Ma'ams Birthday

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DAY 584,

Happy birthday your Majesty, I hope you have a good one.

Well as usual, the weekend came and went in the blink of an eye and it was soon back to work, I got home on Monday night and within that day plans had been made for what we were going to do for the long weekend to come.

Ah yes the long weekend, well it’s the Queens Birthday on the 14th June, I don’t know if its her official Birthday, but hey when you’re the queen, I suppose you can have as many birthdays as you like.

I digress, the 14th is the Queens Birthday and even though you get the feeling that Australia doesn’t want to be governed by a remote monarchy, they still like the fact that they get a day off for pretending they like her when its her birthday, anyway who am I complain, we get a day off as well, though equally I do like her.

Oh hell I have remembered I haven’t sent her a card or any choccies I wonder if moonpig will deliver an emergency card to the palace, special delivery “governor”, from Kangaroojack.

When I got home, it was all set, we were going to take the Wendy house back to our favourite farm Woodstock where it was going to be kept until the decent weather returns.

Sunday we are all going out for a decent bike ride, with Rob, Sarah and Bec coming over for a Mexican meal in the evening, then Monday we would just chill and enjoy an easy day in the Nations Capital.

Oh how simple it seemed and how misguided I was.

As I walked through the door, Caroline said hi and that things had changed, she said that she was off to a remote location in western Australia and was leaving Sunday morning around 10.00am and would be back the following Friday.

Well that was it, the forthcoming weekend was on its head already and it was only Monday, never a dull moment, in our lives.

Ok, we think, we can’t take the Wendy house to Wagga as it’s the only day we will have together, Caroline said she was disappointed to miss the Bike ride so I said we could do it on Saturday, then I could do it again on Sunday with Rob, Sarah, the Boys and Bec .

The Mexican meal will still go ahead, I will shop Saturday morning and prepare the meal for Sunday night when her lady ship is flying, her route will be Canberra to Sydney, Sydney to Perth then Perth to Broome, about 8 hours flying then a long drive to her final destination, so at least I will have time to prepare, a decent dinner whilst Caroline is on the move.

Well since initially writing down the above, things have changed again, by the time we got to Friday night, the whole plan was on its head again, well Caroline was not flying out on Sunday morning, but Sunday evening, so the bike ride is on, we are to meet at the Bicycle hire place at Lake Burley Griffin at 10.00am.

So as I had planned my Saturday was shopping for the Mexican Fiesta that we are having on Sunday evening, I have pre prepared the Chilly, which we can have with rice and in Taco’s as well as Tortilla’s with Chicken and Salad, with a dollop of sour cream.

The venue has changed and instead of having it here in Deakin, I am taking it over to the Hanily’s in Higgins, where we will have our meal and a kick ass evening of Rummikub.

Caroline had to shop in to Canberra, today as she needed a suitable flight case and some othe bits and pieces to take on her trip.

Apparently she asked her colleagues what business dress she should take and the answer was shorts and shirts, as it will be in the 30’s, somewhat different to the -3 it is here in Canberra and that is centigrade.

Caroline has told me she has been advised that there is a severe snake warning, where she is going , so wanted to take her boot gaiters, honestly, gaiters are not going to stop you being bitten, but being careful will.

Our Saturday was as busy as ever I went one way and Caroline went the other and we only eventually sat down when everything was done, Caroline was all packed and the chilli was done.

Skype was busy today, we caught up with my mum, my sister who has a Birthday today on the 12th and my Bother in law who also has his birthday tomorrow on the 13th, they are having a joint party Saturday night and I have been band from calling them on Sunday morning as it will probably be a big night.

I spoke to my 13 year old nephew Harry and listening to his voice and how it has changed over the time we have been away.

Well we just had an easy evening at Home, Saturday night watched some TV, then eventually went off to bed.

Sunday, Caroline had to get up early to Skype the girls in the UK, they were also having a big night, and I know how much Caroline misses the girls. so won’t miss an opportunity to catch up with them all.

We got ready and headed out to the bike hire shop to hire a couple of treaders, we were there in plenty of time and soon, Rob, Sarah, Jackson, Zac and Nick had arrived followed by Bec in her car, then some other Friends, Jason and Diane with their kids, Jeremy and Toby.

Soon we were cycling in the beautiful sunshine, the lake looked amazing and we were all enjoying ourselves, it took us about an hour to cycle the 5.5 Kilometers around the east basin of the lake and when we re grouped, All the kids, Rob, Caroline, me, Jason and Diane said we could all go around again, and Sarah and Bec were going off to find a well deserved cup of hot coffee.

We set off again, once we had discarded, fleeces and jumpers as we were getting warm, the lake walk was getting pretty busy with walkers, cyclists, roller bladders and people out jut enjoying the sun shine.

The second loop only took us 23 minutes to do and we were back in a flash, our bikes were taken back to where we had hired them, then went and loaded all of Rob and Sarah’s bikes back in to the back of his Ute.

All the gang dispersed so Caroline and myself drove ½ a kilometre up to the Deck as we too had felt that we had deserved a coffee, where we sat and enjoyed watching the world go by of an hour.

Caroline and I go back to the house and have spot of lunch and a mooch around and Caroline finishes the final preparation for her trip.

I left at 4.00pm with all the food I had prepared and headed off to the Hanily’s house for our Mexican evening and RummiKub fest, I arrived and we all popped around to the Hanily’s next door neighbour who just happen to be Ted and Cheryl Hanily, Rob and Dad’s mum, who were having the nephew drop in to see them so they have had an all day event of festivities as well.

Well back to the kitchen for me where I finishing preparing all the food, and soon it is all done.

Bec turns up at around 6.00pm and by 7.00 pm we are all chowing down, which seems to go quite well, the food just seems to go on forever, until we can take no more, we are all done.

Well the table is cleared and we bring out the RummiKub in to the light for an ass kicking session, the game is tough, Sarah, Bec and I each win a game, then it seems we are all so dog tired that that we call it a night.

When I switch my phone on this morning, Caroline has left me a text message, she arrived in Perth airport at around 10.30 pm and it seems that she only had 5 ½ hours sleep before having to get up to get to the airport again ready to fly to Broome.

By 12.30 (Mid Day-ish) Caroline calls me to say that she is just sitting in the hire car with her 3 other colleagues, I ask her exactly where she is, and she says, “Do you know the service station opposite MacDonalds in Broome” I know exactly where she is, blimey that was over a year ago when we were last in Broome amazing.

Caroline’s said the weather was absolutely beautiful, and made a point of rubbing it in, comparing it to the sunny but cold Canberra weather. Her journey was several hours by car, but she was enjoying the ride.

I had decided to go and walk around the eastern basis of Lake Burly Griffin, the same route that we only cycled yesterday, which we did twice, the second circuit being done in 23 Minutes by bike.

I parked the car at the bottom of the bridge, pressed the timing function on my watch and strode off in to the sunshine, it was really busy and I was interested on how long the 5.5 Kilometre walk was going to take me.

53 Minutes later I was back at the truck happy that I had kept my promise and got some exercise and happy that Caroline and myself could do this walk on a work day just to get in to better state of fitness.

Caroline called me at 2.50 Canberra time to tell me she was at her hotel and that on her journey up had visited the Prison Boab Tree, that we had both visited last year, I think her colleques may get tired of Caroline saying, “Yep” being here before and seen that before and we appreciate how lucky we are to have visited many places on our adventure. She said that it was busy up there with loads of 4 wheel drives, towing off road Caravans and trailers, all covered in red dust and off to do the Gibb river Road, how the heart longs to travel again., but we must just be patient..

Caroline’s last words were she was going to put her shorts on then they were all going off to lunch, then off to the "office" for a look around.

So that is it for this week bloggers until the next one.

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Photos

Sooky Dog
Milo looking through the mesg door

The Hanily's Dog
Milo

The Deck
Ahh, our coffee destination

Go on some
Put your back in to it.