Result! Fox approves.....

Little Fox was happy with the blocks and cart...

'Look aunty Carol, I can stand'

'These blocks are great'

'I love these blocks'

Merry Christmas Everybody

Shopping Surprise

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY

My new Blog

Inspired by Diane's Diary of her trip from UK to Australia, I too have began writing the story of my arrival in Australia from Switzerland in 1967, in a brand new Blog:

From Thun to Brisbane

That's it - The finished project

Nearly there..

Nearly finished. Just need to attach a handle to push the thing

What is it?

It's getting closer

What is it going to be???

So far, no one has guessed it right, so here are another two pictures....

More pictures tomorrow - keep guessing... Sorry Colin no Chateauneuf du Pape, maybe a can of Solo.

What is it going to be?

I went shopping for some timber and accessories. Can anyone guess what I am going to make?

My grandson will be a great musician

My grandson Fox is trying his hand at music, from Karlheinz Stockhausen to Richard Strauss...

Sonya and Bernie are getting married

Sonya and Bernie are getting married in December. Of course Bernie's celebrity status attracted the celebrity mags. OK! Magazine picked up the story and ran with it. Marry ME screamed the headline. Fox took it all in his stride.

(Click twice on the pictures to enlarge to read)

We're flying south on Boxing Day to the event, together with Carol-Ann and David. In January, the newly-weds fly to Los Angeles for Bernie'a auditions. A bit sad for us but if they decide to stay, we'll have a new holiday destination for next year.

Dream on McDuff

I always wanted to be an engine driver, I finally made it.

Photo George Jacobson

I wonder where it'll take me....

A rainy Day in Sydney

We're in Sydney this week and took a ferry ride to Darling Harbour in the rain. It still is an amazing city.

Good Evening

Last night, we went to see a very funny show starring Shaun Micallef and Stephen Curry. Stephen is Barnard's brother, which makes him our daughter Sonya's brother-in-law. They are playing in Brisbane at the Powerhouse Theatre.

The show, based on Dudley Moore and Peter Cook's show 'Not Only But Also' which delighted TV audiences in Britain and here between 1965 and 1970. 

After the show, backstage, Stephen introduced us to his co-star Shaun Micallef, well known for The Micallef Program, Theatre Sports and The honourable Wally Norman.


Stephen, of course is well known for his movies, The Castle, The King, The Nugget as well as the TV show Frontline and for hosting the AFI Awards in 2008.

To find out more about 'Good Evening' - Click Here

2010 Melbourne Cup

French jockey Gerald Mosse, piloted 'Americaine' first across the line to win this year's Melbourne Cup.

A proud Gerald Mosse

Americaine way out front towards

the finish line

A couple at a personal Melbourne Cup

Party

A 'fun' film

I just cut a trailer for a new blockbuster film that should be out in cinemas.

Local U3A Camera Club

A few weeks ago, Diane and I were asked if we would tutor the brand new Logan University of the 3rd Age Camera Club. So every second Wednesday, we gather with a group of like-minded amateur photographers and camera persons where we help each other and learn from each other.

The first meeting at the Logan North Library

The second meeting was an outing to Underwood Park

for a photo shoot

My grandson Fox is visiting

While Bernie, his daddy, is in Los Angeles, Sonya and Fox, together with aunty Carol-Ann jumped on a plane to come up for a visit. We just love having them here. So at the moment everyone is working for the man:-

More Chateauneuf du Pape

We have visitors. Both our daughters have come up from Sydney to stay a few days with our grandson Fox. To celebrate the four of us being together, I splurged out on a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape, well, it's been a while since both of them have been here together. You'll see lots more pictures, especially of little Fox.

Cheers and good health!

Nectar of the gods

Butchard Gardens, Vancouver Island

Someone asked me the other day about Butchart Gardens and if we've been there. So I cut this little clip together of some of my footage while we visited the Gardens.

More about the Banff Springs Hotel

The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is a former Railway hotel constructed in the Scottish Baronial style. The original hotel was designed by American Architect Bruce Price and was built between 1887 and 1889 by the Canadian Pacific Railway at the instigation of its president William Cornelius van Horne.

During the construction, van Horne discovered that the builder had accidentially built the hotel the wrong way around so that it turned its back on the mountain view. In 1906 it was decided to completely overhaul the building, replacing much of the original structure.

In the Attrium Restaurant

Stain glass windows in one of the function rooms

The great hall

On the terrace enjoying a glass of wine

During our recent stay at the Banff Springs Hotel, Dave Mobart, the Customer Relations Manager gave us a private tour of the hotel. Here he is below talking about one of their most famous visitors, none other than Marilyn Monroe.



Flight to Taku Lodge

From Juneau we took a floatplane flight over several glaciers to the Taku Wilderness Lodge for a salmon lunch. The flight was spectacular and so was lunch at the lodge but the best thing of all you'll see 1.38 minutes into the video. My personal highlight of the whole trip.

On the Rocky Mountaineer

On our recent Canada trip, we traveled from Banff to Vancouver on the Rocky Mountaineer train. One of the best train journeys we have ever taken. We started up in the mountains traveling down the valleys to Kamloops where the train stops and we stayed at a hotel overnight. Next day we jumped back onto the train which took us through arid land to Vancouver.


For more details on this fantastic train journey - CLICK HERE

In New Idea Again

Our daughter, Sonya her partner, Bernard Curry and grandson Fox have been in New Idea magazine again last week. Bernard will soon be hosting the second season of Beauty and the Geek Australia on Chanel 7. That and the birth of their first child has sparked the magazine's interest. If you remember, they appeared in an earlier issue when Sonya was pregnant.

Little Fox is just the cutest grandson anyone could possibly have, maybe I am biased.

White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad

We just returned home from our Canada/Alaska trip. In Skagway, we went on a trip on the famous White Pass/Yukon Railroad. I put together a small video, sorry about the sound. I'll try to fix it.


Cheers,


Bill

We had visitors

Sonya and Bernie came to stay for a couple of days with Fox, our grandson. He is a lot bigger than when we saw him in Sydney a few weeks ago.

A new Door Bell

For some time I've been sick and tired of replacing batteries on our door bell. You put new ones in and the thing works for a few weeks only to stop again. So now I went hunting for an old-fashioned manual door bell.

I found a solid brass bell which I've now installed at the front door. See how that goes. Oh and I have super-glued all the bolts and screws.

I like it. I just hope we can hear it everywhere in the house.

If not, they have bigger ones.

U3A Camera Club Outing - Part 2

Following from the last blog post, the U3A Camera Club then went next door to Underwood Park and visited the Chung Tian Buddhist Temple. A fabulous venue to let a bunch of amateur photographers lose.  After snapping the numerous statues in the grounds, Helen, a member of the Temple showed us trough the various inside rooms and eplained the philosophy of buddism to us. Buddhism is not a religion, it is a way of life and members live by the code Buddah (the teacher) teaches.

The statues in the entrance were fascinating our members

John and Bill in action in the entrance

Another intricate shot

Helen explained the philosophy of buddhism

Standing Buddah

One of the rooms inside the temple

Another room inside the temple

Barbara plays the large bell at the Chung Tian Temple

U3A Camera Club Outing - Part 1

I went on an outing today with the University of the 3rd Age (Redlands) camera club. First we met at the Underwood Park for a walk around, then we had morning tea and afterwards visited the Buddhist Temple next door.

John is concentrating on the bird life on the pond.

Noisy Myna

A Cormorant

A log

Irish Bill in action

Aussie Bill in action

A handy tripod

A white duck

Another tree tripod shot