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Our Australia Day weekend didn’t go quite according to plan, but it was great anyway.

The original idea was for Jayne and I, Bec, Kate and Damian to spend the weekend wakeboarding on Lake Mulwala. Paul, Catherine, Georgia and Lindsay were up there too, staying with Nicki and some friends in her fantastic Elsinor townhouse. We’d booked a povvo campsite at Shoreline next to some bogans from Lavington (probably), prepared ourselves for zero sleep on the Friday and Saturday nights, booked Monday off too, booked the dogs into a kennel in Seymour, bought some more camping gear and planned to leave early on the Friday.

Then last Sunday when I was casually looking at used Subarus on the web I noticed that the maximum unbraked towing weight for our car is 500kg. This was a big problem, to say the least. Tasty weighs 780kg fully loaded and our car insurance policy says something like “we won’t pay your claim if when you’re towing you exceed your car’s specified limits”. I thought the Suby’s max weight was 750kg, and consequently was towing with 1/3rd of a tank of fuel and minus the safety gear and ski pole (in the car instead). All the times we towed her anywhere since November (which is plenty) our car has been uninsured - and so was Matt anytime he towed her. Lucky nothing happened.

So we had a choice: get mechanical override disc brakes fitted to our trailer for $1200 (which ups the Suby’s towing limit to 1400kg), buy a new trailer with brakes for $2,500, or buy a new car. Tough choice. The trailer’s sound enough, so buying a new one seemed like overkill. On the other hand, throwing $1200 at the trailer seemed like a lot of cash, and we were planning to upgrade the car later this year anyway. Hmmm.

Whichever we chose, the weekend of wakeboarding with our friends was 98% unlikely, so we cancelled with them on Wednesday night. Then on Friday morning, when Jayne and I were on our way to Melbourne to test drive cars (we thought we may as well use the weekend productively), we decided to go to Mulwala anyway - without the boat - so we turned the car around, loaded up and went. We knew we’d get to see Paul, Catherine, Georgia and Lindsay, spend some time in the sun, and if we were lucky we’d get a couple of runs in behind Nicki’s new boat.

By the time we were on our way out of Geelong again the incoming traffic was awful - it was backed up to Little River. Lucky we were going the other way.

We had a smooth run around the worst and most dangerous and hoon-filled road in the world (the Western Ring Road) and up the Hume to Seymour, where we dropped Maxy off at Pam-purred Place kennel (friendly managers, relatively cheap and there’s a dam for swimming). We arrived at Shoreline at 5pm and 30 minutes later we had the tent up, the bed made and were down at the waterfront with a beer. Nice.

We walked 900m to the Lake Mulwala Hotel for dinner (order the flathead tails if you go - superb), drained a nice bottle of Michelini Pinot Grigio, then had a couple of pots and tried to snag a mystery bet on the dogs. Eight races and $24 later we gave up and wandered back to the campsite to watch the sunset. We had a few more beers out of the esky and chatted for hours, and I reckon it was those extra beers that helped us sleep through the inevitable noise and unrulyness that makes camping on Australia Day weekend what it is.

Altogether quite an Aussie Australia Day, which is just the way we wanted it. Thinking about it now we didn’t sing the national anthem or fly a flag, but we did cheer at someone who was holding an Aussie flag while he was waterskiing, so that’s close enough.

The next day the cockies woke us at about 5.30 (if that isn’t Aussie I don’t know what is), and we dragged ourselves into Yarrawonga for a lazy breakfast and a wander up the main street before visiting everyone at Elsinor. The water was terrible - a 50 knot gale and 3ft swell, so no boating - so Jayne and I took Georgia and Lindsay for a drive around the lake. That’s not a short drive, by the way. 100kms or so via Corowa, Wahgunyah, and Bundalong.

Dinner for us was at ClubMulwala - the RSL Club. Bad bad bad. Long queues, a long wait for food and mediocre food when it arrived. Maybe it was the Australia Day weekend crowds but I don’t think we’ll be back in a hurry. Then home to find the neighbours’ music pumping and rowdy bogans everywhere. Bad bad bad. Jayne somehow got to sleep at about midnight but I think I finally dropped off at about 4.00. And yes, then I was awoken by the cockies at 5.30. And yes, let us say no more about that night.

Sunday was much better. Although I was grumpy we knew we were heading to Bundalong with everyone for a ski. It was still fairly windy but we had a great afternoon. Georgia nearly got up on one ski, Lindsay easily got up on two skis without the bar, and Jayne and Lindsay had a big stack on the airhead. Here are some photos.

A good day.

Today was almost as good. Jayne and I packed up and went to Elsinor for a swim and relax with everyone before Paul took us out for a wakeboard. This first photo is of what happens to Lindsay’s hair when the boat’s doing 55mph (check the speedo).

Altogether a great weekend, even though it didn’t go quite as planned….!

***Update***

Paul rang us late on Monday night to tell us that Georgia and Lindsay both had a go at wakeboarding and loved it. Can’t wait until we go with them again.

I never thought I’d write a post about the weather but it’s been raining hard here all day and we’re loving it. I reckon it’s rained three or four times in three months, so today’s consistent rain is just what we needed. Everything smells beautiful (except Max) and looks clean again.

Shame for Rob, Nic, Hayden and Renae, though. They’re probably sitting in their caravan reading books at the moment.

Had a great time wakeboarding on Corio Bay the other day. Johnboy was first, got up first go and was starting to carve it up but his massive clodhopper feet are too big for the bindings so he stopped after two runs complaining of cramp.

Damian and I also had some good runs but John’s uncle-in-law Maurice was the star. He’d been talking up his slalom skiing prowess since he found out I owned a ski boat last weekend - apparently in the 70s him and the boys used to head out to Burrumbeet or Learmonth near Ballarat to drink tinnies, wear stubbies and ski and barefoot all day. He even told us about the stunts they used to try, like the skier going way out wide, level with the boat, then the boat turning behind the skier. Crazy.

He must be pushing 70 now, but he had a crack anyway and while he didn’t quite manage to get up on the slalom ski he had a go at the wakeboard and was up first try.

Nice work Maurice!

Here’s a shot of Mum, Dad, Ray, Pauline and Jayne at our house the other day all reading a Monkey Mia honeymoon post from Simon and Bek. I promise it’s not a set-up, they really did this.

… I’ve been slack. It’s January 10 and I haven’t posted since last year. Well I’ve been busy. Lounging around on the beach, trying (and failing) to wake up before 6am to go to work, and things like that.

Anyway, what’s happened in the last 14 days?

Our New Years Eve weekend was great. Adrian, Nat, Jon, Brittany, her friend Maddie, Matt, Jacqui, Oliver, Johnboy, Bec, Kate and Damian all stayed with us for a few days (not to mention Ned, Fred and Lenny the dogs), and we all had fun playing golf/boating/wakeboarding/walking at the beach/playing Singstar/drinking wine, beer and sparkling/resting etc. It was mentioned that it felt like we’d hired a beachhouse for the weekend (which was a nice thing for Jayne and me to hear, as the beachhouse feel is what we want from our house.)

Then last week Jayne had to go back to work. I, meanwhile, sunned myself on Ocean Grove beach. Shame (for her). Whilst on the beach sunburning myself on one of those 30deg+ days I decided I’d get a bit more serious about a starting up a little web agency this year. Watch this space.

On the weekend just gone my brother Simon married the lovely Bek. It was a great day and evening, and now they’re on their honeymoon in Monkey Mia enjoying the sun, the dolphins and the serenity.

My Uncle Ray and Auntie Pauline (Mum’s side) are over here too, so it was good catching up with them briefly last week and at Sim’s wedding. This week they’re touring the Great Ocean Road with Mum and Dad but they’ll be back to see us here in The ‘Long on Friday arvo.

Today we came home and went straight down to the beach for a swim. We didn’t eat dinner until 9.45 but who cares? I hereby declare that swimming in the ocean of an evening makes you forget all about what you did during the day (in our case, worked in the city). May there be many more evening swims this summer.

So while I haven’t posted in a while it’s not because I’ve had nothing to say. It’s because I’ve had no time to say it.

Here are a couple of photos of NYE. Haven’t got any photos of anything else. We keep forgetting the camera.

Matt Corbett, proud to be Blue Jacket Masters Champion for 2006 following a handy round at Curlewis…

Jon and Matt rockin up MTV…

Johnboy really wants to sing, but Bec won’t let him …

And finally, the hosts belting out some Tina Turner. Note Jayne’s casual hand-in-pocket singing style …