Dad finished up his course on Tuesday and all four guys passed the final test with flying colours. It was really nice for Dad to have such a small class for a change. We headed back to HB on Wednesday morning and it was so good to get home.
I had three medical tests and two doctor's visits to get in in three days. On Wednesday, I had a pelvic ultrasound, a breast ultrasound and a mammogram (the joys of being a female :-) On Thursday, I had a pap smear and on Friday, I had a breast exam. Fortunately, I only have to do all these once a year. My doctor was able to give me the results of the ultrasounds and the mammogram on Friday and everything is A-OK.
On Thursday night, we had Robyn and Geoff over for dinner. We ended up buying a roast chicken and roasting veggies along with it - such an easy meal. It was so good to see our friends again and to catch up with them after being away. They are such good friends and we always enjoy their company. That night, they invited us over for dinner on Friday night - they made us chicken kebabs with rice - yum. We are not going to see them for quite a while now since we will arrive back in HB after they have left to go down to Brisbane for Geoff's operation.
We flew out to Perth yesterday - the flight was a little turbulent from Brisbane to Perth - so much so that the flight attendants had to stop the meal service a few times. Once we got to the condo and dropped off our suitcases, we did some grocery shopping and picked up some take-away for dinner (chiko roll for me - yummy - and fish and chips for Dad).
It was nice flying in on Saturday so that we could have a rest day today before Dad has to start teaching tomorrow. We went to church today - the closest ward is about ten minutes from the condo. We've been to this ward a few times - it's so nice that we can go anywhere in the world and it's the same wherever we go. :-) It was so nice being able to stay for all three meetings, too - last time we were here, Harry was here also, and we only stayed for Sacrament meeting as we didn't think that we should monopolize the car for that long on a weekend.
The Sunday School teacher is a student teacher (high school art) and she gave a great lesson using different strategies to get the members involved in the lesson. At the beginning of the lesson, she used a 'think/pair/share' strategy (she gave us a question to think about, then asked us to talk about it with another person and then asked us to share our thoughts with the class) - I turned to Dad and said 'you can tell she's a teacher, she's using 'think/pair/share'. After the class, while we were waiting for Relief Society to start, she was sitting beside me and I mentioned to her about the 'think/pair/share' comment I made to Dad and she laughed and said that she had even written the words 'think/pair/share' in her lesson notes. :-) We were still talking when one of the sisters came up to find out my name and asked us if we knew each other. I love that it's so easy to strike up a conversation with any member of the church no matter where we go. :-)
Sunday, 9 November, 2014
A short entry this week as not much has happened.
We are in Brisbane and Dad is teaching a course to four guys. He's enjoying teaching such a small group. He has two more days of teaching to do and then an exam to administer on Wednesday.
I have been going for walks and swimming lengths at the local pool. On Wednesday, I wasn't motivated to walk to the pool to go swimming, but I made myself go. Once I got in the water and started to swim, I felt wonderful. I just love swimming - I feel so at home in the water. I swam 44 lengths which is 1 kilometre.
On Friday, I met up with my friend, Denise, at the Brisbane Temple. It was such a beautiful day there - so peaceful in there. After spending time in the temple, Denise and I went to a local mall and found a cute cafe to have lunch at. We then went to a material store so that Denise could pick up some material for a quilt she is making. Denise is such a talented craftsperson - I saw a quilt she made for her granddaughter and it was beautiful.
Today, we went to church and were very happy to be able to stay for all three meetings. We haven't been able to do that for a while since we have been flying so much on Sundays. It was the Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation at this ward and they did a really nice job. There were about 30 children in the ward and about half of them were older children, so the singing was loud and clear and they knew all the words.
We are in Brisbane and Dad is teaching a course to four guys. He's enjoying teaching such a small group. He has two more days of teaching to do and then an exam to administer on Wednesday.
I have been going for walks and swimming lengths at the local pool. On Wednesday, I wasn't motivated to walk to the pool to go swimming, but I made myself go. Once I got in the water and started to swim, I felt wonderful. I just love swimming - I feel so at home in the water. I swam 44 lengths which is 1 kilometre.
On Friday, I met up with my friend, Denise, at the Brisbane Temple. It was such a beautiful day there - so peaceful in there. After spending time in the temple, Denise and I went to a local mall and found a cute cafe to have lunch at. We then went to a material store so that Denise could pick up some material for a quilt she is making. Denise is such a talented craftsperson - I saw a quilt she made for her granddaughter and it was beautiful.
Today, we went to church and were very happy to be able to stay for all three meetings. We haven't been able to do that for a while since we have been flying so much on Sundays. It was the Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation at this ward and they did a really nice job. There were about 30 children in the ward and about half of them were older children, so the singing was loud and clear and they knew all the words.
Sunday, 2 November, 2014
Dad finished his second practical training course on Thursday. Hamood, another instructor, came to Newcastle to do the oral exam for the four guys who Dad had been teaching this week. All went well - they all passed - and Dad was happy to have a couple of days off before we drove down to Brisbane today.
A kookaburra in a tree
This is the Newcastle Ocean Baths - it it one of Newcastle's outstanding historic landmarks - construction of the saltwater bathing complex commenced in 1911. For some reason, the day we were there, there wasn't much water in it at all. It's often used by those wishing to walk and exercise in the water in a picturesque beach environment, close to the city. There is a separate area available for lap swimmers.
Canoe Pool - beside the Newcastle Ocean Baths - a small beach area and very shallow water (from the ocean) where children can paddle safely.
On Monday, I was able to go out for lunch again with the ladies from the aquafit class. There were six of us at the sports club, enjoying some more eating and chatting. One of the ladies, Cheryl, and I stayed on longer than the others and were able to have a nice private chat, getting to know each other better. I will look forward to coming here again so I can meet up with the gals again. On Wednesday, a woman in the class asked me if she was hearing an American accent when I talked. I told her 'no' and then she said it must be Canadian then. When I said 'yes', she told me that she should have known that since she has been married to a Canadian for 52 years. She then said that she was going to have to tell her husband that she had committed the cardinal sin (by asking me if I was American). We had a bit of a laugh about that. :-)
Since Dad worked evenings this week to do the practical training, we were able to go out in the afternoons on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, we went for a short drive to the Hunter Wetlands National Park. I had seen online a couple of walks that I thought would be enjoyable to do. Alas, we couldn't seem to find exactly where this Riverside Park was that was talked about on the Park website. We drove around for ages trying to find it. Finally, we stopped at one place and checked out their map and were able to find out exactly where it started. It was basically a walk along the river, which we took. Here are` some of the photos of our walk...............
Wednesday afternoon, we went to the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens. We love walking out in nature and I thought that it would be a lovely place to walk in. Well.........it was a lovely place to walk in being a very natural place full of lovely plants, trees and flowers. However...........it was FULL of mosquitoes and they really like our blood, it seems, especially Dad's. :-) So, although we really enjoyed walking around the gardens, we had to walk fast and consistently swat at the mosquitoes. We heard rustling in the woods a few times, but never saw what were making these sounds. We saw a few birds and butterflies and dragonflies. Here are some photos of what we saw along the way - some of the photos had to be taken really quickly as once we stopped even for a second, a bunch of mosquitoes would land on us.
On Thursday, we went for a walk along 'Bathers Way' which is a path which goes along the edge of the ocean. We love being outside and walking, and being beside the ocean is an added bonus - water is so relaxing and the waves were amazing that day. Here are some photos of that day......
We saw all these gulls standing on one leg and couldn't believe that there were so many one-legged seagulls - it turns out that they were just standing that way for some reason - as soon as I started walking towards them, they put their other leg down and walked away
I have no idea what kind of bird this is, but I thought it was an interesting look :-)
A big coal cargo ship which entered the harbour while we were on our walk
We headed home to Hervey Bay early Friday morning and were very happy to be back home (if only for a day and a half). Last night, we went over to Robyn and Geoff's for dinner. Robyn made us a delicious roast lamb dinner (can never get too much lamb :-) It was great to catch up with our friends - Geoff said that we are away so much we are soon going to need formal introductions to them. :-)
We drove to Brisbane this morning and are staying at The Hub which is where we have stayed twice before. Even though it's a two bedroom unit, it's quite small overall. But, there is a nice couch set, a desk for Dad to work at and a nice dining room table to eat at. I really like the location of The Hub as it's only a fifteen minute walk to the local pool and a ten minute walk to the river and downtown. Dad is teaching at a nearby hotel which is only about a ten minute drive from here.
Sunday, 26 October, 2014
Dad finished up teaching the theory part of his course on Wednesday. All of the students passed the exam - phew! On Thursday evening, they started the practical training part of the course. Adrian, another instructor, came to Newcastle to help with the training as each trainer can only have six guys with them. This morning, Dad and Adrian met with the guys and gave each one an oral exam which again they all passed.
I continued to go to Aquafit classes this week and on Monday, I joined some of the ladies for lunch after our class. One of the women, Cheryl, had asked me last week if I would like to join them - I thought that was so nice. We ate at the sports club where Dad and I eat dinner every night. We ended up spending 2 hours together eating and chatting - it was a very nice social afternoon.
On Wednesday, after lunch, Dad and I spent the afternoon going for a walk along 'Shipwreck Walk'. The northern breakwater is known as Shipwreck Walk because of the several ships which were wrecked on the banks. The breakwater was originally built to protect ships from running aground. There are plaques mounted along the breakwater walkway which lists the names of nine ships wrecked near the breakwater from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s. Most of the wrecks lie underneath the water or are part of the breakwater. We could only see one of the wrecks as we walked along which was called the 'Adolphe'. It was a sailing ship, that, in 1904, was the subject of one of the most difficult and daring rescues of the Newcastle Lifeboat Service.
view from the breakwater of Nobbys Headland (with lighthouse)
Stockton Beach
Two of many memorials along the boardwalk
bird sunning itself on breakwater rocks
bow of the shipwreck the 'Adolphe'
shipwreck of the 'Adolphe'
plaque signifying where the ship the 'Adolphe' ran aground
view at the end of the breakwater
view of the city of Newcastle from the breakwater
view of the industrial side of the harbour from the breakwater
On Friday, I went back to see the physiotherapist. She used an ultrasound machine on my arm and massaged it as well. She also gave me another exercise to do every day for my arm. She was pleased with the progress I am making with my arm. I, however, am tired of it hurting and just wish it would hurry up and heal.
On Saturday, we went for a drive to a little town called Kurri Kurri. It is known for its murals with more than 40 murals painted around the town depicting the history of the region and recent events as well. We were hoping to take a guided walk, but there wasn't one going on Saturday and so we took a self-guided walk around town to look at the murals. There were some amazing ones, especially ones which were not painted on a flat surface. Beside each mural was a plaque explaining what the mural was about. Every mural includes a kookaburra, a symbol of Kurri Kurri. Some of them were easy to spot and some were more difficult to find. The temperature was 34C (stinkin' hot) and so, after about an hour of walking around looking at the murals along the main street, we found it was just too hot and so we ended up getting into the car, putting on the air conditioning, and driving around the town to see the rest of the murals.
Dad standing by kookaburra statue in a park in Kurri Kurri
Masonic temple (one of many heritage buildings) built in 1909
'Drive-in' mural
'Local legends' - typical Aussie rugby game
'Kookaburras' - the kookaburras in this mural were easy to find :-) It was fun searching for one in each mural
'Maypole'
'Steam Train'
.JPG)
'Werakata' (National Park)
The Kurri Kurri Hotel - built in 1904
'Anzac' - depicts Australians at Gallipoli (World War I)
'Anzac'
'Pipe Band'
'Schoolyard'
'Koori Art' - the Koori people are the indigenous Australians that traditionally occupied modern-day New South Wales and Victoria
'Christian' (church)
'Australian Christmas'
Me with Santa and a kangaroo
'On The Buses'
In my research of things to do in Newcastle, I came upon a place called 'Harry's Cafe de Wheels'. It's a converted tram which sells meat pies with mushy peas and also pasties, hot dogs and sausage rolls. I got a meat pie and Dad got a chili hot dog. Dad enjoyed his choice. The meat in my meat pie was very tender and the pastry was very nice, but there was too much pepper in it for me. The mushy peas were very yummy. :-)
Harry's Cafe de Wheels, Newcastle
Dad with his chili dog at 'Harry's Cafe de Wheels'
My meat pie and mushy peas at 'Harry's Cafe de Wheels'
I continued to go to Aquafit classes this week and on Monday, I joined some of the ladies for lunch after our class. One of the women, Cheryl, had asked me last week if I would like to join them - I thought that was so nice. We ate at the sports club where Dad and I eat dinner every night. We ended up spending 2 hours together eating and chatting - it was a very nice social afternoon.
On Wednesday, after lunch, Dad and I spent the afternoon going for a walk along 'Shipwreck Walk'. The northern breakwater is known as Shipwreck Walk because of the several ships which were wrecked on the banks. The breakwater was originally built to protect ships from running aground. There are plaques mounted along the breakwater walkway which lists the names of nine ships wrecked near the breakwater from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s. Most of the wrecks lie underneath the water or are part of the breakwater. We could only see one of the wrecks as we walked along which was called the 'Adolphe'. It was a sailing ship, that, in 1904, was the subject of one of the most difficult and daring rescues of the Newcastle Lifeboat Service.
On Friday, I went back to see the physiotherapist. She used an ultrasound machine on my arm and massaged it as well. She also gave me another exercise to do every day for my arm. She was pleased with the progress I am making with my arm. I, however, am tired of it hurting and just wish it would hurry up and heal.
On Saturday, we went for a drive to a little town called Kurri Kurri. It is known for its murals with more than 40 murals painted around the town depicting the history of the region and recent events as well. We were hoping to take a guided walk, but there wasn't one going on Saturday and so we took a self-guided walk around town to look at the murals. There were some amazing ones, especially ones which were not painted on a flat surface. Beside each mural was a plaque explaining what the mural was about. Every mural includes a kookaburra, a symbol of Kurri Kurri. Some of them were easy to spot and some were more difficult to find. The temperature was 34C (stinkin' hot) and so, after about an hour of walking around looking at the murals along the main street, we found it was just too hot and so we ended up getting into the car, putting on the air conditioning, and driving around the town to see the rest of the murals.
In my research of things to do in Newcastle, I came upon a place called 'Harry's Cafe de Wheels'. It's a converted tram which sells meat pies with mushy peas and also pasties, hot dogs and sausage rolls. I got a meat pie and Dad got a chili hot dog. Dad enjoyed his choice. The meat in my meat pie was very tender and the pastry was very nice, but there was too much pepper in it for me. The mushy peas were very yummy. :-)
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