derby corporate cup

leave it to derby to have an event like this.  everyone in town (who wants to play) gets on a team and you all show up with matching tshirts (unless you're super disorganized like us) and play ridiculous games like mini golf, toss the tinnie (can), basketball shooting, ring toss and other games that require hand eye coordination. throw in an open bar and all hell breaks loose. it was an awesome time even if we didn't come anywhere near first place...or 10th or 15th.... whatever. we weren't in the last five so that's a step up from past games.  i have now decided i need a dart board at home.  more pics here

miski's first birthday

Miski turned one on Oct 10th!  How cute!  I can't believe we've been here that long and that she is already one.  we've had her since November last year, just a wee little hippo pup and now she's a big, sturdy soccer playing machine.  she loved her doggy cake :) 

bush fires and brolgas

on a trip last month to wangkatjunka (soungs like wonkajonka), we drove by some pretty heavy bush fires by the side of the road. it was so hot you could feel the heat curling your hair as you looked out the window.  it was sad really, all the animals running and flying away.  i did get to see a pair of brolgas again though which is always amazing. this time i finally got a snap of them, but not with my nice camera sadly.  they mate for lie and are really massive birds. 

perth visit

we had an unscheduled and unexpected visit to perth to get some personal business done there that cannot be done in a country town.  most of our time was spent running around doing errands but we did get a chance to go shopping (yay!) and walk through the city a lot. we went to kings park several times and got to see the spectacular wild flowers.  such a fantastic city.  i ate myself sick down there...we had amazing burgers, indian, and mexican food...all the things i've been missing.  oh and some of the best freshly baked bread ever.  we have way more photos here in this album

we met yao ming!

dude what?  do you see the craziness in those pictures?  we had so much fun! ok i'll explain...we went to broome for a weekend away finally and some friends happened to get some free tickets to the basketball invitational being held on cable beach that saturday. they offered us the tix and we accepted with enthusiasm.  I knew Yao Ming would be there but i had no idea we were getting VIP seats.  talk about amazing. when they showed us where we were sitting i about died...right in front of him! at least it wasn't behind him!  anyway we got free beer, wine, soda, water, snacks, food all evening. it was awesome. poor Yao just wanted some peace but i couldn't resist so i got a photo.  yay!  jose got a photo with a super tall player after the game.  so exciting!  more photos in this album

high tide sunset in derby

a very high tide left the marsh sopping wet all the way from the ocean to well past our house. very impressive. and the sunset was a good one too.  if only it had been a full moon