My first Christmas at DD

In the "Festive Desk" stakes, I'm the trendsetter. There are no "scrooge" bugs on me (nuh uh). The second (okay, day) it ticked over to December I had my decorations at my workstation up. My colleagues either think I'm a Christmas nut or just plain nuts...but hey, I don't care! I think it looks rather good, if I do say so myself.

One Year On...

And it came to pass on December 10th, 2007 that the Crook Family had been in Brisbane for a year. When we first moved in, the property looked completely different (overgrown, brown and dead) to how it does now (green, lush and far less bushy). Here are some photos...one year on.

December 1, 2007

Well it's that time of year again. Time to drag out the Christmas tree, baubles, tinsel and enumeral Christmas music CD's! It's Christmas time and it just so happens it's my favourite time of year! The people at work say I'm crazy...I say "Bah Humbug!" Not really. December 1 in the Crook household is the traditional decorating of the tree and the day to get the stockings out and up. Here are some pics of our efforts.

Christmas Tree in place

The Tree Takes Centre Stage

















Mom & Dad's Stockings


















Lighting up















Yes, the cat's get a stocking...

...and so do the dogs!

A Day at the races

It's the race that stops a nation...literally! It's the Melbourne Cup! We at Dimension Data used the race to raise money for a little girl named Maisie with CP. We held a Melbourne Cup lunch with sweeps and everyone joined in the "festivities" by dressing up (a little) and watching the race on the big screen. We raised over $1,000 from the day...pretty good effort I'd say.






Running the sweeps















Lunching and watching













Best ladies' hat (Tina), best mens' hat (Lee), best dressed (Angela)













Kate, Dorlene, Benita, Claire & Mary - our dedicated helpers.














After the 'party' - Kerry & Benita

Birthday Celebrations!

Mom and Kay celebrated their Birthdays this year with a combined Birthday dinner aboard the Kookaburra River Queen. We boarded the dinner cruise around 7pm and disembarked at Eagle Street Pier a little after 10pm. The food and atmosphere were wonderful and Mom and Kay thoroughly enjoyed themselves!






The Kookaburra River Queen















Birthday Girls...














On board















Celebrating together!

Father's Day...A Day in the City

Father's Day is celebrated in September here in Australia. This year we decided to take a ride on the City Cat into the City and take a look around.







The City from the water















City Cat...Enough said













Checking out a tree

A monument in the Botanical Gardens














The old Treasury building

Riverfire 2007 - Part 2

More photos from Riverfire 2007...

Riverfire 2007 - Part 1

Riverfire? What's that? I'm glad you asked! It's an annual fireworks display along the Brisbane River as part of the annual River Festival that takes place in late August. We decided to go along to see what it was all about and we're glad we did. We parked in Milton and walked along the River to Southbank where we took up a post along the Grey Street Bridge to watch the show. Here's part 1of the best photos from the night.

Evening falls on the River City

Mom, Dad & Kay

Let the Fireworks begin!

Mezmerising!

Fiery Red

Point Perry

We've done a lot of exploring since we moved to Brisbane. We've been down the coast and up the coast and seen some pretty spectacular scenery along the way. These photos are of Point Perry at Coolum (on the Sunshine Coast). It's such a beautiful place. It's hard to imagine people taking their lives from this particular spot - but they have and they do.









A rocky outcropping
















The cove

Waves crashing against the rocks

Pictures from Pullenvale

I know, I am again lagging behind in the blog updates. Forgive me. I';m trying to get it up to date before Christmas!

Here are some pictures taken on our property back in May this year.






Palm Fronds














Clouds rolling in














Reaching for the sky...

Mooloolaba, QLD

Yes, I'll admit, that's a funny name for a place (Ma-loo-la-bar) is how you say it. But, it's one of the prettiest places on the Sunshine Coast with some of the nicest stretches of beach I've seen in a whiloe - yes, even better than the Gold Coast. Mooloolaba is about an hour and a half drive from Pullenvale - not bad going. We went to Mooloolaba for the first time one Sunday about 5 months ago now. It was just lovely to be able to sit on the beach and watch the world go by. The only unfortunate thing is that one's ice-cream melts way too quickly in the summer heat!







Walking a rocky path















Seeing things in Black & White

The beauty of Ocean Water

Once Upon a View...

When I first started at Dimension Data I had one of the best seats in the house! A desk right next to the window with a perfect view of the Brisbane River and the City...I even got my very own name plate (how official is that?!?). I have since been moved to a desk with no view and no windows, but I still have my photos to remind me.





It don't get more official than this!

Milton, QLD

A view of the City & River view. Coronation Drive is in the foreground.