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Published: October 8th 2008
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Oh yes.... the sun HAS got his hat on, its Spring, the green land is turning dry and brown and the pom's are turning red!!!!!
We have been up to allsorts of adventures since late August... we took a short break from doing the house up and spent a bit of 'us' time.
El Cabello - Rodeo Cowboy hats n boots were a must...and this day was just great fun ...mainly because of the fact that Ang had got CJ very worried indeed....
The rodeo was open to entrants (for a fee and who were registered) who wanted to ride either a large bull or bareback horse, starting from novice class through to advanced, with a $ prize money and on the web page was an entrance application form.
Yes, Ang had 'doctored' the form removing any trace of the term 'must be registered' and had added CJ's details to make it appear that he had paid a fee and had entered into the bull riding competition.. and she had sent it to him the day before by e mail !!
He was apparently running scared, spitting and cursing and on the phone telling Mrs J that he was
not going and he was not doing it...! Great wind up!
Photos are attached but sorry to say, CJ didn't have a go.. he nearly managed to get on a bull though as one of the rarther 'big boys' charged at the wall just in front of where we were sitting and hit it with such an almighty crash that one of the supporting pillars came away! Entertaining to say the least, the bull riding and bareback saw some of the most advanced riders hit the dirt with a few bangs and the 'clowns' did a great job of distracting the beasts while the riders clambered up the fences to safety.
Albany..and the south Early September we planned a weekend away, packed the dogs off to the dog sitters and went out and about exploring 'south' with 'The Jones's' ....
Albany... a small fishing village just off the end of the earth... very scenic, very small and fairly quiet..but the nightlife was amusing!
CJ booked all of us into a very 'twee' little B&B, friendly, clean, 5 minutes from the harbour and a good harty breakfast to boot, just right for that (cold) rocky trip out on a
Blow holes fact sheet
This explains how the holes were formed and found and it does say NOT to go past the marker at the holes... but we could not resist standing over it! boat to see the 'Southern Rights' whales.
It was cold and we did have a splash of rain but it was more than worth it when we did eventually get close enough to see the size of these magnificent creatures..
our first sighting was an 'in the distance' view of 2 adults playing around and surfacing now and again, but the second sighting was closer to the beach and was 3 adults with 2 calf's playing about and flipping in and out of the sea.. one of them even breached and we saw the whale in its full glory.. a fantastic sight.
Whistle stop tour After a couple of nights in Albany, we managed to do a full whistle stop tour of the south - taking in a Art gallery, a quaint little place called Denmark, some fantastic rock formations called Elephant Rocks, a natural 'bridge' where Oggy decided to go climbing, we sampled the winds of the 'blow holes', clambered up a giant steel tree top walk (which Ang was NOT impressed with) Oggy climbed up the 'Gloucester Tree' and we charmed the parrots of the forest..
All in all, we had a great weekend away and
Oggy on the blow hole!
This was great fun.. didn't look much from the top of the rock, it was quiet loud at times depending on the strength of the swell underneath but when you stood over it, it was enough to lift your clothes take your breath away! chilled out a bit.. all photos below..
Home, garden and pets It's been a while now since the kids went back to UK and we have now started to get back on track with the house and 'garden' all 5.5 acres of it. Its great to look at and know you have all that space to play in..but when it comes to keeping the grass and weeds down and doing the fencing, it seems like 20 acres.... since going out with the lawnmower we have found trees and bushes out at the front that we didn't know we had!
We now need to transplant the trees from out of the front and into the back area and cut some of the branches from the big Jarrah tree out front..
so we could now do with a big brother who is qualified with trees to come and sort it out....Richard?!!
Oggy thought he was having a quiet birthday, a meal at Tony Roma's on the Saturday with the Jones's followed by a quiet day at home with the dogs... until people started turning up at the house on the Sunday, armed with cards, presents and even a cake!
Elephant Rock
How amazing are these??
Hundreds of years have shaped these rocks into a huge herd of elephants A calendar invite sent a few days prior to his 'big day' made sure that the event did not go without celebrations..
The boys went playing on the quad bike - trying to master the jump that Tom broke his leg on... Colin tried to head a rather heavy basketball and nearly knocked himself out while Des and Keith were introduced to the Alpaca.. and the girls cracked the wine open out on the verandah..
Oggy wanted a tractor for his birthday (!) but as a compromise we traded the old ute in and got a new one (another Oggy toy) a REAL aussie motor! and Ang got a little Barina (Corsa) for nipping around and taking 'the girls' to the dog beach... not as cute or as much fun as 'Lil' Lotus but the dogs like it!! :-)
A good 'birthday day' was had by all.. (apart from Lulu who had to be put in the bedroom for barking non stop at everyone!)
The dogs are growing daily (well, the Doberman is) and the Alpaca are getting more friendly - but the goats are nowhere as near as friendly as our 'Flip n Flop' The Nanny is a
Giant treetop walk
NOT for the faint hearted... a giant steel walkway that spans across and through the treetops.
and it does sway with the breeze too.. (Ang nearly cried doing this!!) bit nasty at feeding time, greedy and pushy so Goat curry might be on the menu soon...!
All in all, life is good, the weather is getting better - not that it has been bad!! - and we have plans to be getting on with around the house again..
Work front - lots of it and it keeps coming.. the merger news was a bit of a shock to us out here and then today (8th Oct) we were told that HBOS have sold BankWest!! We had heard rumours for a while that there were 'interest' in the bank but today it was confirmed that Commonwealth Bank have bought us...
but ..as they say here...'no worries' as such ...we will just have to wait and see what happens .. will keep you all up to date.
Hope all of you HBOS UK bods are OK- keep us up to date with whats happening over there.
We will be looking to update the blog more regular so that we can keep you all up to date with the going's on over here..
Oggy might get a tractor next so watch this space for the piccys...
Oggy's birthday!
Nicky brought a cake for the birthday boy.. Love to all and hope to see you soon..
Happy 80th Birthday wishes to Ang's Dad xxxxx (and a reminder to Mum & Dad to get those flights booked for a visit)
Christmas is just around the corner.. guess we will be on the beach with a 'bbq' for Christmas day!!
Take care all!!
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Jon
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Tractors and diggers...
A man can never have enough toys, I don't know what the problem is!! Cheers, Jon (now at EDS)