Return to the Home of our Ancestors, Glen Innes, New South Wales

Ret's turn to drive - the scenery was so beautiful

On Tuesday morning this week, my Aunt and two sisters, Gemma and Ret, drove 4 hours west of Ballina to reconnect with our family history. The countryside was so beautiful and green - thanks to a storm that put an end to a 3 months drought. We were all oohing and ahhing about  the stunning scenery, so we stopped the car and took a few photos. When we drove through the Gibraltar Range National Park we stopped and took a recording of the sounds of the Bellbirds. Such a unique and distinctive sound as it echoes through the forest. 

Ret and Trish en route to Glen Innes

Ret at the front door of the cottage

We had booked into a cottage that surprisingly was only 4 houses south of the home owned by our dad's (and his sister Dympna's) family. When I booked the cottage the manager gave me the impression it had 2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms, but on arrival, we found it to have 5 bedrooms (1 queen with ensuite, 2 doubles, 2 single rooms and another 3 way bathroom, complete with 2 basins. Plus a huge lounge room, big kitchen, dishwasher, microwave 'and room for a pony'.  We thought we may have to share with another family…but no, it was all for us. Fantastic. 

Check out the lounge room - the corridor to the left leads to the bedrooms

The kitchen had everything we could possibly want...

Before we got settled, we all walked up the road to the old house at 29 Church Street - our cottage was in 21 Church Street. When dad's parent's died, they left the house in the will, and one year when I was only about 7 years of age, dad and mum checked us kids into the local school for one month so that they could have some time out. I remember it was one of the few times we had 'real' milk during our childhood - the school provided little bottles of chocolate and/or strawberry milk for morning tea. In Alice Springs during the 8 year drought we had no fresh milk in the town, only powdered milk. So these small, individual bottles were like gold to us Territory kids. I also remember I got my fear of bulls from this town - I was wearing a red sweater one day and my older brother Peter dared me to walk into a bull paddock. Not that I did, but he told me that if I did, the bull would tear strips off me as the colour 'red' aggravates them. To this day if I have a nightmare, it is about a bull chasing me… no wonder I was beside myself at our friends' ranch in North Dakota a few years ago when a bull charged our RV taking a dislike to our generator. Check out this link to read that blog entry!

Dympna and Gemma in front of the old Ryall home at 29 Church St Glen Innes

Rummicub game in action

The weather was glorious for our travels. One evening we had a few drops of rain to cool the earth down, but thankfully we had completed our visits to the cemeteries beforehand. On each afternoon and evening Dympna, Ret and I played rummicub to while away the hours. We were addicted! 

A kind man passing by offered to take our photo

On the first day we visited the town of Emmaville which is where my dad was born, and also where two of dad (and Dympna's) brothers were buried. We visited Maurice and Eddies' graves and said a prayer for them. It would have been our dad's 96th birthday that day, so it had a special significance to be there with his sister Dympna as we paid our respect to their brothers. 

Trish Dympna and Ret at Maurice and Eddie's graves

We also had time to contact a family relative Pat Newsome and her husband Don, and called out to their property 'Springfield' for a visit. For the family reading this, Pat is Ruby Ryall's younger sister. We had afternoon tea with Pat and Don, and Pat had whipped up a black forest cherry chocolate cake, savoury biscuits with cheese, lemon tartlets with cream AND lamingtons! 

Dympna Don and Pat

The next day we drove about half an hour East of Glen Innes to the little town of Red Range (home to around 70 families) where dad and Dympna's grandparents are buried. We drove up a narrow, winding country road and found the isolated little cemetery. Very 'Australian' countryside.

Road to Red Range Cemetery  

Click on this panorama to get a 'feel' for the countryside

Gem and Dympna with the grandparent's headstone in Red Range

The day before we left Glen Innes we lunched in a local cafe...

Gem and Dympna visit the Antique shop next door to our cottage 

Another panorama taken on our way home, to give you an idea of the beautiful drive we had  - click on this to get the full appreciation.

Our final stop on the way home was in Tynedale where Dympna lived with her husband John for 15 years before he died. The roses were blooming, and we couldn't resist asking her to stand out the front while we took a photo. We all arrived safe and sound back in Ballina after 3 nights away, and loaded with a host of new memories to treasure. Love my family!

Quick Trip to Adelaide and Melbourne

Daina's family group with Benn and I tagging along

Finally! Daina has been in our lives as Benn's right hand (wo)man for over 7 years now, and it was only 2 weeks ago that I got to meet her parents Angela and Fred, and the extended family. It seemed that every time Murray and I planned a visit to Adelaide for this purpose, either Benn and Daina couldn't make it, or we couldn't. This time, all the planets were aligned, and although Murray couldn't join us, I was made very welcome and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with her family. After meeting them it was easy to see why Daina is such a delightful young lady. They arranged a dinner at their home so that many of their family could meet me, and catch up with Benn and Daina. Angela put on quite an amazing spread, and Fred did the honours on the BBQ. 

Family dinner at the Borrillo home - wonderful hosts

Not to let an opportunity pass, Benn and Daina needed some weeding, laying new wood chips, and pulling up, re-sanding, and re-laying of pavers in their rental property. Daina's dad Fred and I got roped in, and the four of us worked solidly for around 4 hours and completed the job at hand. Mighty fine job too if you ask me! Mind you, all four of us were a tad stiff and sore the next day, but I'm sure Benn and Daina will agree it was worth it. 

Benn, Daina and Fred finishing up the paving

After 3 days with Daina's folks, I then went and stayed 3 days with my childhood girlfriend. Josie and I met in 3rd grade of primary school in Alice Springs, and whenever we catch up, it is like old times. Her husband was 2 years ahead of us at school, but the 3 of us were in the same school play one year. We had some laughs singing the old song 'Minnehaha' from our play Hiawatha. We still knew the words - well, some of them. 

Josie, me and Barry footpath Thai dining

Josie and I had a mutual friend Liz - Josie and done her general nursing with her, and I had done my midwifery training with her. However, I hadn't seen Liz since I left Adelaide about 37 years ago. The 3 of us had morning tea together and reminisced about our nursing days together. So wonderful to catch up with old friends ('old' as in we go back a long time - we could never be 'old' as in years - ha ha).

Liz (arm in sling) with me in her garden

Blayke, Heath and Danielle

After a most enjoyable time in Adelaide (although if Murray was there and if we had our car, it would have been great to catch up with more friends, including Rick and Pam up in the Barossa) it was time to fly to Melbourne where Murray met me at the airport. He had driven down from Ballina. The weather wasn't flash, as there were violent winds one night, with trees uprooted everywhere. At least we were safe in a brick home, instead of feeling vulnerable in our motorhome, which is where we usually are when we have strong winds! Anyway, apart from the weather, we had a great time catching up with family and friends. We stayed with some ex-RAAF friends for the 3 days, and as usual, it was a good opportunity to catch up on each other's family and retirement plans. Another friend who I used to work with invited us to lunch at their place - her husband and Murray have interesting discussions on sports, the share market, and what is going on in the world! Always great to see them. But the icing on the cake was visiting Murray's kids and grandkids. All 3 of Murray's adult kids came to join us for a Pizza/Indian take away dinner at Adrian and Danielle's home. Adrian and Danielle's 2 sons are really growing up fast and kept us entertained - such gorgeous looking lads. I didn't get to see Jeremy's son Dane (Murray's) youngest grandson, as he was heading to bed at that time. Murray spent some time with Dane after I flew back to Ballina - even accompanied him to swimming lessons one day. Jeremy showed me a video of him where he was hell bent on drinking water from the garden tap - delightful antics. Three gorgeous boys.

Murray with Blayke

Murray with Dane

Garden Delights

Back garden the day we got home after 4 months away

As you know we just let our garden go while we are travelling in the USA, so it is always a pleasure for us to come home and get the garden shipshape, and then plant our summer herb and vegetable crops. The photo above was taken the day we got home. The photo below was taken 2 weeks later, and the one below that was taken 6 weeks after we got home. You can see the gradual transformation!

Back garden after we had been home 2 weeks

Back garden after being home 8 weeks

We also like to have a selection of fresh herbs and vegetables, so Murray created a new garden out the front for vegetables, with the back garden we previously used for vegetables now being home to some prolific tomato plants (seeded by birds), and lots of herbs that I use in my cooking. The following 2 photos are of the new front vegetable garden, and the date stamp shows you the progress. The last photo is this group was taken on my iPhone yesterday, so no date stamp - it was the 3rd of Oct.

Front vegetable garden yesterday - 3 October

Murray was very industrious in the first weeks home - as well as establishing the new garden, he also laid paving stones down one side of the house. It gets no sun, so we couldn't get any grass to grow there. It is where he pushes his lawnmower from the front to the back, and it was often damp and dirty. So now it looks great. Not content with the side paving, he decided to create a cobblestone look at the back of the house. In the right hand photo below, you can see the tomato and herb garden to the right of the cobblestone paving. 

Side pavers (flowering Jasmine in foreground)

Cobblestone pavers at rear of house

As well as enjoying our home and garden, one of life's pleasures for us is spending time with our family and friends. The following photos capture us having an afternoon tea and impromptu baby shower for Yudian at our place, followed by my aunt and 2 sisters with me at my sister Gemma's for dinner, and finally Ret and Murray choosing from the menu at our RSL on the river here in Ballina - a most beautiful place to watch the sun set, and sometimes see a few dolphins glide and jump past us. 

First Month Home ...

It's hard to believe that we have only been home for one month, as we seem to have done so much in such a short time. We are having the most amazing 'winter' weather, with all but three days since we have returned, being sunny and glorious. Nice cool nights, but days with highs around 18 - 22 C (64 - 72 F) if not warmer. Murray and I have had a lot of pleasure getting the garden back into shape. This has involved a tiny bit of pruning and weeding, but mainly feeding the garden beds, and planting vegetable and herb seedlings for another summer crop. A separate garden blog will follow in a few weeks when I have some progress photos for you. Murray has also been busy laying pavers at the side of the house - that side of the house only gets a small amount of sunshine, so no grass would grow there. It is the path he uses to get his lawnmover from the front to the back yard, so now he can push it along on a firm, unmuddied surface! We made a visit to a recycle nursery and were surprised to see some ducks or maybe geese ?? walking around the nursery. See photo below. You might have to click on the photo to maximise it and get the full effect. There was no gate, but they stayed inside the boundary.

Ducks running loose at nursery

I have enjoyed being reunited with my Thermomix (TM) = World's Smallest Kitchen, and one of my more recent cooking outcomes were the delicious beef curry puffs you can see in the photo below. The filling was made in my TM which I then put inside Pampas Puff Pastry to bake. They will be made again very soon! Yum. Tonight for dinner, I will make chicken and leek risotto in the TM. My friends Jenny and Leonie share photos of their TM outcomes with me, and vice versa. Between the three of us we are coming up with some fabulous meals and treats. Our menfolk are enjoying our endeavours.

Home made curry puffs

 Lunching with Leonie and Bron at Mt Tamborine

I have got back into my book club activity, and have also had numerous morning teas, lunches and dinners catching up with friends. Last week Murray and I picked my girlfriend Leonie, and we drove up to Mount Tamborine to have lunch and a catch up with my sister-in-law Bron. Murray dropped us off then he went and played 18 holes of golf. After a delicious lunch on a balcony overlooking the hinterland (photo above), we went back to Bron's house where we inspected her chook (hen) house and from 12 chooks, we collected 11 eggs. Not a bad effort!  

Bron and her 'girls'

Collecting eggs

Bron and Leonie with the egg haul

Jenny, Wilma with me at the Food and Wine Festival

Another girlfriend and her sister and I attended a recent Food and Wine festival here in Ballina. It was held at the Jockey Club at the Racecourse, and we had a very enjoyable few hours. It was $20 entry, and for that we were each presented with a glass (and neck holder pictured below) which was ours to keep. It was full of champagne on arrival, then we kept topping it up with various wine tastings and accompanied our drinks with a constant stream of food over the next few hours. Jenny's husband dropped us off at 1pm and we rang him at 3.30pm to come and collect us - we had eaten our fill, and the wine had made us sleepy. I was happy to return home for a nanna nap. Hang on, I'm not even a nanna - yet!

This weekend I attended an antenatal activity on the Gold Coast with another sister in law, and so I optimised the solo trip by spending two nights up there and catching up with several friends. I love being at home, so it takes a fair bit of an enticement to get me away these days. But the antenatal activity was definitely worth doing, so I am glad I packed my overnight bag and tore myself away from home. One night was spent at my sister Ret's, and the other at my girlfriend Jen's. Ret and I planned on having lamb shanks for dinner, but her husband Peter surprised us by bring home some tasty and appreciated appetisers: fresh Sydney Rock Oysters, smoked salmon and delicious king prawns. I should have taken a photo of the platter he prepared and bought out to us as we were sipping champagne on the outside patio - it was very impressive! Thanks Pete. We did end up having the lamb shanks, and they were delicious too. 

L-R Leonie, Jen, Caren, Ret with me at Thai Majik

Are you squirming yet Jan B? - All this food talk! As you can tell, most of my social activities are centered around morning tea, lunch or dinner - with the odd book club meeting or meditation session thrown in for good measure! On Saturday night Ret and I joined Caren, Jenny and Leonie (friends from our nursing days) at a Thai restaurant and had several enjoyable hours catching up on each others' lives. We have other friends on the Gold Coast that I am keen to catch up with, but I will have to wait until Murray is with me to visit them. Hopefully in the very near future...

After sitting having breakfast with Jen on her patio overlooking the canal, we got lost playing with our Mac laptops for several hours. Then I drove off to join brother Tony, wife Yudian and Ret and Peter for lunch at an outdoor patio of a local cafe. A last minute arrangement which worked out perfectly. From there I enjoyed a one on one session with a member of the Apple team, and sorted out a glitch on my iPhone - my iPhone's Spotlight search function had an issue - but to fix it, the tech had to completely erase the software and all content from my phone, reinstall it, then replace all my data (photos, calendar, contacts etc). Always a scary time, but having done a backup gave me confidence. While we waited for all of that to happen, the apple tech enjoyed seeing photos of Alaska, North Dakota and Arkansas on my laptop! He was prepared to issue me a brand new iPhone if the problem wasn't rectified, but thankfully it all worked out well. I drove 1.5 hours and arrived home at 6pm, just in time for Murray and I to walk to our local RSL club on the river, and sip a champagne as we waited for our meals to be served. Looking forward to next month. 

Impromptu birthday lunch for Yudian with Peter, Tony, Yudian, Ret and me

Home in Australia

On our last night in Kansas City we had a very pretty sunset - the clouds gave it a beautiful effect, but obviously I didn't capture it in all its glory. We had an uneventful trip home, thank goodness, which means there were no delays with our Qantas flight and our baggage made it safely to our destination. I got a free upgrade to Premium Economy which was great (thanks Benn) and sat next to a delightful lady (Mandy) from my birth town of Darwin. Mandy teaches computer classes at the university up there - something I wouldn't mind teaching if I had to go back to work. 

After our 15 hour flight home it was fantastic to be able to order a skinny flat white coffee as we waited for our connecting flight from Sydney to Ballina. Ahhh, the small things in life that we take for granted. Hard to find any coffee to match it in America. But then, they have their Starbucks which they prefer. 

Skinny flat white coffee - thinking of you Sandy!

We had only been away from home for 4 months this time, but the garden obviously missed our loving attention. Some tomato plants self seeded in our absence, and we came home to three flourishing tomato plants. Once Murray staked them up they looked more respectable. I have been picking and eating tomatoes since we got home. Obviously a mild winter here. 

Tomatoes growing wild

Tomatoes after Murray staked them up

Tomato harvest

Room decor for the big party

Within a few days of us arriving home, we were wrapped up in a wonderful family celebration which saw 40 adults and six young children celebrating my eldest sister Gemma's 70th birthday, and one of her daughter's 40th birthday. All six of her children attended from far and wide. It was also my sister Rose's birthday, plus brother-in-law Bill's and nephew Peter's birthday. Phew. I know I forgot a few, but there are too many to record here. Our cousin Margaret continued her tradition and baked and iced 3 fantastic fruit cakes. One for Gemma, one for Rose and one for my Aunt Dympna (not her birthday, but a long story!). 

Back Row L-R - Brother Tony, me, sisters Gemma, Rosemary and Loretta and brother Tracy. Brother in law Bill and Aunty Dympna in front

Margaret made three cakes: L-R Gemma, Dympna, Rose

Dinner at our place

 As well as enjoying in all the parties, dinners, morning teas etc, Murray and I had a chance to get up close and personal with two of my nieces' children. Lincoln was 6 and Erin was 3 going on 14 years. Within 5 minutes I was texting the family asking where Erin's 'off' button was. They were too busy enjoying their expresso martinis to reply, other than to say that I 'need to pull her right pigtail 3 times'. While that act only seemed to excite her more, she did quieten down and play well with her iPad games after that. Those kids are so smart with how they use their iPads. Amazing. 

Lincoln and Erin play on their iPad and iPhone

While I am in America in the RV I don't have a chance to miss cooking with my Thermomix, but once I get home I can't wait to get started. On day one I made my home made butter and vegetable stock, as well as a large batch of vegetable soup. Next request was from my niece Bridgette to make a Lychee/Lemongrass martini. My nieces Bridgette and Rosie (and each with their youngest child) and their mum (my sister Gemma) and dad Bill, and my Aunty Dympna came here to dinner one night, so the martinis kicked off the evening beautifully. My next martini in the Thermomix will be an expresso martini. Since then, I have also made cauliflower rice, and today I made Clinker Rocky Road to take up to the Gold Coast tomorrow. Murray and I did a taste test on it after dinner tonight, and it passed the test with flying colours. 

Trish, Gemma, Bridgette, Dympna and Rosie with our lychee martinis

Rocky Road made with clinkers, chewy jelly raspberries, tiny marshmallows and peanuts