Christmas at Oasis 2009

This year we did something a little different and all had dinner together before Oasis.

We had a lovely dinner at George's Steak and Seafood at Broadbeach and then dancing from 8pm. It was great to catch up with everyone!

Gallery, Slide show

Royal Crown Revue

We had a great night out at the Tivoli and saw the all new and improved RCR. They where great! They did there Vegas Show with a female singer doing duets with Eddie. The best show yet!

Gallery

Mt Cordeaux Sunday 29 Nov

Rob, Phil, Mikey and I all got up early and car pooled it to Mt Cordeaux (about an hour and a half south west of Brisbane). It had been very hot in the last week or so so we thought we would start early and miss the heat, unfortunately there was also a lot of dust/smoke haze about.

Mt Cordeaux is a gradual climb with a well maintained track, so it would be great for a family to do at any fitness level. Most of the track is under the tree canopy so it is nice cool.

The walk to the summit of Mt Cordeaux didn't take too long(just over and hour), so we decided to continue along the trial to Bare Rock.

Rob and Phil

View to Mt Edwards and Lake Moogerah

Except for the long grass at the beginning (keep stamping those feet Phil!) of the track this is also a great walk.

View from Bare Rock

I got to see my first ever carpet snake (harmless) about 7 foot long and also walked the trail with a very large Goanna who only wanted to get away from us.

Fern

Carpet Snake

Goanna

We were back in time for lunch at Aratulla cafe. Then drove home in a thunderstorm. A great day had by all.

Gallery, Slide Show

Roma Street Parklands - 8/Nov/09

Rob, Phil, Mikey and I decided to go our for the afternoon to spend sometime with our camera's working out how to best use all the settings. It was a great afternoon of learning with a variety of subjects. A couple of samples of our photo's from the day.

Gallery, Slideshow

Byron Bay Fun Run

24/25 October,

Mikey's and my first ever fun run/walk!

The fun run was held at Byron Bay around 2hrs drive south of Brisbane. Nick, Dionne, Rob, Phil and Michael and Maria arrived Saturday afternoon, we had hired a small cabin at Bryon Tourist Park for our overnight accommodation.

After walking around Byron for awhile Michael, Rob and Phil headed of to The Pass and the lighthouse to take some photos before catching up with the rest of the gang for dinner at the Bohemia restaurant. We all went to bed pretty early in the tiny bunk beds as we had to get up around 4:30am to get ready for the 5:45 am start.

View from "The Pass" back to Byron Bay

Lighthouse at sunset

The fun run/walk was in aid of the NSW Cancer Council, details at http://byronrun.com/.

The super fit people did the 10 Km run from the surf club to the light house and back via a 2km run alone the beach (Nick, Rob, Phil, Mark & Sue), while the sensible people (Michael, Dionne and Maria) did the 8km walk which followed the same course but skipped the beach section.

We really enjoyed the walk as it was nice and cool with little wind. At the lighhtouse we got to see dolphins and whales.

The runners do 2Km along this beach

After a quick shower and presentation we headed to the spoon restaurant for breakfast before heading home.

Gallery, Slide Show.

Ganster Ball

17th October (My Birthday)

Our First Gangster Ball at the Tivoli. It's not often we dress up in 20's/30's gear these days, but since the Gangster Ball had a themed dress code we went with the flow. Some of the girls and guys in the crowd looked stunning in their outfits with some girls dressed as a roulette wheel other had a dress made up of cards.

Nick & Dionne, Chris & Jimmy, Mark &Sue and Maria and I enjoyed the entertainment which included cabaret, burlesque, a Swing Band (The Velvet Set) and Swing Dance Demos.

We will now add this event to our yearly schedule.

Gallery, Slide Show.

40th Birthday Dinner

10th October, Early Birthday Dinner.

28 of our closest friends joined us for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants the Blue smoke BBQ to help me celebrate my 40th birthday. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food and the experience of Americian Smoked BBQ.

Afterwards many of the crowd came back to our place to have some birthday cake and drinks and to play table tennis and the wii. We finally called it a night at 2:30am.

Phil, Rob, Kelly, Sal, Dionne and Nick at the Blue Smoke

Mum, Nick, Alex, Maria and Myself

Birthday Kissses

Gallery, Slide Show.

Mt Greville

27th September 2009,

It was a very windy and dusty day as the 2nd dust storm for the week has just hit Brisbane the night before. Nick, Dionne, Marl, Sue, and Rob joined us for a hike up Mt Greville.

The summit in the distance.

Mt Greville is located between Ipswich and Cunningham's Gap near Moogerah Dam just over an hours drive from home.

Tree Hunger Mark

The ascent was via Palm Gorge which was lovely, cool and sheltered and down via South East Ridge which was more open. The descent was a bit tricky as it was difficult to find the various pink markers which were very faded, but we managed to find the way in the end.

Palm Gorge

View From Palm Gorge

View Towards Moogerah Dam and Mt Edwards, notice the dust haze

We stopped off at the nearby Aratula Hotel for a quick refresher on the way home.

Gallery, Slide Show

Brisbane Dust Storm

A couple of photos from the front of our place during the dust storm

Gympie Muster 2009

The annual Gympie Muster is held over the last weekend in August. This year we attended for 4 days Thursday to Sunday.

We stayed in the wonderful Banjos camp area, it adds to the cost but it makes life up there so much easier, and the profits go to a good cause.

This year I managed to talk Maria into coming along with me, and it looks like we will be coming back every second year.

This year the entertainment was good but something was missing (every other year I have attended Adam Brand and Lee kernaghan have been playing).

Another plus this year was that we didn't have a repeat of the flood from 2007, however every day was in the low 30's Deg C (very hot for Winter)

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Thursday

Artist watched

• Victoria Baillie
• Jetty Road
• Blind Lemon
• Fiona Boyes - Very Good
• Gemma Luxton )
• Travis Collins - Brilliant
• Jonahs Road - Brilliant

XXXX Gold bar - Converts from a truck

Victoria Baillie

Friday

• BlueGrass parkway - Very Good
• Shinaed Burgess - Michael - Good
• Carter & Carter - Maria
• Amber Lawrence - Very Good
• Luke O'Shea
• Sugarcane Colins - Good - Camped next to us.
• Liam Brew
• Travis Collins

Bluegrass Parkway

Amber Lawrence

Sugarcane Collins

Saturday

• Big Blue Fish
• Bluegrass parkway (again)
• Comdey under the Big Top - Peter Rowsthorn, and others
• James Blundell
• Felicity Urqhart - signed CD and Photo :)
• Luke O'Shea - Great
• Amber Lawrence - Just me this time Maria went back to the tent to rest before dinner.
• Yeeha Boys - Very Good
• McAlister Kemp
• Jonahs Road - Favorite band

Peter Rowsthorn

Michael and Felicity

Main Stage at night

Sunday

We ended up leaving early so we could get a good nights sleep at home.

• Amber Lawrence - Very Good again, no I am not stalking her.
• McAlister Kemp - Acoustic set
• Jonahs Road - agian, not stalking
• Sinead Burgess

Amber Lawrence - 3rd concert

Gallery, Slideshow

Nick and Dionnes Wedding

We attended Nick and Dionnes wedding on the 8/8/2009.

Maria and I were both part of the wedding party. The wedding was great, the reception was great, and it was about time. Nick and Dionne were dating before Maria and I got together, and Maria and I have been married now for over 4 years.

Below are some photos of from the day.

The Boys waiting

Just Married

YMCA

Gallery Slide Show.