Photos ...

Miss 12 receiving the coach's award for effort at Fire Running

With the perpetual trophy and the one she gets to keep.

Wind up for Fire Cadets:

And Miss 12 trying out a helicopter flight simulator ...

Yep life has been busy!

Congratulations to Miss 12

Today was the Graduation and Awards Ceremony at my daughters' primary school.

Miss 12 was awarded the Scitech Science Prize:

Congratulations!  We are very proud of her.

Normally I'm not a fan of "participation medals" ...

as that is because that is normally ALL that is awarded.

However, at Miss 12's fire running junior state championships this weekend they gave out awards and medals to those who came first, second and third.  In addition to those they gave all the other kids "participation medals" AND I think each and every kid earned them!

We needed to be at Fremantle at 7.30am on Saturday.  It took about an hour for everyone to get organised.  The competition started with a march past and then speeches from a few dignitaries.

The first event started at 8:45am and Miss 12's team was first up!  There are a range of events over the two days.  Some of them are for teams of 4, others for teams of 2 and then there are individual events.

Miss 12 competes in the Junior category for the team events and as a Sub-Junior for the individual events.

The events involves some combination of fire hoses and hydrants.  There is also just a hydrant race, where they run like anything with the hydrant and connect it into a hole in the ground.

The initial events were all "dry" events, but by the afternoon they were using water and spraying it at targets.

Saturday finished around 4pm.

Sunday was pretty much the same, down there at 7.30am and the events finished around noon.  Then there was the presentations etc.

I didn't go down to watch on Sunday - hubby did -  I was helping Miss 10 with her homework and caught up on the washing.

On the Saturday we also had Shooting Buddy come along and OldNfo - which was a special treat.

I was very proud of Miss 12 and her team.  All of their runs were "clear" (if you don't do a connection correctly or move the elements out of the markings on the ground etc you will have a non-clear round and no points will be awarded for it).

Here are a couple of photos -

Connecting the nozzle to the hose

Picking up the hose

Putting the hydrant in

.

Road Trip

Well I have just been on one of the best road trips since I was married (and that was a long time ago).

The first leg of the trip was from home to Shooting Buddy's place in Carnamah.  As this is a 3.5hr drive we stayed overnight there before heading to the property which is East of Paynes Find - see "A" on the map.

The property is in what is known as "Station Country".  It is approximately 551,300 acres in size and covers some of the most spectacular country I've ever seen.

Here's some photos:

There were also a lot of animals - can you spot the two kangaroos in this picture?

Or the three in this one?

Then there were the emus:

Goats:

In addition to the animals there were lots of lizards -

This is one of the bigger ones we saw.  Unfortunately the smaller ones didn't hang around for photos.

The scenery during the day was spectacular and at night the sunsets were also fantastic -

Although it wasn't wildflower season there were a few flowers around, this one was my favourite

There were also a number of old structures on the property:

This is a well -

And this is called the "Camel Camp", where the camels used to be broken in -

We self-catered and the food was good :)  Here's breakfast day 1:

Lunch -

And for a yummy snack - Yabbies -

We didn't end up doing much hunting - but we got four rabbits that I'm looking forward to eating!

All in all a GREAT holiday and the place we stayed (Narndee Station) is highly recommended.  The station managers (John & Judy) are lovely, generous people and we had a great time with them.

One of the most amazing things about the trip is that between the time we left Paynes Find (Friday lunchtime) until we returned there (Monday mid-afternoon) we did not see another vehicle on the roads.  We must have traveled over 500kms between these two events and there was not another vehicle at all.  That was a bit of an eye-opener to the remoteness of the place.

Oh, and if you're looking for a good feed, you can't go past the Steak Burger at the Paynes Find roadhouse.

Buying your first car in Western Australia (based on the system for buying a handgun).

Got the idea from this post which is definitely worth a read and thanks to Sendarius for his input!

Step 1.  Join a recognised car club.  Be a financial member for 6 months, do a safety training course and undergo (and pass) a safety test.

Step 2.  At the end of the six months, find a car that you want.  Ensure that it is a car which has a use at the club of which you are a member, and which:

a)      is no shorter than 3 metres,

b)      is no wider than 1.2 metres,

c)       has no silencer on the exhaust,

d)      has a fuel tank no larger than 10 litres,

e)      has a manual gear-box (no fully automatics allowed),

f)       has an engine capacity of less than 3.8 litres

g)      is not used by the police or military.

Step 3. Pay the vendor/dealer the full amount, and (for an additional fee) receive a copy of the serviceability certificate which contains the VIN number.  (Note, you can only purchase one car in the first six months).

Step 4. Apply to your car club for support of your purchase of the car, providing all details of the car, and specifying your intended use within the club’s activities.

Step 5. Ensure that your garage meets the requirements regarding construction material, and number of locks.  Fill in a Statutory Declaration to this fact and take supporting photographs.

Step 6. Ensure that you have acceptable separate storage for both the fuel and fuel tank.

Step 7.  Once you have passed the safety test, have the serviceability certificate and the club support letter, statutory declaration and photographs fill in the online form.  Detail your medical and mental health, genuine need for owning the car, intended use, and other miscellaneous information.

Step 8.  Print out the completed form.

Step 9.  Sign the form and take the signed form, supporting documentation and photographs along with 100 points of ID to a participating Post Office.

Step 10.  Hand form, supporting documentation, $246.30 and ID to the Post Office worker (after waiting in Post Office queue).  Wait while they take your photograph and lodge the form.

Step 11.  Wait approximately 6 – 12 weeks for the paperwork to be processed and a letter, your licence and your "extract of licence" card to be sent to you.

Step 12.  Take the licence to the seller (with the receipt) and collect your car.  Being sure to drive it directly home.

Remember cars can only be driven between your place and an approved club activity; your place and the police station and your place and mechanic.  

At all other times they must remain in the locked garage that no one else but you has access to, with the fuel tank, and fuel stored separately.

Congratulations to my two clever girls ...

The girls entered some of their sewing in the local show.

Miss 12 picked up a first prize and "best in group" for her cross-stitch:

Miss 10 picked up first prize for her a sewing bag she made and embroidered:

She received a second prize for her cross-stitch:

And a "highly commended" for her pin cushion

Both girls received $5 as prize money and Miss 10 also received a voucher for $20 at a sewing shop for having the most points.

A message to all Facebook users ...

I found an article over at Bayou Renaissance Man which highlighted some of the dangers with Facebook.

I suggest you read the article but basically Facebook allows you to download the data that they have on you.  The risk the article highlights is that anyone hacking your account could also download this data and use it.

This can be done by clicking on the cog (top right hand of the screen), choosing Account Settings, choosing General and clicking on the Download a copy of your Facebook data link.

After clicking on this I was prompted for my password.  An email was then generated and sent to me which said I was downloading the information and I received another email with the link to actually download it.

I then had to provide my password again and finally could download everything.

I have had a look through it and couldn't find anything particularly incriminating.  However, I do have a slight feeling that deleted messages are retained in this data.

I'm currently testing this theory and will update this post when I've got an answer.

[UPDATE: No, deleted messages aren't retained in the data downloaded.  So if you have messaged something to someone that you don't want others knowing, delete your messages! /UPDATE]