About Swanny

Swanny is self-employed and lives in Adelaide, South Australia. In October 95, after the sudden death of a very, dear friend I decided to start do my "druthers". We all have our "druthers" and one of mine was that I'd rather work the long hours for myself than for an employer. I took the plunge and quit my long hours as Accountant/Office Manager for a law firm and set up a Mobile Book-keeping and Office Services business. My income dropped dramatically during the first 2 years, however I was considerably happier in my career and change of life style. Since those first 2 years my client base has improved with a lot of hard work, and perseverance.  I encourage all to chase their "druthers".

 Swanny & dotz (Roy)


The things we enjoy together - gardening, shopping for computer "gizmos", entertaining family and friends and also discovering new weekend retreat places within South Australia.
Roy enjoys trying new programs on his computer and is now an experienced BeOS user.
You can see more of Roy's computer wiz if you vist "Friend's Pages" from the index page.

 

 

Our Boys

We have 4 sons. John, Matthew, Stephen and Collin.

 

 

John married the lovely Kylee in October of 99 and they moved into their new home in January 2000.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photo shows (from the right) John, Matthew and Kylee. This was taken the night John proposed to Kylee (at her birthday dinner with both families present). John surprised us all that night. We were all to meet outside the restaurant prior to dinner and it was there that he got down on one knee and proposed to her - right there in the street!! To say Kylee was surprised was an understatement. Fortunately, she accepted his proposal.

 

 

 

 

Matthew has now started his own Building business and is a Brickie (Bricklayer to non Aussie speaking people) by trade. Matthew has a passion for Cricket, and AFL - and plays both.  
He has recently taken to playing "Age of Empires" online... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen is a Corporal in the Australian Regular Army.
This picture was taken shortly after he returned from serving in Somalia.
He was the youngest in his Battalion to have served overseas, having turned 19 a few days before leaving for Somalia to take part in the UN peace keeping force there.
Stephen plays Rugby Union and cycles for fitness. (As though the Army wouldn’t keep him that way, anyway?)
Stephen is married to Donna and they have 2 beautiful boys.

 

 

 

 

Here is the newest of our family members.  Cooper was born on 6 March 2001.  He is pictured here with his Father, Stephen and big Brother, Kyle.

 

 

 

 

 

Collin is a Chippie (a Carpenter to non Aussie speaking people) and we are very proud of him because he worked hard and long to get his Apprenticeship as a carpenter - he didn't get his Apprenticeship until he was 20. However, he proved his "mettle" and was taken on as an adult Apprentice.  
Now fully qualified Carpenter - with a passion for scuba diving.
Hats off to ya, Collin!!

 

 

 

 

Our Home and Garden

Here are some photos of our home and garden. This pic actually shows more of our carport than our home - but that is because we get the afternoon sun in summer so lots of trees had been planted to shade the front of the house during the hot afternoon summers here.

 

 

 

 

Here is one of my favourite corners of our back garden where we have a lovely Wattle tree.  This corner shows my little orange tree that yields the most wonderful crop, to the left the rampant jasmine (so sweet smelling in Spring when it flowers) … and to the back the Wattle tree.

 

 

 

 

To the left shows a close up of the Wattle. There are many varieties of Wattle (Botanical name is Acacia). This one is a tree rather than a shrub. This particular tree in my garden came "from God". One day when I was gardening I noticed I had 2 seedlings that I recognised as wattle. So I nurtured this "from God" tree and put bricks around so we didn’t mow it down and now it is about 25 foot high. The Wattle is the "National Flower" for Australia and now you can see where we get the "Green and Gold" of our Olympic colours.

 

 

Our backyard is typical of most Australians. A clothes line, a few fruit trees and usually a border of shrubs hiding the fences. We have all of the before mentioned and also an olive tree, an apricot tree, the Wattle and also a gum tree to offer shade to us in the summer. It works for us!

These pics taken February 2000.

 

 

You can just see the cockatoo garden ornament "flying" near the bamboo windchimes in this picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is such a lovely spot to sit on a hot afternoon and in the evening entertaining with friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Just off the patio/shade area we have an aviary of about 50 (and then some, my kids tell me) budgies.
Roy has since built a "patio aviary" and we have 2 Cockatiels.

 

 

 

 

Thank you for visiting our home - I hope you come back again ... and visit our South Australia tours in our caravan.  
We are setting off in early June 2002 for a 12 month tour of Australia.... please share our trip with us.

Back to Index