I've Moved!

This Blog has moved to www.wisper.co.za

And now the news....

Well it has been a week in Brisbane and the surrounds, and what a week it has been!  Highlights include Cyclone Hamish, The biggest oil spill in Queenslands in a long time, Rain/Clouds/Rain/Heat/Rain/Humidity/Lack-of-Sunshine, My Birthday!, My Dad's Birthday and a trip up the sunshine coast (Club Tropicania drinks are freeeeee.....).

After a what felt like a shorter than ususal flight over, I arrvied in a wet and warm Brisbane.  Cyclone Hamish was ponding the coastline north of Brisbane.  The wet, warm (which was weird for me to experience, as when its raining in Cape Town, its usually cold!) and cloudy weather persisted throughout the week, until it broke today.  As a result, a tanker and cargo ship which got caught up in the storm spilled oil and containers all over the coast line, read the story here.

On Thursday I turned 25 and on Friday, my Dad turned 50!  There where celebration all round, and for the first time, I got to celebrate my birthday in the same location with my Anuty Clare, who is also a 12th of March baby.  The big party was at the Gap Tavern, a local resturant and venue which hosted our family and 50 (how's that for good numbers) guests.  We all had a wonderful time and thanks for the folks for organising!

Today we took a trip up the Sunshine Coast (the coastline north of Brisbane) to Mooloolaba and Noosa Heads.  We had a beautiful day swimming, eating fish and chips and walking along the stunning beach front and generally chilling out after a hectic week....  More news to follow as and when....

Some News from the Antipodes

How Bad.........

The Crisis In A Nutshell

AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURED CABINET FOR SALE

Cabinet for Sale - details below



DISPLAY CABINET, one of the most elegant and functional display cabinets currently on the market.

Features
· Fine timber details
· 4 leadlight options
· 4 side access doors (there is maximum frontal display)
· Adjustable shelves are extra deep to accommodate large items
· Halogen down lights
· Mirror back with glass shelves provide max illumination of collectables from top to bottom.

To give indication of size of the Cabinet it previously held the following:
· Rugby League World Cup
· Rugby Union World Cup
· International Rules Trophy
· Tri Nations Trophy
· Super-14 Trophy
· Trans-Tasman Touch Football Trophy
· Davis Cup
· Hockey World Championship Trophy
and recently the
· Bledisloe Cup.
· 2008-2009 SA / Aust Test
All these trophies are now overseas and the Cabinet is excess to requirements.

To make an offer call R Stuart, R Ponting, S Mortlock or P. Fitzsimons who once commented "…the Australian Cabinet is groaning under the weight of all the trophies!"

They can be contacted on: 1800-LOST-THE-LOT

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Thanks Paul for the Email!

"Hi, my name is Harold"

I can totally relate to this comic. Click the picture, and scroll to the right to read the story....

Quantum of Solace

Quantum of Solace

Australia 2008, Part 1

Hello all and sundry...

So it's nearly been a week in Aussie, and its been quite a relaxing one at that. Hence the reason for the lack of news - there really isn't much to report until now. After a very easy flight to Sydney and a quick hop over to Brisbane I spent the next couple of days taking it easy, seeing some family and catching up with the folks. On Friday, however, we traveled down the Gold Coast to Coolangatta (near Surfer's Paradise) to spend 4 days in the sun and surf. Coolangatta is a town that straddles the boarder between Queensland and New South Wales. Our hotel is in NSW, but walk 10m out the front door and you're in Queensland.... which is a bit strange in Summer considering that NSW has day light savings and Queensland refuses to adopt day light savings (some excuse about the cows and their milking times!). Hence in Summer, the one side of the road is and hour behind the other side of the road... Crazy place down under....

Thats all the news for now... but in the mean time have a look at the photo's from the 11th floor of the hotel!

An Attitude Worth Adopting

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

- Ephesians 4:31-32

Dilbert Comic!

GOOD NEWS FOR A CHANGE!!

For all those Saffers who are depressed and need some positive news about our home... Visit:

http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/

Iron Sky

Weekly Wisdom

Man: An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be.

- Ambrose Bierce

One should absorb the colour of life, but one should never remember its details. Details are always vulgar.

- Oscar Wilde

Sole Survivor

Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.
- John le Carre

1600 Year Old Wisdom

Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he hold to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, "although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion." [1 Timothy 1.7]

- Saint Augustine (A.D. 354-430)

Study: Nearly 80 Percent Of Roommates Got So Drunk Last Night

Study: Nearly 80 Percent Of Roommates Got So Drunk Last Night

Oops...

marriedtothesea.com

Why Should We Bother?

Why Bother?
By MICHAEL POLLAN

Published: April 20, 2008
From The New York Times

"Why bother? That really is the big question facing us as individuals hoping to do something about climate change, and it’s not an easy one to answer. I don’t know about you, but for me the most upsetting moment in “An Inconvenient Truth” came long after Al Gore scared the hell out of me, constructing an utterly convincing case that the very survival of life on earth as we know it is threatened by climate change. No, the really dark moment came during the closing credits, when we are asked to . . . change our light bulbs. That’s when it got really depressing. The immense disproportion between the magnitude of the problem Gore had described and the puniness of what he was asking us to do about it was enough to sink your heart." [more]

I very good article of what we are facing!

Smoking ban, fitness tests for healthier nation

By Sharri Markson
April 20, 2008 01:36am

Found at: news.com.au

"SMOKING would be banned for everyone born next year, junk food would be taxed and everyone would be subjected to a fitness test by 2020.By comparison, the cost of healthy food, including fruit and vegetables, would be reduced to reflect its low environmental impact and obvious health benefits."

Read the rest of the article here... These Aussies really are nuts!