Punto Turbo Diesel

Check out this pocket rocket - the latest Fiat Punto is the newest entrant to the Targa Tasmania Rally which kicks off today.

Our favourite food providore has made a joint sponsorship of the Turbo Diesel powered machine that's sure to grab attention, as its the first diesel to enter the Targa Tasmania Rally.

When Targa Tasmania gets underway with the official Prologue in George Town on April 17, at the start line for the first time will be a diesel-powered vehicle.

Motorsport veteran, Phil Buggee and his co-driver Paul Freame, will be behind the wheel of a Fiat Punto, competing in the Showroom category. Not only will it be the first time that a diesel-powered vehicle has entered Targa Tasmania, it will also be the first diesel-entry in any tarmac rally in Australia.

The Punto meets the toughest emissions standards of Europe, EN590, and will use BP's latest generation 10ppm low sulphur diesel making it the most economical and environmentally friendly vehicle in the field.

"We are looking forward to contesting the Modern section after five years of competing with the Classics, in a brand new car, literally straight off the showroom floor," Buggee said.

"Fiat has returned to the Australian market after an 18-year absence, so it's great to see it back and in such a high-profile event."

"When the opportunity came up to drive the Punto in Targa we jumped at the chance, and with the support of BP in Tasmania and Pirelli, we've made it happen."

"The Fiat Car Club of Victoria is 50 years old this year and entering Targa is a great way to celebrate."
"The chance to be the first turbo-diesel to compete in Targa Tasmania is just one of the firsts for this project."

"Diesel really is the way of the future. We're probably going to use less fuel than any other car in the field. We reckon our total usage will be less than 250 litres for the whole trip, which is pretty amazing."

"I know that the organisers of the event are really looking forward to growing the Showroom class and we'll certainly welcome any others who want to join us in the future."

Welcome Baby Emilie Morris

Congrats to Jeff and Orla on the arrival of Baby Emilie last night!
She's a healthy 8lbs 6 oz and Mum and Baby are doing great. Well done guys, looking forward to meeting your little baby girl.

My first slide

With a little help from Mum, I made my first trip down the slide at the Playground today. Dad reckons that I did a perfect 10!

Our Lift to the Football last night.

Check this out, all $480,000 worth. That's alot of coin! A mate organised this Stretch Hummer with Phil our driver to take 9 of us out to Homebush Stadium to watch the opening game of the AFL. The Swans played pretty badly and lost by one point, but all the fun was had inside the hummer which seats 14. To give you an idea, it had no less than 8 plasma TV's inside. The pic here was taken outside the Phoenix Hotel where we had a few cups of tea before departing.

Sunday March 25th 2007

Another week and Liam is starting to try his best at big sentences and long chats, and telling us all the words he knows - big truck, digger, dump truck! Kaila is pulling herself up using Dad's leg or the coffee table but still pretty wobbly so she cant stand up yet, maybe next week she might.

Got a pic here of Liam up at Palm Beach yesterday while I had Kaila in my arms, the water was pretty nippy but as you can see Liam loved it. He was chasing the blue stingers being washed up in the water, luckily none stuck!

He did however get bowled over for six by a freakish wave about 30 seconds after I took this pic, knocked the feet from right under him but the water was very shallow. Just couple of rolls and tumbles and a mouthful of sea water and sand, but all was ok.

Then off to Newport for fish and chips in nothing but a nappy, much to the delight of surfers and surfer chicks who loved his jumping tricks, laughter and Buzz Lightyear impersonations.

Tuesday20March 2007

OK, time to get cracking. Need to sort out photo's and videos of the kids, sift through all those memory sticks and post em! Hopefully we'll try and update this once a week so family and friends in USA, Ireland, UK, and locally down in Melbourne will be able to visit from time to time.

Last Saturday was St Patrick's Day and of course we had our own little slice of Ireland at home. Guinness, Cashel Blue Irish Cheese and a hot humid Sydney Day - sounds awful doesn't it? Well actually the Guinness was icy cold, the Cashel Blue just perfect and even though the barbie caught on fire and we almost had a visit from Elvis above, it was great.

Friends Isobel and Paul and Mick and Emma joined us and the wee snappers to have a BBQ and a good laugh. Gone are the days of wild and debauched celebrations in those hot sweaty bars in Paddington with a few thousand other backpacking Irish. Brad, Dillon, Erin, Liam and Kaila had a great time and much to their delight managed to squeeze in a ten minute rain dance out the front much to the dismay of older neighbours.