Thirty photo challenge: 24, 25 & 26

24. Something you wish you could change

I wish I could be braver about bugs.  I still scream and carry on... even after nearly ten years of living in the North West......

25. A picture of your favourite day

Waaaaay too hard to pick a single favourite day..... but this day and days like it are up there as a favourite! On the beach at Warroora Station with no one near us - just kilometres of deserted, spotless white beach whereever you look, a good crew of mates, some beers and a rowdy game of beach cricket.  Bliss.

26. A picture of something that means a lot to you

Cape Clairault winery. Mom, dad and I went there years ago when I was only eight or nine.... now I am going back as an adult for our wedding :)

Heather and Andy :)

Justin's mum Heather and her partner Andy have been up in Carnarvon for the last week.  They had to do some business with real estate in town but there was also lots of time for catching up and fun dinners... and shooting!

Justin and Andy talking guns 

 Dinner at our place - the wardrobe wasn't co-ordinated on purpose!

(Justin and his mum)

  We had a great night at mom's place - topped off by a bottle of REAL port from Portugal from 1977 that she found in her spare room (don't I wish I had things like that just hanging around in my house!)

  It took a little bit of teamwork but we got it out of the bottle and strained out any gunk and it was just beautiful.  A great night was had by all!

Thirty photo challenge: 21, 22 & 23

21. A picture of something you wish you could forget:

My special cat Mr Charles... he was attacked by a dog and killed last year (Charles was in his own yard in an enclosure, the dog wasn't on a lead and broke through the fence to get him)..... I wouldn't like to forget him but the whole awful incident.  Pets become such an important part in your life and it is so sad when they go.


22. A picture of something you wish you were better at:

I would love to be able to make my own bread... would love to be one of those women who routinely has dough rising or a starter bubbling or a loaf cooling on the bench.... I have made bread before with varying degrees of success... but not as often or with as much ease as I would like!



23. A picture of your favourite book:

This is like the 'favourite band' one - I can't just pick one!

I'm baaaack!

OK after a brief hiatus I am back.  We had a great time in Perth and didn't even complain too much about the cold.  We sampled heaps of amazing wines in Margaret River and bought more than a few (its hard to limit yourself when so many taste so good!).  We had some great meals both out at restaurants and in with grandad when we were back in Perth.  We came back to work and hit the ground running.
Here are a couple of pics....

Sign at Hay Shed Hill winery restaurant

A stormy day at Prevelley Point

Lunch at Cullen's winery

A few beers at Bootleg Brewery - as they say 'An oasis of beer in a desert of wine'

A few of the restraunts we went to were:
 http://www.clairaultwines.com.au/ just amazing, one of the best meals I have eaten in memory.  Glad that I will be going back there within the year and taking a whole bunch of friends!
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/338/1544898/restaurant/Perth/What-the-Pho-Northbridge who can resist a Vietnamese pho bar, particularly one with a cool name like "What the Pho"
*Vietnamese pronunciation note: Pho is pronounced 'fuh'.  Yes I am still going to Vietnamese language classes.  Yes my Vietnamese still is fairly crappy.  Yes Iron Chef's mum laughs at me and pretends to understand me when I say things to her.  No I fail miserably when it comes to understanding things she says to me.  Sigh. I will keep trying!
http://www.sanchurro.com/ Spanish hot chocolate you rock my world
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/338/1425609/restaurant/Perth/Hawkers-Cuisine-Northbridge Another place without its own website BUT absolutely topping my list of places to eat in Perth.  The roti cani was delicious and their spicy tofu was devoured by our table of four within minutes... luckily they happily brought another serving for round two.

A break.....

There will be a short break between posts now as we are going away for a holiday together :) :) :)

Posts will resume in a week or two!

Thirty photo challenge: 18, 19 & 20.

18. A photo of something which has made an impact on your life recently

(photo not taken by me) The floods that affected our town since December 2010.  It has affected my life in so many ways...
The pistol club is still unusable and needs so much work and as with all clubs there are only a few willing hands to put in the hard dirty work required (and I am one of them) - and so much paper work (applying for grants, exemptions, etc) and also so much sadness at not being able to play with guns every weekend!
Also not to mention what the flooding brought with it.... ruining the beaches for the whole of summer, the humidity, the standing water that STILL remains around town six months after the event which then leads to sandflies everywhere making outside not an option at sunset, the plague of grasshoppers/locusts, the damage to houses & plantations & businesses (the petrol station in the photo is now operational but the building is not!). Enough already! This was apparently a 'once in 100 years' flood and I am very glad to see the back of it.


19. A photo of your biggest insecurity

I don't think I can answer this one.  I'm not perfect but I'm not insecure about it.  I am more than happy with what I've got in life.  Like my mother says: Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you.  I like that.  And even when the bear gets you there is always still something out there that can make you laugh!

20. A photo of a place you would love to travel to

Well apart from the obvious - Fairbanks!
And New York - again , what an amazing place!

I think I have to pick 2....

Split, Croatia.  A friend of mine is from there and has recently moved back to start her own business.  She runs some holiday accommodation and writes me lovely emails about cooking freshly caught fish in the sun with a glass of vino.......

Tokyo, Japan.   I know it's expensive.  I know it's crazy busy.  I know it's cramped and the hotel rooms are tiny.  I know Japanese is an extremely hard language to even understand the basics.  But I WANT TO GO.

Thirty photo challenge: 15, 16 & 17

15.  Someone you can't imagine life without.

Two people please!!

16. Something you want to do before you die.

17. Someone who inspires you.

My boss and close friend Robin.  She has all sorts of personality traits I admire, she is fair, tenacious, thoughtful and honest.  Also she drinks rum, does dispensary dancing with me and laughs at my jokes.

Thirty photo challenge: 12, 13 & 14

(none of these pictures taken by me!)

12. A picture of something you hate

13. A picture of something you love

14. A picture of your favourite band

Just one? Ok, 5.

Thirty photo challenge: 9, 10 & 11

9. A picture of your favourite night

 It's hard to pick just one.... but this night was fantastic.  We were in Sydney and decided to book a seven course degustation dinner for two on a boat that cruises up and down Sydney harbour.  It was a freezing cold night but the dinner included a different glass of wine to match with every course (and welcome champagne and port for afterwards) and that helped warm us up.  The dinner was held on the enclosed top deck of the boat and it was huge, there were only about five other couples and they were all spread out over the deck so we felt like we were all alone - except for the waiters and the piano player! Good food, wine and a window seat to watch Sydney harbour light up at night - fabulous!




10. A picture of your most treasured item.

11. A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.

How can one person have so many right answers?? And good recipes?? I love you mom :)

Thirty photo challenge: 8

8. A picture that makes you laugh.


Well it has to be this - but it is a combination of pictures, not just one; and without showing them in sequence they aren't as funny!

Thirty photo challenge: 5, 6 & 7

5. A picture of your favourite memory.

It's hard to pick a single memory but this is pretty special; arriving in Fairbanks, coming down those steps (usually tired, jet lagged and hungry!) and seeing a crowd of people, waiting for us - and I'm related to all of them! So exciting!

6. A picture of the person you would trade places with for a day.

A photo of my favourite lecturer from uni, who is now the head of the university School of Pharmacy - Professor Jeff Hughes.  He is such a good speaker and has such a knack for explain complicated pharmacy in a way that makes sense and is fascinating.  Perhaps if I traded places for a day I could retain half of his knowledge!





7. A picture of you and the person you have the most fun with:

No contest there!

Thirty photo challange: 2,3 & 4

2. A picture of you and the person you are closest to:

This was taken at Murphy Dome on Solstice Night 2007.




3. The cast of you favourite tv show.

It's really sad I know. 




4. A habit you wish you didn't have

I am an awesome sleeper.  My mom calls me a recreational sleeper.  I am not a morning person.  I am not particularly a late night person, bedtime is my favourite time of day.  I am one of those people that can sleep anywhere, any time and you could come a play a tuba next to my head and I wouldn't move.

The Thirty photo challange: 1

1. A photo of you with 15 facts

1. This photo was taken while we were camping at Doorawarrah Station for mom's birthday a few years ago
2. I love trashy reality tv
3. I just made Creme Bruele
4. I am flying to Perth tomorrow for some upskilling
5. I have two cats - a white one name Juliette and and black evil one named Bronson
6. My friend Iron Chef's mum makes Pho better than any I've eaten in Vietnam
7. I am learning Vietnamese
8. I am currently reading Keith Richards's autobiography
9. I recently taught myself how to make a very nice martini
10. I love to shoot
11. I only like to use black ink!
12. Without fail, my job makes me laugh everyday
13. I love to live ten minutes walk from work
14. The best Reuben sandwich I have ever had was from Katz's Deli in New York
15. I miss the family I have that live far away.

Mud, sandflies and more mud

Yesterday we spent the day trying to clean up the pistol club.  It has been almost six months since the flood came through and damaged our club but the amount of water still around is amazing! The first most pressing thing to do is repair our fence line.  Parts of it are still underwater and other parts have had the fence completely washed away! We needed big machinery in there to remove the debris and cut a trail through. BUT working in an area that has been underwater has its downfalls......

My friend Oscar and I crawling around in the mud trying to unbog the truck

with pieces of carpet we ripped up from the damaged clubhouse 

Our grand work plans became side tracked when we all had to spend two and a half hours unbogging the crane... And then another hour unbogging the dozer!

 This is the entry gate to our club.

Me, Justin and other members digging in the mud.

 Finally!

Amazing but true - five months on and after a summer of months worth of temperatures above 38C/100F the ground is still too wet!

The dozer (successfully unbogged!) clearing parts of a damaged range wall.

A late lunch of sausages and onions on the BBQ wrapped in slices of white bread with tomato sauce cooked by mom and I and it was back to it.  This photo below is our club's kitchen (and where mom & I cooked lunch).  You can still see the water mark about a foot up the bench.

And our bar area - showing the water mark.  This is on the opposite side of our clubhouse - so the entire clubhouse was a foot under water!

Although the day was sidetracked by bogged vehicles and there were sandflies, mud and gross things to clean up, it felt good to be finally moving forward.  Here's to being a functional pistol club again in the not too distant future!