The rest of us off to the Gold Coast for the wedding

Well this is our view the first night from the hotel - not a bad location!  Well that was until we realised that the construction site at our feet had very noisy machines during the day!

Ah well all the more reason to get up early and do stuff instead of sitting around the hotel :)

Me and David joined Gwenny and Rosanna the first night at Shannon's place and then drove down the next day.  Daniel and ReeAnn flew down with us but we dropped them off at Ree's sister's place for a couple of days as they were attending a cousin's wedding.  They drove down her sister's car a couple of days later.

Well it was a great week - as the girls fussed and stressed about the wedding the boys went swimming heaps at the beach and just relaxed.  Was good to spend time with family and friends who were down also from Darwin and many other places (eg Troy from Brisbane and Craig/Lynn from Adelaide, Michael and Leanne from Maryborough etc). 

We did have an interesting time on the Thursday when Daniel and David got in a rip and needed a bit of help to get back on the beach!  I didn't tell Gwenny about that one until after the wedding!

Was great to catch up with the new very-soon-to-be-inlaws too! 

Upper Butterfly Gorge

A few of us went into Butterfly Gorge today from the Stuart Highway side.   The road wasn't too bad as it hasn't been much of a wet season and there were some beautiful places to see.

It was my first real offroading in the new Landrover and as I feared the factory road tyres weren't up to the job - I burst a steel belt on the rocky road which resulted in a bubble in the sidewall of the tyre.  I do have new rims and tyres on order that will be much better for offroading.

We were basically just doing a bit of exploring searching for new potential camping spots.  Rob and Jessie took a couple of quad bikes and we also did a bit of exploring on these which wasn't good for my hay fever due to all the spear grass!

Gwenny to the Hillsong "Colour" conference

Gwenny went to the "Colour" woman's conference in Sydney with Jessie, Rochelle and Suzy and had a good time.  Was also a bonus to catch up with her daughter of course!  Rosanna attended for most of the conference as it was only a short trip from Brisbane.  Dates were March 6-10.

Bought a boat!

I have bought a 35' (11m) boat called Condamine and we (Cousin Peter and Brother-in-law Rob and I) are going to motor her from Gove to Darwin.   Check out http://thomsensboat.blogspot.com.au/ to view information about the boat and the trip.

Craig and Lyn's wedding

We left for Perth on the 14th of December to celebrate Craig and Lyns wedding on the 18th.  We got back home on the 20th.

The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time.  The were married in an amazing old church near the city and the reception was up in the Perth Hills at a Winery.  Paul was one of the groomsmen and Monica and Toby were also able to make it with us (was great to meet Toby for the first time).  Peterboy also flew down from Darwin.

A lot of us stayed together in a caravan park near the airport which was a handy place.  Craig and Lyn, Troy, Graham and Denise, Monica, Toby and Peter, and Dave and Leisha also stayed there.

Mum and Dad, Nadine, Aunty Kris, Aunty Shirl and Adam also came and they stayed in a hi-rise with amazing views closer to the city but not too far from us.

The wedding day had a unique start in all the boys going to swim in the surf at sun up at the beach - the water was a bit cold - but the hot breakfast at the beach cafe warmed us up.

Paul loses his Gallbladder

Paul went to Adelaide to get his Gallbladder removed this week (operation was on the 7th of December).  He stayed at Craigs the 1st night and at the hospital the next 3 nights.  Operation went well although he didn't enjoy going under very much...   and had a few issues afterwards that he hoped was just the medication!

Was just keyhole surgery so fairly minor although Paul was suprised how much it knocked him around..  took him a month or so to feel somewhat "normal"....

One bonus of the trip was that he met his brother Craig's fiance Lyn for the first time!

Rosanna goes to the Gold Coast

Rosanna was off on a holiday again!  Well not really.. it was work this time... she volunteered to help the Red Frog chaplaincy group with supporting the schoolies at the Gold Coast.

More info about Red Frogs here - http://www.redfrogs.com.au/

She left on the 18th and returned on the 26th of October.

Orchard Creek

We attempted to drive to Orchard Creek today - which is via a 4wd track behind Robin Falls - south of Adelaide River township.  Rob flew his flying machine earlier on to do a bit of aerial reconnaissance and we all met at AR at 10am.

Unfortunately we tried to cross the creek that we did earlier in the year again and I broke an air fitting connected to my air suspension when trying to get unstuck.  Everyone else got stuck too except for Dorothy.

So we had a very difficult crawl out to the highway with only about 200mm clearance and lots of nasty rocks.  Even on the highway the ride was very rough...

The rest of the gang fortunately were able to continue on to Orchard Creek - which was only a few hundred metres than we we got last time.  There were about 5 other cars.

One of these kits (http://www.greenovalexperience.com/eas_inflation_kit.html) might be the go if I were going to take the Disco to remote places...

Cape Leveque Trip

A place holder for our Cape Leveque trip Jun 26 - Jul 11 2010.  Will update with details and photos.

Fri 18 Jun - Last day of school

Fri 25 Jun - Dads last day of work

Sat 26 Jun - Drive to Wyndham to visit and/or pickup Monica

Mon 28 Jun - Drive to Broome - stay there 1 night

Tue 29 Jun - Drive to Middle Lagoon - stay there 3 nights

Fri 2 Jul - Drive to Cape Leveque and stay there until Friday 9th of July

Fri 9 Jul - Drive back to Broome and stay there for the night

Sat 10 Jul - Drive to Wyndham and stay night

Sun 11 Jul - Drive home

Mon 19 Jul - Back at school/work for all of us

Sandy Creek trip

Our boat the "mudskipper" wasn't real sea-worthy

This was the 2nd time we had been to Sandy Creek.  This spot is basically at eastern side of the base of Coburg Peninsula - on the mainland near where the Goulbourn Islands are.

The last time we were here was a bit of a disaster - well it was a nice trip except Craig and I got shipwrecked trying to get there by sea in our old boat "Djambalawa" in 2003.  But thats another story!

I don't remember much of this trip but am putting it on the blog as I am with many other trips etc just to have a record for our family diary.

From memory we went for perhaps 5 days - I can see the photos I uploaded here were taken on Friday the 20th of September, 2009.   You drive across the East Alligator (Cahills Crossing) and then turn left onto the Coburg Road a bit past Oenpelli.  Then its a right turn off the road to get into Sandy Creek before going up the peninsula.

There were quite a few of us on the trip.  Colin and Dorothy, Michael Brown, Gwenny and I and the kids, Jessie and Rob, Baggsy and Melony, Graham and Robyn and some of their boys, David and Anne.  I've probably missed a few.

Here's a few things I remember.

There's no fresh water at the campsite so I think Colin brought in a big tank of water on the back of James' ute and Jessie setup a shower and all.

The campsite looking from the creek

You camp right next to the mouth of the creek on the west side.  The creek is quite deep but the mouth is a bit shallow with a bar you have to watch out for depending on the tide.  We'd launch the boats each time on the sandy bank which was a little boggy - but no problems for my Discovery 3!

I don't think we caught a lot of fish - although there might have been one day when Rob and crew got a few jewies in his bigger boat out wider.

 

Here's a few more photos.

 

 

David borrowed this fibreglass boat from a friend

Robby one with the land

A panorama of the creek from where you'd launch showing the exit to the sea

Mike and Rob

 



Bought a disco

Gwenny and Paul flew down on the night of Wednesday the 29th of April and stayed with Aunty Kris.

We picked up the 2nd hand car on the Thursday from a private seller who lived on Toorak Road.  We noticed it had a bit of mud inside up high on spots where it shouldn't be but Paul had already bought it sight unseen!  We learnt later it had been drowned but it was still a great car anyway - especially once an electrical fault was sorted.

We had a good trip home.  The first night (Friday) we only got as far as Mildura as the car had a new engine and needed a 1000km oil change.

The saturday night we stayed in an underground hotel in Cooper Pedy.  Sunday night we stayed at Wycliffe Wells which we found a bit weird.

We got home Monday evening the 4th of May, 2009 with no problems - loved the car!

Pauls goes to Penrith for work

Paul spent the week Nov 27th - Dec 1st 2006 at Penrith at the University of Western Sydney.

It was for an IT conference about IT and Higher Education.  The conference and facilities were really good and they had many activities including a tour out to the Three Sisters.

2006 Queensland holidays

In the Hinterland on a long walk

We flew down to Queensland for holidays in October in 2006.   We stayed at Coolangatta in a nice unit (except the air and road traffic were quite noisy all night) and spent a few days at the beach.

One day we went for a drive up to the Hinterland on the QLD/NSW border and visited Gwenny's Uncles farm near Murwillumbah.

We also visited Dreamworld.

We hired a nice XR6 car when the rental people offered it to Dad for only a few dollars more a day when he went to pick up his hire car.

Broome Sailfish trip

We left from Darwin on Saturday morning the 7th of August 2004 to Broome.

Craig, Matthew Possingham and Tim Ezzy went along with me.   Rob came along with Jessie, Kylie, Rochelle and a friend (the "tiler" - can't remember his name).  I think the tiler used his car to tow Rob's boat as it was a big F250 or something and could handle the heavy boat better.

We camped along the road saturday night at some truck stop near Halls Creek I think.

We got to Broome Sunday evening with no dramas and booked into the hotel.  I think we slept on the lounge room floor of the hotel Rob and Jessie booked!

We knew it was a good fishing spot when Craig got spooled by a Tuna just at the boat ramp whilst we were bobbing around waiting for Robby to launch before we headed out!

The first day (Monday) was a little bit rough so we didn't go right out wide to the Sailfish grounds but tried a few closer reefs for mackerel etc - and we didn't do too bad.

The tuesday was nice and calm so we headed straight out to the sailfish grounds.  It was awesome fishing, calm waters, abundant bait and sailfish free jumping everywhere!  

Robs boat got onto a sail first and boated a nice big one and then Craig got one soon after.  About mid morning however disaster struck!   Rob's boat had its gearbox jammed and couldn't change gear.

Because we wanted to give him the best chance to get it fixed so he could return the next day we decided to tow it back in.  It was pretty tough leaving such awesome conditions.   After getting back to Broome Rob unfortunately had to call of the trip as all the boat mechanics were busy etc.

Well fortunately the next day and the rest of the week was just as good.  Calm blue water and acres of pilchards with hungry Sailfish herding them up.   We must have raised literally dozens of sails and hooked a lot of these - albeit to lose them before getting them in the boat.

Tim ended up getting his on the Thursday and Paul didn't get one until the Friday.  We tried for Matty Possingham but he unfortunately didn't get one.  He did catch some nice other fish however and he fought some big fish on the last afternoon that we'll never know the identity of.
We drove home Saturday morning non-stop to Darwin - which in hindsight was a bit foolish as Paul was very tired getting home around 4am Sunday morning.  Tim drove for a bit but Paul should've shared the driving more!



A winter holiday

On Anzac Hill, Alice Springs

We set off on Sunday the 20th of June 2004 on a driving holiday to the red centre and then onto the snow in Victoria.  We had never seen snow before so we were pretty excited.  Rosanna was 12, Daniel 10, and David 8 years of age.

Graham also came with us with his kids Talea and Justin.   They borrowed Robby and Jessie's purple commodore station wagon for the trip.

Graham spent a bit of time in Alice meeting friends whilst we went on to Ayers Rock as we hadn't seen it before.  We stayed at a road house 100km or so from the rock for a couple of nights and did a trip to Ayers Rock and The Olgas. 

We then met back on the highway at the turnoff to the rock and travelled down to Adelaide with Graham and his kids.  We stayed at Port Elliot for a few days which was a really awesome place and a pleasant surprise - as we had really only picked it pretty randomly.

We then went onto Melbourne where Paul's Aunty Kris was kind enough to lend us her house for a few days.   The highlight was watching Collingwood beat Hawthorn at the MCG!

On Sunday the 4th of July we headed off to snow country!  The two families shared a holiday house in the little town of Dinner Plains where we were living right in the snow.

We found living in the snow difficult at times (taking gear off and on etc) but a lot of fun.  It was apparently a really good snow season and we had beautiful fresh snow most days.  Paul had to ban Gwenny from skiing as the consensus was that there would be broken bones if she continued!  The children remember with mirth the image of Mum's trainer chasing her through the snowy bush flapping his arms and yelling "do the pizza! do the pizza!".

Work trip to Melbourne

Paul went to Melbourne for work (a visit to Monash to look at some IT systems) and was able to catch up with the family there.

He stayed with Aunty Kris and was very well looked after.  Siaan and Kim took him around sight seeing at Saint Kilda on a nice sunny day.

He was fortunate enough to get into the MCG for the Collingwood vs Port qualifying final with a standing room only ticket.  Collingwood had a good win and were in the Grand Final the next week - when they lost to Brisbane again.