Washing Macheen and Halloween...

Sort of works...
The headline for today is that whilst not completely sorted we have a functioning washing machine now! The pump arrived on Thursday afternoon but despite my best efforts I could not get the contacts on properly so I decided to wait until Allan was back and borrow his soldering kit and try again this morning - I have of course since remembered that I have my own soldering iron....
Anyway we got the correct fittings on and checked the pump and yes it was working! Allan went back home and I put the rest of the machine together and set it to rinse where I promptly got the same error message! My language was as I am sure you can image brief and to the point (if not exactly suitable for childrens ears - but as they were in school by then no worries!). As washing machines are fundamentally simple, you can follow the pipes with the water very easily, coupled with the fact that I knew this pump was working I set out to find the problem. Well it wasn't hard to find....

I have now removed three times this amount of lint from pipes, drain holes and around the main drum and at the moment (touch wood) it is working fine although I suspect I may have to clear more out before too long. The question on all your lips is "where did this come from???" and answer is NEVER BUY K-MART BATH MATS! As we have found out to our cost when you wash them they loose more hair than you can possibly imagine and clog everything up!

Thursday was also Halloween which as as we found out quite a big deal over here - last year we were driving from Darwin to Cairns so we missed it as we were in holiday accomodation in Townsville. There was a school disco planned and much to the childrens delight Tish was able to come as she had just finished four night shifts (although the hospital did call and try and get her to come in for another night shift!).
It was a very different looking car load that I took down to the school that evening....

Cameron went as a pirate

Hamish as a vampire

Xanthe went as Buffy the Vampire Slayer

And Tish's costume was a definate talking point throughout the whole do

she went as a bunch of sour grapes... all the balloons have sour faces drawn on them

I went as a hybrid Stormtrooper / Darth Vader but successfully avoided the camera.
A great time was had by all although there were three tired and slightly grumpy children at breakfast this morning!

Yesterday I also had two great photo opportunities.
Allan had found this stunning male Rhinoceros Beetle which he passed on to me to take a few pictures of

This beetle was at least 2 inches in length and had remarkably sharp claws and a bit of a temper - it hissed at me all the time!
It was whilst taking these pictures that I could feel some one watching me and turned slowly to find this young Black Butcherbird paying far too much attention to the beetle

Tomorrow the 2nd November is the first anniversary of our arrival in Cairns, although due to our removal company forgetting to put the container onto the train we did not move into Yorkeys until the 7th - how time has flown by