As you'd expect, quite a few changes in my life since the last newsletter 18 months ago. Mountain biking continues to be part of my life, I bought a dual suspension bike in 2007 (don't ask how much, I'm embarrassed) a rather nice Specialized Epic Comp Pro. Within months it'd got a big dent in the frame, when I fell jumping over a slippery log in the early morning. I've had a number of falls on this bike, broke two helmets in 12 days early on this year & have only recently got back to serious off road riding again.

But still intending to be competing again this coming season, as I'm now in the over 60's age group there's not much competetion & I can just relax & enjoy the personal challenge.

I've also bought a motorbike. Yep, finally after thinking about it for 40 years! Presently I only have a Honda VTR250, but it's great fun and very economical - I usually put around 10 litres of fuel a week into it for a little over 300kms of riding; it's my main form of transport, other than for long haul drives, major shopping trips or transporting bikes or dogs. I'm currently planning to get a Honda Hornet (600cc) soon, as I find the bigger bike easier to ride. Plus it's more fun!

The dogs, as you can see, are both still with me, Luci is now over 13 (not sure of her age as she came from a shelter) and getting very doddery indeed, she's deaf & nearly blind, so sadly her days are numbered. But she still keeps a very enthusiastic wag in her tail. Tara (now nearly 6) is still a bundle of energy, I try to walk her about 5 - 6km a day to burn off some of her boundless energy. She's had both her hind knees fixed, no dramas for well over a year so hopefully her good health will continue, can't afford two sick dogs as vet bills are pretty steep these days.

Trees continue to grow at a great rate, with a few casualties as is to be expected. I'm looking for new ground covers as some of the nice prostrate grevilleas have succumbed after getting a slight hit from Roundup - it turns out that despite their large size, the slightest spray from Roundup destroys the entire tree very quickly. I'm using heaps of mulch (this year I've bought about 20 big round bales to help keep in the moisture around the newer plantings, but the groves set out more than five years ago are now mature enough to provide their own mulch from leaf litter.

I'm also doing some selective pruning here & there where shrubs or trees have grown more robustly than I'd anticipated. It's hard to decide what goes & what stays, but it's for the good of the whole garden of course.

The middle grove is coming along despite heavy damage at the beginning of this year from severe flooding - all the mulch was washed away, trees uprooted and even my driveway was badly damaged. As a result I'm cutting down a few palm trees (they are a nuisance anyway) and using their trunks to divert water away from garden beds, back to the creek. Nothing of course can really stop torrents of water, but I'm hoping to minimise the damage done.

The flooding is caused by road drains that now run into my property, and the more roads that are built, the more rain gets washed away into the drains - a sign of our times, I'm afraid; this problem is pretty prevalent in the Brisbane areas as more homes & roads are built, whilst drainage is either not upgraded, or poorly designed (sigh)

At some stage I may be being forced out of my home - a busway is planned to go passed my house, the route is not yet fixed but it may well involve substantial widening of the major road that runs past the front - in which case I could lose up to 25 metres of my front garden, leaving the road outside my front door; this means the governent would really have to resume the entire block as no other part of the land is suitable for building. Currently due for completion in 2026, whether or not this ever happens is anyone's guess. Meantime, I won't be making substantial improvements to the block till the matter is decided one way or another.