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...