Monday, October 29, 2007

Finished patio







Above you can see the various stages we have gone through in transforming the outside area of the house. It has been a 12 month process though all worth it in the end. The only distraction we had yesterday while sitting back and admiring the pario was the 1 meter long snake cruising around in and out of our retaining wall, no matter how much stalking I did I just could not get the bugger to come out.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

New Lawn

Here are a few photo's from when we moved in to now and how our front yard actually has lawn. It has been a long hard slog from lifting the clay, to digging foundations and building the wall, levelling thearea again through to where we are today with the new turf in. Many long hot happy and grumpy hours have been poured into the almost finished lawn. All that is left is the garden bed and a water feature.


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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

SAy No More


Monday, October 22, 2007

Champions Again


Sunday, October 21, 2007

CHAMPIONS

Don’t hurt yourself with thoughts of Mark Cueto’s disallowed try. Don’t torture yourself with what might have happened had Mathew Tait slipped through one more tackle on that slicing run, or Jonny landed that close-in drop-goal at 3-6 or the long-distance drifter with 10 minutes to go.
It’s hard to admit that it’s over, that we can’t wake up tomorrow and do it all over again.
But it's time to shake a Springbok hand, give thanks for the extraordinary events of the past two months and salute an England team that went further than anyone in their right mind could expect them to.
Sometimes you just know when a match will be yours, and when it will slip away from you.
It didn’t matter how hard England pushed, how many choruses of Swing Low Sweet Chariot swung round the stadium or how many roofs were ripped off by the roaring millions back home.
Tonight, their everything was not enough.
This was stone-cold, hands-up reality after a day when giddy madness had reigned in Paris.
Men had thrown crazy amounts of money at mere rumours of tickets, shipped beers in such vast quantities that you feared the end for some would come before the beginning.
Seeing the passion on the players’ faces at the start – roaring out the anthems, holding on to one another like sailors lashed together in a storm – part of you was crippled with anxiety, while another part wanted to be out there, to be at the heart of such a marvellous maelstrom.
Expectation was hanging so heavy in the air you could almost taste it, belief and doubt mixing together to form an atmosphere so tense you could slice it.

But, when the moment finally arrived, the magic was never quite there. The breaks England needed to win never came.
With 20 minutes to go, even the most banjaxed of England fans around me knew the game was up.
Not tonight the leg-clenching tension of the previous two weeks, nor the ear-splitting noise at the same stadium seven days before.
This was South Africa’s final from a long way out, and everyone in the Stade de France, deep down, knew it.
The Springboks may not have sparkled. They didn’t have to. This was professional rugby for a professional era, a production high on practice and proficiency.
As I write, the fireworks have faded away, the stands emptied, the last celebrating South African skipped off the field. All that’s left on the pitch is a giant slick of golden glitter.
It’s time to go, head back into the bars of Paris and wash all those hopes and disappointments away.
South Africa – I take my hat off to you. England – thanks for the ride.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Birthday







Here are some pics of the birthday croquet game followed by a bbq-a good time was had by all doing something different.

Cycle Race

Well after a lot of build up and endless hours in the gym race day finally arrived on Sunday. After what had been a particularly social 2 weeks with my birthday and numerous bucks nights and bbq's the day finally arrived. thommo and I met in brisbane at 5.30am to join 5400 other cyclists in doing the Brisbane to gold Coast cycle challenge to raise money for the heart foundation and so we could say we have done it. It is a 100km pedal from Southbank in Brissie to Southport on the coast. We eventually got over the start line at 6.45and crossed the finish line at 11.57 which included 3 stops for water and some jelly beans. The first 50km were really good though after that once the backside started hurting it was a little more difficult. Once we were past the 70km mark and you can start to see the light it was really pleasant, though I must say I was pleased to get off the saddle at the end. After the race we went straight to Sea World not for the attractions but more for the use of the ice cold pools for a couple of hours-it was heaven. Overall it was a good day capped off by the Kiwi's losing their rugby world cup quarter final-Wha haha