Back to blighty!

Back to the U.K. and very thankful for the lovely summer. With Sis's wedding approaching fast it's all great fun. Jolly joy joy with a plethora of icing roses for the wedding cake and over a hundred daisies for cup cakes! Can't wait roll on the big day.

Testing out the wedding suit, yes those are flared trousers!! Retro suits and floral tea cups the order of the day. The beautiful lady trapped between myself and the rather manly car is Lucy.

So a brief and official introduction of Lucy Hedges to the blog. We met in aus but she is from good devon farming stock. Despite both being in the U.K. now which is really wonderful the dream is to click our heals three times and return to Aus (before the winter rolls in!!). So keep an eye on the blog for his and hers skiing bruises!!!

Setting sail

What better way to relax after a busy weekend skiing than sailing.

Dune jumping!

Washing the sand out!

Captain Tim abandons ship!

Wet and Wild!

The following is a guide to the subtle and gentle art of bare foot water skiing!

Requirements - a big house, heaps of people, sun, beer, water, jet boat and a complete disregard for self preservation!

Step one - Drive the jet boat at 60km(40mph) with a pole sticking out one side of the boat

Step two - Jump out of boat and delicately place your feet onto the water

Step three - Hold onto the bar and enjoy the serenity

Step four - lower yourself along the rope until you are holding the handle

Step five - known in Aus as a 'Stack' which generates a similar sound to that created when a ute hits a cane toad. It also results in a sensation similar to that of a cane toad being run over.

The photo above was taken as i was performing a rather fine 'stack' note the brave face which blends all the emotions of agony, terror and impending doom (or a small girl crying!)

Step six - repeat until your injuries leave you incapacitated. Having to sleep on your front due to a slight bruising of the rump in a small price to pay for so much fun!!!

Hatchery building

With the increases in production and all the development with our pond management our poor little hatchery has been left behind. It's time for a serious expansion. The first task is thirteen 95,000 litre tanks. They are nine meters in diameter and will be covered with two polly tunnels.
The end of the tunnels have been modified into domes earning it the nic-name of the eden project! The guy in the middle is leveling the base for the tank.
Two tanks in twelve to go - Oh boy!
Tank number four being constructed. To give you an idea of scale two guys can be seen working on the liner in the tank on the left.

Zimbabwe for festive fun

Christmas day started chasing the monkeys away from the house. Primate paintball is seriously fun!

With the sun blazing a white Christmas was out so a boxing day in whites would have to do. The Zimbos are very big on health and safety. The on pitch first aid bag made very regular trips to the bar to check all supplies were complete!

What fish farmers holiday would be complete without a fishing trip. So at three in the morning we picked our heavy heads up and headed to Darwindale Dam (first aid treatment can result in heavy head syndrome). It was my first time to try my hand catching a Larger Mouth Bass. My first ever Bass was a trophy monster weighing in at 4kg (8.5lbs)

No prizes for guessing why they are called large mouth bass!

Hot Hot Hot

Fly fishing in the evening a great way to end a day out in the sun. I have a good old farmers tan you can just see the tan line at the base of the neck - if you look really carfully!

What do fish farmers do on holiday?

They go fishing. Lots of fun and lots of fish so it's Trout for every meal!