What Katie Did.

                                                                                                                            Letter No. 227

Dear all,

Katie went to the UK on Weds 17 June for a three week trip to catch up with family and friends. Here is her account.

What Katie Did in Yorkshire. I arrived on Thursday morning and Chris was there to meet me; it was so lovely to see him and Julie. They seemed really happy and settled in their new home (well, new to me) and I was very impressed with their new kitchen, furniture and garden. He still lives in Yorkshire in a tiny village called Stutton which is only about 10 minutes’ drive from Bramham where we grew up. I spent the first few days there and we had a great time. Chris and I had a few days out, visiting old family friends and my godmother Annette, having long lunches, a shopping day in York, drinks at the local village pub, and I also took a plant to Mum and Dad’s gravestones.

On my second evening, we went out with two of Chris’ friends into Leeds and then on to see Paulo Nutini in concert in Leeds City Square. He was really great although I was surprised to discover that he is Scottish as I had been expecting him to be a suave Italian. I knew quite a few of his songs and it was an excellent concert, but it was ridiculously cold for June and I had to borrow a warm wool coat and gloves from Julie and even then needed to be fortified by a few glasses of wine (for warmth).

On Sunday 21 June Chris and I went to the Polo. It was the Toulston Polo Club Silver Jubilee Plate and was actually a great day out. We were collected in a minibus with other people on Chris’ table, then straight into the champagne reception. The event was formally kicked off when the Red Devils skydiving team parachuted into the grounds. It was very impressive. There were eight of them altogether and they all landed pretty much on the large red cross. Two of them had enormous flags attached to their ankles and two others came in tandem, one on top of the other. They looked pretty amazing in their tight red jumpsuits so I rushed over for a photograph (for the kids).

After that was a three-course lunch in the marquee, then we all sat down outside and watched the polo match. It was very exciting to watch the beautiful polo ponies charging around at top speed but was a bit chilly in a sleeveless dress, as it was only 14°C. At the break between the Chukkas we had to go out and stamp down the divots and pat the ponies. One of the ladies at our table won a rather fabulous watch in the raffle so we celebrated with a bit more champagne before our minibus came to drop us off at home.

On Tuesday 23 June I made an impromptu visit to my old family home, High Toynton. My Dad had owned the house for almost 40 years and both Chris and I grew up there, but when it was sold a couple of years ago I had not had the opportunity to visit it to “say goodbye” to the house, which contained so many happy memories. I had been thinking about going for a long time and decided to just call on spec. I was worried about whether the new owners would welcome a visit from me or not, but in fact it turned out to be a great decision. The new owner couldn’t have been nicer and showed me all around the house and garden, with her two young girls. They have made lots of quite big changes (extensions, stairs, new master bedroom etc) but all in a really good way and very sympathetic to the existing house. I know that Dad would have really liked what they have done, and would have been so pleased to know that it is a happy family home again and that it is loved and respected. The owner was very interested to hear about the history of the house and invited Chris and I to call again the following week.

Chris had a wine tasting the night before I left, to top up his wine supplies and to try out his new garden furniture. It was still a little cool, so he had also bought a patio burner to go with it. It was a nice evening and we tried out lots of lovely wines and Chris spent a small fortune.

What Katie did in Hale. I borrowed Julie’s car and drove to Hale on Wednesday morning and then had two madly social days, staying at Kate West’s house. It was 3½ years since I’d been to Hale and it seemed to have a whole new range of restaurants and wine bars for me to try out! In the space of just two days I managed to visit Café Gourmand, Costa Coffee, the newly renovated Altrincham markets, the new Moose Bar, went for a dog walk along the Bollin… so, all the main social highlights.

I saw Sandra, Kate W, Sharon and Jill on my first day and had lots of glasses of champagne to celebrate. Sandra’s house is looking just beautiful, with an amazing kitchen extension and wonderful green and lush garden. It was great to see my old partners in crime Kate and Sharon again, not that there was any secret plotting going on or anything.J Really enjoyed the Altrincham markets… a foodie’s delight with vintage-style gourmet food booths and open central courtyard, very cool.

On Thursday morning I went for a walk at the Bollin with Phil Hayton and Rachel McDowell. It was the nicest weather so far, quite a bit warmer and we had a lovely walk along the river and across the fields. They both had their dogs and I also bumped into Jennie Beasley and Nikki Booth out walking their dogs too. The kids’ old primary school near there is being rebuilt and the new building is enormous, at least double the size of the old one, quite impressive. After that I had a coffee, then another coffee that turned into lunch with Heidi, Kate and Sandra and then afternoon tea… then in the evening I went to the Moose Bar for drinks which Jennie had kindly organised, with Kate H, Ruth, Karen, Kath, Vikki, Kate W and Caroline. Really thrilled to see everyone. James Beasley dropped in for a few minutes and I even saw Angus too. Adults had not changed at all, while the kids I saw were almost unrecognizable… They do seem to grow a lot in four years and most of them are now taller than me.

On Friday morning I had a lovely coffee catch up with Jo Turner and was sad to say goodbye, but I did hear that Howard might be out in Brisbane again later this year. I called into the Hale gift shop and then the Trafford Centre for a bit more retail therapy (Marks and Spencer, the White Company, Jigsaw and Hobbs have really missed me) and then drove back to Yorkshire.
What Katie Did in Yorkshire, Part 2. I called to see Jane Hedley, who had been a great friend of Mum and Dad’s and was pleased to see me. We also went to see a drama production that my nephew Ed was acting in. It was a Living History production at Fulford cemetery, with a tour around the cemetery and little tableaux to show how people lived and died long ago. It was a bit quirky and the cemetery itself was actually very interesting. Ed had quite a few lines in his play, which was about Mr Craven who made the famous Craven’s Maryland Toffees in York in the 1800s. There was a bit of toffee eating in the middle of the play, which made the speaking parts a bit tricky. J By this time the weather was mild and sunny and a heatwave was being predicted!

Saturday evening was Nigel and Andrea's wedding blessing to celebrate their 20 years of marriage. Nigel is Chris' business partner at Think Colour and Andrea is the financial controller and together they own the business. They had a full renewal of vows in their very pretty village church, with hymns, prayers and readings. It was a little awkward at the beginning when they walked down the aisle together but was actually a lovely service.

Afterwards there was a party in the village hall across the road from the church. They had gone all out with a delicious hog roast, a dance floor, singer, a bouncy castle, football nets, and lots of Prosecco… a great evening.

What Katie Did In London. The next morning I got the train to London and went straight to Julia’s house for the afternoon. It was so good to see Julia and Chris and their family seems very well. Anna has just done her first year at Durham University and seems awfully grown up. This is quite worrying for me as I clearly remember staying at Julia’s house the night that Anna was born and hearing Julia puffing the stairs at 4am doing her breathing exercises en route for hospital. Eleni and Hector are both at secondary school and Hector is also playing football with Leyton Orient in their Junior Squad and clearly destined for a wonderful Premier League football career. They also have the most gorgeous 9-month old puppy, Millie, who is adorable but has a shoe fetish. She managed to snuffle around in my handbag once or twice but fortunately we located my wallet in the garden before I left.

Julia made a fab roast chicken lunch and then we took Millie for a walk in the park and sat and chatted all evening. We watched the live broadcast from Glastonbury on TV with Lionel Ritchie doing a really fantastic show and we knew all of his songs (and yes we did actually sing along). This is really the best time of year to visit the UK, there is so much happening and I really appreciated the long light summer evenings, which I miss so much in Brisbane.

Monday was a reunion of my OxPoly gang. Julia drove to the Westfield centre and we picked up Eleanor on the way. We had lunch at Jamie's Italian. Mei-Mei joined us for coffee first and then Niki, Clare and Andi for lunch. It was so lovely to see everyone and we had a great time catching up on our lives, kids, jobs etc. The food was scrummy and we had bubbles and photos to celebrate the seven of us meeting up again almost 30 years since our Oxford days, as well as for our 50ths. We drove back via a quick browse in the Boden shop and then I spent the evening at Julia's again watching Wimbledon highlights and playing with the adorable puppy Millie. Summer had properly arrived and it was a perfect warm summer day… a completely different season to the previous week.

On Tuesday I set out around 6am heading for the Wimbledon Queue. I didn’t have tickets but thought it was worth trying my luck anyway with The Queue. I got to Wimbledon just before 8am but astonishingly The Queue had closed, with all tickets allocated before 7.30am! I had breakfast at a nearby cafe instead and bought a few Wimbledon souvenirs then headed back to the Sloane Club which Chris had booked for the night as he is a member there. My room was lovely and felt very luxurious. Chris arrived at lunchtime and we went straight to the roof terrace for lunch. Fortunately they had a big TV screen set up showing the live tennis, with lots of Wimbledon theming, so we felt like we had front row seats. Chris texted all his work friends and told them that I had bumped into someone I knew at Wimbledon and we were now sitting on centre court just next to the Royal Box. Remarkably everyone believed him, which has enhanced my reputation greatly with the Yorkshire crowd.

In the afternoon Chris and I had a quick wander around Chelsea to take in the Peter Jones summer sale, so I could do a little bit more damage to our UK bank account. There was a heatwave by this time, with temperature at 28°C …. Winter to Summer in less than two weeks. We went back to the roof terrace to watch a couple of exciting tennis matches, accompanied by Pimms, strawberries and cream and a nice American couple. It was very cool and pleasant on the terrace and probably more comfortable than being on Henman Hill. It was apparently so hot around the courts that several spectators fainted! In the evening we strolled across the road to Carafini's for a fantastic Italian dinner, followed by a drink in the bar after dinner. A very nice end to a lovely day, thanks Chris.

On Wednesday morning Chris and I took the train back to York. It was now the hottest day in ten years, over 36°C. So hot that the air inside the tropical greenhouse in Kew Gardens was reportedly 6 degrees cooler than the outside air temperature!! Train lines across the country were buckling in the heat with several trains cancelled; luckily ours was not affected. What Katie Did in Yorkshire, Part 3. On Wednesday evening we went to John and Julie Vause's house in Harrogate. They were having a little drinks party to celebrate their son's 18th birthday celebration. We got there a little late, just in time for the speeches and were handed glasses of champagne the second we walked through the door. Afterwards we whizzed back to Chris’ house and straight on to more drinks at Chris and Julie’s neighbour’s house. Chris says that his life is not usually this hectic but I am not so sure… It turned out the neighbours were serious hashers and had been to Interhash events in Malaysia and a few other places and have run on the Hong Kong and Gold Coast hashes. His hash name is probably not appropriate for this blog.

Over the next couple of days I did a couple more visits to family friends and my other godmother Margaret. Chris and I went to High Toynton again and had a glass of wine with the new owners, such lovely people who truly love the house. We had dinner to celebrate Julie’s daughter Gabriella's 18th. In fact all of Chris and Julie’s kids have had birthdays while I’ve been in the UK, another good reason to visit at this time of year. I drove around and took photos of all the local villages with their bunting across the streets and paid a final farewell visit to Mum and Dad’s stones. A last visit to the village pub and then I packed my case for the final leg of my trip.

What Katie Did in Hale, Part 2. Chris, Ed and I drove to Hale on Saturday morning for my final two days in the UK. We had a great lunch at Carluccio’s with Kate and Jerry and then I went on to stay with Caroline and John Harris. That night we headed out to Sharon and Chris Kupusarevic’s home for an intimate dinner with just a few close friends. Sharon and Chris are the caretakers of the Hale Barns Methodist Church which has a hall attached. Sharon mentioned that there was an event on in the hall which was the Cocaine Sniffer’s Society of Hale, which was some sort of anti-addiction group. I was a little surprised, as I’d lived in Hale for seven years and never come across any cocaine sniffers but obviously things had gone to the dogs since my departure.

We had a glass of champagne in the living room and then I persuaded Sharon to give me a quick tour of the house. She suggested we have a quick look into the hall, and assured me that the cocaine sniffers wouldn’t mind. It was quite a surprise for me to discover that almost everyone I had known in Hale was clearly an addict!! It really took about 20 speechless seconds for my brain to process why over 30 people I knew were all in the hall looking at me and how come I hadn’t known that they had all been sniffing cocaine for years.

Once I had got over the shock, I had a wonderful time at my Surprise Party. It was so lovely to see everyone and I especially appreciated the effort at such a busy time of the UK school year. There were lots of people that I hadn’t managed to catch up with up to now and I was really thrilled and very touched by the effort that everyone had gone to. In particular, Chris and Sharon and Kate and Jerry deserve enormous thanks for all the time they had taken in deceiving me, organising balloons, sorting drinks and ice and catering (a fab chilli con carne with just a little touch of coriander). Several people had also produced desserts and I am not sure who was involved but thank you to everyone. It is not often that I am truly lost for words, as I was that night, but fortunately I recovered well enough to make a brief speech later, in which I remarked on my total shock at discovering how many cocaine addicts there are in Hale. I did also warn Chris and Jerry that they might want to question everything that Kate and Sharon tell them now, as that is the second time that they have completely and utterly pulled the wool over my eyes!!

The evening passed by in a bit of a blur and I am not sure how it ended up at 2am with a group of us sitting on the hall stage barefoot spilling our drinks over each other, but that is my recollection and I didn’t get to bed until 3am. But the best thing after a big night out is a full English breakfast the next morning, and John was a total hero and managed to assemble the works complete with tea and a green smoothie. Brilliant.

I spent a lovely relaxing day having a late morning coffee with Alison Jamie and admiring her lovely garden, the afternoon in Caroline and John’s garden and then an early evening pub dinner with Sandra and Caroline. Very sad to say all my goodbyes to the gang and goodbye to the UK after a wonderful social three week-trip, renewing friendships and revisiting old haunts. A really lovely experience and hopefully I will be back before too long.

John kindly dropped me at Manchester Airport the next morning for my flight home. The check-in process did not go as smoothly as I was expecting, as there was an issue with my visa. I explained that there must be a mistake as I am a Permanent Resident and pointed to the visa wording “Permitted to remain in Australia indefinitely”. They explained that yes I certainly was a Permanent Resident, which would have been fine if I had just remained in Australia, but my 5-year Re-Entry Visa had expired and now that I had left the country I was now trying to re-enter Australia illegally. I was utterly shocked as I had absolutely no idea that this needed renewing and it seemed rather ridiculous. The check-in lady called an official, who called another official and they phoned someone in Canberra and eventually, after quite some time, they managed to get me a re-entry code and said that someone would be waiting to talk to me in Brisbane. It all took so long that they had to rush me to the plane. I did manage to text a few of my UK friends and mentioned that I might be back a bit sooner than they thought…

Twenty-four hours later I presented my passport to the Immigration Officer in Brisbane in some trepidation. Ah Mrs Forbes, he said, we have been waiting for you, please come this way. Fortunately this had a pleasant outcome, as the Immigration official had completed the visa application form for me and I just had to sign a few declarations. He did mention that this is a very common mistake and happens several times every week. Fortunately I resisted the urge to tell him what I thought of the visa wording. Anyway I ended up with a one-month extension to my Re-entry Visa and left the airport with the intention of applying for Australian Citizenship to avoid future issues. Australia here I come. Advance Australia Fair.

Love Katie.

 

A visit to my old family home

With a Red Devil

Enjoying Wimbledon at the Sloane Club

With Sandra and Kate

With Karen James

Kate and Caroline showing the love

 

Millie the adorable puppy

30 years on but who's counting? 

Julie at home

Looking good at 2am after my Surprise Party

Australian flag is raised at Chris' house

 

 

Selfie at Paolo Nutini concert in Leeds

With Chris and Ed

Chris and I at the Polo

A lovely English summer afternoon

What We Did Without Katie

 Letter No. 226

Dear all,

Katie went to England at the end of the last letter: What We Did Without Katie…  I had arranged to leave work every day at 4:30pm while Katie was away which worked really well. The kids really pitched in -- Matt cooked dinner almost every night, I stacked and emptied the dishwasher and Jess helped with the clothes washing. They finished school a few days after Katie left, so they didn’t have as many commitments as in term time.

The first weekend we went to see Jurassic World which was by far the best one in the series so far, even if it did have a very similar story line to the last three.  We also had a Molly problem -- she has been barking at something in the hedge for days and we finally found out that it was a possum. She was going mental when we got home and I spent 20 minutes shaking every hedge tree to see if anything moved. Eventually a possum darted along a bit. It was right at the top and very hard to see. Molly was so excited that we had to lock her inside for over an hour. It seems the possum lives in this spot and Molly was driving us mad for days afterwards barking at this exact spot. Eventually I got so fed up that I spent two hours rousing at her every time she made a peep. It seemed to work and now the possum lives in harmony with Molly. Molly does go and peer in the hedge quite a lot but no longer barks.

On Sunday 21st June we set off on a day trip to Mt Warning, which is on the NSW-Queensland border. We left at 7:45am for the 1½ drive and Matthew drove most of the way. Our plan was to do an 8.8km round trip hike to the top. Mount Warning is 1156 metres high and dominates the Byron Bay hinterland landscape. As Byron Bay is the most easterly point of Australia, Mount Warning is the highest point in the region and this is where the sun first hits mainland Australia. It has been named by National Geographic as one of the 10 Best Mountain Climbs in Australia. After about 3km Matt had a heavy fall on slippery rocks and hurt his hip. We stopped for a while and I was worried that we weren't going to make it, but as we got closer to the top he perked up and was really enthusiastic. The path got steeper and steeper until the last 400m was an almost vertical scramble up the cliff clinging on to a chain fence. The chain was so cold that it was difficult to hold on to, but impossible to make forward progress without it! It was very hard but Jessie sang happy songs to keep us going! It was also quite cold. As we got higher the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. It took two hours twenty minutes to get to the top. The views were spectacular and we sat in the warm sun and had lunch.
We thought it would be lots quicker to go down but it still took us two hours and ten minutes. I promised everyone a hot chocolate when we got down but the first café from the car park was so outrageously expensive even the kids were shocked. We pushed on to Murwillumbah and went to the McCafé which was a welcome break to sit down and have a warm drink and snack. We made it home by 5:10pm and all had baths to warm up and get clean. We were pretty muddy.

On Monday, Jessica managed to lock herself out of the house while Matthew was at work at Miku and he didn't have keys. Jess had also used the spare keys and left them in her room a few days before. Jessica went to Indooroopilly to kill time but due to a spectacular miscommunication on Jessie's part, poor Matthew sat outside for three hours until I came home as I had a bid due out that afternoon and had to stay later. Jess didn't get home from the shopping centre until after dark and didn't have her phone. We had a big discussion that night about all the mistakes that were made that day!

The next day Jessie had a Sleepover with ten of her friends. Matt and I hunkered down avoiding them while the girls hung out in our cabana. We all had pizza for dinner. They are all nice polite girls but are driving me mad slamming the front gate going in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out and in and out. Did I mention they are constantly going in and out? God knows why. They all slept over in the Cabana, almost on top of each other! In the morning I made them a huge fruit salad and left some money and they all walked down to the bakery in their PJ’s for breakfast.

The next weekend we had a candle-making morning. Jess and I set up a production line and made 48 soy candles in about 2½ hours. Jessica is going to sell them at her school’s Twilight Fair in July to raise money for her Antipodeans Abroad trip next year. On Sunday we went to the Queensland Museum and saw the Dinosaur Discovery. It was a special exhibition which had a heap of animatronic full size dinosaurs. It was very good. Afterwards we had lunch in Viet deLite in Little Stanley Street and went for a wander around the markets and along the river.

In the evening we went to my sister Lisa's and had dinner. They have two new baby sheep, also a baby kangaroo. The kangaroo is very small. Its mother was killed and Dad found the joey and gave it to Lisa. It spends all its time in a pouch they have made for it, being carried around by Isabelle. Jessica stayed with the cousins for two nights while Matt and I fended for ourselves. She had a great time spending time with her cousins, doing craft activities and feeding the animals. Lisa kindly dropped Jessie at the orthodontist on Tuesday as one of her wires had broken and then she caught the train back home.

The next Friday the three of us set off on a Road Trip for a long weekend. We left about 7am and Matthew drove to Landsborough about 86km north. We stopped and had morning tea and went to the Landsborough Historic Museum which was very quaint. We drove on to Maleny for a wander around the craft shops. It was quite cold and we found a warm café and had hot drinks and played Jenga in the sunshine. As we were walking down the main street there was a girl with a huge parrot on her shoulder, advertising the Maleny Botanic Gardens and Bird Aviary. We decided to go as it was only a short drive. There was an animal nursery which was okay but we decided that my sister has a larger petting zoo at her house now with more animals. On the other hand the aviary was brilliant. There were so many beautiful birds and they would come and sit on your head and shoulders. There were four huge blue macaws and we spent ages with them. They were really cool.

We drove on to Montville and browsed the beautiful craft shops before going on to our hotel. We had a beautiful two bedroom apartment with spectacular views over the mountains. The owners let us go down and feed her horse when we arrived and Jessie had a long bounce on the trampoline. We had a quick shower and went down to the pub for dinner. To our surprise, they were having a “Christmas in July” evening. We had a nice meal and played cards while waiting for Santa to come. He arrived and distributed chocolates and carollers sang Christmas carols. It was a fun evening.

The next morning we set off early again and Matthew drove to the Eumundi Markets. It was a stunning drive down the mountain range along a very winding road with steep drops off the edge of the road. It simultaneously tested Matthew’s driving skills and my nerves! We had a wander around the markets for a few hours and snacked at the market stalls in lieu of lunch.

We went on to Gympie and stopped at the Gympie Gold Mining & Historical Museum. There were 33 different small buildings which gave an interesting account of the gold rush days around Gympie in the 1800s. We went on to Maryborough and checked into our hotel. We went for a drive around the town and were surprised to discover that the musical Mary Poppins was on at the entertainment centre. The afternoon matinee show had just finished so we went to see if there were any tickets left for the evening show. Surprisingly there were ten seats left (in Row Z) and so we decided to go. It was really only a small theatre (26 rows) so the view was not that bad. We whizzed back to our hotel, had a shower and a quick dinner before going to the show. It was really quite good and we had a fun time.

The next day was the Mary Poppins Festival. Apparently the author of Mary Poppins (P.L.Travers) was born in Maryborough and they have an annual festival there to celebrate. We thought it might be a bit lame but there was a lot to do and we spent six hours there. There were steam train rides, market stalls, all the town museums were open and free, a Grand Parade, costume judging, camel rides, a pram race and a chimney sweep challenge as well as bars, food and live bands. Jessica entered the pram race and thought she would win easily as the rest of the field in her heat were 8 year olds. She took it a little casually and was whipped in the 100m walking pram race by a couple of 8-year-old boys. It was very funny. In the afternoon the kids decided to paint an umbrella while I watched a band. Matthew soon got bored so Jessica, the creative little perfectionist, was left to finish it off. We popped back every once and a while to see if she was finished but she was still hard at it after over an hour. When we came back the last time we couldn’t see her anywhere. We walked back and forth between all the places we had been in the last hour. After about ten minutes of searching, I reported her as a lost child to the security guards. She was found within only a few minutes, sitting quietly on a bench right next to where we had left her, waiting for us to come back. The seat was under some shrubs and was slightly hidden from view when we looked from the road. We were pleased to find her so quickly and she had done exactly the right thing, waiting where she was until we found her, although she was a bit cross that she had been reported as a missing child! We went back to the hotel and had pizza for dinner and slumped in bed.

The next morning we got up very early and drove to Rainbow Beach. I had booked a 1½ hour horse ride along the beach from 9am. There were the three of us and four other riders plus two instructors. We had been riding for half an hour when one of the other horses startled and threw its rider off. He was a 60-year-old man, and his daughter totally freaked out. She started screaming abuse at the instructors which was not helpful at all. I grabbed her horses reins and stopped her getting off. She was such a novice she couldn’t get off the horse by herself and we didn’t need her flapping around scaring other horses or getting kicked.  The instructors were looking after her dad but he was obviously quite winded and getting up very slowly, as it was quite a bad fall. One instructor rode off to the surf lifesaver, who came and picked him up in his 4WD and took him back to the road where an ambulance picked him up. The instructors were both young girls in their twenties and they were really shocked as well. Once the injured man and his agitated daughter had left, both instructors started to cry! They said nothing like that had ever happened before. Eventually they pulled themselves together and we all continued on our ride. It was really a very beautiful ride along beach and we had a very pleasant time after that. After the ride was over we went for a swim on the beach which was quite warm for the middle of winter.

We had a quick bite to eat at the bakery and Matt drove back to Brisbane. He had done a lot of driving on our trip which is great practice for him and really boosted his driving hours. We arrived home about 4pm and had a two-hour scramble tidying the house in time for Katie’s arrival home from the UK the next day. I was up till midnight washing and ironing so there wasn’t anything for her to do.

Next evening the kids caught the train into my office in the late afternoon and we had dinner at a nearby burger bar before driving to the airport for 7:30pm. Katie had a problem with her visa and there was some concern that she might not be allowed back into Australia. I will let her tell you about that in the next letter (What Katie Did). Eventually she emerged and we drove home. We had all missed her a lot and were so pleased to have her back.

Love

Derek, Katie, Matthew and Jessica

Rosie the Joey

At the top of Mt Warning

Climbing down was much harder than going up!

A night at the museum.

A very bitey friend.

With Mary Poppins.

Riding on Rainbow Beach.

 

The view from my horse.

Easter and Term 2

 Letter No. 225

Dear all,

Easter Holidays We had a Thai dinner with some BBC parents on the Saturday night of Easter and on Easter Sunday, my sister and family and Mum and Dad came over for lunch to celebrate Mum and Dad’s birthday. We had a seafood BBQ lunch and then an Easter Egg hunt. Jessie had planned a heap of craft activities to do with her cousins. Even Matthew half painted an Easter egg.

On 10^th April we went Camping at Wooyung Beach in northern New South Wales. I took Friday off work and Matthew drove us down, racking up another two hours towards the 100 he needs to get his driving license. We arrived about 11am. I had bought us three new “pop-up” tents. I was really sick of setting up our large six-man tent. The big tent always took at least an hour to set up, but the pop-up tents were up in less than one minute. They were all three man tents and Matthew and Jessica had one each and we had the other. Our camp site was totally set up in about 45 minutes so we felt very pleased with ourselves. We spent the afternoon at the beach swimming, playing Frisbee and playing with the dog in the surf before heading back for an evening around the campfire. Jessica was a little nervous about sleeping in a tent by herself so we put Molly in with her. This was a win as far as I was concerned, as Molly can be a little annoying at night. Jessica didn’t seem to mind Molly sleeping with her butt on her face though!

Next morning Matthew went for an early swim in the surf before 7am. We had breakfast and then drove to nearby Kingscliffe for the Saturday market. We had a nice wander around before having lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beach and an afternoon in the surf again. The beach was spectacular – a wide sandy beach as far as the eye could see with a total of about ten people on it! The next morning, after Matthew’s swim in the surf, we had breakfast and packed up. We drove a little way up the coast and then spent a few hours at Caribati Beach. We had a quick bakery lunch and Matthew drove us back to Brisbane in the afternoon. We arrived back at about 3pm and unpacked and slumped for a few hours. Against my better judgement we had arranged to go for an Indian meal with some BBC parents. We were all a bit tired and had to drag ourselves out but it was a pleasant evening. 

On Thursday 16^th April we drive to Byron Bay for another long weekend. Matthew drove us nearly all the way again. Katie and I had last been to Byron Bay just after we got engaged in 1996, almost 20 years ago. It had changed from a sleepy seaside village to a busy little town with terrible traffic congestion. We checked into our room and went down to the beach which was beautiful. The weather was perfect and the sea was really warm even though it was almost the end of autumn. 

The next day we were at the beach again. Matthew had been looking at things to do in Byron Bay and had decided that we should all go hang-gliding. He had been working on me for weeks to convince me to do it and we finally decided to give it a go. We drove down to Lennox Heads about 2:30pm. We had been discussing all the way down who was going to go first. The kids unanimously decided that I had to go first and Katie was definitely not going to do it as she is not good with heights.  When we arrived, however, the instructors said that the wind wasn’t strong enough and so Jessica had to go first as she was the lightest. Jessie bravely suited up and then had to stand on the edge of the cliff for about five minutes, clutching the instructor until he was happy with the wind for their take-off.  Eventually they leaped off and were soaring above our heads for about 20 minutes before landing almost in the same spot they took off from. Matthew also had a long nerve-wracking wait on the cliff edge before taking off. By the time it was my turn the wind had picked up and we just walked up to the cliff and jumped off. While I was getting ready Matthew somehow managed to talk Katie into it and she was suited up and in the air in about two minutes flat – before she had a chance to back out. We were both hang-gliding at the same time, with different instructors, swooping up and down along the cliff tops without going too far out to sea where the wind starts to drop. I saw at least two sharks and quite a few manta rays while I was up. It was a really fantastic experience.

We then drove back to Byron and had a walk along the cliffs up to the lighthouse. It went to the most easterly point of the Australian mainland and then further along down to the beach. We made it back up to the lighthouse to watch the sun go down before heading back for a shower and out for dinner. The next morning we spent the day on the beach before a fish and chip lunch and then Matthew drove us back to Brisbane.

The school holidays were over all too quickly and the kids went back to school on 20 April.  On Weds 22 April I set off to Newcastle (which is near Sydney) for the day. I was heading to the RAAF base to look at an aircraft hangar for work. I had to get up at 4:00am to get to the airport for the early morning flight. Just after we boarded we were told that there would be a 30-minute delay as there was debris on the runway in Newcastle. There had been a huge localised storm in the area. Eventually we took off and all was well until we were about ten minutes from Newcastle. We flew into clouds and it got really very rough. Actually it was the first time I had been scared on a plane. I even counted the rows of seats to the emergency exit! Just at the plane’s wheels were about to touch the runway, the pilot gunned it and took off again because the strong winds were too dangerous. After another ten minutes of rough flying, we eventually landed from the opposite direction. Everyone clapped and breathed a huge sigh of relief. We taxied over to the terminal, but then the pilot informed us there would be a slight delay as the airport terminal had been severely damaged by the storm. After another two hours of sitting in the plane on the tarmac, being buffeted in the howling wind and rain, the pilot told us that the terminal staff would not allow us to disembark and we would have to fly back to Brisbane! We were not happy and nobody could work out why they had allowed us to land in the first place. We took off into the storm, which was equally scary, and then about ten minutes later we flew out of it into clear blue sky! It was apparently the worst storm to hit the area for 30 years and five people died. In retrospect it was lucky we hadn’t disembarked as we would not have been able to fly back to Brisbane for another two days! A week later I returned to Newcastle for my meeting. I was quite shocked at the number of huge trees that had blown down and the number of damaged buildings, most of which apparently happened during the height of the storm – the exact two hours that we were sitting on the tarmac!

The next day I had to be in Mooloolabah for work for something I couldn’t change. Sadly I had to miss the funeral of our dear friend Paul Hart’s mother Colleen that day. Katie went along to pay our respects and despite the sadness of the occasion she was pleased to see many old Hong Kong faces.

It was a very busy week. Matthew had his braces off and the results look fantastic. He has retainers now that he will have to wear at night for a long time, but it has definitely been worth it. Friday was Anzac Day. Matthew had a major role in the service at BBC so I took the afternoon off to attend. Matthew has been working with the BBC archivist Helen who has been researching the BBC Old Boys’ who died in military service. She has produced a beautiful book called “The Fallen” which tells the stories of all the old boys who died and shows photographs of the war graves. The BBC archives list 97 Old Boys who died in the Great War, World War II and Afghanistan.  When Matthew was working at BBC one day, he discovered the name of another Old Boy, who had died in Singapore during Second World War, but his name had somehow never been counted and had been missing for 50 years from the brass memorial plaque on the school’s Anzac memorial! Amazingly the school managed to get in contact with the son of the old boy, who is now 95 years old and lives in Toowoomba. He was invited to BBC as the special guest of honour to plant a cross for his father. Naturally Matthew was assigned to greet him, show him around the school, introduce him to people and plant the cross with him at the culmination of the ceremony. It was quite a special moment for the school and we were proud that Matt had such a big role in it.

After the service there was an afternoon tea and the school officially “launched” its book of the Fallen. Matthew, Katie and Katie’s brother Chris are all credited in the book for providing details for the book. Chris had been to Harrogate’s Stonefall Cemetery and photographed the gravestone of one of the Old Boys who had been buried in the Commonwealth War Graves section there. We bought a copy and it is a beautiful production, if a fairly sobering and sombre read.

Saturday morning it was more Anzac Day celebrations. Matthew was marching in the school’s Brass Band at Jindalee playing his French horn at 7:00am. As soon as they finished the march we had to drop him back at BBC so he could take the school bus into the City. The Brass Band was marching with the school’s Pipe Band in the Anzac Day Parade in the city at 10:00am. Meanwhile Jessica was going to the Graceville Anzac Day service with her school. Both kids were in school uniform and going in opposite directions so it was a bit of a logistical challenge. Afterwards we helped Jessie set up a little stall at the end of the street (so that she could sell scented candles that she had been making) to capture the crowds leaving the Graceville services. Then I caught the train into the city to watch Matthew while Katie stayed back to assist Jessica if required. Jessie managed to sell all her candles within two hours so she was very pleased. Meanwhile I had a good vantage point to watch Matthew marching down Adelaide Street. It was a very impressive parade, with all the marching groups and a few flyovers by Super Hornets. I walked over to Queen Street to watch Matt finish and he was very hot and tired after marching and playing at the same time. I left him to do another lap of the city at 11:00am.

That evening Katie and I went to our friend Alf’s 50^th birthday party. It was a very elegant night, with a fully catered dinner for around 100 people and a live band. We had a great night and danced the night away. The next night we had a game of tennis and a tennis party at our house with a fab Indian buffet that Matthew and Katie whipped up for six adults and six kids.

On 29^th April Jessie’s school dance troupe STAGE entered their first Dance Eisteddfod in Ipswich. They have entered three dance comps for the year. The standard was very high and they didn’t place sadly L.

On 30^th April we went to the GPS Music Showcase. This is a one-off concert performed by the best musicians from nine of the private schools in Brisbane, who come together for one full day of rehearsals and then put on a concert that evening. Matthew was playing the French Horn. Katie & I had a quick dinner at the Performing Arts Centre before the show. It was a really brilliant concert and the musical standard was amazingly high.

On 9^th May it was the BBC Formal. Matthew took Natalie, a friend who lives at the end of our street and goes to St Aidan’s. We are friends with her parents so see her quite often. Matthew wore the suit he bought himself in Vietnam and looked very sharp, and Nat was very elegant in a long black dress. She came over about 4:30pm and we took them to a Pre-formal drinks party at the home of one of his friends. We chatted to the parents we knew and took photos of the kids. At 6:00pm the kids were all transported to the Sofitel Hotel in the city; meanwhile Katie and I dropped the car home and caught the train into town and went out for dinner with a group of BBC parents.  After dinner we walked over to the Sofitel and watched all the couples emerge from the ballroom. We caught a taxi home, with Matthew and Nat, and then quickly set up for Matthew’s Post-formal party at our house. We lit a fire in the fire pit, put out a heap of snacks and retreated upstairs. I was all for going to sleep but Katie (the responsible one) said we had to stay up until the last girl had gone home. Some of Matthew’s school friends were staying the night and the kids sat around the fire until about 3:30am until the last girl left. I made the boys bacon rolls for breakfast in the morning. Apparently the night was a big success.

On 11 May Katie started working at BBC on a two-week project, helping with the Y12 Careers Fair. This involved presentations, workshops, speakers and a lunchtime careers expo showcasing about 20 different organisations. Katie had worked on the event the previous year so knew what to expect. She had a nice, somewhat intense, time organising the catering, IT, name badges, satchels, infrastructure, microphones etc. It is the perfect job for Katie and it all apparently went well on the  day.

We went to see the BBC Musical on 14^th May. It was “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” which was outdoors in the amphitheatre at school. There was supper with drinks beforehand. It was combined with St Aidan’s students as well, so both kids came along to watch. We had a nice evening but it was unseasonably cold for May – about 6⁰C. We had our warm coats, blankets, cushions etc and we were still cold. It was a very good evening though.

On 22^nd May Jessie’s dance troupe competed in their second dance competition at Brisbane Eisteddfod. This time they came third in one dance and highly commended in two others against stiff competition. It was a good result and the girls are going to spend their prize money on a pizza lunch at school one day.

The next night we went to our friend Brad’s 50^th birthday party at a pool hall in Milton. It seems to be the era of 50^th birthday parties all of a sudden. The theme was Gold so I went in a very tasteful wide gold tie and black shirt and Katie went in a muted gold top. I couldn’t talk her into anything really sparkly. There were nibbles and drinks followed by a round robin pool competition. Katie and I were knocked out in the first round unfortunately. We got to play a few consolation games later on but it was a good night and something different for a birthday party.

Sunday was the BBC Open Day. Matthew was giving tours to prospective parents and naturally Katie was running the afternoon tea stand most of the day. This was her final task as Parent Connections President. Jessica and I just called in for free cakes and snacks around 3pm.

The next weekend it was a St Aidan’s School Dance. The school P&F runs the dances and was desperate for helpers. Katie had volunteered one of us to help, much to Jessica’s horror, but on the evening she was a bit tired so I had to go instead. I was helping on the cloakroom which it turned out was typically run by mothers. I felt a bit out of place.  I thought that it would be an easy job but it turned out to be totally frantic. For the first hour we were checking in bags and then there was a five-minute respite before kids started coming out from the dance and wanting their bags back to get money for drinks and food. Then they checked them back in, and out, and in, and out, and in all evening before the real rush checking them out when the dance finished at 10pm. There were 1300 children there and the event raised $19,000 for the school, so I guess it is worth making the effort. Jessica was having a sleepover at someone else’s house that night so I drove home by myself. 

The next morning Matthew was collecting for the Red Shield Appeal. We had totally forgotten about it until about two minutes before he was due to be at school. We made a frantic effort and he threw his clothes on while Katie handed him a muffin and a water bottle and I drove him there in record time in my pyjamas. His team raised $120 in two hours so he was pleased but didn’t like door-knocking much.

In May Matthew got himself a job at a Japanese restaurant, Miku in Graceville. One of his school friends already works there and gave Matthew a heads-up that they were looking for another waiter. It is the perfect job for Matthew as it is only a two minute walk from home and because he loves Japanese food. We had to rush and get him a tax file number and he has been doing one or two shifts per week, usually two or three hours at a time. He even did a bank holiday shift, which gave him 2.5 times loading on his usual hourly rate, which he was fairly pleased about.

The 9^th and 11^th of June were momentous days in our family. Katie finally stood down from her roles at the BBC Parents & Friends Association and the Parent Connections group. She was pleased to get many nice emails, presents and flowers after more than four years of hard work at BBC. We are not quite sure what she is going to do with all her free time, although she says she has a long list. J

That weekend was a busy one for Jessie, with her final STAGE dance competition on the Friday night where the group received a highly commended (4^th place out of 17 dance groups). The Saturday night was a choir Concert with all-day rehearsal, so she was very tired the next day. I took a little time off work on Friday afternoon to watch the dance competition and we all went to the concert on Saturday night. It was a real “Look-at-Me” weekend for Jess.

The next week was the last week of school and everything was winding down. On Wednesday 17 June Katie headed off to the UK for 2½ weeks to see her brother and friends in Cheshire and London. Next letter we’ll tell you about Katie’s trip and what we did while Katie was away. 

Love

Derek, Katie, Matthew, Jessica and Molly.

Anzac day

Anzac day.

 

Standing on the cliff edge for take off

Matthew ready for take off

Jessica Flying.

At the beach.

 

 

Still flying.

Matt and Nat at the formal.

Matt and Jess prior to formal.

Jessica at her school Gymnastics.

Sydney and Term 1

Letter No. 224

Dear all,

January 2015 - SYDNEY  On January 2^nd we left Canberra and drove to Sydney, returned the car to Sydney Airport and took a cab to our apartment in The Rocks. We had a fabulous view of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House although it was partially obscured by a huge ocean liner for the first couple of days. In the afternoon we wandered around the Rocks area. We had lunch in a nice café in the Rocks Centre but were too museumed-out after Canberra to look at the Rocks Museum, so we strolled around the little shops and market stalls instead and then walked up the Pylon Lookout. This is one of the Pylons at the end of the bridge arches that you can walk up. There are 270 steps from the bottom of the pylon and it was quite a hot day so we were pleased to get to the top and out into the cool breeze. There were fantastic views of the Bridge and the Opera House and surrounding harbour views. It was actually almost as high as you could walk on the harbour climb and a lot less faffing around.

Next we walked back to Dawes Park, directly under the pylon and had gelati sitting on the cannons under the bridge which were the first ones installed to protect Sydney Harbour in the 1840s. We went on to Walsh Bay wharf and then walked up through the historic areas to The Hero of Waterloo which is the oldest pub in Sydney, where we stopped for a cold drink and a cup of tea (for Katie). We pushed on to the Sydney Observatory constructed in the 1840s but it was closing so we just wandered around the gardens and looked at the view before pushing on back to our apartment for a bit of down time.

We had dinner at a pub just next to our apartment and spent the evening playing cards as the sun went down. It was great. I love daylight saving!

The next day was Saturday 3 January and I went for a run over the harbour bridge in the morning before everyone was awake. We had booked a Harbour Boat Tour, which started from the Marina in Rose Bay. The boat toured around the harbour looking at all the expensive houses. The boat operators were actually police officers and told very interesting stories about when they had visited many of the houses responding to break-ins! We had great views of Fort Denison, Botanical Gardens, Opera House, Harbour Bridge and Darling Harbour before pulling into the Sydney Fish Markets. We had a quick wander around the markets which were very frenetic before heading back to the boat for a fabulous seafood lunch on board. We then went over to Manly Beach for a wander around and then on to Store Beach for an afternoon swimming. Afterwards we called in at Watson’s Gap which are cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Our guide Andrew said there are more than 50 suicides at the cliffs every year and that in almost every police shift he has to respond to a potential suicide there. While we were looking at the view we noticed someone over the barriers and looking over the cliff on the other side of the Gap. Shortly afterwards Andrew’s colleagues from the Police Emergency Response team showed up. L We had dinner at a small café in Circular Quay.

The next day was very hot, over 35⁰C by midday. We caught the ferry around to Darling Harbour and were melting by the time we made it there. The girls spent the morning wandering around the shops while Matthew and I went to The Chinese Gardens nearby. We met up for lunch and then went to the Sydney Aquarium. We had been about 14 years ago, before Jessie was born and when Matt was 2, but decided to go again. Our favourites were the platypi, the dugongs, the penguins and leafy sea dragons. We made it back to the apartment about 3pm and all had to have a lie down due to the heat and all the walking. We then headed out again on the train as we had tickets to see Wicked the Musical at 6:30pm. We had a quick bite to eat and went in to see the show. We all had to buy some cocktails / mocktails in martini glasses which lit up fluorescent green to match the colour of the witch. Wicked is the story of the Wizard of Oz prior to Dorothy arriving and tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the West and how she became wicked. It was very clever and wove in with the original story very well. We had a fantastic evening before catching the train home. We all decided we are going to watch The Wizard of Oz again when we get home. Katie’s Dad Ken had given Matthew a copy of the DVD a few years ago.

On Monday 5 January we wandered through the city down to Martin Place. The kids wanted to see the Channel 7 studio where they film Sunrise as you can watch through the studio window from the street. We also looked at the Lindt Café which was boarded off and closed and looked at the floral tributes still in place for victims of the Sydney Siege. There were photos of the floral tributes on posters on a glass balustrade all around Martin Place. It was quite sobering.

We wandered slowly around the Botanical Gardens and out to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair for the best views of the harbour bridge and the opera house, then had a long leisurely lunch in one of the Opera House restaurants before doing an Opera House Tour. The tour was fantastic. We saw a rehearsal of one of the shows in one of the smaller concert halls. It was really good to see inside the sails of the building. Well worth doing. We all had ice creams while walking back to the apartment.

The roof of our apartment block had a fantastic deck overlooking the Opera house. We had a sunset BBQ on the roof for dinner and then wandered down to the pub to play cards and have a quick drink.

The next day, Tuesday 6^th January we caught the bus to Coogee and did the 6km Coogee-Bondi Coastal Walk along the clifftops and through nice little quiet coves, rock pools and pretty beaches all with spectacular ocean views. It was quite a hot day and we were quite pleased to make it to Bondi Beach. Just at the southern end of the beach is the Icebergs Club. This a swimming pool built into the side of the rocks with a restaurant overlooking the whole beach. It is a sea water pool and the water was cold even on a hot summer day. You can jump right off the edge of the pool into the sea. You can only be a member of the club if you swim all winter long, at least once per week. Luckily they allow people in for the day and we spent a few hours having lunch and swimming in the pool and sea before walking on to Bondi Beach. Matthew and I went for another swim in the surf while the girls did a spot of shopping and then we caught a bus back to the apartment.

Next day we flew back home to Brisbane and there were just a couple of weeks of holidays left.

JANUARY  I won some movie tickets at work so we all went to see The Water Diviner on 10th January – a very nice movie. Matthew got his learners driver’s licence on 13^th January. I don’t think I am ready for him to start driving me around yet! Matt had his first lesson on 16^th January. We have decided to let him have five or six lessons with his instructor before we let him drive with us, to take some of the stress out of it. He has just started driving us to tennis on Sundays for a while before we do any big trips.

On 18^th January we drove to College’s Crossing, higher up the Brisbane River to go swimming. There is quite a nice park on the river bank but there are signs every 50m warning about the presence of Bull sharks in the river. It certainly made the swim slightly more exciting for the kids. Molly can’t read, so she was in the water like a bullet. Actually they only get small bull sharks, about 1.5m long, in that stretch of the river so nothing much to worry about. I was chatting to someone else in the river who had actually caught a shark earlier that morning but decided not to tell the kids about that! It was a hot day again, about 36⁰C so it was nice to cool off despite the risk! I had been swimming in the same place many times when I was younger before anyone had discovered the sharks, so I knew it was safe!

We went to Southbank Markets for on 26^th January for a swim at City beach and a mooch at the markets on the last day of the school holidays. It was a beautiful day and even Katie went swimming which doesn’t happen very often.

BACK TO SCHOOL  Matthew has been selected as a Prefect at BBC for his final school year. There are 20 Prefects selected out of 240 boys in Year 12. There was a Student Leaders’ Induction Service on 30^th January and parents were invited to attend. It was a whole school assembly and at one point all the leaders were announced and stood at the front of the hall and we had to go down and pin his new Prefect badge onto his blazer. There were a lot of really great speeches about leadership and it was a lovely morning. Quite a proud parenting moment. Matthew was pleased to get his detention book so he can give out Friday detentions to boys for for uniform / behaviour misdemeanours.

We had a busy evening on 31^st January. We were invited for housewarming drinks with our friends the Suggs. They had just received possession of their new house in Laurel Avenue. They had set up for a lovely drinks reception on the lawn but shortly after we all arrived there was a sudden downpour and everyone had to grab something and dash inside. Naturally Katie grabbed the champagne! They have a beautiful old Queenslander with lovely gardens and a tennis court and the house itself has fantastic “bones” but needs absolutely everything doing to it with lots of timber needing replacing. We couldn’t stay long as we were going on to BBQ at Pip McGlinn’s house in The Gap. It was lovely to catch up with her again as we had not seen her for a while. I could not believe her son Josh was 20! It seems only yesterday we went to see him as a newborn in hospital in Hong Kong. 

FEBRUARY Jessica went to see One Direction in concert with her friend Elise on 11^th February. It was the first time she had gone out at night without one of us accompanying her. They were dropped off at our local train station and travelled to the concert by themselves, as the stadium is so close to Milton train station. They had a great time and made it safely back home again afterwards on the train, with me there to meet them at the train station in Graceville.

We went to the St Lucia Golf Club for drinks on 13^th February. It was organised by the BBC Hamilton House Captain’s parents (Matthew’s House) with all the house leaders (only three couples). They wanted to arrange a house team building event. We had some nice drinks and nibbles and after much discussion it was decided to have a BBQ and drinks function at the golf driving range. Luckily we managed to escape without any organising duties in the lead-up to the day, just helping at the event!

It was the St Aidan’s Trivia Night the next night. The theme was TV shows and dressing up was obligatory. Our table decided to go as “My Kitchen Rules”. It was a fairly easy dress up. Everyone bought a cheap black cooking apron and I arranged iron-on transfers with the MKR logo. I was elected to go as the French Judge Manu and had to grow a beard. I had two weeks and had a fairly respectable growth on the night, although somewhat greyer than I had hoped! The event was great fun. There were three tables of “Mash” with Klingers in full drag, ER, Masterchef, Brady Bunch, Dr Who and many others. There were four rounds of questions and we were pretty pleased to come fifth overall. It was a fun evening but not exactly what we had anticipated doing on Valentine’s Day!

There was a BBC Parents & Friends’ Welcome Party on 26^th February. Katie was organising it as usual, but was planning to take more of a low-key role this year as it was her last time. I was organising the bar for her again but also took more of a back seat as we were transitioning out to the next years’ organisers. There had been a bit of a crisis in the BBC P&F over the preceding couple of months which is a long complicated story and space prohibits me telling all the details. However the outcome was that the P&F President fell on his sword and resigned two days before the party, therefore Katie ended up taking on his duties at the last minute and had to give the Welcome Speech. The event went very well. It was nice to actually chat to people rather than work behind the bar. We still got stuck with most of the cleaning up at the end though.

MARCH We went to the Hamilton House Church Service on 1^st March. Matthew was doing a reading and it was probably the last church service we would go to at BBC. It was the start of the year of “lasts” for Matthew. I really cannot believe he is in his last year of school. The next weekend it was the St Aidan’s Open Day on Saturday. It is a compulsory school day for Jessica. Naturally Katie was helping on the STAGE Dance Troupe Stall as she is the Support Group Secretary. I whizzed in for a short time to watch Jessica perform for all the potential parents and student.

The 14^th of March Matthew had a Volleyball match in Toowoomba so he drove us most of the way there. It was his longest drive so far and quite a lot of it was on the fast highway. The next week I was working late on a Tuesday night and was coming home just before midnight. I was almost home when I crested a small hill to find a large truck stopped in the middle of the road blocking two of three lanes.  I slowed down and drove around it. In front of the truck was a car crashed into a large sign in the middle of the roundabout. It appeared to be a single vehicle accident and the truck driver was out of his truck with two fire extinguishers trying to put out a small fire under the car. I did a quick illegal U-turn and parked off the side of the road and got out to see if I could help. As soon as I opened the car door, I could hear someone screaming inside the crashed car. As I ran across the road, the truck driver pulled out the driver from the burning car and dragged him up the footpath. Within seconds, the whole car was enveloped in flames. The police, fire brigade and ambulance showed up within minutes to take control of the situation but that driver was very very lucky not to die in the burning car. It was a burnt-out shell in less than five minutes. I was really shocked that it could be in flames so quickly.

It was Matthew’s last school Volleyball match on 21^st March at BBC. There was a terrific thunderstorm right in the middle of the match. It was so intense that the roof started to leak suddenly and the court had a puddle in a few places. Health and Safety decided it was too dangerous to keep playing and the game was abandoned half way through. Rather an unsatisfying finish for the boys in their last ever volleyball match for BBC. That evening was the end-of-season Volleyball BBQ. It was only $5 for a burger and a drink and it is the only thing that has actually gone down in price in the five years we’ve been attending BBC functions… it was $10 last year!  There were some brief speeches and presentations. We really like this event as it is so informal, and is mercifully short on boring speeches analysing every game of every team for the whole season like other sports sometimes do! Matthew was quite surprised and very pleased to receive the award for “Most Valuable Player” for his team. He got a competition volleyball as his prize.

On 27^th March we went to a Year 9 Cocktail Party at St Aidan’s. Katie was actually NOT organising this event so we went along and enjoyed ourselves without having to run the bar or clear up at the end. We know quite a few of Jessica’s friends parents so it was a lovely evening. It was on the roof of the school which had fantastic views of the city and it was a fine, warm and clear evening. The next day we spent an evening at my work colleagues’ house, Tom, who lives in our street. They invited us for drinks because they wanted our advice on travel to Japan. We had a nice chat and they are going to copy our Japan trip itinerary from the previous year.

On Sunday Katie and Jessica went to a High Tea fundraiser in the morning which drifted on into lunch. It was at the house of one of Matthew’s friends from St Aidan’s who is also in Jessica’s Stage dance troupe. Matthew and I went to pick them up at lunch time as Katie was still drinking champagne and we hoovered up leftovers.

Thankfully it was the end of another busy term and the Easter Holidays were next. These terms seem to fly by so quickly that we all need a break after each term, not just the kids.

That’s about all for now.

Cheers

Derek, Katie, Matthew, Jessica and Molly.

 

Sydney Botanical Gardens

Icebergs!

Bondi Beach

View from our apartment.

 

Matthew the Prefect.

 

My very itchy beard!

MRK Team England

 

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