First Post of 2015

Here we are almost two weeks into the New Year - 2015. Christmas has come and gone for another year. This year instead of hosting Christmas lunch here in Ballina, we drove up to the Gold Coast where my sister Ret hosted for about 13 adults and 3 children. We took my Aunt Dympna up with us and we checked into an apartment for 3 nights. It was a lovely 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment overlooking the water. Between us and the water was a huge green parkland where we could walk our Christmas lunch off. Worked a treat. 

The night before Christmas my sister Rose, drove down from Brisbane to stay the night in a nearby motel. She came to our apartment to join us in a pre-arranged Skype with Kim over in Copenhagen. In Denmark they celebrate Christmas on 24th December, so we shared in Kim's Christmas while she opened gifts from home!

Christmas Day was a hot day as usual, so the pool got a workout by the little kids (Jethro, Noah and Jackson) with the big kids (Peter and Peter!). Murray sat on the edge of the pool so that Jackson could kick his feet in the water. As a joke on my older brother Tony, a stuffed toy pink piglet had been placed on the rotisserisie (not turned on). When Tony arrived, he was asked to check and see if the pork was cooking - he is the master of roast pork. He roared laughing. It was quite a sight. My niece put the photo on Facebook and had to put the caveat that it was not a real pig!

Ret, Tony and Peter Gibbs check out the 'pork'

Always a good opportunity to catch up with those who live in other states or others that we don't see often. 

Peter Gibbs, Rose (holding Jackson) and Jethro

My brothers Tracy (holding Jackson) and Tony, with Jethro

Noah (left) and Jackson

Jackson and Noah are only a few weeks apart in age, and they were checking each other out. It will be nice when they are a bit older and can play safely in the pool together. When you look at this selection of photos you can see someone is either holding Jackson or playing with him. The 3 boys kept us entertained and were so well behaved. 

Ret & I with gift from Chris & Mandy

End of the day - Murray holding a tired Jackson

On Boxing Day we caught up with another aunt who lives in the Gold Coast area. Ret and I had a delightful morning tea with two of our aunts - Dympna and Kath. Also joining us was Caren, a friend from our nursing days. Her family were neighbours of Kath's family for years. Caren's mum Shirl and Kath were best mates. Thanks for taking the photo Caren. 

Dympna, Ret, Kath and me at the rear

Less than two weeks after Christmas we returned to the Gold Coast to catch up with Daina's family who were up visiting from Adelaide. Daina's mum Angela, dad Fred, two sisters (Alissa and Lydia), brother in law Rhys and niece Emelia, joined my son Benn, my sister Ret, brother Tony and his wife Yudian, and Murray and I. We had lunch together at the fabulous revolving restaurant at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Surfers Paradise. They don't call the restaurant Four Winds 360° for nothing. From our table, as the floor revolved (very slowly), we had a 360° view of the Gold Coast. The food was a mix of seafood and Asian cuisine. Delicious. 

The grey circular bit up the top of this pink building (under the name Crowne Plaza)  is the revolving restaurant. Photo taken looking south. Photo courtesy web jet.com.au

Stunning Views

Daina's two sisters (Alissa (forefront) and Lydia), brother in law Rhys, and cute little Emelia

L-R: Murray, Ret, Angela, Fred, Benn, Daina, Tony and Yudian

Murray chatting to Daina's mum Angela and Rhys

Angela with Alissa, Rhys and Emelia

Merry Christmas 2014

We have now been home for 2.5 months and have used the time to catch up with family and friends. At the end of September Murray's son Adrian and his wife Danielle had another beautiful young boy,  Max, and so now Murray is the proud grandfather of FOUR grandsons. Blayke, Heath and Dane are lovely healthy looking lads, and I am sure it won't seem too long before Max will be running with the pack. 

Murray with new grandson Max

L-R: Ret, Jen, Leonie, me

After a few days catching up with family and some friends in Melbourne, I left Murray there to spend more time with the family, and I flew back home. My sister Ret and girlfriends Jenny & Leonie joined me for a weekend of iPhones, Mac computers and Thermomixing! What a fun weekend. It was actually the Prawn Festival weekend in Ballina that weekend, and so we took this photo to show that we embraced the spirit of the Prawn! 

I had one day to pack after the girls left, and then flew to Darwin with my brother Tony for 3 days. He spent time with his daughter Anna, and I spent time with my son Mark. I even caught up with two friends that I went to school with in Alice Springs. I last saw Kathy in 1968 and Angela in 1964. We had a great time reminiscing about old school friends and what they are up to now. The photo on the right I took from the front of our beachfront hotel. What a fantastic sunset photo. Thankfully although I was talking to Murray at the time, I was using a bluetooth headset in my ear and had left the iPhone in my pocket. I was able to remove the iPhone from my pocket and quickly take the photo and still keep on talking to Murray and telling him what a beautiful sunset I was witnessing. The Darwin visit also gave me time to catch up with 3 of my lovely nieces. Overall a great 3 day trip.

Top photo is of my son Mark in the centre, with my brother Tony to his right. The lower left photo is me with Kathy (on left) & Angela (centre). Tony & I are bottom right

L-R: Niece Rosie holding her daughter Erin, brother Tony, Me, son Mark standing behind me, nieces Bridgette and  Anna. Our dinner location.

On November 29th we celebrated my nephew Jackson's first birthday with 17 family members. It was such an enjoyable party, made even better by the fact that Jackson was in fine form - smiling and happy to be with whoever picked him up or played with him at the time. His sister Kate made his special cake, and his other sister Anna surprised us all by flying down from Darwin. We missed you Nicholas! To top it off for me, despite numerous odds against them, Benn and Daina flew in and made it to the party in time to cut the cake and catch up with the family.

Then Benn & Daina returned to Ballina with us for a few days R&R. I think they enjoyed their low-key activities. After all, cycling, bowling, and snorkelling are a bit tame compared to their usual edgy pursuits of snowboarding in Canada, chasing snow drifts in Iceland, getting a boat captain's sailing licence in Spain etc. You get my drift. Ballina was very low on their adventure Richter scale, but I daresay it enabled them to recharge their batteries.

It is now time to get seriously into the Christmas spirit. Next week I will be manning a stall with my girlfriends to do Christmas gift wrapping in the local mall. Then we have the first of the Christmas parties kicking off - my Book Club I believe. Looking forward to all of the festivities. We hosted Christmas lunch at our home for the past 2 years, so this year my younger sister is having a turn. Aunt Dympna, Murray and I have reserved an apartment on the Gold Coast for 3 nights, and it will be a nice change. I was grateful for Daina's help to set up our Christmas tree. Thanks Daina. Hard to believe that it is 3 years since Kim and Sarah set our tree up. 

Wishing all our family and friends a Christmas to be thankful for. We hope that 2015 is a wonderful year for you, and that we get to see many of you during the course of the year. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Return to Ballina - September 2014

Yes, I know I haven't finished writing up our UK trip, yet here I am about to tell you about our first two weeks back home in Australia! Time is of the essence…I will backtrack to the UK in due course! I've been a bit discombobulated since we got home. Don't you love that word - thanks Jan Brubaker. 

Following our special time up in Lake Tahoe with Marie and Eric, we were very spoilt to have Eric drive us from Sacramento to the San Francisco airport - it enabled us to use the high occupancy lane on the freeway, and I think we might still be lined up in the horrific traffic if we had needed to use the regular traffic lanes. A 2 hour drive there and back! Thanks Eric. Sterling effort. 

After our usual 14 hour flight and then 2.5 hour drive from Brisbane airport to our front door, we were very happy to walk into our Ballina home. It looked sparkling clean, and very, very welcoming! The garden was nice and green thanks to recent rains, and the lawns had been mowed by one neighbour and the edges trimmed by another neighbour. 

A week after arriving home we had a delightful overnight visit from my nephew Matthew, his wife Carolyn, their son Marcus and his girlfriend Nina. They left after breakfast on the back patio the next morning - Aunty Dympna, Gemma and Bill dropped in and had a coffee with them before they left. 

The next night we had my eldest sister Gemma, husband Bill, Aunty Dympna and her friend Barbara over to dinner. We had lots of laughs, especially with them wearing the Jimmy hats Murray bought back from Scotland and Ireland. Crazy family - love them all to bits!

Then the next day it was time to get my combat gear on to tackle a 3 day visit from my dear little 10 month old nephew Jackson. We set up safety rails to keep him safe as he is now crawling everywhere. The rails had little gates which made it so easy for the adults to access all areas. Poor little fellow was teething, but there were lots of happy moments we enjoyed with him. Thankfully once he went down in his cot at around 7.30 - 8pm each night, he slept right through until 5.30am . Very grateful. 

Sadly, within a few days of us returning home, our friend Bob Mulholland died of cancer. We were so glad we got home in time to say our goodbyes. RIP Bob. Last night we had a riverside dinner with his wife Anne, and four of their daughters - two of them we had caught up with in London at the end of our UK tour just a few weeks earlier. It was a great night last night with them. Gorgeous people. Safe flight home tomorrow Jen and Mish! See you in London and the Cotswolds in 2016 - God willing.

Clockwise from left: Anne, Mem, Jen, Murray, Kathie, me and Michelle

Dublin, Ireland

Liffey River

Dublin is not only the capital of the Republic of Ireland but also the largest city of the Republic. It became the capital when the Republic of Ireland separated from the British Empire in 1922. Our tour spent 2 nights there. The city was founded as a Viking settlement in the 9th Century, although earliest references date back to 140 AD. Our hotel room overlooked the Liffey River, and we were in walking distance of the city and all that it has to offer. 

During our travels we saw several gypsy camps and some gypsy caravans travelling along the roads, but none as colourful as this one.

On our first night we attended an Irish cabaret and dinner. It was my most enjoyable entertainment of the whole tour. There was a most amusing Irish comedian, a harpist and some young and engaging dancers who combined Riverdance type dancing with such joie de vivre that it was all over far too soon. Even the food and wine was good.

We spent our first morning walking for hours in the city, checking out the historic Book of Kells in the Long Room of Trinity College and other interesting sights. The Book was written on vellum (calfskin) around 800BC and contains the four Gospels accompanied by lavish illustrations. The book attracts over half a million visitors every year. We found the Long Room of Trinity College almost as impressive as the Book of Kells - The Long Room is part of the Old Library built in 1712. Since 1801 the 'Library had been given the right to claim a free copy of every book published in Britain and Ireland' (http://www.tcd.ie/Library/bookofkells/old-library/). The books line the shelves right up to the ceiling. My collage of photos cannot possibly do the Room justice. 

Three of my beautiful Irish cousins

That afternoon one of my Irish cousin's came to meet us for the first time, and then the three of us walked back downtown to meet another two cousins for dinner. It was fantastic to meet these three sisters and enjoy a few hours chatting with them as we dined at an Italian restaurant. Such beautiful people. We had met their other sister and sister-in-law in other towns on our travels, and you may have read about them in a previous blog. 

The next morning we boarded the bus and then spent three hours on a ferry across the Irish Sea to Wales. It was our third ferry ride and the longest of all. The ferries are amazing - this last one had several decks to relax on, numerous cafes and bars, a large duty free gift shop, TVs, cinema and even a Truck driver's lounge. Very smooth and pleasant sailing indeed. 

Ireland, Beautiful Ireland

After we left Belfast on our bus tour, we headed north west and followed the coast around and then down the west coast of Northern Island following the North Atlantic Ocean to the Republic of Ireland. We called into the town of Knock where in 1879, an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph and Saint John the Baptist was witnessed by 15 people. Mother Teresa of Calcutta visited in 1993 and Pope John Paul 11 visited in 1979. The site gets 1.5 million visitors each year. A beautiful spiritual interlude.

As we drove around Ireland, from the north west corner, down south along the coastline, then around the Ring of Kerry and across the bottom, and right around and up the east coast to Dublin, we were in constant delight just looking at the scenery. It was as beautiful as we remembered from our week driving around staying at Bed and Breakfasts in 2003. Such a pretty, pretty country. The houses were so colourful, and quite a contrast from what we saw next in Wales. 

We saw so many derelict castles that we lost count. Our tour guide regaled us with stories of the history of many of them as we drove past - this castle (see photo) in particular was hosting a big dinner one fateful night, and the whole kitchen fell into the ocean. The only kitchen staff who survived was a very young boy who was in the far back corner of the kitchen,  turning the basting fork on the fire. 

We visited the wild Cliffs of Moher - not quite as wild and woolly as our previous visit there in 2003. Since our last visit they have created more walking paths and a wonderful display and visitors centre. Progress. 

The bus dropped us off at Blarney Castle for those who wished to kiss the Blarney Stone. We had done that on our previous visit, so instead of that, we spent time in the 'Largest Irish Shop in the World'. Lots of woollens, tartans, cashmere, crystal and souvenirs. Next door was a fabulous eatery - free WIFI, piping hot soup with crusty fresh bread rolls, scones with jam and cream and numerous other food choices. Yum. 

Another pleasant stop was at the Avoca Mill which was established in 1723 and is Ireland's oldest weaving mill, and is still in business. Just as you enter Avoca you see Fitzgerald's pub where Ballykissangel was filmed. Murray did the Avoca mill tour and took me back to show me the beautiful colours they were weaving with today. In another section they were in the process of making a rug or some other garment for the Queen. 

Another interesting stop was at the Waterford Crystal shop and factory. While it originally started as a business in 1783, it closed in 1851 and re-opened in 1941. It has changed premises since our previous visit, and I don't think it has the same character as it had before. We oohed and ahhed at the beautiful crystal, but walked out without buying anything. 200 Euro for one drinking glass is a bit out of our price range I'm afraid! History shows that Vikings were here in the city of Waterford in 873 - which was 915 year BEFORE the first British fleet arrived in Australia in 1788. 

While 99% of Ireland's countryside was beautiful in our eyes, it was the Dingle Peninsula that we loved most of all. So picturesque. No wonder they filmed 'Ryan's Daughter' there. It helped that it was a beautiful sunny day by the time we stopped in Dingle for lunch, but we remembered it favourably from our last visit as well. It didn't disappoint us! We heard later that my aunt's dear friend Celia was in Dingle the day we were there - it would have been great to have caught up with her there, had we known. Look at the beautiful scenery in the selection of photos below. 

Slea Head Drive around Dingle Peninsula

Beautiful Dingle scenery

Trying out an Irish Coffee for morning tea - hit the spot!

Peat was the traditional fuel for heating - see blurb above 

Beehive Huts

 These 'beehive huts' seen during our drive along Slea Head Drive are thought to date back to the 12th Century. One sign I saw said they were dated around 2000 BC. Unbelievable. Historical records indicate that Norman invaders forced local farmers to leave their more prosperous farms and reside in these dismal dwellings on the Dingle Peninsula. The nearby Dunbeg Fort is believed to have been built before 800 AD. Amazing history.








Another delightful stop on our tour was in the pretty seaside town of Tramore, just 20 minutes south of Waterford, and about 2 hours south of Dublin. My cousin Ellen took this photo of me putting my feet into the Celtic Sea, despite it being a very windy day. Her home overlooks this area. Thanks Ellen!










While in Tramore we also got to spend time in a traditional pub - host John Meade - originally established in 1703 and it has continued business as a pub right up until today.

Our final stop in the Republic of Ireland was Dublin, but that needs a blog of its own!

Just a final reminder - If you have sent me an email as a reply to a blog update email, and wondered why I did not reply, it may be because you replied to the email that you receive notifying you of the blog update. If you look at the sender, it is a 'do not reply' address.

I have mentioned this on previous blogs, so please keep in mind that the email you get each time I do a blog update will come from the blog site 'Trish Warwarek - Aussies RV USA' and NOT from me. It comes from an automated source -PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO IT. If you want to comment on the blog entry, please start a new email to me, or comment on the blog itself. I do love to hear from you.

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