Friday, December 12, 2008

Christmas in Alice


Merry Christmas from the Modlins in Alice Springs.




Elijah and his mate Cody. His family moved across the road from us and so Elijah loves it. They are at different schools next year, but I am sure will see each other.



The three kings for the Christmas play. Elijah was in line to play Joseph, but was away for the practice.


Christmas and Final Days at Yirara

Josiah (Male Student of the Year), Ethan (Sportsperson of the term and gave me a big hug and peck on the cheek on the last night), Jake and Ben (brothers). Jake was Male Sportsperson of the year and Ben is currently at Centralian Senior College (Grade 10-12). Both of them play football for West. Jake has the potential to go further. They also play A grade basketball with me. The last 2 games, Gregg (my brother), played with the team. We won the last game by 2 points after being down by 10 in the last quarter...my first win with the A grade basketball.
Lionel and Glenn have both finished Grade 12. Glenn was the best performing indigenous student at Centralian. Also fine sportsmen and A grade basketballers. Lionel is from Doomadgee (it's in Qld for the unaware) and is a Cowboys supporter as well. We had a sad year.

Jerome (above) and Jeffrey (below) made me Christmas cards. The only 2 I got. Justin (above giving the thumbs up), is one of the sons of Sammy (the elder from Uluru I mentioned in an earlier blog). Jerome is orginally from an outstation of Rockhampton. I am not sure if he is there now.



This is Wayne. One of my little mates who was awarded the Principal's award. He is the type of student who you hope comes back.



This is Dylan. Loves to have shows of strength with me. Bumps, arm wrestles, lifts me off the ground and tightly squeezed hugs. A very handy footballer, but only been 1st and 4th term this year. Says he is not coming back and moving to Melbourne with his brother. Wait and see on that one.


Khearnee on the left gave me hell in 3rd term, but now really gets along with me. He comes and chats with me about what he has been doing at school.




Kanen (left) and Stanley (right). Both very handy footballers. Kanen has been there the whole year and is a handful..enough said on him. Stanley has the build and the skills to go all the way. He toured South Africa with the indigenous Under 16 team.




The fellas- My sons







The four fellas played Under 17 this year for South. They came over to our house for tea before South's presentation night. A very T.I.A affair. It was supposed to start at 7pm. We turned up on time. It did not start till 8:30pm. I got a call from the boarding house asking where the fellas were at about 10pm. Luckily we were there long enough for me to accept the "Best Team Man" trophy. My brother said they gave it to me to keep the whitefella happy. I was happy. Zakk (doing the Westside symbol), Clinton (holding Joseph) and Peter (to my left) were suspended about 2 weeks after this for continual misbehaviour at school....they kept saying they did not want to be there, but I think something else was going on. Corey (black shirt) stayed the whole year and changed over the year in his attitude and ability. He is (hopefully) back next year and may start a traineeship/apprenticeship and still be playing footy for South. I had a minor run in with Corey as well, he was not doing as he was told, i had a pencil and was pointing it in his direction, which I found out is very threatening, like "let's sort this out with our fists or other objects". I backed down very quickly and apologised and basically said to Corey, "I trust you with my own kids, but I can't trust you to do what I ask you to do." Then is was over. Corey, came to me 2 days later and told me he was my son as well.....and that was it. I don't know what that really means, but I guess my boys might have a new big brother.







The many faces of Movember

Week 1

Week 3 Week 4





Gregg's birthday in Alice Springs


Gregg (my brother) and his wife Erin paid us a three week visit. It coincided with his birthday (how convenient). We had tea at Keller's Restaurant (Swiss, Indian and Australian cuisine). The picture is of us polishing off the chocolate fondue.




The Reptile Centre

Apparently it is very good. Everybody went without me. I was still "working" at Yirara. The day they went, a King Brown (Mulga) snake was caught; the largest ever caught in Alice. Just touching the venom can make you sick.










Monday, December 8, 2008

The Todd River in flood..Yes, nearly a local


























































We had the most rain on record for November in Alice Springs. These pictures will give you a fair idea of what the Todd River looks like in flood. It truly is a sight to behold. Hopefully you can gauge how big the flood was by the comparison photos I have taken. If you read earlier entries I mentioned the Telegraph Station; that is where I have taken most of the photos. The others are from one of the major roads around Alice; and the iconic Todd River Tavern in the background.