An era over

Nearly 2 years to the day, the principal of Woodlawn took his son into his office and said "it pains me to say, but I've looked at the timetable and there is nothing for you here next year..". After establishing that this wasn't a joke, the first thing I did, since I was now unemployed, was to buy a two year DreamWorld pass.

2 years is up. The principal did find space in the timetable after someone resigned a week later, and my little family made every effort to get to Dreamworld on weekends.

Below are photos from our very last visit.


Caught! Not real Real!
Watching the tigers Watching Daddy and Lacho on the bumpers After we saw a lizard Just too small to ride 'The Claw'

Bye Bye Dreamworld!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Roff (Seage and Forrest) dads. I got a new pair of pyjamas and a Tex Perkins CD. Beat that! Tonight we're having a family outing to see the latest Harry Potter movie (yes, I know we're a bit behind the times) which I'm looking forward to.

In other breaking news, Julia and I are going back to Vietnam in January for another motorcycle adventure, this time along the mountainous Chinese border. It's the "take no prisioners" tour - about a dozen of us including - wait for it - speical guest rider Stuart! Although Marianne found the idea of riding along high-altitude cliff faces, sleeping in mud huts and living in constant fear of abduction by Chinese militants appealing, she has declined to join us. It will keep Julia busy - being a life coach for TWO Roffs - but I'm sure she'll rise to the occasion. Tour departs January 10 and officially finishes on January 17 but we should be able to find a few extra days for some R-and-R on Halong Bay. Only 125 more sleeps, Stu.

Milly's spendathon

This has been the weekend where Milly, Alaine, Annika, Marianne and Marianne's mum, Rae, cashed in the prize Milly won in the Marie Claire magazine competition. Marianne, Alaine and Rae made a weekend of it, arriving on Friday and spending the evening with Marianne's brother, Gary, his wife, Glenda, and their son, Ben.
Despite their best efforts, they couldn't spend the $10,000 in the allotted two hours but they converted some of the money into accommodation at a guest house in Daylesford in central Victoria. Stuart will love it - it's the same-sex capital of the southern hemisphere. Eventually the bill got to $9994 and, at the last minute, Annika found a stuffed mouse for $6. Bingo!
We all went to dinner last night with guests including all the Melbourne-based Forrests. Alaine, Milly and Annika all wore either dresses or jewelry they'd bought that morning. I'm just back from a big Sunday breakfast at the Fairfield boathouse with the survivors from the night before. In the case of the cousins, it was only Alaine...

Zac's private life

I wanted to take the chance to illustrate to the family the traps and pitfalls of displaying information on 'facebook'. I found a 'status' post in which Zac mentioned something about a girl he was dating. Now Kianna was good enough to add me as a friend, which means I can now share with the family photos of Kianna and Zac (which I think are beautiful).
I also wish to let it be known that if any of my cousins hide information about their relationships from 'The King',... I will find out.

Backyard crew

Putting a call out for any Roff / Forrest / or Seage cousins of the male variety who have nothing to do on a weekday, and who might want to be in my music video for "Backyard Cricket". September 17. Somewhere in Sydney. Let me know. All you have to do is hang out, drink beer and play cricket in a real backyard. I'd rather do it with family or mates. If Rupert has his way (The lyrisist/poet of the song), Steve Waugh might even grace us with a couple of minutes of screen time. Of course, that's a concept just now....

Fun in the sun at KL.

So Vicky had to go to an exhibition in Kuala Lumpur last week, so, me being me i decided to seize the opportunity of escaping the typhoon and enjoy free accommodation in a foreign country. The first night there we were treated to a fantastic Malay meal courtesy of Vicky's Malaysian friends. Spicy Crab being the main course.

While Vicky worked very hard all day long, I basked in the culture that is Malaysia.

I felt a little uncomfortable being the only "Employee" at the free food and wine night wearing shorts and a t-shirt and a name tag with "Elyse Huah Executive Assistant", however, thanks to the free beer and wine it didn't take long to come up with a satisfactory cover story.
I know, I know, I just am irresistable to women all over the world.
I just like this photo. Taken at KL Zoo. Good zoo to visit, you could almost touch some of the big cats.

Jake's new song

Coming soon...

Mick Seage (Cous) has pulled a rabbit out of the hat with this one. He called in favours from his muso mates and I left him to produce 'Backyard Cricket'. It's worked out so well that we are going to shoot a video clip (Mid september - once again a low/no cost job from friends/contacts). It could possibly top 'The Traveller' or 'Johnny's Last Tour' - "How could this possibly happen?" I hear you think, but we're pumped about this Roff/Seage coming together...

Even ninja's need holidays

Great trip. Thanks for cooking for us on your birthday Rock. We snorkelled with sharks and turtles and sailed and slept and drank emu bitter and cocktails. Happy days.

Youth Parliament

Yes, his lordship returned to his old stomping ground to remind everyone that to get to the top you need a designer haircut, a sharp suit and a signature strut. Being a part of Youth Parliament this year too, I had to endure several "aww so you're Andrew's brother", a few "do you wanna be the governor too?" and one young man even had the audacity to mutter "yeah you kinda look like him" to which he was instantly ejected due to the "Youth Governor's Law VII, 2009". There was also a close call where I had managed to get my shirt wet in a freak early morning ironing accident (they do happen) and almost put on a matching shirt to Andrew (due to a cruel joke by mum who suggested to Andrew that he shop at a store that I had previously visited).


As for the actual debating I took a different tack to most people, relying less on factual and insighful information to argue a point, and instead focusing on subtely mocking my opposition and destroying their credibility. Apparently this is encouraged in all forms of parliament. There were a couple of formal components to the week long event, most of which included Andrew welcoming 1687253 VIP's by name before proceeding to charm them with his high-brow wit which people seem to respond to. I relyed on my tasty dance moves at the dance party to make friends, and, if the increase to my facebook friend count is anything to go by (which it most certainly is), I am increadible.


The week was great and was similar to Roff christmas in many ways, we stayed at a boarding school, there was heaps of activities, good social atmosphere and even a big spontaneous late night sing-along. Differences included getting rudely awoken in the morning and instead of rudely awoken in the afternoon, conversations about politics and society as opposed to which is the best nut to eat, and competitions where people didn't mind coming 2nd (losers). I'll leave you with a sample of what you would have been dealing with had you tried to cross me in parliament.

Those Who Can't Do- Teach

So it has been a while since Vicky and I have posted, and since a Typhoon has stopped me from heading to Malaysia tomorrow, i figured I would show you how another succesful Roff to escape a Kiwi winter. I have been very busy teaching, and just tripping around. I got back from a four day wind and water filled adventure to the isolated east coast with some of the chinese teachers, once the typhoon struck we were deserted in a small town, this didnt stop riding our pushbikes to the cold springs for an enjoyable soaking (pictured above). Unfortunatly Vicky had to work as some sort of car parts consultant magazine thing so she missed out on the adventure.

Waterfalls before the typhoon struck in hualliem.

Giving life lessons is only a small part of curriculum de harry.

Two of my better "Art Students" at the high school.

The kids worked so hard to build this kite, unfortunatly they took too long so they didn't have enough time to break it, which meant I took some time to revisit my childhood.

Tawianese Garbage truck.

Vicky and I sitting in traffic. Peaceful traffic conditions pictured below (non peak hour).

Vicky powering into the waves at the local beach. The name i can't pronounce or spell.

One of the beaches further south. Ken-Ting.

Vicky and I have been working for an animal rescue group, we have met and helped many dogs that people abandon because dogs are a throw away item to people here. It is a sad truth but many people here dopn't realise that a puppy grows into a dog. In the dense city dogs become a hinderence on people so they just leave them in the streets. This dog "Patrick" was abandoned and was found very hungry, Vicky helped him and walked him everyday until someone in the United States adopted him. He now has a better life than most of us.

Japan.... we never blogged after Japan so here is a few photos. Miyajima.

Most people light candles for a birthday party, but when the people in Nara found out it was Vicky's birthday, they set an entire mountain alight.

Family Time

Hi All! Adam, Amanda and their Murray cousins from the sunny side of the country went out to breakfast today with myself, Mum and Lizzy to celebrate Dads birthday, and although Dad wasnt techincally present, we thought it would be nice to celebrate none-the-less. It was awesome to see Ads and Amanda again, and hope more of you take holidays over here!!

August party

It's on again - John Roff's famous August birthday party. It might be a little quieter this year than normal in that Jan is in Perth at the moment as Lizzie has a dose of the flu. I spoke to John tonight as Adam, Amanda, Benedict (son of Angela, Cathie's sister) and Benedict's wife called in to see him on their way back from 10 days up the WA coast. Happy birthday for tomorrow, John.

Best way to survive a NZ winter:

Go to Fiji!












































Ok we didn't actually go to Fiji, it was the Cook Islands, but it's all Fiji to me.
Joe and I stayed on Rarotonga for a week and managed to scoop a sweet day trip out to an island called Aitutaki in return for writing a story on it. I recommend journalism to anyone who likes freebies and can bluff their way into tour groups.


I also recommend getting an office job to any teachers out there looking for a laugh. It's hilarious. So many more movies/tv shows make sense to me now.
I currently:
-Share a cubicle with a guy who's sole desk ornaments are a R2DT figurine and a pile of stones that he collects from the bottom of his shoes each day
-Use the windowless, oxygen-starved cafateria for coffee that's been powdered to within an inch of its life
-Have a boss who breaks words into more syllables than necessary (like Po.Tential and Stor.Ay)and tells me I need to work on my "journalese". I hope to be so cool when I grow up.


In other news, Christchurch is having an arts festival this month - so we are taking full advantage of that. Paul Kelly's A to Z tour has been a highlight.
















Grant, we didn't realise Dan was playing til he appeared on stage and (thanks to a lapse in stage security in NZ) caught up with him after the show to give him and Paul tips on hiking in the area and on how to avoid associating with the locals. They apparently only listened to half our advice because Paul told the crowd the next night (which we attended on the band's kind invite) that they hiked a really cool track while Dan told the crowd he had been propositioned in the men's room of the local swimming pool. Can't say we didn't warn him.

To keep the punters happy - Kate's Paul Kelly top three:
- Dumb Things
- Love New Runs on Time
- The Ballad of Queenie & Rover (which he conveniently shortened to Queenie and Rover so he could have a song for "Q")

K8

A - League

The name of the comp is roff A league. Go Mariners! Games start tomorrow so get your tips in.

New Tipping Comp A - League - Come on!

I have set up an A - League tipping comp. Go to footytips.com.au and join the comp. You can go through the "find a comp" links. The code word is roff. In the AFL, Dude Love still leads from Toody with Nick one point behind. Harry is last. Dan is third last.

The caricature we used on the "Roff Red 2" wine label for Glenn's 60th

Give Annika a hand...

Fame at last! That's Annika and her friend Meg in the The Age newspaper last Sunday in an article about go-go dancing and Australia's premier provider: Miss Anna's Go-Go Academy. You got a glimpse of her skills last Christmas and Milly has converted from belly-dancing to this new (old) form. Where does go-go rate on your list, Damien?

Give Dom a hand...

Dom has broken his thumb in a rugby tackle he hardly even remembers. Twelve valiant Box Hill Under 18s were struggling against a full team from Powerhouse so tackles were the order of the day. He broke it in the first five minutes but played out the rest of the game, probably not improving the situation. He goes to a hand surgeon this Wednesday and will have surgery at some stage in the near future. It's likely to involve a pin and six weeks or so in plaster - no more writing (it's his right hand, of course), sport, guitar and the rest of it. Just what you need when you've just turned 17...