Trip to OZ August '08

We had a wonderful trip to Australia during August. We were busy every day and relished the opportunity to eat fish 'n' chips, drive on the familiar side of the road and not feel the need to translate our own English!

We spent time with family and friends, catching up on people's news and constantly saying to all the kids... "oh you've grown so much!" Of course, that's what Sam and Will got at every new place we visited! The hardest thing about visiting such special people was that every "hello" is another "good-bye" and it just hurts! It was really special to see the cousins in real life (not just on Skype) and get to know their personalities more... particularly Jack and Clare who were just babies when we left!

Visiting the beach was a real highlight for us, and no matter how cold it was, it was FANTASTIC to hear the crashing waves and feel the soft golden sand between your toes. Our wonderful friends Jane and Craig Goddard lent us their house in Torquay and it was really like returning home, just being able to hear the waves at night, being able to walk along the beach front and smell the salt-laden air. Thanks Craig and Jane!!!!!

We met Duncan and Monika's baby, Alicia, for the first time! She was just adorable and enjoyed the antics of Will and Sam. It's great to see how much everyone is moving along in their lives... especially after becoming parents (and loving it!). We saw the Hutleys and managed to hear about Gemma's life at Timbertop and also saw the new well-being centre at Grammar! Wow that place is b-e-a-utiful!

We caught up with our camping crew a few times (thanks to Gayle-organize-anyone Narita) and it was just great to take the conversations from where we'd left them. We had a great dinner with Vonnie, Maddie and Jack and as usual, the conversations were free flowing!

Alec's name-sake Alec Jamieson, died shortly befopre we arrived back, but we were fortunate that they decided to hava second memorial service to allow those from out of town a chance to also reflect on Alec Jamieson's incredible life! We are so grateful that we had this chance and also for the wonderful dinner we shared in Port Melbourne afterwards! Thanks!

Geelong finally warmed up near the end of our stay and we had some chances to catch some great pictures of the bay.

Sam and Will also caught up with their very special Geelong College friends. Sam managed to go to school for three days and play a game of netball!Will attended the year 8 Social. We hear that he enjoyed this evening VERY much!

After Alec and the kids headed back to Canada, for school and University to start Anita went to South Australia to catch up with Ann and Bruce Heywood. Their new place in Normanville is just spectaular and the view is just brilliant! One could get pretty used to that!!!

Anita's sister Pip celebrated her 40th on September 6th (Happy Birthday Pip) and she had a brilliant party to celebrate! Pip invited family and fiends for a meal at one her favourte restaurants and asked that people not bring her a wrapp-able gift but instead gave the gift of education for child birth assistants in developing nations. Thats' Pip! Always sticking up for the little guy, always advocating on the behalf of someone else. Her eight year old daughter Daisy (my niece) gave the speech that stopped a crowd, she knew what to say, how to deliver it, when to pause for humourous chuckles and how to keep it about Mum and sincere! What a job you've done there Pip and Andrew! She's just wonderful!

Anita attended the OTAustralia conference and caught up with so many OT friends, it was just fantastic! It is so reassuring to know that people still want to catch up and hear your stories and so on... It was great to catch up with OT colleagues and friends from around Australia and New Zealand! :-)
So, the trip was a success, despite the sadness of leaving, it was nice to just spend time, in familiar places, with familiar people, doing familiar things.