The one that got away...

I never found him outback- I'll keep searching till Dec 13th ;-)

(I do think he looks gay though and that would be a challenge!)

Our new puppy

Lulu- African for Pearl.

9wk old lab... So cute!

Until she chews your shoes & poops near your walking path!!!

Off.

ARGENTINAAAAAAAA!  Here we come...

Etzelwang

We arrived at Edel's late Saturday night after many helpful German's pointed the way.  I've realised that the stereotypical German doesn't exist in Bavaria, they're all smiley and happy and helpful!  

It was soooooo good to see Edel, she's a friend that we met in London who now lives in Peru and she's back visiting her family in Germany for a few months.We nattered away when we arrived at her place, eating yummy German cheese and meat and bread and drinking freshly pressed apple juice.  Edel's family is into doing everything themselves and eating organic stuff.  We tried out the oats roller that is on the wall in the kitchen.  You put the grain in at the tip, turn a handle and it goes through two rollers and comes out as rolled oats at the bottom.  It had never entered my head before that rolled oats are actually rolled, I just figured they came in that shape!

The next day we met all the family and had breakfast together.  This meant bread with honey from their bees, milk that was either from their goats or from another farmer's cows, and homemade muesli.  

After breakfast we headed off into the countryside to walk to the castle that Nicolas Cage used to own, Schloss Neidstein.  The jump photos were taken (so much easier when you don't have to use the self-timer!), the castle surrounds explored, and a whole lot more catching-up done.

We then headed home to the most hilarious lunch ever, I think it has something to do with the lack of preservatives they don't have in their bodies.  Edel's parents had invited a few of their farmer friends over for lunch.  A whole bunch of us crowded around their table and we proceeded to munch goat (their own), cabbage (2 different types made 2 different ways), and potato (again, done 2 different ways, 1 roasted and 1 canoodle which is like waxy mashed potato in balls that is boiled so it has a kind of firm clag glue consistency).  Most of the conversation was in German but there were some larger-than-life characters at the table so it was hilarious just watching them.  The weirdest part was when they started reciting Monty Python in English, Andrew, being a big fan, thought it was brilliant!

After that Edel showed us photos of Peru and a video of the orphanage that she is going to be working with when she goes back.  It sounds incredible.  Then we went back to the table for more food (yummy German plum cake and Peruvian jelly and corn pudding) and more hilarity.

In the late afternoon we went and helped milk the goats.  I was amazed that I could do it cause I remember trying to milk our cows when I was a kid.  I guess the size of my hands then and the size of the cows teats was a little different to my bigger hands and the goats smaller teats.

After milking we had to hit the road.  We were bundled off with organic salami (2 types), fresh apple juice and a jar of goats milk.

It was such a fabulous trip, and so worth the crazy amount of driving that we had to do.  It was so great to see Edel, she's one of those friends that I will have for life no matter where we live on the globe (we're already arranging to do kid-swaps so her kids can learn English and our kids can learn Spanish!).  It was also lovely to meet her family, I hope that people feel as welcome and comfortable when they come to our home, even if we can't provide them with milking experiences and celebrity castles!

The First Bit

This is our gelber engel, our yellow angel.  He swooped to our rescue with batteries and lollypops in Franfurt when our car was tick-tick-ticking and no amount of jump-start cables could get it going.  We'd had to jump start the car before we left Amsterdam, apparently an 11 year old battery doesn't take kindly to being left for weeks on end with no love and attention heading it's way.  We stopped twice on the way to Frankfurt, and each time the car started again.  We crashed at Rachey and Stephen's late Friday  night (never try to drive from Amsterdam to Frankfurt on a Friday, 4 hours slowly becomes 7.5 hours), and when we tried to head off on Saturday morning our can just wasn't having any of it.  So we spent the rest of the day trying to get it going, missing the road side assistance man, and then eventually having him work his magic on our car.  This was all interspersed with being fed fantastically by Rachey, watching Stephen pace about the house on the phone trying to find someone in Germany who could help us, and trying to figure if we were going to make a mad dash to IKEA before it closed to buy a mattress for us to sleep on (the air mattress had a leak).  But in the end, we headed off further into the black depths of Germany to find the village with the castle that Nicholas Cage used to own.  Yup, that's the only reason anyone would know this sweet little village!  And the rest will have to wait for tomorrow...

Cool family picts!!

HOORAY FOR YOU!

The photo's of me jumping again.......still on the chair!

Scary jump photo

I can fly......I can fly.

Angel girl...always dreaming of flying!

Now I think I am correct in thinking that Miss Strawberry Jam has now finished her last exam for this year!

WELL DONE
CONGRATS
YIPPEE
COOLEO
FANTASTICO
You have made it and now you can relax for a time before the final home run. If you were here we would take you out and bye you a milk shake and make you some pancakes and give you big congrats hugs...but because you are not we did a jump photos for you instead.
Well done Calli. We are ever so proud.

Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup (150g) plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• 2 large (59g) eggs
• 1 cup (250ml) milk, mixed with 1/4 cup (60ml) water
• 60g unsalted butter, melted
• Lemon wedges and raw sugar, to serve

Method

1. Sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and crack in the eggs. Gently whisk a little flour into the egg, then gradually add the milk mixture and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter, whisking in with the flour. The batter should be the consistency of pouring cream (thicker for pikelets and flapjacks, opposite). Don't worry if there are still little lumps in the mixture, and don't overmix. Pour the batter into a jug.

We just had pancakes for tea. I found this recipe with no sugar in it and they were really good. We topped them with fresh fruit and frozen yogurt. They were so good...and gone that I had to steal someone else's photo!
We here at the Pobjie house may be having a regular pancake night along with our regular burgar night!

Copy Cat

When you are all uninspired as to what you are going to do for Christmas cards for your class and Aunti Strawberry sends your mummy some deliciously creative and beautiful paintings what is a girl to do but copy them and add her own flare. Seriously, this girl is unstoppable and very independent...oh and she learnt to knit this week as well! She may have tonsillitis, but it sure has hampered her creativity and spunk! (Rudolf redesign is for the boys.)
Kenzi says a big thank you to Aunti Calli for the inspiration and for allowing her to copy an idea and for making her Christmas cards great.

Melbourne Cup Races in Mackay...

This is Victoria all dolled up (and Tall)!!

Mr Six pack- lovely but reminded me of Cavid Walz and Jonny Lovelock! The 6 pack was good but not perfect!!!

My pretty little number and pink!!!!

End of night!- Poor six pack decorated with lipstick and getting boob squeezed by amazing fake boobies!!

I heart Tasmania

Does she or doesn't she?

Maybe she does, but maybe she doesn't...........she has spots...we are not sure if they are of the chicken variety.....time will tell.

Look out Ernie and Bert...Pobj is here!

A great mate of Brenton's is famous and people just give him clothes and shoes to wear so that their product is promoted. As it happens, Pobj and Luke have the same shoe size and Luke didn't fancy these shoes...yippee, because I love them and couldn't stop clicking them. Thank you Mr Lukey for your bad taste in shoes...and for your generosity to old men who need funking up!

The Joy of Jumping

This was one of the funny parts of our New Zealand (whoops ever so tired) Tasmanian! Whisk. We were staying in Stanley. A beautiful place right on the edge of the world. We wandered and found a cool bench that looked out onto the sea. Of course we had to jump off it and capture the moment.
Brenton jumped and I clicked. Great photo!
I jumped and I jumped and I jumped and I jumped...many times and at last Pobj clicked at the right moment. We were nearly wetting ourselves by then and were left wondering what the people thought who were having a lovely beachside picnic. But we did it. The jumping photo's...with good air time too!