Seasons Greetings!
We hope this Christmas letter finds you well and happy as we near the end of 2010.
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| The cars on the beach - Thomas River |
January saw us see the beginning of 2010 in Albany and then head 100 km east of Esperance with friends to stay at Thomas River - our first "real" trip in our new Quantum. It is a lovely place with spectacular scenery. One day we travelled along 25 km of magnificent beaches where the sand is so brilliant white and the oceans has every shade of blue and green you can imagine. Unfortunately we also experienced some extreme weather with one day seeing the temperature reach 48 degrees. We had never experienced heat like that. It really was hot! Opening a cold can was a great idea for the first sip. By the time you took another sip the can had warmed up and it was like drinking hot water. Going for a swim seemed like a logical solution except by the time you walked out of the water you were bone dry! The wind was so hot! Having said that, on the other days we had a great time relaxing and doing very little!
In April we headed back to Albany and stayed on the farm spending time with family. It was nice to be alone as we rarely camp without the company of friends. We enjoyed relaxing and just doing our own thing! More pictures of our Albany camp are here.
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| Our Albany camp site |
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| The two of us! |
After 12 months of planning July saw us head back to the fabulous Kimberley region with 3 other couples, going to all the touristy places – Argyle, Purnululu, Mitchell Falls, Kalumburu and The Gibb River Road. It was all magnificent as we knew it would be. There were so many people around though. Tourism might be suffering in some parts of Australia – but not in the Kimberley! We would have to say one of the many highlights was our sunset cruise on the Argyle. The late afternoon was so warm on the boat and the reflection of the sunset made the water look like liquid gold. We were able to go swimming off the boat, floating around on noodles drinking champagne. It was special. We found out some days later that a large saltwater crocodile had been sighted in the dam. The swimming pool at the caravan park is also something that you need to see to be believed. We are definitely planning a return trip at some stage in the not to distant future. Our Quantum camper was more than we had hoped. We were impressed with sturdiness, workmanship, ease of set up and comfort it provided. It looks like a caravan but for all intense and purposes it’s a camper! One of the other couples also had a Quantum and like us they were also impressed. More photos from our trip can be found here.
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| King Edward River |
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| Kimberley Boab |
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| Echidna Chasm |
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| The Quantum and Nissan. Bungle Bungle Ranges |
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| One of the friendly ones. |
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| We really roughed it! Lake Argyle Village pool. |
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| One of the many campfires! |
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| Kimberley sunset. |
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| Cockburn Ranges and Pentacost River. |
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| The crew at Little Merten's Falls. |
Steve returned to the Fremantle District Office working with the Directors for the first part of 2010. While fishing for Barramundi on a fishing trip in Kununurra in July, he was contacted by an Executive Director in Perth to ask if he would go the West Coast District for the remainder of 2010. He accepted and has been acting Director for the past 6 months. It has been an interesting experience. Steve will return to Charthouse Primary in 2011 and is looking forward to the return.
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.
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| Paula turns 50! |
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| Steve's 50th. |
Steve and Paula also celebrated 50th birthdays! Wow, where did those years go? Steve spent a weekend in February and Paula a weekend in November celebrating – and why not!!! One night was for our kids and partners, one day for family and one day for a small group of friends. By the end of the weekends we were exhausted but what fun and weren’t we spoilt! We had thought of doing so many things, but in the end were happy with what we did and have planned a trip to Bali next year in May. A belated gift to each other!
Ashleigh turned 19 in September has completed her second year studying Early Childhood Education at Notre Dame University in Fremantle. She loves it and is a natural teacher. After 4 years at Woolworths she landed in her dream job. She works at The Pickled Fairy Shop and The Tea Pot Shop in Fremantle not just on sales, but hosting parties. She hosts Fairy, Mermaid, Teddy, Alice in Wonderland and Missy Cup Cake parties. 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 works at Boost and does regular baby sitting. She has a pretty busy life! She has done well.
Mark completed his apprenticeship in 3 years and is now a qualified Metal Fabricator. All type Engineering where he completed his apprenticeship offered him a job which he accepted. The company were contracted to make all the pipes for the Desalination Plant at Binningup. His boss, Mark and 3 or 4 other men are now working night shifts at Binningup doing the installation. He thinks this will take about 3 months and is away all week returning for weekends. Mark has also just bought a house in Yangebup – not far from home. It is a lovely first home and settlement is December 17th. He turns 21 on December 19th and like David, we are planning on sending him and his partner or a friend to Bali at a convenient time for them both. He has done very well and we are proud of him.
David. After a traumatic 2009 for all of us, his recovery has been nothing but amazing. Long term, David will probably suffer from arthritis and aches and pains we don’t envy, but hey – he is here, doing well and was given the all clear from his Orthopaedic Surgeon Professor Rene Zellwegger to go back to work. He has been advised not to enter professions that require repeated bending, climbing etc. He still suffers from whip lash – but this is becoming less and less. The stent in his heart means he will probably be on his blood pressure medication for life and he still has pain and numbness in his left and right leg that may or may not resolve in time. But he does not have any spinal or brain injury. Not for a moment are we say he is back to normal physically, but pretty good!!!! Now he just needs to find a job.
We went back and forth to court hearings throughout the year to try and see justice and a conclusion for David, but unfortunately the old man who caused the accident has pleaded not guilty and a 2 day court hearing has been set aside for March 2011. He is now 91. We don’t want him to go to jail – we just want him to realise he was at fault and it nearly cost us our son and the lives of three other young people. An apology would have been nice too! We have had nothing. If it had been David who had caused the accident to an elderly person, can you imagine what the outcome would have been? An older person would not have survived. We have been told it was David’s youth and strength that saved him.
David completed a Pre Electrical Apprenticeship and over the next few weeks is sitting aptitude tests and has some interviews coming up for several companies– fingers crossed. The accident actually works against him as you have to fill out quite a comprehensive application and part of it requires a medical background. I think some employers may push it aside and when they see he has been involved in a major car accident. Amazingly, 18 months after his accident, there are moments where emotions are so close to the surface and something so simple can shatter us again. We thank everyone for their very kind thoughts and gift of friendship. We can never thank you all enough.
He has a lovely girlfriend, Sophie, who is English. They met each other late last year. Her plan was to spend the year in Australia staying with her aunt, before returning to England and take up Law at Uni. Her grandmother got sick while she was here and Sophie headed back home. Sadly her grandmother passed away, but Sophie returned in September and has been living with us. She has a visa until April and then is hoping to get a study visa to stay longer.
With Sophie with us over Christmas, and Mark spending his last Christmas with us in our house, we are hoping to make the day a very special one. Once again we all choose what we want to eat. Sophie did mention goose …..
We are heading to Albany after Christmas Day for several days to stay on the farm with Paula’s mum then back to Thomas River east of Esperance with some friends. Hope it doesn’t get to 48 again!
So that is us for 2010. A good year – but a fast one!
All the best to everyone for a safe and Happy Christmas and holiday season and a wonderful 2011.