Go West young woman

Sarah is off to Perth, Western Australia to study for a masters degree in clinical audiology, so its all go here just now. . .

To fill in time until term starts she has been driving a bus of blueberry pickers (mostly Bhutanese) out to a local blueberry farm and picking blueberries in 30C+ heat. Thirsty work but a good way to earn beer money.

She leaves next Thursday (23 Jan) for 5 weeks of intensive study followed by 10 weeks of clinical placement. The first project is to find somewhere to stay. She will spend a few days with Cath's father-in-law (Trevor) whilst checking out some options.

Its going to be a bit quieter here, although we do currently have Ben staying with us at the moment.

Whisky Wednesday - Intercontinental

Seems to be happening on Friday. 6pm Toronto time; 10 am Tasmania and the cold weather appears to turn some attendees a bit blue. Nice to keep up the tradition. That's 11pm  (Friday) for the Faversham crowd. . .

Graduation

Click on the pictures for a larger view

High Achiever

Sarah has finished her last semester at uni with excellent results; 3 high-distinctions and a distinction. Well deserved after much hard work. Well done! Here she is now more relaxed at the top of mount Arthur (Although still some stress over interviews for continuing study in Audiology next year)

Pinball Wizardry

- Santa's workshop has been knee deep in sawdust again - The design was copied from one found on the internet, but the alignment of the middle ramp is not on the trajectory from the flippers! I think we may have to make a few changes to suit 4 year olds, but overall its about what we had in mind. . . In other news. . . Cath and Ryan are now in Canada after a few weeks in Hawaii California, Las Vegasa and Seattle

They're Off

Cath and Ryan have  now left Tasmania after their farewell tour and are heading for Canada via Hawaii, LA, Las Vegas, and Seattle. . . .

Coming and Going

Chris and Alice - Are in New York on a trip around the US, driving south to Georgia, Florida and Texas. Its hard work for some. . . .

Cath and Ryan - Have given notice at work, gotten work permits for Canada and currently have half their possessions on Gumtree and are looking forward to new adventures. . . .  tough eh?

Sarah - Continues to get excellent grades at uni (3 distinctions + high distinction) and is contemplating a course in Audiology (pardon) on the mainland next year. . . .

Denise - has recently been to shows in Melbourne with the Bowen girls (Rosemary and Suzanne) and Alison's wedding in Perth with Liz.

Dave - Has not been out of the state for over two years - it must be my turn soon. . . .

Two to the Max

Max turned 2 this week and celebrations were held at both ends of the state, including a family get-together at the Hills' in Launceston.

Bob the builder and various diggers, including the cake seemed to be the order of the day.

Chris on the run !

Chris, Alice and some of her friends have just completed a half-marathon in QLD. Chris made the very creditable time of 93 mins. Alice and one friend finished under 2 hours and her other (very fit) friend in 78 mins. Well done everyone!!

Happy Jack day (4)

  Jack turned 4 to-day !

Denise,Dave,Sarah,Cath and Ryan went down to Hobart to help celebrate at the party, which was themed: "Mickey Mouse in the snow" at Jacks request. Everyone had a great time.  This was followed by a trip to the "Far Out" play centre the next day where Jack showed Ryan what to do on the bouncy castle. . .

Wet walk to work

It was a very wet walk to work this morning ! We had to go up the hill and around as the steps were awash. And then the street was out of action for a week while they (nearly) resurfaced it. Followed by another week out of action as the NBN (National Broadband Network) dug up the rest of Edward street to lay fibre-optic cables. So we have been keeping the cars up the street for a while.

Wedding in the West

Alison Beattie (now Mathews) wedding was in Pemberton, Western Australia.

Don't they look lovely :-) We all wish John and Alison a long and happy life together.

A large contingent of Tasmanian friends and relatives made the trip over to wish them well, including Denise and Liz.  Doug and Rosemary drove over with their camper-van and are still touring around.

Easter Bunny

We spent Easter with the Liz, Rob and the boys at the Riley's shack; camping in the back garden.

The weather was nice enough to spend a bit of time at the beach. Jack managed to catch a couple of cocky Salmon and also a squid :-)

Easter bunny showed up and quit a lot of chocolate was eaten.

A lovely week-end, thanks guys. . .

Here comes the Bride

Please Welcome Mr & Mrs Styles !

It was a lovely sunny day and the bride looked beautiful. In a shady churchyard garden, vows were made and everybody was happy.

Thanks to lots of hard organising work by Cath, Ryan and all the other helpers everything went very smoothly and a great celebration was enjoyed by all.

Some more pictures here

Less formal pictures from the table cams here

Jazz in the Vineyard

The pre-wedding warm-up continues with a day of Jazz in the Vineyard More action here . . .

A Day at the Races

With Aunty Ann joining the party from Faversham, the celebrations have comenced with a day at the races for the Launceston Cup. 

Rather too much English weather (Rain), but Ann did manage to pick 2nd in the big race. :-)

Cath's Hens Night

Cath and her many lovely girl friends had a great get-together and night out on the town. By all accounts a good time was had by all :-)

I'm sure it won't be the last one.

Some more pictures here

Castles in the Sand

Dave & Denise spent a lovely long week-end camping at Coles Bay with Liz,Rob,Jack and Max. A bit cool in the mornings, but lovely sunny days.

The grandsons are not up for Top Rock yet, but we all enjoy making castles in the sand :-)

There are few more pics here

I am the Garbage Man

- Jack bringing in the bin

30 Cheers for Peter

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER

Here we are at the Meewah restaurant to celebrate the event :-)

Melbourne celebrations were even higher key, up in the air on a ballon trip over the city with Bianca. (We are still waiting for some pictures.)

Followed by - more celebrations :-)

Lunch for 22

Christmas lunch was a great family occasion with all 7 hills and many partners and close family and friends. The magnificent Turkey and Christmas pud provided by Sue and Greg from Deloraine went down very well as did the many other exceptional dishes brought by other guests. Many thanks to all who were there and helped make it a special event.

From this picture it seems some practise is required to get everyone looking at the same camera. Maybe better next year.

Some pictures from the day are available here

Deck the Halls

No holly here, but the Christmas tree seems to be regulation ceiling touching and the girls are dressing it from a large selection of memorable danglings, some dating back to school projects :-)


It will look even better once surrounded by presents. . . .

Putting on the Ritz

Cath and Sarah have started tapping again with the teachers they had when Sarah was 3.

Here they are. . . . enjoy :-)

Exam Results in

Sarah now has her final exam results for the year:

3 Distinctions and one Credit :-)

Well done Sarah, one more year to go. . . .

Santa's Workshop

The elves seem to have been busy again . . . .

KIWI Land

Liz recently attended an IVF conference in NZ and the rest of the family, including both grandmas went as well.


They all enjoyed a few days in Auckland and then relaxed at the Bay of Islands for a few more.


More pics here

Chris on the move

Things seem to be on the move in Manly. As the pure fruit icy pole business grows, they have bought an old US Postal van (from West Virginia) to convert to a mobile vending/delivery vehicle, which is currently on the high seas.

Meanwhile Chris is taking a much deserved break, checking out the Mayan culture in Mexico starting in Cancun , then cacao farming in Costa Rica, followed by a couple of weeks on the Costa Rican surf beaches. Sounds like a great adventure :-)

Engagement Party

Many family and friends joined Cath & Ryan to celebrate their engagement.


Pictures here. . .


A great night, enjoyed by all :-)

Girls best friend

So now its official - and the celebration bash is set for the 6th October ! !
The wedding will be at Brickendon on the 9 March 2013
(Click on pic for detail view)

New Crop

Sarah has celebrated the beginning of summer with a new shorter hair style. And tried it out for a week-end trip to Sydney, catching up with Chris and Alice and viewing the sights. . .