Chicky in 1997 (3 years old) in her ballet costume, ready for her first dance concert. She was a star in this concert ... the smallest dancer, and oh so cute. Isn't she gorgeous !!

My Oma and Opa.

This photo was taken many years ago. Sadly, my grandparents are no longer with us ... we lost my grandfather in December 1987, and my grandmother in April 1993. They were the most wonderful people, and were so full of love and life. I still miss them terribly, and think about them every day.

I love you Oma and Opa.

xxxxx

Another photo from our Cape York trip in 2005. We were driving along the beach, on our way to our camping spot at Vrylia Point. We had to stop, so that Hubby could tow out another car that had become bogged. Chicky and I got out of the car to wait. The shipwreck on the left of the photo is called the "Lighthouse". It was a very, very warm day.

On New Year's Eve 2005 we were partying at Bonnie Doon, in Central Victoria. There were bushfires not too far away ... but we were safe where we were. This is the view from the decking of our caravan ... looks like fireworks or something, don't you think ?? It was quite spectacular, and rather frightening. Fortunately, no property was lost, just a lot of grassland. It took quite a few hours to get under control. It was amazing watching the water bombing planes and choppers doing their work. Thank goodness for fire-fighters.

This is Chicky posing at Elliot / Twin Falls, in Far North Queensland, during our trip to Cape York in 2005. It is the most beautiful place, and I took many, many photos ... I couldn't help myself !!

We took this photo using the auto-timer. It was taken last Christmas Eve (2005) at my parents place. We celebrate our Christmas on Christmas Eve ... a German tradition. This was taken during dessert !!! It was just the 5 of us ... I am an only child, as is my Chicky, so that's all of us there is, really !! Oh yeah, Mum's cat was under the table somewhere, too ! It was a lovely evening ... I love Christmas.

A group of these parrots regularly visit our apricot tree during Summer. The cat is most attracted to them ... luckily she wears a bell and hasn't managed to catch one yet !! They are really pretty birds, and when there are a few of them together, they make a heap of noise.

We have a huge box, choc-a-block full of shells we collected during our Cape York trip in 2005. Chicky grabbed the camera, recently, and took this photo. I think it's gorgeous ... the shells are so pretty.

"Please don't take my photo ... I'm shy !!!" This is my cat, Bambi, who loves to sleep with her paws over her face. I can't resist taking her photo ... she just looks too cute !!

We had an amazing Summer storm a couple of weeks ago, and I decided to go for a walk outside afterwards. The air smelled so fresh and clean, again ... it had been a very warm day, with much dust in the air. The neighbours have a beautiful garden, and I though that this rose was just stunning. I couldn't resist taking a photo of it.

A friendly White Cockatoo, native to Australia ... in fact, they are considered a pest here, as there are just too many of them, and they are very destructive creatures. However, I think they are just gorgeous. This one was sitting on the railing of our decking at our caravan at Bonnie Doon last April 2005. Sometimes we have a dozen or more of them, just waiting for food. We try not to feed them, as this just encourages them to hang around ... sometimes it is irresistable, though !!

This is Hubby and I, about 20 years ago. We were at our friend's parent's place, in Acheron - which is in Central Victoria, near Alexandra. The gardens were so pretty. Weren't we a cute couple (oh yeah ... we still are !!!).

Wasn't I the cutest baby !!!!

This is one of my favorite photos of our last cat, Ratbag. We lost him in October 2004, at 16 years of age ... he was an amazing cat. He was such a smoocher. Here he is, counting out his pocket money, on our bed !!

In March 2005, we went for a 4WD day trip to the Victorian High Country. This photo is of some rocks on the very top of Mt Stirling. I thought they were beautiful, and just needed to take their photo. They were very obliging, by sitting nice and still !!

When we were travelling to Cape York in 2005, we went via a river crossing called "Gunshot". This crossing could be avoided via a detour, but our fellas didn't want to avoid it ... they wanted to play !! This is my Hubby, in his Nissan Patrol, going over the only section that was passable. The photo doesn't do it justice ... it was actually really steep (almost 90 degree drop, straight down). He inched the car to the edge, then slowly let the front edge drop over, with the rest of the car following. Pretty amazing to watch ... glad I was outside taking the photos !! Luckily, all 5 cars that were on the trip, made it through safely ... although we did have to winch one of them out !!

Another photo taken last June (2005), during the Australian Winter ... we were camping and I had this fascination with taking an awesome photo of the fire. This was one of the best ones. Does it make you feel warm ??

We had only had the camera a few weeks, and I was still experimenting, and tried out the macro on this beautiful Bottlebrush. They are an extremely pretty flower.

When we went to Cape York in 2005, we stopped at Elliot / Twin Falls. The guys disappeared, and I went snooping to see if I could find them !! I found them, all right, having a cool spa in this delightful waterhole !! What a photo opportunity !! Don't they look happy !!

A stunning sunrise, from the deck of our caravan at Bonnie Doon, looking across in the direction of Mount Buller ... taken in March 2005.

A cheeky photo of my Bambi cat !! She loves plastic bags, boxes, anything. She patiently waited for me to take this photo, then further demolished the bag !!

This photo was taken whilst standing on the side of the road, waiting for some friends to arrive, before we went through a bush track. I was experimenting with my macro & zoom, and noticed this pretty purple weed / flower. I didn't really register the butterfly, until I viewed the photo later on. How beautiful is it ??

A very lazy, very photogenic cat ... my kitty Bambi ... relaxing on my bed. How cute is that !!

During our trip to Cape York in 2005, we spent some time in Cooktown. Cooktown is a very historical place, Captain Cook visited here in June 1770, with his Endeavour crew. Apparently they climbed this hill ... now called Grassy Hill ... as it was the highest point near where they had disembarked. This lighthouse is now located on that hill, along with a plaque dedicated to Cook and his Crew.

A lightning storm in January 2006. It was late evening, and the camera was on a tripod with slow-shutter release activated. We were at Bonnie Doon, central / northern Victoria. It was an amazing storm. We got quite a few photos, but this one was by far the best.

In Weipa, in North-Western Queensland, they mine bauxite (hope that's spelt correctly), which somehow eventually becomes Aluminium. The raw bauxite is conveyored from the trucks, through a huge system of conveyor belts, to this thing, which transfers the bauxite onto huge mounds. I thought the colour was amazing, and just loved the way the individual pieces were visible in the line of stuff being poured onto the mound.

During our trip to Cape York in 2005, we drove through miles and miles of grass trees (or black-boys, as they are also known). I think they are just beautiful. Unfortunately, this photo doesn't nearly do them justice. Oh well !!

My little kitty, Bambi, just loves climbing trees. There were a few colorful parrots in this tree, and she was actually trying to figure out how to get them !! I chased the birds away, so they wouldn't become dinner, and took a photo of my gorgeous kitty amongst the apricots !! She is really clumsy, and nearly fell whilst trying to get down afterward !!

When Lake Eildon is low on water, which usually happens late Summer to Spring (when hopefully it starts to refill), we sometimes jump into the 4WDs and go exploring around in what would be the lake bed. I found this naked tree (there are many, many more) that I liked, and took it's photo. I think the strange colour of the sky, the time of day (it was coming up to sun-down), and the starkness of the tree made for an interesting photo.

During our trip to Cape York in 2005, we stopped at Mackay (Queensland) overnight. We went for a quick visit to the beach. It was a coolish, overcast day, but it is impossible to keep Chicky out of the water !!! I just love this shot, as she was jumping the little wave, and I got her full-flight !!

This was taken during a weekend late in June 2005. We were camping with some friends on the Murray River, which borders Victoria and New South Wales, near Yarrawonga, trying out all our gear before our big trip to Cape York. This is just a beautiful view across the river.

This photo was taken last winter - in September 2005. I zoomed in as much as the camera would let me. I was standing on the decking outside our caravan at Bonnie Doon. The mountain you see is Mount Buller, in the Victorian High Country. It is the home of one of our ski-fields, with really good ski runs, and all the ski-lifts, ski-lodges and other stuff that goes with the skiing life-style.

This was taken during a weekend late in June 2005. We were camping with some friends on the Murray River, which borders Victoria and New South Wales, near Yarrawonga, trying out all our gear before our big trip to Cape York. It was the middle of Winter, but a fairly mild day. Chicky just HAD TO GO SWIMMING, even though the water was freezing. Here she had just swung her arms, flinging water everywhere. I just love the sparkling water droplets everywhere.