Life In Queensland

Well it has been a while since I have posted here, been really slack.
We have bought a 4 bedroom high set house in northern brisbane, with a nice big back yard. It is in a very quiet sul de sac, so it is safer for peanut as she seems keen to explore the road. I am still looking for a job, and the XXXX job interview process seems to be carrying on forever, it has been going on for about 2 months now.
We have also looked at the idea of getting rid of 2 palms out the front and 2 large trees from the back, which won't be cheap, as they are too big for mr to do it myself. The back half of the back yard looks destined to be a veggie garden, something I always swore I would never want to do. We also want to put in a water tank for the veggie garden.
There are also alot of things we can do to finish off the interior, just to make it better and should we dicide to move back to Perth we can get more money back.

It is great to have our own place again and peanut is loving the large back yard and the indoor space. Not having a job at the moment still, therefore makes me her primary carer as well, I am enjoying that but she also frustrates me sometimes as well. Ang also has only 10 more weeks of work to go as she is halfway through week 25 of her pregnancy to bring Squid into the world, due January 14, 2010, sp work better hurry up and arrive.

I am also going to start another microsoft course and starting to narrow down my design for a pizza oven to be built in the back yard, at this point I want to make a brick dome oven, can't wait to get the pizza's out.

I will try and keep this up.

Departing Melbourne 8/6

Departed for new pastures again. We tidied Theos' apartment after our stay there and headed off. First stop was Echuca, where Ang was born, we found the hospital, and also had a quick look at the port and river.
In the car again and off for Wodonga, there was not much for us there so we decided to push on to get more km's done, so we decided to push on to Corryong, the edge of the Snowies. We found another caravan park and got a cabin for the night.

Regards,
Mike Gentile

To Melbourne 3/6 - 7/6 GO HAWKS

Before leaving Colac we went to visit Ang's grandmother in a nursing home, since she now suffers with alzheimers. It has been about 10 years since Ang had seen her. Weput peanut in her lap and she seemed to respond to having a baby pn her lap and even clapped to entertain her. It had been about 20 years since seeing her aunt and never for the 2 cousins.
After seeing omar, we moved on to Melbourne via Geelong. We also stopped off at Hoppers Crossing, near Werribee, to see a friend of mine, Terri, that I haven't seen for over 10 years.
We then moved on to Pot Melbourne and to the big malaka's (Theos) house, where we will be staying for the next 5 days.
Thursday we caught up with another friend of mine, Kristine, lunch near her work. It happened to be across the park from the MCG, so Ang and I decided to do the tour and the sport museum. The tour was pretty good, going through the members areas and press areas and we also got to go on the ground near the interchange area.
Friday, we decided to go on a bit of a drive, we ended up near waverley, out east, but I couldn't find the hawks training ground. It was fun juzt driving around exploring. Friday evening we caught up with Dieter as well.
Then on saturday we caught up with another friend of mine, Karli, for luunch at exhibition square. Great to catch up with friends. Since Terri supports Carlton and Ang goes for Brisbane, we went back to Terri's house to watch the game from Brisbane. Ang wasn't too happy, Carlton got the chocolates

Road to Colac 2/6

Before leaving Mount Gambier we went and saw the blue lake, which is in the cone of a volcano and it was very blue.
We left Mount Gambier and followed the great ocean road. We stopped at the bay of isles, loch ard gorge, london bridge and the 12 apostles, we also stopped at a couple of other lookouts.
This then brought us to the Otway ranges, which we were going to drive through to go up to Colac. Ang has a grandmother, aunty, uncle and 2 cousins. We stayed with family for the night, with a big roast for dinner and Ciara had charmed the whole family whilst we were there.


Regards,
Mike Gentile

Robe's not famous for robes

Departed Adelaide this morning. We passed through Murray Bridge, apparent the first bridge across the Murray river is the old iron bridge we crossed.
We ate lunch in Kingston SE and then continued on to Robe (Robe's not famous for robes) ;) also, at Robe we followed a limestone track to a blow hole, but it wasn't blowin :(, we also saw the old gaol there.
We stayed the night at a caravan park in Mount Gambier. Before settling down for the night we went and Umpheston sink hole. This is where erosion, water, has washed earth away underneath and then the surface has colapsed.

Regards,
Mike Gentile

Hawks game 31/5

Not impressed, hawks played absolute crap. Beaten by 27 points, though crows did play well. Ciara also did well,she even slept through the last quarter and through the wait for the bus.

Not happy Jan.


Regards,
Mike Gentile

Still in Adelaide

Yesterday (29/5) we went out for a drive to the Adelaide hills, to Hahndorf for a ride, a settlement of Germans that was started in 1839. Lots of very old stone buildings, but apart from names or the type of food and drink, you couldn't really guess it was German, very nice little town though. I had a currywurst, which is a German sausage with curry tomato sauce over the sausage and also some curry powder as well, was very much like an Oktoberfest meal.

We then decided to just drive around the hills, and followed a couple of scenic drives and eventually found the giant rocking horse. We then found the Gorge scenic drive, which was along some very narrow roads and up and down some windy roads on some of the hills. This also took us past the Kangaroo creek catchment area for part of the Adelaide power supply.

Today (30/5) we went for a drive to the Barossa Valley for a look around, we weren't that interested in Wine tasting, more looking and and seeing a few things other than wine in the area. Jiggles was our tour director. It was a very nice area to look around, was pretty quiet there though today. We had a walk around Angaston, a pie from a bakery in Tanunda, a look at the Lyndoch lavender farm, a keg coopers work shop and a Greenock brewery. :)

Next we have the footy tomorrow Adelaide v HAWTHORN.

In Adelaide

We have been in Adelaide for 2 nights already.
We arrived on Tuesday evening at George and Kirsty's. Ciara was absolutely wrapped with having more than just an evening out of the car, though she has had a funny day today.
On the trip from Port Lincoln to Adelaide we were going to use the Ferry from Lucky Bay across and save driving about 350 kms via Port Augusta. WEhilst waiting for the ferry, I asked what time can we check in, we were early though and was told that it was in for its annual service until Friday. Just our luck the week we want to use it.
So we had to drive all the way around the gulf, we decided to do it and get it done instead of staying in a hotel for another night.
We arrived at George and Kirsty's by about 5;30pm, Kirsty warned us about traffic, but if that was traffic and for Adelaide apparently it is, I wish I was always in that little traffic, but then we are in Adelaide and the "heavy" traffic was still flowing at the allowed speed limit.
Yesterday we had a walk around the foreshore of Glenelg North, where Kirsty lives and it seems very nice area to live.
Today we went in to Rundell Mall and had a look around, we ended up buying a new camera, my birthday present, and I am very happy with the limited time I have had to play with it so far. It is a Lumix (Panasonic) DMC-TZ6. With 12x optical zoom and 10.1 megapixels.
Also tonight we went out for dinner to the Glenelg Surf Club, I had an extra hot beef vindaloo, but it wasn't that hot but still nice.

Streaky Bay to Port Lincoln

We left Streaky Bay to drive down the coast, the map showed a 4wd track but when got on it it was more like an unsealed road. This road went Point La Batt, which has a sea lion colony but binoculars would be good to be able to see them better.
We had to then back track a bit get to the road Port Lincoln. Then passed Murphy's Haystacks, something about an Irish man saying they look like good stacks of hay, they are in fact granite boulders and inselbergs (look it up).
On to Port Lincoln again, but 45km from town Peanut decided she had had enough of the car seat and wanted out. It took another 20km to find a place to stop, 10 minutes play and she was right to go again.
We booked into a nice caravan park with a 2 bedroom cabin, was pretty good, but the place reception sent us to for fish and chips, King Neptune's, the fish was pretty average.
Ciara also decided to rearrange her bag tonight and took everything out, then got bored of this and found something else to do. Mummy had to repack it all . :)
Now to bed, tomorrow to Adelaide.

Regards,
Mike Gentile

Border Village to streaky Bay

Left Border Village bright and early, but it pretty cool. We stopped at 4 lookouts along the next stretch which look over the Bite, also known as The Bunda Cliffs.
Also stopped at the Head of the Bite. Which is the northern most point of the bite and usually a good place to whale watch, but we didn't see any.
There was not much else to see today. We had our luch at Penong, passed through thefruit/veg checks and then decided to call it quits for day and stay at Streaky Bay.

Regards,
Mike Gentile

Cocklebiddy to Border Village 23/5

We departed Cocklebiddy just after 8am. With the Eyre Bird Observatory as our destination, the turn off is supposed to be 11km from Cocklebiddy. By the time we had traveled 13km all we had seen was a track without signs and thought that must be it, so we tuned back and followed it south to the coast. It is only a track, we thought they had exagerated the meaning of unsealed road. :)
After following this track quite some distance, passing a couple of caves and the trees narrowing in on the track, we were wondering how people would get there caravans down to where the 4wd track starts. Then all of a sudden we come out on to an unsealed road, :) ,a sign saying "Eyre 17km", 12km of that is to be sandy 4wd track.
We got to the sand track and let the tyres down to the resquested to 20 psi.
We follow this track to the beach, knowing the caretakers to be out. We were mainly going to see the ocean, which cold and messy. The observatory is one of the original telegraph huts.We followed the correct unsealed road back to the highway.Next onto Madura Pass, somehow we were on the tableland which descends onto the plain that reach to the Southern Ocean.We then carried onto Mundrabilla, where we stopped for a late lunch.Off Eucla,where went down to the beach side ruins of another telegraph hut.We finally carried on to Border Village, to stop and sleep. Here obviously pass into SA and we have to put watches forward another 45mins to make up to SA time.

Tomorrow off to Ceduna.

Kal To Cocklebiddy 22/5

We departed Kal for Cocklebiddy early this morning (22/5). We saw something very disturbing for someone of Peanuts age, just as well she was asleep so that she won't be scarred for years to come. Along the roadside between Kalgoorlie and Kambalda,we saw the blatant torture and violence against more than 20 stuffed toys, teddys and dolls as they were tied to tree trunks along the road. It was very disturbing. :(
We then made it to Norseman, as I had worked here about 14 years earlier, I gave Ang the 50¢ tour, not much had really changed, though it does have an ATM now.
Back to the highway, we are now onto Eyre highway, highway number 1. We are to go another 430kms to Cocklebiddy, past Balladonia and Caiguna and includes the longest straight stretch of road in Australia, 146.6kms. It was long and quite boring with no bends.
We have now passed into first time zone change, Central Western +45mins from Perth.

Time for bed, another early start tomorrow and we will do a little 4wd to get to a bird observatory.

Regards,
Mike Gentile

A day in Kalgoorlie

Today we stayed around the town of Kal.
First, I took Ang to see Hay st. this is the famous street where Kal has it's brothels, there wasn't much to see, it was a bit early.
We went to the Mt Charlotte lookout, which looks out over the town and is also where the towns water supply is pumped from. This is the storage tank where the water pipe line from Perth finishes.
Then we were off to Hammond Park, where we had a sandwich for and also let peanut have a crawl around. There was also a miniture Bavarian castle to and some parrots in avery cages.
Lastly we went to Hannans North tourists mine, it was once a working mine. It also miners and prospectors hall of fame. Ang and I also had a crack at panning for gold in their little man made stream, which they salt with little flecks of gold. I actually managed to find some, we tried it again before leaving and I found a couple more flecks.
There is also an underground tour of the mine, about 36m down, the first level of 13. We had to go seperately, as peanut is too young to go down.
We also saw a gold pour, well it was really silver and bronze but we got to watch the process.
Peanut grabbed a custard tin and her finger and there was lots of blood and it seemed annoy her all night.
Finally we retired to our cabin at the caravan park for dinner and to prepare for the next section, the drive to Cocklebiddy, approximately 628kms.
I may not be able to send much in for a couple of days, possibly no phone service.

Regards,
Mike Gentile

Arrival in Kal

We arrived about 5pm. Staying in a caravan park, seems ok. We bought some oven chips, but when got back to chalet, we found there was no oven in the chalet or camp kitchen. We had to cook them in a fry pan :)
Tomorrow will be an easy day around Kal, doing tourist things around here.
Ciara went well with the first day of sitting in her car, she only got stroppy in the last half hour.
Bye until tomorrow.

Regards,
Mike Gentile

Leaving Perth

Well the car is packed, almost to the roof. Can' believe we can put that much in the Paj, or that we would want to.
This coming wholst we are on the road, still in Perth but only just.
The aim for tonight is to get to Kal, we have 2nights booked there.
Ciara is already asleep and have only 25kms, I hope she will be ok with so many hours in the car most days.

Will post more tonight about the first 600km section.

Regards,
Mike Gentile

FW: test 2

Test with attachment.

test

This is test from omnia to blog.

Regards,
Mike Gentile

Dual Batteries

Over the weekend I have started to get the NS sorted for the drive from Perth to Brisbane.

My brother has installed the dual battery system, my brother is an auto leccie, so worked out pretty cheap, $140 for the tray and $135 for the 600CA battery, from a contact of his. I will try and get an engine bay pick, we did modify the lip of the tray to get a slightly larger battery in.

Friday week has the ARB deluxe bar going on with the engine bay mounted compressor and the GME TX 3440 being installed as well.

My brother will be installing the IPF 900xsddcs spooties and the fridge power connector as well.

All I will have to then is pack the vehicle.

We're getting excited about this trip as we are going to take at 3 weeks and if we decide to include Tassie, which is likely, it will last over 4 weeks.

Only 13 more days of work to go :)

New Car

Well last Wednesday night we went looking at a couple of cars, namely Mitsubishi Pajero's and we bought one. We go back there tomorrow evening to pay for it and take it home.

A 2007 NS Pajero GLX, diesel, long wheelbase, it has only don 24000kms, is in very good nick as well, and runs pretty good. The very back seats also fold down into the floor.

So I spent most of the weekend wishing I could have got it earlier, so we could go out and test it 4wdriving. I have to admit it will b fun having a 4wd again and going across Australia in this one and being able to visit a few extra places with it.

Now it is time to kit it out. This weekend I will be going to ARB to order the bullbar, spotties, UHF radio, possibly tow bar, dual battery set up, air compressor and cargo barrier. I must also get the stone protectors for the bonnet and headlights and 2 weather shields for the front windows. Then all that will left to do for it is dark tinting and a car fridge for the trip, which could also be used for a bar fridge when not travelling. Luckily my brother will set up the dual battery system, spotties and install the air compressor if it comes with ready made brackets.

We have also started checking maps and the routes we want to take as well, since we will be going the long way round, via Melbourne, but there will be lots of friends to visit on the way. We are starting to get an idea of the itinerary, and it will include at least a couple of Hawks games along the way, v Adelaide at AAMI stadium on the 31st of may and v Sydney at the MCG on the 7th of June.

Ang has also looked into removalists as well, to get all our stuff over there as well, a couple of people have been around already with a few more to come this week, then we will have to seriously start packing and sorting out what we need to take with us in the car for the trip.

Ciara is also going ahead in leaps and bounds, she will be 9 months tomorrow. She hasn't started to walk yet, but she is not far off. She will put both hands up if you ask "hands up if you are beautiful". She can now climb up the first 2 steps of our stairs and we are trying to teach her how to get down backwards after 1 fall backwards already, she is getting the hang of climbing down as well. We are hoping she will be OK sitting in a car for about 3 weeks.

The Apartment is Sold

Yay the Apartment is now sold with an unconditional contract and settlement is about 5th of June, maybe a touch earlier if they can get out of their lease.

I have also given in my date I will be leaving work as well, 15th of May and we hope to be on our way to Brisbane about a week later. If we time it right I will get to watch Hawthorn in Perth on the 15th, then in Adelaide on the 31st and then in Melbourne on the 7th of June, playing Sydney. If I can Ang into it we can then take the car across to Tasmania and watch them play against Brisbane so I might get a chance that is her team.

Meaning our next job is to get this new 4wd we want to have for the drive to Brisbane. We are very Keen on a Landcruiser Prado, but for the money we are thinking of spending we can get a newer Pajero, even if it does mean wanker in spanish. I am finding it hard to decide, but either way it will be a diesel, I still like the Peugeot 307 diesel that I owned whilst living in london.

Little Peanut is still progressing, she can now climb a step, but can't get down and can also stand without holding on to anything for about 15 seconds.

One final thing for me to say is that today is my birthday, 40 years old today!!
Sometimes I don't feel that old but every now and then it seems to catch up with me. We are having a party at mum's house on Saturday for me, but it is also mums birthday tomorrow, 3rd. So hopefully people will remember her birthday as well.

Will report bck soon as well, maybe even a picture from the party.

Holiday in Busselton

We have just got back from another holiday, this time to the South West to a town called Busselton.
We stayed in a chalet in a caravan park called Mandalay. We went there with my sister and her family and my mother.
Peanut also seemed to enjoy spending time with her cousins as well.
We also took her to an animal farm, where she got to see guinea pigs, chickens, rabbits, parrots, donkeys, horses, lamas, goats, sheep and cattle for the first time in her life. She also got to have her first ride on a Merry-go-round.

Still no real progress with selling the apartment, there seem to be a few nibbles but buyers still seem to be holding back. We just need the right offer and then I can get ready for our drive to Brisbane. We have also discussed trading in the commodore for a Toyota Landcruiser Prado or a Toyota Hilux dual cab. We both like the idea of travelling about a bit whilst in Qld, as it could only be for 2 years, but could be permanent as well.

I would also like to get this over so that we can stop having to get the apartment ready for viewing each Saturday when Ang is working Friday nights and only wants to rest on a Saturday night.

This weekend coming we have Peanuts' christening and then a few drinks afterwards, she will also have 4 god parents to contend with, we thought it only fair a pair from each side, so we selected my sister and her husband and Angie's brother and his wife.

There is also the matter of only just over 2 weeks until my 40th birthday.

The best thing on the horizon is 9 more days until the footy starts and my starts the season as the reigning premiers, but also the youngest team in the competition.

GO HAWKS.

Trip to Sunshine Coast

It has been a couple of weeks, but I was on holiday last week. We went to visit the in-laws, who live on the Sunshine Coast, which if you don't know where it is, it is about 100kms north of Brisbane in Queensland.

Was great to get away from Perth and work for a week. The trip was also to do a bit of exploring the northern subburbs on one of the days to see where we might look for a house when we get to Brisbane.

We caughtwith Ang's 2 brothers and their families, which leads us to also seeing our new nephew, Daniel (pictured with me right), who is only 4 weeks old. It just shows us how much little Peanut has grown over the last 7 months. She even has 2 teeth now as well, and she really enjoyed exploring a bigger house to play in and seeing all her cousins.

On the Wednesday we went down to Brisbane, to explore the suburbs, and from what we have seen from driving around we are interested in Strathpine and Petrie, with interest also n the suburbs in between, which were bray Park and Lawnton. There seems to be some nice houses there as well.

We also went for a walk through a small bit of forest and then went to Gardiners Falls for a swim, the whole family went. The rest of the time was mainly hanging around the in-laws place with the occasional walk outside, so I could feed the mosquitoes. Every tie I go to their house I get attacked by them and everyone living around them like to keep dams with stagnant water so they can keep breeding, I still don't understand why they all want have a dam.

My next task to get sorted is my Aussie rules dream team, I still haven't started getting it sorted, but I have a couple weeks before the start of the season. I hope I can get a team as good as I had last season.

Lastly, the apartment has been up for sale for less than 2 weeks, there has been a fair bit of interest but no offers yet, but hopefully that will change soon.

Apartment for sale

Yay, finally we have te place on the market.

All the jobs that needed to get done have been done.

We have met with a few agents and decided on one. Hopefully it will be sold quickly and then our next adventure will start, The drive from Perth on the west coast of Australia, to Brisbane on the east coast, following mostly the coast line along the south.

The apartment looks pretty good tidyed up and with a lot of the clutter gone. Since the market is in such a shit situation at the moment we will be happy to get out at break even or just above, which might be possible.

It's all coming together now.

Selling the apartment

Well we are one day closer to getting it ready.

Removed a whole lot more junk out to mums.

Also cleaned one lot of windows which was interesting trying to get the outside done from the inside, since there is no balcony on that level. We got our room done, little peanuts tomorrow and some more cleaning.

On another note, what do these Aussie cricketers doing or more correctly what are the selectors doin. Some of the selections are a wonder, particularly Cameron White, he is a pie chucker and how batsmen at this level cannot do anything to Botha's bowling I don't lnow. He couldn't turn a ball in a cyclone.

Getting the Apartment ready

Back again, it has been a couple of weeks, but we have busy getting the apartment ready for sale. So that we can go to Queensland.
Over the last week or so we have painted a feature wall in the Lounge are an all of our bedroom. I have also learnt how to do grouting. We have redone the grouting in the kitchen and it has brought up the tiles nice enough to improve the kitchen.

We have also packed up all the souvenir glasses from out travels, as well as several boxes of books and DVD's. We still have lots more to pack and move out to make it presentable for sale. We will be packing up heaps of stuff this weekend. My brother-in-law is hopefully going to help us with moving some of the stuff out, by getting his trailer licensed and then bringing it aroung to load up.

The cleaning has also commenced all the kitchen is done.

We hope this will work and get us the price we are looking for, it will make our arrival in Queensland heaps easier.

Se you soon.

First Weekend of the Year

Not that big a weekend.

On Friday we had dinner with Theos, a friend over from Melbourne, at the Brisbane Hotel, very nice pizza. Then since Peanut's routine requires her to be in bed by about 8pm or she gets reallynarky, we went home and had a few beers watching 'They're a Weird Mob' DVD. I always love watching that movie, especially with my dads ways.

The next morning we watched the cricket and for a while there it looked like more of the same as the first 2 tests. Then this morning Mitchell Johnson and Michael Clarke seemed to actually take back some control from South Africa in the series and our innings finished a lot better than it was looking.

Late in the evening we deciced to change the curtins in our and Peanut's room. Looks better, but still have more jobs to do if we are going to sell the place before moving to Qld.

Back soon.

New Years Day

Well it is now 2009 but it doesn't seem like I will be 40 in 3 months.

We had a quiet night with a couple of friends over for a bbq, but their little one was getting a bit tired so they left early to get her home and to bed.

2008 was a good year for us, after all we did get Ciara on 15th of July and although there was some late nights in the first few weeks, that is all sorted and she is in bed by about 8pm and has been sleeping through the night since 10 weeks old. Ciara has now been commando crawling on her tummy since before she was 5 months old and first rolled over by 7 weeks. Solid foods have also been started at about 4 and a half months. So there seems to be progression pretty quickly.

We also renovted our bathroom though it wasn't cheap, it really adds alot to the place and will hopefully make it easier to sell the apartment. We are both very happy with how it turned out, with colours neutral enough not to put anyone off.

We also had a couple of trips to the eastern states as well, I went to Qld once and to NSW once, though Ang went Qld 3 times and NSW once. We also have another trip to Qld coming up in February which should be good and a precursor to moving over in April.

Back to Ciara
Ciara is already taking over our life and dictating what we can and can't do and when we can do it. Since she needs regular naps and is tired by 8pm and in bed we pretty much have to home by then. There is also the matter of regular feeding about 6 or 7 times a day, which is more of a chore for Ang than it is for me, but it means we have to carry enough food and supplies (nappies) for longer than we anticpate being out, in case we are delayed or I get talked into another beer :). It does seem to be a bit of work, but each day it is all worthwhile, Especially in the morning when I go get her from her cott and she has a huge smile just me or the same smile i get from making stupid noises for her, or even just getting in the front door after work.

Today we will be going to my mums'house for dinner, usual thursday outing, and Ciara will get a bath instead of her nightly showers with me, since our apartment only a double size shower and no bath.

Will be back in soon.