SPRING IN MELBOURNE

Jerome writes:

On Sunday the sun came out at last! We wanted to make the most of it, so we went to the beach in the suburb of Frankston, it reminded us a bit of Fremantle. Quite a few other Melbournians had the same idea, so it was busy, but we enjoyed the sunny weather and walking on the beach.

On Monday, we went for a drive up through the Dandenongs to the Tesslar Tulip festival. We stopped on the way at the Grants picnic ground, a place were you can feed the parrots and birds. We got out and put bird seed in our hands and stood still and the birds landed on us to eat the seed! This place was even more significant to us because when we came to Melbourne eight years ago, we came and fed the birds here as well, Joise was only 2 and I was 4 and I remember a bird landing on my head! We fed the sulphur crested cockatoo's and some lovely green and red parrots.

Then we drove on up to the the tulip festival, which it had a Dutch theme, of course. We walked through the fields of brightly coloured tulips and we loved seeing God's creativity to make so many different vibrantly coloured flowers. The property was bought by a couple who had immigrated from Holland in the 1940s. They planted tulips, which were very novel and interesting to the local Aussies back then. The property is now owned by their son. It was a great day.

We drove down to Geelong on Tuesday and we think we've found the biggest caravan park in Australia, with about 500 sites and an extra 300 overflow sites for the peak season - and funnily only about 10 sites are being used at the moment! Which means we have nearly exclusive use of the wonderful playground here!

Today we went to the Ford discovery centre and we learned about how they make Ford cars at their massive factory in Geelong. The company was started by Henry Ford, who designed his first automobile in 1896 called the Quadracycle. He then started the Ford motor company in the very early 1900s and he was known for starting the production line. Every car the company produced came in any colour you liked, as long as it was black! Today, the Ford factory produces one car every one minute and uses 70,000 tons of steel! We finished the afternoon by having lunch on the foreshore with our bollard friends and watched a storm roll in over the bay.

Birch's and Birch's in Gippsland region

It's been a while since we have blogged and we have certainly had such a great time with Darren's folks. Leaving Melbourne we travelled out to the Gippsland area and stayed near Morwell where Meg spent her growing up years. We travelled through some beautiful green hilly countryside (which reminded us alot of Tasmania) and found a super Bakery at Mirboo North and conveniently we were just in time for lunch! That was a lovely day as we enjoyed places Meg went to as a child. Mirboo North also had the biggest slide we have seen on our travels so far - unfortunately I forgot the camera that day, ahhh!

The next day we went for a drive to Tarra Bulga National Park, which was really COLD, but undeterred we went for a walk to the swinging bridge, dodging from tree fern to tree fern to avoid the rain! Then we had lunch in the shelter heating up some soup and enjoying the peacefulness of the forrest, especially when the sun came out briefly to warm us up a little.

At the end of the week we headed to Philip Island and it was a nice trip south and then along the coast on a grey cool day. The kids all like riding with Granny and Granny and Grandad have stayed. On Philip Island we stayed at the Amaze n Things Van park which had a maze, mini golf and a great playground on site. On the Saturday, we went down to Nobbies Point (the only free thing we could find!!) and learnt about whales, penguins, seals and the southern ocean, as well as bought a few memorabilia items in the gift store - the kids enjoyed spending a little money that Granny and Grandad had given them - and we took a walk along the boardwalk where the Silver Gulls were all nesting. We spotted lots of little chicks and that was a really interesting and enjoyable walk.

It was home in the afternoon to watch the football grand final where I made some sausage rolls and we made some mini pies too for lunch (we consumed a sum total of 90 pies and sausage rolls between us, all very mini ones of course! And that was lunch, afternoon tea and dinner!) And after all that there wasn't even a result to the final and they had to go back and play it all over again. The pie eating was worth it though, hee, hee.

Last Sunday was a sunny day on Philip Island, sun, something we hadn't seen for some time, so, after our morning church we drove to Rhyll, north east corner of the Island and went for a walk, made dandelion chains and enjoyed the weather outdoors. When we got back we went down to the puzzle shop and cafe and tried the outdoor puzzles in the playground, these kept us occupied for some time. Then we all finished our time together with Fish and Chips by the beach. We have been really thankful for the time we could have with Dad and Meg and, as we were feeling a bit homesick, it was just what we needed to keep us going for another few months!

Monday saw us say goodbye to Grandad and Granny and they headed back to Melbourne for a day trip to Ballarat and some more family time, and we headed to Dandenong where we have based ourselves for the last week. During this week we have been blessed to go to the IBLP seminar (Institute of Basic Life Principles). The children attended the CI (Children's Instititue), which was led by our friends, the McKennas, and they had a SUPER time learning songs, memory verses, stories and doing activities. Darren and I were refreshed and encouraged as we listened to the 32 hours of solid Bibilcal teaching on seven principles - Principles of Design, Ownership, Responsibility, Authority, Freedom, Suffering and Success. What a wonderful week it has been.

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.

GREAT FUN WITH GREAT FRIENDS

Jerome writes:

We had a great day celebrating Molly's 6th birthday last Tuesday. We had pancakes for morning tea in the camp kitchen of the caravan park, and everyone there sang "Happy Birthday" to Molly! Then we went to an awesome playground. We spent some time there, running to the car to avoid the rain and then enjoying the sunshine that followed. After that we came home for a swim in the pool and spa, then we had a nice dinner and invited another family to come and have ice creams with us for dessert (we had helped them celebrate their daughters 5th birthday the day before!).

We enjoyed the sunny weather of Merimbula until Friday and then we headed south out of New South Wales and along the east coast of Victoria. We suddenly realised we were travelling west and there was a cheer as we realized that it is pretty much all westward from now!

We stayed a night at a showground in the town of Sale, then on Saturday, we headed on to visit the McKenna's, some friends of ours that moved to Victoria four years ago, they used to go to Livingstone when it first started. We planned to stay at the McKenna's a couple of nights and we drove off road and up hill and down to find their place. Their property is set amongst rolling green hills and pastures, with a river that winds its way at the bottom of the hills, it is a beautiful place, a real sanctuary of peace.

It was great to catch with with the McKenna's, all their children have grown up so much since we saw them last. We played lots of games together and one game I played a game with Joise, Hannah, James and Isaac is called the 60 seconds tabletop game, you had to speak continuosly for a minute on a certain topic, without saying 'um' or 'ah' or pausing. There were some great topics, including 'Excuses for being late' and 'What to do when you're stuck in an elevator'!

The McKenna's have quite a zoo, including 6 cats, two dogs, cows, 2 bunnies, and chickens! On Sunday, we had a fellowship time with them in the morning, which was great. The kids all play a musical instruments, James and Danielle play the piano, Hannah plays the flute and Isaac plays the violin.

We went for walks up and down hill being careful not to touch the electric fences that kept the cows in! We felt we were very blessed to spend time with such great people and enjoy the fellowship of likeminded godly friends who inspired us and with whom we enjoyed lots of fun.

Heading South

Jerome writes:

Leaving Canberra last Monday, we went up to Goulburn. We stopped at the Big Merino sheep and we went to the Trappers bakery, which had won an award for the Most Successful bakery in NSW. We stayed the night at a lovely caravan park, which had a G-scale garden train. The manager collected the trains and his wife built the buildings and track. That was certainly one of my favourite caravan parks!

We left Goulburn the next day, and we travelled to Batemans Bay. We had to slowly traverse down Clyde Mountain, which took a toll on our brakes, but we made it! Batemans Bay was a beautiful town, set on the coast. The caravan park we stayed at was by the beach, so we spent an hour building a sand city that we called Pebbleville! I really wanted to go swimming, but Mum said no.

Some of us were not feeling that well, so we hung around the caravan park for most of our time in Batemans Bay. We departed Batemans Bay on Friday, and we went further down the coast to the town of Bega, famous for the cheese it makes. We stopped for lunch at the cheese factory, then we headed half an hour down the road to Merimbula.

We parked at a great caravan park, and even though it was windy and cold, there was an indoor swimming pool that we went swimming in. The next day, we went to the Merimbula Ice Creamery to award Grace for winning our family football tipping competition, she chose the Death by Chocolate ice cream sundae and was kind enough to share some with us all! Well done Grace! That night, the wind howled badly, but luckily, the caravan park was pretty sheltered, so we didn't cop the worst of the wind.

We really know that God led us to this caravan park, as there have been many other places around that have suffered with high winds and flooding, but we have remained safe and mostly dry. We spent Father's Day hanging around, Dad read the paper and listened to the football, we went swimming and enjoyed the sun that came out. The caravan park provides a free morning tea of pancakes, so today we enjoyed some of those too!

We took a drive to Eden, further south along the coast and enjoyed a walk to the lookout, it would be good to see some whales as we are told they are heading south now, but we didn't see any today. The weather is still cool, but we enjoyed swimming in the pool at the caravan park which is at 27 degrees, and the spa is 38 which is really warm.

We are looking forward to seeing Grandad and Granny in Melbourne in a week, that will be great.