take away when your back is wet and it is cold.

It was Dunk and Tash’s first camping trip with Isla and hopefully they were not too traumatized by the experience. It was still a great trip though. Better weather would be nice, but at least we set up camp when it was dry. Pulling everything down in the rain was a bit annoying, and the kids loved being in the rain.

Besides, I don’t know if we had enough beer to last another night anyway.

So here we are now, back in Brissy. I’m back into the swing of uni reliving my nightmares of T cells etc as I endure Immunology lectures. So much detail. Seems so crappy and irrelevant. El had a fun day mashing up mouse livers. She is glad the week is over.

That’s enough crazy old man ranting now.

See you later dudes.

Geoff( El is sitting here being the punctuation police- but I don’t care,./)…!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

More Chase photos

The proud parents...One proud Daddy...

Nellie...
Chase 4 days old...

I really love this photo...

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Chase Mark


I'm in love...
:-)

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Easter Happenings

Happy (belated) Easter everyone. I hope it was a relaxing and fun time for all.

Easter this year was a little different for us. Normally we head off down to Casino to catch up with Geoff's family. It also involves heading to the beach with a spot of fishing during the day and spending the nights sleeping in their lounge room in front of a roaring pot-bellied stove. Well, we didn't head down to Casino this year. And I guess sleeping in front of a fire would have been madness anyway (what is with this weather - get cold already!!).

Instead we spent time at home. We went for two walks in Toohey Forest - one time we managed to head off the beaten track a bit and ended up on a dirt bike track which had us climbing up this very steep hill and walking through dry creek beds. We weren't too worried about getting lost when you still have mobile phone reception and can hear the SE freeway close by though!

We also took another kayaking trip to Hinze Dam. The other half of the dam which we hadn't explored turned out to be quite short in comparison. It did however have an awesome view of some mountain which made us pining for the Rocky Mountains. I know the sizes aren't really comparable though, but eh!















On the Saturday night we had a family dinner at my Dad's. It's always good to catch up with everyone. My brother Mark and his girlfriend Jenna are expecting at the end of next month... getting really close now guys!














On the Monday afternoon we went to Isla's naming ceremony. It was a great afternoon and Isla looked very cute in her white dress. We also caught up with Robbo who is back in Australia now. Isla is very close to walking. As the afternoon wore on, she was doing lots of unassisted steps that just got longer and longer in duration. What a champ!



























Geoff had a nice week off over Easter and managed to fit a bit of fishing in between some study. He's back at uni now and has a busy week ahead of him with two exams.

Not much more to say so will finish up here. Hope everyone is well!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

March Update





Since our last post we have done a fair bit of kayaking. Two trips to Lake Currimundi (with Mum and Geg with their new toys on one of the trips) on the Sunshine Coast, one trip to North Pine River and also to the Hinze Dam on the Goldy Coast. The 4.30 am starts on a Saturday have been a little difficult (read: Geoff dragging me out of bed) but well worth it when you're out on the water without a care in the world. We think we may be getting a little stronger too, with our last effort at the Hinze Dam being probably 12km. It was especially taxing on the way back with sideways blowing winds creating mini waves. All good though.

Geoff has had some success fishing from the kayak. He managed to bring in two catfish on the North Pine River, unfortunately they weren't worth keeping but it was exciting all the same. I was in charge of "backing up" the boat and keeping it on track so Geoff could wind in. We would have kept going to North Pine except for all the ski boats that whiz by creating so much wash. It wasn't the most serene place. Hinze Dam, by contrast was extremely peaceful, with hardly anyone else out on the water. You aren't allowed any petrol craft on the water which is great for us! We are planning on going back there next weekend to check out the other half of the dam which we didn't get to see. Apparently that is where all the perch are caught so fingies crossed Geoff will land something decent.

In other news I am now a year older and wiser (!?!) . The actual day was a bit of a flop, being midweek and also feeling a little under the weather. I did however, have a yummy meal a few days before with Mum, Geg and the boys, a BBQ dinner the following weekend with the lovely McGregors and a dinner the following Saturday after that with Dad and Eleanor. Geoff bought me Season One DVD of "My Name is Earl". The reverse-karma episode made the DVD worth it all by itself. I also scored a cool floppy hat for kayaking, some perfume, a funky green work bag and lots of chocolate. Not bad going me thinks. :-)

Geoff has been ultra-busy with uni. He has already had two practical exams and on Tuesday he has an exam for the 6 week anatomy block he has just finished. It is amazing how many notes he has for that - it is equivalent to a whole subject's worth (for a science subject anyway). Geoff is feeling really stressed and is looking forward to the Easter holidays.

Today we were bad and bought a tent. It's a 10-12 man tent, which means really, it fits about 6 people comfortably. It is pretty cool, with high spots to put your keys and wallet, vent holes at the base and other spots to keep your shoes away from critters. We can't wait to try it out - we were kinda hoping we might do some camping over Easter but with the crowds it might not be such a good idea. May have to wait until mid-year, damnit.