1996

16 Dec 1996 - Vehicle roundabout
Toyotas are out... Nissan and Honda are IN. We have replaced our aging Toyota Tarago with a slightly more recent Nissan Nomad. Still an 8 seater van, but with a larger engine. We now also have a Honda XL185 trail bike for Chris to learn on and a bit of fun for all.

29 Nov 1996 - Schools Out For EVER
Well for Chris and Lizz anyway. Chris has now finished grade 10 at Riverside High and will be attending Launceston College next year. Lizz has now finished Launceston College and will be studying Bio-medical Science at University next year.

25 Nov 1996 - Riverside Leavers dinner
To-day Chris, resplendent in black tie and dinner jacket, attended the leavers dinner for Riverside grade 10. It was held at the Launceston Casino Ballroom. A good time was had by all, followed by a party 'till dawn at a friends house.

01 Nov 1996 - November, NO TV
For the month of November the hills are going without TV in an attempt to break the soap-cycle. Is it voluntary? No way..... Dave cut the plugs off :-)

01 Oct 1996 - Chris keeps greens
If anyone out there wants their bunkers weeded, fairways mown or the holes moved in their greens just see Chris who is spending a week of work experience as a green-keeper at Riverside golf club. Pity he doesn't mow the grass at home :-(

21 Sept 1996 - Holidays in the Sun
The second week of the school holidays saw all 7 hills take off for a week in the sun on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays. The weather was great, many hours were spent swimming, sailing and the highlight was a scuba diving trip to the great barrier reef.

26 Aug 1996 - Basketball Semi-final knockout.
Peters basketball team had a failry successful season this year, finishing 3rd on the ladder and missing out on a place in the finals by only 2 points in an exciting semi-final match.

17 Aug 1996 - How much wood could a woodchuck chuck??
Russ Bowen at 78 has decided not to go bush to cut all his own firewood any longer. Son Greg arranged for 10 tonnes of whole logs to be delivered to Russ and set about slicing them up. Since then family members have been swinging the blockbuster and carting the split firewood to the shed.

10 Aug 1996 - Dancing Achievments.
Today the girls had their dancing exams and competitions. Sarah passed her level 1 tap and Catherine level 4, performing by herself for the first time. Liz now at level 11. Catherine also won an idividual trophy for her performance in "Ghostbusters"!

8 Aug 1996 - Soccer Final knockout,
Liz's soccer team had a good season, finishing top of the ladder, but were defeated in the championship final 1-0

29 Jul 1996 - Chris & Dave in the clouds.
Chris and Dave took advantage of a recent trip to Hobart to go flying with Bernie (Biggles) Samms from Prologic. The cloud cover was down to 1000 ft, but they had an enjoyable fligth over Hobart and surroundings.

29 Jul7 1996 - 2 Hills meet 3 Presidents.
This weekend Chris, Liz and some of Liz's friends made the trip to Hobart to see the Presidents of the USA in concert. They all stayed with the Beatties in Blackmans Bay and a good weekend was had by all, arriving home at 1:30 am the following Monday.

8 July 1996 - Catherine turns 9
Catherine celebrated her birthday with a medieval party. The usual games were played... Pass the castle, pin the tail on the dragon and musical thrones. A good time was had by all! She is also now the proud owner of a pair of roller-blades and the garden area has been reduced by the size of a large round trampoline.

10 June 1996 - Beattie Bunch visit
For the second week of the holidays the Bob, Sue, Alison, Martin & James came up from Hobart to stay. We have Command & Conquer, Kings Quest VII and DIG games CDs on loan for the week to keep them amused, the computer is never idle for long!

9 June 1996 - Its true, it does make you blind.
At the tender age of 48, Dave has reluctantly admitted that his near vision can be improved with the use of vitreous optical enhancers.

1 June 1996 - School is out
Two weeks of school holidays start to-day. Liz is off to the gold coast with Liz Hussey who lives opposite. Her folks have a holiday unit there. Two 17 year old girls on the loose with their own unit for two weeks.(No we are not giving out the address or 'phone number!)

1-31 May 1996 - Few Clouts cast
What happened in May... Not much it seems. Peters basketball team is getting on well in this seasons roster and if they keep playing well should make the finals. Liz's soccer team has won their last two matches with Liz scoring on occasions and Chris's school footy (aussie rules) team is also going well with Chris kicking his share of goals and behinds [:-)].

27 April 1996 - Cinder Bowls 'em over ! ....(
Well repected #triplej channel op "Cinder" showed the rest of a #triplej meet how its done at a bowling competition held in Launceston. Several Hobart #triplej regulars took the irc bus up here to meet the northern regulars. After Cinders bowling demonstration, they all went to Sizzlers for a feed and back to the "Hills" for (you guessed it IRC) till late! At the meet were:-Cinder (Rob); Mango (Andrew); Spunk (Sebastian); Stigma (Brendan); Voytek (Doug); Meriadoc (Richard) LizZ (Liz Hill); Dulcinea (Liz Hussey); Candice (Candice); Lurch (Chris); Chuckie (Charles)

23 April 96 - X-country champion
!Sarah was the first girl home in the recent cross country, held at the Riverside Primary School early this week. Congratulations Sarah !!

20 April 96 - Stage Fright !
Catherine has been limping since a section of scenery collapsed on top of her while practicing her tap dancing. Still... breaking legs is supposed to be lucky on stage isn't it ??

19 April 96 - New Home for 7hills
Due to the demise of our previous Internet Service(?) Provider we have now moved to Vision Internet Services, who provide a more professional service, and assure us that they will pay their Telstra bills. If you are reading this then you must have found us at the new address :)

7 April 96 - Movie Marathoners
Liz & Chris both went to the movie marathon at the weekend. (with separate groups of friends) Starting from 11pm and finishing at 6:30 in the morning! The movies included, Grumpier Old Men, Copycat, and Heat.For a bit of fresh air and exercise Liz, Chris & Dave went for a round of golf at Wally World (Grindlewood) the next afternoon, Chris winning as usual.

21 March 96 - Doug the Fish Waiter
Doug Beattie has started a part-time waiting job at a fish restaurant in Launceston to help him through his aquaculture studies,. The first night saw TWO trays of drinks succumb to the effects of gravity! So unless you are after a beer shampoo I would give "Shrimps" a miss for a while!

17 March 96 - Russ Bowen's Birthday
Russ's birthday (78) was celebrated with a BBq at the Hills place. Greg, Sue and Mathew came over from Deloraine, and Doug Beattie joined us (he is at Uni in Launceston). A top day.. the sun even came out for a couple of hours. Summer (what there was) is just about over now and the evenings are starting to draw in.

16 March 96 - TDB/IRC Meet -
Users of Tassie Data Bank who met through online chat gathered at the home of one of them (LizZ) this evening. So they now know what the people that they have been chatting to for months (some years) actually look like! It was brought about by a visist to Launceston of a regular correspondent from Hobart. A good time was had by all,. Loud music, food & lively discussions. Some members ended up in the pool, though not all by choice!! ... hard luck Chuck.

8 March 96 - Liz's Driving Test
Liz took her driving test to-day and PASSED! ....... Well done liz. Look-out Launceston. Whats next? Flying lessons?

6 March 96 - School Burns Down!!!
Every kids dream! The Riverside primary school burned down last night. (All our kids were home). Catherine is pleased to get a few days off, but Sarah will miss it as she enjoys going.

3 March 96 - Messing about on the River
We spent the day out on the Tamar river in Doug Kerrisons yacht, Ipacia. It was a glorious summer day for a change, we had lunch up West Arm. The boys went swimming, but the water was pretty cold! Doug has spent the last 18 months re-modelling and re-fitting the boat and it now looks good and is very comfortable.... Well done Doug, and thanks for a great day out.

24 Feb 96 - Aqua-Doug
Doug Beattie (our cousin) starts Uni in Launceston this week. He is going to be studying Aquaculture, and is staying at Kerslake Hall.

20 Feb 96 - Sarah starts kindy
Sarah started kindergarten today!! She has been looking forward to starting for a long time now, and is still very keen. She was up at 9am wanting to go to school on her first day, though she didn't start till 1. Lets hope she is still this keen in a few years time.

18 Feb 96 - Went to the Country, Picked a lot of peaches.
An urgent request from Joan Bowen (Grannie) sent the Hills down to Beauty Point to pick several buckets of peaches before the birds ate them all!

17 Feb 96 - Bring on the Dancing girls
Liz, Catherine and Sarah resumed tap dancing lessons for the new term. Sarah will be dancing to "Ghost Busters"! :-)

15 Feb 96 - Back to School :-(
The kids are now all back at school and the sun has come out for the first time in a month!

12 Feb 96 - New Biker
Sarah can now ride her bike WITHOUT training wheels! (Well its a big deal for HER)

11 Feb 96 - Basket ball
Peter starts basketball training for the new season with City Basketball club. He is moving up to under 16's this year so its going to be tough.

05 Feb 96 - Liz's Driving Test
Need to practise that reverse parallel parking ! Better luck next time liz.

13 Jan 96 - Sarah's Birthday
Sarah turned 5 to-day! She got a new walkman and is very much looking forward to starting Kindergarten soon

28 Jan 96 - Camping wash-out
Our camping trip to Coles bay on the East coast was a bit of a washout. We went on the Saturday and setup camp OK. The next couple of days were very windy but bearable....BUT then it started to rain on Wednesday. Fortunately we decided to pack up and come home because it is now 4 weeks later and it has rained every day since. The tent and camping gear are still strewn around the garage waiting for a fine week-end to put them up outside to air out!