Father's Day

 It was great to have a visit from the family today on the occasion of Father's Day.  We had to have a photo of Team Pappy.

Basketball at Forest Hill

 The Forest Hill Shopping Centre has occupied some of the less used parking space with a new Basketball stadium.  We have been a few times now and the venue is always busy.

Cooper played there yesterday in a very close game.

My New Bestie

 I have been using the S30 Pro smart telescope for a while and was looking forward to the new S50 Pro that was released a few days ago.  I ordered it and (unbelievably) was able to collect it today.  It gives a narrower field of view and higher resolution. Of course, the weather for the next week is rubbish so testing may be delayed.

Adam's Birthday - The Final Chapter

 As a finale to Adam's birthday, we had a restaurant dinner with the family at "2Elements" in Ringwood.  Good food and setting made for a great night.  (The low lighting meant the best results were with monochrome.)

For afters, Sophie conducted a walking tour of the darkened corridors of Eastland to get us to "Yo-chi" for frozen yoghurt.

Adam's Birthday

We experimented with a new arrangement for the family gathering for Adam's birthday.  The only difference was that the main course was Pizza.  This arrangement seemed to work well and will probably be used again.

Tough Times

 I think I want to be a medical student when I grow up. Patrick and Eloise on another tough day, this one at the Med Ball!

The Years Roll On

 We enjoyed a family dinner last night to celebrate Adam's 53rd birthday.  With beautiful salad and lamb, some olive bread and a couple of stellar old red wines there is not much more you could want!

Cooper's Basketball

 We watched an interesting game yesterday.  Cooper's team were struggling early and in the second half the number of fouls they received mystified all the spectators.  In fact they played a lot of the second half with 9 fouls against them.  Despite that they drew level and finished with a draw.  An amazing result.

Farewell BT (Big Truck) 50

 As Pat is now centred around Melbourne Uni, the BT50 had become a little too demanding on space and fuel so it has made way for a smaller and more efficient Corolla.  The perfect car for his requirements.

A Lazy Lunch

 The numbers are declining but we still enjoyed lunch with our friends from our 1998 European Tour.  The Platform Pantry in Blackburn performed well.

Winners Are Grinners

 Lachlan's team were playing the top team yesterday.  Things did not look promising in the early stages but the boys fought back to come away with a one point win!

The close call meant plenty of wry grins as the boys finished an incredibly close game.

Another Birthday Dinner

 We had a family celebration of Brett and Mark's birthday weeks ago and it was only this week that we were able to take both families out for their birthday dinners.  Last night we celebrated Brett's birthday at Rubik's, a great little refurbished restaurant in Kerrimur.

Birthday Dinner

 We had the opportunity to celebrate Mark's (long past) birthday at Yassas Greek restaurant in Ringwood last night.  It was new (to us) and we enjoyed the food.

It was our last opportunity for the meal before Mark and Jack headed up to Queensland to undertake a bathroom renovation for Mark's sister. The building team were all kitted out in their new gear.

Nebula Night

 Nice clear nights may be few and far between in winter but they do allow the gathering of good astro images.  Two nights back I got nearly 4 hours of imaging on the Cat's Paw Nebula, NGC 6334.  This nebula is about 5500 light years away and 70 light years across in the constellation Scorpio.  It is at the tail of the scorpion.  The red is emission from the massive amount of hydrogen in the area.

Last night the conditions were not great but I managed to image The Lagoon Nebula.  Around 5000 light years away it is a giant emission nebula with very active star formation (white areas) and I even found some blue from oxygen gas emissions (lower right).

Investigating Lunch Spots

 In our never ending quest for a good lunch spot we discovered that the old "Enriks" in Blackburn had become the "Platform Pantry" so we had to try it out.  Due to the urgent purchase of a new vacuum cleaner we arrived for a very late lunch.  The verdict: Excellent!  Good location and lighting great food and service.  Our late arrival probably improved the quiet ambience of the place.

Tassie Tourists

 James and Angel headed for one of our favourite locations over the long weekend.  The Freycinet Peninsula in Tasmania has to be one of the most beautiful locations in Australia.  The wonderful sea food in the area is an added bonus.

Middle of Melbourne

 We decided to have a look at some of the central Melbourne attractions.  First up was the State Library which has to be one of the most spectacular buildings in the country.

Then we took a short train trip from the new State Library Station to the new Town Hall Station.

We had (an excellent) lunch at the iconic "Young and Jacksons" Hotel overlooking Flinders St Station and while there we had to see Chloe, another Melbourne icon.

Next up was a visit to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) a museum for all things related to the development of film and video.

Then back to Flinders St (seeing an old W Class Tram) to catch the train.  (Nearly more icons than we could handle!)

Entertaining the Inchleys

 Friends of friends bought a house at Doreen, a location we had never heard of so we decided to take a look.  It turns out to be a really thriving new development near Yan Yean Reservoir.  Of course for our visit, there was no vehicle access as a result of industrial action.

We consoled ourselves with an excellent meal in the (very neat)  Laurimar township.

We also caught up with Terry and Tricia who showed us around the Advent Care Estate near their residence.  It is a surprising little sanctuary in the heart of Nunawading.