End of a Decade: Farewell the Noughty (sic) Nineties...

Kitchen in new Ballina House
Rear View of new Ballina House

Christmas Day Spread

Christmas Kitchen Elves

Christmas Day drinks with my 92 year old mother and brother Tony

Today is not just the last day of the year 2009 but it is also the last day of the decade! A time to look back and give thanks for all the wonderful things to be grateful for. For family, friends, good health & life's wonderful adventures.

The last year or so of the decade caused some anxiety with the global financial crisis. We took a hit and fortunately weathered the storm; however we have refined our modus operandi just the same. It has been the last few weeks of this decade that have been very interesting for us to say the least. We have bought a house here in Ballina and have a contract to sell our house in Robina. Murray and I both had an unplanned surgical operation in the week prior to Christmas - his was removal of a kidney stone and mine was removal of an ovarian tumour and ovary. We were both a bit uncomfortable at the family Christmas lunch, but we are firing on all fours again now.

Now we have the New Year unfurling full of promise ahead of us. We will kick start the first day of 2010 tomorrow with a family lunch on the Gold Coast followed by afternoon tea with parents of my friends Jen & Leonie. I did all of my general nurse & midwifery training (4 years) with Jen so have known her parents since 1970.

In mid-January we fly to Melbourne to catch up with Murray's 3 kids and friends from our Air Force days. In early February we are taking a 13 day cruise from Sydney to New Zealand with 3 other family couples (brother & sister and their spouses, and our aunt and her school friend).

Four days after our return from the cruise we move into the Ballina house. I am calling it our Ballina Retreat as it will be just that. It will be great to have a place to really call 'home' for the first time since I joined the Air Force 22 years ago. We lived in military housing for 20 years. Since leaving the Service 3 years ago, we have spent 6 months a year living in our motorhome in America and 6 months in Australia living in temporary accommodation with our goods being held in storage.

We will still be in settling-in into our Ballina retreat when it will be time to fly back to USA for another 6 month adventure in our motorhome. We are aiming for a mid-May departure this year to enable us to attend our nephew's wedding in Sydney before flying off to Los Angeles and onto Kansas City where our RV is stored.

After our skirmishes with health issues recently, my wish for the new year is good health, along with the usual wish for a heavy sprinkling of happiness. I extend that wish to you all too.

Happy New Year!

Last Day of Spring

Pink Jellyfish
Spring Flowers

Drive back to Ballina today

Ballina Scenery

It was so hot this morning while I was on my 6.30am walk yet the first day of summer isn't until tomorrow! Despite that, we heard on the news today that the Snowy Mtns in NSW actually had snow falls today. Unbelievable. What is happening to the weather??

The spring flowers are fading fast, but are still looking beautiful. It was an hour before high tide so the river was alive with bait fish and I even saw this unusual pink jellyfish swimming towards the ocean. I was able to quickly take a photo of it before it disappeared from sight. I have searched the internet and haven't found a name for it yet, but I can only expect it has a nasty sting. It would have been about 10" in length and about 6" wide. Yesterday we were having morning tea with friends up visiting from Canberra, and we saw four different pods of dolphins cavorting in the ocean in front of us - delightful.

In the middle of my walk this morning I dropped in for a cup of coffee with my Aunt and then we both called in on her friend to check out her latest oil painting handiwork. I then walked home and shortly afterwards my eldest sister rang me to say that her and her husband were taking a trip up to the Gold Coast to visit our mother, asked if I would like to join them. They were leaving in 1.5 hrs, so plenty of time for me to be ready and waiting. We had a lovely drive up and back, visited with mum and had a very pleasant lunch overlooking the broadwater with yet another sister. Our youngest sister had to work in Brisbane and missed out on the opportunity. So farewell Spring, tomorrow is the first day of summer!

Ballina Decision

My new great-niece Erin Valerie Anzin

Catching up with friend Caren and her mother Shirl

Our Gold Coast home for sale...

Hard to believe it is already one month since my last entry. So much has happened, not least of which was a scare my younger sister gave us all recently. She went in for day surgery and as she was coming out of the anaesthetic she had all the signs of a heart attack. Her pulse dropped below 30, she had ectopic ventricular beats and they had trouble getting her blood pressure above 60/45 so kept her in intensive care for 4 days. Her cardiologist and anaesthetist remain baffled. They have searched the internet and talked to their colleagues but no one has experienced anything like what occurred. Thankfully she seems fine now, and her angiogram shows a healthy heart. Hmmm...

Just before the drama with my sister, we had come to the conclusion to finally buy our own place here in Ballina. Our stay here last year was to get a feel for the place and see if it was where we wanted to have our base home during the years of our retirement. We really enjoy the location and the lifestyle, and the people are very friendly - including my sister, brother-in-law and aunt who live here! Now our task is to sell our house on the Gold Coast to have the funds to purchase the new abode. Meanwhile, we are soaking up the local real estate scene, attending open houses, arranging inspections and observing house auctions. Our house goes on the market in late December after the tenants vacate and we get the outside painted. We hope Jan/Feb sees some good offers come in.

Once we made the decision to settle here, I decided it was time for me to join the Ballina community. I enrolled at U3A (University of the 3rd Age - the first being childhood, the second raising a family and having a career, and the 3rd being after the kids have left home and you have finished full time work). You pay an annual fee ($30) and during each school term they hold free classes for a range of activities and learning including but not limited to yoga, table tennis, computer studies, spanish, french, mahjong, cryptic crosswords, art appreciation, book writing, etc etc. I signed up for yoga and table tennis and put my name down as a volunteer for 3 sessions of wrapping Christmas parcels for shoppers in the mall in the week leading up to Christmas. They pay a donation which goes towards U3A funding. Murray already has his fishing plus he helps out at the food kitchen once a week. He has made enquiries about cricket umpiring and he attends his first meeting with them in a few weeks. Meanwhile, the local cricket team was short a player and roped him in to play with them last Saturday. The next day he paid for his field activities and was quite sore all over. He wonders if he really needed to dive for the ball like he did!

As we have been very busy since our return, I try and gain a little balance by attending a weekly meditation session run by my aunt. I walk down to the school on Saturday morning (where the session is held), and 40 mins later walk back home refreshed. One aspect of Ballina that I really like (apart from the beautiful river and the sea) is being able to walk to most of my popular places.

I have just got back from my morning walk with my aunt. She walks down to meet me at 6.30am Mon, Wed and Fri and then I walk her back and return home. All up it is a 45 min walk. The sun was already high in the sky at 6.30am and it was 20 C (68F) going for a high of 32C (90F). I rang my girlfriend Sue in Alice Springs (central Australia) yesterday and she had been working outside in 40 C (104F) and wondered why she was feeling hot! Sort of creeps up on you.

On Sunday Murray & I went to see the movie 'Mao's Last Dancer'. A true story of a Chinese peasant who became a world famous male ballerina. He now lives in Melbourne, Australia with his Australian ex-ballerina wife. Yesterday I was chatting with another girlfriend who lives near Bundaberg, Queensland and I was telling her I had seen the movie. It turns out her sister used to dance with Mary, the Australian wife of the Chinese dancer. Not only that, but my friend's mother used to sew Mary's dancing costumes in the early days when she was still at school! What a small world!

Last week a girlfriend of mine bought her mother to stay in the motel across the road from us. It was nice to just be able to walk across the road and spend time with them. The four of us went to the local RSL for lunch which was very pleasant too. The motel gets a lot of business from our family & friends dropping in to say hello, so the owner gives our visitors a 10% discount. Plus she make me a fresh cappuccino when I drop in, and we have a natter a couple of times a week. On Sunday she wandered down the road with me to check out 2 houses that had an open inspection. One was priced at $900,000 and the other $720,000. A bit out of my price range!

My niece Rosie in Darwin (who I stayed with on my recent trip) had her third daughter on 30th November. Her & Mark named the latest arrival Erin Valerie. She is a cutie as you can see from her photo above.

My kids have been doing interesting things. My eldest son celebrated his recent birthday in Vietnam with his girlfriend, and my daughter moved from Canada to start work at the University of Copenhagen. My youngest son is in Darwin and caught up with my sister who is up there visiting, and is preparing to head south on 19 Dec to join his grandfather, aunt and cousins for Christmas. Sheesh, my kids lead a very grand life compared to mine at the same age!

Goodbye Darwin, Hello Ballina

Darwin City from Fannie Bay
Darwin Wave Pool

L-R Back Row: Lincoln, Shae, Gemma, Lisa, Georgie

L-R Front Row: Bailey, Bridgette, Mark & I

Kate, Nick holding Rebecca, Anna, Me, Mark

Ballina Shelley Beach

My 10 days in Darwin went so fast, but it was wonderful to catch up with the family and familiarise myself with how the city is growing. I enjoyed my time weighing & packing beef jerky with my niece and nephew who have a family business in Darwin, as it gave me the opportunity to hear about their comings and goings.

My son Mark & I joined in two family dinners - the first one was held at my niece Rosie & Mark's home where I was living. In the photo you will also see Rosie's daughters Georgia & Bailey plus my other niece Bridgette (Rosie's sister), her other half Rob, their young son Lincoln and Bridgette's two daughters Gemma and Shae. Gemma also bought along her friend Lisa. As everyone had worked that day (except me) I made a spaghetti bolognaise to have with a tossed green rocket salad and garlic bread. What I pity I forgot to take the salad out of the fridge and didn't find it until everyone had gone home. Blame it on the tropics...

The second dinner was at my nephew Nick and his wife Karen's home. Their delightful daughter Rebecca and my 2 nieces Kate & Anna, Nick's sisters joined in the BBQ. Nick sells very good quality meat that he gets trucked up from down south, so the porterhouse steaks we had for dinner were top notch.

Finally it was time to say goodbye and leave Rosie knowing she only has 2 weeks before her baby is due. She will be glad to be able to walk instead of waddle! After my 3.5 hr flight from Darwin to Brisbane, Murray met me at the airport and we drove the 2 hrs south to Ballina. He had the B&B set up very comfortably and had even bought us a new full fridge as the B&B only had a small bar fridge which we found out very quickly last time that it was not big enough for us PLUS Murray's bait PLUS his fish catch! The next day we went for a drive around and then had a walk along the sea wall. I took a photo for you all so that you can have an idea of our environment.

Morning Walk, Darwin, Northern Territory

My Morning Walk Route

Encouraging Exercise

Beachside Fitness Station

Danger Sign for Box Jellyfish (click on photo to magnify and read the blurb)

Back to the city of my birth in the Top End of Australia. Darwin sure has grown into a sprawling tropical destination, and is home to my youngest son Mark (25 years old), 1 nephew, 4 nieces, 6 great-nieces and 1 great-nephew. I am staying in a very comfortable self-contained unit underneath one of my niece's house.

This morning I walked out her front gate, crossed the road and in less than a minute I was on a great exercise path that goes right along the Nightcliff beachfront. I was impressed with the efforts to encourage exercise - they had these neat little fitness stations complete with instructions on how to use the equipment. There were certainly a lot of people out taking advantage of the walking/cycling path and the beach itself. You have to be careful swimming in the sea between October and May here and in Queensland, as dangerous jellyfish deliver a nasty and sometimes fatal sting. Such is life in the tropics...when the humidity is the worst and the sea looks so inviting, the safest place to cool off is in your own swimming pool!

Home, Sweet Home

South Bank Brisbane
My son Benn at Coogee for lunch

School friends Liz & Sue with me in Alice Springs

Sun setting on a 'White Gum' tree

'White Gums' homestead

As I am typing this, I am immersed in the countryside of my youth - the red centre of Australia. The red dirt, the white trunked green/blue gum trees and the blue sky are colours so familiar they almost hurt. I am here in Alice Springs to attend the 80th birthday of the mum of my 'oldest' girlfriend - we met 46 years ago. Her parents had the only dairy farm in the area during the 'ten year drought' of 1956-1966 (I arrived in Alice in 1961 and left at the end of 1968) and my favourite times were the weekends spent on their dairy farm. Ah, memories - I was on the property yesterday and walked away from the throngs of family and special guests to just look around me and take in the 'aura'. A truly magical place of remembrance for me. Check out just one of the White Gum trees that they named their property after! Whilst here in Alice I stayed with another of my school friends, and also caught up with another two. It has been fun reminiscing about our life back then.

But I digress...after our usual 13 hour flight from Australia to Brisbane, my sister Loretta met us at the airport and whisked us through the early commute traffic to a hotel on the south of Brisbane. We then met up with my other sister Rose, brother Tracy and his son Greg and had champagne with lunch. How decadent. We knew to overcome jet lag we should stay up until night time, so although Murray succumbed and had a mini-sleep, Loretta and I took a lovely walk along the river on the south end of Brisbane city where they have created an artificial beach. Beautiful. The next day we put Murray on a plane to Melbourne and he caught up with his three kids and attended the football grand final. Sadly his team lost on the day.

My 93 year old mother was in fine form and happy to have me back home safely. Then it was time for lunch with 3 of my sisters and another brother and their spouses. So within 30 hours of arrival I had caught up with all of my family (except my Aunt in Ballina who I will see very soon).

Within 4 days I flew to Sydney and spent a fabulous day & evening with my son Benn, and my nephew Pete and his fiancee Sam who joined us for dinner. After I leave Alice Springs I will fly to Darwin (tomorrow in fact) and spend a week with my youngest son Mark. From Darwin I will join Murray in Ballina where we will stay in our B&B by the river for the next 6 months before returning to the USA and our 2 month RV trip to Alaska commencing 1 June.

Last Days in USA 2009

Turkish Coffee a La Badr
Vitamin Burst

Sunset LAX

Our last port of call before arriving back in Kansas City and putting the RV in mothballs for another 6 months was with some aussies in Omaha Nebraska. Wal and his wife Desleigh invited us to their home for dinner. We met their daughter Cartia and her Saudi Arabian friend, Badr. Another aussie colleague who had worked with Murray in the Embassy in DC was also there with her two daughters. After a delicious meal prepared by our hosts, Badr then treated us all to his native Turkish coffee served in special coffee cups from his own coffee pot and accompanied by plump, sticky dates from the King's crop. It was a most enjoyable evening and we were surprised to note it was midnight when we got back to our RV - the time just flew by - probably helped by a few champagnes with hibiscus flower floats!

Shortly after getting home I checked my phone and noticed I had missed a call from Qantas. They had rung to advise that our flight back to Australia on Thursday had been cancelled and we had to make alternative arrangements. We decided to go back the day before to enable us to meet previously made commitments.

As swine flu as already been rife in Australia and is now hitting the USA, we started taking some extra vitamins a week before our flight, hoping to build up our resistance to any bugs that may be lurking around the aircraft on our 14 hr flight home. It is only 2 hrs until we board our flight, so we will take one more walk around the terminal to get the red blood cells circulating before we settle onto our magic carpet ride home.

From Sunrise to Sunset, Nebraska

Sunrise Nebraska 7.44 am
Wounded Knee Memorial

American Indian Grave

Sunset Nebraska 8pm

In order to fit in all we had planned for today, we got up early enough to catch the sunrise in Valentine, Nebraska. Sadly cloud obscured the lower third of the horizon, but it was beautiful just the same. As we drove through the state we saw many herds of cattle, field after field of sunflower & corn crops as well as deer and two wonderful specimens of antelope. They were standing in a field beside the road, and unlike deer who run skittishly, the antelopes stood their ground. We were so busy admiring them as we drove past, and surprised that they didn't bolt, that I never got to take a photo of them.

Two hours after leaving Valentine we entered the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. We found the Memorial to the Lakota Sioux killed in the massacre at Wounded Knee that occurred on 29 December 1890. The graveyard sits above a hill just outside the town of Wounded Knee and can be accessed via several dirt roads. Two local American Indian males stood at the entrance to the graveyard and offered locally crafted dreamcatchers for sale - we didn't buy one but made a donation instead. At the base of the hill was the Wounded Knee Visitors Center & Memorial, but it looked deserted so we headed south and back to Nebraska.

It was a very hot afternoon and we were grateful to have effective airconditioning in our RV. After checking into our campground in Alliance, Nebraska, we laid low until after dinner and the temperatures had cooled somewhat. We took a walk up the street and almost 12 hours after taking the sunrise photo this morning, I took a sunset photo to finish off the day.

We have just learnt that Patrick Swayze lost his 20 month battle with cancer. May he RIP.

Valentine, Nebraska

Main Street of Valentine, Nebraska
Snapping Turtle
Bison Herd

Wild Turkeys

Rolling 'Hills' of Nebraska

Nestled in the grass covered sandhills of central north Nebraska is the city of Valentine. With a population of just under 3000 people, in 2007 National Geographic Adventure billed it amongst the top 10 wilderness town/cities. In its day, it was the stamping ground of Sioux, Ponca and Pawnee Indians. In July of 2005 it was almost destroyed by a damaging wind storm, and in July 2006 a fire nearly destroyed it.

We stayed 3 days just on the outskirts of the city and our arrival was greeted by the strong smell of cow manure. It reminded us of Dodge City. We jumped on our bikes and rode up the main street to check it out. Not a real happening place on a Saturday afternoon, but I had fun browsing in the Western Wear store, a gift shop and a craft store. On Sunday we walked a mile to attend the local church. On our way home, we walked down a residential street and chatted to two lads who had just returned from catching some trout in the nearby river. They had also bought home a snapping turtle to cook. They are the largest fresh water turtle in the US and are quite agressive using their sharp edged jaws. Apparently their agility to thrust out their head rivals the capability of a rattlesnake strike. Yikes.

On our last morning we decided to take a drive 5 miles east of Valentine to visit the nearby Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge. It is located on the beautiful Niobrara River, famous for canoeing enthusiasts. We got there just on 8am and disturbed some wild turkeys and enjoyed watching a herd of bison. We then headed north towards South Dakota, and marvelled at acre after acre of rolling grassy hills. They are actually the largest tract of stablised sand dunes in the western hemisphere and are held in place by the grass that covers them.

Final Days of Summer, North Dakota

Autumn leaves - time to farewell North Dakota
Inside St Mary's Catholic Church, Hague, ND

Altar Detail

Avalyn at St Mary's Old Cemetery

Iron Cross Grave Marker

This is the 3rd time we have driven away from North Dakota at the end of a summer of enjoyable RV adventures, and the 3rd time I have felt quite nostalgic as we drive the last few miles. When we first arrive the fields are bright green (or yellow (canola/sunflowers) or blue (flax)), but by the time we leave, the sunflowers' bright yellow faces are all but gone and most of the other crops are harvested. The rippling golden wheat fields are all mown down like crew cuts. Green grasses have lost their vibrancy of summer and many trees are starting to show fall colors.

Our friends Avalyn & Wes were fishing down near the South Dakota border, so we called in and spent our last 2 North Dakota nights in a campsite near them. Murray and Wes went out fishing and between the two of them caught the combined bag limit of 10 walleye. Nice too. While they were fishing, Avalyn and I drove to the nearby city of Linton (pop. approx 1000) for lunch, then drove 23 miles south to visit the historic St Mary's Catholic Church and iron cross cemetery in Hague. The church was built in 1929 after the earlier one burnt down. It was very beautiful inside. The cemetery was open for business from 1885 to 1914. The iron crosses were created by the German-Russian pioneers that settled in the area. The German influence is still very evident in the language, business names and local restaurant fare. We had an interesting day which ended with a tasty fish fry for dinner.

Rugby, Geographical Center of North America

Geographical Center North America

"Northern Lights"

Ornate Heater

Clifford 8' 7" (Photo courtesy: ameshistoricalsociety.org)

Some people may associate the name 'rugby' with a football game played back as early as the ancient Greeks, but here in North Dakota, it is a city famed as the geographical center of the North American continent. Not to be confused with the geographic center of the contiguous USA located in South Dakota, or the geographic center of the 48 states (ie omitting Alaska & Hawaii) being in Kansas. Phew! Glad I made that clear.

Anyway, in this city of roughly 3,000 folks they have a few interesting tourist attractions. The first and most obvious being a stone obelisk marking the 'center' at the junction of Hwys 2 & 3. Amazing to think this is the center of the USA and Canada. A few yards down the road from it is a tower built in tribute to the Northern Lights phenomenon, commoner in Alaska but sometimes seen this far south. What draws most crowds though is the Prairie Village & Museum, a historically re-created village of the 1800's with artifacts from the white settlers and the American Indians on display. Seeing the implements and buildings common to that time makes us grateful for the technology and luxuries we have today. North Dakota is known for its harsh winters, and this was bought home by the presence of a wood heater in every building, train car, and even in sleds for traveling across the snow. Most were just very basic, but others were very ornate. The museum had an area dedicated to locally born Clifford Thompson who was once listed as the world's tallest man. From parents of average height, he grew to 8ft 7". I'm sure he would be the star of a basketball team if he were alive today.

Devils Lake, North Dakota

Map of North Dakota. Red routes 2009. Yellow route 2007/2008. Circle current location
Grahams Island on Devils Lake

Raymond Sunset Fishing Devils Lake

Moon as sun sets

Campfire with Mark & Gen

Noughts & Crosses

Devils Lake, the town, was originally Sioux Indian land (they now own a large casino nearby) and was named after the largest natural body of water in the state of North Dakota. There is a lovely State Park located on Grahams Island surrounded by Devils Lake. We are staying at the campground here for 5 days, and fortunately, the weather has been glorious.

On our first full day here, the aunt & uncle (Almyra & Raymond) of a guy (Troy) we met at the ranch called in to visit. They both love to fish, so they picked us up and we headed to some rocks alongside the road across the lake. It was about an hour before sunset, and while those three fished, I clicked! The sunset was so beautiful. On one side of the road I had the sunset, and on the other side I had the moon. All three of them caught fish and they let us keep all the fillets which was nice of them. Another chap was fishing nearby, and he kindly contributed his catch to us as well. As well as the fish, Almyra and Raymond bought us some potatoes, onions & corn fresh from their garden. So thoughtful.

The next day after lunch, Mark, a family friend of Troy's and Mark's friend Gen called in to visit. They offered to take us for a drive around the area. I had invited them to stay to dinner, so I stayed back to set up for dinner and take a phone call from Australia and Murray joined them for a few hours. Within minutes of their return, the four of us were sitting outside sharing food, wine and coffee. The weather was delightful, so we lit our campfire and had the kuchen Gen bought for dessert. This area of North Dakota is renowned for its hunting (deer & pheasant) and Mark kindly gave us some trial sizes of game he had caught to try. There was a pack of several venison sausages, some ground antelope, antelope chops (de-boned) and venison tenderloin. Mark also offered us the use of an RV hook-up on his property. It seems that everywhere we go in this country, the locals are so friendly and generous. Each RVing adventure we undertake is a most enjoyable blend of scenic countrysides and wonderful people. No wonder we can't stop coming back each year.

This morning we got on our bikes and rode around the campground. We came across a clearing that had a noughts & crosses panel, so we stopped for a game. Then it was back home to turn on the BBQ and cook the antelope chops. Delicious. Tender and tasty. Thanks Mark!