Floods in East Timor

There was heavy rain and some flooding in East Timor a few weeks ago (I think it was the 8 July).  Geoff has sent some photos.

Dog-bait

Geoff helped out the airforce during the week by giving their dogs some exercise - that is, he was BAIT!!    They use the dogs for security patrols of the helicopters.  Sounds like the dogs really enjoy their work.

Geoff says:

"The German Shepherd’s name was 'War' the other dog name no one seems to remember. The dogs are owned by the Air-force they have one owner for their entire time they are in the Defence Force. They say they usually live for about 13 years."

Photos from East Timor and news from our builder

Our builder says...

"We are making good progress on our current project and are hopeful to be able to make a start at your place in the not too distant future."

We are still wondering if Geoff will be home before the work is finished ;)

Some new photos from Geoff are below - he says: "I hope when they start the renovations the scaffolding is nothing like this. The other photos are of the presidential palace as well as the Australian Embassy and pictures of the patrol around the camp perimeter."

ANZAC Day in East Timor

Some photos below from Geoff from ANZAC day ceremony in East Timor.  The Kiwi soldiers were also at the ceremony.

Wildlife

I had a visit from an extremely photogenic lizard today.  I heard him rustling about in the garden at the front of the house and took the photos out the bedroom window.  He was happily gorging himself on furry caterpillars walking in formation down the trunk of the large bottlebrush tree.  He was very interested in the noise my camera makes which meant he was wonderful to photograph.

Gifts and photos from Timor

I received a parcel from Geoff last week with some blankets/throw rugs he had bought at local markets for around $5 - some photos are below.  Of couse, when I laid them on the floor to take a photo Banjo immediately assumed I had put them there for him and lay down on one - cheeky!  Also some more photos of Timor from Geoff further down the page.

Approvals are happening...

Just had news today from our builder that the boundary relaxation has been approved.  The other approvals (for the plans) should follow pretty quickly.  The builder is working on his schedule so he can get a start date to us asap!  Yay, I was beginning to think Geoff would be home before any building had even started ;)