Movember

Yes, it's that time again.

Here's a quick tip though - Don't make a deal with your home group in which they design your mo' if they can raise $50.

My aim is to raise $100 each year. If anyone is keen to donate to prostate cancer research and other male health issues, I would certainly appreciate it. (tax deductible)

Click this link https://www.movember.com/au/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink&rego=1937846&country=au and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account

OR, leave an IOU in the comments section, and I'll collect at christmas- and Daniel, the rules about drunk blogging apply to drunk charitable donations - don't do it unless you remember what you've done the next day.

Potsdam Uber Alles

Guten Tag. Still loving Germany. It's 'eine bier bitte' if anyone was curous. I'm still working at the hotel but Moni has been exploring. She rode a hotel bicycle over to Cecilienhof today for a visit and a bagel.

Cecilienhof was the location of the Potsdam Conference in 1945. Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Harry S. Truman met at the round table in the great hall and issued the Potsdam Declaration defining the terms for Japanese surrender. Truman had already given order to prepare the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Stinking war criminals, all of them. Anyway, they sell an awesome snow globe of the dudes. That's Amanda's chrissy present done.

We ate tonight at a French restuarant in the Dutch Quarter of a German town. Pop. We shared breakfast this morning with a Swiss Army Major. He is observing some war games in Goebbel's old hunting reserve. He assures me that the Swiss Army do have knives, but that they are only good for stabbing people and are near useless for opening wine. I have to pull an all nighter to finish a chapter or I am toast, but tomorrow we go to Berlin. Ich bin ein Berliner.

Beer is AU$1 for a long neck. And it is all imported european beer. Well, not imported, you know what I mean. Did I mention this already? They sell long necks in cafes and post offices and newsagents. I'm starting to wish they had won the war. Is that bad?

The conference went well. I butchered my talk because I hadn't slept in 6 days but made some good contacts at NASA. For realz. Our bags turned up in Bangladesh under the name WOFF. I am making the insurance pay for all my beer as compensation. Next stop East Germany. I can't wait to snuggle under the Iron Curtain. The wind comes straight from Siberia and it's freezing.

BAND HERO NIGHT

guitar hero took on a whole new meaning of lame last night. our only saving grace was that i didn't sing, how ever i do strongly recommend a few beers and a lot of south park quotes on hand. it was a good night

The Ukeladies buzz

I had no idea about the impact on the Oz music scene of the Ukes until I ran into Mick in the gym. Mick is the fitness trainer for the Melbourne storm. We have had previous conversations about the state of the 'scene' as we call it, and I feel he is on the same page as me in terms of taste (we haven't had a Neil Diamond convo yet though).

Jake; "What are you listening to Mick?"
Mick; "...various JJJ bands that Jake has never heard of because Lacho likes Bob the Builder better that Jay and the Doctor .... and Augie March"
Jake; "Oh yeah mate, (..very pleased with my rising cred..) I'm seeing them in Brissy.
Mick; "Really? The gig on the 28th with Dan Kelly and the Ukeladies in support?"
Jake; "I know of the Ukes - How do you?"
Mick; " They've done various projects with Dan and Paul Kelly over the last couple of years"

Anyway, you can imagine what happened after that - I spewed on more about my relationship with Amanda than Lizzy did about Joe at the '95 World Cup!!

Can't wait for the Ukes... and Dan.... and Augie.

Bizarro World

I'm super excited about Europe so apologies if I blog too much. We flew in via KL and Amsterdam, a trip that took us over Alice Springs, Indonesia, India, Iran and central Europe. That means we flew over what at least 2 billion people. Mind blowing.

The plane was fun but I found the stewards get a little shirty if you just keep ordering gin and tonic over and over all through the night. We had some Laksa at the airport in Malaysia which was second to none. Amsterdam airport has a casino and a museum but no 'special' cafes, which is probably just as well.

Flying into Berlin was my favourite part. There are windfarms EVERYWHERE, lots of cooling towers for nuclear power plants and market gardens all through the outskirts of the city. It looks like the future.

Unfortunately our baggage didn't enjoy the same experience and is missing in action. There is in fact, no record of our baggage at all, which is a little perplexing. Monica is disappointed because all her best dresses are in there but I am stoked because it adds to the adventure, and they gave me a free toilet bag with a cotton shirt in it. I am easily pleased. We are insured to the hilt and KLM airlines is likely to fork out some cash for new stuff so no dramas.

Potsdam is pretty cute. It is like the old section of The Rocks, or Fremantle, but a whole city. There are pretty girls riding on bike paths that go everywhere and you can easily take your bike on a train. I thought Sydney was based on a European design but they should have thought more of Germany and less of London. We should hang the RTA and the NSW planning bodies. Beer costs less than milk too. Ouch. We went for a walk through the woods and it is like the prettiest parts of Emerald but seems to go on forever.

Anyway, Monica thinks I am working so I better do something. Conference starts tomorrow.

It's still all happening

Adam rang today from the departure lounge of Sydney airport where he and Monica were waiting to fly to Berlin via KL and Amsterdam. He is delivering a paper in Potsdam and, afterwards, they'll be staying in Berlin with members of the "Skipping Girls", a performance art group that Monica was involved in a few years back. Potsdam is where Count Zeppelin invented the airship in 1910.





Then it's on to Paris for a couple of weeks. Adam reckons he'll be working on his thesis but I fear there may be distractions. The pics above show the interior of the Paris flat and where they've been living in Sydney so that they could save money for the trip. Adam's uni is, at least, paying his airfares. He's promised to blog regularly.
Annika dropped in tonight (Sunday) and only has a take-home exam and a proper exam to go to finish her undergraduate degree. She has applied to do Honours next year in politics and looks like being accepted. We have two tickets to the Augie March/Ukuladies gig in Melbourne next weekend and she and Julia will be going. Not much news from Amanda but it's mid-tour and she's probably resting up for four nights in a row.
Nick is having his 21st in Newcastle on December 21. You'll all be invited but we understand you can't all come. You'll have a chance to pat him on the back up in Lismore. Dom is going for his L plate test tomorrow which adds a new dimention to the expression "road safety".
I've been invited to the presentation of the NZ motorcycle awards this year at the end of November and Jules and I will get three days there. Apparently there's a coast-to-coast walk across the Auckland Isthmus (16 kilometres) which is on the agenda along with a ferry trip to an island with a vineyard on it owned by relatives of friends here in Melbourne. Should be a nice break. In the meantime, lots of marking and a stress-inducing conference where I have to talk about my own thesis. Hmm.. maybe I should get back to work on that.

Black or White or Tan

Daniel Stuart Roff is on a mission to improve indigenous relations across Australia. At the Glengarry pub in Redfern on Friday night, our group was joined by Norm, Sam and Rictchie. Sam and Norm are cousins from "the bush" and they now reside in "the block". Ritchie is Sam's boyfirend.

At one point Norm expressed his concern that we were too white. Finger pointed sharply into Norm's chest, Daniel accused Norm, and all aborigines, of stealing the tan from the white man. Awkward.

Despite having lost his tan to the black man and despite having red hair, Daniel still managed to catch the eye of Sam and Ritchie. Ritchie confided that he would be happy to cook and clean for Daniel for the rest of his life. Sam loves red heads because they didn't exist where he grew up.

As far as I know, Daniel made it home in one piece.

Woot

Narrowly Averted

What's Happening in Adelaide?

The actual caption for this photo is: "I have 3 exams next week...woooooo!"

THE TRUTH ABOUT AMY!

At last the truth as to why Amy was "sin-binned" for ten minutes at the pool in Lightning Ridge can be revealed. Amy, contrary to clearly displayed pool rules, went down the slippery slide HEAD FIRST!! Where were her parents?

An update, because it is what the crowd wants....

I guess I owe it to the blog readers to let you all in on my life at the moment. I arrived home to Newcastle last Friday direct from Christchurch- if anybody still believes i am the "golden" child of the family would be wrong these days- it was evident when there was no one waiting at the airport for me after an international flight- no, sadly i was left to make my way through crowds of people all ready and waiting to collect their loved ones from the airport to catch two trains home, this was made more difficult by the fact that I was carrying Snow boarding gear, work gear (including a tool box) and a bass guitar that doesn't even belong to me.
I leave here tomorrow to make way to Brisbane for some work, this is only for a short while (4 weeks) where by that time I will be well and truly ready for a much needed holiday, several month holiday to be exact, the first part of which will be touring the Melbourne Roff and Forrest clans, a trek along the Great Ocean Road will be part of this trip. (Thank you Grant and Julia for lending us the beloved Kombi- i will take good care of her) If anyone has any sight seeing must-dos in Melbourne we would happy to take it on board.
After this we will be heading north for the always great Roff Christmas in Lismore, where Vicky and I will be leaving early to make sure we are in Tokyo for New Years Eve, it was a tough choice deciding wether the Grand Hotel in Lismore or Tokyo would be more intense at midnight, I guess only time will tell.
From Tokyo I will be relaxing at the ski slopes in Hakuba as there will be no relaxing once we get stuck into the serious backpacking around Japan, After which we fly to Vickys home tome of Taichung in Taiwan, this is where we will set up camp for a few months to explore the rest of Asia, one trip will be to catch up with Jesse Forrest And Jo when they are in China and a wedding in South Korea next year.

Melbourne cup blues

Sorry, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to scoot up to the TAB to collect Dom's winnings. Showing the style he's famous for at the Lismore dish-lickers, he spent his $10 allocation by splitting it between Viewed and Barbaricus. I think the return on his $5.00 is around $200. In retrospect, why would you ever bet against a Bart Cummings horse? I had $10 on Guyno and, at last reports, it still hasn't finished the race...

Ukeladies Wow Perth

The Regal Theatre in Subi was treated to an awesome performance by Dan and the Ukes last night, and owing to Amanda's ability to score us reduced (read:free) priced tickets, Liz and I were able to afford to come and watch! Although insulting Johnny H in front of 200 residents of the most conservative, liberal state in australia could have ended in tears, the crowd really seemed to get into it, even indulging in some participation (unheard of in Perth)!! Some other band also played afterwards, but this was overshadowed by the party in the upstairs bar, where Amanda and her cousin Ben Murray, his wife Janelle, Liz and I were able to enjoy a couple of drinks. It was awesome to see Amanda again, and to see how comfortable she looks up there on stage, so if you can - get to a gig!

Maisie part 7

This is a picture of Maisie at a party last weekend, so everyone is up to date, and she is looking forward to getting lots of cuddles and volunteers for babysitting at Christmas.

BUM DEAL FOR AMBER

Spare a thought for cousin Amber who began her own PR company and her first client was the Coogee Bay Hotel (or is that Poogee Bay) and its gala opening after refurbishment. Amber's previous work put her as the PR person for the Sydney Fish Markets which were plagued by the "toxic" fish in Sydney Harbour scare then the poison oysters debacle! She can't seem to win.

Saw all the Forrests at Cairo's wedding (to Victoria) on the week-end. Victoria's parents own a luxury accommodation estate up the valley and was perfect for a great weekend - everything was top drawer and great fun. Pictures to come shortly

Maisie6

Maisie5

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?