Ragtime cowboy Graham

Me in my usual jolly mode as Mrs and Mr. Le Blade and others will quickly recognise,I think I may have had a couple of drinks,it is exceedingly difficult to type upside down but I am persevering. G'Day Diggers!

Me on the beach

You may think this is me at Mablethorpe,but no! it is me at Denham on the shore at Shark Bay,not quite top coat weather is it?
my condolences to all you readers wintering in colder climes,but you should have saved your money in you're youth as I did and you too could live the jet set life.G'Day Diggers!

Back East

We are now back in Queensland and much wiser about certain aspects of Australian life,we had an educational couple of weeks in West Australia with Debbie, Crocodile Mick and family seeing much more of life over there thanks to their showing us around and arranging lots of stuff. Here in Queensland it is totally different with lots of greenery and much more densely populated,in fact it seems like a different country,but has its own attractions.
Sheila has just gone into the pool here at Sam the pom's and tells me its glorious,I think it will be considerably safer than the billabong and shark bay which was our last swimming place at the town of Denham.
Last night we were picked up from the airport by Michael and Sam the intrepid coaches and taken to a sports complex where we had a nice dinner and a few drinks while they put the team through its paces,tonight I am going to a pre season friendly match where i am told I will be the bottle man passing drinks to the players,but not Crocodile Mick's home brew,Ian Le blade please note I am part of the squad.(nearly).G'Day!!

Wretched at sea

Sadly no photos today but if it helps my american reader,captain Mick took me sea fishing today ten miles out into shark bay,sadly after catching a couple of fish and feeling a little sea sick I chucked the rod onto the deck and said I was bored, in fact I was sea sick but did not want to admit it,he twigged the problem and kindly suggested I have a sandwich,which kind offer I declined with an expletive followed by off,relenting on seeing my dismal physog he showed his compassionate side and sped off for the wonderfull terra firma of carnarvon,on embarking with the words of "let me off this flipping thing" I sat on the jetty a while to retch,later we went home where I took a while to recover,now it is evening and champagne and red wine have healed the wounds,so as you see it is not all wine and roses here in western australia.
Tomorrow we depart for Denham for two days where we are led to believe you can swim with the dolphins.

Western Australia Billabong

Swimming in a billabong in the bush,the water was like a hot bath.it makes you homesick for a little snow,hee hee. G'DAY

WILD WEST AUSTRALIA

What a bloody place!its the wild west come to life,dirt roads characters by the bucket load,and real friendly generous people,the blokes like a bit of repartee,and its a "ripper" mate,hot weather 41c yesterday up in the bush,boozing with the landlord of the pub(pictures to follow)then on the way back swimming in a billabong on the gascoyne river,only after I asked about crocs did mick tell us there are none but a few water snakes may be encountered,but it was so hot we did'nt care.
Weather is scorchio and we both love it,sorry about that you poor snowbound poms.
Le blade would like it here as the boozing starts at breakfast time!!!!!thats it so G'DAY.

outback

Sheila, Crocodile Mick,and an outback billabong in 40 degree heat no snow here,Graham

More Hardship in Queensland

This morning up around 5am to the avian dawn chorus and me and Sheila had a skype conversation with Gina and Andrew,luckily our international IT consultant came good as we were having problems mailing he tested out our system from the other side of the world and solved our little problem with good advice.
After an early morning swim in the pool we had a nice bacon sandwich as we were all out of chia seeds,and now I am sitting with Michael as he sips his green tea after doing a job or two in the house,as I type two young blond ladies waved to us out of a passing boat but we rejected their advances already being spoken for.
Sonia and Sheila have "found" a market during their shopping trip to buy a large fresh fish for our dinner party tonight and Sonia has phoned Sandra to give her the information,so it could turn into a "money saving" trip.
The ladies have just returned with a fish of a species unknown to us and some prawns which I am told we are having grilled on skewers,with perhaps a few white wine or champagne libations to accompany them.
Last night Sandra and me had a long conversation(well I listened a bit more than I spoke),but this was a nice change for me, and with that I bid you good day.

Chippy Tea & Chardie

Here we are in the balmy climes of OZ,though it is not as hot as I anticipated,but very pleasant considering the poor weather in England and quite acceptable.
I have now done my first deal with Sam the pom and convinced him he has come off best but in reality he is once again the loser in a financial contest,however it is not entirely complete and fingers crossed,when we finally shake hands and payment is made I shall remove my gold watch just in case.
As I was writing the blog Gina and Andrew came on skype and we had a video conversation but speaking in hushed tones so as not to wake the rest of the house was a little difficult for Sheila,so we showed them dawn breaking in queensland through the bedroom window via the webcam and decided to speak later when it becomes light and the other residents are up and about their duties.
To all my fans in the UK my commiserations on your sufferings due to the inclement weather
and as Sam the pom says it must be like living in his beer fridge,after which comment he breaks out into hysterical laughter and says,"see look how lucky you are to be here",not sure I know what he means?!!!!
Last night we went with S&M to the chippy for a chippy tea OZ style which is quite pleasant,after ordering you find a table and wait till they are cooked ,all the while sipping on a cool al fresco chardonnay ,I had john dory grilled cajun style which was much nicer than I anticipated,Sheila had four large prawns grilled on a stick and all this accompanied by a gargantuan pile of chips,in fact on Sonia's advice we ordered one portion,I have never seen so many chips,with that I wish you all G'Day for now.