100th Post: Where's The Blog?

I'll admit I've been slack. Looking back to the last post (August 19th) you'd think that nothing has happened in my life. On the contrary, plenty has happened but not quite enough to prevent me from blogging. Hence the admission of slackness.

So what has happened since we bought the Hyundai? Well, the first thing that happened ( a week later) was it broke down! The central locking system gypped out and we had to get RACQ to tow the car back from the shops, and then get an auto-electrician to cut the after-market central locking out. Bummer. The car is still running OK though.

We've had a batch of visitors come to stay - the first was Rae's parents, John and Megan, who paid us a month long visit in September. They spent a few weeks enjoying time with Oscar and the city, and we all went to stay on Moreton Island to bask in the sun and splash in the sea for a week. Jason, university friend/best man/Oscar's god father came for an evening but unfortunately I was away on a rig for a week. Ang and Paige, friends from Indonesia and now living in New Zealand, came for a week and the little ones had a blast catching up.

In other car news I am now the proud owner of a Mitsubishi Pajero GLS NH. We bought our second Aussie motor just before Christmas, and after getting the fuel gauge repaired and the tyres replaced it's fine for fun, and I plan on spending the occasional weekend on the beach with the gang.

There's probably more to type about, but leaping ahead to last week: We had a lovely Christmas with a family that Rae and Oscar had made friends with. We went to South Bank for a picnic/BBQ next to the water play area, and Oscar wore himself out. We left early in the afternoon as the sun was climbing, and spent the rest of the day lazing at home. Plenty of Skype calls between aunts, uncles, nannas and grandads were made that day! Oscar's birthday, with an equal amount of Skyping, followed Christmas Day with a garden pirate-themed party for the kids and a BBQ for the grown ups.

In coming news, we will be swapping Hamilton (I'm fed up with the birds waking me up at stupid o'clock, and Rae and Oscar are sick of the trains at the bottom of the garden) for Nudgee during the Australia Day long weekend towards the end of January.

Car Boot Sale

Yesterday we took the plunge and bought ourselves a car. It was the first time we'd ever bought off the lot and to make it more special The Car Mine had an official Big Australian Icon - the Big Boot - sitting on top of the showroom.

It's a Hyundai Lantra "Sportswagon" and will do us nicely. Body work is fine, mileage is 50% of what it should be and it smells a little doggy inside.

Snakes On A Rig

Last week while out near Miles I was driving from the camp to the rig site and saw a rope across the road. After pondering the mystery of a big piece of rope wiggling across the track I reported the snake to the toolpusjer and then went about my day.

A couple of hours later I saw the same piece of rope but this time it was inside the rig's perimieter - in fact it was in the middle of the lease and about 5m from me. I got the attention of the same toolpusher who stopped all the work and scared it away.

Where's Samuel L Jackson when you need him?

Gone Bush Again

Tonight I'm up in Emerald, smack dab on the Tropic of Capricorn, looking for the Wizard. There's plenty of Oz around me so he must be close by. Tomorrow, after a spot of shopping to pick up supplies and materiel for the crew I've come up to visit, I shall be driving onwards to Dingo where I will stay for 2 nights before returning to Brisbane. While I am here I'm hoping to see a sign along the road for the Tropic of Capricorn (good chance because the road I'll be driving on is the Capricorn Highway).

Nothing else to report except I saw the biggest, scariest wasp carrying a 3cm long centipede in its - for lack of a better word - talons. I will admit to experiencing a moment of fear when this behemoth flew right up to my face to check me out.

Hey You Guys!

Last weekend Rae and I had one of those rare Oscar-free evenings when Heidi volunteered to babysit to give us a night off. And as luck would have it the Tribal Theatre had a Goonies retropacum on so we went to see our favourite film in the cinema for the first time ever. It had always been on TV previously, so to see the big screen 35mm original version was so awesome I wanted to go up to the balcony, pour fake vomit onto the audience below and make a "hurrrr, hurrrr, hurrrhhh!!!" noise. Check out Rae's blog for the full and frank review.

We. Are. In!

The Beckett's are firmly ensconced in their new home in Brisbane. You can read Rae's write-up or browse the pics below to learn more.

From left to right - living room (with Indonesian furniture), dining area (no table yet - shipment #2 due Aug 25th), master bedroom (Oscar says the duvet is a bit girly), Oscar's bedroom (presenting his very first bed of his own), the kitchen (appliances care of Gumtree, K-Mart and Big W) and the sun deck (with a proper Aussie BBQ).

A big thank you to Brian, Heidi, Max and Ewa for helping us move in, build BBQs and beds and (most importantly) distract Oscar

There And Outback Again

I'm a bit late in reporting my safe return to Brisbane. To bring you up to speed, following my 300km drive out to Chinchilla I then drove out through Miles and on to Goondiwindi, 270kms away. I met up with Aiden and the field crew who had been sent out there a week before, and overnighted at the Jolly Swagman. I drew the long straw and got the room with the jacuzzi but it was too late for a bath by the time I turned in.

The next day had an early start and a 65km drive out to the rig site. These csg rigs are way smaller than the offshore rigs I'm used to. Aside from the drilling rig (left) and shakers (right) there is a generator and two portacabins (aka donga) on site, and that's it. There's no accomodation as everyone eats and sleeps in Goondiwindi, and certainly no helideck. After conducting the inspection Aiden and I hit the road, eventually splitting apart at Milmerran after we had a coffee, some pies and a pow-wow.

I finished off the drive, losing the e-tag for the toll roads as I took a corner in Toowoomba, back to Brisbane with a grand total just shy of 1000kms and got in at 6:30pm - twelve hours later.