Sunday, 16 August, 2015

What a very busy week!  Since we were in Sydney this week, I spent a lot of time with my cousins and their families.

 Dad, on the other hand, had to get up at 5am everyday so that he could get to the airport for 6am - that's when the airplane was available each day.  Niles, the instructor, showed the group locations of important equipment on the airplane.  He also guided the class through how to run tests and troubleshoot faults on the airplane.  Niles showed the guys how to operate the various systems in the cockpit of the 777 airplane.  Harry, Dad's boss, flew down on Wednesday so that he could instruct the group on Thursday on the avionics (electronic) systems of the airplane.

On Monday, after Dad's work, we took the train downtown to meet up with a person who was leading a walking tour of the area focusing on the history of Australia/Sydney.  The tour guide, Justine, started up this company called "I'm Free Tours" with her partner about 6 years ago.  There is no set price for the tour - you pay what you think the tour was worth at the end of the tour.  The tour was 2 1/2 hours long and it was really well done.  We learned a lot of history of the area and also little tidbits about Sydney at the present time.  We decided that Justine did a great job and so we gave her $40. at the end of the tour.

Before we went on the walking tour, we went inside the Town Hall to hear part of an organ recital by a woman named Amy Johansen - she is a University of Sydney organist and carillonist - it was an enjoyable concert and the organ was impressive

Justine, our tour guide on the walking tour of Sydney

St. Andrew's Cathedral

Town Hall

statue of Queen Victoria

Town Hall

Queen Victoria Building

The Talking Dog -  a statue of Queen Victoria's favourite pet, a Skye Terrier named 'Islay'

St. Mary's Cathedral

Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park

Sydney Tower

St James Church - oldest church building in Sydney

Hyde Park Barracks

Il Porcellino - statue of a wild boar - people rub his nose, make a wish, and drop a coin in his basket.  This is supposed to bring you good luck - the money goes to the Sydney Hospital

Australian coat of arms (kangaroo and emu) on the Sydney General Post Office

Sydney Cenotaph - one of the oldest World War I monuments in central Sydney

Forgotten Songs commemorates the songs of fifty birds once heard in central Sydney, before they were gradually forced out by European settlement. The calls, which filter down from the canopy of birdcages suspended above Angel Place, change as day shifts to night; the daytime birds’ songs disappearing with the sun, and those of the nocturnal birds, which inhabited the area, sounding into the evening.

Cool building I saw along the way

Dad sitting with bronze statue by artist John Seward Johnson II - called 'Waiting' - he created a variety of statues which are actually castings of living people of all ages depicting people engaged in day-to-day activities.

Sirius anchor and Sirius cannon - the wrought iron anchor and bronze cannon belonged to the H.M.S. Sirius, flagship of the First Fleet which arrived at Port Jackson in 1788.

Bonds of Friendship sculpture - represents two links in a chain and there is a companion sculpture in Portsmouth, England, from where the First Fleet sailed to Australia and represents the bond between England and Australia

In the Customs House - the ground floor of the building houses a 4.2m x 9.5m scale model of Sydney's city centre viewed through a glass floor

Customs House

Cadman's Cottage is the oldest surviving residential building in Sydney - it is from the first 30 years of the colony of Australia

old buildings in 'The Rocks' area of Sydney - The Rocks became established shortly after the colony's formation in 1788. The original buildings were made mostly of local sandstone, from which the area derives its name. From the earliest history of the settlement, the area had a reputation as a slum, often frequented by visiting sailors and prostitutes

another view of old buildings in 'The Rocks'

Me with the Sydney Opera House in the distance

Dad with the Sydney Opera House in the distance

Dad with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the distance

Me with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the distance

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

On Tuesday, I met up with Rosie, her daughter, Becky and Becky's son, Liam (4).  We had our usual stop at the coffee place (another iced chocolate for me) and then we walked around the downtown area for a bit and then stopped for lunch.  It was nice being able to get together with them and hang out with them for the day.

Becky and Liam

Me with my iced chocolate and Rosie with her cappuccino and passionfruit muffin

Me standing beside a sign which mentions Wagga Wagga

On Wednesday, Dad and I took the train downtown again - this time, it was to take a guided tour of the Royal Botanic Gardens.  We almost had a private tour, but at the last minute, a young German girl joined us.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and we really enjoyed walking around the gardens.

 interesting tree in the Botanic Gardens

 view of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge from the Gardens

 Me sitting on 'Mrs. Macquarie's Chair - it is a sandstone rock cut into the shape of a bench overlooking the Sydney harbour.  It was hand carved by convicts in 1810 for Governor Macquarie's wife.

 Dad in the Royal Botanic Gardens

 Me in the Royal Botanic Gardens

 Me listening to our guide, Steve, as he told us about the trees and plants in the Gardens

 Interesting tree in the Gardens whose branches were entwined with a second tree

 The Wollemi Pine tree - one of the world's oldest and rarest trees - it was discovered only ten years ago by a bushwalker in a national park in Australia - very few people know the whereabouts of the find to help conserve this endangered species

another pretty tree in the Gardens

another pretty tree in the Gardens

Tree with the roots growing down toward the ground from above

That evening, we met up with Niles and a couple of his friends who he worked with at Cathay Pacific a number of years ago.  He treated Dad and me to dinner to say thanks for me cooking so many dinners for him in Melbourne.  We went to a restaurant called 'Hurricanes' where we had an amazing meal of pork ribs - yummmmm!  Niles' friends, Leoni and Sally, were super nice and so fun to hang out with.

Me and Dad with our yummy fruit mocktails

Dad and I shared a pork ribs meal - this was my half of the ribs - they were amazing!

Sally, me and Dad (in the back) and Leoni and Niles in the front

Dad and I shared a dessert - a caramel cheesecake that was so delicious!

On Thursday, I met up with Rosie at her place and we worked on our family history.  Rosie is really into it and is really good at finding information.  She has been imparting her knowledge to me and together we have found so much info about our ancestors.  I love it when we find a name or date or other information we have been looking for.  We also got some photos printed of some of our ancestors which Auntie Norma had at her place.  It's so neat to be able to put a face to the names we are researching.

my mandatory iced chocolate when I am out with Rosie and she needs her coffee :-)

On Friday, Dad and I took the train to Rosie's again and went out for dinner to a restaurant called 'The Brewery'.  Rosie's daughter, Lauren, joined us along with Cheryl and her daughter, Nicki.  We had a great time chatting for a couple of hours - it's always neat to get together with my cousins and their families - we get along so well.

Dad and I went out for lunch before meeting up with Rosie - the cafe is called 'Patchett's Pies' and was right across the road from our hotel - I got a beef pie with mashed potatoes and mushy peas (yum!) - naturally I added ketchup to it :-)

Dad and I shared a pavlova for dessert - this was not even half of it!

L to R: Lauren, Nicki, Cheryl, Rosie, me, Dad

Yesterday, we flew home from Sydney and, because it was the weekend, we got to fly direct to Hervey Bay.  It was so nice to be home - we enjoy travelling around Australia, but it really is nice to get home as well.

Today, we were welcomed back to our ward (from the pulpit even) and it was great to see everyone again.  I love how much they miss us when we get back from wherever we have been. :-)

Sunday, 9 August, 2015

It seems like I could just write 'see the past two weeks' for this week's blog from Monday to Friday.  Dad did the classroom component to the practical part of the course this week.  He likes this part of the course as it's more about discussing faults they might find with the airplane and how they would go about problem solving and repairing them.  Also, there are no exams for this part of the course, so he was able to give his brain a break. :)

I continued on with my piano lessons, Auslan lessons, scripture lessons and reading.  I am pleased with how I am doing with my piano lessons - I am now able to read the musical notes in the bass clef without having to transpose the notes from the treble clef.  I am also able to retain a lot of what I am learning in my sign language lessons.  I learned numbers and colours this week.

On Saturday, Dad and I went geocaching.  We went back to three of the ones which we couldn't get last week since they were all two-step geocaches and we didn't know how to enter a co-ordinate directly into the gps.  Dad figured out this week how to do that so we were able to successfully find these geocaches.  Dad and I are becoming better at figuring out exactly where the geocaches are once we have found the general area of the geocaches; for instance, this week, we found one under a rock, another under a rock which was under a bush and the third which was in a tree.  All three items were a natural part of their environment and it was cool being able to figure out where the geocaches were.

 view from the first geocache

 we found the first geocache under a rock in the middle of a clump of trees

 we found the second geocache under a rock which was under a large bush beside a creek

 the third geocache was found in a tree - the branch was not part of this tree, but had been placed to make it seem like it was from that tree

the person who made this geocache drilled a hole in the bottom of a branch which was just big enough to place a rolled up piece of paper in (every time you find a geocache, you write the date and your names in it to show when you found it)

Today, we flew to Sydney.  Dad's course was supposed to be totally in Melbourne, but they couldn't get access to a 777 airplane in Melbourne this week and they were able to get access to one in Sydney.  We are staying at a posh hotel near the airport where Dad will be completing the hands-on part of his course this coming week.

Sunday, 2 August, 2015

Dad's course was very full-on this week.  His boss, Harry, taught the course this week as it was the avionics (electronics) part of the course.  Dad was super busy trying to take it all in - it was quite brain draining for him and he was very glad to be done on Friday and for the exam to be done (which he passed with 100%).  It was a good week for me to be away in Wagga.

I had a very nice week (Sunday to Friday) spending time with Auntie Norma and Uncle Les.  When I had called Auntie Norma about coming, I told her that I would do all the cooking and cleaning while I was staying with them so they would not be put out at all.  However, when I got there, it turned out not to be so simple.  Auntie Norma is a very independent (and stubborn :-) woman and it wasn't as easy as I thought to be able to take over.  Uncle Les likes his routine and so he preferred to do the dishes chore on his own after every meal - I was able to do the dishes once and make only one supper meal during the time I was there.  My cousin, Rosie, and I were able to take Auntie Norma out to lunch twice, but Uncle Les didn't join us as he doesn't like eating out.  He has his daily routine and doesn't like it changed.

Me with Auntie Norma and Uncle Les (Chalmers)

Me and my cousin, Beth Chalmers (Auntie Norma and Uncle Les' daughter)

It was interesting learning about Auntie Norma's growing up years in and around Wagga.  I also asked her some questions about Poppy when they were growing up - he really was a naughty boy! :-)  I also found out the last name of Poppy's best boyhood friend and so I am looking forward to being able to contact him to see if he will share some of his memories of his time with Poppy.  I am looking forward to talking with Nana when I get to Canada and to be able to write both her and Poppy's life histories.

Auntie Norma (Chalmers), Poppy, Auntie Jean (Duncan/Ronne) as children

My cousin, Rosie, and I spent a lot of time this week working on gathering information for our family history.  We were able to get some pictures and written information about our ancestors which we scanned and/or copied.  We were hoping to get some more certificates, etc. which Auntie Norma has, but that was in her garage which is, at the moment, chock full of stuff and Rosie and I were not able to get into it to search for what we were looking for.  Auntie Norma's daughter, Cherylyn, is coming down to their place in September to go through the garage and clear it out, so I am hopeful that the next time I go to Wagga, I will be able to get copies of some important documents relating to my ancestors.

My great grandparents, Harriet and Ernest Dunkley and their children (my grandpa, Ivan Dunkley, is on the right in the back row)

Rosie and I spent some time at the Wagga cemetery trying to find out where our ancestors were buried.  Some of them have been buried without headstones or markers and so we had to find out where they were buried based on where others' were who did have a headstone.  The people in the office at the cemetery were helpful in giving us a photocopy of where our relatives were buried in relation to others in the cemetery.  Rosie wants to get a plaque of some kind to mark where our Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Glennie are buried (they are my Grandma Dunkley's parents) and also where Poppy's brother, Ian, is buried (Ian only lived two days and died due to a heart problem).

area where my great grandparents, Peter and Sophia Glennie, are buried in the Wagga Monumental Cemetery

Poppy's plaque by the 'Serenity Pool' at the Wagga Lawn Cemetery

A wonderful story about finding where Ian was buried.  First, you know that I don't believe in co-incidences.........So, Rosie and I went to the cemetery to see if they had a record of where Ian was buried, which they didn't.  Rosie had a newspaper article stating that Ian had been buried in the Salvation Army area of the Wagga Monumental Cemetery and had been interred there by a funeral home in Wagga. So, next we went to the Salvation Army church to see if they had any record of Ian's funeral.  We talked with two people in the know there, but both told us that the book containing that information was missing.  We were given a book which had a lot of information about other relatives and their service in the church, their marriages and deaths.  So, although it wasn't productive regarding the information we were looking for re: Ian, it did give us some other information which was very useful.  Next, we went to the funeral home where we talked with a girl named Ebony.  We told her our story and she told us that she had 'just happened' to work at the cemetery before coming to work at the funeral home three months previously.  She told us that not all of the information has been inputted into the cemetery database and told us exactly where to tell the cemetery workers to look to get that information.  We felt so blessed to have been able to talk with Ebony as it led us to be able to find out where Ian was buried and we wouldn't have been able to find that out without meeting Ebony. A little story about our 'discussion' with the cemetery workers when we went back there to tell them what Ebony had said. When we told them what Ebony had said, they assured us that all the info had been inputted into the computer system (guaranteed, they said).  We kept telling them where Ebony had said the info would be found and they kept insisting that everything was on their computer.  We persisted and they finally took down the Salvation Army record book and, lo and behold, there was the information we needed. Rosie and I had a good venting with each other after we left the cemetery although we were as sweet as pie while we were talking with the workers. We took lots of photos of where our relatives were buried and felt good at what we were able to accomplish.

It's hard to see, but Rosie and I took two twigs and placed them in front of the bench marking the place where Ian Dunkley (aged 2 days), Poppy's brother, is buried

The weather in Wagga was so cold and I don't remember it being that cold there when I was a kid.  Auntie Norma says it was cold then, but kids just don't seem to feel it like adults do.  I was very glad that Auntie Norma had a heating blanket on my bed - they go to bed very early and so I ended up doing the same each night and snuggling down under the covers and enjoying the heat of the blanket.  I have to say that I am very glad that Dad said that he didn't want to live in Wagga when we moved to Australia! :-)

3 Killara Avenue, Wagga Wagga - the house where I grew up in - although there was no brick on the house then, nor the fence

As nice as it was to catch up with my relatives in Wagga, it was nice to get back to Melbourne with Dad.  As usual, he had trouble sleeping while I was away (he always does) and so he was glad to have me back, too. :-)  We had hoped to go out geocaching yesterday, but the weather was not co-operating - rain, rain and more rain.  So, it was a bit of a stay-at-home day after we did some grocery shopping.

Today, after Sacrament, we went to have lunch with some friends who live southeast of Melbourne.  Wendy and Norm Keilar lived in Wagga for a few months back in the 60s and Wendy and Nana became friends first and then all four of them became friends.  Nana has kept in touch with Wendy all these years and Dad and I became friends with them as well.  They invited us for a lovely roast chicken dinner with pavlova for dessert - how could we resist? :-)  Wendy always puts on a great spread - besides the chicken and dressing, she also cooked up roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, beans, peas and a tomato/onion with bread crumbs dish.  The pavlova topping was very unusual and one I had never seen before.  Wendy made the meringue base, topped that with whipped cream and then topped that with a crushed chocolate bar called 'Peppermint Crisp' - it's a green mint chocolate bar - it was a nice pavlova (Wendy cut me TWO slices), but I still prefer my fruit topped pav. :-)  Wendy and Norm invited their daughter, Marjorie, and her husband, Peter, over as well and we enjoyed a lovely visit with all of them.  They have asked us to come back again next time we visit Melbourne and to stay overnight when we do - we will look forward to that.

 delicious pavlova made by Wendy

Back row: Peter, Marjorie, Me.....................Front row: Norm and Wendy Keilar