Seasons Greetings!
We hope this Christmas letter finds you well and happy as we near the end of 2014. For us, like 2013 it’s been a year of highs and lows and celebrations.
Finally Paula’s mum’s estate was finalised and life is settling down. We are both glad it is over as things didn’t go particularly smoothly. But this year saw us begin to move on with plans and life. Finalising the whole process and reflecting upon many issues has certainly made us aware of life and the need to seize each moment and make the most of time.
We continue to go up and down to Albany and stay on our blocks on the Kalgan River. We go there camping, kayaking, spraying noxious weeds that are stubborn and resilient and trying to do a little relaxing. It is a very peaceful and serene environment and we enjoy the quiet and serenity that it offers. They are still on the market for sale, but we are in no rush and are happy to use them while we can.
Mid May saw us take on England, Europe and Ireland and what an absolutely amazing and awesome time we had every single day! We spent a week in London upon our arrival and walked and walked and walked! We did all those touristy things you have to do and nothing failed to amaze or thrill us. We then headed to Europe for 4 weeks on an Insight Bus Tour. We never thought we would do a bus tour, but it was brilliant. Our bus only held 40 people and so there was plenty of space. Our tour group was full of fantastic people and everyone got on really well. For those who have been to Europe, you’ll know what we mean – we saw so many icons that you begin to feel overloaded. Such history and architecture still has us awed. For those that haven’t seen those sights, they are unbelievable and as magnificent as you are imagining. Our tour director was just sensational and we cannot speak highly enough of every aspect of the tour. Perhaps the best part was the fact that we didn’t have to even think about accommodation, transport, lining up for tickets or navigation to places. We just sat back and enjoyed the moment. Highly recommendable.
From Europe we headed to Ireland for a week. Way too short a time! Ireland was lovely outside of Dublin. We stayed in guest houses, hotels and B&Bs. It was fun. Steve drove us around helped by the wonderful GPS! He did a terrific job and we got everywhere we had planned with ease. Going to places we had only seen on TV or read about was surreal. We had a ball.
From Ireland we flew to Scotland for a week – again, way too short. Scotland was beautiful and we both loved everything about it. We are not sure what we expected, but Scotland delivered so much more. Steve drove through Scotland and had no problems. We tasted the local fare – black and white pudding. It was ok, but it is not finding itself on our home menu. As Steve’s ancestry is partly Scottish we sought out his Grandmothers birth house and found it! I’m sure neighbours were very suspicious of us climbing up to back fences and peeping over and taking photographs!
A highlight – there were so many, was visiting the Beatles museum in Liverpool, going to The Cavern and going on The Magical Mystery Bus Tour. All so very information and real!
Another highlight was going to the Dr Who Experience in Wales. Any Dr Who fan would think they had died and gone to heaven. Paula even flew the TARDIS and has the photo to prove it!
(When Steve gets time he will post more photos of our trip in our picture gallery, so check back here occasionally if you are interested.)
We drifted thorough England and Scotland for 5 weeks before heading down to Exmouth for the real purpose of our trip – David and Sophie’s wedding. Everything went brilliantly! We met all of Sophie’s family who were so welcoming and wonderful. Our friends Tricia and Glenn were able to fly over to the wedding which was lovely to have them share this occasion with us. David and Sophie were married in the East Budleigh Church which is 800 years old. We kept thinking that Australia is less than 300 years old and here we are in this amazing church and country that has such a rich and long history. It really does put things into perspective. Mark and Ashleigh were also at the wedding and it was just fabulous to have our family together to share the celebration. Unfortunately Steve’s Mum and Dad had also planned to be at the wedding, but due to health problems, they got stuck in London and were unable to get there. She is home now but has a real battle ahead.
(More English wedding photos are here.)
We had the best time on our “European Vacation”. We didn’t see nearly enough of anything and hope that we will be lucky enough to be able to go back again one day and explore so many beautiful places at our leisure.
On arrival back in Australia at the end of July, we had an Australian Wedding reception for all those who were unable to attend the English wedding – including photographer, limo, wedding cake, flowers etc. David, Sophie, Mark and Ashleigh wore their wedding clothes again and Steve’s Mum and Dad were able to attend this reception which was great. . A good day was had by all.
(More Australian Wedding photos are here.)
The real world and work welcomed us back and life has been busy ever since.
David has continued his apprenticeship with Nielsen’s Electrical and sat the final examination several weeks ago. From what he has heard he has passed! Congratulations to David! He is currently working on the new children’s hospital. He is enjoying the work. His health is holding well at present, but we know there will be a time when his injuries will cause a problem. We just hope it holds for a while longer. You would never know he is in some pain all the time. He really is an easy going person and he and Sophie make a lovely couple – plus their two spoilt guinea pigs, Gimley and Angus and a new very spoilt puppy Arnie. Sophie continues to work at Sweet Lips and works long hours. She is simply delightful and a very welcome addition to our family.
Mark has just finished his final day at All Type Engineering today as we type. He was successful in gaining a position with Thiess Mining. He heads to Roy Hill sometime next week. He is looking forward to this opportunity to get himself ahead and start something new. Congratulations to Mark, although his girlfriend Roxie might think otherwise. Roxie has been with Mark over a year now and is a lovely, generous level headed young lady who we have welcomed into our lives. Tyler is now 3 years old and is totally and utterly adorable. He is simply delightful and we love having him around. Mark often worked Saturdays overtime and we were lucky enough to have Mark and Tyler stay with us Friday night and Tyler on Saturday. We both looked forward to these times with Tyler and love him so much. He is such and easy child to care for and has a lovely nature.
Ashleigh worked at Atwell Primary this year and applied widely for a new position for 2015 and was clever enough to gain a permanent position at Hammond Park Primary in a pre Primary teaching capacity. It is not far from where she is teaching at present and is really looking forward to the Pre Primary level and new school. Congratulations Ashleigh. Ashleigh, Sophie and Roxie all get on so well and we love this. They are actually quite delightful to watch together. Loud, silly and wonderful!
Our children have done well this year. We are thankful for this.
So, finally after 34 years in the job – a job we have both loved and a job that has exposed us to our wonderful state, we are calling it quits at the end of this year. We have been gearing up towards this for the past 2 years and are lucky enough to be able to leave the job earlier than we had thought. After so much trauma we have been through over the past several years, seeing people we love and care for around us ailing and watching people around us fade away, we made the decision easily. On our tour we discovered that unless you have health and fitness you can’t do a lot. We have a fantastic opportunity to start a new chapter in our life and are grasping it with both hands. Steve will actually retired as of the end of this year and Paula has leave without pay for 2015 before retiring herself.
All the best to everyone for a safe and Happy Christmas and holiday season and a wonderful 2015.