Lest We Forget

Today is ANZAC day. The day we remember all the soliders who have fought for us. I thought it would be a fitting day to post the photos that Tom and I took when we visited the Australian War Memorial in Canberra last year.

This photo shows the remains of the HMAS Sydney. Tom's Gran's brother died on this Ship. The ship was lost off the coast of WA and sank without a trace. This exhibit shows it's only remains, a lifeboat and a life-vest.

The poppy up the top is the one that we put in for Gran's brother.

This next photo is of the HMAS Australia. My Grandad Bob's brother Jack died on the HMAS Australia. What I found out from this exhibit was that the men who died on this ship were killed by the kamakazie pilots who attacked the ship.

Here is a picture of me pointing out the poppy that we placed for Uncle Jack Annear.

Despite the smiling faces it was a very sombre reminder of the price that was paid by our relatives so we could have the freedom we now enjoy.

Lest we forget.

Look Mum, I Grew a Pumpkin!

Okay, so it was kind of accidental, but I managed not to kill it (unlike the rest of the plant)! Made pumpkin soup on Sunday night, had some in a funny vegie thing I made for tonight and are going to put some more in a pumpkin korma curry for Thursday night. Yum!

A Quiet Night In?

Picture this: I'm all psyched up for an evening in, Kaitrin's coming for dinner to share photos of her recent Liberia/UK trip and to catch up, I've set the menu: a roast followed by Butterscotch self-saucing Pudding.

Then she calls me. "Do you want the good news, or the bad news? I can't come for dinner, but we're going instead to Bjorn Again at Crown!"

Requires a bit of a change of mindset, don't you think?

Anyway, it was a fabulous night out, with lots of singing along and getting up and dancing, and once again I amazed myself with how many Abba lyrics are sitting uselessly in my brain for a rainy day (or Bjorn Again concert)! They really are a very talented outfit and have really paid attention to detail - including very outdated choreography. We had all the hits Dancing Queen, Fernando, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Money, Money, Money, The Winner Takes it All, to name but a few.

And that was it... my quiet night in with a friend.

Time out at the Howqua Valley

Well after my last blog I have sucessfully managed to take some time out with friends, and to relax a little. It was great over the Easter break to be able to 'go bush' for 4 days camping. I'm not a huge camping person so the first night was kept awake by 1) the birds, 2) the sound of the river flowing 3) a horse neighing at 1am and 4) the cold. Thankfully I managed to overcome these obstacles to sleep quite well the other nights!

Tom's dad has a 4wd which he loves to take off road so I enjoyed the opportunity to see him in his element and to see some of the countryside in the area that was ravaged by bushfires earlier this year. It's difficult to take a photo that shows how extensive the damage is but here's one that worked well.

In the foreground is Fry's Hut, built in 1930. There are a number of these huts which were built for the cattlemen to rest in when they were driving their cattle up to the plains in summer. In the middle of the picture you can see the green trees of Fry's flat, a camping area, and in the background are trees that were burnt in the fires (I know it looks a little like Autumn).

Behind Fry's Hut lies the Howqua river, to canoe from this point of the river to where we were camping would probably take around half a day. This is me by the river.

And of course it's all about the food when you go camping (with the Hanslow's and Boyd's anyway!). We had a magnificent roast which was buried in a pile of hot coals for 3 hours. This one's a bit of a story by pictures:

And then 3 hours later you dig it out of the dirt and eat it (it's in a pot). And it was magnificent! There's lots of other great pictures, it's just that I don't have them on my camera. It was a great relaxing time out, with weather you wouldn't think possible in early April, blue skies and 25degrees. Apparently, I won't be really tested in my camping abilities until it's raining... not sure if I'm too keen on that one, one step at a time.