Melbourne Ska Orchestra

This big band came and played for the crowd at the Whittlesea City Council Chambers in the evening of Australia Day and before the fireworks at sunset. They were a fun lot and knew how to engage the crowd with popular mixes.

Australia Day

These are a few of the impressive display of fireworks that the Whittlesea City Council provided over us at sunset on Australia Day. The night was pretty cool but the ground was still very dry and the fireworks rockets had the nearby field ablaze by the time (10 minutes worth) it was over (see last picture). But no fear, the fire department was on hand and soon got on top of it. It made for an impressive night all round.

waiting for sunset

opps...

Southern Cross

One night at the camp site the sky was clear and the stars were clean and sharp, even for an automatic camera to catch. We have not been able to see the Southern Cross easily in Summer because it is upside-down and therefore close to the horizon. It took a clear night and an unobstructed vista to locate it. In the Winter sky it is upright as seen on our flag, not so in Summer.

Not everybody is aware that the 'down' line (direction) of the cross and a perpendicular line drawn from the nearby 'Pointers' intersect at the South Celestial Pole. This is an important rule for navigation in the south sees.

This last picture is looking north, looking at some of the Zodiac constellations, except that they are all upside down, and we give them different names... like the Saucepan. Can you see it?

Beach Images

Here are some nice images of a nearby beach to the camp where Barb cooked. It was a enjoyable walk which led us to this place. All pictures were taken from the same spot and in different directions.

Camp Cooking

Barb was camp cook again. Peter was one of her assistants again along with another person who know the ropes. Though cooking for eighty people for seven full days was daunting we made it through and finished well, cooking up a storm, providing over twenty large 'home made' pizzas for the last evening meal (see final pictures). It was an amazing feat involving finding a way to force the dodgy half of the twin oven to keep burning for the duration. The last few pizzas were very gourmet (and unusual) because there was an oversupply of pizza topings remaining to be used. We learnt a lot about ourselves and how to do it better, especially when things got stressful. Our R&R was a daily walk to the chooks to feed the previous day's slops. Though there was little rest, the week was a wonderful gift of God to ponder and cherish for the rest of the year. And the campers were all so friendly and appreciative of Barb's effort as cook.

Visiting Greensborough

We made the most of our visit to Greensborough with our grandkids while they were with us. We went to Savers super thrift store, then on to Water Mark swimming pool where we joined up with Abigail. We finished out big excursion in the Plaza for a cuppa and to chill out until Abigail's parents joined us. It was a special day with lots of memories... and so few pictures taken!

Grandchildren for a couple of nights

We had a lovely time minding our three grandchildren. We let them watch interesting movies, helped them make wooden toys, colour in, play games, and go to our nearby playground to play a troll game. When Bec and Gord picked them up they had had a very happy time with us, as so had we with them.

Fallen Branch

We have had an extended dry spell. Even though this was the case, we were still surprised that a branch from our largest tree in the yard could just break off the way it did. We were blessed though. The branch took out our clothes line, which we still have to reattach to the wall, but missed the roof and only slightly bent the guttering. We were blessed indeed to have such minimal damage. Project cleanup was smoothly done and now we have enough firewood for a number of barbecues.