Bato's for the Australia Day Long Weekend

After having a splash at Emily Miller Beach on Sunday afternoon, and dinner amongst the hordes in Bato's afterwards, our party made camp at Benandarah State Forest. Jenny and I packed very simply - as you can see, our shelter is a mosquito net over a tarpaulin. We were very thankful for the net as insects converged upon us after sunset. Phil and Lauren were (relatively) more civilized and brought a tent along.


The weather warmed up on Monday to coincide with the arrival of the 380. Mixy and Dobs (shown below), Kate and Ash expanded our contingent and we decided to explore the area around Wasp Head.


A Red Morwong became my lunch. I cooked it on this portable gas burner that Marko recommended.


Mix speared an empty can and Ash was battling with a spear that was lucky to hold on to a fish. In fact one lucky fish was speared twice but slipped away. While out snorkelling, we came across a couple of octopus and a school of squid. I even tugged on a ray's tail until I realised what it was!


Ash's determination was rewarded; He bagged a fair-sized leatherjacket to cart back to the Monc.

Singstar 2008

Beer-can chook double up.


This is Australia Day.

Hi Sarah and Toby... And who is that coy young fellow?

Baby and Rae and Duane. Ala "We're Having (sic) a Green Baby".


Smells like some sort of spirit.


Not to be outdone, Jen squeezes one out.


Yeah, roxette! (Roxanne, Mix?)


As Aussie as Jimmy Barnes or homebrew.

Inner North Animals

KP likes long walks in the park and retrieving tennis balls. Jen and I took the 'og for a stroll on Sunday afternoon.


Cooling off in the canal looks like fun!


Jen snapped a photograph of these very noisy sulfur-crested cockatoos feasting from our apricot tree. The bees that live in the barbecue didn't know it when this photo was taken, but an attempt in the following week has been made to transport them. If a few people move house, that's a hassle. Consider moving hives and having to uproot thousands!

Happy 25th birthday, Mixmaster-Disaster-Blaster

We had a couple of drinks to celebrate Mix cracking 2-5 on Monday.



Speaking of Mix, do you wonder what he gets up to in his new job? Jenny and I dropped in on the birthday boy's presentation to the National Youth Science Forum. I captured a riveting minute.

People find me

I use a website to keep tabs on how people land on my site. The most interesting five search engine terms are shown here:

1. station master hat
2. waterworld little fox
3. bioluminescent ko samui
4. three wise monkeys
5. fox motoring

Motorcycle Touring

On the weekend before last, Glynn and I headed off on a motorcycle touring weekend. The route is shown.


View Larger Map

After camping on Brown Mountain on Friday night, we joined Marko, Lee and Croker at Murramarang National on Saturday and returned to Canberra on Sunday.

Sharehouse in O'Connor, Canberra:
Glynn is looking for a housemate right now. Mention my website to recieve a free lunchbox.

Australian All Ordinaries

The All Ordinaries have taken a dive recently.


Perspective is important - look at that baby climb through '04, '05, '06 and '07!


Perhaps I ought to start looking for bargains?  I'm glad that I hadn't - for now.

At the start of October 2008, the XAO has dropped to 4703.  Still, use perspective!

Cooling Off

Hawker pool was an oasis as Canberra heated up around Xmas/NY.


Mel's camera (evidently) works well under water.


You can do whale and dolphin spotting in Canberra too, did you know?


These graceful creatures glided elegantly along the waves at Emily Miller Beach. Do you know where that is?


Mel poses at the aforementioned beach.

NYE Party at the Monc

This time the resident graduate engineer rigged up a dual-action beer "bong" with devastating results.


Here's a view down in the the exercise yard as midnight approached.

Christmas at the Fox

Jenny's outdoor swing chair gift came with engineering assistance.


Ah - I can kick back at last.


Rimsy joins the motorcycle enthusiasts. Rimsy is astride his Honda VTR250 at Tharwa. Jenny and I accompanied Rimsy on his first ride out of the city limits of Canberra.

Country Christmas

Les and Jan hosted our clan back in Cowra for Xmas.





We amused ourselves with darts, table tennis and shooting competitions.


Shown below is one of our targets.