Female Red-Back on a broom handle...IN OUR GARDEN

Near-Death 3: Red-Back Spider 10cm from potentially my Bottom

Yesterday Andy hosed off all our garden furniture as Carol and Ian are coming round for Easter tea and we haven’t cleaned the chairs for a while. It was then that he spotted a big female Red-Back spider, along with a couple of egg sacks there. The Red-Back is related to the Black Widow, and is the most dangerous spider in Australia. How wonderful if all the eggs had hatched too!! The spider was right under the back of the chair and the size of it would almost certainly have injected a deadly amount of venom. Reassuringly though – no deaths have been reported since the introduction of an anti-venom in 1956.

A Black-Headed Python outside our house, complete with tyre marks

THREE NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES

Near-Death 1: Swimming with a 17 foot Crocodile

Ben and I went to Blacks Beach in North Mackay, Ben went for a swim and I paddled in the sea as we walked along. The beach was closed for swimmers but I thought that was due to the Irukandji Jellyfish (deadly and very small) that had been spotted in Mackay recently. After returning from our walk, we were just getting in the car when I overheard a man tell his wife in the next car, “The beach is closed due to a 17 foot crocodile being spotted by the lifeguard” – which would explain why the police and lifeguard were stood looking out to see when I returned from our walk.

Near-Death 2: Black-Headed Python 10 metres from our Garden

As I came out of the house the other day for my walk to work, I noticed a long thing in the road just across from our driveway. For a place that has lots of snakes, there are so many things here (tree bits usually) that look like snakes so I am used to ignoring the panic rising in me. On this occasion however, on closer inspection the long thing turned out to be about a 5 foot long snake!! Fortunately, it had been run over and wasn’t going anywhere (but I didn’t take any chances when I took this photo, I’ve seen the films!). Initially I thought it was a Brown Snake which is the second most venomous in Australia, but I checked in my book and it was a python. Pythons kill by constricting rather than venom, so that’s alright then?!? Ben would have copped it if it had made it into our garden!

When it rains it pours…

Moranbah for the last year probably got as much rain as Manchester does in a day. It is so dry out here that the children learn that the grass is yellow at school and water restrictions are part of everyday life. People here we’ve noticed have become rather obsessed with rain and water, they love rain – which is odd for a start when you’ve been brought up in England, but also everyone knows how many millimetres fell and what percentage full any of the dams are around here (usually 3%). So, you can imagine when it does rain it is an exciting event that is worthy of people at work leaving their desks to come to the windows and doors to witness it. Comments such as, ‘We’ve needed this’, and ‘let’s hope this goes on for a while’ are brandished about, as Andy and I are begging the sun to come back out! Well, there have been a few occasions where we have welcomed the rain just for a bit of a change from being wet from perspiration.
Recently we had almost a whole week where it didn’t stop raining, it was so strange as the grass gradually turned green and the bush land started to grow overnight. The cane toads love it, they are out in force croaking away, and the mossies are rubbing their disease-infested legs together with glee as they know they can get some breeding done in these moist conditions.
The most extraordinary spectacle of all though occurred during my daily afternoon walk with Ben which takes me next to the Grosvenor Creek, the main creek in Moranbah. People were driving up there in their cars, bringing the children, cameras were out and there were crowds stood by watching as the creek overflowed and flooded the banks! It was great, even I joined in and raced home to get Andy and my camera. The image here has probably not been witnessed for about 10 years in Moranbah, so appreciate it!

The cutest baby girl in the world...Lucy

Hayley and Lucy at South Bank Lagoon/Beach

27-29th JANUARY 2007

BRISBANE WITH HAYLEY AND LUCY

After months of planning, I was going to Brisbane to meet up with Hayley for the first time in almost 2.5 years! An added bonus was that she was bringing her 7 month old daughter Lucy with her who of course I have never met.
The purpose of our trip was to have a girl’s weekend in Brisbane and catch up on each others lives whilst shopping for wedding accessories.
It was one of those daft moments in the airport when you haven’t seen someone for a while and you see someone who looks nothing them coming through customs and think, ‘is that her’? I was looking at so many people wondering if it might be, but obviously when she and Lucy arrived I recognised her instantly.
It was so good to see Hayley again after such a long time and it was great to meet the adorable Lucy who stole my heart straight away! We were staying at the Hilton due to a good internet deal and it was in the perfect location right in the middle of the shopping mall. There was a lovely swimming pool there which we took advantage of as soon as we got there, the best refreshment after a long flight from New Zealand.
Lucy was really really good but she did demonstrate her vocal abilities a few times – I would never have guessed such a tiny human could make such a noise!
We ate out by the river that evening and had a delicious meal and wine.
The next day we managed to find some gorgeous shoes, a veil, necklace and Hayley treated me to some beautiful earrings to wear as well. We then had a lovely walk along South Bank to the lagoon. It is amazing to see a whole beach area, complete with lifeguard in the centre of Brisbane! It was great and Lucy had a paddle in the water too. It was a very productive day and we were certainly ready for another gourmet meal that evening. The following day we went to the wedding dress shop that stocks my wedding dress, and I was able to try it on so Hayley could see me in it which I was so pleased about as she will be unable to come over to the UK for our wedding.
Before we knew it, it was time to leave each other, it was so sad to say goodbye after a really fantastic few days in Brisbane. Andy and I will definitely be heading to Christchurch later this year when we have saved some pennies, to see Hayley and Paul and also to do some travelling around New Zealand.

Daz and Anna-Marie with 'old mate' in the Sapphire mine

16th JANUARY 2007

RUBYVALE – Sapphire Fossicking

Daz, Anna-Marie and I headed off to Rubyvale while Andy was at work to see if we could make a fortune sapphire fossicking. Rubyvale is a good 2.5 hour drive so we got there early afternoon and signed up for the underground mine tour. A very eccentric old lady was our tour guide and gave us an amusing insight into how the Sapphires are formed and how the mines work. After this we got our buckets of gravel and were taught how to fossick and spot the sapphires in amongst many other worthless colourful stones that try and lure you into thinking they are valuable. We ended up each finding several small sapphires, Daz found a good sized one that can be cut and made into jewellery (for Anna-Marie).
That evening was our last night together and Andy made a fantastic meal for us all. The next day we drove into Mackay and dropped Anna-Marie and Daz off at the airport and waved them a teary goodbye, they flew to Sydney and then home the next day.

Our New Years adventure was over and it was back to lots of hard work and saving money ready for the pending wedding.

Anna-Marie showing her skills on the green

Daz and Anna-Marie with some kangaroos in the distance (see below)

The kangaroos

15th JANUARY 2007

MORANBAH – Bowling and Golf with the ‘roos

After showing our guests around the sights of Moranbah we had a great game of lawn bowls at the Bowls Club! It was a very hot day and the locals thought we were mad out in the sun. It was a fierce battle and Andy won in the end on the last ball to regain some dignity after the pool defeat! After that we went straight to the Golf Club, hired a couple of buggies, packed the beer and some clubs and played golf until the sprinklers came on and the sun went down. It was good fun - I think I even managed to hit a few. We had a great sighting of a group of kangaroos in the grass near where we were playing, only in Australia!

View from Cape Hillsborough

14th JANUARY 2007

CAPE HILLSBOROUGH

We took Daz and Anna-Marie on the Cape Hillsborough initialisation walk, it was a lovely day but very hot. The views were, as always, stunning making the steep climb to the top worthwhile. No snakes were spotted though, just lots of geckos, lizards and spiders to keep us on our toes.

Daz and Andy - before

Daz and Andy - after (they reckon they both blinked...hmm!)

Us all in the Irish bar

Andy's brother Gary flew in to do a spot of DJing

After the long sleepy journey back to Airlie, we went out again that evening for a nice meal and drinks.

Me and Anna-Marie on the boat to the reef

George the enormous Groper under the platoon at the reef

Reef and fish

The next day was an early start for our trip to Reefworld. It is a long journey out to the reef, about 2.5 hours on the boat. It was however a perfect day unlike our last visit with my family last year when it was so rough even the crew of the boat were being sick! The water was totally still, excellent snorkelling conditions and we made the most of it by heading straight into the water after getting kitted up in our glamorous stinger suits. It was unbelievable, there were fish everywhere, and the visibility was excellent. We saw loads of different fish, including lots of Parrot Fish chipping away at the reef. The highlight of the day was right at the end when a turtle swam right past us and we swam with it for a while! We also got to touch and swim right next to the resident Maori Wrasse which is huge.

Daz recieving his $50 prize for winning the pool comp

12-14th JANUARY 2007

AIRLIE BEACH AND REEFWORLD

After Sydney, Andy and I headed back home to Moranbah whilst Anna-Marie and Daz did some sightseeing around Brisbane.
We met up again a few days later at Terminal 6 of Mackay ‘International’ Airport and drove up to the legend that is Airlie Beach. The plan was to have a fairly quiet night on the first night as we were going to the reef the next day. We had nice meal and then went to the pool competition where Daz became the new champion, beating Andy in the process. The Yorkshire rankings now are:
1) Daz
2) Andy
3) Sandy

Me exchanging dead-eyes with a shark

How cool is this - manta ray going over the top and a shark next to me!

We didn’t actually swim around the aquarium, we moon walked, we were weighted down so that we just walked along the aquarium floor (avoiding any rays and one huge shark lay on the bottom!) The great thing was that Andy and I could see each other the whole time so he could share in my experience. It was incredible, enormous manta rays just gliding over our heads and then we were in the shark zone. It was weird because instead of being scared it was quite an awe-inspiring experience, just watching these huge sharks slowly gliding past watching you was amazing. At times they were literally heading straight for us and then they would turn at the last minute, other times they would swim right over our heads. The turtles were great too swimming really closely past us! We were in the water for a long time, I think an hour altogether, and were able to just stand and watch all these creatures going about their business. Andy took photographs from the other side of the doughnut – how I wish we had a proper camera, but these have not come out too badly.
I came out exhilarated and totally rid of my hangover! It was a brilliant birthday present (thanks Andy!) and one which I definitely won’t forget!

Me!

After ticking ‘No’ to questions such as ‘Have you consumed alcohol within the last 12 hours’ and ‘Are you suffering from a hangover’ my fear worsened, and to finish it off I had eaten some of Andy’s tuna sandwich before I went in so felt for sure the sharks would smell that.
The experience was amazing, we had lots of safety talks about scuba diving and what we would be doing in the aquarium, the guide walked us around the aquarium (it has a big doughnut tunnel in it that visitors can walk around and see the marine life (and scuba divers) all around them) and showed us the sharks, manta rays, sting rays and turtles etc that we would be meeting. The sharks were actually Grey Nurse sharks who apparently don’t eat anything bigger than their mouths - although they had plenty of teeth so I wasn’t going to be taking any chances.
We got into our wetsuits (cue one of the most embarrassing moments of my life as the male guide had to hoist the suit over my bottom) and got our tanks on and then we were off.

Manta Ray

Two Grey Nurse Sharks waiting for breakfast to arrive

Turtle swimming over the shark

I must say that on the journey there I felt very very ill, I put this down to the copious amounts of alcohol drank the night before along with the sheer terror of knowing that in an hour’s time I would be submersed in an aquarium with sharks and stingrays – both of which are known to be a little clumsy (oooh –sorry mate I could have sworn you were a seal) and a bit precious about their personal space being invaded.

6th JANUARY 2007

30 years ago on this date, ‘When a Child is Born’ by Johnny Mathis drifted from the radio stations, the Sex Pistols were dropped by EMI records and a little bundle of joy was born at Fulford Hospital (now the site of the Designer Outlet in York, how apt!).
Yes, that little bundle was named Helen and she grew up to be the light in her parent’s life (or is that the bane of my parent’s life, dad?!!).
Yes, the dreaded momentous occasion had arrived and I stepped drunkenly from my twenties into a rather hung-over beginning to my thirties.Now, there are many theories about how to cure a hangover, and everyone has their own special method, whether it be hair of the dog, a fry up or a herbal concoction. I can now recommend the very best way of curing a hangover, tried and tested on the morning of my birthday…go diving with a few 6-8 foot sharks!! Andy completely surprised me by booking me the best birthday present ever - a shark dive ‘extreme’ package at the aquarium at Manly in Sydney!

Simon, Hilary and Andy W

Daz and Anna-Marie

The flags are flying

There was a free BBQ and the drinks were flowing, before I knew it, I was there leading the chant of ‘Everywhere we go’ and jumping around like a crazed fanatic! The big flags came out and it turned into a full-blown English knees-up – the Queen would have been proud, we even sang the national anthem loads (even though it was directed at the Aussies with the adapted line of ‘Long to reign over YOU’). We have some fantastic photos and footage, thanks to Anna-Marie’s photography/Video skills – the most amusing of which you will have seen at the top of this page!
There is even better footage available of us (Andy) getting home from that evening however I’ll save that for a rainy day.
Thanks to Andy, Daz, Anna-Marie, Andy W, Hilary and Simon for the experience! (Give me a D…)

Statue with the Ashes!

The HQ

Me, Andy, Simon, Hilary, Andy W, Daz

Anna-Marie and the Monty Panesars

After the last game finished, we headed off to the ‘Official Barmy Army HQ’ at the Henry Henry bar. We just planned to go for a few drinks and then be back for tea… well they say that the best nights are the unplanned ones, and I have to say we had one of the best nights I’ve had for a long time! Loads of England fans congregated there, including the Monty Panesars who watched every game in full Monty attire. Within a few hours the whole bar was singing all the Barmy Army songs for one last time, there was banter with some Aussies who braved it to sit in there and be entertained and anyone walking by on the street.

Captain Ponting with the final scoreboard

England clapping the Barmy Army

Australia doing a tour of the pitch

Langer and Hayden together for the last time

Langer with the Ashes trophy

Jimmy - the face of the barmy army

The players did a full tour around the pitch at the end and then the ground started emptying and we knew that was it, and the Ashes wouldn’t be back in Australia until 2011. We witnessed a bit of history – seeing Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath’s last ever bowl in test cricket and the emotions of watching them leave the ground for the last time - two of the best bowlers ever to play the game coming to the end of their professional careers. Justin Langer also retired after batting to the end of the game.
It was well worth the excruciating 4-5 hours I spent on the computer and phone trying to get the tickets and I can’t wait for my next game – sadly not now in the Caribbean, where England are facing the Australians again very soon!

McGrath bowling

Lee 'Keep your arms straight when you bowl'

Warney doing one of his last ever test bowls

KP - mmm

The last day we didn’t even get to warm our seats up as England rather unceremoniously went out. It was fitting when the trumpeter in the crowd played the Last Post and then all us English were singing ‘Living on a Prayer’ when we needed to get every Australian wicket before they scored, say, 38!! However, the Amry kept on singing until the bitter end and the Aussies were very quiet, just managing a few chants of ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy’ which were fired straight back at them in a squeaky voice, along with ‘You’ve only got one song’ and ‘5-0 but we’re having a laugh’. One of the fun bits at the end was the Army doing a ‘Monty, Monty give us a wave’ and so on to each English player – they kept singing it until they waved, and then went on to get Hayden and Langer who were batting and then the two referees to wave, very amusing!!

View Day 2

View Day 3

We were lucky in that we managed to have excellent seats for each day we were there, all with a different perspective of the ground.

The Barmy Army

Anna-Marie, Daz, me and Andy

The Borat's - getting kicked out, good comedy value

As the game warmed up (quite literally as well – we were roasted in the sun with nowhere to hide), the alcohol consumption increased, having a direct effect on the Barmy Army’s singing abilities. They launched into their first song a few hours into the game and after that were just the best entertainment I’ve experienced! Before long we were all singing and clapping along and gradually learning the words to the anthems and chants. Apart from the Barmy Army area (of around 1000 I’d say) the rest of the ground was a mixture of English, Australian and other supporters. At a football match I can imagine this would cause absolute chaos and fighting, but here it was just really good fun. There was a lot of banter between us and the Aussie fans but it was very good-natured and witty rather than aggressive. The songs were really loud and you can tell why the Barmy Army are referred to as the ‘12th Man’, the players loved it (the Australian players copped it though and I’m not sure Warney really loves his special song!).

Monty interacting with his adoring fans!


Day 1 is underway

It was an experience that is hard to describe unless you have been. From sitting meekly in our (excellent) seats on the morning of the first day and taking photos of the players warming up, we experienced the excitement of our first sighting of the stars of the show – Freddie, KP, Monty, Warney, McGrath, Ponting and Gilly to name a few. We phoned and texted people back in England to say where we were sat in the (vain) hope that they would see us (my description of me wearing an England shirt and red cap was like spotting a black and white penguin in Antarctica). Then the game began and I was captivated. Until the Ashes in England in 2005 I had never watched a ball being bowled, I then learnt about the game and the rules and have being the biggest fan ever since. To be there in person is so much better too as you are much closer than you expect, and when McGrath or Panesar came to field near us, it was fantastic – and they all really worked the crown, particularly Monty who would clap and gesture for the Barmy Army to make more noise. You really get to see the personalities of the players.

3 – 5th January 2007

THE ASHES CRICKET SYDNEY CRCIKET GROUND
I won’t go into the games themselves, or indeed the results of the games – at the end of the day we got beaten good and proper, but it really didn’t matter that much. It didn’t matter because, a: we are English and therefore as fans we are used to having high hopes, getting beaten and being bitterly disappointed and b, because the atmosphere was just so amazing with the Barmy Army there, we had such a good time and made fun of our ever-worsening defeat, we left that cricket ground with heads held high, vocal chords aching and a smile on our faces bigger than most of the Australian fans. I have never felt so patriotic in my life.