Sunday, 13 December, 2015

We booked a cruise - woo hoo!!!  We are so looking forward to it!  We have been looking at cruises for quite a while now - it's been almost four years since we have been on a cruise and we've really been missing it.  I was looking online and found a 13 day cruise to some islands east of Australia (Vanuatu and New Caledonia) for an amazing price!  AND, we are going to get a balcony cabin - we have never had a balcony cabin before and we are looking forward to seeing how different it makes things for us.  There's not much to do in the places we are going to that we haven't done before, but we are not really going on this cruise to see anything, but rather to just relax and have everything done for us.

On Wednesday, I went to a knitting club held at a library near the unit.  I had read in a pamphlet from our local library here that a knitting club was being held weekly at another library and that they made items for charity.  I thought it would be great to go along and find out two things: how to sew up a knitted item (I have so many knitted things completed except for the sewing up) and also what they make for charity and who they give the items to.  The leader of the group is a woman who works for the library and there were four women there besides me.  The leader showed me how to sew up a toque I had previously knitted and I finished up that one and another one which I left with her.  The charity they knit for is a local homeless shelter.  She said that they will take any knitted item - she had some donated wool there and so I took some to make a scarf.  I told her that I would work on some other items as well and bring them back to her when we are back in Melbourne again next year

Dad's course finished on Friday and he was glad to be finished it.  It was a very jam-packed course and the days were quite long.  He had 12 students on the course and they had varying levels of experience, so it was a challenge to teach such a varied group of guys.  They did all pass, though, so that was a good thing.  As usual, Dad received very favourable reviews from the mechanics in relation to his teaching ability and knowledge.

The weather was so nice this weekend and so Dad and I got out in the fresh air and went geocaching both Saturday and Sunday.  We looked for 12 geocaches over the two days and were able to locate 11 of them - we are pretty sure that the one we couldn't find wasn't actually there as there had been some construction changes in the area which we think might have disturbed the cache.  Dad sent a note to the owner of the cache and we'll see what he/she says.  We have found 73 geocaches so far and every time we go out looking for them, we have a great time - we enjoy being outside and it's a fun way to get exercise, as well.

 Look who came to greet us at our first cache of the day

 Dad 'talking' with the goats

 Isn't he/she adorable?

 What a great cache location - we had to lift up the metal number plate on the pole which looked like it actually belonged on the pole - they had drilled a hole in the pole and then covered it with the metal plate - one of our favourites, for sure

 Close-up view of the hole in the pole with the container inside the hole

  Two of many kangaroos we saw on the way to the final cache on Saturday - the male on the left was absolutely HUGE!

What a great action shot Dad got!

 More kangaroos in the field

 The cache was in the middle of a hollow log - when I bent down to look into the log, I was surprised to see a small goanna sunning itself - it was very well camouflaged - can you see it?

 Here's a closer look

 Can you see the cache inside the hollow log with the goanna guarding it?

 See the pine cone?  It was hanging on a branch of the tree and it looked kind of out of place to me - I asked Dad to check it and it was a fake - someone had taken a real pine cone, but drilled out the centre and inserted a small container with a screw top - the top of the pine cone had a hook on it which was hung on a branch - very clever!

 A bunny we saw on our way to another cache

 A very clever cache named 'You call this archaeology' - I love the clues which the names of the cache sometimes give us - this one you had to 'dig' under some leaves and branches to find it

 This one was tricky to actually get - it's attached to that chain in the middle of the picture - it was under a bridge which was over a creek, but Dad had to really stretch to get the container attached to the chain - I was a bit worried he might fall in, he had to stretch so far

A selfie after the final cache of the day on Sunday - we love being out in nature!

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Wow, it's been 2 1/2 weeks since we arrived back in Australia - where has the time gone!  Dad and I both had a good flight back to Oz - I was so happy to be upgraded from Vancouver to Sydney - I got the best sleep I have ever had on that leg of the journey.  It took us about three days to get back to our Aussie body clock - I do not enjoy getting up at 3am, I can tell you. :-)

I was called as the Relief Society Meeting Co-ordinator before we went to Canada which basically means that I will be working with Robyn, 1st counsellor in the Relief Society presidency, to plan and carry out activities for the women in the ward.  We are planning on having one activity a month, so we are going to be very busy organizing things during the year.  I was so happy to be called to this position as it will help me to feel more a part of our ward - it's been tough with not being at home much.  Everyone is so welcoming when we come home and that makes us feel really good, but it's nice now to be able to contribute to the ward even when I am away.

So, I spent time in Montreal (mostly on Pinterest - love that site!) coming up with some activities which I think the sisters will enjoy.  I also came up with a spiritual thought that would go along with the activity.  We want to have activities for the sisters which will  help them get to know each other better and also give them an opportunity to serve others.

I spent most of our one week at home with Robyn going over the activities I had come up with and she added her thoughts (two heads really are better than one!).  We also planned out the December activity (which I won't be at) completely so that Robyn knew what she needed to do for that day.  We also bought all the supplies she will need for the day.  They are going to have a 'speed friendshipping' activity first - kind of like speed dating where you ask questions of a person in front of you and then change to a new person every three minutes.  They will then have a progressive dinner - usually this is done by going to a different home for a different course of a meal.  We are doing it a little differently.  We are making a hexagon with six tables which will sit four sisters on the inside and four on the outside of each table.  The older sisters will sit on the inside and they will not move.  The younger sisters, who will be sitting on the outside of the tables, will rotate one table for each course of the meal.  I wish I could be there, but Robyn has promised she will take lots of pics for me.

We have been down here in Melbourne for a week now and the weather has been crazy - there's a saying down here: 'if you don't like the weather in Melbourne, wait five minutes!'.  They are not wrong.  It will be super hot one day and then the next day, you will need a sweater - crazy!  Dad's course has been going really well - there are 12 guys on the course - some of them are newbies, though (meaning that this is their first course after their basic training) and that has been a bit of a challenge for Dad.  It means that he has to find the 'sweet spot' of when to stop and let the newbies catch up (they have to use their laptops to figure out how to troubleshoot a fault which Dad has given them - they then have to make notes and answer questions electronically on what they found) and when to go on so that he doesn't lose the other guys.  One of the part-time instructors, Neil, from QAC is a student on the course and is staying with us in the unit.  He is very nice, but very quiet - it's been hard to get to know him.

I have been spending most of my time trying to get the nitty gritty details down for each of the activities Robyn and I have planned for Relief Society in 2016.  Some of them include: card making, quilting, bread making, learning Tai Chi, family history and gift bags for the needy.  I will keep you posted as we have each of the activities.  We are planning on having the activities on the third Saturday of the month so that the sisters can plan their other activities around that date.  We are hoping that the sisters will enjoy these activities and getting to know each other.

Dad and I spent last weekend (both days) geocaching.  We had brought back five geo travel buddies from Canada to put into geocaches here in Australia.  One of the owners of one of the travel buddies asked each person who found it to take pics of where the cache which it was being put into was.  We took some neat pics of this fabulous cache where we put it (one of our favourite caches so far) and also a pic of a kangaroo we saw nearby.  The owner of the travel buddy was so happy to see the pics of the cool cache and the kangaroo. :-)  We went geocaching again today after a quick nap (for me).  We set out to find six caches and we found all of them. :-)  We are getting really good at finding the exact spot of the caches, although we did have to get clues for a couple of them today.  Sometimes, it's obvious where it is, sometimes it's pretty clear where it could be and sometimes there are so many places it could be hidden that we generally look for a bit and then, if we both can't find it, we check out the clue.  I have also been out on my bike a couple of times since we've been here and also Dad and I try to get out for a walk each day.

 Cactus we saw when we went geocaching today - just out in the middle of nowhere - almost as if someone had planted them there

One of our favourite geocaches - a pipe inserted into the ground - a fake rock attached to the other end of the pipe which slides into the pipe into the ground - so cool

 Can you see the geocache in this tree trunk?

 Dad pointing to where we found a geocache

 Me pointing to another geocache we found

 Kangaroo watching us as we passed by him on the way to another cache

Tree I really liked by the path we walked onto to get to another cache

Yesterday, the ward here (Glenroy) held their Relief Society Christmas party.  We were all asked to bring a salad and a $5. gift.  I brought 'salad in a bag' as it was easy to do here in Melbourne - it was actually really nice.  The gift I bought was a selection of creams for the body.  Along with the salads, the ward provided chicken and ham and desserts.  There are a lot of Samoan people in the ward and so there were a number of foods which I didn't recognize - and you know me, I didn't try any of them. :-)  I did ask one of the Samoan sisters to tell me what had been cooked.  After eating, each table was invited up to sing a song - we chose 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' - thankfully, the other people at the table could sing. :-)  At the end of the afternoon, the gifts were handed out to the sisters - I ended up with a cute Christmas globe and a fan.  It was a really nice afternoon - this ward is so welcoming and I was able to get to know some more sisters in the ward as I talked with other sisters at my table.

Sunday, 6 September, 2015

A busy week of geocaching and socializing - pretty nice life, eh? :-)

Dad and I are really enjoying getting into geocaching.  This week, we went back to some ones we had visited previously - we have been trying to pick up as many geocoins/travel bugs from HB as we can to take back to Canada.  Dad checked out online which ones were supposed to be here in the Bay, but some of them were listed as being placed here up to two years ago.  We figured that those ones had probably been picked up by someone, but they had not recorded it being done.  Sure enough, when we revisited the ones we had been to previously, they weren't there.  Dad was then able to let the owners of the travel bugs know that they had gone missing.  We now have four bugs to place in Canada - we hope to take the grandkids geocaching when we are in Canada so that they can help us place these travel bugs in caches there.

 geocache found in small tube under a rock in between those two big rocks

 geocache found in small medicine bottle in the hole in the tree

 geocache found underneath this footpath on top of the wood plank it is on

 geocache found in this stump of a tree (it was covered with branches)

 geocache found underneath this pagoda

 geocache found in the middle of this woody area - it was in an ammo box covered with a green tarp and covered over with branches

 woody area - I was a little anxious about going into this one as the snakes are just starting to come out of hibernating - fortunately we didn't meet any creatures

pelicans we saw on our walk along the pier (doing another geocache)

 the pier we had to walk along - we had to count the number of tables used for cleaning fish and the number of benches on the pier - we then used these numbers to calculate where the geocache was near the pier

 seagull on the pier

 seagull in flight (I thought that this was a great photo that Dad took)

 ibis near the pier (they are called 'bin birds' cuz they scavenge from garbage bins - they are always at the schools so that they can eat the leftover crumbs from when the kids eat their lunches outside)    

we found another geocache underneath this bench

We had the missionaries over for dinner on Tuesday night - Elder Kishi from Japan and Elder De Young from Utah.  It's always nice to have them over for dinner and to get to know them.  Elder Kishi is quite shy - probably due somewhat to his English not being very strong.

Elder Kishi and Elder De Young

On Wednesday, I visited with the grade two teachers at Kawungan at morning tea time.  I had told Terri (one of the teachers) that I was coming and she had bought some muffins from the tuck shop for us to enjoy.  She is such a sweet person and we both enjoyed working with each other when I did the contract teaching in grade two a few years ago.  I had a lovely visit with her and the other grade two teachers.  One of the other teachers there, Sandy, told me how nice it was to see me and how I always am so happy - that was nice to hear.  Bronwyn was there helping out and we had planned on going out for lunch, so I stayed to help out in Terri's classroom.  I took a small reading group - it was nice being able to step right back into things. :-)

Once Bronwyn was done, she and I went out for lunch to a little cafe in town.  It was good to catch up with her and to find out what she has been doing since we last saw each other.  She and her husband are heading off to Europe soon for a 6 week trip around various countries over there starting in Paris.

On Friday, I got together with my friend, Maureen (from church).  We both enjoy going to movies and so I checked out what was on and chose one called 'Last Cab to Darwin' - an Aussie film based on a true story.  It started off slowly, but then became more interesting - I would rate it a 7/10.  Since the movie was at noon, Maureen and I decided to have morning tea and afternoon tea and no lunch.  We went back to Bayaroma where I went with my friend, Thea, last week.

 Maureen and me at Bayaroma for morning tea (I had a hot chocolate and a scone with jam and cream)

The very yummy Hawaiian Hula fruit juice I had for afternoon tea (orange, apple and pineapple juices) - I also had half a slice of apple and walnut bread with maple butter (I brought the other half home for Dad)

Dad and I spent Saturday organizing things for Dad leaving on Monday.  He will be flying on Qantas from HB to Brisbane and then on to L.A. on Air New Zealand.  He will spend the night there and then head to Vancouver on Tuesday morning.  He is going to spend three days with Grandma Martin there.  He will get to see Erika and meet Erika's husband, Terrence while he is there as they are going to be living with Grandma for the school year.  I will meet Dad in Vancouver on Friday and we will fly to Toronto together.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone again! :-)

Sunday, August 30, 2015

We spent Monday and Tuesday in Brisbane.  Dad needed to spend some time at QAC to work on getting things ready to teach in Canada and to get his airport pass renewed.  It was nice to see everyone at the office again and to meet some new employees.  We also had to see an accountant about our taxes.  We stayed at a motel overnight - it was a bit dated, but the bed was comfortable.  We also did two geocaches in a nearby park and found both of them.

On Wednesday, I had a follow-up appointment with the doctor to make sure that my stitches were healing nicely and that the incision wasn't red anymore.  Everything checked out okay.  That night, we went to dinner at our friends, Bill and Faye's ( Bill is a co-worker of Dad's).  We haven't seen them in a while as we have been out of the Bay for ages and so have they.  It was really nice to see them again and to see what they had been up to since we last saw them.

On Thursday, Dad and I went geocaching again - this time we found three of them.  We chose ones which had a geo travel bug in them.  These are special trackable items that people place in a geocache near where they live and then other geocachers take them and place them in other caches around the world.  We want to pick up as many as we can before we come to Canada so that we can place them in caches over there.

The first geocache we found was in a garden at the front of a cafe - it was placed there by someone who did it in memoriam of their mom who liked to sit on these benches and look at the view of the ocean (geocache on the table was behind the large plant in the background)

The view of the ocean from the benches

The second geocache underneath some prickly plants at the base of a tree

view from the second geocache

Third geocache we found under a rock at the base of a tree

That evening, we went out to dinner again.  This time, it was to Elaine and Martin Cooper's - new move-ins from church.  They are trying to get to know people in the ward and so have been asking people to come over for dinner.  It was nice spending time with them and getting to know them a little.

Martin and Elaine Cooper with me

On Friday, I went out with my friend, Thea - girl's day out.  We went to the Hervey Bay Regional Art Gallery - we both enjoy art.  There were two exhibits showing there: The Fraser Coast Gems features work of retired artists, draftsmen and engineers from the Fraser Coast, and The Annual Competitive Exhibition for the Hervey Bay Art Society - that one attracts over 300 entries from across Australia.  I took some pics of the first exhibit, but there was a big sign in the second one forbidding photos, so I didn't get any of that exhibit.  Some of the artwork we really liked and others we weren't so fussed on.  It was really enjoyable walking around and taking in the various types of artwork.  After visiting the art gallery, we went for afternoon tea at a local cafe called 'Bayorama'.  After checking out the menu, I decided on an iced chocolate (surprise, surprise :-)  and a scone with jam and cream.  Both were really delicious! :-)  It was really nice having a 'girls's day out' with Thea  we get along really well and are becoming good friends.

Piece of artwork that was part of The Fraser Coast Gems exhibition - this chair was covered with some kind of cement and then the pieces of tiles were placed in it - Thea wanted to take it home :-)

Piece of artwork in The Fraser Coast Gems exhibition

Piece of artwork in The Fraser Coast Gems exhibition - it shows various things you would see around the bay: whales, dolphins, ibises, seagulls, fishing, boating, windsurfing, people running, walking, biking, scootering on the boardwalk, people sitting on a bench looking at the view of the ocean

Thea and me with our treats at the Bayorama Cafe

my iced chocolate

my scone with jam and cream

Sunday, 23 August, 2015

On Monday, we went to the Animal Rescue place to pick up Garfield - however, when we got there, we were told that an older couple had adopted Garfield while we were in Melbourne.  That was great for him, but a little sad for us.  Marie, the lady in charge of the place, asked if we would take another cat and so we brought Peaches home.  She is a young cat - less than a year, we think.  At first, she was really skittish and when we would try to come near her, she would run away.  Over the week, though, she settled down and eventually came to sit/sleep with us - she likes being petted which we like.  We had to take her back on Friday, though, as we are heading to Brisbane tomorrow for two days and we didn't want to leave her at home by herself for that time.  We will pick her up again on Wednesday.

Peaches, our new Animal Rescue cat

Tuesday was procedure day for both Dad and me.  Dad had a biopsy on a mole on his shoulder done and he also had another mole completely removed.  We saw the doctor again on Friday and he told Dad that the results of both had been received by the doctor and both were clear - we were so relieved!  I had another one of my sebaceous cysts removed from my head - this was the third of four to be done.  This one was on the side of my head and the needles to freeze it really REALLY hurt!  This whole week my head has been so sore where my stitches are.  I felt a bit weak standing up and moving around for the rest of Tuesday and even didn't feel well on Wednesday when I got upright.  So, I spent the day laying in bed all day - thankfully, I felt better on Thursday.

On Thursday, I took Denise out to lunch.  She looked after our mail and house and plants while we were away in Melbourne.  We so much appreciate her for coming over while we are gone - it really makes us feel relaxed about leaving our house for so long.  I took her to a restaurant called 'EAT with Dan and Steph'.  Dan and Steph are a couple from Hervey Bay who won a cooking show here in Australia called 'MKR' (My Kitchen Rules) a couple of years ago and then opened up this restaurant the following year.  Denise and I both had a loaded corned beef sandwich.  It was so huge that we could each only eat half of it (I brought the other half home to Dad for his lunch).  Although it was a bit more expensive than I would normally spend on a lunch, it was nice to try out a new place.  After lunch, we went to the 'Coffee Club' to have an iced chocolate for dessert.

 'EAT at Dan and Steph's' restaurant

 My loaded corned beef sandwich (this was only half of it)

Denise and me at the 'Coffee Club' with our iced chocolates

On Friday, Dad and I had to go back to the doctor's so he could check out our incisions.  He was happy with Dad's, but thought that mine was a bit too red for his liking.  So, he gave me a prescription for antibiotics and asked me to come back on Wednesday to he can check it again.

Dad and I were treated out to lunch that day by our friends, Martin and Thea.  Martin is the High Priest Group Leader at church and Thea is the Relief Society President.  We really enjoy their company and it was lovely to go out to a new restaurant, which was right by the ocean, and have a relaxing meal with some lovely company.

 The view from our table at lunch at 'Aquavue'

 Dad with our iced chocolate from 'Aquavue'

Our chicken caesar salad Dad and I shared for lunch

Dad and me with Martin and Thea at 'Aquavue' 

 an iguana with its head in a hole in the tree - right beside 'Aquavue'

Dad's dessert - carrot cake - I had a few bites, too

Dad and I wanted to go for a walk down by the ocean and so yesterday we set off to do some geocaching along the esplanade.  We found two out of three of them this time - we were sure that the one we couldn't find wasn't there and when we came back home, Dad checked online to see if others had found it, and sure enough, the last six or so people had not found it.  So we figure that it must have been found and thrown out.  It was great to be outside in the sunshine and enjoy some exercising and the sound of the ocean waves.  We love living in Hervey Bay!

 we found our first geocache under rocks at the base of the tree

 see how close the ocean was to the tree where we found our first geocache

the tree in which we found our second geocache

Yesterday afternoon, Thea called me and asked me if I would teach the Relief Society lesson today.  Of course, I said 'yes' and then wondered how I was going to teach it - the lesson for today was based on a talk from one of the General Authorities which was in the Ensign magazine.  This is the hardest for me to teach because it means that I have to figure out how to teach it without just reading it or having others read it.  I prayed a lot for inspiration yesterday while I was preparing it, I can tell you!  I had a lot of people come up to me afterwards to tell me what a good job I did teaching the lesson - I told all of them that it was down to inspiration from Heavenly Father - and their participation.