Seasons Greetings!
We hope this Christmas letter finds you well and happy as we near the end of 2011. For us, it’s been a year of highs and lows and celebrations.
Sophie & Dave on the farm.January saw us celebrating the beginning of 2011 in Albany with David and Sophie staying with us on the farm for several days and then we headed again to Thomas River -100 km east of Esperance. Last year we had a day where the temperature reached 48 degrees and this year we had an evening where we had a torrential down pour. The ranger came to warn everyone it was forecast AND we survived with only minor flooding and having to move several cartons of beer – thanks to Steve digging a trench around the whole annex and van! Overall we had a great time relaxing and doing very little! It is a lovely place. We are heading there again with friends after Christmas and will see what Mother Nature offers us this time!
Sophie caught a crab!!!!
The beach at Thomas River
In April we headed back to Albany and stayed camping on the farm with friends and spending time with family. It was nice. We have a “Hobie” tandem kayak which you can peddle and/or paddle. The river is the perfect place for fishing and gently kayaking up and down. We take it most places we go to now as it is so easy to transport and use. Makes us feel like we are doing our bit in the health area as well!
Kayak caught bream
Albany camp fire
Dave and Sophie in the kayak
May saw us head to Bali for 10 days. As always, we enjoyed ourselves immensely – probably over eating and drinking but simply relaxing and enjoying ourselves which is what Bali is to us. We would like to plan a time when all the kids and partners could come with us for a week. It would be such fun. Sounds like some work needs to be done in coordinating holidays and leave from work. We will see what 2012 brings us.
Steve on the beach in Bali
Sunset drinksJuly saw us take our pilgrimage to the north, staying at Cape Keraudren again. We camped in a slightly different place from where we have camped before. The sand flies were not so friendly and we had a brilliant time. The weather was terrible for the first 2 days and then for the next 8 days it was perfect and we were able to kayak everyday exploring all the creeks and streams. Good fishing, but more than that – it was just fun. Sadly we don’t know how many more times we will visit Keraudren as developers are planning on a resort to be built and a bitumen road in which for us kills the “isolation and adventure.” We’ll be on the look out for a new holiday home in the north. If anyone knows a special spot without hundreds of campers let us know.
Paula on the Pacific SunAugust saw us take a 3 day Cruise to Nowhere. Paula gets sea sick! So what better way to find out if cruising could be a holiday option for us than going on a short cruise. This seemed like a good idea. At worst, Paula thought it would be an excellent weight loss program! Well, everything was fantastic. No illness and just 3 glorious days of eating the most amazing food, drinking, walking around the ship, being entertained with great music in a variety of different bars as well as other light entertainment and relaxing. It was so good we have booked another 3 day cruise in 2012 with another couple. We highly recommend it to everyone.
You’ll be pleased to know that we actually did do some work during 2011 too!
Steve returned to Charthouse Primary and enjoyed working with wonderful admin and staff. The end of the year was incredibly hectic for many reasons, but in particular because Steve was informed he would have to move to a new school due to declining numbers at Charthouse. So it is with sadness he leaves Charthouse, but excitement that he begins a new journey at Settlers Primary School with more than 1000 students!! 39 classes. Amazing numbers! Settlers Primary is slightly closer to home but in the same direction he has been travelling.
Paula remains at Oberthur in Bull Creek as a Pre Primary teacher which she loves and is still the Learning Support Coordinator. She just loves the job and the children and will probably retire and/or die there – which ever comes first.
Ashleigh is now 20 and entering her final year at Notre Dame studying Early Childhood Education. She loves it and is a natural teacher. She continues to work in her dream job at The Pickled Fairy Shop and The Tea Pot Shop in Fremantle. Ashleigh is in her element as you can imagine. Dressing up in costume, hosting parties and wandering around Fremantle in costume is right up her alley! She also continues to work at Boost and does regular baby sitting. She has a pretty busy life! She has done well. Her highlight would be the Boost Christmas function, where her “store” won a $1000 competition for most sales (or something) and the owners hired a pink Hummer limo to take the staff to a Greek restaurant. She is now sold on Greek food.
Mark lives in the house he purchased just before Christmas last year. He and his girlfriend announced to us in the New Year that we were going to be grandparents. We were not expecting this at all and were concerned at their youthfulness. “Tyler” our very beautiful grandson was born in August and we are besotted by him! He is simply gorgeous and we love him so much. It amazes us how something so small and fragile can melt your heart and you love unconditionally. Sadly the relationship between Mark and his girlfriend did not make the distance and they live apart, but Mark has access to Tyler often and we see him when we can. It is not ideal, but we do what we can. Mark copes, but struggles at times. He still works at All Type Engineering.
Mark and Tyler
Ashleigh and Tyler
Finally the saga of David partially comes to an end. Partially because he will suffer from arthritis, aches and pains, needs blood pressure medication due to the stent in his heart for life and still has pain and numbness in his left and right leg that may not resolve in time.
But … The court case came to an end with the old man being found Not Guilty of Dangerous Driving Causing Grievous Bodily Harm. Certainly he was guilty of running the red light, but he got off the charge on grounds he “may have blacked out”. We were disappointed, but have moved on. David goes to his lawyers in January to negotiate settlement of his compensation. We hope that things favour David to enable him to set himself up and move forward. David is doing an electrical apprenticeship with Neilens and commenced working with them in January. He works at the Fiona Stanley Hospital not far from home and rides his bike come rain, hail or shine to work daily. He is enjoying the work.
Two and a bit years down the track from his accident and there are still moments of huge emotion when we think about it, but he has never been resentful or bitter and his attitude and healing has stunned everyone. How lucky are we!
Sophie, his delightful English partner has been living with us for over a year now. She hopes to gain residency and is currently studying a Business and Commerce degree at Curtin. She is very studious and has done really well with her exams. She is so easy to live with and we have told our children they can go to her family in England and we will keep her! It looks like her family are coming out to visit in 2012 which will be exciting for everyone – especially Sophie.
Also in 2012 we are adding 4 weeks Long Service Leave to our school holidays and travelling north for 6 weeks. If all works out, we are flying David and Sophie to meet us in Kununurra to return with us heading down the Gibb River Road. We are really looking forward to sharing the experiences we have had with them. It is a magical part of the world. Sophie wants to see real red dirt and roll in it! We’ve told her no white clothes come with us unless you want it to retain the lovely red tinge forever! We can’t wait to see her face when she sees so many new and wonderful things – crocodiles, vastness, boab trees, gorges, Kimberley moons – the list is endless!
So that is us for 2011.
All the best to everyone for a safe and Happy Christmas and holiday season and a wonderful 2012.