Holden Grunt Off

Every year I say I want to take part in the Holden Ute Grunt Off. This year I did. It was so much fun. Our legs were a little wobbley at the end but we did it and we won our heat. We came third overall. 

My niece Courtny (aged 14) took part and did a great job. Well done girls. It was hard work in all that mud.

Ash Cloud

On Sunday I went to pick Kady up from work and Leah and I noticed the most unusual cloud rolling in. Within minutes it covered our local Mt. and rolled in all around us. It was so dark. We later realised it was a combination of fog and an ash cloud from Chile.

MULTIPLE ash clouds from the erupting Chilean volcano are moving across the Southern Ocean, grounding flights and causing travel chaos. Flights were grounded over the weekend in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Tasmania and New Zealand.

Edited to add: flights were cancelled in Western Australia today 15/06/2011

Fire Ecology

Last year I visited Forrest with the CFA and DSE. Our town is in one of the top 52 most noted in Victoria under threat of another event like 'black saturday'. I have been attending community voice meeting for the past few years and we have worked towards making our area safter and more bushfire aware.

The trip to Forrest was organised for us to go on a walk through forest that had recently undergone a burnoff with Dr Malcolm Gill. Dr Malcolm Gill is an expert in fire ecology, fire weather, fire behaviour and fire management. He has written many publications on the nature of fire.

Dr Gill recently wrote a journal paper and asked to use one of my photos taken on the day. The link is below.

http://ecolsoc.org.au/What%20we%20do/gillcameo.htm

Happy Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday
Coen Storm

Happy sweet 16th birthday
tomorrow to
Hailey Louise

We hope you both enjoy your presents we sent up with Grandpa Gus. Coen is wearing a shirt we bought him in the picture above. The navy blue really suits him.

Planets Jupiter, Venus, Mercury & Mars

J has been telling me about the planets in the early morning sky over the last few days. He said they are so bright as he leaves each morning for work. I found this article on www.news.com.au

FORGET the hippie-era song that has Jupiter aligning with Mars and love steering the stars. The fact is, those two orbs get together all the time.


The truly remarkable event - when Jupiter lines up with Venus, Mercury and Mars in the pre-dawn sky - will be visible in Australia's eastern sky on Friday.

The alignment of the four planets, which happens only once every 50 to 100 years, will occur just before sunrise, Sydney Observatory says.

"Every couple of years you get two or three planets that come close together, but to have four is particularly rare," the observatory's education officer, Geoffrey Wyatt, said today.

The last time Australians saw such a show was in 1910, and the next occasion would not be until 2056, Mr Wyatt said. During the alignment, from 5am (AEST) on Friday, the four planets will be visible just above the horizon in the east.

Venus, in the middle of the group, will be the brightest. Just above and to the left will be Jupiter, while Mercury will be to the right of Jupiter and slightly fainter. Early risers have already noticed Jupiter and Venus in the eastern sky before sunrise, Mr Wyatt said.


"It looks pretty much like two headlights coming towards you. We are getting lots of calls already saying there are two bright lights in the sky." He wouldn't speculate on how the alignment might influence people, astrologically speaking.


"Astronomers don't put any credence into that, in terms of the force exerted on people," he said. "A mosquito buzzing around a room is going to have far more effect on you."


Sydney Observatory is hosting a public breakfast viewing with astronomers.

Jessie J

J and Adam went on a weekend fishing off Portland.


They caught seven Tuna.

Waiting in the bay at Portland for sunrise.

Blue whale in the distance.

They had a great time and it was awesome to see how many huge tuna they caught. Well done Jason and Adam. Looking forward to eating all of these.

Holidaying With The Family- Part Five

The beautiful Grampians. We love going to the Grampians. Sadly most of the park was closed due to the recent flood damage so we couldn't get to any of the walks, scenic lookouts or waterfalls.

Huge spider in some loo's we stopped at. Picture really doesn't show how big it was. I have never seen a spider like this one. I googled it when we got home and it's harmless.

Picnic lunch. It was so so cold though. Icy. They had snow in the high country and you could feel it in the air.

Roses Gap. Sadly the road in was closed due to flooding.

Emu's in the distance. We saw so many Emu's and Kangaroos.

 
Bunjils Cave. Awesome Aboriginal artwork.

Home again, home again jiggity jig after a hectic but fun weekend. So much driving but we wanted to show Jan and Linda as much as we could of our little part of the world.

We spent the next morning at DFO Essendon as Mum hadn't had enough shopping in Melbourne lol. Then off to the airport. It was so sad to say goodbye. Auntie Jan and Linda are hoping to come back in two years. We can't wait. Maybe next time we will meet them in Sydney or Cairns.

Holidaying With Family- Part Four

 Bells Beach- famous for it's huge waves and surfing competitions. Flat as a tack the day we were there.

Split Point Lighthouse at Airey's Inlet. Around the Twist was filmed here.

Fairy Rock

Panarama off Great Ocean Road

J with his famous pose.

Auntie Jan.

The Twelve Apostles. The day started out with lovely weather and by the time we hit the Otways it was pouring with rain and a cold front had moved through.

We got drenched.

Auntie Linda.

Bay of Islands.

We spent the night in Port Fairy at Seacombe, Comfort Inn. Mum, Auntie Jan and Auntie Linda had a modern suite and J, the girls and I had a 160 year old cottage. This was the first time we had stayed in a holiday in quite a few years.

The cool change meant we could light the fire. Nice.

The wharf at Port Fairy.

We had breakfast in Port Fairy. Mum and the Aunts had a cooked breakfast at a cafe and J, the girls and I went to the bakery. We headed off to the Grampians after breakfast.