Goslin Pine photos 2

The Goslin-Pine Photos1

Pictures of France

All coming to an end

Well the parentals have been and gone, all in all the time passed rather too quickly but we had a good time and I think they have gained a flavour of Australia. We visited the Blue mountains where it snowed! drove through pouring rain and flooding in Canberra and sat in the sun on the final few days! The weather was very fickle!

We are in our final days of packing up the house and organising our holidays to be taken on the way back to Blighty.

What we definately wont miss about Australia is the ineptitude of some of the companies out here as an example we were calling all the utilities to ensure that they cut off the services on a fixed date, however when we phoned Bigpond to cancel our broadband connection instead of the chap on the other end of the line asking us when from, he just left the line and cut our connection there and then! and apparently there is no possible way on the earth that the connection can be re-connected! The best they have been able to offer us is a dial-up connection so I am afraid that there will be no photos for the next few weeks.

BBQs Aussie style

The Aussies are well known for their love of Barbies and they are usually a number of electric or wood Barbies in and around picnic spots. They are well maintained and great fun to use.

The firepit with swing over Hot plate in Mnt Kosiosko

Home BBQing

Wood burning BBQ with chimney stack as seen in Brissie

South Bank Brisbane communal electric Barbequing, Mens work :-)

Cycling the Lake

One of the favourite weekly activites to pass the time is to cycle around lake Burley Griffith, there are a number of routes that can be done depending on the enthusiasm of the group. We used to start at in the west the carpark by Scrivener Dam (Zoo side) and then cycle either to the first bridge Commonwealth bridge or to the second Kings bridge or if we were feeling really energetic the whole lake passing through Canberra nature park/ Jerrabomberra wetlands on the east of the map (not shown). However as the weeks went on we liked to stop for coffee, which turned into lunch so altered our start locations to, the National Library and/or Yarramula Nursery, all so we wouldnt need to get back on the bikes after lunch!

Shannon and myself near Aspen Island where the National Carillion stands in white quartz and marble walls it houses an enormous clavier, or series of bells which usually chime at around 1030 it was given to the city of Canberra in 1963 and opened in 1970 as a gift from Britain to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Capital - Canberra.

Shannon, myself and Petrina, cycling buddies, this was our last cycle before we all leave Canberra :-(

Melbourne Cup

Tuesday 4th November was Melbourne Cup day, even though we are not in Melbourne we had an event planned around the horse race. There was a very complicated betting system in place in the college. The food was buffet style and the fizz was cheap!
The sun was out and it was a lovely day, except that the horse I had bet on was first until the photo finish and he came third, which would have been good had I bet each way!



Much silliness!

Bush Camping

At the beginning of November We decided to go camping in the Bush! Ben and Erica accompanied us, we took a 4 wheel drive route from the '4WD Touring - SE NSW and E Gippsland' book called the Blue Waterholes, the trek was 140km from start to finish (but not including the return road route) It was quite dusty!

Part of the trek passes the Coolamine Homestead complex which was to house the Graziers who were the first westeners to open up the NSW Alps. The homestead was used from 1880 until 1940, with its tin roof and wooden walls it must have been a challenge to keep warm in the winter months.

We arrived at the Blue water holes and set up camp then went for a walk along the Clarke Gorge, the features in this area are formed by the Limestone (karst) rocks.

Jus and I had briefly visited part of this walk before (the water was a lot lower!). Using the wobbly stepping stones was a challenge

The views were great!

The next job was to collect firewood and start the fire in the designated BBQ pit

We had some electric candles which we used with the slow shutter speed (well there was no TV!)

At 0530 the Kukkaburras landed on what was Im sure the nearest branch to our tents and proceeded to chatter and laugh! Ha ha ha. The Roos bounded their way up the path sounding to the urbanites amoung us like a VERY heavy jogger!

All Good fun!