Pool Paving

Farmer Phil and I finally started paving around the pool today. It's going to be a long time before we finish the 77m or so, but it will be well worth it in the end!

Ag n Chat Visits an Olive Farm

This morning our Ag n Chat monthly meeting was at Riverina Olive Grove where Gerard and Vici have added an interesting aspect to their farm business. They built an olive processing plant on site which processes olives from all over the Riverina for smaller growers.

They have also branched out into producing a range of natural organic skin care products called Olive by Langlois. We tested the products which smelt and felt amazing. We all left with a small goody bag for us to try. They are an internet based company but they also have products in retail outlets. Just look at their website for more info.

Here is the processing plant with Vici explaining how olives are cold pressed to extract the oil. It was a very interesting morning at a farm which is right on our doorstep and which we didn't really know anything about! Vici explained the differences between virgin and extra virgin olive oil, the smell that good olive oil should have, and how long olive oil will last in the pantry.

Flooding Photos

I've just been surfing the net looking for info and photos of the flooding in our region and found a few. I hope the photographers don't mind me using them to show you all what I was talking about in my last post!

A ute trying to negotiate a roundabout in Lockhart yesterday.

The supermarket at Lockhart.

The main street of Lockhart yesterday. The insurance assessors will be busy for a while!

The main street through Holbrook yesterday.

This photo is of our friends Mick and Felicity's farm between Mangoplah and Yerong Creek yesterday. They're lucky that their house is on a hill otherwise they would've been washed away!

Wild Weather!

Yesterday and last night we had some very wild weather for our area. South of Wagga Wagga registered over 100mm of rain for the day with some flash flooding. We only measured 40mm, but boy did it make it wet around here. We live on a hill and our driveway provided us with some fun trying to drive up to the house!

Ryan and Emma phoned me to tell me that the school wasn't sure if their bus could get them home because of the rain and flooding. The school bus that heads to Lockhart was cancelled due to flooding so the kids have to stay at school for the weekend! Ryan and Emma's bus was half an hour late getting in, but they said the roads were okay.

Farmer Phil went to a pre-harvest meeting at Oaklands which is a small town south west of Wagga. As he was driving there in the morning he said he had to slow right down as it was so hard to see through the driving rain.

After the meeting he visited our good friends Andrew and Michelle at Culcairn where they had experienced the 100mm of rain for the day. Their crop paddocks were covered in half a metre of water with just the wheat and canola heads poking out above the water! They were busy trying to move sheep to higher ground. By the time Farmer Phil tried to leave the roads north were all blocked by flooding so he had to stay the night at Andrew and Michelle's. He's currently on his way home now and has seen marks on the house walls at Uranquinty where the flood water has been 1 metre up the walls!

Billabong Creek at Culcairn has broken it's banks and they are expecting the town to be flooded today! The Murrumbidgee River at Wagga Wagga is expected to peak (8.4m) again today with some flooding in the area.

It's freezing cold (6 degrees as I'm writing this at 9.30am!) and blowing an absolute gale here today, so I think it might be a nice day to stay warm and dry inside the house!!

Ski School

Last week Farmer Phil, Ryan, Emma and myself went to water ski school at Colombo Creek for a junior development training camp. Farmer Phil drove the boats for the week while I cooked for the camp of 25 people.

The weather was a bit fresh for the second half of the week so the kids sit around a fire bucket to warm up after they've skied.

Here are the kids at the end of the week with the coaches Cap, Josh and the legend himself Brett Wing. Below is a small bio on Brett and his amazing achievements. Ryan and Emma learned a lot from Brett's coaching and we found him to be a very humble man.

"Brett Wing began his barefoot water skiing career at the age of eight, when he passed the test conducted by the Australian Barefoot Water Ski Club. After finishing third in the first national title he contested, in 1969, he was never again defeated in state, national or world overall championships.

When he retired from active competition in the late 90s, he had amassed 14 overall national titles and 69 national gold medals. From 1978 until 1982 he established a procession of world records. His barefoot speed world record of 152.8 kph, set in 1979, still stands in Australia.
In 1978 he won the overall world championship in Canberra, after winning gold medals in the slalom and start method and setting world records for tricks, slalom and start method. He defended that title successfully in San Francisco in 1980, winning gold medals for tricks, slalom, jump and start method and setting world records in all four events. Again he defended the world title in Acapulco, Mexico, in 1982, taking gold medals for start method and tricks.

He was overall champion at world Group 3 (South-East Asia) titles in 1975, 1977 and 1981, and retired undefeated as Australian overall barefoot water champion after winning the title every year from 1976 to 1982. At the USA International Masters titles, he was overall champion with gold medals for tricks, slalom and jump in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982.

Brett is a highly regarded coach and show skier. Brett has worked to change the attitude toward bare footing from a ski show stunt into a competitive sport, and helped to create the active international competition that we know today.

In 1996, he was inducted into the International Water Ski Federation Hall of Fame - Asian Australasian Region. In 1997 Brett was selected by American Water Ski Hall of Fame as one of the ten greatest skiers in water skiing history."

Good Old Collingwood Forever.....