Gunning for a ride

Jenny and I rode return to Gunning last Sunday in an effort to intercept Steve and Rims on their return from Taralga.

From Gunning

We posed at the top of a road-cutting just north of Gundaroo.

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Ground-handling day

Ash practised some ground-handling techniques with his glider on the Lyneham High ovals.

Despite some strong gusts, a fan would have helped to get the pilot air-borne.

From Gunning

Jen conducsts a closer inspection of the inflating cells.

From Gunning

Rowan hosts a bogan-themed party

Rowan, in bogan attire, is in the home-fabricated nerve-centre of the party. I didn't appreciate how appropriate skulls were as decoration until their link to the suburb was pointed out to me. Pretty relevant to drinking too, I guess. Oh - look out for what happens when you pull the white cord (in the upper-right of this photograph), and ring the attached bell!

From RowanP

Ah! A wood-elf at a bogan-party! I chose to rug up and inadvertently concealed my southern cross tattoo. (My "mark of the bogan" took days to remove!)

From RowanP

Amy is #1 in numbers

The first round of toasts to Amy's accession to "number 1 in numbers" took place at O'Neill's in Dickson.

From RowanP

Later, it was on to the Kremlin.

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Steve and Jen joined me in toasting to Amy's successes again.

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Phill has a birthday

On Thursday a couple of weeks ago, Phill celebrated his 27th birthday at O'Neill's. Jenny and I second Phil-the-mechanic's thumb-up sentiment.

From RowanP

Phill and Elise were enjoying the ambiance of the cigar-box.

From RowanP

Happy 26th birthday, Egg

Jen turned 26 on Sunday. Happy birthday, Jen!

Here the birthday-girl poses with her Franken-bike, laden with blooms.

From Jen26

After the flash

Jenny and I photographed the same splendid tree at lunch-time every Friday of May.

Moto' ride to the Collector Pumkpin Festival

Making the most of some fine weather, Rowan, Emma, Gavin and I rode out to Collector on Sunday afternoon. Rowan and Emma rode an 800cc Harley and Gav' and I both rode GS500s.

From JBPumpkin

Our route via Gundaroo incorporated a substantial stretch of dirt road. I had the chance to stop and admire a dam that held some of our recent rainfall.

From JBPumpkin

The biggest pumpkin had sufficient flesh to contribute to over 5000 scones and is about as heavy as you'd expect. Half of Canberra had the idea to join us out at Collector.

From JBPumpkin

Inspired, I paid a greater-than-market price to a bloke for a butternut that has since been partially-applied to the production of scones. There was room to rope my purchase down while my other "pumpkin" was doing battle on the soccer field for ANU.

From JBPumpkin

JB coaches Sydney Comets to victory

JB coached his Comets to victory over the Canberra Capitals at the Canberra Basketball Centre in Belconnen on Saturday evening.

From JBPumpkin

We missed Roberts' half-time on-court show that would have been accompanied by 90's music (the glory days of basketball). It was in the second half that Sydney developed a lead over Canberra, a lead that they maintained steadfastly until full-time.

From JBPumpkin

Vodafone Cup, Round Three

The third-grade Owls and I competed against Queanbeyan on a bright autumn Saturday at Taylor Park.

From QBN1

I take the ball in to contact dragging a fellow along on my boot.

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Nerdal and others clean out over the ruck that subsequently formed.

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Chasing a few tries, I receive a ball from our full-back on the ground. Rashly, I grab the QBN winger and consider using him as a human battering-ram.

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After posting a couple of tries and valiantly contesting our line-outs, we conceded to QBN, 22-14.

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After a rest this weekend, the main competition, the John I Dent Cup, will commence. We will have our first game with The Vikings.

Two-up day

Due to the aforementioned "Mad-hatter's Party", Jenny and I were not able to attend the dawn service. In leiu of this, we paid homage to those diggers by partaking in a few beers at All Barn Nun in O'Connor and placing a few wagers in two-up.

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During our interlude from the ring, we watched Mixy playing goalie for the ANU rats in Lyneham. Mix placed his body on the line again and saved his team from yielding a couple of points.

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Stuey, pictured with Amy, and Roberts were in great spirits having both attended the dawn service earlier and made a tidy pile of gold playing two-up.

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Mad-hatters at Moncrieff

Scotty maintains the dynasty at Moncrieff Street and hosted a Mad Hatter's party last night.

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Gattica and Annie joined us on the Autumnal Belgian-style Ale.

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A blaze of an astounding proportion was stoked.

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Elene could partake of the punch freely as she was wearing protection.

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Beanies didn't make the grade, so Ben applies the bumble-bee and poses with Lauren and Hodgo.

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Fireworks guy went all-out on this head-gear and Evan presents him with a massive gourd (not shown) in front of the lamp-post from Narnia.

From MadHat

Stu brings something back

Click to Play

Stuey dances at Jo and Pete's wedding reception at The Quarry in Cowra, March 2009.

Jo marries Pete in Cowra

Jo Apthorpe married Peter Brown at the Cowra Catholic Church on Saturday, 21st of March. Paula poses with the newly-married couple on the steps of the church.

From JPBrown

Shortly after the ceremony, guests were whisked to the Quarry for the reception.

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Andy and Shaun join me in celebrating the happy couple before that start their honeymoon in Africa.

From JPBrown

The bridal bouquet is captured by a surprising character.

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The dancefloor knocks it up another notch.

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Stuey and Ange amaze even Terry Lovitt (or not).

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Hash House Harrier Cycle Pub-Crawl

Gattica hooked us up with the Belconnen Hash House Harrier group for a bicycle pub-crawl that covered 12 venues from Zeirholtz in Fyshwick through to O'Malley's in Civic. Here, I pull in to our third stop.

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Jen and Kirsty pose at the Kingston Hotel. We hadn't seen any rain yet, but we were about to. Incidentally, women on bicycles are serious traffic hazards. A car ran up the back of another while watching girls ride by!

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Our most up-market stop was at the Belgian Beer Cafe.

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Our group passed close by parliament house in our approach to the Commonwealth bridge.

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Our eleventh stop saw us at Mooseheads and still going kind-of strong.

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Jenny obliged this hen and Phil's curiosity was piqued. I also made a donation to the hen's party collection.

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In typical Mooseheads style, the dancing was... flamboyant! We took pints at our last stop and wobbled our way home. Gatt, however, kept rocking out and I haven't seen him since!*

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*He did update his blog, though.

Yass Races 2009

Marchmont racecourse held the 108th annual Yass race meeting. Jenny and I made the short trip over with a few friends for the rather warm day. Thankfully, we were situated in a shady spot just up from the finish-line. Most races started out-of-view behind a hill in the middle of the field so that it was quite a surprise to have the steeds come 'round the corner and find out how your wager was faring.

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Tracey and I made our big win on the fourth race, the Ravensworth Cup, having backed a six-year-old charcoal gelding named Scutt.

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Here, the girls take it easy under the dappled light at our party-site.

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Amazingly, Jen captured the moment that this champagne cork rocketed from the bottle.

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Rimsy, having looked to make up some lost ground, settles for watching Megoz Lass come home in forth place.

From Yass Races 09