Yes, I am still around so thought it was about time to put pen to paper - nothing to do with a few people letting me know that they have been waiting for the next post!

All went well with the changes to our beach shack at Diamond Beach - we got the old van out with little fuss, it took longer to clean up all the old rubbish stacked underneath it than anything else - I didn't think so much rubbish could be put in such a small area. The new van went in without a hitch and looks terrific - it was in very good order inside, plenty of space and storage and will suit us for a long time to come. We were a little concerned as to the condition of the van as I purchased it off the net, but we are very pleased with it and it is great to have that island bed. At the same time our paving man was there to put pavers down under the carport and across the front of the block. He did a great job and was very patient with the boss - he was obviously very used to things wanting to be changed along the way. Anyway, Lyn was very happy with the job he did so we are all happy!

After everything going to plan with the van we were really looking forward to the China trip. We got down to Jan and Pete at Gosford on the Thursday and were to fly out on Saturday morning early. Our plan was to stay in Sydney near the airport Friday night to make things easier for Sat. morning. Luckily for us, we were still in Gosford on Friday morning when the bad news came. Jan, who had a lot to do with organising the tour, got a phonecall from the boss of Golf China, our travel agent, to say he had gone into liquidation the afternoon before and the tour was cancelled. There was a mad panic to contact all 30 odd people as most were getting themselves to Sydney that day - Dad had actually just ordered the taxi in Noosa to take him to the airport for his flight to Sydney, so I just caught him in time. We were all bitterly disappointed with the cancellation and it turned out that the boss of Golf China was a big noter amongst the golfing fraternity and had spent our money sponsoring golf tournaments here there and everwhere. The worst part was that because of the liquidation we are having big trouble getting our money back - our travel insurance won't cover it, but, we do have one more avenue and hopefully we will recoup some of it. We have certainly learnt a couple of valuable lessons from it - pay with a credit card and don't stint on travel insurance. Jan has started organising a tour for next year so Lyn will still get to see China.

We had two weeks to kill so it was easy for us, after a few days with Jan and Pete getting over the shock, it was back up to Diamond Beach to enjoy our new camp. Jan and Pete and two of their friends, George and Tosca, hired a cabin at the park and came up for a week. It was most enjoyable, catching a few fish off the beach and a couple of games of golf as well. There was a pod of whales off the beach every day which was great to see. It wasn't quite the holiday we had been looking forward to but all in all, we made the most of it and enjoyed the break.

The last six weeks have been flat out looking for the elusive gem, moving plenty of dirt and digging myself further down. I have been keen to go back to an area where I had drilled up some trace last year, it was at 30 ft and a little out of my reach for a while but I have finally moved enough dirt in that area to get a look at it. The bottom of the hole at present is at about 15 ft or 5 metres, so to reach the level with my small machine, I had to first make a bench to sit the machine on, so first job was to shift about 2 metres of dirt out and then make a ramp down to that level. There was not a lot of room as the photo shows but it was worth the effort - there was a small area where I got some quite nice colour. It didn't last long but I will cut about 70 nice stones from it as well as selling some in the rough - a good finish to what has been a pretty lean year. I have now finished the mining for the year and am at present just filling in deep holes and putting a bank around the main holes to keep the water out. I will not be back until March next year so the few days left before Xmas will be spent finishing the cutting left to do and closing the camp down.

We are going to Toowoomba to spend Xmas with the kids then up to Noosa for New Year with Mum and Dad and Mick and Louise. Mick wants me to help him for a month or so on his macadamia nut farms at Caboolture, then Lyn and I will head for Diamond Beach to enjoy the beach for a few weeks before heading back to work. We really enjoy Diamond Beach in Feb as school holidays are over and we nearly have the park to ourselves, we have tried staying there in Jan but it was packed out and not that enjoyable for us oldies.

I hope everyone has a good Xmas and all the best for 2009 - it is going to be an interesting year.

Images show the changes at Diamond Beach, enjoying good company with Jan, Pete, Tosca and George, the areas I have been mining, some nice stones we have for sale at present and one of our great sunsets to finish the year.