Melbourne with Dad and Meg

Jerome writes:

After leaving the McKenna's last Monday, we drove to the Crystal Brook holiday park in Melbourne, the weather was grey, wet and still cold. The next day, we were very excited to see Granny and Grandad at Uncle Alistair's house. They arrived on Monday night, and it was great to catch up with them! On Wednesday, we caught the train from Hiedelburg into the city for an MCG tour. Granny, Grandad, U. Alistair and A. Michelle joined us. We got to go onto the field and sat on the bench! Then we went way up to the top of the stands, into the massage rooms and the coaches box.

Our tour guide was very interesting and and well informed, he was a MCC member and LOVED the cricket, they have some really nice facilities in there. The largest MCG crowd ever was when the preacher Billy Graham held a gathering there. 140,000 people were there, a record that will most likely stand forever as they had seating all over the ground and lots of people standing, which they don't usually do now. We spent the afternoon at the National Sports Museum, before catching the train home.

On Thursday it was my birthday! We planned to have a picnic at Emerald Lake Park in Dandenongs, but as the weather was cold, wet and drizzly, we changed plans and had lunch with the McKenna's at the ATI centre in Lilydale, then we went for a drive through the Dandenongs on the way home, and we had hot chocolate drinks at a lovely restaurant in the quaint town of Emerald - it acutally hailed briefly when we were there, that is how cold it was!

On Friday, we went to the Prespetyrian Ladies College (PLC). Granny went to PLC in 1966. We went on a tour and even found Grannies name on the prefect board. That evening, we went to U. Roger's house for dinner and to watch the preliminary final football.

Saturday was a great day!! We went for a ride on the Puffing Billy steam railway in the Dandenongs. U. Roger, Matt and the boys and Granny and Grandad joined us for the ride. The jouney started at Belgrave and wound its way through the beautiful fern gullies and fields to its terminus at Gembrook. It was freezing (5 degrees), so we had lunch by the fire. We returned back to Belgrave by 5:00, it was a big day. I enjoyed hanging my legs out the window as we travelled and listening the shrill whistle of the steam engine as it echoed through the hills. Puffing Billy is definitely the highlight of the trip for me!

Monday, we drove down to Morwell in the Gippsland area, Granny and Grandad with us. We are spending a few days in Granny's home town of Morwell, she is going to show us where she grew up. We drove by her old house, which unfortunately was somewhat derelict, where Granny went to school and high school (both have been bulldozed for future redevelopment) and church. As we went, we realized it is good to remember we can't go back to times past, but we can remember the happy memories and that it is the PEOPLE that make our lives what it is, not necessarily the places. We were also reminded of Colin's song, "It's all gonna fade, its all gonna rust, its all gonna turn to dust, the stuff of this world gonna be trashed, only the things of the Lord will last." As such, let us put our efforts into that which will have eternal value, rather than the temporary things of this world.

Today we went to Powerworks, the 70x20km coal seam that is being mined, crushed and burnt to turn the turbines that produce the electricty for 2million homes in Victoria. It is a huge operation which tries to satisfy our continual lust for power! All very interesting and educational.