The long drive to Cooktown......

We have done the drive of a lifetime, Sydney to Cooktown, it took us 6 days to get there.


The basket is made from Coconut palms and a guy was making them on the street & the pearls were from Port Douglas I love them both......


This is The Mirage at Port Douglas we stayed there for 4 nights, it was just beautiful....


Now what can I say about this guy, he has made a lasting impression on me, I never want to see one again really, he was around 4 metres long and he was very fast in the water, followed us around and looked quiet unimpressed that we were in his territory...there was also 2 females not to far away from him, a lot finer featured & smaller.....


The main street of Cooktown, well it was busy that day.....not much was open as it is the wet season.....


This is Willie Gordon with my kids, he is the most amazing man, a true gentleman in everyway. We did his 2 hour tour that turned into a 3.5 hour tour, it was amazing, we all loved it.....if ever you get up that way please do the tour, you will not regret it......


Rock Art on Willie's tour....


Cooktown Harbour......


Cooktown Lighthouse.....


Black Mountain, strange place all the rocks are grey but there is a lichen that is only up there that covers them & they are all black.....Many people have gone missing from this mountain never to be found....as I said strange place.....


This was the view as we were coming into Cooktown, this was in all directions, don't know how many trees but I would say lots......


The croc warning sign with the roads open signpost of the top was closed due to the wet.....


Boab Tree in Roma, this is the biggest one in Roma.......8.9 metre's in girth....


Green Tree Frog in the palm at Charters Towers.....kids loved chasing the frogs & Gecko's


One of the long straight roads that we were on, not much to see some Kangaroo's & Emu's but not much else....


Water over the road on the way up, can't remember where exactly...... - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Lake St,Cairns,Australia

Inside the Unit

It has 5 offices, too many for us but we will use some of them as a showroom & it even has a upstairs that is the same size as the bottom floor.
The unit was used as showroom so it is in really good condition, it is the best unit we have ever seen and we have looked at lots.
Lucky our eldest finishes School early in November so he will have a job over the holidays, that includes his buddies as well.
It is probably the worst time to move but we don't have air-conditioning here & it will be great to have it.

Look what we bought.....

We brought a factory unit for our business, it settles next month and we can't wait.
It is fully air-conditioned and nearly twice the size of what we are in now.

How clever is this????

A little bit of product placement.....one of my friends at school has come up with this fantastic device, it's a must have for anyone with a Nintendo DS, it keeps all the games together so that you can't misplace them......you know what kids are like, they put their games down & then they have lost a $90 game, are they your favorite child then, I think not.......

She has 4 kids & came up with the idea after one of her kids lost a game.

It's a great gadget & she has put her heart & soul into developing it.

If you would like some more information or would like to purchase one her website is www.gametag.com.au

Happy 1st Birthday

It's also our little girl's birthday, she is 1 & she is so very, very cute........& funny & naughty........but most of all she fits in with us.......

Happy 16th Birthday

Our eldest son is 16 today, the years have gone so very fast. He is mad on Android phones & stuff so his table setting is done with all of the types of Android systems, They start with cupcake then go to donut, eclair, fro-yo, gingerbread & honeycomb.
I probably have all of those wrong but it's something like that.....
He also can get his "L"'s so be warned he will soon be on the road....

My new home!!!!

Oh, what could you do with this, I would love to live in this building, it is just stunning. We found it yesterday when we were walking up to pick up the "working one", but didn't have the camera, a different story today.
We caught the train out to Spotswood to go to Scienceworld, had a great time but it was really crowded, it has a test yourself against Cathy Freeman, well, yes we had to do it, my time was 3.78 ( I am sure it was quicker) & the youngest's time was 2.14 & Cathy's time was 2.00, so back to some training if I want to take my position on the Australian Olympic Team for London......
We went up to Chinatown to have dinner but with two kids that think cheese or butter on pasta is disgusting things were bound to end in tears.......so a few prawn crackers & 2 meals that all they ate were the noodles & that was our dining experience (bring on Christmas, we are heading deep into China with no McDonald's, that will be interesting, rice for all 3 meals)
We tried to get into the Tim Burton exhibition but the line was too long, will try again tomorrow.

The most interesting arcade

Well here it is the arcade that I just have to go into, the people are electric. They are there all the time & much to my son's horror we have to walk through there just to have a sticky at what they are all wearing.
Some of them have gear that has huge spikes sticking out of it, nothing like what my local Target has in their fashion section.
I just love their style & their individuality not that I could ever do it...way to boring I think.....

The MCG

We have touched the turf of that famous ground, we did the tour today & got a special treat because Collingwood came in to train, as we were walking down the hall from the dressing rooms they were going in, damn if only we were a bit later..... Some of their guys are very tall & very well built, not that I was looking..........much!!!!!
We then headed to the National Sports Museum & that was great, lots of interactive stuff for both kids & adults.
We played Netball, AFL, Cricket, Soccer (that goal keeper sucked) cycling (I got 400mtrs before I fell in a huge heap, it was really hard), it kept us occupied all day we were there when it opened & left about 2.30. Caught the tram back & as usual ended up at a stop that we didn't want to go to, a quick walk back to the right stop & we were on our way again.
Lydia Lassila the Olympic Gold medalist in the Aerial skiing was there & I was picked for a trivia contest with her & a 10yr old boy, well I came second to the kid, had to let him win....with questions like " How many players have won a Brownlow Medal 3 times?" how would I know!!!! he did but.

My favourite arcade

Isn't this just beautiful? It's the Block arcade & in the foreground you can see the Hopetoun Tea rooms....yum,yum,yum. We drop the boy off every morning & head straight in there, we look in all the windows & then head straight to the Haigh chocolate shop for our morning fix.
Maybe not this morning cause after he finished work yesterday we hit the Lindt store & guess who's eyes were bigger than their stomach???
Chocolate waffles with chocolate ice cream & chocolate sauce it looked fantastic but way to much chocolate, oh & the drink to go with it, a hot chocolate of course.
We found another arcade yesterday but we only got to the middle & turned around & came out quick smart there was a group of young ones in there, some were punks, some were well just very different, one girl was bald with a spray of green hair in the front, another one was smoking something that was about 1/2 metre long. What was it, I don't know but it looked weird, they did look quite amazing though.
We are off to the hallowed grounds of the MCG today, to go the sports museum. The weather has been bitterly cold with a wind that I am sure is coming from Antartica, it has rained everyday since we got here, it is weird because one minute it's sunny & then it's pouring down.

Way to cute.....

How cute is this, the bigger baby is Mali she is 9 months old & weighs 450kgs the little one is a boy & is 2 weeks old he now weighs 165kgs with a birth weight of 140kgs. As you have probably guessed we are in Melbourne, we will be here for a week, the eldest is doing work experience down here at a game programming studio so I have both the kids with me.

We have sort of mastered the trams even though today we went to the zoo & had to catch the Number 55 tram which came in just as we got to the crossing, on we hopped & then got to the end of the line when we asked the driver where was the zoo, only to be told you have gone the wrong way, right number but wrong side of town & we thought we were so clever.......

Happy Fathers Day

We have a new addition to our family, a 10 week old silver minature poodle, she is just adorable. We got her on Friday night & she has been so good, she cried a little on Friday night when she was left in the laundry to sleep, but she didn't cry last night at all.
We had to get our beloved whippet put down about 9 weeks ago & it was terrible, our youngest cried for ages, it was in the holidays so he was at home & he had heaps of time to think about it. Then to top it off he broke his arm, so was not one of the best holidays that we have had.
So we have this beautiful little girl to love,, she is black at the moment but with silver under her fur, when she has her first haircut she will loose all the black & turn silver.

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dad's out there, have a great day......

And some more black.....

And the total look, we are having having a smoke machine going outside the front doors, with lasers & we have changed the front light globe to be a black one (you know the one that makes white glow).

I have curtains to go around the bottom verandah bit in front to the front doors, so hopefully the overall look will be great, that's the plan anyway......

Not sure how many we have coming I think around 30, I cleaned the garage out on Tuesday in between taking the youngest to the dentist & doctors omg, there was so much stuff, the charity store got most of it so hopefully they will make some money out of it....

I've gone off track again, the garage is air-conditioned so we have set up a table tennis table & we have a slurpie machine & heaps of music in there, fingers crossed that it will keep the kids occupied for a little while....

Friday 13th.......

Ok, you get the idea, we just happened to have a party on black friday, so all will be black...

I give you the dessert table, with ghost cupcakes & tombstones, vanilla cupcakes & chocolate cake.

The creme caramel is in the fridge yum, yum, yum...........

It's been a year......

How time fly's, we have been in the house for a year, would I do it again omg yes, I would do it 10 times over, I miss every part of the build, I just wish that I knew that when we were doing it.........

The plants are doing well, we have lost a few, especially the ones that the council made us put in, they curled up their heels really quickly & went to plant heaven...

We are having a party tonight for the indoor cricket team that the youngest play's in they lost last week so no grand final tonight, he couldn't play because of his arm which was a shame cause he usually gets some good runs.

We are off to a Macquarie Street specialist on Monday for him to take a look at his arm, it is still hurting him , he has had x-rays & CT scan's & the break is still there.

My hubby & I have just finished a Cricket Umpiring course at the SCG, the exam is next Thursday night with a 85% pass mark, hopefully I can prove my son wrong & pass, he thinks I have no chance.......

I think that all the guys that I did the course with have the same opinion, as I was the only female it would be nice to get the win for the girls....there is a Ashes test coming up maybe I should make myself available!!!!!

We would win for sure if I was umpiring..........

"The Good Room"......

Don't know why I did it but I came home from work & decided to change the "Good Room" around.

There is not really that much I can do to it but I decided that it needed a change.....

Well it's probably a boring post cause all that I changed was the tables but I sort of liked the change.

Where did it get the name you ask? It comes from the fabulous series "Kath & Kim" they have a "Good Room" so why can't we!!!

We don't really use it, my Dad sit's there when they come over & my son's bestie's Mum sit's there when she comes over but other than than we don't use it.

Easy care fish.....

I just love to shop, but only certain kinds of shopping, one is anything for the house & the other is fresh food shopping, you know the kind when you go to a farmers market & find all the yummy things that are just waiting for you to take them home.

Well I am a lucky duck ( my husband doesn't think so), as I am able to access certain things wholesale, so what that means is that I can change things often.

Well it goes something like this, we walk in I see something that I like & I then decide I need it for that spot I have been looking for ages to fill, it's just "perfect" I say, but then the next time I go I see something else that is also "perfect" so the problem then becomes where do I put all these "perfect"things????

We went a few weeks ago & found heaps of those "perfect" things but last week we went again & I had seen the fish the week before but didn't take too much notice of them until that "perfect" flash went through my brain......

What about for in front of the fish painting, I thought will that work? who knows, if it doesn't maybe they could sit in the garden near the bowl that has water in it waiting for the frogs to jump in & lay there eggs so we can have a bunch of tadpoles....but as yet they haven't liked the bowl that is there especially for them......oh well....

Anyway back to the fish I put them on their table & I quite liked them, the kids liked them & my husband went "oh, nice" (man of very few words, I make up for him, in that area).

So do they fit there or is there another "perfect" something out there just waiting to knock the fish off???? only time will tell...

You truly are amazing....

Jessica Watson that is...... Yes, we met her, she signed my son's back-slab & her book & I went off one happy chappy.....

She is lovely, very unassuming & thinks that she hasn't done anything that was that remarkable, well guess what?? I do, but after reading some of her book, she said that she had wanted to sail around the world as a 12 year old. My youngest is 11 & I couldn't see him sailing down the river by himself at that age, but if it was a jet-ski that would be a different matter....

He also forgot to tell her that 2 of his mice are called "Jesse" & "Ella" the other mouse is a whole different story she should be called "Harriet Houdini" as she escapes through the bars of the cage & then sits on the top waiting to get put back in, which usually is ok but the days that the Kookaburra sits on the clothes line checking out whats going on in the yard is the day that she might become lunch. So now they have a cage that has no bars so she won't be the Kookaburra's next meal!!!!

Kids come in handy sometimes especially with a broken arm, she signed his plaster & he also scammed a poster that she signed for him. That poster will now go up in the library room as I needed something for one wall.....

Why the black & white? well our clothes clashed really badly, plus you can't see that my hair needs some work done to it & all those wrinkles are less obvious......

Did you know that Jessica's Dad had a TV rental business & they didn't have a TV, so that got me thinking what would you miss the most if any of the electrical things that have become a big part of our lives were taken away????......well for me it would probably be the TV, then the internet & then my phone( but that's not electrical is it)..
I will leave that one for you to think over...........

Check out my red plaster

This is the fold out sofa on the other side of the library, and yes it houses only a quarter of my cookbooks, and yes I have a cookbook addiction........is there a cookbooks anonymous????....do I love all of them well no but I just don't have the heart to send them on their merry way....

Anyway back to the story, it's all about the boy, he has his nice red cast on but we will be back at the doctors tomorrow because it is rubbing on his thumb so not sure if they can fix it or if the will have to put another one on.

It has this special foam stuff inside it & that is what makes it waterproof, it seems that the foam stuff has come away from the plaster around his thumb & it is rubbing on him.

Lucky its school holidays..........