King of the Tipping!

Hopefully this doesn't come across as arrogant, but Rowan "the Supercomputer" Roff is back on his throne as the Lord of footy tipping. Not only did I win the 2011 Roff AFL tipping comp, I am now currently leading both the 2012 Roff AFL tipping, and the Roff rugby tipping competition. With history on my side, and a deep and thorough understanding of the sports, I think it's quite reasonable for me to announce an early victory.

See you all in 2013!

Outback tales

I'm just back from a six-day ride from Radelaide to Urulu with six other journos and just the support of two vehicles full of doctors, mechanics and liquid refreshments. The bike was the Triumph Tiger Explorer which is a 1200cc adventure-tourer. It was a fine trip with over-nighters  at farm-stays, the William Creek pub and a bush camp (fully catered, of course).
The riding was a bit quick for my comfort level but I didn't fall off. I've never seen Uluru before and it really is beautiful. I didn't climb it as the locals don't aprove but I was pleased to discover this as I could barely stand up by the time we arrived. Julia has climbed it a couple of times and says it was terrific but this was before the locals made their position clear.

The pics are of a quick stop on the Oodnadatta Track and me guarding the beers outside the William Creek pub.

Happy Birthday Joe

Happy Birthday Joe Powers. Sorry it is a few days late but to celebrate your birthday we went to Montana and had no computer. Could not find anyone to play pong with. Hope you got some nice presents. You share a birthday with lots of interesting people including Andre the Giant, Joey Ramone, Pete Townsend, Grace Jones and Ho Chi Mihn. Ive included a picture of Mrs Doubtfire because it is such a great movie. Happy Birthday

Two will do

Kate and Indy's photos got us thinking about babies again, and then we thought about Nome's prolific behaviour and thought better of it! 'Two will do' is our new motto. Anyway, here's a mini catch up for all. Happy to hear from others with the same idea (sharing photo's, not breeding, Harry!)

Some shots of 'Band 6' at the Channon markets. We (courtesy of super-manager Kelly Roff who hassles publicans to let us play 'sight unseen' for the asking price of our choosing) have been getting regular gigs - our favourites being 'Sunday sessions' where the kids run around and drunks don't fall on our P.A.

Behind the kids is the path that we used to walk to Grandma and Pop's house at the top of the hill. Since they moved out and started galavanting around the world, the path has become overgrown - hence the bottom lips.

In other Lismore Roff news, Kelly is playing A-grade hockey again, and has lost none of her skills, regularly schooling chicks half her age. And talking about fast approaching old age, one idea I have for my 40th next year (Easter-ish) is 'Band 6' in the hall at Woodlawn (all Roffs/Seages/Forrests invited obviously as they nearly have land rights)

Jordan Rees Bisley

Indy Bisley and Emma Rees are pleased to introduce Jordan Rees Bisley, born at 2:48pm on 14 March 2012. Weighing in at 10lb 5oz (4.7kg), he's a whopper. Mum, Dad and baby are all doing well, and beaming.

If you are in Melbourne at any stage, get in contact with Indy becasue "You gotta see the baby".

Happy mothers' day to all Roff mums

All over Australia (and Canada), Roff  mums have been eating burnt toast and drinking luke-warm tea. Not at Nelson Road! Dom, Nick and Annika turned up early (for them) at 10.30am to cook Julia a sumptious breakfast with lashings of vegetarian goodness. The kids fought for space at the gas range and oven, and only some of the breakfast components were stone-cold when they were finally served. Julia and Nick, who have both had a month of breakfasts in hotels where the scrambled eggs have the texture of rubber, particulary enjoyed the feast.

We thought of all the other mums out there and hope you all had a rewarding experience.
Julia got free movie tickets to our local cinema and Nick asked her not to pay too much attention to the fact that the cinema is on the way from his house to ours - a coincidence, apparently.

yonder lies the western skies....

Hi all,

Just adding some recent pics of Samuel...
He is delighting us all, and is turning out to be a very serious little man - his facial expressions range from somewhat sceptical to down-right distraught (possibly in response to our parenting techniques, or the sight of my hair style at 3am, we aren't sure which). Either way, he certainly appears to have some questions about this world he has been brought into...We've even discovered that he can raise one eyebrow, which is quite intimidating when you are trying to do something corny like sing him to sleep...

We in the West recently had a visit from Julia, who proved she can compete with Grant for the "Baby whisperer" title when she got Samuel to sleep after a solid hour of tears and tantrums for everyone else! We also got to catch up with Nick recently, who continues to impress us by getting flown around the country in a job he's still not able to fully describe but includes some fancy marketing words, like "synergy".

Mum and Dad continue to be a huge help as grandparents, Lizzy is nothing short of a saint (appearing with soup, cupcakes or cookies every time she is passing by) and we can't wait for little Sam to meet his giant godfather Zac next week when he returns to Perth for a quick visit.

Expect more blogs from us at random hours of the night!
Kate and Joe

Annika heads north

Annika has just been advised that she has been recommended for the Climate Change Research Officer position with the Regional Development Center for Northern Luzon in the Phillipines.
This is part of the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) program.
These postions are very highly contested - almost impossible to get - and Annika secured one on her first application which is probably a reflection on how hard she's worked over the past four years.
Before she flies out for a year (gasp!) in July, she's going to Timor Leste where she'll be providing reserch officer skills for two of the key people monitoring the country's parliamentary elections.

I know what you're thinking and I agree - she could be Australia's second female prime minister...

Hamburg Marathon

On Sunday i ran the Hamburg Marathon. This stemmed mainly from the fact that my mate at home bet me a carton  of Little Creatures that i couldnt run a marathon with no training prior to the race. Yes, this came directly after watching the How I Met Your Mother episode where Barney does this. Those in the know will realise that this sort of wager is fair considering how delicious Little Creatures actually is. Below is a picture of my mate and I who completed it, and then a link where, if you are bored enough, you can watch my highlights from the race. There are 9 or so different cameras, but the race synopsis was that i ran for the first half, then walked/ran half/half between the 20 and 30km marks, walked between 30 and 42 and then ran the last 195m. Completed in the very very very modest time of 5:50hrs, i am happy to take critisism from absolutely ANYONE ELSE who has completed one. This list, i believe, includes Damian. Seriously though, if anyone else is thinking about this, train first!!

Check out the VIDEO!