Sunday, March 8, 2009

Villa Backyard

Some shots of the villa backyard which has been transformed over the past couple of months...the ducks have gone (they became too much of a nuisance and are now resident in Villa 11)...and a horticultural aspect has replaced them.

First of all a shot of the newly veiled tomato plants...they were going very well and had actually grown from seeds...until a couple of very very hot days knocked them about and death was nigh...but they were just saved.

Recently we have admired the ripening of the tomatoes on a regular basis...but they were also admired, it seems, by the local bird-life...after overcoming the loss of several juicy ripe red tomatoes, a solution was found and the tomatoes are now firmly covered....


Here is a close-up of some of the tomatoes pre-veiling...


The roses had fallen into disrepair, but have now been saved, drastically pruned, trellis-ed and are now springing back into life...


Same with the hibiscus...


Some of the basil..also grown from seed...



This is another section of tomato plants...they are going like the clappers, although lack a little sunlight so haven't produced the fruit that the others one have...


But we aren't too far away....


And some newly re-planted tomato plants...there is a story to these plants. We use to feed the ducks a lot of tomatoes and it seems that the seed fell onto the ground and laid dormant until we completely renovated the backyard and whacked a load of soil on it...days later, tomato seedlings popped up, along with some pumpkin seedlings! After a month or so, more than 200 tomato seedlings dotted the new lawn! Prior to cutting the lawn for the first time, these were transplanted....


Here is a shot of the backyard with the roses and snazzy new lawn...

Looking forward to our first meal of tomato and basil in the coming weeks!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Aussie boys in Japan

The Aussie boys, led by the GGArmy stormed Tokyo over the past week...with the crescendo being in Yokohama on Wednesday night against the might of the Blue Samurai...a 0-0 result just in case you have been on the moon.

On the train to Yokohama...


Walking from the station to the pre-game function at the uniquely named Cafe Bar Funky...




And finally we are on our way to the stadium after a quiet day of consuming ale...




And in the stadium...




The boys on the park get things warmed up...Chippers and Culina...


Mile Jedinak and Jade North...


The great Schwarz...


Can't be in Canberra for the Kuwait game due to geographical disadvantage (well, not unless the Concorde gets going again and does an Abu Dhabi-Canberra direct flight)...next game for me is probably Aus v Qatar in Doha and Aus v Japan in Melbourne.

More stuff to come soon on the sights of Tokyo and wonderful Kyoto...

Monday, December 1, 2008

Aussie boys take on Bahrain

My football pursuits began again when the Aussie boys, the Socceroos, took on Bahrain in a World Cup qualifier...brother Michael joined me in travelling to the Bahraini capital, Manama, for the game...

Oddly, when the Aussie travelling fans turned up to the stadium in a clutch of mini-buses, they were shepherded into the bowels of the stadium and then right onto the ground allowing us to observe, at arms length, the warm-up of the Aussie footballing lads...it wasnt until an Australian football official politely asked us to go back to the stands that this bizarre situation concluded...

This is the national stadium of Bahrain...


Mark Schwarzer, the Aussie goalkeeper warming up...


Michael Petkovic, back-up goalkeeper warming up to sit on the bench...



Marco Bresciano, Aussie mid-fielder also warming up...this practice shooting from this distance was actually very important...Bresciano scored the winning goal in the final seconds of the game from almost this exact spot!!!...


This is just after than final minute moment which caused delirium among the Aussie fans numbering about 200-300...that's me on the left hanging on to the fence (credit to esteemed GG Army member Mikey R for the photo)...


And the lads coming over to the faithful fans after the match...


So off it was back to a pub...which was also the pub of choice for the players and team management....

Tim Cahill of Everton FC (left) and me (right)...


Marco Bresciano of Palermo (left), VB stubbie (centre) and me (right)...


Jesus of Karlsruhe (alias Josh Kennedy, left) and me (right)...


Lucas Neill of West Ham decided to get up and karaoke with the Philipino band...


Dutch guy Pim Verbeek, manager of the Aussie team, and my brother, Michael...


The next hazy day a tour of the Manama streets was in order...


The newish World Trade Centre building of Bahrain...



with window cleaners who do work...


but wind turbines that dont work...


And, finally, the concluding stages of a sunset over the Manama metropolis...


More travels are planned...can't wait!

Roadtrip to Oman...

With it being so close (relatively speaking), the lure of neighbouring Oman couldn't be resisted for much longer. So, when an old friend, Rosabella, visited from Edinburgh, it was time to get the car loaded and take a road trip to the nation to my immediate left...

It's about a 5 hour drive from Abu Dhabi to Omani capital, Muscat (taking into account border crossing red-tape). Here are some of the sights of the older part of the city which is dominated by government buildings including the Sultan's palace...









A day trip to one of the better sights of Oman, Wadi Shab (translated Shab Valley) was slightly interrupted by driving down a few cul de sacs...but nonetheless some fabulous sights were come across...

This is the actual Wadi that we finally got to towards the end of the day...unfortunately we didnt get to explore the entire sight...




On the way, we came across a village that seemed to be invaded or even infested with goats...




The sunsets were beautiful in Oman...




The national flag against a typical mountainous backdrop in Oman...so many of the mountains look like nothing more than very large piles of rubble...



The ruins of Wadi Tanuf village...I am informed that this was bombed by the British airforce in the 1950s as part of a civil war between the Omani rulers and rebels situated in the mountains. The rebels apparently used this village to hide-out hence its downfall. The villagers obviously decamped and re-built their village literally next door...


The small city of Nizwa...




From the very impressive fort at Nizwa...



A typical view in Oman of the mountains...


Next stop: Bahrain