Opto picnic on Brisbane Water

That's actually a pretty cryptic title for the uninitiated. The "opto" refers to an old moniker for the university crowd, although it's changed significantly since our University days all those years ago. It's well over a decade ago as I write this, yikes.

Brisbane Water is also nowhere near Brisbane, it's actually Paul & Kate's back yard on the central coast. There may be a more specific name for the bay/lake than that, but neither google maps nor whereis could provide it for me.

Everyone who attended is in the picture, sans the ugly mug holding the camera. From left to right are Paul, Jamie, Hamish, Tom, Stephanie, Jasmine, Elissa, Susanne, Isaac, Kate and Will. (Click on the pic to embiggen)


This is Doogie and his newest offspring, Hamish. I won't say he looks like his father, as he's still too young to defend himself. The beer that looks to be almost in reach may or may not have had a rubber teat on it earlier. Genetics can be such a curse.


Paul supervising the playground.


Yes, there was cake. amongst many other goodies. As usual, we have the ladies to thank for all of the food. The men did at least cook, if not catch, some meat on the BBQ, as suits their levels of expertise. Jamie showed off his Y chromosomes in true style, forgetting to bring the meat, but remembering the beer.


A good day was had by all, adults and kids alike. This was a bit of a last minute thing as I was on leave and we were at Umina for a few days, but we'll have to organise a larger function with all the usual suspects before new year in 2009. If we get our act together, we might be able to do a lazy day by the pool before Summer leaves us. Thanks to Paul and Kate for putting up with us and whatever carnage the young'uns inflicted.

I've made all of the pics (there are only 9) publically available at this URL. I'll revert them back to private in a few weeks, after everyone who's wanted to see or download them will have had plenty of time. If you have a flickr/yahoo account, drop me a line and I'll give you permission to see all our pics. Clicking on most of these images won't necessarily get you any larger, or higher resolution images, as most of them are cropped and/or resized versions of those available at the link above.