Happy New Year to you! I know many people keep checking back here to see what the latest happenings are... Firstly, there's word on the bush telegraph that the island's been sold -- but we can't confirm that as true just yet. We'll keep you up-to-date on that though.

Much has happened over the last month, and we've had a most enjoyable festive season. I can't recall exactly how many times the Mingu Mingu Coral Choir has sung the 12 Days Of Christmas! But it's always fun. Without further ado, let's get into the latest crop of snapshots below...


Brian went over to Mackay for a couple of days with Brian & Lyn, and went out for Thai dinner. Here's Lyn, Bob Pearson, Brian, Brian K, Peter & Trish (our favourite pilots!)

Unfortunately we had to farewell Marian Brooks and her builders Trent and his cousin Alex in December. We held a farewell party for them at our place... Ron & Marian are now in Perth and should be back around April for good (we hope!).

Here's a photo of Trent and myself (with purple hair! What was I thinking? lol)


Alex and Brian at the farewell.


It's a well known fact that Marian HATES having her photo taken... so I thought I'd spice up my blog by adding this shot of Marian on her last day. Nice cleavage Marian! (I think she'll probably kill me for this one!)

December also saw our landlords Jennie & Nat arrive for a short stay. It was lovely to finally meet them!


Here's Nat after rediscovering one of his father's hats. We loved listening to him playing jazzy tunes on the piano...


Lyn and Jennie behind the 'screen of invisibililty at Mike & Lyn's place.

We also had a few honeymooners visit Keswick Island Guest House from Europe...


Here's the first Dutch couple from left to right: Eric, Lyn, Sabina & Brian on our deck bat watching at sunset. The other couple had actually eloped from The Netherlands -- Mel & Sabine -- and they got married on Cronulla Beach in NSW. No photos sorry... We did take a video of them singing a lovely song for Brian & Lyn though!


Coming up to Christmas, Mingu Mingu gets frocked up in a new buff!


We had some lovely 6m+ high tides during Christmas. How's this for stepping straight off the grass into the water?

Christmas day was the first where we really felt the wet season taking hold. Talk about hot and humid! That night it bucketed down and has rained every night since! It's nice and green here now though!

We had Christmas at the Guest House again this year, (lucky us!), with 11 people in total. Here's the table before we started. The little table presents are always a lovely touch.

Here's a couple of the guests who stayed over Christmas.


The female contingent, Janey and Glen.


The male of the species, Glen's husband Ray, and Janey's husband Peter.

Now I'll show you why we love having Christmas at the Guest House! The delectable food (not to mention the great company!)

The first course was a lovely refreshing prawn salad. 10/10 for that one!


Second course was a delicious smoked salmon and potato terrine. Beeooodiful!


Third course was a stunning warm duck salad with peaches and orange. Bellisima!


Our host with the most... Brian.


Our gourmet extraordinaire and taste tantaliser... Lyn.


Dessert 1 was concocted by yours truly. Chocolate pavlova with cherries in balsamic vinegar.


And the peace de resistance... Traditional Christmas pudding with silver coins! All in all, a wonderful feast to behold and to eat!

Just before New Years Eve, we had an influx of people arrive for a break and to party...


Here's Karen & Craig from Mackay, and Karen's daughter Anna from Perth. We had a bit of a deck party in their new home which is still under construction.


Here's the whole gang at Craig & Karen's place: Bruce, Nicole, Louis & Amanda (guests and friends of Brian & Lyn's), Lyn, Anna, Karen, Craig, Evie & Brian.

Then there was the New Year's Eve party on the beach... Typically, we had to have the New Year's Eve punch of course! And we only got rained out just before midnight this time.


The girls looked lovely on the night in their long dresses. Here's Karen, Nicole & Anna.


We even had the 'yellow lawn chair brigade!' Peter & Julie Morris, with Mike & Lyn.


We were also lucky enough to have John & Kim Kleidon over from Mackay. Here they are with Brian.


Here's Brian cooking up a storm for his guests.

After New Years, we had a bit of a rest, until the next guests came to visit the island at the Guest House!


Here's friend's of Brian K's, John & Leslie, plus newcomers Toni (Crumbs) & Andrew (Darce). Really lovely people. We had some great laughs with them. ;-)

Of course, we had to try out the cool new Chrissy prezzies that Brian & Lyn gave us... I shrieked like a 10 year old when I opened mine. A blow up lounge chair! Just what I wanted! Woohoo. :-)


Brian in his lounge chair, which we clipped onto mine...


Me in my chair. Brian went out of the water to get some champagne, and his chair unclipped from mine. I ended up having to do a full on swim to catch it! I think we'll need to use an anchor in future... otherwise we'll need eperbs in case we float away to Mackay! lol


Lyn, Brian & Jeff whiling away the hours... What a life we lead here!


Here's Brian & Lyn's friends, Laurie and Jeff trying them out. Do you like the little buddy floaty for the esky? Ingenious!


In fact, it turned out to be the perfect size for Jeff! He really moved along with flippers on too! lol


New guest Loretta from Brisbane had a relaxing stay.


Here's her sister Sarah, who was visiting from London. Both lovely girls.

Well that's all for this update! We've got 3 lots of family staying for the next 3 weeks starting tomorrow, and Survivor Keswick Island coming up this Saturday night for all the Capricorns -- so there'll be more to report soon!

Take care and keep smiling!

Warm regards
Eva Browne-Paterson