It's been a long time since we first arrived in November 2004, not quite long enough that we'd consider ourselves Australian, but the government are willing to.
I wasn't looking forward to the ceremony at all, but I was wrong in assuming it would be as boring as a school prize night. We had Aborigional performers, who lit a fire on stage, along with a brass band and African performers. Very multicultural. The mayor and other councillors spoke with it cluminating in us making a pledge and singing the Australian national anthem. I was dreading the pledge, we elected to go for the non god version and heard very few people chose this godless path! Fortunately about 40% of the people there chose the same option, so we were in good company.
Singing the Australian national anthem as my own was a very weird experience, it was good though and felt slightly emotional. It felt really good to be accepted by another country, almost like I'd tricked them into taking me!
Everyone was given a gift to welcome them as citizens, we were both hoping for koalas, surely anything else would be unaustralian?! Sadly all we got was a pair of bottle brush bushes (callistemon endeavour), we'll try and love them just the same!
Passport applications are in, soon I get to say to the immigration officials "choose one" :-)
Sam organised a surprise party for Paula at O'Reilly's Canungra Valley Vineyards winery. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful setting. We sat by the stream and chatted, drinking wine and eating the picnic basket the winery provided.
Happy Birthday Paula and thanks, we had a great time!
Sorry it took so long to put up, but here's a few piccies from the night out we had when Cari came for her impromptu visit to Brisvegas in August....I want to know when we make our impromptu trip to Melbourne for the same thing!! Excellent times....
You could never meet a more lovely person than Winnie, our Nan. I remember walking to the post office in Filey Road on Saturday afternoons as a child, and you could almost guarantee we’d get stopped for a chat by one or two people on the Estate; we’d be on the way to see Frank for the pension (and a quarter of pear drops and the latest copy of Smash Hits if I was well behaved!). She had many friends.
I don’t know much about her early life, but it seems she had a pretty tough childhood, growing up in post World War I Britain, not really knowing much about her own family and where she came from. After volunteering herself to be part of the Land Army in WWII, she met and married my Grandad Wally in Hatfield, and moved up to Grimsby to start a family of her own. She went on to raise four children, though sadly this was not without tragedy, as she lost her youngest son, Robert, in a motor cycle accident when he was just 17 years old. Despite these difficulties in her early life, and trying times as a wife and mother, she was the most wonderful, caring person. I don’t ever remember her raising her voice to us grandkids once-normally Grandad would be the one shouting ‘Stop running up and down that passage!’. She always had a smile on her face.
Nanna worked at the old Birdseye factory canteen for many, many years, which meant she was a great cook, especially her pastries. She’d always have baked something for the family gatherings at her house on Saturday afternoons, whether it be sausage rolls, coconut cakes, or my personal favourite, jelly and condensed milk, sometimes with tinned oranges if you were lucky-though I think she just did that one just for me…
After Grandad’s sad passing in 2001, Nanna enjoyed some of the freedoms associated with single life, and I am very glad that she got the opportunity to explore new places and make some new friends. She had easily four holidays a year, every time you spoke to her she was off on another coach trip!
Nanna also seemed to have a knack of winning at cash bingo too, you could guarantee that her and Audrey would be sharing a line or full house down the Gala when you asked her. I also credit her with my helping to develop my memory skills through playing pairs with the old Mr. Men cards, and also teaching the grandkids how to gamble at an early age with pennies in the kitty, playing Kings.
Sitting here and writing this now, I look back at all those Saturdays spent with our grand parents, and think how much I enjoyed that time, and how important they were in making us who we are today.
Nanna Win, if I can be half the Nan you were to my grandkids in the future, I don’t think I’d have done too badly! You will be sadly missed.
Dan and worked out it was at least 6 weeks since we had left the city, so we took some much needed (for me!) time out from work, and drove up to the Sunshine Coast today.We made a quick stop for lunch at Peregian Beach then off to Noosa Heads section of the Noosa national park for some koala spotting....it wasn't too hard, this guy was snoozing just outside the information office...
On Saturday Stacey organised a trip ice skating, it was loads of fun. Amy and I have only been before a couple of times and not in years, so we were pretty nervous to go with a bunch of Canadians!
Sadly the photos didn't come out so well. Fast moving Canadians (and Morgan who turned out to be a natural) in low light is a bad combination. I'm hoping Stacey or Clo's photos came out a bit better.
Rej was second to last out at Red Rover, beaten only by a figure skater with smelly feet. Rej wooing the crowd
3 people tried to teach me to skate backwards, 3 people failed! Next time I'll master it, or at least give people a good laugh trying again :-)
We need not have worried and despite some doubts, Amy even came back with all 10 fingers!
While Dan and Rej were partaking in some mountain biking this weekend, Clo took me on a walk round the reservoir near their house for photo practice. Here are a few of the better shots I took on the walk, and back at Clo and rej's in their bird filled garden (which I love!).
I like the photo through the fence - though I could have probably framed it a bit better and got the alpaca in a bit more focus - he (or she) is still looking a bit more fuzzy than usual close up!
These couple of pics look a bit washed out due to the fact the sun was behind the hills at this point - but we got the birds to feed from our hands so I had to put these ones up! :)
