Happy Flammin' Christmas

n' have a Beaut

NEW YEAR

From all the mob out West Aussie way
Tania, Carlos, Jacko, Sarah, Harrison and notso little Oscar

Midland Brick Christmas Party

Well didn't this year just shoot by.... strewth it was over before it began (a bit like ...well no let's not go their!) But wasn't it a beaut year and as usually we had our works end of year Christmas Party, and this years was gonna be at a different place. Instead of up in the water park in the hills, we headed for Hillarys Boat Harbour at Sorrento. Where we spent most of the day using the kiddies water slide, and didn't they love it!

The whole mob getting ready for their day on the slides.

Then after a ripper time on the slides it was time for 'See Santa time', which went real beaut this year. Here are Harrison and Oscar who has had enough of the fat bloke in the red suit, 'give me my pressie and i'm outta here'.











Ohhhhh isn't that sweet, my little princess












My oldest little mate Jacko.








Don't believe him Santa..... IT WAS HIM!!!!!









Then we went walkabout around the beach and along the foot path near the beach, here are Sarah and Harrison giving the old girl a cuddle.










And finally here is the whole mob getting a photo in fount of some Thingummyjig on the pathway, don't know what it is but it does look real beaut hay! And that way our Christmas Party day out for this year, and before you know it we will be hitting 2009!

Hillary's Beach

Well our first outing after our long trip across Australia, was a nice little drive to Hillary's Beach Park. It's located on the North beach side of the Hillary's Boat Harbour, over looking Cow Rock sitting in the Indian Ocean. As you can see all the little nevilles made the trip, and Sarah putting on a pose.









The kiddies on the way down the footpath to the beach, and as you can see it's a real ripper of a day.












As it says 'It wasn't ME' but yes it usually is HIM! Most of the time Oscar just sits back and watches for a bit, before going down and getting right into it like the rest of the bunch.




Here are Harrison and Jacko having a sand fight with the waves.... Harry/Jacko 2, Waves 214.








Here is the big fella after a bit of a splash, just like the other three Oscar just loves the beach. And as you can see he just loves he's tucker too! So the baby of the Paul family isn't that little tiger we had in the baby seat last year, but a lump of a lad now and as you can imagine he's eating us out of home.







Where we were on the beach you could watch the boats going out from the Harbour, and their were some real beaut boats if you can call them boats.... more like little ships mate! I told Jacko if he does real well in Lotto... sorry real well at school he too could own a real beaut ship like those ones, and then he can take hes old fella (me) out for a sail. But if he does as good at school as yours truly, then maybe just maybe one day we could go for a nice ride in his aluminum dinky!



Here are Harrison and Sarah having a splash.





All good things have to come to an end, and with that we had to get back into the commodore (covered in sand) and take that short drive back to the sticks. But they had a beaut day out and can't wait till their back splashing about in the Ocean.

Drive to Dwellingup

Well it was time to hit the road again and this time it was a drive up into the hills to a place called DWELLINGUP, with all the kiddies in the car off we went. Dwellingup is located 97 km south of Perth. It is a small settlement situated on top of the escarpment and, as a typical timber town, is surrounded by a state forest.



Here are the kiddies outside the information center, their's a fair wrack of stuff about the timber town and about the history of the place. Of cause the kiddies were only interested in the ice cream shop, but we had only just got into town so no ice cream yet!.... bugger











The major attraction in the area is the Hotham Valley Tourist Railway. The promotional brochure describes the Dwellingup Forest Ranger Tour, which operates about 20 times a year between May and October, as follows: 'Steam Hauled Picnic Trains. Re-live the age of steam on Western Australia's most famous Sunday picnic trains along the beautifully scenic Hotham Valley Railway. WA's steepest and most spectacular section of railway. Travel through lush green dairy country and in Spring view a magnificent display of wildflowers before climbing the Darling Range into the heart of the jarrah forest.

As you can see the kiddies love all that train stuff, this was in the picnic area so after a sandwich and a little drink they were all over these things.






on ya Osc!







After our picnic the kiddies had a walk through the park until they came to this old log, and before you could say 'Don't even think of getting up on top of that....' they were up their. Except for Harrison and Oscar, Harry didn't like the look of it so he kept down and as for Oscar well...







he liked the inside of the tree instead! As for the poor bugger (the Jarrah tree that is) it was noted that it would of been over 600 years old, till some nob head came over to it with an axe and then it was 'Good night the fox'.






My little princess



But that was out day out up at Dwellingup, and we had a real beaut time.

Swanies into the Grand Final

Just a quick post to tell ya that Swan Districts won their final on the weekend against West Perth, at the Arena Joondalup Oval in front of a massive 5500 crowd!!!
the score was

SWAN DISTRICTS 15. 14 104
WEST PERTH 14. 10 94

So now they will play Subiaco in next sundays GRAND FINAL, this will be the swanies first Grand final in 18 years.... GO THE SWANIES !

'Swan Districts stormed home from being 35 points down midway through the third quarter to score a remarkable victory to now enter next Sunday's grand final against Subiaco. After a tight opening, West Perth got on top of Swan Districts to lead by 27 points at half time and a game-high 35 midway through the third term but a Nicholas Naitanui tackle on Mark Seaby changed the whole complexion of the game. Seaby had dominated up to that point with 17 possessions and 11 hit outs, but Naitanui's tackle hurt his shoulder again and he did not reappear.'

"You know you are alive when you barrack for Swan Districts as nothing comes easy or straightforward it seems. We got there in the finish, though, so that's the main thing," Dawson said.
The perthnow website.

First semi-final for the Swans

So with three of the kiddies packed away in the commodore it was time to head off, down the road to the Fremantle Oval to support the Black Ducks in their first semi final. We were playing the South Fremantle Bulldogs in the knock-out final so a lose would be 'Goodnight the fox', and as the underdog for the semi the Swans had nothing to lose. Here are the kiddies standing outside the Fremantle Oval just before kick-off, with all their hopes full that we might pull of an upset.




The 1st quarter we were a goal and a behind in front and as we finished the second quarter we had a lead of one point. So the match was in the hands of the Gods as we moved around the ground to see it from different angles, a bit like Sarah's brickies clack! (you can dress her up but you can't take her anywhere).

As we watched the Swans hit a nice lead and went into the break with the scores at Swans 11.10 to Bulldogs 9.11, and with the nerves on edge what did the kiddies want .....


That's right ICECREAM TIME! well it has been shown to settle the nerves in tests with mice, and it sure settled these little rugrats down.



And then we came to the final quarter and with a nice lead under their belt, the black Ducks kicked the first four goals and went on to win easily with the final score
SWANS 16.12 108
BULLDOGS 11.18 84






So in front of a massive huge crowd of 3200 the Swanies won and went into next weekends final against WEST PERTH FALCONS, and the winner goes into the Grand Final against SUBIACO.

Last home-and-away match

So on a nice warm '21 in the shade day' me and Jacko, Sarah and little Harrison jumped in the commodore and headed over to Bassedean Oval, which is now know as Steel Blue Oval to watch the Black ducks take on Peel Thunder for the last match for the home and away season. This match didn't really mean much as Swan Districts had already made it into the fourth and final place for the semi's, but nobody wants to start the finals with a lose under their belt hay.



As the first quarter came to a close the District boys were up by four goals 7.0 to 3.2, and with the mob in tow we started our normal walkabout around the oval. This photo was taken in front of our massive club house the JOHN COOPER / JOHN TODD PAVILION, okay it's not the MCG but still it gives the Toronto Waterboard Oval Canteen a run for it's money!



For the second quarter we grabbed a few hotdogs and a bag of chips, and it was time to hit one of the big grandstand the mighty BILL WALKER STAND. Which I reckon you can fit at least a hundred blokes on a good day, so this is the view from the Mr Walker stand and as you can see it's a real beaut view. After the siren sounded we were 11.4 to 5.5, which in anyones book is a pretty good start.




After the kiddies kicked their ball around the ground which everyone doe's during the quarters, it was time for a walk to the east side of the oval which your's truly likes to call the Red Rooster End (because just over the fence is a Red Rooster Restaurant...... makes sense yeah).



The third quarter went just like the others with the Swans keeping a nice lead, with one of their best players being a young aboriginal fella called Nick Naitanui. Now here's a little tip for ya... your's truly reckons (with all my six years experience of watching aerial Ping Pong) that Nicko is gonna be the NUMBER ONE DRAUGHT PICK in this years AFL Draught !!! Fairdinkum I reckon we will loose at least three young players to the AFL clubs, but Nicko is a big skinny kid and with a good club and some good feeds behind him they could build him into a friggin great player (don't forget you heard it here first in the sandgropers blog)




But with the third quarter over and with the Swans in front 13.10 to 8.7 the players minds started to wonder, a bit like your's truly.....
I'll tell ya one thing when I was a boy I don't remember the waterboys around Macquarie United looking like that mate.



Then before we knew it Peel kicked five goals to even things up then another to hit the lead, but with four minutes left the Swanies Nick Naitanui kicked a beaut goal from 55 meters out and then Chris Smith backed it up with another to help the swans to a win by 15.11 101 to 14.9 93. Strewth that was lucky and now this weekend we head down to Fremantle Oval to take on South Fremantle in the first semi-final, were also in the reserves semi-final against Claremont and our last years colts grand final winners take on Perth in their semi-final. So with fingers crossed we might go away with something out of this weekend, we might go down to watch them but we will see. But the kiddies had a beaut time kicking the ball about and they just love the hotdogs and chips, fairdinkum you can never fill these little mugs up!

Our roadtrip to Pinjarra

Well it was a beaut early morning when I chucked all the kiddies into the commodore, and set off down the road to a little old town called PINJARRA. This town lies on the banks of the Murray River and just a quick drive away from Mandurah, Although the district has been settled since the early 1830s, large tracts of land remain untouched and have an air of peace and tranquility. The main reason for most people to come down this way is to have a gander at The beaut old steam engines of the Hotham Valley Tourist Railway, which takes visitors on a nostalgic journey through lush farmlands, up the dramatic and beautiful Darling Scarp and up into the forest of Dwellingup.



The first thing that you see when you drive through Pinjarra ....... well okay the only thing worth looking at in Pinjarra, is an old park that you can just see through the trees as you cross over an old bridge in town. The bridge crosses the Murray River and with a quick turn you can park just outside an old Church, The church is the St John's Church which was consecrated in 1860 and the internal woodwork was completed by convicts at Fremantle..... pretty cool hay.
Then we walked down the walking track which took us under that old wooden bridge and into an old Park on the banks of the Murray river, where we had a play on the different things that it had. Like this chair which sits just near the river and you can sit their and just watch the water drift by.




Then we walked a bit further and come-upon these six wooden poles which each one had a different animal carved into it, as you can see each kiddie grabbed a pole for themselves and tried to climb them but only Jacko got up to the top.








As you can see Jacko's pole has a turtle on it and he loved it, you know then art is done like this it's pretty cool. You can see the work that has gone into it and you know it will last for a friggin' long time, maybe in about ten years time we can come back to this pole and get another photo hay...... cool!



Then off we went down the path until we came to the thing which we had come all this way to see, yes the old Suspension bridge which crosses the Marry river. You might of gathered by now that we have this thing for suspension bridges! .... well okay I have but the kiddies have to come for the ride, but thay really love crossing these bridges. This one means we have now been on three bridges, the one at Norsman and York and now this one at Pinjarra which I think is the longest (but i'm not sure). And i'm not joking when I say that without doubt this is the best one we have ever crossed, as Jacko would say 'It is soooo cool'.








Here are the little nevilles at the bridge.









Even me little bloke Oscar has become a bit of a lover of these bridges, but as soon as his brother Harrison started to swing himself (making the bridge swing) Oscar quickly changed his view. And before I knew it he was back holding me hand and cursing his bigger brother, I can't wait till he can talk, he's first words will probably be 'Stop taking me on those friggin' bridges'!!!



After we crossed the bridge about ten times..... well we drove a friggin' long way so I was getting my moneys worth. We went for a walk through town and grabbed some fish 'n chips at this little takeaway shop, and walked back to the church and went down behind it and sat on the banks of the Murray. And that was our day at Pinjarra which has without doubt the best walking bridge that our mob has ever come across, and i'm sure that we will pop back down this way again just for another trip over it.

Trip to Beverley

PART 2






Well after we hung out on all the farming stuff at Brookton, it was back in the commodore and off along the Great Southern Highway towards the township of Beverley. It is only a quick drive of about 35kms before we were on the outskirts of the township, at the town entrance we saw an old Vampire Jet airplane so we had to have a little stickbeak.








Then it was time to park the car and off we went for our street walk, for a bit of saturday arvo window shopping. The township of Beverley is a vibrant rural Wheatbelt community with a population of 1600, and is about 130kms east of Perth. It lays on the sleepy banks of the Avon River and was founded back in 1838, making it one of the oldest settlements in Western Australia.


We walked till we came apon a beaut Aeronautical Museum... At the entrance you'll see a Vampire Jet No. A79-638. This aircraft was a two-seat trainer. Australia built almost two hundred of this type of airplane..... cool. The museum is a tribute to the aviators of Western Australia (so it says) which fairdinkum would of been beaut to have a gander at, but not with this bunch of riff raff by myself. Fair clack-of-the-whip I get stuffed just keeping an eye on them let alone walking through a friggin' museum!










This Memorial just outside the museum was dedicated to the lost crew and passengers of an Skymaster DC4 airplane that crashed nearby on the 26th of June 1950, five crew and 23 passengers were all lost, poor buggers.






After a stroll back down the other side of the main street which is called Vincent street, it was time to have another smoko these kiddies just don't stop friggin' eating. Their was a picnic spot next to the train station so with a sausageroll each to keep them bizzy the old fella got a chance to sit down and rest! (poor old fella) up on the walls of the eating area was a few photos of the township back in the old years, here is one of the photo's. It was of an old rabbit trapper and his victim's hanging on a rope next to him, pretty cool hay.




Then after smoko the kiddies went and watched a goods train that came through town, then suddenly the train driver hit his horn and within one second all three kiddies were right next to me. It scared the crap out of them.... you little beauty! But about one minute later and they were all back at the fence watching the train go by. And that was about it for Beverley and we jumped back into the commodore and headed for York, which was about 35kms away... just down the road.




When we got to York we went straight to the best part of York.... the suspension bridge, and as you can see even after a few weeks of being away little Oscar still doesn't like the idea of crossing it.








But since his with dad he has to give it a go and lets just say.... he still doesn't like the idea! But that was the last town we stopped in, as all that was left was a drive back home. All up it was just over 275kms for the day, not a bad little drive for the nevilles and were all ready for our next outing.... poor little sods.