Siberia - the diary

Diary from a long train journey by Catherine Hill

View or download this to read and enjoy from here.



There are also some pictures here from parts of the journey.

3 Men in a Boat

Jack, Max and Rob drifting around honeymoon bay in Dave's kayak with a bit of propulsion from Liz. (click for larger picture)

We spent a lovely week-end camping at Coles bay with Liz and family. A little rain but all in all a delightful time had by all.

There are a few more pictures here.

Another Birthday Girl

Denise is still young enough to have birthdays and we went out to celebrate the latest. Doug and Rose, Cath and Ryan, and Sarah and Danny joined us at the MeWah for an excellent chinese dinner.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DENISE!

There are a few pictures here, including the Bombe Alaska

21

We had a great gathering of the clans and friends for Sarah's 21st birthday which was held above the Exeter Bakery outlet in Launceston.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH

Liz made a magnificent cake and the girls looked lovely all frocked up.

Unfortunately neither Peter or Chris could make it back to Tasmania, but everybody there had a great time.

There are a few pictures here.

New Years' Splash

For New Years Eve Cath and Ryan put on a magical BBQ in their new home in Invermay. A very pleasant evening was enjoyed by everybody there.

Next time somebody should tell Cath that Sangria is not improved by the addition of a bottle of vodka, and the recovery time for some would have been shorter. . .

Luckily it was a warm night so those that ended up in the pool look as though they enjoyed it.


A few pictures here.

Duck Off

The Christmas Tree seems to be up to the expected ceiling sweeping height and looked even better with all the goodies under it.

This year Denise thought we should have duck to complement the meal and Dave was duly despatched to buy one. On the way out she added "better get two" and on the way back in also added, by the way, you are cooking one of them. So began the great christmas duck-off. Denise's was roasted; Daves was steamed and then fried. Both were delicious, but there is not much meat on a duck with 18 or more people to feed so the real star was Sue Bowen who arrived with a ginormous turkey which was much appreciated by the starving masses. A lovely meal, which also included a cayfish from Patrick was enjoyed by all.

On Boxing day we went down to Liz's in Hobart for Pizza and then on to the shack at Eagle Hawk Neck for a couple of days. All in all a lovely Christmas. :-)

Here are a few pictures of the occasion.

1 Down; 2 to Go

Sarah has now finished her first year at Uni and the results were released today. 2 Distinctions and 2 Credits. Great work Sarah. We are out celebrating at Sporties with Chris (who was back in Tas for a wedding) and the recently returned Cath and Ryan.

A very pleasant family evening, which continued on with a few more beers. . . . .

Nap time

Dave and Max seem pretty relaxed here. It has been quite hectic lately and a few zzz moments are appreciated now and again. . . .

There are a few more pictures in this updated album.

Home Again, Home Again . . . . .

After an epic journey through Europe, Russia, China and Asia, Cath and Ryan are finally back in Tasmania for a while.

Ryan is resuming work at KPMG next week and they are going to live in a small house in Invermay for the time being. Moving day is tomorrow, so its all go here.


Here are a few pictures of the long long way home .

Four out of Five

Peter and Bianca have been completing their tour of Oz with a quick trip to Tassie, Chris was down for a few days to sample the delights of Saphire resort at Coles Bay and Liz came up for the week-end, which made for a great family get-together :-)

Only missing was Cath who is in Siberia; journeying by train to Beijing. Everyone is looking forward to another great week-end in a couple of weeks when they get back.

You can find a few recent pictures here.

Long Way Home

Cath and Ryan are heading back to the land down-under. Travelling by train through much of southern Europe, meeting up with cousin Ian in France and a quick trip further north for Oktoberfest :-)


Here are a few pictures of the long way home .

The Long Farewell

After over a year mostly in the UK and making the most of Ann's amazing hospitality in Faversham, Cath and Ryan spent a few days farewelling the many friends they had made there.


Here are a few pictures of the some of the activity. She seems to have caught up with most of them . . . .

Stuck in the Mud

Cath and Ryan went to Reading Music Festival. Mid summer in England is not noted for dry sunny weather and did not disappoint. . . It looks more like the frog pit than the mosh pit, but did not detract too much from the fun.

They are now off to explore more of Europe before wending their way homewards.

Pete and Bianca have spent some time in the Whitsundays and are continuing south towards the starting point. . . . that seems to have gone by quickly. . . .

Wots Cooking

Dave has been making lots of sawdust in the garage again.

The result this time looks like a stove for little people to cook up a storm. It was supposed to look like this

So watch out for Jack on junior Master Chef pretty soon. . . .

Max is settling in, the updated album is here.

AND. . Pete and Bianca have made it to Port Douglas. . . almost on the home stretch . . .

POP over to Manly

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.

Max Out

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.

Whaleshark of a time

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. . . . .

Pete's Road Trip

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.

RedCentre

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.

The Royal Couple

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.

Rafting spills on the Franklin

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Here is a clip from Dave's recent rafting trip down the Franklin river. . . . No . . . his raft made it down Newland Cascades. . . . the guys in the other raft seem to have had a lot more fun. . . No broken bones, but some of the food was lost including the coffee!

For more footage of Dave's raft click here.

To see some pictures of the trip click here.

Zoo Two

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.

Fish for Easter

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.

Rafting in Remote Tasmania

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

Renovations

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.

New Golden Boy

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.

Jack's first Hike

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.

Festivale'd out

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)

Birth Days

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.

Christmas Engagement Party

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.