Vacation - First 5 Days - Beginning of July

A big adventure.  24 days , 5000km from Parkes to the Simpson Desert, thru it and back.
Here's the start of the adventure just making our way to Birdsville to meet with our tour group.

 Cobar, you live there for 4 years and don't take photos in front of the sign but every time you go back you stop. Weird.

 Broken Hill morning

 Lunch stop on the way up to Flinder's Ranges and emu party welcome

 Flinders Ranges

 Marree stop for lunch before camping for the night.

Lake Eyre, no water though.  

End of Week 3 of June

 The highest the creek got.   Lots of water around here.

 Bacon and Waffles for Sunday breakfast.

The girls using hair chalk to colour their hair and take photos

Owen finishing up his school project on gardening.  He was given a gnome and made to answer question and take some photos around the gardens with him. 

The Last 10 Days

It has been raining and raining and raining.  Which is good and bad in this country.  Australian's always want rain but it can soon go just a little bit too much and then floods start.  Which is what is happening now.
The cat has been hanging more and more inside with it so wet.  The garden has seen no frost so our hot peppers continue to produce and I am running out of ideas to deal with them.  Going to make a big batch of paste to put in the freezer for later use.
Eric's photo from Elvis is now a very big photo blown up and put at the airport for all to see when they arrive in Parkes, NSW.  He has mixed feeling about it.  Enjoy the photos of our creek rising.  There is a shot of Hannah the night before ,  the next morning and then 24 hrs after that.  We have a river and a bridge underwater causing road closer.  It has been fun.

First Two Weeks of June

Well the weather is starting to cool off and we are starting to hibernate a little.   Baking cakes,  Sunday pancake breakfasts,   bugs showing up in the house,  stove top cookers breaking, fixing things and finding Canadian beer.   We are just doing the day to day stuff. 

4th Week in May

Well we have had appointments and sickness in the house. ( half the house has come down with a cold )  More Vaccine shots for the girl,  dentist appointments, hair cuts, and a tour of the hospital to see my photographs that they have put on the wall for 6 months.  It's our anniversary this week 16 years and dinner out.  Then the annual School Fete for primary school.  Where more sugar is bought and consumed then necessary.   It has been a busy week. 

3rd Week of May

We had a visitor!!  Martin and his wife Kathi, we have know since our Red Lake adventures.  We have seen each other grow up as parents and always seem to be working very close to each other over the last 15 years.   So he was in for Massmin with Eric and then came to visit us and have a tour the week after Massmin.   It started turning cold around here so the knitted socks have come out and I'm working on macro flower photography.  

2nd Week of May - Sydney Massmin Conference

It was the 7th year for the international Massmin Conference held in Sydney this year.  Four years ago it was in Sudbury and hubby went but I stayed at home that year.   So this year I wanted to go.  It was a feat organizing someone to look after the kids for 3 days so I could go on my own.  Our lovely neighbours helped us our because we don't have aunt and uncles or grandparents close. 
Now what is a Massmin conference?  In its simplest form, mass mining refers to large-scale mining, at high tonnage rates, of large deposits of the world's important commodities. So basically I was going to catch up with some old mining friends we have made over the years and Eric was going to talk shop.  (Oh and I was going to shop too!)   I had made plans to meet up with my lovely cousins but life thru some hicks up and we missed each other.  Next time.

I don't have a lot of photos of the conference or night time.  Because well Eric thought I didn't need to take the camera.  Stupid me listening...  I was on more then one occasion upset that my camera was still in the hotel.

It started off very overcast in Sydney but the next few days turned lovely.  We got home and enjoyed a magic show put on by Owen.  

1st Week of May

 Started the week by heading to Sydney so Eric could speak at the university and we could get braces for one of the kids.

 Manly beach is pretty stunning.

 Our favourite meal.  Vietnamese Bun Bowls.  

 Braces.... unhappy child.

 Hannah is in a school production of Young Hercules.   She has a few roles and it is a great performance by all the kids. 

4th week of April

 Kids back to school have 2 1/2 weeks of school holidays.  The girls had a colour run at the high school.  It had faded a bit since they got home.  Apparently I'm suppose to come next year and take photos with my "real"camera.  I guess I won't be that embarassing!

Still enjoying these roses in our garden.