Post-Christmas & Australia Day

Things have been a tad quiet after Christmas.

We went for a cruise around the lake which was nice and relaxing,  Then cycled around the lake, which was not.  It was the first time in about 10 years that I've been on a bike, so cycling for 24km in 2 hrs created a few tired muscles that I hadn't used for a while.

Here are some pictures from the lake cruise.

The Carillion.

The small posts by the side of the lake each have the name of an Australian of the Year.  With a 50 or so spare. Interestingly, they are positioned relative to 5 lines, and if treated as musical notes, they make up the National Anthem.

I still don't know why they have put up one flagpole here and a couple of trees to ruin the symmetry.  I bet the politicians decided this.  Or they decided to skimp  on the price of the second flagpole.








Coco learnt a new trick over Christmas.  He now drops a squeaky toy into the water and jumps in after it.  But only as far as the steps.  And of course most of the time it drifts away from him.

Ooops.  Too far away.

"Will you get it for me?"   His tail wags a million times a minute, so it's always blurry in photos.

On Australia Day, Karyn and I went to a friend's place for a bbq and a games afternoon.  It seems to be popular with the neighbours and relatives.  The kids especially love it, and compete for medals, bags of lollies, and the honour of standing on the winner's podium.

 There was a football-throwing competition.

 A gum-boot throwing competition.

 A golf pitching competition.

A ball-tossing competition.

An egg-and-spoon race (with the older kids having to run backwards).

A sack race.

Winners of the senior kids egg and spoon race.

Winners of the sack race.

Karyn managed to defeat the senior kids in the ball tossing competition decider.

But she did no good in the thong-tossing competition.

Kids tug-of-war competition.

Willo, the host.  Never to be seen without a can in his hand.

Australia Day 2010

We had a great Australia Day this year.

Matt was in Melbourne for the "Big Day Out" concert,  so it was just Karyn and I.

We were invited to a friend-of-a-friend's for the day, starting with a BBQ and then continuing on for the rest of the day. There was mention of "games" as well.  We didn't know what to expect.

It turned out to be a fantastic day.  Well, sort of.  The BBQ was great, but while getting ready to go in the morning I kicked the architrave of a door with my little toe and broke it.  So for most of the day I watched my foot swell and go shades of purple.

Anyway, there were probably 50 or so people there, including kids.   And they were the sort of people that you can easily make friends with.  We seemed to have something in common with all of them.

The house where we went adjoined a local park, so the party extended there for most of the day.  There were a wide range of games to play, with formal medal ceremonies at the end of each.  A funny thing was that everybody seemed to end up winning a medal for something.  Karyn won the womens' egg-and-spoon race, while I won a third in the golf pitching competition.  Other games included gum-boot throwing, thong throwing, Crocs throwing, basketball shooting, and 20-a-side tug-of-war.  Oh, and egg-tossing.  Fortunately for me it was my partner that missed the catch.

The only time the pain in my foot got in the way was playing basketball.  I kept forgetting not to stand on my toes, only to be reminded by a sharp stabbing pain.