After leaving the Darwin for the second and final time in early '88, I was posted to Watson to pay off. I left the Navy in June '88 and spent four months as a builders labourer whilst waiting to be accepted into the NSW Police. I commenced six months training at the Academy at Goulburn in Oct '88 before being posted to Manly in April '89 where I mainly worked in uniform. Summertime beach patrols were awesome! It was a great station but has recently been smeared with corruption findings investigated by the Police Integrity Commission. Some I know are either serving, or are about to serve, very long sentences at Cooma Gaol which is a protection prison. After Manly, I was transferred to North Sydney Detectives in Feb '93. North Sydney has the States second largest CBD so I became skilled in fraud matters. I transferred to my current station at Mudgee in '94, which is also my hometown. I was promoted to Sergeant in '99 and currently work as a Shift Supervisor. I am also responsible for policing all the pubs, clubs, etc in the Command which total over 250 in an area of about 24000 sq/km. No, I do not get free samples!!!!

I married a Manly girl (Lisa) in '92 and Jack Lord was groomsman. We (no, not Jack) went to the States for our honeymoon and caught up with some old friends in Seattle. Needless to say, I had to return to Harry's Goodtime Bar and Burger Establishment for light refreshments. Sadly, it no longer exists as the entire block was bought out by a Japanese consortium in about '95 and turned into a mall I believe. Lisa and I have two wonderful children in Nathan (8) and Laura (5, going on 15!). Both play sports, so weekends are pretty well tied up. I am ready to move on to another larger town but the response from Lisa leaves me in no doubt that I will be here for some time!

Apart from family, my spare time is taken up with a bit of hobby carpentry and working around the yard/garden (we built a few years ago so we are still trying to establish things). A few of us from work also get away once a year and travel west around Warren or Bourke for a week of fishing, pigging, drinking and telling lies! Its a great release.

I have maintained sporadic contact with some of the guys off the Darwin and I am looking forward to establishing old acquaintances at the reunion. I would also like to say that after all that ribbing about my high forehead, I am glad to see that some have made a determined effort to catch up to me. Isn't time a wonderful thing!!