Term 3 - O'Reilly's

 Letter No. 228

Dear all,

12 July 2015. We had an informal dinner at home for Katie’s birthday. There were 14 adults and about 16 kids for an Indian Banquet by the pool. It was the middle of winter and unfortunately there was a cold front coming up from Antarctica so it was cold (for Queensland). We had a fire and a patio heater to keep everyone warm, along with plenty of red wine. The girls had arranged a surprise birthday cake for Katie for dessert with little figurines of the Queen & Prince Charles on top. It was a fun evening. Katie has been telling everyone here that it was her 49^th birthday but I think a few of them guessed the truth.

BACK TO SCHOOL for Term 3. On the 18^th July Matthew went to the St Aidan’s Semi-Formal with his friend Candice. Candice is a Chinese exchange student who is on a homestay program with one of Matt’s other friends Siobhan. We all went to their house for drinks first. We are good friends with her parents as well and frequently play tennis together on Sunday afternoons, and Matt practices his Chinese on Candice. We stayed for a few drinks and the kids went off to the semi-formal and we went for dinner at a local Indonesian restaurant with some of the other parents. Matt had a great time but he had a cold so he rang about midnight asking me to pick him up.

Meanwhile Jessica was at Suncorp Stadium singing the national anthem with Australian Girls’ Choir at the Rugby – it was South Africa vs Australia. We watched it on TV afterwards but once again the coverage showed the players being interviewed and not the girls singing. Talk about wrong priorities. 

On 20^th July Mum and Dad came down to Brisbane and took Katie and I out for lunch at Gambaro’s to celebrate Katie’s birthday. Gambaro’s is a very posh seafood restaurant in Caxton Street and we all had a lovely lunch. Afterwards Katie and Mum and Dad went back to our house but unfortunately I had to go back to work.

The next day Katie and I went to St Aidan’s for the Academic Awards Assembly. Jessica was one of eight girls in her grade who received an Academic award. The year coordinator told us later she had actually been the third in the grade of over 100 girls.  A few days later we went to the St Aidan’s Twilight Fair and MADD Night (Music, Arts, Dance & Drama). Jessie was dancing with the school dance troupe (Stage) which was performing two dances and was also selling home-made candles in the Twilight Fair. Unfortunately the whole event is organised by the school seniors who did not advertise it to the school community very well. Last year there were around 60 stalls at the fair and lots of customers. This year there were only eight stalls and almost no customers. Jessica still managed to sell over $200 worth of her candles and did the best out of all the stalls there. One of Jessica’s friends only made $4 in sales (she sold something to Jessica) and the stall fee was $10!

Matthew was on the BBC Music Camp that weekend. He is in three bands this year – Symphonic Band, Brass Band and the BBC Orchestra – so he has four hours of band rehearsals a week not even including his own lessons and practice. It is a big commitment. On the Sunday morning we went to Matt’s band camp closing performance and then I took Matt straight to QUT (Queensland University of Technology) Open Day. We went to see all the law facilities and the details of scholarships on offer.  

The next day, Monday 27^th July Jessica started her week long School Camp. It was mainly hiking and activities but as she is doing the Duke of Edinburgh award her group had a slightly tougher camp planned. It actually turned out to be very hard. Their instructors were quite unhelpful (as the girls were supposed to work it out themselves) and they got lost quite a few times. They ended up doing more hiking than any other group and missed most of the fun activities as they got into the camps too late. Jess didn’t really have a fun time but we encouraged her to look at it as an opportunity for personal growth. She didn’t really see the humour in this!

On Wednesday 29^th Cathy Muir and kids came to visit. Ian had used all his annual leave so could not come to Australia this year. They arrived quite a bit later than expected as someone ploughed in to the back of their car (actually Carmen’s car) on the way to our house and caved the boot almost totally in! We all went down to a new Greek restaurant that has opened in Graceville and had a nice evening. It was good to catch up and find out all the Hong Kong gossip.

August 2015   Matthew and I went to the University of Queensland Open Day on 2^nd August. However in the morning I helped Mum and Dad set up their exhibition at the Animal Nursery for the Royal Brisbane Exhibition (aka the Ekka). They show their Damara sheep and Mum stays at the show for the whole 10 days. I helped with most of the heavy lifting before I had to go but Mum found it fairly hard work this year so they have decided it is the last year they will do it. I then met Matthew at the University. We went to the Law, Arts sessions and the scholarship sessions as that’s what Matthew is interested in doing. UQ has been reducing its Law intake over the last few years. It was 450 per year a few years ago and now they only take about 220 students per year. Consequently it is much harder to get in. Matthew will need to get an OP1 or OP2 (top 4% of the state) to get in so we have some fall back options just in case.

I had a busy day on Friday 7 August.  I was invited to the BBC Old Collegians Long lunch. The Business Development Director invited me as I have been giving BBC free advice on some structural issues at the school. The lunch started at midday and was just a short walk from my office. It was a very boozy lunch. Unfortunately I had to get a fee proposal out that afternoon before 5pm. Others were helping pull it together but I had to get back to the office to issue it. I screamed in at 4:58pm and managed to compose a brief covering email and press “send” in two minutes. It was a very good lunch with great speakers and later I heard that it finished at 3am!

We went to the Ekka on the Sun 9 August. Matthew announced half an hour before we were to leave that he had too much homework and would come later and, as soon as we arrived, Jessica baled on us to find some of her friends so Katie and I were left to wander around by ourselves. Not quite how we had intended it but it was a nice change. We all met up later to have dinner and watch the evening show and spectacular fireworks in the main ring.

We went to a tennis party at our friends the Suggs on 12^th August. It was the first time they had got their grass court in order to play on. They still hadn’t got the big roller out though so there were quite a few lumps and bumps on the court which made for interesting games with erratic ball bounces. We all had fun though and then had pulled pork and salad for dinner afterwards, which was yummy.

On 14^th August I went to Melbourne for the weekend for a conference. I flew down on Friday afternoon. It was a bit weird having a whole weekend in Melbourne by myself. The conference went all day both Saturday and Sunday but I had a nice time wandering along the Yarra and all the nice restaurants each evening. I didn’t arrive home until late Sunday evening.

There were lots of school functions in August. Jessica went to the St Aidan’s School Dance on the 22^nd followed by an Australian Girls’ Choir concert on the 23^rd. Matthew had the BBC Music Showcase on the 21^st with one of his bands and the Grand Concert on the 28^th with the other two. All of the kids’ concerts were fantastic; it is really astounding how professional the performance standards are.

Matt was quite poorly with bronchitis for about a fortnight and nearly didn’t make it to the music concerts at all. It was a worry, as he was on the brink of his major exam block and was determined not to miss anything. Fortunately he made it to everything, with Katie driving him in and out for exams and rehearsals. He said afterwards that the Grand Concert was one of the highlights of his time at BBC.

On 30^th August we all did the Bridge to Brisbane 5km run. I had a hamstring injury and was quite worried that Matthew might beat me this year despite his lingering cough and total lack of training. We arrived about 8:30am and the race started at 9:00am. I managed to hold Matthew off until the 3km mark. I saw him in the crowd and was not sure he had seen me so I tried to hide from him and put on a burst of speed. Unfortunately I couldn’t maintain the pace and I ran close behind him for another kilometre of so before he started to slowly pull away.  He beat me by about a minute. Katie came in only a shortly after me and Jessica about 3 minutes later. So we can still beat Jessie, for now at least, but I guess it won’t be long before Katie and I are fighting it out for last place. Darn kids!

The following week was Matt’s Queensland Core Skills Test which is a very intense set of exams over two long days. This was followed by his major exam block plus the 40-hour famine which he has done every year for the last four years. Matt still wasn’t 100% so Katie went into overdrive with vitamins, immunity boost tablets, favourite dinners and driving him around everywhere and he got through it.

September 2015   It was the BBC Fashion Parade on 11^th September. It was the first year that Katie wasn’t running the event and could have a relaxed time with her friends. There were 380 ladies at the event which sold out in about 20 minutes when the tickets went on sale. Katie spent the previous day having her nails and hair done and enjoyed herself at the event enormously. In past years I have gone at 6pm for dinner with Katie and the die-hards, but this year I had to pick Matt up from something so Katie stayed by herself and caught a taxi home. I quite enjoy going and seeing all the Mums falling out of the bar so it was a shame to miss that.

We went for Sundowners drinks at our friends Tony and Wings Malins on 13^th September. They live on the river in Graceville and he had drinks and nibbles around a bonfire on the riverbank. Quite a few people took their dogs and many of them went into the river and came out very muddy. They were a bit of a hazard. It was a very pleasant evening.

It was Jessie’s birthday party on Friday 18^th September, which was the last day of term. Her 14^th birthday was actually on 7 September but we had waited until the holidays for her party. She had 14 girls for a swimming party with henna. They all had a nice evening and we just supplied food and kept out of the way. We had booked a nice Indian lady to do henna on their hands while they watched a movie. The girls were thrilled with their henna. It lasts for about 2 weeks and isn’t allowed at school, which is why we couldn’t do it in term time. The girls were all picked up around 10pm which made it a lot easier. There seemed to be an explosion of M&Ms during the evening in the studio, around the pool and the downstairs table though as we were finding them for weeks afterwards.

The next day we were heading off to O’Reilly’s in Lamington National Park. We were there with five other families for three nights. We went with five other families for three nights. We had booked three villas so we put all the boys in one villa and the parents and girls in the other two. It was fantastic as we barely saw the kids all weekend! The villas were lovely. They were all on stilts with one side of the house on the ground and the other on stilts up to 15m tall, the mountain was so steep! Every villa had a lovely veranda with a Jacuzzi overlooking the valley. It was a fabulous view over the rainforest. We spent the afternoon unpacking, having drinks on the verandah watching the sun go down and feeding the parrots.

On the first day we had a slowish start and did a 6km hike to Moran Falls and had a late lunch. We then had a two-hour session on a flying fox. It was really great. You needed to wear a full harness and the flying fox was about 500m long and about 50m in the air over a creek. It was a long walk up the hill and a very fast ride down. We got about five goes each. It was really great. We did our cooking in the main apartment; one night was a barbeque with salads and the other was a curry night.

The next day we all did varying lengths of walks. The shortest about 3km, then 8km and the longest 16km. We all started together and peeled off depending on how energetic we felt. Most of the kids did 8km but five of us did the 16km walk. It took about 5½ hours and went up and down about 450m in elevation. We were quite knackered when we made it back. I kicked the kids out of the Jacuzzi and slumped in it until I recovered. That night we went for dinner at the restaurant rather than eating in. The next morning we packed the cars and went on a rainforest canopy walk. It was only about 1km of boardwalk through the rainforest and then up into suspended rope bridges about 40m high in the tree tops. There was one tree where you could climb a ladder up to a platform right at the top. Only three people could go up at one time and the platform was very small, very high and very scary! When we got back to the reception to check out there were lots of police walking around and I joked that they must have found a body. When we got home, Matthew checked the internet and discovered that a body had been found in fact, on the Moran Falls hike we had done on the first day only about an hour after we had gone through! It was an apparent suicide. Very sad. A great holiday for us though.

That’s all for this letter.

Cheers,

Derek, Katie, Jessica, Molly and Matthew.

Jessica's Academic award ceremony.

Katie's Birthday.

Matthew and Candice go to the Semi-formal.

On the wheel of Brisbane.

Jessica's Birthday.

Hollow tree at O'Reilly's

Flying fox.

Hiking in the Rainforest.

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.