Darwin Doodlings III

Missed a couple of days! Was I too upset about the cakes?
We had a cake of our own with lashings of cream and then brought the other half home after a sumptuous meal prepared by Sabina the leg of lamb done on the spit on a special Greek BBQ which chappy had bought and used especially for us. Marty and I had caught several fish in one of the local creeks but Claire & Marty can have them later on.
The wattle only lasted 2 days so my continuing photographic work ceased.
Had my usual pilgimage to the Marist Brothers this afternoon. Br Oliver -95 in October- is the oldest Brother in the Melbourne province. He is not too sure what happened yesterday but could remember the Mittagong days of the forties and in quite detail.
Chappy is picking us up at 6am to spend a day on the water at Corroboree water hole down near Kakadu. Will tell you all about it later. WillI catch my first legal sized barra?
Will there be some left overs from your exotic cooking when I get home Annie?
Love to all Dad.

dad's miised out on some good cakes!

Hi everybody. Canberrans are visiting 39. Steve and the girls go home tomorrow, I will stay till Thursday then head home by train. Had to bring Lucy's birthday cake which was a three layer cake with cream and very rich frosting. Kate also made a chocloate cake for Lucy. Without Tjilpi here we have had to eat them both. I almost took a photo of them for you Dad. On friday steve and I head to Narooma for the blues festival. We went last year and are staying in same place about 50 metres from the venue can go home to the loo and not have to use yucky portaloos! Am extremly excited as there are some great bands playing, and hopefully the weather will be kinder to us than it was last year. then another week off and back to school to prepare for musical in week 4. Have spent alot of sleepless nights worrying as we are behind in our rehearsals. We are aiming to work the kids hard with extra rehearsals as well as weekends. hopefully we will get there. the band is great as the kids I picked are probably the best musicians in the school. Hoping to hire mics at at good rate from our chairman of the board who just happens to own a sound and lighting company. Anyway will report next week and have some photos from the blues festival. Annie

Darwin Doodlings II

Hi All
What a great snap of the girls! Who won the scrabble?
Kate, we tried to ring on Friday night as Marty texted you Saturday...Marty's got the social calendar so full that it was too late to ring when we got home.
Four trips to the tip today after clearing the forest corner-partly. We took Claire on trip 3 and spent some time in the recycle shop-Marty says you loved it, Kate.
We had a trip to Buffalo Creek this afternoon- a very low tide so there was no boating or fishing activity.
More flowering of the acacia but again Marty is having difficulty transferring the photos.
Not a lot of mosaicing has gone on...we have a photographic record.
Hope the champagne did not cause an override in the train on the way home, Kate
Marty & Claire are in the pool now....I'll have my session a bit later. More later.
Love Dad and the Darwin connection.

I'm A Big Smart Ass

Scrabble...whooo

greetings from the female quarters

Hi All,
Knew I'd get something from the top end.Good to know you can write dad, because we thought you may have forgotten your own phone number. Mum and I have had a quiet weekend together, but not for too much longer, as we are expecting the canberra crew to turn up at any time now. Great to hear you are in the pool dad-it really is irresistable I know.
Take photos of the garden dad so I can see whats going on. And any mosaicing??
Amazing what love can do! I have remembered how to bake and have a chocolate cake ready for Lucy and Clare when they arrive!! So impressed with myself.
Better get round to the bottle shop for the champagne, for an arvo drink in the garden-we know you will be with us in spirit with that one Claire. (yep I know, Moo and Fran as well)
Enjoy the holiday Mart, Im back to work tomorrow-bumma.
Love to all,
Zak.
p.s.Mum would send greetings, except she is too busy doing the "Hyper"

Darwin Doodlings

Marty & Claire met me at the airport, dropped in to greet and meet Buddy, unloded my gear and went off for drinks, nibblies and pizza at an Alice friends while I watched the footy.A beautiful flowering acacia greeted us this morning (picture won't come out). Claire says it has a way to go so I'll take progressive shots.
The pool was great this morning while Marty & Claire took Buddy walking.
Marty & I drank,ate footy food while we watched the AFL grand final in air conditioned comfort at Chappy's. Kate, that computer has a few querks, You're lucky it reproduced the text, I usually have to do it all again. Lucky you weren't trying to send photos.
A lovely sizzling BBQed steak has just been prepared. More later.
Love Dad.

greetings from the south coast

Hi all,
I returned yesterday from a week in Tonga with Jane C. and 2 other female pals from the south. What a beautiful place. So slow and easy, and the people so friendly and warm. Not one set of traffic lights in the country and speed limit of 50km/hr. Its the kingdom of the friendly islands. Hanging out in the sun, swimming, snorkelling, reading, a drop of kava and lots of chatter and lots of laughs! How lucky am I??

A quick stop in with my sweet heart last night, and now the weekend with mum. Dad has taken off for Darwin. How many games of scrabble can we squeeze in? In fact as I write this, dad is probably almost hitting the tarmac!! Maybe Mart will take a few more photos while dads there than he did while I was there, and we can all enjoy them on the blog.

Well I wrote the above on Friday night.It is now Saturday evening. I still dont know what I did or did not do but I completely lost this blog last night, but when I have just turned the machine back on just now, it appearred.
Actually I think I might just flick this much off before something else weird happens.
Love Zak

Happy Belated Birthday Thomas

Greetings to all but especially birthday greetings to Tom.We didn't forget it was your birthday (in fact, I had a drink for you), but we were away from the house so I couldn't phone or e-mail.
We went to a mini festival further up the valley. It was tha Owain Glyndwr festival and also incorporates a real ale festival. Some friends of ours were there so we spent the weekend (or the majority of it) enjoying the festivities. What a birthday party it was Tom!
Things have been fairly quiet here otherwise. No work about for me. Jules is still working on the floor. Don't know when he'll acyually start laying it!
Kate should be having a fabulous time at the moment. Dad will be getting ready for his trip to the North. Marty will be preparing the fishing gear for his visit. Unfortunately, we have no immediate travel plans.
No real news from this end. Thinking of you all.
Love Moo xxxxxx

Greetings from Wales

Hi All
Great to have a post from Clare recently. Shame your cousins in Glenbrook don't follow. Mart you've been busy with visitors. Hopefully we will be added to that list the next time we are in Aus.
We are in a house full of dust at present while Julian levels off the cement floor in our downstairs ready to lay the wood. It will be full on cleaning once it is laid. Then we need to decide where to put the furniture, and, Mum, where to hang the pictures!
The Pontardwe festival was much reduced this year. There was, as always, some great music in the main tent but the number of stalls and the other music around the field was paltry. There were many mumblings of discontent and the weather didn't help much. Wellies an essential fashion item on the field. There was a programme on the Welsh channel about the festival which I have recorded and will send the DVD to Kate if anyone is interested in seeing it. (I am shown at a distance twice).
Next week Jules and I are away. We have a caravan in New Quay (West Wales not Cornwall) from Monday to Friday. Hope the weather improves, although I have bought Jules some wet weather gear so he can go fishing even if it rains. I have several books to take.
Next weekend Bree is to be christened. I have invited Gen down for the weekend but have not yet heard if she wants to come.
Had a lengthy e-mail from one of the friends we met in Cobargo. I have to sit down later today and send a reply. It was great to hear the news from there. Brought back great memories of our week we spent there.
Have to finish up as it's nearing the time to get to the gym! You won't recognise me next time you see me - I wish!
Hope everyone is well and happy. Take care and have fun. Look forward to reading updates soon!
Love and hugs Moo xxxx

greetings from the south coast

Hi all,
We have just spent the weekend at cunjurong!! As beautiful and special as always, we are so lucky to be able to share that great place. The garden didnt perish without any attention for a weekend, in fact everything is almost in bloom, and Im getting excited watching it each day. Moo, the flannel flowers are just about out as are the proteas. What a beautiful space we are creating.
Liam what sort of fairy god mother am I, not even contacting you for your birthday, not that you are not with me in my heart always. So I hope you had a great day, and I m sure your mum cooked up some fantastic treat for you.
Clare how did you stop talking for 40 hours?? I know Id have to be stuck out in the desert alone to acheive that with my mouth gaffa taped.
Sounds like Darwin is the hip place to be, and I know because I am always before the fashion.
1st day of spring today. The mermaids were calling me at Cunj clare and I got in as far as my thighs, but they couldnt entice me further just yet, but it wont be too long before Im frolicking in the sea again! The lake is ever changing-it has created a separate little pool, just as you come down the track and hit the beach- nature is an amazing thing.
Thats it for now, have to check out a web site on lanimex for the bathroom.
Mart did you use those tiles for mosaicing yet?
Love to you all,
Zak