From Oz to Argentina

The Googsley comes to town!

2010-02-05T22:40:00.006+11:00

Spot the difference...

Baby Luk Chai - 350kg worth of baby!!

A typical zoo shot!

The ear piercing experience wasn't too bad. The woman did both at once and whilst she came close to tears, she managed to hold them off by jumping up and down a fair bit. Kind of cute really!

The zoo was fun though we got pretty wet. The gorillas were in fine form though in the rain. Discovering things Charlotte reckons she's never seen before, ie. travelators and green cordial!!

Nikki and Roger's wedding

2010-02-05T22:32:00.005+11:00

Notice the bridesmaids - Catherine Chong and Jen Kam!

Some pics from the College ball

2009-10-18T17:30:00.005+11:00

The mafia and Miss Fiji 2009.

Sydney turns red

2009-09-23T17:05:00.002+10:00

A big dust storm hit Sydney this morning and everything turned red! It's everywhere!

Boy watching telly with his dad.

Some more pics

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Very cute kids!!

Doylie and the big tuna

The local market

Some of the conference delegates

In town

Solomon Islands

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The view from our balcony.

At the conference

Fred and the lovely girls

A very cute baby elephant for you Ellie Gell

2009-07-16T23:23:00.002+10:00

Fun with Iss Iss

2009-07-16T22:50:00.003+10:00

Car wash excitement!

Yum cha...jealous Julie? James has also taken to wearing his new sunnies indoors!

Jamesy seemed to be catching flies all day!

If it looks like James was stopped its because he was! Not quite heavy enough to go the whole way!

Anybody for coffee?

2009-06-02T08:14:00.002+10:00

He didn't want a coffee...

and he didn't want a wedge...

he just wanted to sleep...

Funny shaped man

2009-06-01T08:55:00.001+10:00

Matthew Joel Thompson

2009-05-31T21:15:00.003+10:00

Argentina - Part 5

2009-02-15T21:54:00.002+11:00

Picnic day.

Martin and Rob (CMS Qld) on the "Vertigo Extremo"! 60 metre drop.

Excited people on the plane to Iguazu Falls.

You can't tell but it was absolutely pouring rain in a big thunderstorm here. Needless to say, we were a bit wet...

Argentina - Part 4

2009-01-22T12:39:00.003+11:00

The view from our balcony at Los Cocos (where we celebrated Christmas).

More Los Cocos. It really was very pleasant.

Meeting one of the locals. The man holding the snake is Maurice, one of the regulars at the Anglican church and VERY knowledgable about all the Los Cocos flora and fauna. He used to be the gamekeeper at Iguazu Falls National Park.

Iss Iss and the kids. The girl on my right is Maddie, daughter of Rob and Jenni who are missionaries with CMS Queensland.

As you can see, we take our sport VERY seriously!!

Argentina - Part 3

2009-01-20T12:52:00.004+11:00

Charlotte with some of her school friends.

Ellie doing her stuff at a gymnastics performance. She was one of the best in the class. Very agile!

Lachie with his championship winning soccer team.

Since arriving in Argentina, Charlotte has opened her own chain of clothing stores!

I thought this was pretty funny. Fragrances for men and women - Kevin or Prune. Always wanted to be dry and shrivelled!

Argentina - Part 2

2009-01-20T12:32:00.003+11:00

Trying to pretend to be Argentine by drinking "mate'. It's marginally better drunk with ice and lemon juice...

Water fight!!

Middle of the water fight. It was heaps of fun but man, were we soaked!

Some little school boy I found in the park.

A very cool sculpture in Buenos Aires. It opens in the day and closes at night.

Argentina - Part 1

2009-01-20T12:17:00.004+11:00

"Survivor" Argentina style! Welcome Huttons, Thompsons and Fields. Thought I'd put up a bit of a photographic documentary of my time in Argentina. Hope you enjoy!

Where's Wally?

This is Charlotte post hair straightening...something she desperately wanted but thankfully realised was pretty feral!!!

The current Field residence...but not for long!

Middle of Buenos Aires. Very nice city, has quite a European feel.

Mookie and Dave's wedding

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A few events

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ECU dinner - the graduating students!

Josh and Chelsea's engagement party at St Judes.

The College Ball

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Shaz and Craig's wedding

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More pics from Marilyn's 70th

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A little bit of musical entertainment...

A little bit of not so musical entertainment...

Marilyn's speech - almost entirely in French!!

Blowing out the candle.

A touch of France

2008-07-20T00:07:00.002+10:00

Well it was a great night. Your video went down an absolute treat! Much hilarity. Here's the girls in their pink aprons. Very classy!!

And Jamesy in his pink spotted cummerbund!

The new girl of Peebles Road...Rebecca, complete with French moustache!

Meredith went to heaps of trouble and the place looked really nice. I hadn't seen the new house before but what a transformation. It looks fantastic!

Thought you might be interested in the dessert table Julie. It was very impressive.
Stay tuned for more photos next time.

Ariah Park

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Good looking bunch aren't they!

Jamesy wanted to show his muscles. Then of course all the others had to as well!

A wedding, a pregnancy and some lovely lambies!

2008-07-18T21:10:00.004+10:00

These photos are a little old but now that you've got the internet back I thought I'd stick them up for you. Jodie got married a couple of months back and Bernie is a lot more pregnant now. I think she must be pretty close to delivery date actually. The poddy lambs at Tim and Lauren's were gorgeous. Over the three nights I was there Tim brought in 6 lambs and 5 survived. Lauren had this little coat for the newest one to keep it warm!

South Africa - Part 8

2008-05-11T22:08:00.003+10:00

I reckon this guy looks like he's smiling. He really is a happy hippo!

He's got beautiful markings don't you think?

I think this guy might only be a bit of a baby. Maybe it's a girl - Ellie Elephant!

This dung beetle was moving at an incredible pace across the road. Olympic speeds!

Not such a close up photo of this rhino but I like the picture anyway. Can you see his horn?

South Africa - Part 7

2008-05-08T16:22:00.002+10:00

Lion cubs! Aren't they cute! This is our tour guide Shane and one of his little friends. Just like big pussy cats really!

It was really cool getting up so close. They might have been small but they still liked to bite though! Pretty sizable teeth!

Check out the size of that paw!!!

Say hello to Mr Giraffe who was more than happy to eat tree leaves from my hand!

And then there was this guy who was quite cheeky...and pretty hungry too by the looks of it!

South Africa - Part 6

2008-05-06T16:45:00.003+10:00

After having my hair braided...

...and after taking the braids out!

The place where all the action is. The kitchen!

Some of the kids doing their homework in the dining area.

The basketball area.

South Africa - Part 5

2008-05-04T22:35:00.004+10:00

Some of the teenage girls from the Care Centre in Hillbrow. They were good fun. They loved playing with my hair and this is one of their "do's". I'll put a picture in next time of the braids they did.

Two of the gorgeous pre-school kids, Carrabo and Tandewha, with their pregnant bellies!

Not a lot happens at the Care Centre, so this is a pretty average day.

By far the nicest room in the place is the creche. Here the little ones are having an afternoon nap.

This is Carrabo who I would happily have brought home in my suitcase. Beautiful little kid who totally stole my heart.

South Africa - Part 4

2008-05-01T16:04:00.002+10:00

Johannesburg from different angles. Above and below are views from the Carlton Centre, the tallest building in Africa.

They say that Hillbrow is the most densely populated area in the world per square metre because of the huge number of squatters in the apartment blocks. Apparently each flat has up to 20 people in it. Add to that all the homeless people on the street and you've got a lot of people living on top of one another.

From another angle you see how many trees are in the city. I'm told Johannesburg is the third largest urban forest in the world.

Sunny Hillbrow at ground level...

A very regular sight all over South Africa. No wonder they have such a massive road toll!!

South Africa - Part 3

2008-05-01T15:23:00.002+10:00

Here's Pete at 'Lily of the Valley', an orphanage about an hour from Maritzburg. The kids loved us!!! They all came running and each person had two or three kids hanging off them...literally, in Pete's case!

This is how you do your grocery shopping for 114 kids!

This a picture taken in the Drakensburg Mountains. It's a very beautiful (and massive) mountain range and we were able to stay the night in some 'rustic' accommodation close by. We just had to watch out for the 'puff adders', who are short and fat but apparently quite venomous!

The view from the house we stayed in.

Some of the kids at one of the Backyard Bible Clubs we ran in Pietermaritzburg.

South Africa - Part 2

2008-04-30T17:14:00.002+10:00

This is the Christian pre-school that we went to in Edendale, a township outside Maritzburg. The townships are where the black people were forced to live during apartheid. Dodgy buildings with no electricity. This pre-school building is actually condemned but they keep using it anyway. Many people live in this township. Apartheid may be over but they are still as poor as ever.

Edendale.

This kid was very keen for me to take his photo!

This is Bec Frost and me with some kids in another township called Mpophomeni. We visited a hospice there which is run by the local church (there's quite a nice little tourist town near by). It was very sad talking to the ladies in the hospice. Their situation is much the same as many others in South Africa - husbands dead, themselves dying of AIDS and only very elderly, sickly relatives left to look after their children. The government doesn't have a good program to look after them, there's hardly any social workers, in fact I met the only one for the surrounding region. Busy lady...

I thought this was a bit of a laugh. Got to make sure those rhinos are well trained!

South Africa - Part 1

2008-04-29T22:38:00.004+10:00

Well here are just a few photos to give you a bit of a feel for my time in South Africa. I'll post more when I have time. Hope you enjoy them!!
The family in the photo is the Bruni's, who Dani, Rob and I stayed with in Pietermaritzburg. They were lovely...especially the girls' cute little South African accents!

Here's the rugby game we went to in Durban. The Queensland Reds vs the Durban Sharks. That's the first and last time I'll be going for Queensland Lach!!

This is part of the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal where we spent some time.

The kids doing their thing at church.

Our fearless leader...

Miss Annabelle Marion Margaret Bishop

2008-03-26T22:48:00.001+11:00

Introducing Samuel Luke Browne

2008-03-13T20:39:00.001+11:00

Here's the new bub. He's in special care following a few breathing issues (cord around the neck twice on delivery) but he's fine. Probably be out by tomorrow. Born on the 12th, the day after little Josiah Gadsby.

Something for the Ellie Gell

2008-03-12T16:27:00.002+11:00

These are Catherine's new puppies, born to Scout. There were only 3, 2 black and one white but you can see which one I thought was the cutest! Look at their funny squishy faces and fat little bellies! Only one had a name...I think it was Squidge or Splat or something like that. Hope you like them, oh and by the way, they're 2 weeks old.

Nanna and the big prawn!

2008-03-06T20:36:00.001+11:00

Nanna and Bob Bob came down for a visit and we went out for dinner at Sydney rowers with Emma and her parents. As you can see Nanna was well fed!

3rd year Houseparty

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We had a great time at Deer Park on our weekend away. As you can see watersliding (have you guys been on this one?) and dragon boating! Good fun!

My Birthday

2008-02-13T21:56:00.003+11:00

They've been saying at MAC that we ought to phase out door decorating this year, and after this effort, I think I agree!! Nah, it was lovely...very heartfelt!

I had a great day. A surprise lunch with a bunch of girls from college, I seriously had no idea. It was lovely. Complete with birthday cake and all. Then dinner with another cake at Emma's. I was very well taken care of. I even got a pressie from Jacko and Adele with a handmade card! Very swish.

Life in these parts has been a bit dramatic lately. Last week the Nando's chicken joint over the road from Barney's was blown up. Not sure of the circumstances but apparently there was a robbery earlier in the day. Then yesterday there was a fire at Broadway Shopping Centre next to Harris Farm. I don't know what it is about that area!

Today's big news is that Kevin Rudd officially apologised to the Stolen Generation. I thought it was a great speech, no excuses, just a plain sorry. I guess you probably read about it online.
Anyway, better be off. Thanks so much for the pressie and cards, love the bugs El!!!
Toodles!
Love Iss Iss xoxoxoxo

Found a new handyman wandering the corridors...

2008-02-06T20:00:00.000+11:00

Noonaweena with EM

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As you can see it's a tough life being in full time ministry! It was so lovely there, it's about 45 minutes up the F3. The weather was pretty awful but, as you can see, it didn't stop the boys getting into the spa! This little guy on the left hung on to the glass door for quite a long time. Kinda cute don't you think?

Ali and Evan's wedding

2008-01-28T15:29:00.000+11:00

4 weddings down, 1 to go in my 5 weeks in a row run! It was a lovely day. They got married up at Observatory Hill and had the reception at Manly Golf Club which was very swish.

Ray looked at this photo and reckons Nat looks exactly the same as she did in high school. I guess she does...apart from the 27 week baby bump of course!

Gadsby fun in Maitland!

2008-01-28T15:14:00.001+11:00

Lo Lo and I decided to cut all the grapes of their vine out the back because they were rotten and the balcony smelt like a distillery! Here she is with the big bag of insect ridden grapes!!!

This is Simon and his brother with Simon's new toy helicopter. It didn't seem to be doing what is was supposed to though... We went for a picnic on Australia Day to Lake Macquarie. It was a beautiful day. Very pleasant!!

Tamworth

2008-01-28T14:51:00.000+11:00

Bec and the kids under the big pig on the main street of Tamworth for the Country Music Festival.

I always think it's funny the places they find to put stages at Country Music. Here we are outside K-Mart!

We saw a great concert in the park one night with Lee Kernaghan (who became Australian of the Year the next day). Colin sang just after we arrived which was a happy coincidence! This is him on the big screen...couldn't get close enough for a proper look.

This is Penny and Clinton's lovely little house. Had dinner with them one night which was lovely. They say hello!

We found this one night after the kids had gone to bed! Never know what you might find climbing out of your taps!

Jen and Pete's wedding

2008-01-28T14:43:00.000+11:00

Summer School - Part 2

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Here's Jamesy driving the double decker bus. They changed the system around a bit this year so that the big kids got dropped off at the high school and the little kids got to take the bus over to the main site.

Here's Katie eating a meat pie... for breakfast!!

All the other kids had a funny photo so I asked Lizzy if she could do one for me. This is what she came up with. Very fashionable!

This is Clairey blowing bubbles in her drink at the flowerpot scone cafe. By the time she was finished I think there was more scone than drink in the bottle. Gross!!!

And my personal favourite... Marilyn trying to clean the bottom of a burnt saucepan by boiling water and bicarb soda... til it was overflowing! Meredith made her put it back on the stove to bubble up again so that we could get a good photo for you!

Summer School - Part 1

2008-01-14T13:20:00.002+11:00

Summer School was great as per usual. There were heaps of people. Apparently there were about 1100 kids in the children's program each day! They said it was a record. Everyone was of course asking after you all. You were even prayed for on the last day with all the outgoing missios, as those who left before Summer School!!!

Anyway, these are some general photos and I'll stick some individual ones in the next post.

By the way, in case you didn't guess... Aunty Mary won...

Grant and Nadine's wedding

2008-01-14T13:08:00.001+11:00

Hi guys! Here are some pics from Grant and Nadine's big day. It was a great chance to catch up with people...a few unexpectedly. The guy who preached was one of my old primary school classmates!

NYE 2008!!!

2008-01-01T02:15:00.000+11:00

We watched the 9pm fireworks from the Cahill Expressway. It was pretty cool to stand in the middle of what is usually a busy road!

This little boy obviously wasn't too keen on the noise from the fireworks. Kind of reminds me of someone else I know...

For the midnight fireworks we went across to Milson's Point. We tried to go into the Botanic Gardens but it was closed because there were too many people in there already. Milson's Point was packed too. We literally ate our dinner sitting in a ditch, but it was a ditch with a view so that was ok!
Ross and Emma rang. They were in Brisbane and it was raining. Apparently the fireworks on the Gold Coast were cancelled because of bad weather.
I hope you guys have a great night. 2008 doesn't start for you for quite a few hours yet. Did you know they're holding a party in your honour here tomorrow. I took a photo of the entrance gate for you.

Anyway, Happy New Year! Talk to you soon!
Love Iss Iss

Christmas Day at Nanna's

2007-12-30T15:44:00.000+11:00

Here are some pics from Christmas day. Do you like Sammy's ribbon? He didn't! I think he was all worn out from the festivities! Looks like Bob Bob and Emma's dad were too!!

Jakie and his girlfriend

2007-12-30T15:23:00.000+11:00

Here's one for you Jakie!!!

Hi guys!

2007-12-30T14:57:00.000+11:00

Well I've finally got around to starting up this blog. I hope you like it. I wanted to put lots of photos but they're a bit slow to download. I'll put as many as I can!

I saw a movie yesterday that Googie and Ellie Gell would like. It was called "Enchanted" and had a princess in it. When it comes out on DVD I'll see if I can send a copy.