Billy and Deanne's Adventures

I have said many a time how important family is to me, it’s the small things, a SMS, a “like” on Facebook, a card in the mail. Sometimes something happens that truly bowls me over.. My uncle Paddy! Those who know him, the humor, the smile, the warmth the heart, the love, the kindness, the laughs, the stories, the compassion, the listening ear….. All are my Uncle Paddy. I have not seen him since his 70th birthday, before then was while on our 3 month road trip, honeymoon.
A week or so ago the phone rings and the exuberant voice at the end asks where will be on X date, followed by “I will be in X town”, but sadly “X” town is on the other side of the bay, a decent drive away, never did I think he would make the journey being it so far… But he did!!!! Squeeeeee! My Uncle Paddy and his partner in crime came to visit! It’s only the first night, the first few hours and a great meal, wine and an Uncle Paddy fave, snowballs. Tomorrow we will show him the area, take him to see the little guys in their dinner jackets, the fairy penguins.
I can’t tell you HOW happy I am, my most fave Uncle is here in my house to spend time with us!
Love you Uncly Paddy!! Xoxo

Nothing is ever too small for them, seriously the way we are looked after every time we go there, it’s amazing. Tonight I ordered yet again something not on the menu, they were happy to make it. It was not something drastically different, a schnitzel with some garlic butter with salad instead of a parma with chips and salad… But I want to illustrate how happy they are to accommodate. We have asked for a cheese platter for when we are in, this is most definitely not on the menu, but yet again they are happy to accommodate. Late last year I was feeling very unwell so sadly we had to cancel the platter, we know they had it specially prepared too, they were not annoyed, it was “see you when you are next in!” We thought that due to my health and issues with heat that it was best to only have platters on cooler nights and yet again they are more than happy to accommodate. Ask yourself where have you been that will make something especially for you based on weather??
Now obviously this is not something they can do for everyone, no business can do this but what I want to highlight is the EXCEPTIONAL customer service by this amazing country hotel. Seriously of you ever come to Wonthaggi, go to Archie’s Creek, go to the pub and have yourself a feed, it’s well worth it…
While I am at I, best you come every second and forth week of the month and chill to the sounds of the Twangfest, you are gonna love it!!

Yikes the cruise of our lives is coming so fast! Even though its been a few years in the planning it only seems like yesterday. Today I have been working really hard upgrading the Roll Call, though I am still not fully confident in what I am doing I have been assured all is fine. It’s going to be the first Roll Call I have done but hopefully not the last.

Why? As so many know family is everything to me, I have tried very hard to find, meet and get to know my relatives and in all honesty I could not be more happier…
Messages from my great nephew, messages from my great niece alone make my heart flutter with joy. Getting to know my cousins, being a integral part of important milestones, truly amazing. My aunts, my uncles, where do I start? seriously I do have to pinch myself. I hope, I pray, I wish for as many as possible to come to this years reunion, or meet up, those who cant be there will be very much honored as the wonderful people they are,,it is going to be utterly amazing!!

I need more hours in the day!

We are so lucky to live in this area, the views we constantly see are just mind blowing, the sky has us forever looking up, the colours we see are amazing. In the city we just do not get to see these views, they are blocked by houses and tall buildings and often marred by pollution.

Driving into town we watched as the sun set, had our fingers crossed that we would make it to a spot where we could take some photos. We pulled over and what seemed half the town too! I guess we were not the only ones totally blown away by this sunset! After all it really was pretty magic looking!

I know that it is early days but motivation is at a high! Today while out and about I began thinking more like a photographer and less like a picture taker. This is not just due to the 365 project, it’s also due to all the classes I have been fortunate to attend and the stunning area I live in. My respect for the photographers in my life has not waned, in fact as I have mentioned before, it has grown. It’s a art that has so many variables, it’s not learned overnight and it’s something like the chef world where you never stop learning. Here is a photo, unedited, straight off the camera, it’s by far perfect, but it’s something I very much want to make better, thanks to the motivation of project 365!

So after taking Belinda home instead of making the massive trek back to Archies Creek we decided to camp for a few days.  Lynda had contacted us a little while before as she was having the weekend off, she NEVER gets a weekend like this off so it was pretty bloody awesome. Last year was a magical New Years celebration with my cousin, her hubby, Bill and the Wuppies at Manly beach….mmm nibbles, laughs…bevvies…..it was brilliant the highlight of last years road trip!
So this year was set yet again to be with awesome people, we were not fully sure if we were going to stay at that site, we were only going there to check it out, see if it will suffice, if not we had a couple of other spots in mind. Anyhow we got there, noticed it was pretty busy but also noticed that the views were fantastic and decided to stay, so we set up. The next day we had to head into town to do a couple of things and drop off the Geo-coin we had picked up a couple of weeks ago. While in town Bill was looking for a lead for the tv, not that we don’t have a billion lead thingies already but he took something out of the van and didn’t put it back so we didn’t have it, so we needed another lead, LOL. There is no need to go into some sort of whizz bang electronics shop because the ones at places like Spoils and the $2 shop have ones that will suffice. While Bill as in the shop he noticed a paddle pool, I had noticed  as we were walking past some larger pools a few shops down and the one he found was pretty small, we probably would have fit one of us in it, so we decided it was a waste of money. I suggested that we look in the other shop and see what they have, I was in the car with Merlot, car running, air con on as it was till warm and we will not leave him in the car on a warm day. A few minutes later one very happy hubby arrives with a pool…..
So now we were set, heatwave, what heatwave?!!! Bill and I unfolded it and I asked if whe had an air compressor on board, I just thought that if we blow this thing up ourselves Lynda and Geeooorf are going to arrive to find two starfishes passed out on the ground. Incredibly lucky for us not only did we have the compressor with us but it had attachments that fit perfectly. It did take a good 1/2 hour to 45 mins but we got it up and we were stoked. We also have a 200 litre collapsible water tank that we got mega cheap from Bunnings we were able to cart the water easily, we had not bought our usual pump so we had to let gravity do its thing, park the car higher than the pool and the water shall flow wonderfully…. Anyhow this is a picture that many of our friends and family loved when we posted it on Facebook, the caption was “Someones gotta do it”

BBQ set up cooking some dinner, smoked ocean trout, scallops, prawns, lamb, ling fillets…. mmmmm the sunset, our awesome van, Thomas the Tank-be-que in the background…. total and utter bliss! Even Merlot thought it was pretty awesome!

Something is missing……

The esky!!!!

It was one of the most wonderful purchases since we bought our large inflatable pool! We made sure we slip slop slapped the sunscreen every hour and did not drink too much. Heat, water too much alcohol would result in four people sick and unable to be awake to do the midnight countdown… Though I reckon turn the clock back 20 years and we may not have been so responsible, LOL!
There was a steady stream of people driving and walking past that had a giggle at us, one woman when she saw us laughed her head off and said it was the last thing she thought she would ever see at a camp spot. The people that were camped beside us loved the set up and thought that the pool was genius. The water in the lake in the photos we were told it was not that good to swim in, the bottom was really muddy, it was very shallow and there was algae in it. It was something we were just not prepared to risk on a wonderful weekend away, it would only take one small scratch and we would be ill. Yeah there was a bit of grass that got into the pool but we would much prefer this over the hazards of the lake!
New years night was great, no too noisy but after a day in the sun, lazing in a pool we were all pupped out and the next day Lynda and Geeooorf had to go home .
We had bought some kites for the kiddies that were with us last year, these like a ridiculous amount of things we bought to make the kiddies happy were not used at all (*sigh*). Not to worry, we were able to give many of these things away to grateful people and that put a smile on our faces again. We kept the kites cos we thought we could have some fun with them. Bill and Geeooorf sat down while Lynda and I were chatting in the pool, after much discussion they tried the smaller of the kites out, instantly Bill decided it was not good enough yet as he had to do “lots of mods” LOL. The boys then grabbed the second kite, up it went, no problems and there is stayed… Geeooorf had a go and then about 10 minutes later both boys returned but the kite was still in the air… they had tied it to a log and left it! It stayed there for about 4 hours till Bill wheeled it it, LOL

And to finish the weekend, the final sunset…..

Happy new year all! May your 2012 be amazing!!!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,700 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 28 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.