HEIGHTENED TERROR THREAT

The BRITISH are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats in Islamabad and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross".
Brits have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance". The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the great fire of 1666.

The FRENCH government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender". The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.

It's not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert. ITALY has increased the alert level from "Shout loudly and excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing". Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides".

The GERMANS also increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose".

BELGIANS, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels ..

The SPANISH are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

The USA meanwhile is carrying out pre-emptive strikes on all of their allies, just in case.

And at a local level...
NEW ZEALAND has also raised its security levels - from "baaa" to "BAAAA!". Due to continuing defence cutbacks (the airforce being a squadron of spotty teenagers flying paper aeroplanes and the navy some toy boats in the Prime Minister's bath), New Zealand only has one more level of escalation, which is "Shut, I hope Austrulia will come end riscue us". In the event of invasion, New Zealanders will be asked to gather together in a strategic defensive position called "Bondi".

AUSTRALIA, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be right, mate". Three more escalation levels remain: "Crikey!", "I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend" and "The barbie is cancelled".
There has not been a situation yet that has warranted the used of the final escalation level.

Major Incendiary Action in Ashgrove

This evening we heard a bit of noise outside and joined the mayhem as a house at the end of our street went up in flames.

Fortunately, the people were away but the house is totally destroyed and the next door place severely damaged.

Britain's favourite drink? - Quite right!

Paula & I just watched the 6th & final episode of 'Oz & James Drink to Britain', wherein Oz Clark and James May (from Top Gear) travel round the UK in a Rolls Royce convertible, towing a caravan.

They drink beer, cider, whisky, wine - the lot, but ultimately end up deciding that THE drink which encapsulates and most represents modern Britain, remains THE CUP OF TEA !!!

Here, here.

Watch it if you can. It makes you gag for a pint! - ( that's real beer, of course, not that pissy apology for ale known as 'lager')

So that was June?

Don't know what happened to it.

We've had some surprisingly wet weather in Brisbane, but Jake just spent the last week in the Northern Territory in Kakadu - an expedition for the Gold Duke of Edinburgh - and he had perfect weather.

Bit of a lull in the training but I'll be in Islamabad in 4 weeks and 4 days time and off to K2 basecamp.

Is it just me, but wasn't Michael Jackson a bit strange?

Great comment on the Facebook page of a friend of my Cousin Phil's daughter;

Jessica. "boreeed'

Friend. "Get round to rivington ave, apparently ur dads doing an embarrassingly bad yet hilariously funny moonwalk tribute?!?! x"

The Training !

Massive landmark - I'm now down to 69.9 kg - Broken the 70 kg. barrier !

Otherwise the last 4 weeks have been limited by the usual early winter head-cold and the heaviest rainfall in 20 years. Plenty of flooding in and around Brisbane, so running & cycling have been off.

Friday 29th May. Beverley's Retirement Dinner

To 'Two Small Rooms' - 54 of us - to farewell Beverley who has been with our practice for 30 YEARS !!!!

Good food, good wine & very good company.

Birthday Present !!!

Paula's birthday present to me arrived in the post today. It came from the US and is a special edition, leather bound copy of 'Seven Years In Tibet' - SIGNED BY HEINRICH HARRER !!!

I am thrilled.

Birthday Dinner - Wilson's Boathouse

Birthday yesterday, so the family went out this evening, Sat., to a new restaurant at the Portside development on the river.

The boys were totally stunned by their 'Beef & Reef' (Surf & Turf in the US).

Splendid evening with a good NZ Pinot Gris to wash it down.

I've become a Mountaineering 'anorak'!

For my birthday - coming soon - I've bought myself a very geeky present.

It's a postcard (quite an expensive, historical one).

It's a real 'Annapurna South Face Expedition' Postcard - Nepali stamp, postmarked 12.10.70.

Signed by (from the top) Chris Bonington, Kelvin Kent, Nick Estcourt, Tom Frost, Martin Boysen, Mick Burke, Don Whillans, Dougal Haston, Dave Lambert & Mike Thompson!

Not signed by Ian Clough as he was killed on this expedition. Of the 10 signators, 3 were killed in the mountains and Don Whillans died due to 'hard living'.

Goodbye GONDORO LA - Hello CONCORDIA.

Well thanks a lot you Taliban suckholes!

You've frightened off all the trekkers, so the limited number of us left who desperately want to take photos of K2 are now concentrated on fewer trips.

The new trek is a bit later - 1st August in Islamabad.
We then fly to Skardu and trek up the Baltoro Glacier to Concordia - the confluence of 3 glaciers. From there it's up the Godwin-Austen Glacier to K2 basecamp and the Gilkey memorial. 25 million photo-opportunities!

Of the 14 highest mountains in the world - those over 8,000 m. - we see five! - K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum 1 (Hidden Peak), Broad Peak & Gasherbrum II.

This is what I'm off to see;

MASOCHISM - I'm sure this Exercise must be doing some good.

So. Another 4 weeks have spun by.
In that time I've managed to do a little more than the previous 4 weeks.

Today sees me on;

Walk 83 km.
Run 49.5 km.
Bike 194.2 km.

I need to get some longer walks in - breaking in a new pair of boots.

GEORGE returns from the Jungle

George arrived back in Brisbane on Sunday night after 10 weeks in Borneo with Operation Raleigh.
He had a great time and made some good friends from UK & Holland.
Here he is - in white top, giving the 'thumbs up' - in a more sober moment during the farewell party in Kota Kinabalu.

Newcastle upon Tyne !!!!

Imagine my surprise to find my old home town, Newcastle, occupying a full page blurb, with photographs, on the front of the Australian's Travel Section.
Apparently, it was the only UK town in a Newsweek poll of the top 8 Creative cities in the world.

Well done it.
Great place to visit. Perhaps not such a great place to live. Culturally it is essential to have a complete devotion to Newcastle United Soccer club.
Weather certainly a drawback - but the history is fabulous.

iPhone as a GPS

Easter was a washout at Maleny - 180 mm. in the last week!

Still managed to give the mulcher a run - it's fabulous.

Found out that the iPhone has a GPS facility so I got Paula to drive me down the hill to the Mooloola Valley and I walked the 10 km. back up.

Plug the phone into the computer and - Hey Presto - fancy pictures on Google Earth.
- the house is on top of the hill.

Another New Toy!

It's incredible what can make a bloke my age happy!
I've invested in a Mulcher.
Now I can chip-up all my cuttings and mulch the garden at Maleny, which gives me a warm inner glow.
It's BRILLIANT!

TRAINING!

After a pathetic total of 42 km. of walking in February I had to 'up the ante'.
The last 4 weeks I've managed (besides work, gardening, possum proofing the garage etc.);

Walk. 82 km.
Run. 18 km.
Bike. 58 km. (only had the bike a short time)

Next 4 weeks - 100 km. walking. Double the running and at least 150 km. on the bike!

ONLY 3 MONTHS TO K2.

I did get myself a new backpack - a Mountain Designs 'Edge 60'

27th March. Paula's Birthday.

To the 'Hog's Breath Cafe' to celebrate another year.
Joined by Jake, Madeleine & Nicola. Also Jane & Rodney Litzow.

Hair Today. Gone Tomorrow.

Second haircut in 6 years! - last was only 5 months ago.

Striving for the 'Well'ard' look with a '3 blade' all over.

Also the start of beard growing - an anti-glacial-sunburn-plus-warmth effort

Une cafe s'il vous plait?

A little ditty from France about the dangers of more than one coffee a day!

le Café - Oldelaf (english subtitles)
Uploaded by Boebis

NEW TOY! - Bicycle this time.

All part of the training scheme - only 3 and a half months to K2!

It's a Giant Strata.
• ALUXX FluidFormed frame w/low standover
• SR XCM-HLO fork w/100mm travel & hydraulic lock-out
• Shimano 24 speed Altus/Alivio drivetrain
• Shimano crankset & cassette
• Hutchinson Scorpion tyres

Never thought I'd have a bike with disc brakes!

All I have to do now is get on it and get moving.
We have over 400 km. of bike tracks in Brisbane so there's no excuse for not getting on and making the quadriceps swell.

Fri. 13th March. Madeleine's 19th Birthday

Madeleine's 19th. We went off to 'Wagamama' at Chermside for a little japanesey.


Paula, Nicola, Madeleine.

Bradey, Me, Jake.

Wed. 12th March. DIDI comes to town.

Naomi, who was nicknamed 'Didi' on our Tibet trip as 'Naomi' was unpronouncable to the Tibetan tongue, was passing through Brisbane and came to stay for 1 night.

We went off to 'Belle Epoche' in the Valley. Snails, Beef Tartare, Barramundi & Creme Brulee Flambe - all washed down with Champagne and a Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc.
It was very good to see her and look forward to her next visit.

Wed. 11th Mar. STRANGLERS Concert.

To the Tivoli theatre to see The Stranglers - Amazing!!

Jean-Jaques Burnel (bass) & Dave Greenling (keyboards) from the original line-up.


Baz Warne (lead guitar)
Jean-Jaques on guitar, the drummer is Ian Barnard, the drum tech. Jet Black, the original drummer still plays but is out of action with atrial fibrillation!

Naturally I had to get a little merchandise.

And so the training begins....

4 months to the K2 trip.
I did a 3km run this morning and it was soooooo.. HOT!
Luckily our summer is coming to an end so the early morning run will become a thing of masochistic beauty.

Plan is to gradually increase the distance and speed. Still do the walking with weights and - NEW plan - a weekly bike ride.

The motivation is knowing that I'll be able to breathe at 19,000 ft in early July.

In the words of Tom Baker - "Bring it on!"

Ever expanding property Empire!

Tomorrow we pick up the keys to our little place at the beach.
It's a 2 bedroom unit on the canal system at Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast.
This is the view from our balcony - it has a jetty.

It's the upper floor with the long balcony in this view from the jetty.

And this is where it is. Right in the middle of Mooloolaba with water access to the river, yacht club & the Wharf.
It's literally 5 minutes walk up to the Esplanade with it's coffee shops and restaurants.
Excellent beach with good walks.
Looking forward to being up there for New Year and the fireworks.

Needless to say, the kids are ecstatic and seem to think it may be 'party central'! - Only if I'm invited!

George in the Jungle!

Well, George arrived in Borneo on his Operation Raleigh event.
Anyone interested in seeing how he's coping can look at their blog on,

Raleigh Borneo

Australian Fires.

The events of the last week were, fortunately, 1000 km. away from Brisbane.
It put the Maleny bushfire of last October into it's 'trivial' perspective.
Here in Queensland we've had flooding in the north.
In November a storm destroyed a lot of the suburb only 2 km. away from us.
It appears like a savage environment but Australia is more beautiful and comfortable than most other places. Europe has had a bit of a tough winter and there were serious floods in the UK last year.
The modern media mean that we hear every detail of every disaster.
That sometimes doesn't allow us to see things clearly because of all the 'spin'.

Yes, the sky can fall on our heads, but if it hasn't happened today that's a plus.

Watch Out For That Tree !!!!!!

I said goodbye to my son George today.
We spent the afternoon packing.
He leaves for 3 months in Borneo on Friday 6th.

Come back a man George!

Sat. 31st Jan. Nicola's 21st Party.

3 weeks on from her birthday, a party for a hundred or so at a bar in Ashgrove,

Nicola sported a 'fabulous' new dress.

I did a speech - without a microphone. Needed a little drink or two afterwards to help the throat.

Paula, Emily McGill & Nicola

George & Madeleine
In full swing speechwise.Brady & Nicola put on a brave face.

Fri. 23rd Jan. - 10th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Also our last night on Lord Howe Island.
To 'Pandanus' restaurant for tuna carpaccio, steak, ice-cream - and of course, a good bottle of Pinot Grigio.

And Jake came too;

7th Day LHI. Fri. 23rd Jan.

A bit stiff, but still able to cycle round the island.
More birds! I think I'm turning into a 'twitcher' - it'll be anorak & binoculars before long.
This first is 'Blinky' the Masked Booby in attack mode.



In the afternoon I went for a 2 hour snorkel in the lagoon and for 10 minutes swam with a beautiful large green turtle