Victoria and back

I recently went on a trip to Victoria to meet up with friends and see a bit of the country. It didn't quite go as expected due to circumstances but I enjoyed the journey. I caught up with Chris and her daughter Sherry.

Chris and I had decided to visit the Twelve Apostles near Warnambool, but after reaching Bell's Beach decided to change plans, as the weather was not good and the road trip was going to be a long one. Instead we went back to Queenscliff and caught the ferry across to Sorrento on Mornington Peninsula, then continued back to Mentone. We ended up driving all the way around Port Phillip bay in a day.
On the ferry to Sorrento

Our adventure didn't stop there! I was intending to surprise Chris with a visit past her daughters place on the way back from Warnambool, but on the way back from Sorrento, when I found out she was really wanting to see Sherry, we continued on to St Arnaud. A long trip in one day! But it was worth it and we spent the night at Sherrys' house, so we were able to have some time during the next day with her.


Sherry with her pride and joy

It was a most enjoyable time and we were thoroughly exhausted by the time we got back to Mentone. I took the dog for the trip and she loved it. Chris likes Shakia, so with the two ladies in the car I had an interesting trip. The biggest problem was getting Chris to stop scratching her fleas and behave! LOL

When she finally behaved I bought her a reward!


I also met up with another couple of old friends who I was concerned for, as I could not get in contact with them. On the way to Bells' Beach I took the opportunity to leave a note at Brian and Paulines house telling them I was in Victoria and was trying to catch up with them. They rang me the next day and I travelled to where they were to see them. They were in Bendigo, where I had been that afternoon. I went back there the following day and spent time with them, as their son was in hospital and quite ill. It was wonderful to see them again as I always enjoy their company. Brian and I spend a lot of time in deep discussion about many topics. He likes a joke or two and so we have a lot of laughs telling each other tall stories.

I travelled back via Melbourne to Phillip Island. The weather was blustery and damp so I continued on to Wilson's Promontory, then on to Moruya to Alan and Sues' place. I slept in the swag in the car a couple of nights. I find it surprisingly quite comfortable! The biggest problem were the mosquitoes as they were on a mission, but as it was quite cool at night I just closed the car up and with Shakia curled up at the foot of the swag I slept well. One night was spent in a rest area in a National Park. Shakia was fascinated by all the activity in the tree tops when I was setting up camp. It was very noisy with all the possums and birds, but being pitch black I couldn't see a thing out there, just hear all the noise!

I then went to Moruya and caught up with Alan and Sue where I had some more fun. I always enjoy time with them as we think alike, which can be dangerous! LOL

It was great to arrive at the Mitchells. Their dog Zac and Shakia spent hours playing around the property. She found a dam next door and would disappear every so often and come back wet, as she had been in it to cool off. Alan and I enjoy each others company very much.

Sue cornered me and I recorded some voice overs for the community radio which they are involved with. It was fun and I left her some surprise recordings as a joke. (Don't worry they were clean)

Alan and I took the opportunity to go for a paddle along the Moruya river. We went for kilometres and had to battle the wind and tide to get back to our starting point. a very enjoyable couple of hours which left us both exhausted.

In all, I travelled over 3000km in 9 days, tiring but most enjoyable!

Yep!

• Just do it!!!

I warned you!

I said I would not write 'THAT' so I have written this! It doesn't mean I won't write THAT in the future so be warned Chris.

It seems to be the year of catch up! I have caught up with another friend from the past who I haven't seen for nearly 10 years. This lady moved to Melbourne which may as well have been the other side of the world, as who would move to Melbourne??? As an old Sydney boy that is certainly the last place to move to, pass through on the way to Tassie perhaps, but not live there!!!! Ah well having rubbed that in I should move on!

Chris and I became friends when we worked together at the AIS and we sort of lost contact after she moved to Melbourne. However we caught up this year and we had the pleasure of spending some time together when she visited her mother for her 90th birthday (Chris' mum, not Chris :) ) here in Canberra.

It is always interesting when old friends catch up and share about their families and how our children have grown. We talked a lot about our respective experiences and what had happened in our lives in the intervening years. It was a very enjoyable time and we will no doubt talk much more in the future.

Chris faces her challenges head on and works hard to be good at whatever she does. God help her having a challenge like me for a friend! She has learnt not to give me an opening for teasing, but gives as good as she gets, so maybe I should be a bit careful!!

I don't have a recent photo so this one is from about 2000/2001 that I lifted from her Facebook page for here and she has not changed!

You can breathe easy now Chris as I didn't tell everyone the story I was going to tell, I'll save that for later after I have made it up! LOL

Henk and Neridah

Finally heard from some old friends! Wonderful!

Here is Nerida's website that shows her artwork: http://neridadejong.com/

Post family visit

Looking through a notebook I found evidence of little hands having passed before! When Mel and Ant visited here before my trip to Cambodia the girls spent hours drawing. I had left a notebook in the loungeroom and didn't look inside until recently. I would love to know which beautiful grandaughter drew these, so Mel if you recognise the artwork please let me know so I can make a note. I keep anything like this as it tells me a story when I look at them later in time. Just like Quaids drawing for me in Mauritius. Much treasured!

How we change over the years

While cleaning up my files I found these:-

Where does the time go?

I have recently found out that some old friends were asking about me. I have not seen or heard from them in years so I was quite glad to try and contact them back. So now I am awaiting their reply.
I have been thinking a lot about how time really does fly past when you raise a family and work full time. In this day and age we seem to move about so much that it is quite easy to lose contact with people you know, even family. I have cousins in other areas of Australia whom I have not seen since I was a child and others who I have seen occasionally over the years. When I think of how we spent time as children we never thought about how as we grew up that our lives would go in so many diffeent directions. It is strange to think that you spend many years raising a child only to have them depart for other parts of the world and only getting to see them on the odd occasion. It will be interesting to see what has happened to my friends children and where they are!

I now have Bob living at my house until we find a new home for him. He has settled in quite well and is now starting to research what is available to him and where. I think he has started to enjoy not having to go to work whether he wants to or not. He is still quite active, so he gets in his ute and toddles off to the shops, or out to lunch somewhere and is quite enjoying his life without any pressure. We have a cup of tea most afternoons on my arrival home(when he is not out somewhere) and have a yarn before I go and spend a couple of hours working on a project or whatever.

It was raining this weekend so I used the time to get a lot done in the office. My goodness one does accumulate a lot of paperwork when you ignore it for a long time. If I can keep going the way I am, I will have caught up by the end of the week with most of it and then I can concentrate on the physical projects such as my boat and trailer or renovating the house ready for selling. I am 1/3 of the way through rebuilding the trailer roller brackets, which is a challenge as I have redesigned them to what I want so they will work better. Then I can start refitting the boat so it is ready for next summer when I hope to be in Queensland. I have a lot of things to finish here before I retire so it is pretty busy when I am home from work. Wouldn't have it any other way, as it would be boring having to put my feet up and do nothing...... errr not!

Well retirement draws closer every day and I will not be one of those who sit around in shock at not working anymore. I have so much to do, people to see and places to go I will probably have less time than now! But it will be fun and no boss to answer to.... even greater!!!
Not that I am complaining as I have enjoyed working where I am and it has given me the funds to do so much for others as well as myself. It will be hard to say goodbye to people I have worked with for over 20 years, but they have all booked in to their/my holiday house on the Gold Coast, so I won't get rid of them that easy. :)