End of year photo essay...

I have included some of the photos from the last part of our year.  They are not necessarily in chronological order, but all bring back great memories. Enjoy!

 

 Jane did a welding course during the year - here she is talking to Leigh about the fabrication of our sliding doors.

Jane on the tools!

On the weekend of 27/28 November we decided to have our first official party at the farm. We decided to make the most of our deck, and have a movie night and spit roast. We ended up with about 40 people for dinner, who then stayed for a double movie session.  The lamb came from our neighbours, and weighed in at about 30 kg. It was roasted for almost 7 hours, and was just perfect. 

The movies were "The Lorax" for the kids, and then "What we did on our holidays" for the adults. The deck was full of people in beanbags, hammocks and camp chairs, and it was a really lovely evening. We had guests travel from Sydney, Canberra and Wodonga. It was such a success that it will now be added to the annual social event register for the farm!

We didn't make MacK dig the whole fire pit... don't think he would have been smiling if he had!

 This is the gorgeous beast after about 6 hours of cooking over coals. It was about now that we added potatoes to the fire, and started on our second (?) beers. We served the lamb with aioli, jacket potatoes and coleslaw. There was plenty of wine, beer and conversation to go round!

Now that is a drum stick!

 

On the night before the World Cup final, we were in Canberra, and invited to the function at the New Zealand High Commission with Jane's parents. The bloke on my right looked a little familiar, and we worked through our shared history. It turns out that he knew us when we were at Highden in the Manawatu, and was a good friend of Dad's when they were both 19. He still hasn't forgotten Dad driving his Land Rover into a dam, where it promptly stayed. I love those coincidences! Also enjoyed seeing the ABs triumph!

 Jane particularly wanted a cake featuring a hippotamus for her birthday this year...

 As ever, Peter spent a lot of time on the farm when we were up. The grass was too long to be easily hit with either a slasher or a trimmer, so Peter channeled his inner 13 year old and jumped on a scythe for the first time in a great many years. He says the skills come back easily enough! It was certainly a great help to have the grass down.

 

 A graduand with attitude!

MacK with his favourite teacher

 

Gorgeous - Jane and MacK ready for Tyson's wedding

 

 

The Groomsmen with Tyson

 

 

The set up for the wedding - note the theme. Everyone was in white! It was a lovely wedding. Ty and Maddie worked incredibly hard to make it a beautiful day

 

  

Eventually we got a family shot

 

 Mr and Mrs Dalziell - Congratulations

 

Diem, Helen and Jane at the All Saints Christmas party - lovely friends!

 

 Us and the Bells. Still showing a reasonable degree of decorum!

Imagine my disappointment at (again) finding a hat that doesn't fit!

 

 The Lads

This was our first crack at the cladding. Surprisingly it all went off without a hitch!

 

One of the window cutouts - The building program for that day was brought to you by the letter 'F'

And that pretty much brings 2015 to a close... Safe travels if you are on the road, and we hope you get to spend time with your loved ones.

How time flies...

I can't quite believe that our last post was in September. I noted then that our run in to the end of the year would be frantic, and it has indeed turned out to be that way. Let me bring you up to date with a general overview, and then I will follow up with a couple of more specific posts.

October for me was a little hectic - I had my last logistic career course to complete, over the month of October. The course elected me "Sherrif" - means I get to hold the regular kangaroo courts (to raise money for our end of course function) and organise said functions. There was a little extra work involved, and there were nights I was still planning and working at stupid hours of the morning, but the bonus was that I got to do it all from home. This is the first year I haven't had to say goodbye to Jane and MacK for an extended period, which is rather a lovely change.

During the course we had to fly to the Sunshine Coast for a fleeting visit (up Saturday, back Sunday) for Tyson's wedding! Very exciting, and I only wish we could have stayed longer. Still, work sometimes has to take primacy, and this was one of those occasions. This was the last of our weddings for the year, and was a really good fun one to be a part of. It was wonderful to see family from New Zealand (Margie and Rosie) and to spend time with the family spread across this wide brown land - even if only for a short while. Oh - did I mention that I was best man? Such an honour to stand next to this young man whom I have the utmost love and respect for. I couldn't ask for a better brother. There was a time I might have said "Thanks for everything, little man", but that was a long time ago now - these days he towers above me!

November was supposed to be the wind down into a leisurely pack and move to Darwin. Typically those plans turned to clag, and we now sit at the end of the year, exhausted and longing for a break!

Work for me was just as busy as ever, although I did get a welcome recognition for that work before we finished. Jane topped off her usual days of work and super mumming with a welding course (every girl needs a hobby, right???) and MacK graduated from the pre school program at day care.

Jane served her signature 'meat wrapped with meat, stuffed with meat; on a bed of girlie greens' on two consecutive weeks to cover on the friends we had promised it to, and we had to pack up our house again,. We really weren't ready to leave Wodonga, and really enjoyed this posting. We had great friends, and the location is perfect. Both Jane and I could travel to work in under ten minutes (me walking) and we could regularly meet for lunch. We were only an hour or so from winter ski fields, and we lived in the middle of a couple of excellent wine regions (is there a bad one?). Produce is excellent, plentiful and cheap, and the climate suited us both admirably. Not sure that we will ever take a posting there again, but we would all be happy to. There were certainly a few tears when we left!

We were lucky to be able to finish our time in Wodonga with a Christmas party at the All Saints winery in the Rutherglen. The winery is built in a castle, and we had a great night - photos to follow.

We drove to Canberra to celebrate Jane's birthday and then off to the farm for a bit more of a building frenzy. Our aim (must!) before we leave the southern states is to get the house to lock up. The list of jobs for that to happen is quite daunting, but we are getting there - we needed to get doors and windows in, the giant (200kg) sliders for the deck, weatherproof the deck and also wanted to rough in the electrics.

As I write we have roughed in most of the electrics - we ran out of cable, having put in just on 500m. The plan isn't terribly complicated, it is just a big house. We have completely weatherproofed the deck (blue board, and colorbond), and have helped with the fabrication of the doors. We will drive to Townsville, before I fly back to spend three days installing windows and doors! Jane will be able to have a good break, and hopefully restore her sense of humour. She will certainly need it when we hit the humidity of Darwin.

We hope you all have a brilliant Christmas and a prosperous New Year. We look forward to seeing you all as we can - and remember that Darwin is a brilliant place to escape the southern states (and NZ) winter cold!