Welcome Zachary Michael Hahn

22nd December 2013.  Baptism of our ninth grandchild, Zachary Michael Hahn.  Born 12th October 2013.

Welcome to the Clan

Old School Friends - Tangalooma

For the last three days we have had the pleasure of entertaining and catching up with one of Eileens school friends from way back in the 5th grade.   Terry and his wife Lorraine and three children Luke, Anna and Ellie are from England and are doing a lightning trip along the east coast of Australia and then off to New Zeland.

It is amazing just how much we take our local surroundings for granted and it is really quite difficult to know which of the so many lovely places that Brisbane and surrounds have to offer  to showcase to our visitors.

As we only had a few days Eileen and I decided that Tangalooma Resort being on our doorstep would be a logical place to show our visitors what our sand and beaches were like and then then next, Australia Zoo to view some of our native animals and finally a drive up the range to Montville for a lovely lunch and a look at some arts and crafts.

It proved to be a lovely sunny day and our first sighting of the resort was inspiring even though there were bush fires to the north and a lot of smoke was hanging around.   We decided to have lunch first followed by a short swim and an afternoon nap after which Luke, Anna, Ellie and I decided to go snorkeling of the wrecks - lots of fun, apart from hundreds of fish of all kinds we saw two sharks (harmless wobbygongs) and a sea turtle.  We came back exhausted (well I did)

Terry sleeping of lunch

We had to hang around till 6pm so that Lorraine and the kids could feed the Dolphins and while we waited we watched as the wild dolphins (all eight of them) came in from from the bay.   While we waited we saw several Sting Rays and watched the antics of the younger dolphins playing and catching fish.

So as the sun set in the West we boarded the flyer for the long journey home.

 

The next day we drove north to Australia Zoo for a leasurley stroll around the park to see the animals.   All this exercise, sun and fresh air was beginning to take its toll and we were all beginning to get just a little tired.

 

Hey!    Anna and Ellie, whatch out for those drop bears



Oh dear!

Pepper seems to be accident prone just like her mum, she has hurt her foot either jumping into the van or out of the car.... off to the vet this morning.

We have almost completed breaking camp and only have a few small jobs to do.  Need to visit a few people before leaving on Thursday morning at around 9am after the traffic dies down.

On Holiday at last.....

After a huge week at work with people away sick or on leave and a 40 footer and two 20 footer containers full of small items arriving, there was so little time to get everything done, and before I knew it Friday afternoon had come and our holiday had begun.  Woo hoo.....

This is Eileen and my first paid holiday in twenty years.

We now have a few days to break camp and do a couple of small jobs around the home before we set of on our trip.  Getting quite excited.

Bonsai

When Eileen and I decided to sell up and travel, the most difficult decision that I had to make was to sell off my Bonsai collection of over 150 trees.   I was able to rationalise this by taking a couple of my little starters with us.

I took a small sem-cascade Fig and a small formal upright Fig and this little Sao-to-me Azalea.   When we arrived at our first camp site, I was devistated to find that something had fallen on this little one and broken the apex.

With lots of time on my side, I created a new leader in order to form a new apex and am happy to report that this one is well on its way to becomming a fine bonsai.

This spring I will repot and change the potted angle a little and expose a bit more of the nice root structure

Bath Time

Mum and Dad don't like me to get doggy smelly, so every week they take me for a nice bath at the shops.

I love my bath time.......

Three weeks to our trip

Starting to get excited now. We have purchased the Annex and Port Room and have done most of the little jobs around the van that we wanted to do. We are especially happy with the new vaccume toilet, it has made life so much easier than the dump trolly.

Unfortunately Brian and Shirley can not join us this trip as Shirlies hip is giving her a lot of gip and sitting in a seat for hours at a time is just going to be too painfull.

Poor Peppers Painful Paws

I tore one of my toenails jumping up into the van the other day and Mum and Dad had to take me to the Vet and have it removed.

They decided to have my dew claws removed while I was under the anesthetic.

Daddy might not get scratched so much now when we have a play together.

I was very sore for a few days till I got my stitches out, but I was a good girl and got lots of sympathy from everyone who saw my new socks - they said that I looked cute.

A Big Week For Us

This past week has been full on with a lot of excitement and a little worry:-

We drove to Brisbane on the Thursday so that Eileen could have her heart check up ( apart from the cholesterol count) which went ok but has to be monitored and then to the Dentist to have a broken tooth repaired.

We called in on Hector and Rondell for smoko and a chat and a look at the bonsai (looking good). It was nice to catch up even though time was short and came home with a pile of books to keep us busy for quite some time.

We knew that Dad had to have another operation on his hip to repair the damaged joint and given his last experience we had some concerns as to the outcome, but are happy to report that Dad appears to have come out of this one in much better condition and is standing straighter and I'm sure that with a bit of exercise he will be in much less pain and be more able to get about.

Anthony had an emergency appendectomy at the Mater Hospital and had some complications but is home now and although in some pain, and with a drain still attached, he is recovering well.

We had three lovely days with our old neighbours and good friends Geoff and Pauline and Pepper sure enjoyed their company and being off the leash for the period. Geoff and I went to the Broncos v St George and it was great to see their support on home soil and even better to see them beat the Dragons..... Wayne who????



Bradley stayed with us for a few days and we all enjoyed a walk along the beach at Fingal.

Welcome to our family Muhammad Sideeq Mutijima Chown

Salaam aliekum, Muhammad Sideeq Mutijima Chown, our sixth grandchild born 9.00pm on the 16th September 2009

He looks just like his Mum and cute as a button.

A day at the beach for Pepper…..

Wanting a quiet day, we decided to take Pepper for a run along the beach at Fingal, she loves it here and it really gives her a work out.

This has to one of the nicest beaches down this way, quite long and not crowded at all with the added benefit of dogs being allowed off leash.

Today Pepper met George and they had a short tussle together
in passing

There were a pod of Dolphins just off shore having a rollicking good time.

Then it was back to the pet shop to give Pepper a bath to get the salt and sand off her and make her smell all nice again.

Daily walks

Thanks to Peppers demands, Eileen and I have made a habit of early morning and late afternoon walks. When you take the time to enjoy these moments, it is amazing to see and witness the beauty that surrounds us.

The Bird life around the lake is quite varied and we have decided to attempt to log the different species that we see and to photograph if possible.

Family Visit on 2nd July 2009

It was great to have Alexandra, Dylan, Lela and Aminah visit us for lunch and a look around. We went for a short walk through the mangroves and along the boardwalk.

A very relaxing and plesant day with family - long overdue.

Lots of things to catch up on and look forward to Christmas hollidays when they can come and stay for a few days.

Fishing for fun

Bradley and I wet a line and caught a couple but Eileen made us let them go.

Bradley, Pepper and Grandmar.

Bradley came for a visit and stayed three nights, I hope that he enjoyed his stay as much as we enjoyed his company..... Grandmar can't wait till the Christmas holiday's.... hint hint.

When a Van is a Home......

Eileen has almost finally converted the van into our home and I have to say that it is nice to have some of the memories around.

It is surprising just how comfortable such a confined area can be when it is just the two of us and we are both happy that we chose this lay out with the slide out and head height. The recliners are very comfortable and I find that I can sleep in them just as easily as I did at home.

The table not being in a fixed position allows us to push it up against the front wall while we only need the use of two chairs. We will move it back when we entertain guests...... hint hint.


While the absence of an oven was originally a concern to Eileen, we have found that between the webber BBQ and the Cookwell that we have purchased, we may well save the $800 required to install one.

The Kitchen is fairly well layed out and the fridge is more than adequate for our needs, I have made a couple of moderations to two of the cupboards to give us a little more useable space.

The front loader washing machine is located under the sink next to the entry door and I fear that I may have to do some modifications to the plumbing as it is fitted into the galley gray tank and we occasionally get a bit of odour from the vent.

The Dining and Entertaining area could not be better and there is ample storage for those things that we seem to need like, DVD's, Books, Cameras, Alcohol and Puppies toys and tid bits.

We had a little difficulty with the DVD player and to their credit PlayMore sent us another DVD player which I had wired in to the back of the Jensen and we have since found that we can play some DVD's on the old one (different regions).

The Jensen has speakers outside in the Annexe area so we can listen to music while relaxing in the cool in the evenings.

In The Beginning......

It is not easy to explain exactly why Eileen and I have taken the path that we now travel, suffice to say that it was a combination of the effects of the World Financial Crisis, job dissatisfaction, high debit levels, health issues, getting older and not having had a great deal of time for 'us'.

It was Eileen who first planted the seed and it took me some time to understand that I was somehow trapped on this invisible tredmill of going to work to pay for all of those 'things' that we now find are mostely superficial and can be easily done without.

Having devoted much of my (and Eileens) time to 'The Business', it was a shock to finally realise that we had only had two actual hollidays over the last 18 years, both at Tangalooma and both thoroughly enjoyed with many promises to each other to 'do this again soon'.

We realise that we are not getting any younger (or healthier) and it did not take long, once we were on the same page, to realise that it was time for us to get out from behind the pressures that we had placed ourselves and have a look at a bit of the Big Paddock that is Australia.

Once we had made the decision to take this route, it was surprising just how quickly things eventuated. We placed the home on the market and sold it at the first open house, we sold (or gave away) all of the 'posessions' that we had accumulated throughout our lives, we closed the business down, cancelled all of our accounts (Phone, Power, Rates, Security, Internet) and paid out all of our debits and then went to the Brisbane Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show and purchased our new residence - a 24' Play More Drifter fifth wheel van with slide out in the living room and a Holden Rodeo Crew Cab 4x4 to tow it with.

My Birthday 2007

Eileen and I took Mum and Dad over to Tangalooma for Christmas and all of our children and their partners with our grandchildren came over on the Flyer for my birthday for the day.

We had a wonderful day with lots of great memories.

Cathy, Harrison, Kaleb and Noah waiting at the terminal for the Tangalooma Flyer

Mum and Dad on the balcony

Dylan having a contemplative moment

The boys on the beach

692 Squadron

50 years on and although Dad doesn't talk about his time in WW2 much, I can't help admiring the courage of the young aviators many of them under twentyone who did service.

This is a photo of Dads operational plane which he flew with his pilot Jonny Carrington

Memories of teenage years

I saw this photograph and instant memories of Graeme Enright, Jonny Orr and myself doing circuits around the City on Friday and Saturday nights in the mid 60's when we were 17.  

I especially rember New Years Eve 1966.