A lot of Hot Air

Whilst many boys are excited by cars, trains, guns or TV characters,   Jack is very taken with hot air balloons.   Candle power was not enough but luckily. . .   Rob found a great blowtorch for a burner in the garage;    <-----  the results you can see in the video         Hmmmm. . . . . wonder what comes next. . . .

Nap Time

Max is 1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MAX The Riley house-hold were a bit under the weather with the flu this week, but all had a good time helping Max to celebrate the occasion. There are a few more pictures here .

Whisky-Wednesday

Cath and Ryan recently spent a week-end in Melbourne and the drinks trolley seems to be well stocked at the moment.

Following ancient tradition; family members and friends gather to partake in sampling malt whisky on Wednesday evenings. Often follwed by a meal at a nearby restaurant.

(Toasting Max's 1st birthday to-day. Pics to follow. . . )

Ring Ring

CONGRATULATIONS!

To Catherine and Ryan who have announced their engagement.

Rumour has it that the wedding will be around March next year.

Stay tuned for more details as they come to hand. . . .

Happy CathDay

Cath has reached a quarter of a century ! As the days are very short here at this time of year she is having a birthday week to celebrate. (apparently a tradition learnt in Faversham) Denise put on a magnificent family banquet, Dave made a cake and other activities included High-Tea with Liz in Hobart and lunch at Josef Chromy vineyard. Cath thinks there are two pictures of Sarah in the mix. Which ones do you think?? One near the middle with sunnies maybe? There are a few more pictures here . There is also a prize for an accurate count (click on pic to enlarge) - put yours in the comments below. . . . .

Free Parking

More sawdust in the workshop has resulted in a toy wooden garage (click pic for detail). Complete with Diesel and Unleaded fuel pumps, Car-wash, Showroom, Lift, Boom gates, up the ramp to the workshop with hoist and engine analyser. . . . . and more parking on the next level by the Heliport.

It currently appears to be a Subaru dealership.

It may be heading to Jack for Max's birthday :-)

Surprise visit

Chris and Alice surprised us this week-end. They had managed to score a free week-end at Cradle Mountain Lodge courtesy of the Gourmet Traveller. (lucky for some)

We did manage to meet up briefly for a quick snack at Silverwater. It was cold even before going up the mountain, but judging by the eye-wear obviously sunny.

When I'm 64

When I got older; lost all my hair. . . . .

To mark the occassion a bit of a family get-together was held at a rented shack at Binalong Bay. Much beer and wine was drunk and much food consumed, but still, the jigsaw got finished and the fire was kept roaring. Sand castles were built and demolished although it was a bit cool for swimming it was a bright sunny week-end.

Many thanks to Peter and Bianca for making the trip from Melbourne and Liz and Rob for driving up from Hobart.

There are a few pictures from the week-end here .

Jack is 3

Jack turns 3 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK

To celebrate he had a Pingu (the penguin) themed birthday party, complete with icicles and snow (great job Liz) with all his little friends from playgroup.

In the afternoon Denise,Dave, Cath and Sarah arrived and celebrations and present opening continued.

There are a few pictures from the party here .

Magic Sydney

Denise and Rosemary recently spent a week in Sydney, staying with Chris and Alice.

While there they managed to take in "The Magic Flute" at the Opera House and "La Traviata" performed on a floating stage in the harbour and generally had a great time relaxing in and around Manly.

There are a few pictures here from the trip.

Tow Truck to the Max

After a month or so making a large quantity of sawdust in the garage, Dave has cobbled together a push-a-long/ride-on tow truck for Max. It is based loosly on a picture Liz found on the internet.

It is awating a test drive but no suitably qualified (size wise) drivers available at the moment.

Click on the picture for a closer view.

Up Deep Creek (With a paddle)

Dave and Denise spent a very pleasant weekend camping at Deep Creek; (Just north of Eddystone Point) on the East coast. The weather was perfect for exploring the many miles of beautiful white beaches and headlands of the Bay of Fires and kayaking up the creek.

(click on the picture for the full vista)

Miltiades Record

And on the subject of ships, here is a journal written and collated by my great grandfather in 1874 when he signed on as purser on the good ship Miltiades.


You can view or download the complete journal from here.


(Not exactly current news I know, but we will get back to that)

Navy Life circa 1914

Seeing Cath's Siberian travel diary reminds me of some sketches drawn by my grandfather when he was in the navy.

You can view or download the complete sketchbook from here.

or download the pdf here.

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.