It is great to finally be home at Koroit - I feel like Lyn and I have been halfway around the world over the last six weeks.

We were in Gosford when I did the last post - from there we went to Sydney and visited my other brother Andrew, his wife Annabelle and the boys, Nicholas and Charles. We haven't seen them for a year or so and they are all looking terrific and the boys growing like mad. They are very busy with Nicholas now at Scots as a dayboy and both boys into every conceivable sport and juggling it all around work as well. Lyn and I never really experienced that after primary school as both our kids went away to boarding school so it was all pretty easy. We had a lovely few days with them and it was great to catch up over the odd bottle of red.

We then moved over a suberb or two and visited one of Lyn's brothers, Graham and sister in law Anne in Turramurra and stayed with them for a couple of days. Again, it was great catching up with them as it has been a year or so since we have seen them as well. Unfortinately now, the only time all the family seem to get together is for weddings and funerals, so Lyn and I decided that because we only get away once a year we would make the effort to catch up with all the family that we don't see regularly. While we were there with them we visited Mal and Margaret Ferris, a lovely couple we met at the Cliff Richard concert and spent a lovely morning with them - it was great to show off some opal as well. We hope to meet them next year at Tamworth for the Country Music Festival as they are mad country music fans and have never been up there.

We finally got away from Sydney and headed to Canberra to see the kids - this was all uncharted territory for us as neither of us have been to Canberra. We stopped for lunch at Berrima, a little place off the highway and had a job getting away as the history of that little place was amazing. We wandered around there for a couple of hours and had lunch in the pub there - built in 1834 and has the longest continuing licquor licence in Aust - it has been built onto now but the old original stonework and bar has all been restored, it was a fantastic place and we ended up stopping there again on the way back - definitely worth a look if you are going down that way, and a terrific feed as well. Finally got to Canberra and see Tammy, Trent, Bailey and Noah - they have settled in there well after the move from Toowoomba and are in a very nice Defence Force home with Bailey's school only a few minutes walk away. Trent has settled back into work down there and is enjoying seeing some of his old mates as he was originally based in Canberra before going to Toowoomba. He is on shift work now and includes night shift as well - all 12 hour shifts so it has all been a bit hectic for them trying to get into some sort of routine with Noah, but they all look terrific and and are enjoying settling in.

Tammy and I got into setting up the Ebay selling as she is going to do that for me for a while before going back to work. She is pretty smart on all of that and got it all going in half the time it would have taken me. She is also selling other peoples stuff on Ebay as well - that came about from a casual conversation with one of the other mothers at school and she now has others ringing up every day wanting her to sell unwanted items for them. There is a little business in the making there for her while Noah is a baby and child care is scarce. Anyway, we got things going on Ebay with the rough opal and have sold a few lots so far - the main aim in selling on Ebay is to get buyers to the website and that is starting to work already with some enquiries coming in from all over the place including Germany and Switzerland.

We didn't get much time to do the tourist bit in Canberra but the Paris masters artists were being shown at the Art Gallery so we did go and see them - it didn't do much for me but Tammy and Lyn loved it. We will be back down there in October for Noah's christening and I will definitely be spending time at the War Museum while we are there.

It was back to Diamond Beach for a couple of weeks on the beach which we both enjoyed immensely. On the way back we had to make a detour out to the Hunter Valley Gardens to drop of some opal to a little shop there and we ran into some old friends from our early Wanaaring days - Steve and Karen Lofts were there when we first went there in 1985, Steve was the teacher at the little school. It was a great surprise and we spent a night with them at their lovely spot in the hills out from Clarencetown before heading back to the beach. Steve is still teaching at the local school and Karen is now an accountant with an incredible job with a huge American mining company - they both look great and are enjoying life and we enjoyed our short time with them immensly.

We have made the decision to sell our little spot at Diamond Beach - it is a long way away and we seem to be only spending a short time there each year and we both feel we can have a similar holiday each year here on the Qld coast somewhere - it is a reluctant sale as we both love it down there but the fees are going up every year and it really is quite expensive for the short time we are spending there. We have met some great people there and will miss seeing them each year but life goes on.

We finally made our way back to Caboolture for me to pick up the ute, Lyn headed back to Ipswich to visit her sister Kay for a couple of days. For me it was into brisbane to pick up parts for the Catand other bits and pieces I need for this year. I then went down to see Graham at the Gold Coast and loaded up a generator and a heap of other stuff - I sure had a load to go home with but the six wheeler handled it with little effort as usual. Lyn and I met in Toowoomba and after a monster days shopping for groceries and meat we finally headed home.Milo was sure excited to see Lyn again even though Mitch and Zara looked after him like he was there own.

It was amazing to see the amount of green feed on the way home - being away we missed all the rain and flooding that has happened out west - there was water still laying everwhere and feed up to the fences - it is truly amazing to see how the country out here changes with some constant rain, you just wonder where the seed has come from after years of drought and the place looking like a desert - nature is incredible and I have seen it many times living in the outback but it never ceases to amaze me - it really is something that you have to see to believe. I finally got back out here to the camp - there has been quite a lot of damage on the road and still plenty of water in places but everything at the camp was terrific - plenty of green grass around which is a change but on the whole it was easy to settle back in after 3 months away.

Graham arrived out with a semi load of gear over Easter so we have both been busy doing maintenance on our machines and checking over an old Mack tipper that Graham bought to help us move some dirt - it had been standing for 7 years without turning a wheel so we had a couple of days going over it but it seems to be ok and hope it will do the job. We will be moving the two excavators down to Gernots this week and hope to make a start shortly so by the time I get around to the next post we should have some opal out - that is the plan anyway!

Lyn and I had a great Easter out here with some friends from our Wanaaring days - Mal and Judy Howchin had the Post Office and telephone exchange for a number of years and are now based in Gulgong and are heading off for a 6 month stint on the road around the Top End and called in for a few days over Easter. It was great to spend the time with them and I think Mal just might spend a bit of time up here mining- he wanted to stay longer but they are meeting other friends in Mt Isa and had to head off. It was great to see them and good luck to them on their trip - it is something Lyn and I would like to do and probably will if and when we sell Diamond Beach.

This post has been a little long winded but I wanted to catch up on what we have been doing - we are now back to normal with Lyn busy catching up on her work in town and I will be back into the mining and enjoying the year out here - it really is nice to be back amongst the peace and quiet in my little spot in the bush. The days just don't seem to be long enough though with plenty to do but if I can't get it done today then tomorrow will do - it certainly is a lifestyle that I have come to enjoy.

Photos this time include a couple that Jan took at Gosford when she and Lyn visited their parents memorial and the four of us enjoying a red one night.

At Diamond Beach the resident carpet snake visited quite often and a lovely sunrise over the beach.

Sure had a load on the ute as usual when coming out from Toowoomba and plenty of green around the camp.

Mal and Judy Howchin at Easter and heading off on the road for 6 months.

The Mack tipper that Graham bought out and the machines ready to go to work.