The Øl Rig

Dear beer lover,

I know you have been neglected lately with minimal feedback on the status of my semi-automated, all-grain, stainless-steel, digital thermo-regulated brewing system, but hopefully this blog post will make up for it. It is not for lack of wanting to share my progress with you (far from it as my colleagues and friends will vouch) but mostly due to a little hectic schedule lately.

I had in my mind that sometime towards the end of Q1 2012 I would be up and running with my brew system, and as we approached and past that date I decided to lock in a date for the first brew. It was May 6th - my birthday. It wasn't as though I had lost the passion for building the system over that time ... but I really enjoyed just doing a little bit each week and was really quite loving the journey and seeing slow but beautiful progress. Now that I have arrived at the destination, it is just as good as I had imagined and I can already see lots of small little tweaks to keep improving it ... so the journey will continue along for quite some pleasant time!

I must admit, the last 2 weeks before my birthday were busy with many small tasks needing to be finished (flaring and silver soldering fittings, bending tubing, welding some washers on to secure the kegs, etc etc. I still have a few additional tasks that I should do, such as mounting some wind-guards for the burners and tap in my brew system name plaque, but it is perfectly functional as it is.

So the system ... here it is. It was named "The Øl Rig" by Emma and I. Øl means beer in Norwegian, which is close sounding to "Oil" and then "Rig" as in "oil rig" which is very close to home with Stavanger being the capital of oil in Norway and also because in some weird way the brew system has some similarities to an oil platform. Emma kindly made up a plaque with "The Øl Rig" on it in stainless and went to the trouble of measuring it up to make sure it would fit on the frame or on the control panel. She gave it to me on my birthday. Good on ya em! Here it is on my control panel. I plan to put it on the frame some stage soon.

Here is a shot of the full system. For the photo, I just connected up some of the silicon tubing to give an idea of how the fluid gets transferred between the various keggles. The HLT (hot liquor tank) is on the right which heats up the water to the various inclusion temperatures. The MLT (mash and lautering tun) is in the middle and holds the crushed grain and recirculates to convert and extract the sugars from the malted barley. The BK (boil kettle) is on the left which boils the wort and takes the various additions of hops in addition to recirculating through the plate chiller for when I need to cool down the boiled wort to fermentation temperatures. I made lids for the kettles out of the old lids and welded on some handles from the original dip tubes. Nothing gone to waste.

Here is the control panel. I used illuminated switches which required a bit of wiring to utilize the illuminating function but add a bit of bling to the system. The STC-1000 temperature controllers which can be set to whatever temperature you want and then they open and close the gas solenoids to fire the burners when needed. I also added in some three way switches which allow a bit more flexibility and prevent the solenoids from opening if I don't want them open as well as allows me to open them without the temperature control as well. And some illuminated switches which control the two 809 March pumps for recirculating the fluids.

Here is a pic of the in-line Tee temperature thermistors. This allows me to recirculate the fluid and get inline and accurate control of the temperature. The Tees can be disconnected and used elsewhere (such as on the plate chiller or boil kettle) if required. Also I have my dial thermometers for secondary and additional temperature measurement as well as the valves and some sight glasses which give me knowledge of how much fluid I have transferred, boiled off, etc.

This is a pic of the big 20-tip jet burner. I hand carried these back from oz but it was worth it. These are beasts and pump out a lot of heat. I included a pilot light as well as a thermocouple pilot safety system to prevent release of gas if the pilot goes out. I put them on adjustable height shelves which has allowed me to change the distance between flame tip and bottom of the keggles (I was about 45mm too low to start with when I brewed on my birthday).

This shows the gas beam at the back of the system which holds gas under pressure (only 0.5 psi) and distributes it to the 3 burners. I have a ball valve for closing the system, then the gas pilot safety valve, then the solenoid and then the yellow flexible stainless tubing to distribute the gas to the burners.

Here is a front shot of the pumps. I bent some diamond plate over them to protect the pump motors ... plus it looks cool! Stainless valves on the pumps as well as camlocks for the tubing.

Here is the plate chiller. I looked at quite a few of these but this was the best by far in terms of value and performance. It is from duda diesel in the US and is amazing. Cooling water (just normal pot water in Norway) in and out at the top and the wort in and out the bottom. Simple. Cools 23L of wort from boiling to about 25deg in about 5 mins!

This is the internals plumbing in the boil kettle. Angled return valve to prevent oxidation of the hot wort as well as create a whirlpool to prevent the hot and cold break from being collected by the side pick up tube at the.bottom.

Here is an internal of the mash tank. False bottom in the ...errr bottom with copper pick up tube. This creates a cavity of fluid underneath the mash/grains which prevents them from being pumped/drained out and allows me to recirculate easily whilst direct firing the MLT.

Here is a pic of the fittings in the walls of the keggles. I was planning on welding these in ... but wasn't confident that I could do a job which would look ok. I was sure I could get a seal, but it might look a little rubbish. So I decided to silver solder these in. I created a flaring tool (using a sacrificial coupler and a bench grinder) and made up the device with some threaded rod and nuts and washers. Pulled the flaring tool through the hole I drilled with a step bit, then pulled a new coupler through. Used some brilliant stay-brite silver solder and liquid flux and then a propane torch to heat the coupler from the outside to melt a ring of solder on the inside. It worked perfectly and is extremely solid. Very happy with how it looks as well.

This is a picot the sight glass. Basically a stainless 90degree elbow compression fitting with some 3/8in OD polycarbonate tubing. Then the painful task of calibrating it liter by liter! Looks good and is very useful.

I hid the electrics in the bottom tubing of the frame and then distributed the wires out to the pumps and the solenoids. It keeps things nice and neat.

This is another pic of the gas beam with the 2 gas pilot safety systems and solenoids. The boil kettle has only a ball valve as it runs full time when it is being used.

I also bought a very good malt grinder. It is called a crankandstein and has 2inch diamond knurled rollers on it. It is a bare bones grinder so I needed to build a hopper and base for it. Made some uprghts for the sides out of some ply and bent some sheet metal to encase it all in. I then connect my drill to the half inch drive shaft and then grind away. Easy peasy!

Inside the hopper. I still need to finish this off and secure the hopper sides to the timber uprights ... but I was in a rush to get it ready the day before my birthday.

And upside down. This fits over my big 30L bucket which allows me to grind straight into the container which I can then pour into the mash run during "dough-in" (I love that brewing term).

The diamond knurled rollers. One is the drive shaft and the other is free rolling. I can adjust the gap as needed to ensure I get the correct grind without destroying the essential grain husks which act to filter the mash.

Here is some of my grains. Local suppliers make this a bit handy. Good quality grain from major suppliers as well!

So I have brewed my first all grain brew on this which was an All Amarillo American Pale Ale. I had some initial teething problems which I had feared had caused some issues, but I kegged and bottled this today and it tastes pretty good (even warm and flat) so am looking forward to the fist tapping in a few days! The issues I had were (a) grains clogging the pick up tube in the MLT (my pick up tube was too close to the bottom of the MLT) and (b) not able to control temperature of the mash as a result which I feared had caused some issues with the conversion of the sugars, and (c) the boil taking forever to get to temperature (my burners were far too low) which meant I had to shorten the boil and didn't get the evaporation I was hoping for. I didn't have the perfect time to take accurate gravity samples either so I was a bit unsure of my mash efficiency and resulting wort. I have been busy implementing a few changes which will hopefully eliminate these hiccups so the next brew will hopefully be smooth sailing.

Anyway, it has been great fun so far building The Øl Rig and now that I get to use it makes it very satisfying. Quality beer is one thing, but making quality beer yourself from scratch is a skill that I am loving learning.

Thanks to my darling wife for her patience with allowing me to build this and my darling daughter for sleeping through the grinding, welding, cutting, drilling, etc!

Cheers!

Cami ... and welding!

No, Cami hasn't learnt to weld yet, but I thought I should mention my beautiful daughter and show her off to the world, at the same time as talking about the progress on my semi-automated brewing machine.

I have been on solo night duties for the past week as we are trying to get Cami settled into a sleeping routine and get used to settling herself back to sleep when she wakes rather than needing a feed from Emma. So waking at 2 or 3am and being up and down a few more times for the rest of the evening is taking its toll especially when you are busy at work. But I shouldn't complain as I have a very beautiful daughter and Emma has had to put up with the lack of sleep for the past 9 months (I did help her a bit on difficult nights but she definitely has had the lions share of sleep deprivation).

Anyway, here is a cute video of Cami on a lazy Saturday morning (a hungover one for Emma).

Anyway, regarding my brewing machine, I have achieved a bit this week but also had some setbacks. When Emma was out last night enjoying a night out with some of her fellow mums, I celebrated a night alone with a lovely sleeping Cami by enjoying some home brew whilst playing with power tools (always a good combination). I decided to drill the 22mm holes in the gas beam where the gas will come and be distributed to the different burners. I used a "step bit" for this task which is a lot easier than a large drill bit, but it is still bloody hard especially on 3mm thick stainless steel which is tougher than nails. So I managed to drill the holes which needs lots of lubricating oil on the bit as well as a slow speed to prevent the stainless from heating up and becoming so hard that it can't be drilled through. There is also a fair kick when the bit bites in to the metal ... luckily no spilt beer! So I managed to get all 4 holes drilled and enjoy a few home brews as well.

Here is the gas beam with the holes drilled.

Today I also managed to tack weld the top part of the frame together which is more difficult than it looks as you need to ensure everything is flush and square. Once it is all welded out there is no turning back so it is essential to get it right. Lots of G clamps, set squares, ratchet straps and leveling aids!

Here is a pic of the top frame when tacked together and also some video of me doing some of the tacks.

Maybe I can blame it on the lack of sleep, but I realized today that I actually cut the gas beam and the other long horizontal 20mm too short (pity it wasn't too long). Lucky I have sufficient spare steel tubing to be able to cut some more but will need to do this with my grinder and a cutting disc as I only hired the metal saw for 1 weekend. Oh well, not the end off the world but certainly a bit frustrating.

Till next time - cheers and beers!

Welding, pumps, and solenoids ...

I bought my welding machine last week! I splashed out on an ESAB MIG unit (very reputable brand). The 3 options available were a normal stick/arc welder, a MIG unit, or a TIG unit.

For stainless welding TIG is generally considered the best, but this requires 2 hands coordinating the arc and feeding the electrode in. It is also generally considered the hardest to do well and since I am not even a welders a-hole, I figured to steer away from TIG. They can also be quite expensive machines.

The other end of the scale was a normal stick welder. You can get these units reasonably cheaply and you can get stainless Electrodes with flux on the outside, but it can be challenging to get a decent weld unless you have a heap of practice (welding is an art!). For stainless, stick welding doesn't necessarily provide great shielding gasses from the flux (compared to MIG and TIG) so there is a risk of corrosion creeping into the weld as well.

So the other option was MIG. MIG actually isn't the most recommended type of welding to use for stainless as it generally requires a specific blend of shielding gas (either very expensive tri-mix or a combination of argon and CO2 in roughly 98:2 ratio) and these gasses can be expensive. It also is said to be not the best on thin walled steel such as my kegs so that put me off a bit, but when all things were evaluated, I went with MIG. The main reasons I went with a MIG are that even a welders a-hole can generally get decent looking welds with a MIG unit, I can get reasonably cheap argon in disposable bottles from a shop nearby, you can use pure argon and get reasonable welds (even if they are higher than wider in general), the stainless qualities can be retained, and if you get a good unit, do plenty of practice, know your settings of wire speed vs voltage, weld in a special way for thin materials (focus the heat onto the coupling rather than the thin walled keg) then you should be able to do ok. It is also a good unit to use for general fabrication work down the track. From what I read, you generally get what you pay for with MIG units and the cheaper ones will give you a lot of grief with wire feeding, so I got a very reputable ESAB machine - Origo C141 to be precise!

So I got the welder, got some argon shielding gas with regulator, some stainless wire spools, welding helmet, and all the other necessary stuff and lay down some welds tonight for the first time. I didn't focus on anything critical or that will be on full view, and the welds were ok I guess, but I just welded up one of the brackets that will support one of the burners. I think for my first welds they weren't too bad and I think all the research I put into welding (wire speeds, gasses, push vs pull technique, whip vs weave, weld fit up, tip stick out distances, tip clearances, etc etc) will pay off.

I also picked up my awesome pumps for the system today as well as my gas solenoid valves! The pumps are the brewers standard March pump! These are the 809-HS pump and are a food grade, magnetic drive pump that will be responsible for transferring and recirculating various fluids from and between the different keggles. The solenoid valves will open when told to by the temperature controllers and let gas to the burners for heating the HLT and MLT. They are a NC (normally closed) valve so that they only need to be energized when gas is needed for burning.

So all in all, even though no major progress has been made on the brewing system, I feel as though there is really not much stopping me now from getting this beast on the road. Once I have done some more practice welds on less critical items, I might start tack welding the frame together and get that done before trying out some welds on the keg lids to ensure I have the wire speed and voltage correct to avoid any blow-outs on my precious kegs!

My ESAB MIG unit

The disposable argon gas bottles. Hopefully these will last a decent amount of welds.

My welding station ... with keg stool of course!

Not bad for my first welds.

The other side of the fillet.

My beautiful magnetic drive March pumps - the brewers standard!

My solenoid valves - clever things!

The Brutus Stomach is Born!

Norwegian Fathers day today! Thank you to my darling daughter for bringing me a coffee in bed along with some freshly cooked ANZAC cookies! Yum. I was also surprised with a beautiful set of paintings that Cami had done for me.
Thanks to my amazing wifey for helping Cami with all of this. I am a very lucky daddy!

Cami's artwork for her Daddy!

Cami also spoiled me by having a long sleep in the afternoon which allowed me to work on Brutus. Today I made a jig for my grinder that allowed me to make near perfect circular holes in the top of my kegs for the keggles. So today I cut the 3 lids off the kegs and then got a flap disc onto the edges for a nice and safe and neat finish. I plan to weld a handle into the 3 lids and will probably flatten and bend the pick-up tubes from the original kegs and make a nice stainless handle for the lids. I will also need to weld off the opening from the old keg valves. So this is the stomach of Brutus where the wort will be created from pure Norwegian water and crushed malted barley.

The jig for the grinder to make a perfect circle - grinders are as scary as chainsaws!

Close up of the jig - I was still a little nervous using this but it all worked out OK.

First lid cut off - the cutting disc caught in a few spots and gave a few rough edges, but all in all pretty good.

With what will be the lid of the keggle.

The pick-up tubes I will modify and use as a handle for the lids.

The second keg I did was the most perfect - must have got impatient by the third!

All 3 keg lids cut off - just need some buffing up with the flap-disc.

And this is the stainless square section that will form the skeleton of Brutus - next weekends task!

Happy Father's Day to all the lucky Dad's in Norway today!

The Brutus Brain and Skeleton is being pieced together!

I received some goodies in the post yesterday. For those of you interested I received a White-Rodgers 764-742 Gas Pilot Safety Valve (thermocouple operated). This will form part of the brain of the brew system and will provide a good safety system. As the burner system will be automated and will automatically fire the burners when there is a drop in either hot liquor tank (HLT) temperature or also for a drop in the Mash & Lautering Tun (MLT) temperature then I need to make sure that when doing this outside (also for safety reasons with the LP gas) that if the pilot light blows out it will shut off the gas supply to the burners. Therefore I have also ordered some good pilot burners (Honeywell Q314A) and a thermocouple to go with the gas pilot safety valves. These will arrive in the next week or so.

Here is a picture of the gas pilot safety valve.

I have also today gone and picked up some other important parts. The first one is a bunch of fittings for the brewing liquid system. I plan on welding (using a new MIG system) the 1/2" pipe couplers onto the side of the keggles (the BK, MLT and HLT) which will allow me to add various fittings and parts to my keg. The main fitting will be the drain which will include the ball valves. On the MLT I will also include a Tee piece which will allow me to fit a thermowell inline into the system so that I can plug in my thermosensor in-line and have accurate measurement of the wort as it is being recirculated through the RIMS system. This thermosensor will feedback info to the temperature controller and fire the burner under the MLT if the temperature drops below the necessary mashing or sparging temperatures. Easy-peasy!

Anyway here are my stainless fittings (316 stainless no-less!!) which I picked up from Maritim.no down here in Stavanger. Got a very good price on them too!

Here is how the Tee system will be setup with the pipe couple on the end welded onto the keg for the MLT. On the other end at the tee will be a 1/2" thermowell which will measure the mashing temps "in-line". I will then drain or re-circulate from the bottom of the Tee back into the MLT or when I am sparging straight into the BK.

The other thing I picked up today was the skeleton of the system! This is some lovely polished 304 stainless steel which will be cut next weekend (using a hired steel cutting saw). I plan on mitering the top corners for the frame so that it is a nice and flush surface for the kegs to sit on. The rest will be plain square ends. I haven't decided whether to include a gas beam into the system yet or whether I will just have it plumbed externally and secure the plumbing to the frame. I'm leaning towards a gas beam but haven't yet concluded on the final set up for the gas system. So the steel you see on my car roof is 18m of 304 stainless box section (50 x 50 x 3mm) as well as some flat bar which will be used to create an adjustable burner shelf so i can adjust the flame height/position once I see where it fits best. All exciting stuff I can tell you!

My lovely 304 stainless!

I have also decided on what MIG system I will get. It ain't cheap but it's a he'll of a lot cheaper than any other decent MIG system and will provide sufficient power to weld the 3mm wall of the frame. I'll include an argon gas shielding system and for the couplers on the kegs I will have a system to purge the back of the weld with argon to ensure no rusting as a result of the welding process. I'll show my lovely welder when I get it. If they have it in stock next week I may end up being able to perform all my cuts of the steel and start with some trial welding! My lovely steel supplier also threw in a stainless wire brush for polishing the welds after MIG-ing. Champ!

Beer on!

Runny Noses and Lazy Weekends

On Friday night Em and I were free!! We had this annual BBQ event that was put on by one of the local welding companies (Hermes) and Em and I had a big night planned with a babysitter organized and everything. So off we went and had a lovely meal and were getting settled in when our phone rang from the babysitter. Turns out Cami had woken and couldn't be settled. Anyway we decided to call it a night and came home to sort out Cami. Turns out she had a bit of a cold and some teeth coming through (the first one is already poking out). Anyway, the best laid plans went to waste but we ended up having a lovely relaxing weekend and just looking after poor little Cami and her runny nose!

She also tried Vegimite for the first time today sharing some of her daddy's toast! She seemed to like the salty goodness!

Anyway, here are some pics of her eating pâté on bread as well as going for walks today and some from dinner on Saturday night at Ostehuset.

We have a lovely warm fire going tonight and a cozy evening planned. Time to crack open another bottle of red and relax.

My new job

In July this year, I changed employer and started work for Ocean Installer. It is a new exciting company with a lot of colleagues from a previous place of work and I am fortunate enough to be also working with some very good friends as well which is a bonus.

We just secured our first vessel which means there is no turning back and it is full steam ahead. Off we go then, to the deep!

Here is a picture of our new vessel we get to play with!

Interesting run to work this morning!

Kev offered to run with me to work this morning ... which i found a little odd as Kev simply hates running. So my suspicions were already pricked, but I though why not, a run along a beautiful fjord with a mate in the morning can't be all that bad. Little did I know that it would be more dangerous than cycling every day.

The first obstacle was the deceptively stationary barriers at the entrance to the cycle path. This barrier jumped out of nowhere to smash into my left thigh and consequently catapult me into a double pike saulto with twist. After dusting (more like wiping as it was also drizzling) myself up off the ground, we continued along ... me with a dead-leg style running gait ... and all seemed ok. I have a suspicion that there might have been a little nudge just before the barrier from Kev but it all happened far too quickly and was quite comical really ... apart from the deep haematoma to my left thigh!

Then a couple of km's further along the track, Kev "apparently" had to move over to the side to let a cyclist through and this is where the intent appeared more obvious. It might have been the pain from the dead leg causing some mild hallucinations, but I clearly remember Kev pushing me directly into the path of another deceptively stationary object ... this time a fist sized rock. Anyway, after rolling my left ankle, and barely letting out a manly groan, I hobbled along for a while and managed to pick up the pace again later.

Once at work however my ankle started to severely seize up and here I am now lying on Cami's foam play mat, drugged up to the eyeballs on anti-inflammatories, pain killers, icing and elevating and cursing Kev for the offer of a friendly run this morning.

When I can walk again, I plan to offer Kev a bike ride to work ... I have a few tricks up my sleeve.

Disclaimer: Any allegations in this blog are purely allegations. No criminality can be proven until revenge is enacted.

A sign of good things to come?

Well this little baby of ours is already showing some good signs of being a very compliant and obedient little one, and upon it’s mother’s request for it to ‘get a wriggle on’, has done just that. In the last week or so I’ve gone from feeling some very faint little movements and the very occasional little kick or poke, to these days being able to feel more and more movement. Every day now I can feel him/her wiggling around and it is absolutely thrilling each and every time. Perhaps the novelty will wear off (I doubt it), but feeling our baby moving around is just so reassuring (it’s alive!) and really feels like things are progressing.


Tomorrow will be the 18 week mark according to our current due date and that makes us 2 weeks away from the half way point. That in itself is something I have to wrap my head around as in one way it feels like the time has flown, but on the other hand the weeks have dragged by at a snail’s pace!

Due to a pretty poor weather forecast over the rest of this week, Joel’s ship has come back to the port nearby to pick up some more equipment and shelter from the rough seas. He arrived in yesterday morning and was able to leave the ship at about 6:30pm to come home for a few hours to see Cooba and me. He’s working 12+ hour shifts on the boat (6am – 6pm). The ship will probably be at port until some time Friday night so he’ll hopefully be able to do the same thing again tonight. He prefers to sleep on the ship which is completely understandable – if he stayed at home he’d have to get back to the ship by taxi by about 5.30am. Plus he really needs to be ‘on call’ in case something happens during the night shift and he’s needed.

It’s so fantastic to be able to see him, such a treat and not something we had expected. It really does break up the 4 week stint to have a couple of evenings together half way through. I was really hoping that Baby would be cooperative and try out a few good kicks so Joel could feel it, but even with the patience of a saint and plenty of poking, prodding and verbal encouragement, we couldn’t get him/her moving. I’m pretty sure though that by the time Joel gets back from this offshore trip he should be able to feel the baby moving. It will be amazing to be able to share that together and it’s something we’re both really looking forward to.

Joel was also able to check out all the loot I picked up at the Stavanger Kids Sale last weekend http://www.stavangerkids.no/ and he was so happy with everything I chose. Among other things I bought a cot, travel cot, car seat with base, baby monitor, auto breast pump, baby bjørn, bouncinette, lots of clothes (onesies galore, sleeping clothes, socks), burping cloths, wraps. We need a change table, a bath and a mattress and some linen for the cot (which Mum is going to make for us – thanks Mum!) and then I think we’ve got most of the basics sorted out. I think I saved about 2/3 of what it would have cost to buy it all new. I’m also hunting online for a rocking chair for the nursery. We’ll have heaps of space in there and I always sort of liked the idea of using that for cuddles and maybe feeding. But we’ll see what comes up on http://www.finn.no/.

The view from Joel's home/office

This is where Joel will be spending most of the next 3 weeks out at sea – on a vessel at the BP Valhall oil field. It’s in the North Sea, between the UK and Norway. The 10m seas that he experienced transiting from picking up the equipment in the UK and getting out to the field have calmed down, and from the picture below it looks like it’s quite pleasant out there indeed!

Map showing the position of the BP Valhall field

BP Valhall taken with Joel's phone camera

Emma and Joel - 2009 the year that was ...

What a year! Where to even start?! This year has been an absolute cracker! It has been one we will always remember.

It began in great form celebrating New Years Eve with Joel’s brother Simon at home in Stavanger. The rest of Joel’s family who joined us for a wonderful holiday in France and Christmas day here with us (http://skandyadventures.blogspot.com/2009/01/pre-christmas-family-visit-big-surprise.html) had left to continue travelling or head home. We were flying out to Melbourne on New Years Day.

We had about 2 weeks back in Melbourne, as always when we come home to visit it was extremely hectic but so amazing to see all our friends and family. It had been around 2 years since our last visit. Using Brett and Sam’s place (Port Melbourne) as a base we were able to get around to see lots of people and of course experience some of the Melbourne things we really miss.

Our visit culminated in our Engagement Party down at Patterson Lakes (http://skandyadventures.blogspot.com/2009/02/melbourne-extravaganza.html). We were blessed with a beautiful evening with lots of sunshine and about 100 of our friends and family there. Especially it was amazing to see all the babies that have been born since we’ve been away! It was like a crèche in mum and dad’s living room!

Having just been in Melbourne and being able to spend time with my beautiful Grandma Holloway was so poignant, as she passed away peacefully in February. It was difficult being so far away from my family during that time, but Joel was a wonderful support and our friends here were absolutely amazing. Work colleagues too were incredibly supportive. There are some tears as I write this but she had such a wonderful life and lived to the age of 92, I know it was her time and that she was ready.

Late in March we were very excited to welcome the arrival of our first nephew Lenny Ireland born to Joel’s brother Simon and his wife Clare. We have since had the chance to meet him and he is truly a beautiful little boy http://skandyadventures.blogspot.com/2009/04/welcome-to-world-lenny-ireland.html, I don’t know I’ve encountered a baby who is so quick to smile and just light up with the slightest encouragement!

In April, Easter was spent in Sauda with Louise and Charles, where we also got to catch up with Mari, Kev and Oscar (it’s Mari’s home-town). We enjoyed the skiing and it was a fantastic place to celebrate my birthday. http://skandyadventures.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter-at-sauda.html.

In May we sadly mourned the passing of Joel’s Nan, Pat Ireland. She died very peacefully and at the age of 93 having lived a full and wonderful life. Pat was Joel’s last surviving grandparent. With Joel having just supported me through my Grandma’s death, now it was my turn to be there for him, and like me, he felt the pain of being away from family during a time of grief. We were very thankful for the time we spent with Pat during our Melbourne visit, she was a gracious, strong woman and she is missed.

June was a month of work travel for me with a 3 week trip to KL, New York and Toronto http://skandyadventures.blogspot.com/2009/06/kuala-lumpur-new-york-and-toronto-in-3.html. I also had the chance to spend some time with my 3rd cousin Elle. She was celebrating her birthday and we certainly had plenty to talk about with both of us planning weddings in 09! She and her husband James are now expecting their first baby, very exciting!

The highlight of July was without doubt the wedding of our very close friends, Mari and Kev. They had planned a beautiful celebration, a total mix of Aussie and Norwegian guests and traditions. They brought everyone together beautifully and Mari was a stunning, elegant bride. And Kev scrubs up ok too. Unfortunately our camera battery died in the church before it even started (!), but there are some gorgeous pics on their blog http://mariandkev.blogspot.com/2009/08/mr-mrs.html). I loved being part of their celebrations by helping with the hens party preparations and Joel and I had a pre-wedding get together at our place for all the wedding guests. It was such a happy, fun occasion and 6 months down the track, they’re a very happy family with 1 y.o Oscar (Emma’s god-son).

From there the year seems to have flown by so quickly. Joel had a month-long offshore trip in September. It was the culmination of over a year’s planning and was extremely successful. He worked so hard in the lead up to this trip, his overtime was absolutely ridiculous from around May onwards! But I think he would tell you that it was all worthwhile as the project was carried out extremely professionally and he has since received many congratulations and compliments on his dedication and the results. He’s certainly a clever cookie and I’m extremely proud of him. We enjoyed a long weekend in Stockhom hosted by our friends Regina and Ulf. It was our first time to Sweden and we had a fabulous time out at Reg’s parents property http://skandyadventures.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html.

Our November/December trip to Melbourne was absolutely wonderful. The wedding was such a happy, memorable occasion that brought together so many people who are part of our lives. We were absolutely stunned and so grateful to have 7 friends from Norway join us in Melbourne for the event. It was also especially touching for us to see how even after 3 years living overseas and not seeing much of our ‘people’ back home, they still went to so much effort and care so much to see us and be part of our big celebration. It is very humbling actually to have been on the receiving end of such goodwill and generosity. For those who are closest to us you can multiply those sentiments by 100 – they truly went above and beyond to give us an amazing wedding celebration.

The year has been special for our family as well, here is a quick update:

Ann and Nigel, my parents, have had a fantastic year. Dad celebrated his 60th birthday in April with (in true Cousins style…) a huge party at the Peninsula Golf Club. They have been enjoying lots of trips with their new deluxe caravan heading off to different parts of Victoria and interstate. 2010 is shaping up to be a big year for them with travel as mum is retiring in January and Dad has some long service leave owing. A visit to Peru with us in February for Paola and Paul’s wedding followed with hopefully a visit to us over here some time around Summer are in the offing.

Joel’s mum Bernadette has had a great year especially enjoying her Grandkids, Eliza and Lenny with many trips up to Colbinabbin and down to Frankston. She continues to work hard in her job as a supervising nurse in a nursing home. She is always extremely busy catching up with friends and families, so many times when we phone her she’s off walking or catching up for coffee with a girlfriend. We hope she can come to visit us in 2010, her visit in 08 was so memorable and we would love to be able to do it all again!

John and Sharyn (Joel’s Dad and Stepmum) have also been enjoying their Grandkids. With the building of their home Westbury up on a big property in Trentham now completed they have been able to trade in the weekends of building and hard yakka with some time to really enjoy the fruits of their labour. Of course there is always something to do, with revitalising the ginseng crop, building up the vegetable garden and I’m sure a million other projects. John’s next adventure will be bee-keeping, and at his recent 60th celebration which we were fortunate to be part of during our trip, the gift of a bee keeping course, club membership and some kit to get started will hopefully come in handy. They had a near miss in the bushfires early in 2009 with fires coming within kilometres of the property. In July, Sharyn’s went to India to work as part of a team of doctors and nurses from The Alfred to help build up a trauma training program. The numbers of people who die from traumatic injury in India (particularly from road accidents) is just heartbreaking. It’s wonderful that Australia can share our skilled medical personnel and experience with a country like India where the resources are so scarce, and we know Sharyn found the experience incredibly challenging and rewarding.

Sally has been working incredibly hard this year – her paid job being only part of it! As my maid of honour she has been running around all year to help me prepare for the wedding. From dress hunting in January, to making decorations, planning appointments, sourcing cake makers and anything and everything in between, she has had a busy year and has earned a rest from it all now her big sister is finally hitched! On the other hand her efforts in her job have also been rewarded with a promotion at the end of this year, entirely well deserved and hard-earned. She is looking for an apartment to invest in, and now that her part time job as maid of honour has finished I’m sure that will make the hunt that much easier.

Brett and Sam moved into Clonaig St early in the year and have made it a beautiful home. He spent a few weeks in LA mid-year as part of an acting workshop which not only allowed him to hone his acting skills, but also build on his network of contacts which in the acting world means an awful lot. Brett has been working hard on developing a film script, and his efforts were rewarded late this year being awarded a grant from Film Victoria to further develop the script with funding and support of some seasoned industry professionals. It’s a huge credit to him and his skills as a writer, not just an actor. We wish him all the luck in the world with the script. Sam continues to impress as the seasoned career woman that she is, highlighted by winning trips to Hamilton Island and tickets to virtually any sporting/cultural/Fashion event that’s worth going to. She is a formidable social coordinator herself and the many parties, weekends away etc. that she plans certainly make me rather jealous that I can’t live closer to be part of it!

Joel's sisters Emma and Rebecca have been busy. Emma has completed her studies in nursing and midwifery, doing many hours of practical work experience at The Royal Womens hospital. Her studies and hard work paid off with an offer of a job next year at The Royal Womens - her top preference, and she was on top of their list of candidates. Rebecca continues her Health Science studies, is working part time at Grill'd, and spending time with her boyfriend Ian who we met in Melbourne (a lovely guy).

Clare and Simon’s year has been highlighted by the arrival of their first child, Lenny. They bought a beautiful home in Colbinabbin (about 60km NE from Bendigo), and were able to move in just before Lenny’s arrival. We haven’t had a chance yet to visit their home, hopefully we can make it there on our next trip down under. They are wonderful parents (as evidenced by their totally adorable, chilled out little boy!) and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them in Melbourne and Lorne.

Fraze, Zac and Eliza have some very exciting news that they were able to share at the end of 2009, they are expecting a baby! A little brother or sister for our beautiful niece Eliza. It was fantastic spending time with them during our visit, and the change in Eliza since their visit in late 08 was remarkable! She has grown up so much, and you can imagine how quietly thrilled we were when she calls us “unky Joel” and “auntie emma”! Thank you Zac and Fraze for ensuring that we are still part of her life, though we live far away.

So as we are about to get started cooking the ham and stuffing the turkey, looking out over snow-covered Stavanger, we look forward to a very happy and relaxed Christmas Day. We are thinking of all our friends and family at this very special time of year. Really, since the wedding we’ve had some time to reflect on it all and are so appreciative and want to thank you all for being part of this momentous year for us. More than ever before we are really feeling the love and support from everyone in our lives and there is no better way to start out on this journey together as husband and wife.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Here is a slideshow of the year that was for Emma and Joel.

Ps: Australia and Cook Island pictures and blog still to come.