What a wonderful time to be in Melbourne at autumn - the colours of the trees range from red, yellow, and orange, the sun is warm and the days are mild. Earlier this week we took a ride up Mt Macedon, on the advice of our wonderful host, Julie, to see the "Cross". Well that was a brilliant excursion, the colours of fall were evident everywhere as we drove up the mountain (969m) and the Cross was this huge majestic Cross!
It was a built as a memorial to those who served in WWI - those who served their God, their King and their country - and it was funded totally by a local man who wanted to give some work to the locals in 1936 during the Depression. It is built on the top/side of the hill and can be seen for miles around. It was rebuilt in 1995 after it had startred to deteriorate, and it did get struck by lightning too! Looking at this masterpiece of human acheivement, I considered the reality that this is the true heritage of our great country, we are a land founded on principles of faith, respect for one another, honour and service. This is the legacy we were given and we can only do everything in our ability to make sure this legacy - faith, respect, honour and service - is passed on to those who come after us.
Thursday was another warm day, it got to 28 and we happened to be at the beach in Williamstown and wondered why we didn't bring our bathers to go for a swim! Actually it was because we were heading to the Point Cook RAAF Museum, which was very interesting as it showcased the beginning of the Flying Corps in Australia, this coincided with WWI to which the Australians went as the AFC the Australian Flying Corps before becoming the RAAF before WWII.
They had a great display of information, memorabilia - including a framed Australian flag which was the first Aussie flag to be talken into Germany, it was signed by the men that were in Germany with it - andthere were planes as well. Then we enjoyed a flying display with the pilot flying loops, doing rolls and figure 8's all in small old style plane.
After this it was family time and over to visit Darren's Uncle Roger and Auntie Sandra. We had afternoon tea with them and their daughter Belinda and her children, Dylan and Callum. We enjoyed seeing them and chatting about our time int he east and also their time in the West - and seeing movie footage of the family back home... yes we were very homesick and realized just how fast little Caleb and Isaac are growing up. It was great to see everyone having such a fun time on the bouncy castle, especially Granny and Uncle Roger!
Jerome greatly enjoyed Uncle Rogers extensive library, especially their books on Australian history which helped him with his writing he is doing at the moment on a boy during the Victorian Goldrush era!
We had a bit of rain on Saturday, but typical Melbourne style, it had cleared up by lunch time and was rather hot when the sun came out then! The kids enjoyed gluing the lastest photos in their diaries and having a leisurely play with Angus and Liam around the place here.
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