Melbourne - April 2014

Lindsey moves in, Austin goes on Trek, Natalie comes over, Vern goes the Canberra, Carmen is in Sydney, Austin turns sixteen, Vern sings on ANZAC day and spent a weekend at Phillip Island.    

It was warm on Tuesday the first so the young men had mutual at the Gibbon’s place so they could go for a 
swim. The Elders come over for dinner on Wednesday, Elder Guy came, he is the Zone Leader. He came to our place for dinner when he first came out 18 months ago. Thursday Vern, Ellen and Norell picked me up from Nunawading station and we went to the Temple. We stopped by McDoanlds on the way home and Bishop Corps was there with all the Epping youth.

Friday the forth a few things happened, Carmen went up to Sydney to work at the show with Norell, she will be gone for three weeks. Lindsay McIntyre moved in with us, she has got a job in the new Coburg Woolworths and we had the Barbeque. Vern wanted to have the people who helped her with the Polynesian Culture night over for a thank you.  Matt Sotongi, the Hutchinsons and the Walsh family came over. Dylan, Ellen and Glen were also there. Glen did a great job with the Barbeque.

Saturday after dropping off Austin at work I picked up Dylan in a van that we had borrowed from Norell and we drove out to Geelong to pick up and bed, cabinet and table that Max gave us and were at his mother in-laws. From there it was back to Dylan’s place to drop some of it off. I also mowed there lawn in the back, cleaned out their skylights and fixed Ellen’s draws. When I got home we replace the bed in Austin’s new room which is the big room. They swap rooms during the week which means more rubbish for me to get rid of. It was a productive day.

I had the next week off work. It was the first week of the school holidays and the Trek was on so I thought I would help out. Austin was on it so on Monday we went shopping for trek clothes at Savers, I got myself a nice waist coat. Austin went to stay at Isaac’s place that night so they could catch the train to Ballarat together. From there they got a bus to the farm outside Meredith.

I drove out early on the eighth as I was part of the support crew and as I turned up it started to rain and it didn’t stop until midnight when they walked into their first campsite. I borrowed Abe Mora’s new 4x4 to tow one of the portable toilets around as that was my job. It was great fun sliding around in the mud.  It was a busy day and night and we didn’t get to bed until after two.

The rain wasn’t too bad the next day but it really came down when they had their skit show in the evening at their second camp. When I got back to the farm I stayed up talking to Nick Rouse while giant moths banged against the window.

Thursday it was still grey, and we could see rain around us but it held off until after the testimony meeting which was watched by a Koala in a nearby tree, then it really came down. The trekkers headed back to the farm and I grabbed Austin’s gear then dropped the toilets off at Bannockburn on the way home. Austin came home on the train with the rest of the youth and said that he had a great time. 

Natalie and her friend Tania had come over from New Zealand while we were on camp so Friday night we had a Barbeque and had our kids and Max and Renee come over. I was a good night and Ava is walking now.

The Sun finally came out on Saturday the twelfth so I got the tent dried and the lawns mowed. Vern had to work that night and Austin had an all day shift at KFC so when we watched the Priesthood Session of conference he fell asleep pretty quickly. We all stayed home the next day and watched the Sunday Sessions.

Your Mum, Auntie Nat and Tania headed off to Canberra on Monday and it was the second week of the school holiday’s so Austin spent a far bit of the week at friends or at Dylan and Ellen’s place. That made for a very quite house since you would hardly know Lindsey was here. Since Ellen’s car was stolen she was using the Mazda so that left me without a car which I didn’t need anyway.

I was on a workshop for the first two days back at work starting on the fourteenth. Then when I got to the office on Wednesday they said that management wanted us to take next week off work. The reason being there was only three working days because of Easter and Anzac Day so they thought it would be a good idea to have a long break. They didn’t have to ask me twice.

The Playstation has been randomly turning off which you can imagine is a little frustrating in the middle of a game. So on Thursday evening before Easter Dylan, Austin and I went into Northland and bought a PS4. It took all night to step it up but it is working well now. Austin played the new game we got all the next day. It graphics are even better than the PS3.

Dylan left his car with me and he and Rebecca went up to Canberra with Jaeger for the weekend. It was a mess but he knew I would clean it, which I did. I like cleaning dirty cars; of course you wouldn’t clean a clean car. It was good to have some transport but the weather was rubbish on the Friday. It was good on the Saturday so I went for a drive out to a park in Templestowe and when for a walk. Then I stopped by the Museum of Modern Art in Heidelberg and had a look around the grounds, some of it is interesting.  From there I picked up Austin from a full day at work and we went over to Ellen’s place for dinner.

Austin's Birthday - 16yrs

I had a bad head cold that night and was feeling rotten the next day so I stayed home and Austin went to church with Ellen. I spent the day sleeping and scanning photos (not at the same time). Vern came back from Canberra that night after extending her visit - twice.

Auntie Nat and Tania headed off back to New Zealand early Monday morning. I had the week off but was sick most of the time. It wasn’t so bad since the weather was poor most of the time anyway. When it was sunny on Thursday and I was feeling a little better so I got Vern to drop me off at the Coburg Lake on her way to work. I then walked back home via the Merri Creek.  Probably not a good idea since I still wasn’t a hundred percent so by the time I got home I was pretty done in.

Vern sang the New Zealand national anthem at the dawn service in Reservoir on ANZAC day and that when down well by all accounts. When she got home we headed off to Phillip Island to spend the weekend at the Tempany’s place with them and the Dudfields.  Austin went camping that weekend with his friends.

We had Fish and Chips for lunch at Rhyll then went to Woolamai and the boys rode the boogie boards down the sand dunes. Of course I had to have a go and ended up in the water. Then Warick spotted a Sea Eagle overhead but I wasn’t fast enough with the camera to get a picture. Both he and Elder Dudfield gave me a hard time about that for the rest of the weekend. We had a lovely dinner that evening with the gang and talked around the fire.

The next day it rained in the morning but that didn’t stop us going fishing off the Rhyll jetty. At least it didn’t stop us straight away. The rain wasn’t so bad it was the wind making it come at you horizontally that was the problem. Still Daniel was able to catch one fish before we packed it in.

After drying off we drove into Cowes and had a look through an antique shop that was very interesting. Vern bought herself a hat that she liked and I will leave it at that. That afternoon when the rained stopped we walked out along the beach to Observation Point. It was quite a walk and I was hoping to get some bird photos but they seem to have flown with the wind.

To close off the day Vern and I drove out to the Nobbies to look for penguins. We saw a few in there nesting boxes as they only walk around after sunset. That evening after another lovely meal we watched the Transformer Movie with Adam.

Sunday we headed to the Wonthaggi Branch for church. Since Elder Dudfield was attending he had informed the Branch President some time ago. He had to speak and do some training in a combined Priesthood and Relief Society meeting.  He did a great job and it made for an interesting visit. The Fosters now live down there and so it was good to catch up with them.

We headed straight home after church to get back for a Fireside that Dylan was organising with the Elders Quorum.  He Mum and Austin sang a song and there were speakers and video clips. It was good and a few non-members and less actives came as well.

We had a Regional Training meeting on Wednesday the thirtieth with Elder Hamula and Elder Dudfield. The Stake Centre was packed but Dylan managed to find me because of my gray hair. It was a good meeting and I enjoyed it more because I was sitting next to Dylan.