As the year ends.....

There are apparently 3 echidnas that live here and at least one of them likes to rustle around in the leaves around the van late in the evening. I tried to get a better photo but as soon as he hears a noise, he hides his face in the nearest tree or bush.  I think he believes that if he can't see you, you can't see him!

We went for a drive to Menindee when we had a day off and saw these gorgeous birds but I really need more practice with the camera :)

This is how hot the John Deere reckoned it was on Sunday 23rd December.  And it felt like it too!!!

We left Tandou after working that day, heading out about 15 minutes after we finished.  We drove home to Winkie that night and had a well deserved cold shower before sleep!  Leaving Winkie next morning, we went to Adelaide to catch up with the kids.  Although Callie knew we were coming, we surprised Josh and Kara just before lunch.  We spent the rest of Christmas Eve with them and Bun, Josh and Steven went shopping.  

This was the inventive wrapping that Bun used, 2 girlie posters from a Zoo magazine he found in Josh's shed!

Kara and Josh were wrapping a present for Steven in masking tape so that he would have a really hard time in the morning.

We slept in the spare room at Josh's that faces the back yard.  Someone was letting off fireworks and the dogs were scared but Boof managed to find where we were hahaha.  I think he's saying 'hey guys can I sleep with you?'

We took all four dogs down to Semaphore Beach on Christmas morning for a swim.  Only problem was the temperature, it was only about 18 degrees with the breeze!  I took about 5 photos trying to get everyone and all the dogs looking towards me but failed :)

We're nothing if not spontaneous.  After a very quick discussion, we decided to throw all the food, etc into eskys and drive back to Winkie.  Arriving just after 1pm, everyone got busy and we sat down to a casual Christmas lunch at 2pm.  The kids headed off to catch up with other family members in the afternoon and Bun and I went around the corner to see Sylvana and James.  We enjoyed a few drinks with them before getting to bed after 11pm.  Boxing Day saw us up reasonably early to see Patty and Marty as Patty had just finished night shift.  After that we went to Kate and Roger's for a late breakfast.  Then it was back to Mildura to stock up before coming back to Tandou.   It's funny how familiar it seems up here, even though we've only been here for 3 and a half weeks.  

This was taken at sunrise one morning, it was just a shame that we had to go to work.

I had some downtime the other day while the bosses did some 'bush mechanic' stuff on the rig and then they found that the hitch thingy (I'm so mechanically minded haha) was cracked and needed to be replaced.  They tried to blame me but the crack had rust in it so I knew it wasn't me LOL.  I told the boss that I was 'helping to identify maintenance issues'!!  On the up-side, I figure if I can wreck everything I touch, they will sack me and then I'll get to sit back in the van with my feet up and catch up on my neglected sewing :)

This was taken last night on the water that is only about 3 -4 metres away from the van. I was using the night scene setting on the camera for the first time.  The water was so still so the reflections were awesome.








Well I hope that 2013 is as awesome for everyone as I am sure it is going to be for us!! We have some plans in mind as well as some surprises in store later in the year but I am going to leave you all guessing about those.

Happy New Year to all our family and friends!!

Cheers from Anne and Bun