His Excellency

Modesty forbids His Excellency from posting this blog but his relatives will appreciate that Andrew Roff has been elected/selected as the Youth Governor of South Australia.

Sponsored by the YMCA, each year a group of young prominent people from all socio-economic walks of life are selected to form two political parties and engage in debating bills at Parliament House for a live-in week of politics-in-action.

Andrew was initially elected by his ruling party as the Premier of South Australia and after the week was through, selected by the organisors to be the Governor of SA, the ambassador for the youth parliament for the next year.

Now there are two X men in the family??

Maisie4

Ukes triumph at Speigeltent

The first of the Dan Kelly and the Uleladies tour shows took place on Wednesday night. Around 250 people packed in and between Annika's uni mates, Julia's mates and the Lemmings MC, we made up about 25 of them. Dan was in fine voice and the Ukes have redefined the concept of glamour. The song arrangements are very sophisticated with sometimes spare but excellent harmonies. The Ukes did two songs by themselves, both featuring May rather than Amanda, but I suspect that was because Amanda is supposed to finish the show with a solo. It didn't end up happening because Dan was clearly under the mistaken impression that everyone was there to hear HIM and hogged the finishing number. The set lasted about an hour and 20 minutes which is probably longer than you'll get if you see them as the support for Augie March. We've got tickets to that show as well so I'll let you know if my hunch is correct. One of Dan's best songs is about the "Catholic Leader" newspaper from his youth and how awful it was. In the song, a nun runs off with a groundskeeper.
"They left in a Toyota Cressida,
But you won't read about it in the Leader."
Make sure you request it. Everyone who gets to see the show will enjoy it just for the music but the added bonus for us is we get to see Amanda shining brightly in the spotlight. Beautiful.

Best yet

In previous correspondence, Sue has indicated that the welcome BBQ run by the Woodlawn Roffs would be on 24th Dec. Sue would like me to convey to everyone that this should read the 23rd.

She also told me last night that this is looking like THE Roff christmas to be at. There are not many 'Hi my name is Zac and I can't attend this year because I have 13 sweedish sisters who are desperate to see me' apologies this year.

Can't wait.

Maisie3

World tour of Adelaide

Adelaide is waiting in a state of barely controlled anticipation for the sublime Ukeladies-Dan Kelly-Augie March combo set to do their thang on 13 November at the Gov. This will be the most exciting thing to happen to Adelaide since that Ikea store opened near the airport. Some reviewers have already labelled it "the best gig ever". This might be a tad precipitous, since said gig hasn't actually happened yet, but no one can deny the possibility.

To answer a question Amanda asked a while ago: yes! By which I mean, we have spare bed space for 1 (possibly 2), couch space for at least 4 and floor space for about 20 rabid groupies and/or miscellaneous hangers-on. And I'm sure that one of my flatmates will have some whiskey we can appropriate.

Yeehaw!

Oh, one other thing: Rowan and I have both organised tickets, but Ashley was wondering whether he might be able to get put on the door list for the show. Apparently he is "down" with young people music.

Maisie part 2 (yeah I know I missed a day or two!)

Le Tour

Joe in shock comeback!

www.theroar.com.au/2008/09/23/wallaby-laden-silver-foxes-outwit-pokolbin-reds/

The full (and very funny) report appears at the above link but here's a summary taken from the report:

"The third outing of the Silver Foxes invitation rugby team to raise funds for rugby charity Hearts In Union. Hearts In Union (HIU) raises money for players who have suffered spinal injuries playing the game.

But back to the weekend.

It was all initiated via a phone call from Pokolbin President Iain Riggs to Tim Horan whom he knew had played for the Foxes. Would the Foxes be interested in coming to the Hunter for the weekend to play the Reds? Horan relayed the call to Foxes supremo, president and chief selector Richard Harry, and Silver Foxes III was born.

Test Wallabies Andrew Blades, Marco Caputo, Richard Harry, John Langford, David Wilson, Tim Gavin, Owen Finegan, Sam Payne, Andrew Leeds, Jason Little, Tim Kelaher, James Grant and Joe Roff all ran out to start the match, which was played over three twenty minute thirds.

The Pokolbin boys may have been outclassed on paper, but reputations mattered little once the pill was in play. Although the scrums were uncontested, the tackles were full bore and the Foxes were rocked by the Reds halfback who surprised Richard Harry on the fringe of the ruck after only 5 or 6 minutes, slipped through to run 35 metres, and posted the first score for the Reds.

This clicked the Foxes into gear and saw some tremendous running from Owen Finegan, Joe Roff and Jason Little.

Wings Grant and Roff showed that class has no age limit, although perhaps the Friday night reds took a yard or two off the former Wallabies’ pace. The Pokolbin side scored a 50 metre intercept through one of their speedy wings, upon whom Roff made little impression during the chase, but he made amends with several sweetly timed passes and breaks after slipping into the 5/8 spot which had been deviously promised to him in the lead-up by Foxes captain Harry. “Sure Roffy – anywhere you like…yeah 5/8 no problem…”!

See the full report for more details.

Stomping out ideas about favouritism - part 2

Maisie doll is really coming in to her own right now. We are very much looking forward to letting our aunties (and anyone else with baby fever) taking her for extended periods while we catch up at Neil's bar till 4 drinking beer and eating barbecued cheese.

I obviously am obliged to proffer a photo of Maisie every day for a week after doing the same for Lachlan, so today is day 1. There are some very cute photos ahead.

In other news, after two years of contract work, I was just offered a permanent job at Woodlawn (no help from Glenn who refused to be on the interview panel) - so even after Glenn moves on to a life of golf and bowls, we will still have a Roff thumb in the Woodlawn pie for years to come.

When they say permanent, I don't think that they realise that I have taken it literally. I am actually grooming Lachlan to become the next sports master at the College, so that we can continue Roff gatherings until at least 2050.

Guess the family member

Armidale Roffs on Tour

Pressure. Luke wins a raffle to be involved in a penalty shootout with local member Richard Torbay. For the record he nailed it bottom left corner.




Various shots of Mt Kaputar in Narrabri. A great National Park 10/10.

Lightning Ridge Sin Bin

In a town where there is a general consensus that the law does not apply here, where you can pretty much do anything you like, how can you possibly get sin binned at the local pool for 10 minutes. What atrocity must you commit?

Melbs

Still recovering from the MotoGP in Melbourne and sibling fest at Nagambie. Don't tell the Jim Beam girls.
These are my mates bikes and Dad and my BMW. How good do they look?Dad dropped in on the sibling weekend to complain and give nick a wedgie.There is a wild dog that roams the property called 'Tiger'. Bonnie wasn't too impressed and Tiger has been known to kill and eat other dogs. He takes good care of Amanda though.

Dance-a-thon 6000 and other unrelated news.

At the age of twenty-two, I performed in my first ever "dance recital" as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival over the weekend. "Dance-a-thon 6000" was part dance performance, part dance-off, part school reunion-esque disco, complete with nostalgia for rock eisteddfods past. As a member of Anna's Go-Go Academy I performed "The Madison", a 60s line dance which those of you who have seen the original "Hairspray" would recognise. Speaking of hairspray, I used two bottles of "Black Label Hair Lacquer: Incredible Hold!" to construct an impressive beehive for the evening. Here is an attempt at pensive artistic pre-performace photography. As you can see, my hair was too big to fit in the picture.




Miss Anna, the head of the Academy and mastermind behind popular comedy festival show "So You Drink You Can Dance" presented all the go-go girls (and boys) with certificates of achievement at the end of the show. Given the disproportionate amount of time I have spent studying "The Madison" compared to poltitical theory, this certificate may be the most formal qualification I ever receive! It will at least qualify me to teach interested parties a few dance moves for the Roff Christmas Concert.

In other news, it was wonderful to have Adam and Nicholas visit Melbourne last week. A sibling adventure to Amanda's country retreat in Ngambie was held, which much like a football trip involved team bonding, the consumption of vast quantities of alcohol, excessive amounts of food and...lots of lying around in the sun marvelling at the behaviour of ants? Hopefully Adam will post pictures.

Wrapping things up, I urge you all to check out www.dankelly.com(.au?) to hear "The SUV Song" featuring the delightful backing vocals/mobile phone solo stylings of The Ukeladies

xo Annika

KAMA

You deserve everything you get for eating McDonald's! No sympathy here!

Grant, how was Phillip Island. Nick told me you were very "tired" upon your return; Spannerman had to work very hard. What is the story? And how good is Rossi? Twelth to second!

House allocations

My first attempt to use Youtube - Grant as Dumbledore at Roff Christmas '02 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55JtCTyCelg
Jake

On the wings of a sea-eagle

I have been moved by Manly's wonderful 40-0 drubbing of the Storm to reflect on how good and just is life (sometimes). Congratulations to Cal Roff and Ash Roff for having the perseverence and imagination to fly with the sea-eagles. We've had some down-draughts, we've had to eat moss instead of whiting, but who's soaring now?

Is this a picture of prince Harry and prince Will at Balmoral Castle? No, its Andrew and Rowan at Jolly's Boathouse with the King William St bridge in the background, but life is good for the Adelaide princes. It was great to have Glenn and Sue visit us last week. They raided the op-shops, as is their want, but equally at home on the verandah of D'Arenburg's at Mclaren Vale appreciating a local sav/blanc. To work off the calories we went down to Encounter Bay to undertake the taxing King's Beach walk (note the gentleman in the Manly-Warringah guernsy holding a New Zealand fur-seal). It was an added bonus to have Daniel visit. He fitted in very well, buying lots of Coopers' Ale and providing some classy guitar entertainment at Andrew's house party.


Glenn and Sue enjoyed their visit although Sue was worried about Glenn's increasing cholesterol count and here points to the visible effects of too much good hospitality in South Australia.

I was very proud to be able to move Andrew's admission as a solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court of South Australia a couple of weeks ago. Yes, Grant, I have put on some weight, and no I'm not wearing fish-net stockings underneath the regalia (although I must admit I did enjoy dressing up?).

Lots of love to all.

Ash

Does Sarah Palin really get her information from the Roff Report?

Click on image to enlarge.

LOVE HOLIDAYS

Good luck to the Armidale Roffs on their great adventure to Lightning Ridge and beyond. I reckon it will be like a Chevy Chase movie but the Ridge will be much better than "Wally World". I wish I could go and take a camera! Speaking of cameras, I took mine on a dive with the sharks at South West Rocks - unfortunately it filled with water but the dive was incredible - you swim through a cave and come out the other side into sunlight blotted out by sharks, rays, turtles and thousands of fish. I hand fed a giant turtle and tickled the belly of a big sting ray but gave the sharks their own personal space!
Fiji looks great Jake and Kelly - Marianne and I were trying to talk Millie into going to the Coral Coast instead of her announced destination of IRAN! In the end Mil settled for India in January so we were relieved about that but the Fiji deals looked great and is much safer.

WYDO8 and Movies

Stations of the Cross-Damian and Amy were up close and personal
Amy and her friend Araluen meet Casey Donovan at WYDO8


Jenny here....
I attach a couple of shots from WYD. Amy and Damian had a wonderful time mixing with other pilgrims and sharing the spirit. It was an amazing experience for Amy and one she will never forget. She is already talking about going overseas to a WYD in the future.
Has anyone seen any of my movie selections? I challenge all Roffs to watch my top three and then report back. I reckon you will all post at least one of them as your new favourite funniest family friendly movie. On second thoughts, Talledega Knights maybe isn't all that family friendly, but it is hilarious.
We are off to Lightning Ridge for a camping holiday on Monday and will send a blog upon our return. We had the pleasure this week of the Norman family from Gero visiting us for 3 nights and setting up their camper trailer in our back yard. They are half way through a 6 month trip around Australia with their 3 sons aged 14, 9 and 15 months - brave souls. My sister Kathy also visited and she sends her love to all Roffs. She is planning to make it to Lismore for a few days after Christmas.
Get busy watching those movies!!!

Amy's top three movies

Amy here
My top three movies are
1. The Dark Night (Batman)
2. The Mask
3. Grease

Jenny's top three movies (family friendly of course)
1. Elf
2. School of Rock
3. Taledega Knights

What do you reckon? Anyone like to post theirs?