Alice and Chris have a new (currently part-time) venture making pure fruit-juice icey poles to sell at the local markets in Manly and surrounding areas.
They are gearing up for summer, which is not too far off now.
Trading as "Pure Pops" they have a web site and sales cart coming soon.
Welcome Liz and Rob's latest addition to the family - Max Riley weighing in at 7lb 4 oz on 8 August
One day old and already making news :-)
Also in the newspaper . . Read all about it here.
And more pictures here.
Peter and Bianca are working their way up the West Australian coast. They have slowed down a bit now they have reached a better climate :-)
Swimming with dolphins in the sunshine at Monkey Mia, diving on the reef with whalesharks at Exmouth. There are many envious people back at this end of the country.
There are just a few pictures here.
Meanwhile Cath and Ryan are spending their last week in London and then exploring a bit more of UK and Europe before venturing homewards by rail via Beijing.
And Alice has a wedding dress . . . . . but the wedding is on hold. . . . .
After 6 years working as a chef in Melbourne, Pete is setting off on a road-trip around Australia with Bianca. So if you spot a green and purple Tarago it could be them. :-)
Heading clockwise towards WA. He says he will be posting some pics of the trip. . . . lets hope so. . . . we would all like to tag along.
Have a great (and safe) trip guys, looking forward to hearing all about it.
Dave spent a week recently walking the Larapinta trail in the Northern Teritory. It's a world class trail, the days were bright and clear, but cold (-3) camping at night. Pictures from this trip can be found here.
While in the vicinity he also took the opportunity to visit the Rock (Ayres Rock/Uluru) and you will find some pictures here.
Follow the white lines in the picture on the left to the top of the Rock.
OK, so its the other (better looking) royal couple, enjoying a day out at the races.
They are making the most of their last few weeks in London before setting off on further adventures.
They will be spending more time travelling in the UK and Europe before returning by via Bejing by train and then back to Oz by November.
To see more pictures of whats going on in London click here.
For Jack's 2nd birthday, aunty Sarah and his 4 grandparents took him out to ZooDoo near Cambridge. Much amusement for everybody, including the animals.
Then it was back to Liz's for presents, afternoon tea and , of course, the Thomas the Tank-engine birthday cake :-)
To see more pictures of the occasion click here.
There was a big family gathering at the Beattie shack at St Helens over Easter including several tents and Rose and Doug with their new campervan.
Patrick and Dave did a bit of fishing from Patrick's boat and on one ocassion the salmon schools were thick enough to walk on. Plenty of fillets in the esky and fish on the menu at Bridget's restaurant.
Dave just spent a fantastic 10 days rafting 120 km down the Franklin River in the remote Tasmanian world heritage area. Video clips coming soon.
To see some pictures of the trip click here.
There is also a detail guide map of the river here
To see how wild and remote this area is, see the route in Google Earth; click here and then save or open the kml file to show the route, and then, click here and open the kml file to take the tour. You can pause the tour and zoom in, out and around at any point.
Depending on your settings you may have to save the kml files and then use File/Open to open them in Google Earth. This also needs a fairly recent version of GoogleEarth.
If those links play up, RightClick-SaveTargetAs and RightClick-SaveTargetAs should get you the kml files
Chris and Alice have bought an old property in Launceston as an investment. For the past several weeks Alice's dad Tony has been working like a trojan with some help from Dave and others to bring the kitchen and bathroom up to a standard where the house can be rented out.
As you can see from the pics, Tony has done a great job here.
Here is the first picture of Liz's latest contribution to the Hill clan. He is not due to see the light of day until early August.
Mother and Baby doing well.
OK. . . so he didn't walk all the way but he did a pretty good job of going up the steps. . . His speciality was walking along the logs. . . Liz did a great job carrying 2 babies!. Liz Rob and Grandpa Dave went for a short hike at Freycinet over the saddle to the far end of Wineglass bay for the night. The weather was fine but cool and we all enjoyed a very pleasant week-end. Liz Rob & Jack stayed on for a few days relaxation at a holiday home in Coles Bay.
A few pictures of the occassion can be found by clicking here.
This week was Festivale time in Launceston. Chris and Alice came down from Sydney and Liz, Rob and Jack were up from Hobart for a nice family get-together. From the look of the recovering bodies the next morning a good time was had by many although memories are vague.
Chris and Alice are also buying a house in Launceston. Initially as an investment to rent out. Longer term plans seem to indicate a return to Tasmania but timing, including the wedding date seem indeterminate as yet.
(Alice Storey / Chris Hill)
It's a busy time of year here for Birthdays. Peter on New Year's Eve, Liz and Sarah in January and Denise in early February. The girls decided to celebrate by spending a week-end in Melbourne where they could catch up with Pete and go shopping. . . .
And talking of birth days we can confirm that Liz is expecting another baby in August. Everyone, including Jack is most excited.
Meanwhile, back in Tasmania the rest of the Hills celebrated Christmas with the usual relly rally, followed a couple of days later by an engagement party for Chris and Alice hosted by Alice's parents.
A good time was had by all. . . .
A few pictures of these occasions can be found here.
Dave and Cath were in the UK to help celebrate Guy's 90th birthday on Christmas day. Ann put on a magnificent spread and many UK Hills, young and old, were there to join the festivities.
Several other get-togethers with other family groups were held throughout the ensuing week.
A few pictures of the occasion can be found here.
No Holly here. . . but a nice Christmas tree courtesy (albeit unknowingly) of the Forestry Commission, being decorated by Sarah. Many well loved items hanging here. It seems to meet the family regulations of touching the ceiling and plenty of room for presents underneath.
Dave has been making a lot of sawdust in the garage lately and the result seems to be a rocking horse (of sorts). Click on picture for closer view. A few lengths of 70x35, an old trampoline spring (enclosed for safety) a bit of road-kill and here it is. (Pivot bearings from a skateboard but don't tell Chris.) Not yet broken in, and with no jockey measurements or weights to go by who knows how it will go. Note the adjustable tension holes and also foot-pegs (umm Stirrups)so it maybe OK . . ask Jack after Chrismas (shhhhhhhh....)
A massed gathering of family and friends joined together to farewell Dave's brother Mike at his funeral service. Many tears were shed, many beers were drunk in a fitting farewell to one who was so good at organising a party. A great send-off organised by his incredible and lovely wife, Ann.
While Cath has been visiting the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London, Sarah has started work in the local jewelers shop. Perhaps hoping to save enough to visit Cath before too long :-)
Dave's brother Mike was tragically killed in a crash while riding his motorcycle home to-day. Here is a news report
This bolt from the blue has shocked the whole family and everyone that new him. His larger than life personality and legendary hospitality will be missed by so very many. . .
Maggie taking jack for a walk . . . .
Meanwhile Cath & Ryan have moved into a flat in London after a few days in Paris. . . some pictures of their travels here
Dave has put a window in the dowstairs bathroom to let in some natural light and provide ventilation.
The dark mustard colour is gone and it is now white and lilac and clean and bright !
Chris and Alice have announced their engagement to be married.
CONGRATULATIONS guys from everyone . . .
We are no longer "expecting an announcement shortly"
and looking forward to the social event of the century :-)
No stopping this little man now . . . .
Meanwhile Cath & Ryan are currently in Prague. . . some pics here
The original plan after Faser Island was to hike down from Newcastle to Sydney. . . BUT. . . the weather has been so atrocious in northern NWS that a quick change of plan was in order and the weather was certainly better in northern Queensland. The wildlife encounters included crocs, turtles and many reef dwellers. . . .
A few pics from the trip can be found here.
Happy Birthday Jack ! . . . . who turned one year old to-day.
More pictures can be found here.
