A Shiny, Bright New Year - 2012

Gem, Aunty Dympna, Bill & Murray at the river's edge

Me with Liz & Joe - pity you can't see the ocean behind us

Grant & Audrey's pool decor

Roast Chicken lunch on the patio - Audrey - with Billy underneath

Niece Claire with her son Billy and Jethro (on her lap)

Nephew Peter tapping the mini beer keg

Sam holding Jethro, my son Benn & nephew Peter

Sister Ret having a hug with brother Tony and his wife Yudian looking on

Jethro had been to bed but this was taken at midnight - his first New Year!

Jethro slept like this for almost 2 hours

Some fun time splashing in the pool

Benn taking photos of Jethro in his new Wiggles boat

Benn, nephew Greg & Pete holding Jethro

Me with Lynne at Chinese Restaurant

Great nephew Riley back in Ballina (see the faded Big Prawn behind him)

Sister Rose in Port Adelaide

New Year celebrations were in a different state with a different group of family & friends, as our Christmas ones, but they were as wonderfully relaxed and enjoyable. We drove up to the Gold Coast and had a great two days catching up with family & friends and seeing the New Year in. But before we even left Ballina, we had a pre-New Year dinner at an Indian Restaurant with sister Gem, her husband Bill & our Aunt Dympna. Not wanting the beautiful evening to end, we wandered next door to enjoy a coffee, some desserts & a brandy (for Bill) as the setting sun went down over the river. Daylight savings enables us to enjoy the later sunset times.

We kickstarted our time on the Coast with a 9.30am New Year's Eve morning tea at Palm Beach with retired Air Force friends Liz & Joe - Liz was a nurse and Joe was a Ground Defence Officer. Joe's sister & her husband had recently returned from a trip to Africa and kindly invited us to all meet at their stunning 3 level home at Palm Beach - literally on the beach - well, 14 wooden steps from their lawn down to the sand. The views were as amazing as you could expect, but the house itself was of a calibre I had never seen before - only being completed 12 months ago, it has all the mod cons. But someone had great architectural vision & skills to be able to create such a magnificent abode. Fortunately, while I can appreciate other people's settings and layout, for us & our lifestyle, we can't beat Holden Lane!

Next stop was what we thought would be a tasty but simple BBQ at Audrey & Grant's home after we had done our usual walk around to check out their ongoing renovations. It is the home where we celebrated Murray's 60th. No BBQ for us - instead we were served a delicious roast chicken dinner which we consumed with a glass of champagne served on the patio no less, and looking out over the transformed pool area to the Tamborine Mountains in the distance. Delightful.

Then it was on to my sister Ret's and her husband Pete's home for the Main Event: the family New Year's Eve party! By the time we arrived my son Benn had flown in from Hong Kong - he had a 36 hr stopover which was perfectly timed - and he was collected off a train from Brisbane by my nephew Peter who was up from Sydney & staying with his mum Ret, with his wife Sam and 9 month old son Jethro. Jethro ended up being the main attraction for the duration of his visit! Such a placid and adorable child - a constant source of entertainment. Another nephew Greg from Brisbane stayed over, and other Brisbane residents - niece Claire, husband Al, and 4 yr old son Billy, also joined in the festivities. My brother Tony & his wife Yudian (thanks for the delicious Key Lime Pie) completed our gathering. With the numbers attending we were very creative in preparing the menu - there was a lot of variety, enough food, and we were all well and truly sated. Washing our delicious food down with 2 bottles of Veuve Cliquot and 3 bottles of Moet seemed very fitting - thanks Benn, and no doubt Tony! New Year's Eve was a glorious evening and so we sat outside in our summer attire and enjoyed the company and the feast. You get to a stage where you wonder if you will last until midnight - but we did - and then we connected the iPad to the TV and everyone called out a song to bring up a video, and we sang and danced to our favourites. At 1.30am Murray, Benn & I headed back to our motel. A truly wonderful night.

Not wanting the fun to end, we all rallied again the next morning for a brunch at the Parkwood Golf Club - they have a verandah overlooking the course and it is a nice setting - the menu was extensive and service was good. Only this time we had coffees instead of champagnes! Murray, Peter & Benn went off for a game of golf, Ret, Greg & I went to the shops, and Sam stayed home with Jethro who slept for almost 2 hours sleeping on her tummy. He looked so comfy. The sun was shining and the pool looked inviting, so before long, Jethro was sailing in his Wiggles red boat and the other 'kids' (Benn was the youngest) horsed around while Benn took underwater photos of them all.

Time for a quick shower then we dropped Benn off at the train station for Brisbane (he was part of the flying crew heading to Hong Kong) and we continued across the highway to meet my nursing friend Lynne for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. After a most enjoyable catch up Murray & I returned for one more night at the motel. The next morning we called in to visit another nursing friend Jenny and her husband Peter (lots of Peters in my life I can tell you), and I spent a pleasant few hours with her setting up her new Mac and working with her iPhone. Murray and I then hit the road for Ballina, but spent most of the trip recounting what a wonderful few days we had just spent.

We had only been home one night and then I drove south to Grafton to pick up Ret & Pete's grandson Riley. He is 9 years old and lives over in West Australia but had come back with his mum to visit the family. Ret & Pete drove down to Ballina that afternoon to collect him, and we all had a BBQ here at home. They joined our other sister Gem, aunt Dympna and Murray & I for a breakfast on the river before they headed back home.

While we were celebrating the New Year in Queensland, my other sister Rose was celebrating it with a friend in South Australia. She had spent Christmas with us, and then took the opportunity for a southern holiday for New Year, but she kept us posted with photos of her outings.

If the rest of 2012 is like the start, then it is going to be a beauty. Bring it on...

Christmas 2011

Christmas Greetings from Beautiful Ballina (Courtesy local paper)

Adrian & Danielle with our grandsons Blayke & baby Heath

Trying Ribbon Tying - Very Trying!

Sibling Christmas

Aunty Dympna & Yudian with their contribution

Judith caught me up on colleagues

Murray stealing off with great-nephew Jethro

Two Kookaburras join us for breakfast

My Solar Butterfly

The Chooks followed Toby the Pig around the yard

This house sure decorated well for Christmas

Murray Preparing the Christmas Turkey

Turkey ready to take off the BBQ (Murray with Rose)

Another year draws to a close...well it is Boxing Day as I write, so we now have less than a week until the New Year 2012 emerges. Our build up to Christmas was as enjoyable as the day itself. We had my sibling Christmas party on 17th December here in Ballina, and all 6 of the 7 remaining siblings (& spouses) attended (our youngest brother lives in Japan), as did the Matriarch of our family, Aunty Dympna. I think there were just under 20 of us in all, counting 2 nieces, a nephew, and their kids, plus sister in law Cathie and her partner. Lots of delicious food and fun with Kris Kringle. The next morning, almost before the champagne bubbles had time to settle, Murray & I drove 3 hrs south to join our sister, brother (& spouses), as well as 2 nephews & their children at Coffs Harbour. We stayed in a delightful resort and the weather was pleasant. I enjoyed the kookaburra visitors that joined us each morning for breakfast - they perched on the open air rails of our dining room that overlooked the ocean. Delightful ambiance! We went en masse to visit a nearby Butterfly enclosure and I loved the bright blue Dunk Island butterfly (also saw them in Kuranda, near Cairns on a visit with Joe Bill & Sandy a few years ago) and so my thrill on Christmas Day was to receive my own solar powered butterfly - he keeps me entertained in the garden!

My friends Jen & Leonie spent 2 days at our place with my cunning plan to make several lovely Christmas ribbons to decorate parcels. After a day playing with our Mac laptops and iPhones, we had some quiet time to watch some ribbon tying videos, and then got to work - over an hour later, and we didn't have too much to show for our time- apart from a few pieces, and lots of laughs. As usual!

We have enjoyed several pre-Christmas celebrations with friends, including with one family who have a pet pig Toby who has the reign of their rural property. No, he won't be on anyone's plate for Christmas dinner! Another welcome visitor was Judith who was promoted into my position when I retired from Defence. Judith & Jack dropped in for a cuppa on their trip from Canberra to Brisbane, and it was great to catch up on what my colleagues back there have been up to since I left. The homemade jam and Christmas cake she made & brought for us was an added bonus!

My sister Rose came to stay on Christmas Eve, and we took a drive out to see some decorated homes to continue the Christmas spirit that started with a lovely Christmas Vigil Mass, followed by a champagne supper at sister Gemma and husband Bill's home. While we were all there we had a Skype with Kim (Copenhagen) and sipped our champagne as she opened her presents from us. It was a great video link, so it felt as though she was in the same room.

On Christmas Day us 3 sisters, spouses plus our aunt joined us here for Murray's Turkey feast. It was delicious. The weather was warm so we had the air conditioner on, but a light rain shower cooled things off nicely by late afternoon. Now I am waiting for my sister to pick me up for a walk along the beach. Life doesn't get much better...Merry Christmas to all!

Family Surprise

L-R Benn, Ret, Daina, Mark, Sarah, Kim

Mark entertaining Ret & Yudian

Dinner at Chinese Restaurant

Murray, Ret & Tony dancing

Kim & Sarah at Byron Bay

Moet with dinner

Coffee on their last morning...

Rose & Mark share a few last words

Unpacking the tree and decorations

A tree emerges...

Kim & Sarah finish decorating the tree

Few things give me more pleasure than time with my family and friends. Following hot on the heels of our time with Murray's kids and two grandsons in Melbourne, we got to enjoy a visit from my three kids. Benn flew up from Sydney with his girlfriend Daina, Kim flew in from Denmark along with Sarah, her housemate friend from Canada days, and Mark flew down from Darwin. I was just lucky it was their dad's 60th birthday with Kim being the big surprise. She wanted her make her appearance a surprise to Murray too, as a belated 60th birthday present. Needless to say she was a very pleasant surprise to many people.

My brother & sister (and their spouses) from the Gold Coast were part of the elaborate ruse to transport the 5 visitors to Ballina and so we celebrated their arrival with a lovely family dinner for 12 at our local Chinese restaurant. Later we had a demonstration by traditional aussie dancers aka Murray, Ret & Tony on our kitchen floor! Sarah was privy to some primitive downunder dancing styles.

Benn & Mark made their mark on the local surf, and the next day Benn got Murray kitted out with flippers, goggles & snorkel and they both checked out the fish in the local river. Benn wished he had his spear gun with him as they saw some nice big fish passing by - would have gone down well on the BBQ! A day later Benn & I drove Mark up to the Brisbane airport for his flight back to Darwin - my sister Rose was able to catch up with us there for a coffee.

Many local eateries and businesses were better off after their visit, not to mention a dent in the holdings of local oysters and white wines. Gem & Bill did the honours once again and hosted Kim & Sarah to a delicious roast chicken dinner. Murray had promised Kim a bottle of Moet to celebrate her Professorship, and we enjoyed every last drop of it on Kim & Sarah's last night - along with the request for Murray's home made sausage rolls.

December 1st, our first day of summer coincided with their visit, so Murray helped Kim & Sarah erect the Christmas tree, and the girls then decorated it to the accompaniment of Christmas carols. Alas, all good things come to an end, and Murray & I are now sitting alone with just the Christmas tree lights flashing to remind us of the kids' whirlwind & thoroughly enjoyable visit to Ballina.

New Grandson

Proud Grandad with new baby Heath

Eldest grandson Blayke with his parents, aunt, uncle and Grandad

Murray with sister Carmel and Talia

Scott & Monica

Jan & I

Murray with Kent & Gwen

These look good enough to eat - clever craft

Baby chicks in the nest

My Aunt Dympna with 100 yr Ms Meador last year

We had no sooner got over the excitement of Murray's 60th when we flew to Melbourne for a week to meet new grandson Heath Dylan. He is simply adorable and doesn't seem to be giving his mum & dad too much grief. It was also a fabulous opportunity to re-connect and spend some times with 3 yr old (almost) grandson Blayke as well as Murray's 3 kids & their spouses, his sister and her daughter, and his sister in law. The weather was very pleasant and a motel room and a local hire car gave us the flexibility to get out & around and catch up with several friends.

We had a delightful lunch catching up with a colleague of mine and his wife Monica. Scott & I were on a senior RAAF Officer course for 12 months back in 1999, and it was fun dredging up the names and highjinks from the course. Another colleague (Pam) from my health intelligence days was home with her husband Dennis, and we had a pleasant morning tea and exchanged web sites and book titles. Jan, a girlfriend from before my youngest was born (we used to take our kids to the same playgroup 28 years ago) met us with her husband Mark for a delightful afternoon tea in a Victorian country town. Ross, a colleague from my RAAF nursing days lives in Melbourne with his wife Joe-anne, and we catch up with them regularly, but it was so good to see them and hear their stories of recent retirement and the fun they had in their recent travels in the USA. They loved it so much they are going back again - we understand each others' pleasure in travelling through that country. We had so much in common to talk about that we arranged a second dinner together. The first dinner with them was a delicious roast lamb meal in their home, and the second dinner was at a local Thai restaurant - you need a booking to get in any day of the week. Last but not least was a very pleasant afternoon tea with Kent, a colleague of Murray's from his early days in the RAAF 38 years ago. His wife Gwen is very clever with crafts - see her crafted patty cakes - they look so real - all knots were hand made and all beads sewn on one by one. They had a nest of 3 baby Willy Wagtails in their annex - the mother & father bird kept a close eye on their chicks.

We returned to Ballina in time to celebrate the 95th birthday of a family friend. What an amazing achievement. It reminds us of other friends who have reached impressive milestones too...Martha in Florida who recently turned 80 and Joe Bill's mum, Ms Meador, from Arkansas who turns 102 this coming January - she still drives herself into town every day to attend an activity group, and she was filmed playing the organ for a newspaper article several weeks ago. On that high note, I'll sign off till next entry.

The Big 60

Rose starts off the birthday celebrations

Murray & Rose

Farewell coffee with Tom & Betty - check out their view!

Murray & Larry (No Diane - not Larry Murray)

Opening cards & gifts at Audrey & Grants

Birthday Cake alight

Murray with Jeremy & Step at Main Beach

Bill's Birthday Cake and Gem's patty cakes

Gem Bill Aunty Dympna Murray & Trish

A special & memorable birthday gift from Marie & Eric

That's right folks, hard to believe I know, but Murray turned 60 within a few weeks of us returning home to Australia. His celebrations kicked off with a festive lunch near Brisbane with my sister Rose - Murray couldn't believe the trouble she went to with decorations, restaurant booking, cards and gift. A very pleasant couple of hours. From there we attended a wedding on Bribie Island at an Abbey chapel that houses some of the oldest stained glass window works in the world (courtesy of relics from overseas) and stayed overnight with friends Tom & Betty in their beautiful waterfront home on the North Coast. Wonderful hospitality and their home theatre set up made us envious. We then headed home via Caloundra and called in on Larry & Carmel - their waterfront unit has a stunning view too. They nourished us with Carmels's treats and we made it to our next destination which was lunch with my brother just south of Brisbane. Then it was back home for me to put in place the finishing touches for the next celebration.

What Murray didn't know was that I had arranged a surprise birthday party for him on the Gold Coast for the weekend before his birthday. Friends Grant & Audrey have a lovely property with a spectacular view to the mountains (Joe Bill that was where we called in to admire the view on our way to Tamborine Mtn) and their home with its big verandah is ideal for entertaining. They generously agreed for me to host the party there. To put Murray off the scent, I arranged another party at our place for the weekend after his birthday, and he knew about that one.

Anyway, to cut a long story very short, Murray thought we were going to Grant & Audrey's for a dinner for just the 4 of us. When we come home from our 6 months USA travelling, it is great to go there and see the renovations they have completed in our absence (always amazed at what they accomplish each year) and we share our stories. So this year was no different - we drove up to the house, walked in the door greeted by their two corgis, Bella & Billy, and to his utter amazement, Murray was surprised by about 20 friends. After he had greeted each one of them, he turned around and an old mate from his early Air Force days, John Wockner was there - Murray was so happy to see him. Then the Piece de Resistance - two of his kids, eldest son Jeremy, and only daughter Stephanie walked out of the pantry to give him the ultimate surprise. I have never seen him as gobsmacked as he was at that moment. He stood there for what seemed liked several minutes before he could comprehend what was going on. It was worth all the subterfuge! His middle son Adrian also wanted to be there, but his wife Danielle was about to present them with our second grandchild - in fact Heath Dylan arrived safely on the 19th - just over a week after Murray's birthday. What an exciting time. The day after the party we drove Jeremy & Steph down to Ballina as they hadn't seen our new home - we called into Byron Bay so they could say they had been there. It was a glorious day so the beach parking was hectic, but we jagged a park and had a walk around. After a late lunch in Ballina and a scenic drive to check out our beaches, they returned to the Gold Coast to fly back to Melbourne.

The party celebrations at our place went off well the next weekend, and the neighbours didn't even complain when we had a few singalongs with songs from yesteryear. Mind you, half of the neighbours were with us, and in fact Denise helped me out with keeping the food coming. As usual, I over catered, but that's life. My brother in law Bill had made Murray's birthday cake, a large fruit cake. He iced it and decorated it as well. Thanks Bill! His wife, my sister Gemma made delightfully decorated patty cakes and bought them in on a lovely display stand. The guests were very impressed, as was the birthday boy. We have seen or heard from several of the guests from both parties and they have all commented on what a great night they had. So that is good to hear. Just when we thought all the excitement was over, Murray received a package in the mail. Marie & Eric from Sacramento are the couple who had travelled within Alaska for 2 months with us on our last RV trip - they had sent him a carved wooden bowl. The 4 of us had visited a wood carving business in Fairbanks, and watched as they used laser to burn images into wooden articles. In fact, I guess we even saw them burning the one Murray got, but were told it was for a friend of theirs back home. Marie had done a wood turning course during our trip so we had a good understanding of the laborious process it takes to make a single bowl and the laser imprinting was interesting to watch. The gift will always be very special and bring back wonderful memories of our time in Alaska together.

All in all it has been a busy homecoming and I for one am looking forward to chilling out a bit now all the parties are done & dusted. However, my sister and Aunt have each bought a new Apple product, so we are having regular Mac lessons as we learn more about our laptops, iPads and Iphone 4S. Technology is fun, but boy, there always seem to be updates to take care off and data to migrate and new operating systems or applications to learn how to drive. Fun, fun, fun.