Deck the Halls...

Well - the tree, anyway and possibly a bit of the veranda?

Cait's Christmas Limo...

PP rather liked the look of this one...

 Noonie liked this little one for her room, but we persueaded her to go for something a little bigger...

 

It's hard work, pulling you Emily - maybe Dad should just put the tree in here?

 

I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK...lol

Dad! It's not an icy pole!!!

And the guest of honour, looking a bit bare, 'till we get some more decos in the new 'summer' colours?

Cait's last game for the Pumas

Cait played her last game of Basket Ball today... For the Willetton Pumas anyway!
She received her trophy and handed back her orange vest as she'll not sign up for them next year. She's already planning on joining the tean at her new school, Carey College in Feb though!
Keep watching, so see her 'shoot some hoops'!!!

Goanna on the run!

Driving home from golf last Sunday, I turned into the road that goes by our house and saw a piece of rubber rolling along the pavement. It was only when I got a bit closer, that I could see that the 'rubber' was WALKING!!!

It was this little fella, a 'Goanna' or an Iguanna, as we Poms call them!


I got out to take a photo and it stopped in the shade of a tree, so I walked up and took a few shots (Photos)

It was only when I showed the guys at work, that they told me that these things run like the wind AT YOU, and bite, scratch and scream as they climb to your head, so I guess I was bit lucky? Or do I have the powers of 'Mick Dundee'????

Either way, I'm a 'dumb Pom'! lol

Just managed to find a small clip of what we were doing at Lancelin, so added it here.
No 'play' this weekend - girlies on Guide camp, so child-free all weekend! Dave's house warming tonight, Golf in the morning, brunch with Charlie n Tracey tomorrow then collect girlies from Hillary's tomorrow arvo - no time to PLAY!!! ;o)

Another day with the 'boys'

Last Saturday, The 'boys' from work decided to take a little trip 'Up North' to Lancelin 4WD area... ...again, as it's such good fun!
Travis took his brand new Mitsi Triton (above) and quite quickly got it stuck (see saw fashion) on the tip of a dune. Finn's Landrover Disco soon pulled it to safety though.

John, being John couldn't help himself when Trav's 'young fella' started to squirm, so his motherly nature came out - He HATES kids!!!

We had lunch back under some shade and most of us (No Nige!) returned to the dunes for some serious action. We were determined to climb this one. It's only about 40 metres high and at about 50 degrees? John gave it a good go, but couldn't match Finn's tracks, where we almost made it to the top??? (I went with Finn as I didn't want to risk Phoebe so soon after getting her back!)
Trav gives it a go too, but still couldn't reach Finn's marks!

The dark tracks were John's, but he made them coming DOWN, not up! Finn was the winner in his old Disco!!!

Here, John lines up to go DOWN, but he experienced 'momentary loss of traction' unitl Finn had to pull him out too! - He DIDN'T get bogged, just lost traction!!! lol

More fun next time, as I think I'll be braver to take Phoebe again - Summer hols coming up, so we'll certainly be beach driving! Watch this space. Jcp

Another 'Eventful' holiday !!!

Well, we made it back from Port Denison...
...JUST!

Beautiful trip up, set up camp, 10 metres from the beach and had a wonderful sunset to watch with a glass of beer and some great company in the form of Linda, Murray and gang!
Phoebe and tent- before Phoebe became poorly!


Day 2. Thought we'd take a little drive up a bit more to Ellendale Pool, as we'd seen it as a possible pitch for next year's camp, so off we went, passed a huge wind farm, on through 'Walkaway' Good name for a place that's SO far from everywhere? and arrived at Ellendale pool, to find some kids jumping in the pool to cool off - It was 25 C that day, so just nice!

Driving back, we started to hear a noise from Phoebe's engine. Stopped to take a look, couldn't see anything untoward, so had to keep going (If you leave your car in the bush, it tends not to be there the next day!) Noise got louder, then after a few minutes, stopped...

...then the oil light came on, so I decided to pull in and give up!

It seems Phoebe didn't want to go any more, so we had to park her in a kennel (literally, we stopped outside a kennel business) and call for help. She needs a new engine!!! Aaargh!
So after HEAPS of hassle and a LOT of phone calls, we left Phoebe in Geraldton to have a new engine fitted.

Too many expletives used to explain the in and outs, but basically, I can fly back to Geraldton (1 1/2 hour flight, opposed to 5 hour drive!) to, hopefully, collect her in 2 weeks!

Other than that, we had a great holiday!
Doing next to nothing was what we anted to do anyway, and when you're 10m from a beautiful beach and only 300m from the bottle shop, what more could you want???

As they say...

...No worries!

On Thursday, Murray treated us to a trip to Kalbari, about 2 hours north of where we were staying.
Port Gregory - a 'loo-stop' on the way.


This is Red Bluff, a beach just as you enter Kalbari.
Girlies looking over the edgeRotten scenery!
Kalbari 'Z bend' gorge is just awsome!
We climbed down here...
... and back up again, all on foot!
and then onto 'Nature's Window'. Beautiful!

Just another Friday at the office

Today (Friday) was the end of term 3, so we had the usual Barby for the lads and a bit of a play!
John, above, had a go on Gary's scooter, whilst we got through several kilos of meat on the barby! Yum!

The lads brought in a go cart, they made, so it would be rude not to have a go wouldn't it?
And John on the Scoooter again!

front garden in!

They mamaged to dodge the showers today, to get the rest of the garden in. It'll be complete in a couple of weeks, when we get a week off, so I can build a small retaining wall for the little gem Magnolia, which will be going in, in front of the front door. This will be Kipper's Tree!

Yay! Grass!

At last - a bit of green, where it used to look like a builder's yard!

They laid the lawn at the front today, which was good timing as it 'piddled' down almost all day!

At least it'll be well watered?

Phoebe all better now!

It's OK!!!!
I managed to fix her, so I didn't need to send her away to those nasty guys at Toyota!

John at work managed to convince me that I could do what the specialists would do...
...and it worked! He already wears a Superman Tee-shirt, so we'll have to open the big doors for him to leave next time! There will be no living with him!

Thanks John - You ARE a star!

Just a peek at the 'bits' we took off to find the problem, which was a sticky valve!

Sump off the transmission.
Valve block split - there are 12 plastic Ball Bearings that MUST go back in the correct places!
The other half
The bit that splits the two halves - Gasket, that cannot be broken or twisted or bentBut when it all works, The relief is great, and to come home to this image, makes you feel like there is a pot 'o gold! lol Grass down next week too! (new trees went in last week!)

Is it Furthest or Farthest?

Well, which ever one is right, I am talking about a 'little' trip East today, to Kalgoorlie.
700kms to be presact!
I was invited to deliver a day on RPL (Rocognition of Prior Learning) at Curtin Uni for their trades people, an all-expenses flight to 'Kal' was booked and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Kal is a mining town and is rather 'unique' in many ways!!!
The architecture is similar to York, where we went a few weeks ago, but Kal is bigger. It's only had a bitumen road for a few years! Before that, it was red dirt! It feels like you're walking into a western movie with cowboys etc?

Lots of 'hotels' of 'reputable' fame??And MASSIVE holes in the ground, which are gold mines! The red circles I've put here are hard to see, so click on the picture to see a bigger version, but the circles outline those super-trucks you may have seen in quarries? Each one carries 250 Tons of rock and only every eighth truck contains enough gold the size of a pea!!! They make 8 to 10 bars of gold per day and this super-pit is almost a kilometer deep!!!
I asked why they dig all the rock out with such tiny trucks, which amuzed the locals, so they showed me a bucket that each truck takes THREE scoops to fill it up. Only then did I realize just how piggin HUGE these things are!
Then on to the local 'entertainment' in the bush, which 'used' to be used for 2-up. A gambling game. The hut below is the 'Hilton' of Kal. It only has 2 metres of gutter, so when it rains, you're the lucky one if you get to stand under it!