Merry Christmas

Well it was another good year in the Young's household thanks to the kids for not raiding the money box throughout the year. In early December we went to cairns for a short break and a chance for everyone to do their Xmas shopping. We were also lucky to spend a few days with mum. Owen managed to make it down from PNG on the last night as we all enjoyed a lovely seafood dinner and some early Xmas presents.

Lastly, I would just like to say that the whole family (Mel included) went fishing the other day in the boat and guess what everyone caught a fish, everyone except me that is. I don't mind that is what the host is supposed to do. Anyway we ended up with a nice bag of Fingermark and a couple of other fish. Where are the photos I here you say, well in our excitement we forgot to take them. I can tell you the fish tasted really nice...

The Lakes around Weipa

About two weeks ago Mel and I went for a drive to get a couple of photos of the lakes in Weipa and a place called Putts Palms. At the end of the wet I will get some after photos. You can see in the first photo there is still water in the lake, but during the wet this will rise by about 3-4 mtrs. Probably doesn't sound like a lot but the is no river catchment or hills to feed the lakes, just a bit of run off from around town.


The next photo was taken at Putts Palms which is basically in the middle of town. The area gets a lot of runoff and is a popular swimming hole for the locals during the next couple of months when it gets flowing. Even though it is only about 150mtrs from where it flows out into the bay there has been no Croc sightings in the area. Where i took this photo will be under about 1.5mtrs of water once flowing.





The last picture is between the two lakes that will be full of water in coming weeks. As the area is so flat it is hard to get an elevated photo.

Michaels' birthday

Hi everyone look two post in two months, well I'm trying hard. where do we start? Michael had his birthday back on the 4th and for his birthday he asked for home made pizza. Not a problem until it came time to dish it up. As he was picking up his plate he bumped something and dropped the pizza on his foot. After a mad dash to the shower and some cold water he finally made it back to the dinner table. so this picture is after dinner before he cut his cake.

On the Gold coast

While our jet setting Daughter was travelling the world the rest of us headed off to the Gold Coast for 10 days of Roller coasters and theme parks. We stayed at some place opposite the adrenaline park. I got lucky one night and after many attempts manage to capture this photo. This is the sling shot and vomatron going at the same time.


While we were there we managed to catch up with Paul, Megan and the kids. Here is a great picture of Paul in the Helicopter with Joshua at seaworld. Never seen something so funny as a 6ft + male in a ride designed for under 5's.






Darren, Kristy, Paige and Jacinta came and spent the day at Dream world with us. Unfortunately we didn't get to go on many rides but Darren and I showed the boys up on the roller coaster, well thats the way I saw it, just because I didn't want to go on the giant drop or claw or wipe out or anything else is beside the point.
Anyway that's about it for now, I am sitting here listening to the first real rain of the season. Though this is only the pre wet, just means tomorrow is going to be really hot and about 90% humidity...

Lastly at the time of writing Mels father, Adrian is recovering in hospital from a pretty delicate operation. Hopefully all will be well. All the best Adrian and Maureen.

Karla In Europe

Hi all, well not a lot has happened over the last umm 6 mths. No I tell a lie, Karla went off to Europe on a school trip. Yep Weipa school organised a trip for a dozen students and four teachers to the other side of the world. Mind you the kids spent nearly 12mths running fundraisers so they could go.


Anyway on the last week of September off they went to Italy, Greece and England.
Here are a couple of pictures of Karla in Greece and England. She had an absolute ball for 16 days.

Almost up to date

Well here we are, finally caught up with the world. I am sitting here, while Mel is making dinner and Karla is chewing Mums (Nans) ear off. Last bit of news. I finally bit the bullet and bought myself a boat. Funny I still haven't got a photo of me in it yet. But this is her, a 5.2mtr centre console, set up for fishing.

Lastly before I sign off. I just wanted to thank Dad for coming up and watching the kids while Mel and I were off on our trip to Thailand. He did such a great drop that I took him fishing several times and played the perfect host by allowing him to catch all the fish. This is him with a nice Mangrove Jack, that lived up to his name by snagging himself in the mangroves before we managed to get him on board.

Thailand here we come

In March Mel & I headed off to Thailand to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, or more precisely Patong Beach, Phuket. Our first trip to Asia and all I can say is we had an absolute ball. Where do we start, we went on elephant rides, island tours, ate at a different restaurant every night and met some great people.

The first photo is with two of the cast from the Phantasea show, which is Thailand's No1 tourist attraction. It is a dinner and show. The dining hall feeds over 4000 people which is more people than what lives in Weipa. The show is a about the Thai heritage and goes for around 90mins. highly recommended if you go to Phuket.

This is a picture of Mel on an elephant, yes I went on one to, that's how I took the photo. We went up and down this goat track or should I say elephant track, that most people wouldn't be game to walk. A great experience as long as your not following the elephant that likes to let it rip every few minutes, and the kids reckon I'm bad.

Next pic, is from the day trip we did to the islands in the gulf of Thailand off phuket. Again another great day. We visited Loh Samah Bay (photo). Maya Bay, better known as the the beach used in the movie The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio. Pileh cove, Viking cave ( where they get the nests to make Birds nest Soup). Monkey beach, yep full of monkeys, Phi Phi Don, which was devastated in the Tsunami (2000 people killed of which 1600 were tourist) and Khai Nui Island, where we went snorkeling.

Well a trip to Patong, would not be complete without spending some or should I say plenty of time on Bangla Rd. The tourist hotspot and the heart of Patong. Here you wil find some great and not so great bars, restaurants, nightclubs and other "shows". You also get to meet some of the ladies and the lady boys. can you guess which is which? Yes they are both Lady boys. Single men beware.

Back into 2009

I have skipped quite a few months but at least we are now back in the right year. Early January we had another cyclone off the coast of Weipa, which hung around for a few days. The days just happened to coincide with some good tides and the surge was incredible. This pic shows the water level about 2mts above standard high tide. As per usual the cyclone decided to batter somewhere else and life went back to normal.

In February, Karla turned 16 and decided she wanted to have a party. Now I know why parents leave town when their teenage kids say they are having a party. People everywhere more alcohol being drunk than at my 40th and the noise was incredible, and that was just the adults..... As for the kids they were well behaved and had a great night.

What else has been happening

Well in November I trekked down to Canberra, apparently someone was having a birthday and I was obliged to attend. Not that I'm complaining or anything but I did miss my golf club presentation night where I was to be the recipient of not one but three trophies. Anyway its not everyday someone turns 80 and I get a chance to catch up with long lost relatives and family. I had a great night even if the temperature was 25deg cooler than I'm used to. Hope you had a great night Nan, I know I did and by the looks of things, so did everyone else.

Off to Fiji we go

Jumping forward a couple of months, and the Young family packed there bags from Weipa and headed off on a Southern holiday to Fiji. 40hrs later we touched down in Fiji found our bus and headed off to the naviti resort for all the food and drink we could consume. Thankyou lord for all inclusive packages...

The island photo is part of the resort and I was experimenting with my new camera to see how well I could photograph at night.

I can tell you that 10 days of doing nothing but sitting by the pool and drinking the free drinks does nothing for your figure, though they tell me round is a figure. A great time was had by all and as you can see by the last photo the staff got to know me so well I even had access to the bar.

Early 2008

Ok, before I begin, yes I know it has been a long time, a very long time I hear you say. Well after visiting Nan down in Canberra last week and copping yet another ear full, I decided I better do something about it.

So where to begin. Lets go back a few months, about 14 of them should do and I had my 40th B'day party. Well I can't remember much what happened that night but I do remember Ratty coming up along with Mun & Owen. Now the stain on my shirt is not me having a bad night, one of my "friends" decided it would be funny to pour a bottle of coke over me, much to Mels Disgust.

The day after Paul and I decided to go fishing, welll we did amange to catch a fish, actually I think it just got tangled up in the line, but the big question is, can you tell which one is the fish...



Anyway we had a great week and sadly he was the only fish caught.



Moving along a couple of months and we packed our bags for a week on the sunshine coast. I was great to get all us Queenslanders, (god i can't believe I said that) together for a photo and lunch at Coolum resort. Now while we were there, Ratty decided to take us to his favourite fishing spot. Now while everyone there caught a fish, it was Michael who won the day with this giant Barra. Yes a Barra we travelled 2000kms form Barra heaven to the sunshine coast just to catch a bloody barramundi.