A timely update

Hi everyone,

Well it has definitely been a while and lots has happened. We have heard that a couple of ladies are about to become mums for the first time and second time. Congrats to Leanne & Chris and Trish & Anthony. Hope it all goes well for you all and like the rest of the clan, look forward to the end result.

We had the pleasure up here of having Margaret & Owen for a visit way back in late September. They managed to drive all the way up with no problems only to get up the next morning and find one very flat tire. Even though they were only here for a couple of days, they managed to have a great time. The mine tour I believe was a hit and although she never said so, I'm sure Mum really enjoyed the little 4WD trip I took her on. Yes mum I have a new hill for you!!! The two pics are of Mum out the front of the Archer river roadhouse and Owen at Musgrave telegraph Station.

What else has been happening, well everyone is well and the kids are in their last week of school. Yes I know everyone is sick of my fishing stories but I had to put this picture in. Coming back from a patrol I managed to hook this lovely tuna. Needless to say we enjoyed several meals out this fantastic fighting fish.

I need to put this picture in, Karla has been part of the of the school drama class this year and they did a mock up of the play Camelot called Glamalot. Karla was Morgana, the mother of the evil boy who wanted to be king. Don't ask me any more about it, though the play was very good.

Lastly before we go on holidays, it was Mels birthday on Saturday night and we had a great night made even better by a couple of special guests. The two gents were Keith Payne VC & OAM and Ronald Workman OAM. Keith & Ron are up on a fishing trip and as I had luckily met Keith about a month ago, they were invited around for a great night. If you would like to know more about Keith please read at the following link. Two both guys thanks for a great night made even better. www.awm.gov.au/people/663.asp

Whats been happening?

Hi everyone,
Well what an exciting last month or so we have had. Everyone except poor old Bradley has been to Cairns for one reason or another. Where do we start, ok Mel went first when the doctor thought she had appendicitis, luckily it wasn't but went did get a night in Cairns by ourselves.. No we didn't leave the kids here to fend for themselves, one of my work colleges very kindly baby-sitted for us. Next was Karla who went for a school trip to compete in the regional OPTI-minds challenge. This is a thing for brainy kids apparently, anyway they came second by a whisker. Lastly was Michael, yes remember a couple of months ago I posted the picture of Michael playing cricket, well that was his undoing. He decided he wanted to be Steve Waugh and his friend Jason Gillespie, yep Michael ended up with a busted nose.

Bradley hasn't been left out, he had his 10th b'day a couple of weeks ago. Yep 10 already, god I'm getting old... Bradley and I had a father-son day not long ago and decided to go fishing and what a morning it was, Bradley landed a lovely cod and me a nice trevally. No I wont bore you with another photo, because I didn't have my camera.

But we ended up having a great morning.

Lastly I have just come back from working extremely hard, ooh stop laughing. I just travelled by boat from cairns to Thursday Is, stopping at some of the most fantastic reefs and Islands among the Great Barrier reef. I have a trivia question for you all. What is so special about Restoration Island??? This lovely island in far north Qld. The answer is revealed in the comments page.

The last photo, is something everyone should do, yep stand at the top of mainland Australia. Now just because I happened to be working and it was raining and the wind was blowing like a mini cyclone doesn't mean I shouldn't enjoy myself.

What?? It's my blog.....

Yeah well it's been a while, but I have been so busy travelling all over the Cape, playing golf and ok, just being downright lazy. Never fear here is the next installment.
Thought we would start off with a Sunset taken about a week ago. For all you poor southerners freezing your butts off, we have been having beautiful winters days. The avg is 28-30Degs and about 15Deg overnight.

I have a different fishing story for you today. Michael went out with my boss and his son and came home with a bucket full of Bream. Michael was so proud as he managed to catch 6 of them. The funny part was that Mum had to clean them all. Such a pity I wasn't home to see it, but didn't I hear about it!!!!

Whats been happening on the home front? Mel is working full-time at Woollies (yes we have a supermarket up here), Karla is also working there part-time, now if we could only teach her the art of saving.. Michael and Bradley are the same as always. About myself, as I mentioned earlier I have been travelling around a bit but I do plan on staying home now for the next few weeks at least.Though I was up in a helicopter the other day and saw this sight. In this picture is 5 crocodiles, each about 6 foot long. I can tell you when I took the picture there was about 30 of them on the mud flat. One of the most amazing sights I have seen.
I recently completed a 4WD course and much to my delight we found a great hill to drive down. What was even better is that it is close to home and I just happened to take Melynda and the boys down it for fun. Well it was fun for the boys, we now have hand imprints in the dash from Mel. Because she was such a bad sport the first time I made her do it again with her eyes open. Deep down she loved it, I know because I still have the bruises to prove it.
No promises but i may even update this again soon. Bye for now

What have we been up to?

Hi everyone,

Well since our holiday, things have been pretty quiet. The kids have been getting into their schoolwork, Mel is busy working and well I have been travelling all over the place. In other words everything is as per normal.

Coming back into town from a patrol I had the opportunity to take photo of one of the trucks that hauls the Bauxite to the refinery up here. The interesting part of it is that everyone coming into or out of Weipa has to stop at the crossing and wait for a green light to cross the road. That's right, we have traffic lights up here even if they are sensor operated and 15kms out of town.

Now I all want you to take careful note of the action of the bowler in the next photo. Yep that's
Michael and he actually took a wicket with that ball. Not bad for someone that couldn't even bowl a couple of months ago. We are still working on the batting, but he has hit a six, which is good enough for me.


What else have I been doing, well remember a couple of months ago I promised I would get a pic of a crocodile, well I finally have one. Ok it is a little grainy and taken at a distance, but I assure you it is genuine. Now for the sad part, this little fella is only about 7ft long, yep a baby, but I photographed him in town down at the shipping port. I have now seen about a dozen crocs but none bigger than him.

Lastly I went fishing the other week with one of my work colleges and managed to catch my first Barramundi. It was 72cms long and well over the legal size of 60cms. Along with the Barra, I also caught an estuary cod which was over 80 cms. Needless to say that it was probably one of the better days fishing I have had in a long time. One fillet is enough to feed the 5 of us..

That's about it for now, take care and we shall update again soon.

Off to Sydney we go.

After our stay in Canberra we packed the bags once more and headed back up the highway to Sydney. On the way I decided I would take the scenic route along the Illawarra Hwy. What a beautiful drive especially the drive down the range to the coast. Definately a road designed by the scouts, (I good turn deserved another). The quietest 20min I had all week while Mel and the kids sat petrified as i manoeuvred the car down the hill
Anyway we made it to Sydney and straight to Oyster Bay Rd, where we caught up with Aunty Janet, Leanne and Alexandra. We were treated to a lovely late (our fault, see above) morning tea and delicious lunch. Again thank you for the lunch and it was great to see you again. ooh I almost forgot, thank you Alexandra for the lovely place cards you made.

Then it was time to say goodbye and head into the city to the World tower which was to be our home for the next 6 nights. What can we say, 3bm fully furnished apartment 73 floors up with a view taking in the city, out to the Blue Mountains and South as far as the eyes could see. In the picture the top two floors are penthouses we were two under that. The pool was located on the 61st floor which is in the white blocks you can see.

On Tuesday we headed off bright and early for a day at the zoo and I mean a day, we were there on the first ferry and home on the last. I know, we saw every animal, some two or three times. Couple of highlights were of course the Elephants in their new enclosure and the Crocodile (yep we travelled all the way to Sydney to see a croc) which took one look at Bradley and swam the length of its pool to eyeball him through the glass. Very funny indeed... Who could forget the echidna, that was insulted by some Americans (sorry Trish) and called a porcupine.

Wednesday we headed off to the Aquarium. despite the million school kids screaming and carrying on, we had a great time. If you get the chance it is definitely a must, the underwater tunnels through the shark pool is fantastic, so is the massive tank at the end where you can sit and watch the fish for hours.

On Thursday morning my darling cousin Leanne organised a little tour of channel Seven and a behind the scenes view of Sunrise. Here we got to meet the Sunrise crew, unfortunately minus Monique who was in Tasmania. Not to worry everyone had a great time and the kids got autographs and themselves on TV. Afterwards we headed up Centre point Tower for the usual 360 deg view of the city.

Friday night we went off to the footy to watch my beloved Roosters get smashed by the Broncos, much to Michael's delight. It was cold and wet but we got seats by the sideline and could see the action up close, (most of it was the Broncos scoring). But one cannot complain too much when he gets to wrap his arms around a couple of cheerleaders. I guess the night wasn't so bad after all...

We headed back to Cairns on Easter Sunday, to spend the night and back to Weipa on Monday.

We hope you have all enjoyed reading about the holiday as much as we enjoyed taking it. A couple of things to finish off with;

Firstly I apologise for any names I spelt wrong, (not my strong point).

Secondly, It really was nice to catch up with those we managed to see and thankyou all for putting up with us, for buying lunch or dessert or letting us stay at your house, without those little things our holiday just wouldn't have been the same. Cheers

Our Trip to Canberra

After a fantastic week in Port Stephens we packed the car and headed further South to the nations capital. Yep from sunny tropical Weipa to the Autumn in Canberra, only god knows why.. Not true the days were lovely and the nights were crisp, well the grass was the next morning anyway.

We arrived in Canberra mid afternoon, checked into our dog box, sorry motel and went around to visit Nan. I don't know who was more excited about the visit but we spent a lovely couple of hours catching up. I have put two photos here as I wanted Nan to see them both.

That evening we headed off to Dinner with Alan and Carolyn at the Kingston Hotel, where we got to cook our own food, Michael managed to eat the second biggest set of spare ribs I've ever seen, the ones I ate were bigger!!!!

After dinner we headed off to a nice little cosy restaurant/cafe for some decent coffee. Alan & Carolyn the decided to spoil us all and ordered ice creams for the kids and a lovely cheese platter for the big kids. Thank you both for the dessert it was lovely and great to catch up again.

The ext day we headed off to old Parliament House for a quick tour before heading across the lake to the War Memorial. We spent about 4 hours walking around taking in the history and even the kids understood what it was all about. Though we did have one little mishap when one of them said "that guy only got one medal", not quite understanding the heroics and bravery of the Victorian Cross. Despite this they were able to try on some of the clothes from the Vietnam war and touch some of the interactive exhibits.


After the War Memorial we headed back over to Nans place and watched the footy and talked some more about the good old days. Unfortunately then it was time to go, and a few tears were shed by some and a few more by others. Big Nan the kids say you give the best bear hug ever, the rest of the family will relate to that.

We're Back!!!

HI Everyone,
Before you all say about time etc etc.. we have been on holidays for the last couple of weeks and that is what this update is all about.

The holiday didn't all go as planed and started off in the worst possible way with our flight out of Weipa being delayed by 2hrs, which meant we missed our connecting flight to Sydney. Not to worry they re booked us via Brisbane, which meant we had to run off one plane through the terminal in Cairns and on to the next plane which was delayed just so we (and 6 others) could catch it. Anyway we safely made it to Brisbane. While waiting in the Qantas club, Mel decided to ask for an upgrade and Qantas obliged, so the the kids travelled the final leg to Sydney in style.

The next morning we picked up the hire car only to find out they hadn't refuelled it. Not to worry on the return a week later they refunded us the price of a tank of fuel.
From here the trip went fantastic, we headed up to Newcastle ad caught up with Steven, Leigh, Aidan and the lovely Felicity, who just happened to have her christening the same day which gave us a chance to catch Mum and Owen as well.


Gary then headed off to his week of golf in Port Stephens, while Steven & Leigh graciously hosted Mel and the kids. Thank you to you both.

I will keep the golf short i played well for 3 out of 4 days and had a ball. To make things a little differant this year we actually travelled by ferry to one of the games, now looking at the photo you can see that this wasn't a very big ferry, but somehow they managed to fit 120 of us on it and away we went. To finish the week off, I booked Mel and the kids into a Motel in Nelson Bay as a surprise.

Whats been Happening

Hi everyone,
Ok, before anyone else sends an email complaining about the lack of updates, here goes.
Things have been a little quiet up our way for the last couple of weeks, I guess it is just us settling into life up here in Weipa. We have been receiving plenty of rain, come 3.30pm just about every day and down she comes. I guess we now know what a wet season is.
Mel headed off to Townsville for uni the other week and had a chance to catch up with some friends. Her only complaint was that everyone is mad down that way and nobody can drive... Just goes to show what a couple of months in a small town can do to someone. While mum was away the kids I I had a ball, well I did while they did the cooking and cleaning etc etc.
As you can see no photo this week, but there has been plenty of Croc sightings around town so surely I will be able to capture one on film soon. Now if the &^$% cat wakes me up one more time during the night I will have the perfect bait... If that doesn't work the mud crabs love'm.
Bye for now.

Australia Day Award

Finally at last I have proof. As most of my immediate family know I received an Australia day award this year, for work I did while in Townsville. The short version to it is, we had two Papua New Guinea Customs Officers come and worked with us for six weeks and sharing ideas and a lot of fun was had by all. The award was for this program. Last week I received my award, courtesy of my manager. Mel was invited along to share this special occasion.

Karlas' 14th Birthday

Yes our little girl turned 14 on Sunday and to celebrate had a couple of friends stay over. They sat in her room watching DVD's until 3am. Not that we noticed until they emerged the next morning. Karla had a great day and wants to thank everyone who rang and wished her happy birthday. Unfortunately, her present hasn't arrived from Mum & Dad, either has Dads for that matter, gee cyclones sure do mess up the post around here and we didn't even have one. She did receive some lovely clothes and books from Nan, Pop & Big Nan and lots of Chocolates from her friends, so everyone was happy.

Bradleys award

Hi everyone, well we have had an exciting week. It all started last Wednesday with Bradley receiving an award at school, for Outstanding Behaviour in Class. As you can see he was very pleased with his efforts and so was Mum & Dad.

After that little effort you would think nothing else could top it, wrong. Every Wednesday afternoon I play in a social golf game with a group called the Weipa Wednesday Wackers. As you know we have had extreme weather up this way but that never stops a game of golf. So there we were on the 18th hole, uphill par 3 into the wind and what do I do, score a hole in one, yep one bounce and in it goes. My first one ever!! So to my brothers who don't know who I am and can't be bothered putting my number in their phone, IT WAS ME WHO TEXT YOU...

Why I am in Weipa

The whole reason Weipa was founded was believe it or not Bauxite not fishing. The whole of the Cape is made up of this stuff and if we were all around for another 200yrs the mining up here will still be going strong. A quick lesson on how it all works. The bulldozers come in and rip out all the trees and take away the topsoil. Under this is the Bauxite, not sure how deep it goes but I believe only about 20-30 feet. The Bauxite is then taken to be washed and then transported to the port of Weipa, were it is stockpiled for export.

From there it is then loaded onto the ships for any number of countries around the world including Australia. This pic is looking down into the hold of a ship from the Bridge, this particular ship and most of the ones that come here load about 70000 tonnes of the stuff. What does it make I hear you ask? Bauxite is made into alumina which then becomes aluminium. The quality is so good up here that approx 4Ton of Bauxite makes 2 Ton of Alumina which then makes 1 Ton of Aluminum.

The final picture is looking from the Bridge down the ship, past the other ship and out to sea. The last bit of headland to the left of the ship is where we go fishing....So next time you have a coldie out of a can, it started as a bit of red dirt up Weipa way.

More Nature

Yes I know we have all seen a green frog before, but do you get them this big down your way, I don't think so. I would like to introduce you to Kermit (original I know). Kermit lives with us and does a great job of eating the insects and basically doing what we all want to do, nothing at all. Kermit tends to make an appearance most nights but never in the same spot. As you can see from the photo, I finally got him to smile for the camera.

Fishing Adventures Cont'd

The start of the wet seasons means exciting times for the fishermen & women up here, well that's what they tell me anyway. The fishing to say the least has been very ordinary, but perseverance does pay off and today yes (Tuesday) I landed a nice Grunter, fellow fisho's will know what that is, for the uninitiated that's a very nice fish. Anyway in all the excitement of finally catching a fish we forgot to take a photo, so the next best thing is a picture of the remains after dinner... Lastly what was I doing fishing on a work day? Never you mind...

Back to School

"woohoo yeehaa the kids are back at school" says Mel. Yep the big day arrived up bright and early dressed before daylight, no really it was pouring rain and the sun just couldn't get up. Well a great first day was had by all, they all managed to make friends and come home happy. "thank god for that" says Gary.

On another note, Monday (29th) also happened to be Melynda & Gary's 13th wedding anniversary, thank you to all that phoned, sent emails etc, congratulating us on such a great achievement in this day and age. To celebrate we had lunch together, well a couple of toasted sambos anyway.

Wildlife in Weipa

We are going to start taking some pictures of the town and whatever we think you may find interesting. To start with Mel & I were sitting out the back on Sunday morning during a break in the rain and I managed to get this picture of the Rosella's feeding in the big wattle tree in the back yard. I must tell you now my adventures in wildlife snaps will not cease until I have photographed one of the giant lizards that share our waterways...

The rains are here!!!

Well we have been waiting and sweating it out, but on Saturday the rains finally came. What a differance it makes, the temperature has dropped from the high 30's to a cosy 31-32Deg and a nice 24Deg overnight. As you can see the kids were having a ball.

Apart from the rains we have had a quiet couple of weeks. Still fishing when we get a chance and catching plenty of sharks and thats about it. Tell a lie I did catch a lovely Queen fish last week.

Latest Fishing Adventures

Well it has been a lean few days on the fishing front with only one edible fish caught, yep Michael caught this one as well. There he was half asleep, thinking this fishing is boring when BAMM off goes the line at a million miles an hour and Michael screaming help Dad help.


Having just watched Karla loose a big one and we mean big, we were determined not to let this one get away. After quite a fight the fish gave in and we landed dinner. This time a Giant Trevally, though he wasn't that big 2kg to be exact. I have been told they are not that good a fish to eat, well cooked whole on the BBQ with some secret herbs and spices it was fantastic.


Just to show that everyone can catch something here is Bradley and Karla with their unfortunately too small rock cods. Even Mel has gotten the fishing bug and lost a ripper yesterday, hopefully she can land one soon.

Our House

Hi Everyone,

Due to popular demand, well mum anyway. Here are couple of photos of the interior of our house. The first is the Main bedroom with the quilt that Mel made all by herself.

This photo is of our lounge room, The lounge and recliners are supplied to us along with the kids beds, dining table, outdoor setting, and basically anything not electrical.



The last photo is of the family room looking into the kitchen and beyond. All rooms have air-conditioners and ceiling fans.