We had our usual Christmas party last Friday which included a cruise to Rottnest Island. There was some confusion as to where the meeting point should be, as it was different this year, because the map that everyone was provided with included an erroneous address. Luckily, and I think I was the only one, I looked at the map and went to the meeting point instead of the address given. That was lucky. One person missed the trip altogether because of this and we had to wait for a few others to make it.
The trip to Rottnest took about 40 mins and was reasonably smooth. Once we'd arrived it was time for the sunscreen and don the snorkelling gear. The temperature was supposed to climb to 37C in Perth but only reached 34.5C although it was a little cooler on Rotto. A number of people went snorkelling at the nearby reef. I saw a groper that was about two and a half feet long and on the way back to the boat two fish that were some four feet long swam in front of me. That sent a shiver up my spine as I've never seen fish that large before.
The water was about three metres deep but boy was it cold when you first got in. After a couple of minutes you forgot about the cold. One of my colleagues lent me a set of fins and I found it amazing how much faster I could swim. Mind you, the calf muscles didn't enjoy the additional strain.
The menu for lunch included steak, sausages and some chicken with salads as side dishes. Nice to have a BBQ in summer on the back of a boat. Then we took the inflatable to the mainland so that the annual beach cricket could take place. There were some very funny moments where people went to take catches and ended up falling over into the water. Just wish I'd gotten that on camera.
The trip back to Fremantle is usually eventful and it was no different this day. Normally somebody throws up but that wasn't the case. One lady decided that she would dance her way to the toilet. Then the boat lurched to one side. If she had been half a metre closer to the toilets she would have been over the side. No kidding. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she crashed into the seating and already had a huge, nasty bruise by the time we landed some 15-20 minutes later. She was lucky.
Christmas Party '09 on Rottnest Photo Album on Facebook.
Showing posts with label boat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boat. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Earthquake In Melbourne - Earth Moves In Perth
I read about the earthquake in Melbourne on a friend's blog before I heard about it in the news. So, the earth moved in Melbourne yesterday. Well, it moved in Perth today.
We have decided to lay some turf in the backyard. No longer are we content with clumps of grass that die off over summer. No siree. We want expensive lawn that dies off over summer.
I braved the mozzies this morning to lay the rooster booster (fertiliser) early as I had booked a compacter from Carlisle Handy Hire at 8am. Not a good idea to start your preparation only an hour and ten minutes earlier. I spread the fertiliser then mixed it in. Followed this with lots of soil conditioner and watered that in nicely. Then The Boy and I went to the shop to collect the compacter. Gee, it was a heavy best. A sign on the compacter said to use ear muffs but I swear it was louder with them on than without them. The machine was so easy to use I let junior have a go. No better way to get him interested in helping his old man than letting him use some heavy machinery.
We wacked the soil three times to get it fairly compact, ready for laying turf which is due to arrive on Wednesday. Then the real fun begins. Being a Sunday, which is now our swimming day, and the handy hire was right near one of the pools that we use, we dropped off the compacter and headed to the pool. After a shower we jumped in the pool. The Boy swam a total of 33 laps (16 1/2 Olympic swimming pool laps) and I managed 52 - a mixture of mainly breastroke, some freestyle, couple of backstroke and one butterfly. Surprised myself a bit there with 1300m. Then we mucked around for the next half hour.
Back home for some lunch and thought it would be a good idea to take the boat out for a cruise on the river. It goes at least 50m on the remote which was very impressive. After a while, when Yu-Jin was chasing a duck, it became snagged. We went to the bank on the other side of the river, where it was so humid and the mozzies attacked with amazing ferocity (felt like being in a rainforest), we couldn't reach it. I had to go home and put some old shoes and overalls on as I had to enter the water to rescue the boat. When I came back there was a bit of an audience. They watched me splash about in the water as it was quite a bit deeper than I expected. At least they gave me a round of applause once I had completed the rescue. Talk about soaked though.
After a nice warm shower and tea The Boy and I had a couple of games of chess. He's just joined the chess club at school and needs the practice. I won the first game easily and then he destroyed me in the second game with his queen. I was down to three pieces against about eight. He even got a pawn to the other side and collected a queen but, unfortunately for him, I had positioned my king to take it. I then cut loose with my queen and we got down to him with a king and me with a king and queen. Unbelievably the game ended in a stalemate.
Not bad for my one day off!
Facebook Photo Album - Preparing For Laying Turf.
We have decided to lay some turf in the backyard. No longer are we content with clumps of grass that die off over summer. No siree. We want expensive lawn that dies off over summer.
I braved the mozzies this morning to lay the rooster booster (fertiliser) early as I had booked a compacter from Carlisle Handy Hire at 8am. Not a good idea to start your preparation only an hour and ten minutes earlier. I spread the fertiliser then mixed it in. Followed this with lots of soil conditioner and watered that in nicely. Then The Boy and I went to the shop to collect the compacter. Gee, it was a heavy best. A sign on the compacter said to use ear muffs but I swear it was louder with them on than without them. The machine was so easy to use I let junior have a go. No better way to get him interested in helping his old man than letting him use some heavy machinery.
We wacked the soil three times to get it fairly compact, ready for laying turf which is due to arrive on Wednesday. Then the real fun begins. Being a Sunday, which is now our swimming day, and the handy hire was right near one of the pools that we use, we dropped off the compacter and headed to the pool. After a shower we jumped in the pool. The Boy swam a total of 33 laps (16 1/2 Olympic swimming pool laps) and I managed 52 - a mixture of mainly breastroke, some freestyle, couple of backstroke and one butterfly. Surprised myself a bit there with 1300m. Then we mucked around for the next half hour.
Back home for some lunch and thought it would be a good idea to take the boat out for a cruise on the river. It goes at least 50m on the remote which was very impressive. After a while, when Yu-Jin was chasing a duck, it became snagged. We went to the bank on the other side of the river, where it was so humid and the mozzies attacked with amazing ferocity (felt like being in a rainforest), we couldn't reach it. I had to go home and put some old shoes and overalls on as I had to enter the water to rescue the boat. When I came back there was a bit of an audience. They watched me splash about in the water as it was quite a bit deeper than I expected. At least they gave me a round of applause once I had completed the rescue. Talk about soaked though.
After a nice warm shower and tea The Boy and I had a couple of games of chess. He's just joined the chess club at school and needs the practice. I won the first game easily and then he destroyed me in the second game with his queen. I was down to three pieces against about eight. He even got a pawn to the other side and collected a queen but, unfortunately for him, I had positioned my king to take it. I then cut loose with my queen and we got down to him with a king and me with a king and queen. Unbelievably the game ended in a stalemate.
Not bad for my one day off!
Facebook Photo Album - Preparing For Laying Turf.
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