Australia’s first MasterChef winner

JULIE Goodwin has dedicated her victory in MasterChef Australia to her family after winning the final of the Channel 10 reality show.

Goodwin, 38, beat Adelaide’s Poh Ling Yeow after a gruelling series of challenges that tested both competitors to the maximum.

The New South Wales mother-of-three spent three months away from her husband Mich and sons Joe, 13, Tom, 12, and Paddy, 10, to take part in the TV show and says it was the hardest time of her life.

“Winning MasterChef Australia feels like such an achievement and means the time away from my family was worthwhile,” Julie said

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Arthur Marshall selling his home in Mandaruh

FORMER politician and tennis ace Arthur Marshall is selling his Mandurah canal home to move back to the city. 

The one-time TV sports commentator and father of Channel 9 newsreader Dixie Marshall said his house of 10 years was “on the best block on the canal” because of its dual water views.

“From a canal’s point of view it is on what is called a T-junction. You look right, left and ahead and all you have are water views,” he said.

With an estuary to the west and the canal to the east, every room in the home has a water view.

Two studies, a bedroom and the open-plan lounge, dining and kitchen are on the ground floor.

Tall windows reach to the second storey, allowing breathtaking water views. A wide entertaining area leads to a private jetty.

There are three bedrooms upstairs, including the master with ensuite, walk-in robe and balcony overlooking the canal.

The other bedrooms have built-in robes and a shared main bathroom.

A lounge with a balcony makes it ideal for guests or a teenagers’ retreat.

“I asked the architect to make it feel like you were on a ship and when sitting in the lounge upstairs, it is just like it, with water everywhere,” Mr Marshall said.
The home has airconditioning, an alarm and double lock-up garage.

“One of the best things is the huge reserve next to the house,” Mr Marshall said. “Not only is it great to kick a footy with the grandkids and go for a walk, but it allows for plenty of visitor parking.”

72a Waterside Drive, Dudley Park
$1.95 million
Four-bedroom, two-bathroom canal home with water views, open-plan living area, upstairs lounge and private jetty.
Agent: Peter Lindsay 0429421942, Elders Real Estate Mandurah 95359111

www.news.com.au

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A remote control can make life easier

Transform your home with the latest technology available through smart wiring, reports amanda rankin.

AS the name suggests, smart wiring is an intelligent integration of technology that can transform a home into a fully automated environment where the homeowner can control everything, with the touch of a button.

For those who have trouble programing the DVD player this may sound scary but fortunately, this one-touch button is on a remote control.

A remote control is specifically for people who don’t have the foggiest about electronics and just want to know which button to push, and when.

Intelligent Home is a Western Australian company with a team of skilled professionals who can install these intelligent systems and supply the homeowner with one fabulous remote that controls the lighting, the intercom, the telephone, the DVD player, Pay TV, CD, CCTV and other necessary abbreviations.

“The remotes are the secret to having a good experience with smart wiring,” Intelligent Home’s director Brenton Morris said.

“We recommend the remotes highly because anybody can use them.

“That’s our job at Intelligent Home, to set up these complicated systems and ensure that the end result is something that is easy for everyone to use.”

Intelligent Home predominantly deals with trade, and the building companies send the clients in to find out all about smart wiring at the very early stages of the project, usually well before the building process has even started. “We explain smart wiring, which is the data, the television, the Foxtel, the telecommunications and so forth, then we go through security, home theatre, multi-room audio, CCTV, intercom and lighting control, and once we’ve explained all of that to the client, we sit down and do a design with them,” Brenton said.

Depending on the client’s budget and personal requirements, the end result can be a high-tech home wired for sound, TV, security, telecommunications and lighting, all controlled from a central location and ready to face the technology of tomorrow.                                                                         

It sounds fabulous and it is, but what happens when some-thing goes wrong ?

“I’ve been working in electronics since I was 17 years old and things do mess up,” Brenton said.                                     

“We have a service division ready to handle any problems and we send the guys out and they fix the problem.

“We also handpick our electronics and one of the big things we go for is reliability.

“A lot of the products we sell are custom-made and are designed to integrate properly into the house and be reliable.”

 

www.inmycommunity.com.au

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Aussies win ‘Ashes’ cricket in Hollywood

Entertainment

The sun shone. The beer flowed. The Four’n Twenty meat pies were a hit. The Aussies thrashed the Poms. The Americans were largely clueless about what they were watching.

That sums up the second annual Westfield Hollywood Ashes cricket match held on the picturesque Woodley Park cricket field in Los Angeles on Saturday, with retired Australian paceman victory.

leading a team of Australian celebrities and ring-ins to a 29 run victory.

England were the favourites for the Twenty 20 contest.

At last year’s inaugural Hollywood Ashes, England scored a one run upset victory over an Australian team led by one of the all-time greats, Steve Waugh.

With lanky 65 test veteran Graham Hick at the helm this year, the English team also included actor Julian Sands, a star of the action TV series 24, and 65-year-old UK and US Dancing with the Stars judge Len Goodman.

England also had plenty of celebrities in the VIP tent, including Monty Python funnyman Eric Idle and comedienne Tracey Ullman, the game’s official “coin tosser”.

“It is one of the greatest wins of my entire cricket career,” Kasprowicz, a 38 test and 43 one day international veteran for Australia, said with tongue firmly implanted in cheek.

“Nineteen years of first class cricket, so yeah, as you can see it is a big moment.

“I’m glowing.”

Australia batted first and set the healthy target of 153, with Kasprowicz the top scorer with 29 not out off 17 balls, and former Perfect Match host Cameron Daddo drawing on his high school cricket days to add a quick fire 23 off 17 balls.

England managed just 135, with Hick scoring 20 not out.

Jessie Spencer , a star on the TV series House, and celebrity chef Curtis Stone, were late scratchings from the Australian team but former Calvin Klein underwear model model Travis Fimmel was a favourite among the female fans in the 800 or so strong crowd.

Fimmel, however, was limp with the bat, scoring a duck.

Kasprowicz gave a one word answer when asked after the victory if any members of his team may be good enough to sneak a spot in Australia’s test or one day team.

“No,” Kasprowicz replied.

Daddo was not so sure.

“I disagree with that,” LA-based Daddo, 44, who has appeared in numerous US TV series including 24, Without a Trace and Boston Legal, said.

“I think Travis has a good shot and I think I can carry the drinks for the test team.”

The biggest laugh came when an American spectator watching her first cricket game asked why it was called “The Ashes”.

“Who died?” she asked.

http://www.thewest.com.au

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