Hi All,
I hope
this finds you all feeling fit and well.
Our
holiday in Sydney was fine. We went to the Technology & Maritime museums,
had a day out on the ferries, went to Manly, went to the Opera House & the
Botanical Gardens, watched fireworks & a Regimental band concert, visited
the Museum of Contemporary Art & the Art Gallery NSW, and did a tiny bit of
shopping.
We went
on board the replica HMB Endeavour - specifically commissioned by the
Australian Maritime Museum - which was really interesting. We hadn't realised
that the original vessel had been converted from a coal cat collier to a South
Pacific exploration vessel; 96 officers & crew lived on board with very,
very tight space below decks. Jan was walking almost bent double in many
places. Lots of opportunity for head-cracking! Cook's original vessel went down
off Rhode Island USA in 1778 blockading the French, and the replica Bark was
finally commissioned in 1994. The only structural differences between the
replica and the original are the timbers and the metals used. If you are
interested, go to http://www.anmm.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=439.
We saw a
camera that we will think about buying (Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18), but we
decided we could buy it more cheaply in New Zealand. Once we get a chance to
catch our breath we will start having a look around.
We walked
at least 5k each day - and some days were double that, which was great.
However,
we both came back from Sydney feeling tired! It was fairly hot over there, but
we came home to the same temperatures here. It was 29 degrees inside here on
Sunday evening, in the hall (one of the cooler parts of the house), with all
the curtains having been closed against the sun and the windows open all day.
Summer is apparently with us.
This week
we are back into Xmas function mode; tonight we had a Catamaran harbour cruise
for the Business Development Company (whose Board I chair), which was just
lovely. Tomorrow night we are meeting Jenny L at the airport for a coffee &
then have my brother's partner Donna's birthday party. Then Thursday night we
have Dawn coming around for drinkies & a catch up. Saturday night we have
"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" night organised with the Rotary club -
goodness knows where we are going! - and next Tuesday night we have the Chamber
of Commerce Xmas do. Next Weds is the Career Practitioner Association Xmas do;
Thursday is Rotary's Xmas do and Friday we have been invited to the Independent
Electrical Merchants' Xmas dinner. So far, the week starting the 10th we have
nothing on aside from coming to Wllg on the Friday!
I am flat
out at present preparing for delivering a semester's study in just eight weeks.
At least it looks like I will only have a dozen students, which will be nice.
Jan is busy at work commissioning some new machinery so that is keeping him
busy too.
We would
love to catch up with any of you who are in Wllg on Saturday December 15th at
Clarks in the Library for lunch at 12.30pm. We were going to try & organise
a BBQ at Sonia & Guy's new house, but we simply don't have enough time as
we have to be at a ballet recital somewhere in central Wllg for Lara by 4pm.
Let us know if you can make it! We would love to see you all.
There are
no other trips away planned for this year - we will have to get down to Chch
sometime before Easter, but we will leave organising that until after the silly
season.
Take care,
all of you. Alles liebe :-)
Sam & Jan
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