Junnie's (Gladys) wedding ...

On Thursday 24 August 2017 Junnie married Ralph in the garden of the Potters in Maryborough, Qld.  The bride was beautiful, the weather was brilliant and poor Ralph endured the service with an excruciating painful back injury.

We have known Junnie for many years but lost touch around 2007 but luckily reconnected again in the last year.  We had always known her as Gladys but since her divorce reverted back to the name her family had affectionately named her which was Junnie.  Junnie resides in Malaysia where she met Ralph (a Brit) and they chose to get married in Australia.

The celebrant going through the ceremony ...

A very serious occasion! Denzil and Sue Potter officiating as witnesses

Mr and Mrs Unwin

Signatures all round ...

A more relaxed party!... everyone remembered the vows

Dave and Jean, honoured guests

The small but important wedding guests ... even the bloody little dogs couldn't stop barking during the ceremony!

The cake, Sue's creation...

Ralph already whispering sweet nothings ....

It was a wonderful day, Denzil was a great barman and Sue and Chris wonderful hosts and really lovely to meet Ralph and spend some with Junnie on her special day.

All the best to Mr and Mr Unwin.

Potter's grand daughter singing "The Prayer"

Denzil and Sue have a pretty talented grand daughter.  She is an amazing soprano who has won many awards from local Eisteddfords.  She graced us with her beautiful rendition of The Prayer.

Another fishing charter ... 24 July 2017

1770 Charter (near Agnes Waters, QLD)

The Fishing Club finally got a trip out of 1770 for a day's fishing.  Dave starred in that he caught the largest fish of the trip, a cod weighing in around 8 kgs. (lots of feeds)  Apparently his photo of he and the fish goes up on the pub wall at Burrum Heads for the year until the fish of the year is decided.  He caught about 7 fish in total, a Maori Cod (2.7 kg) and Red Emperor were a good size.

Winners are grinners!

For about 5 years the charters out of  1770 have been cancelled due to high winds so it was a real surprise when this trip got off the ground.  Dave was a real happy chappy with his efforts and apparently he put it down to using fresh bait.  Others got smaller fish and were using lures.

Dave's latest pursuits

The title sounds more intriguing than the actual thing, but guinea fowl and tiling are something new at our place.

Dave has a natural interest in birds (except crows) so to add to the flocks of native birds he feeds, he now has 4 guinea fowl.  He's in the process of domesticating them as they have an instinct to fly off to greener pastures if they aren't caged (trained) for a short period. The three weeks are nearly up for their penning period so in a couple of days they will be temporarily released.  In the first instance for an hour a day then it's gradually extended til they 'know' if they return home each night they will have a meal waiting for them.  They can fly pretty well so it's a bit of a gamble if they nick off, we'll see in a few days.

They are supposedly excellent at keeping pests and bugs down in the yard and are renowned at creating a huge din if there is a snake in the close vicinity.  We shall all see how they perform!  First signs of digging up the mulch or annoying the neighbours  then it's the roasting dish for them.

Guinea fowl on the verandah of their digs (formerly a cubby house)

The other improvement to the household is the final finish to the deck which occurred about 2 years ago. The bench area has now been tiled which David undertook all by himself.  It looks quite good despite resembling the Pizza Hut interior (so Dave says).  It's weather-proofed and we can happily sit and watch the birds out the back whilst sipping away.  It's a good job.

Evans Head Fishing Trip 2017

It's that time of the year whereby a bunch of fellows, some ex-RAAFies, some from NSW, meet up in Evans Head for a week of fishing fun.  It's an annual pilgrimage, apparently the charter skipper knows his stuff - when and where they are biting.  When conditions aren't good they head to the golf course and into Casino to the race track and there's always the bowling Club up the way when they want a night off from cooking.

This year produced quite good results which was better than last year.  The fish catch is a communal one so whether an individual catches more or less, at the end of the week they all take home an equal amount.

Dave with a king fish

Col, TC and Dave with prizes

Spanner crabs

The fellows!

On board

Col with a nice looking snapper

Some of the catch - not a bad effort

There were over 200 fish caught so there was plenty for all to have and to put a couple in the freezer as well.

Grandson no. 1 is 10 years old!

The birthday boy, Vance (in blue hat) blows out his candles, watched by his mates - Heath and Callum and little brother Kai

L to R Heath, Callum, Vance and Kai

 Vance was especially lucky to receive an (Android) mobile phone as a present from his Dad.  The phone has limited capabilities but Vance has promised he will send some photos of them fishing.

 Jodes has generously combined the boys birthday presents into a fishing charter with the family and some friends out of Darwin Harbour.  Very lucky lads, and hopefully that is a memorable and fun time for all.  Even if they don't get fish or big fish Vance is still going to send photos on his new phone.

Vance and Dad

The boys devouring the cake.

Out in the backyard in Darwin.

Perth trip Feb 2017

Recently we celebrated a mini-Peters family reunion in Perth. It coincided with Myvanwy's 56th birthday and was very close to Mother's 92nd birthday - but who needs an excuse for getting together. 

 Shane, Dave's brother drove down from Karratha, Jodi flew down from Darwin and we ventured across from Queensland.   Darryn and his family permanently reside in Perth, Jenifer, Myv's daughter was also there at the time and Geraldine, a sister-in-law was also present.  We all lunched at the Mt Henry tavern, a favorite spot of Mother's.

Darryn, Tuyen, Angel and Mother Peters

Geraldine and Jodi in the foreground

Marc, Tuyen's youngest lad, with Dave and Shane in the background

Jenifer and Myvanwy (daughter and mother)

Aunty Jodi with niece Angel

Jodes, Darryn and Angel

It was a lovely day whereby we socialized and marveled at how the family had grown, some meeting for the first time, others catching up after many years and in amongst it all, the matriarch Mother looking absolutely splendid!  Jodi made a huge effort to be there whilst juggling between work, home and family, not to mention finances.

Over the week we stayed in Perth and had a very leisurely and comfortable time staying with Myvanwy in Mandurah.  She had time off work so it was really great to have some quality time in her space - we had some drinks too! 

In the latter part of our holiday we caught up with Darryn and his crew at their place in Lockridge.  Folks were either at school or work through the day so we had to wait until the afternoons and evenings to meet up with them.  Tuyen and her Mum cooked up some awesome dishes for evening meals - a mixture of Vietnamese and Australian food ... very tasty.

Kyle, Darryn, Marc, Dave, Angel and Jean

During the days we entertained Mother and Myv at some nice restaurants, the Windsor in South Perth and the Mandoon Wine Estate in the Swan Valley .. all beautiful venues.

The weather was really nice for our visit and it was enjoyable taking Zeus and Tyson (pet dogs) for walks along the beach at Golden Sands.  Thanks Myv and co.

New wheels

Lucky me ... an early birthday pressie, a new Suzuki Vitara

trip home from Grafton, NSW ... a mere 500 kms

My dear old Volvo was slowly disintegrating and becoming costly at replacing and fixing so off to the abbatoir so to speak.  After much 'humming and harring' on my part, we arrived at a reasonably practical vehicle for my lifestyle - a Suzuki automatic 2D, something that will accommodate my golf clubs and get folks back and forwards to paddling training.  Whilst it is a basic model all the technology is somewhat mind boggling.  It has a reversing camera so hopefully it will be a big help in that department.

I look forward to many trips in comfort!