Decking finished AT LAST!!!

The public holiday weekend last weekend was a good time to use my 'round tuit' (Mom) and get on with it!
A trip to bunnings later, resulted in the rest of our decking now being complete. Another trip also had the gardening (shrubs and Frangipani) installed and some watering has made the lawn green again. (I had some help from a little beetle-destroyer) so - we now have a garden we can sit in and enjoy - Just need to get rid of the pesky caterpillars now! and lay the gravel for the side path and finish the stepping stones and paint the living room... Oooh - I better get on with it again!!! lol

First joist down - That 'sand' feels more like concrete in 39 C!!!

One down - Only 10 more to go and already I'm sweating like the proverbial!

 

Almost there! Staining to go!

  

 Still 38 C, so ANY excuse to take a break!

  

 Last one down - Time for a barby?

  

 All done and my favourite - My baby Frangipani!

  

All done- Best crack a tinnie!

 

Power-line track to York again, but in the DRY and with John this time

We all had a GREAT day with John yesterday.

He hadn't done the Powerline track from Mundaring to York, so we took him to see how well his new 'toys' performed on his ute! (He's fitted diff lockers and 'fat-arse' tyres!)

So, off we went with our camp stove, snags and 'flask'!

It was a different drive from last time, as it's SO dry at the moment - we haven't had rain for 80 days! 

The climbs that we struggled with last time were quite easy this time, but John, being John, made it all look 'TOO EASY'!

Us, posing under Phoebe on a hill

Phoebe - GET DOWN! You'll fall down!

John, making it look easy

Even PP had a go!

Look at that rear tyre!

It's only about 40 k's, but it takes 4 hours!

You'll break it!

Told you!

Still givin' it 'ell!

AIRCON - Yay!

Well, we almost made it through our first Aussie summer in our new home without it, but the 43C temps just got to us in the end!
It's only so much you can take!

Last night, we were able to sleep with a cover over us and we actually woke up COLD!!!

Not sure what happened to the light here, but the installer guys wondered why I was taking pics, so had to explain that you guys back in Blighty were probably unaware of what it looked like to have air con put in? lol

 

No silver elephants were harmed in making this picture!

And, at last, we have what looks like a plastic box on our roof, but it provides us cool, clean, fresh air, when ever we want it!

Bloody typical, we haven't had rain for over two months and today - the day after we had this put in, it's forcast to 'shower'!

You beauty!

Noonie turns into a MONSTER!!!

Well, a TEENAGER anyway lol
Opening some of her prezzies in the morning.

 

And into her books, a little later. She also had her room painted and a new desk. What a MONSTER!?!

Brings back memories...

One of the guys from work brought in a collection of mini steam engines, that he'd made from scratch.
We wanted to see some as we're going to use them as a guide for the school groups to make one, as a project.

Just the smell of meths, burning to boil the water brought back all sorts of memories of when Dad used to fire up the traction engine and get me to pull the whistle, which burned my thumb every piggin time!

memories...

 

  

Happy Birthday 'Peanut'

FAB news today, of the arrival of our great nephew - 'Peanut'!
Noonie was 'displeased' that he couldn't wait another 3 days though! lol
Isn't it GREAT to have a new arrival? We are chuffed!

Oz day 2010

What a show!
Skyworks, sponsored by Lottery West was the biggest, longest firework show we've ever seen!
Reports of $half million were spent on the show, that was free for anyone near enough to see / hear it!

 

A beautiful night! The breeze dropped, the air was warm, and a crystal clear sky! You Beauty!

 

 Let the show begin...

 

  

  

And after a whole hour of bangs n flash, Poor Noonie was ready for bed!

 

Australia Day 2010 comming up!

Jan 26th is Australia Day, so we're gonna be celebrating in style this year! It seems more popular than Christmas here, so it'd be rude not to join in?

Cait's especially looking forward!

That's what happens when you put bubbles in the hot tub!!!

Oh dear!
What a mistaka ta maka!!!
We were about to change the water in the tub, but wondered what would happen if you introduced a 'little' bubble bath and turned it on, so had a great time with all the bubbles before draining the old water!!!

All better now though, with fresh water from the 'hot' tap, which was actually the cold tap, but runs at 45 C for a few minutes. Gettin' 'otter by the day right now. 42 forcast for today (Sunday) so off to the beach where it'll be cooler and a dip in the sea is always welcome?

Messing about on the water ?

Our good friends Charlie & Tracey kindly invited us out with their Kayaks to Shelley foreshore this afternoon.
We had a great time and took the barby (be rude not to!) Charlie & I went up river to see some wildlife and found a pelican with one wing! He tried to take off, but flew a short circle before landing again, we thought all of it's mates would call him 'boomerang' lol
Tracey and PP had a go after the girls showed us all just how easy it is too! No-one fell in, but the river at it's DEEPEST is just waist high, so no worries there!
PP did very well and took to it like 'a duck to water' We think we may get some kayaks now as we had such a lovely time. Lookin' forward to the next time. Gotta get fit somehow?

Jcp X

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!!!

Well - We're still on hols and all is well - We've had a relaxing few weeks, pottering around the house and garden, which is starting to look more like a home, but a long way to go?

New Year's Day is celebrated here in WA with fireworks and BBQ at Shelly Foreshore, so we went to see the new year in with Charlie, Tracey and few other friends.

 

We weren't happy with the new colour decos on our tree, so decided to take yet another step closer to becomming true Aussies, or 'Pozzies' as we're affectionately known, and buy an artificial tree. (Noonie and I will still buy a real one for the garden though!)

We saw the Goanna again, across the road from the last sighting, but still going strong!

Most people go south for the cooler temps this time of year, so Linda and Murray took their camper trailer to Busselton. A last minute availability, so there were no pitches for us, but Murray came back the day after setting up Linda and gang in the tent. He wanted to finish some balustrading arund their house, so we looked after 'Buster' for a couple of nights, which has made us look closer at the pet shops for when I finally complete OUR garden!!!

We also took advantage of the 'Dixon's' kind generostity in allowing us to use their pool in their absence.

It was only a few days later, that we went to Busselton ourselves, to see what it's like (about 2 1/2 hour drive from home), and found it to be quite rotten and ugly in places??? ;-)

 

 

So - Looking forward to Feb now. Noonie's birthday, back to work and more sun, sun, sun!!!

Oh - PP at Hopman cup today, so she'll, no doubt have some pics for you too!