Fishing on the Swan River

So as blokes we have now added one more good "aussie-ism" to our belt and all become expert fishermen! As I had a day out with Marc, Glynn and Ollie fishing on the Swan river because the boys all got fishing rods and gear from Santa this year.

Armed with expert knowledge from books, the internet and some odd pieces I knew from various fishing trips over the years (thanks Dad). We were pleasantly surprised when after randomly chosing an area of the river up in the swan valley up by Glynn's we actually caught some fish..... Now as the old saying goes "size doesn't matter", especially as we were concentrating on technique, tackle and bait, so 5 fish in our first outing will do nicely.

Being good responsible fishermen we let them all go (as you will understand when you see the pictures) after identifying them as Black Bream.

So a successful trip and one step closer to justifying our boat that we are going to buy between us, some time before we retire ;o)

Last minute preparations and Christmas surprise deal

Here we are getting jobs done around the house and Janice cooking up some delights for tomorrow. A lemon cheesecake delight (which is really an excuse to use some of the limoncello liquor) and scotch eggs, tasty but not the regular christmas fare you're probably thinking..... well we had to add something different as Sue is doing the usual christmas goodies!

And had to share an unexpected "Christmas came early" surprise for us today and one to support the old "shop around" idea. We recently (as in a few days ago) bought a new LCD TV, very nice, good deal, all happy. Until we see that the same TV would have been $90 cheaper, arse!

I called Good Guys and told them we had seen it cheaper and they said they had a price match policy, as long as I brought in some printed proof. Being an old british sceptic I was very suspect of this, so I did what any respectable man would do.... and sent my wife in to do the deal! Then I get a message from her saying that not only did they price match it she walked out with $100 in cash, winner :) So thanks Good Guys, we'll shop there again.

Ready for Santa (or Father Christmas...)

So finished up work a bit early today which gave me a chance to get home ahead of Janice, wrap her presents and put them under the tree. So I'm all ready for the big day tomorrow.

Will be good to have a proper break off together, as the last time we did was when we were on our trip back to Canada and the US, which was a lot of travelling with not much relaxing time. Unless you count 30 hours on a plane relaxing....

Looking to get a dive in over the next few days too, which will be a good idea as it's looking to hit 40 degrees on Monday and Tuesday!

I'll leave you with a view of the tree and Happy Christmas to all :)

Seafood fest

A great evening with everyone round for a feast of crayfish and abalone. Went down really well with everyone, including Ollie who got really into the legs! Then back to his zombie bashing....

Was good to have everyone round to see the decorations and our place set up for Christmas too and looking forward heading round to Glynn's for christmas day.

Only one more "two-thirds" day left of work and then off for 10 days.

Time for a final glass of wine to finish off the night.....

And of course the star of the show was "Portly the Penguin" and extra points if you can spot me starring in the picture....

After all these years.....

I know I've been in the world of computers for many years, but never had the urge to write a blog. But as everything gets more connected and mainly to keep friends and family up to date with my antics I thought was about time to start, so here goes.....

And why not, when it is nearly Christmas and the time to spread some good will to all, even if I can't be there in person for most people. Having our first christmas here in Australia for a while and the first in Perth is proving a bit strange to get into the spirit of things. But it is being helped by our "real" tree which we had a fun time cutting down one very hot sunday morning out in the Swan Valley (and we hadn't been drinking any of the wine there at the time, honestly!).

Looking forward to the break over Christmas and our visitors coming in the new year. And we're starting the festive parties with a seafood feast this wednesday with the mob, including abalone and crayfish caught by my own fair hands! You've got to make the most of living by the sea after all :)

Anyway, to use one of my favourite quotes "That'll do pig, that'll do" for the first post.

Those of you that know me will be surprised by the lack of photos. I promise to make up for that in future posts or if you can't wait you can always check out my picasa site which I regularly update: http://picasaweb.google.com/philbackinoz