2 young independents!

Aren't these two something? They are Dylan Scott and Owen Col, our God-Daughter, Lynne, and her husband's identical twins - 4 years old. This photo was taken at an Independence Day picnic on 4th July in New Hampshire. Unfortunately we haven't met them yet as we haven't been back to the USA since just before they were born, but feel we know plenty about them from my conversations with my friend - their grandmother Anne - she enjoys every minute with them, she looks after them a day a week, so Lynne can work. Lynne's brother, Scott (also our Godson) and his wife Jen have just produced a little cousin for these two - Sean Martin.

Daniel Frank Wroe

This little man is now 4 months old, has had a small hernia operation at the Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland, and fortunately his reflux is being sorted, and from the smile in those eyes below, he is a happy young chappy.

Love this big grin!

He might just be smiling a bit more in Auckland than Granddad Frank over here this Saturday, after his All Blacks take on our Wallabies at Rugby!

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Immy and Ethan look ever so confident and happy with their balloons - or is it the potential of a big win?

(4 days later - we were absolutely hammered by the All Blacks - 28 to 49!)

Summer in Montana

I have just received these photos from friends, Lois and Glenn, of their trip to Idaho and Montana a couple of weeks ago - glorious mid summer skies, and still loads of snow - how good is that?.

Entrance to the mining town of Custer, Idaho - named after General Custer in the 1870's.

Colour along the road.

While in the Glacier National Park in Montana they drove the Going-to-the-Sun Road which was completed in 1932 and is a spectacular 52 mile paved road that bisects the park east and west - it spans the width of Glacier NP, crossing the Continental Divide at 6,646 foot high Logan Pass. It passes through almost every type of terrain in the Park, from large glacial lakes (as above) and cedar forests in the lower valleys to windswept alpine tundra atop the pass. The views are incredible. In 1983, Going-to-the-Sun Road was included in the National Regiser of Historic places, and in 1985 was made a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark - quite a road indeed.

Glenn above, and Lois below enjoying this summer snow.

Okay, so this is mid summer - what's the snowplowing situation in the Spring. Well this road is one of the most difficult roads in North America to snowplow each Spring - up to 80 ft (24 meters) can lie on top of Logan Pass, and more just east of the pass where the deepest snowfield has long been referred to as Big Drift. This road takes about 10 weeks to plow, even with equipment that can move 4000 tons of snow in an hour. The snowplow crew can clear as little as 500 feet of the road per day. On the east side of the Continental Divide, there are very few guardrails due to heavy snows and the resultant late winter avalanches that have repeatedly destroyed every protective barrier ever constructed.

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The Going-to-the-Sun road is generally open from early June to mid October, and apparently because it is narrow and winding in parts, vehicle lengths are restricted to 21 ft (6.4m). Quite a conquest in my books.

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It looks and sounded like a trip that we will have to do, along with Yellowstone - just gorgeous really!

Mid winter - "tres" social!

The last few days have been wonderfully social to say the least. On Wednesday evening we went to the Paradise Springs "Christmas in July" dinner at the Golf Club, I had somehow been convinced to do some artwork for their invitations, and there was a large group there!!! Anyway it was a lovely evening, all set up with Christmas Decorations, lights, bon bons etc, the dinner was very traditional, and extra good. To top the night off - we won a raffle prize - yep, Taiko Drum Concert tickets for next Saturday - unfortunately we are busy, so our neighbour Carol is very happy to use the tickets to take a friend.

The following night, we met up with Col and Den, and John from Auckland, at the Southport Yacht Club - great company and a good night, also caught up with some of the Australian American club members. for a quick chat..

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Saturday - Col, Den, Sonia and John came over, and we walked to the Golf Club for lunch, lovely day, and very quiet in the Bistro for loads and loads of chat during our bites!.

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A wedding was due to take place at the Golf Course a bit later.

John, Den and Frank not doing a lot!.

Moi, Sonia and Col at the club.

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We then walked back home for some coffee and super Clifoutis, from the "Montmartre Patisserie" at the Saturday Farmers Market, along with strawberries and cream, again a delightful day of gorging and loads of talk.

Today - Monday, we had another light lunch at the Coolangatta Surf Lifesaving Club with Col and Den, the weather of the day was a little dismal, but guess it is winter, great meal as usual there, we will miss them - they fly back to Auckland tomorrow.

The sea and cloud view from our table at the Club!.

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During all this lovely social stuff, we have been clouded with an extremely boring election "Leader versus potential Leader" - lack of debate, - we have another 4 weeks of this gaarbage!!!! Then on the lighter side, we lost the cricket, won the rugby, have piles of gardening such as mulching to do before Spring, and some other extremely normal stuff - hence enjoying our "social" time with really good company.

The HMB ENDEAVOUR

I have today - after a long walk, spent some time looking into information and photos of Captain James Cook's HMB Endeavour. Why, well it all starts with an email from a good friend, telling me that she has two J.A. Kendall prints of her brother's and our dear friend, Al , who passed away in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in early February. Paula wanted a 3rd print to accompany these two of Al's - she went on line to the artist J.A. Kendall and found this was the most appropriate - see below.

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"The Endeavour - leaving Portsmouth in 1998."

and again in colour

This was the vessel used by Captain Cook to discover Australia and New Zealand (and many other places), and it was her choice as another memory of Al, who adored the sea and sailing, I couldn't help but think, what a choice!

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Some history - Captain James Cook was one of the world's finest explorers and navigators (we are sure), who in 1768, sailed out of Whitby, Yorkshire on The Endeavour, and in 1770 was the first European to sight, explore and chart Australia's east coast - he named the land he found "New South Wales" and claimed it for Britain and King George 111.

Thomas Luny's (1770) drawing of The Endeavour leaving Whitby in 1768, she was originally launched in 1764, and named "Earl of Pembroke, till she was purchased by the Navy and named "The Endeavour".

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Captain Cook was unfortunately killed on his second trip to Hawaii, and the ship was re bought in 1775, name changed again to "Lord Sandwich", and from what I have read there is the belief that she was scuttled in a blockade of Narrangansett Bay, Rhode Island in 1778 - her wreck has not yet been precisely located.

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In January 1988, to commemorate the Australian Bicentenary of European settlement in Australia, work began in Fremantle, Western Australia on a replica of the Endeavour. This replica was commissioned in 1994 - the cost was $17 million. She has nearly 30 kilometres of ropes, and 750 wooden blocks or pulleys The masts and spars carry 28 sails that spread approximately 10,000 square feet of canvas. From 1996 to 2002, she retraced Captain Cook's ports of call around the world, including arriving in the original Endeavour's home port of Whitby.

This photo taken in 1997 as the Endeavour leaves Whitby - people fill the Tate Hill Pier, wind all the way up "199" steps and across the top, and St. Mary's Church flew the Aussie flag out of courtesy! (Another coincidence - yesterday I received an email from Frank's sister and her husband, saying they were leaving for a week's holiday in Whitby this weekend!!!!)

Now it was during her 170,000 nautical miles, twice around the world, visiting 29 countries and Pacific Islands, and opening as a Museum in 116 Ports - she entered Al's home port -Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The actual date was another weird finding - it was - September 11, 1998. I felt quite unusual about this, but then on the happy side, I realised my friend Lois would've been celebrating a certain "important" birthday that very same day, also in New Hampshire. Below is an artist's drawing of her route and crew into Portsmouth 1998.

Below, the Endeavour near the mouth of the Piscataqua River

I read an article by a member of this voyage crew (Ken Anderson) - he says - "with wooden decks and masts, canvas sails and authentic rope rigging, Endeavour sails like her 1768 counterpart. Designed as a collier, she is deep bottomed, broad and bluff in the bow. She rides as solidly as a ship her size could - 500 tons and just over 100 ft long. All original equipment on the ship has been duplicated in complete, working detail, including the cannons. Since cannons are my passion I was thrilled that we had four 4-pounders, made by the Australian military specifically for Endeavour. We fired a salute upon our arrival in Portsmouth."

She's in Portsmouth - 11th September, 1998

Portsmouth's welcome - both the USA and Australian flags were carried, and the Australian Anthem was sung by a Portsmouth School Choir (Where do I get this information, I tried "Seacoast NH".)

In 2005 ownership of The Endeavour was transferred to the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour - below. Because of this we have seen her so many many times, as she is, when not sailing around the Aussie coast.

However, the best of all was when we travelled across the Bass Strait down to Hobart in Tasmania for the 2007 Timber Boat Festival, she was there in all her glory, along with other impressive tall ships, sailing around a magnificent harbour. We took the opportunity of boarding her for a really good look.

The Captain's cabin - below

Well, the Endeavour will mean more than ever now, Al will always be there, and to think his wish was to have his ashes scattered across the sea out of Portsmouth to the Isle of Shoals - this was done just over a week ago.

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On the lighter side of this tribute, there are the different coincidences that seemed to have happened whilst doing this -

. the ship Paula chose to accompany Al's:

. the date the ship entered Portsmouth;

. it was also another friend's big day;

. hearing yesterday that Margaret and Kevin are going to Whitby this weekend;

AND to top it off, when looking through the photos of the Endeavour, I found the following one - where she is docked in 2001 at the Southport Yacht Club on the Gold Coast, and guess what, that is exactly where we are meeting Col and Den (from Auckland) for dinner tonight, the Southport Yacht club - we organised this a couple of weeks ago!!!!

Baseball Win

The "Dodgers" win the Baseball Trophy in St. Paul, Minnesota. Young Jack holds his team's trophy alongside his Dad, Frank's eldest son, David. It won't be long now before Jack trades his baseball kit for skates and his ice hockey gear for his winter activities.

Lake Eyre via Peter Dobre

I received this postcard today from cousin Susan, who has just spent the last 5 days exploring the Flinders Ranges and specifically Lake Eyre while it is enjoying the flood waters from Queensland. She has taken piles of photos from the 3 hour flight over the Lake Eyre region, but this post card has really attracted my attention, as the photo of Lake Eyre under water was taken recently by a brilliant photographer from South Australia - Peter Dobre. WHY - because some years ago my youngest stepson, Ian, sent me a book of photographs by Peter Dobre, obviously knowing my love of photographic works - had another look at it tonight - Peter really knows his art - quite incredible!!!. Fromelle, France, has also caught my attention today in a big way, but back on that tomorrow.

Winter is gorgeous, BUT ANOTHER ELECTION

Winter carries on - have had a week doing all kinds of stuff, a lot in the garden, plenty of walking, and I think a fair amount of sitting as well - that's what the scales say!!!! Yesterday we went to Burleigh Heads, and met Gail and Steve for a light lunch at the Burleigh Head Surf Club, (photo below) they are now members - $11 for 3 years!!!!, then we had a walk along the headland - incredible weather for winter!!! This morning after picking up all kinds of fresh goodies at the Farmers Market at the Turf Club, we went back to Burleigh for yet another walk - incredible to see so many people out, 'specially in the rock pools that just seem to occur with the change of the tide!!!!.

Everybody was enjoying it.

In rockpools.

and pools for little ones. For a late lunch we played around on the barbeque with a pizza for friends, the base cooked by a northern italian from this morning's farmers market - I did add a pile of stuff, including anchovies. olives and an extra array of cheese - it was good!!!.

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Col and Den have arrived in town, so we look forward to spending a few days with them, the resident's Christmas Party is on this Wednesday night, and of course WE ARE HAVING AN ELECTION - 21st AUGUST.

13th JULY, 1985

It is now 25 years (wow, quarter of a century) since my friend Lois and I took off from Mum's cottage at Bowral to Uluru (Ayers Rock) in my farm 4x4 King Cab Ute - (we named her the yellow lady)!!!. The deal was - DEC was holding a Sales Meeting at the newly developed Hotel at Uluru - our husbands were going there for the week, and the wives were to be flown in for the weekend. Fly in - why not drive in, says Lois and I (together). So the plans started.!!!

Huge plans, with some restrictions - no camping - I had already travelled in 1969 in an old Ford Falcon through the red dirt corrugated roads of Queensland and the Northern Territory to Darwin, picking up 2 hitch hikers in Queensland (an Australian Chemist and American Psycho-analist - it was safe to do this 40 years ago) AND WE CAMPED out in the open all the way, unfortunately a snake crawled under one of the sleeping bags one night - so that destroyed any repeat attempts for the rest of my life!!!. I also climbed Ayers Rock in 1969, damn scary!!!. No problem convincing Lois about the "no outside camping"!!!. We agreed our finances would be a shared kitty, (oh and I wouldn't smoke in the truck etc - it's now 13 years this month since I kicked that habit) and the next restriction was to give each other a rest at night - therefore not sharing rooms,; we did stay in some very amusing places to say the least!! Glad we didn't share, as the words on this water tank below, in the middle of nowhere are "Lesbians are everywhere:" Yep, we were in the outback!!!

First night Mildura Grand Hotel ($18 for a caboose!)- not that grand then, incredible now!!! . Anyway Lois and I take off on the same day from Bowral as the wonderful LIVE AID Concerts organised by Bob Geldof, throughout the world, and after 10 hours of driving, the incredible music through the walls of this hotel all night sort of left us wondering where were we going, but good on them, they raised a lot of cash!!

The Murray River was a picture at dawn.

The next night was Mintaro Mews in the Clare Valley Wine District of South Australia, en route Lois wanted to try a great germanic Clare Valley lunch, of course we found a wonderful restaurant, we were serenaded by this young man, and we did lift our glass to all those who had doubted our endeavour. It was getting better via the minute!

Then once we arrived at Mintaro Mews our hostess let us loose - just the most incredible food and service - dinner and brekky.

Yet another decision!!

And her porridge was incredible!

Then on to Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges for the next night, including a good climb around the Pound.

Our climb/walk was at the crack of dawn!!

Our next port of call was the town of Marree - we had a few stops on the way for coffee, checking out some local art made of talcum powder, and many other amusing things.

Security

The Cafe

Oh no!

Well Marree, it is a funny, interesting place, and just by coincidence as I type this blog, 2 of my cousins, Susan, Roslyn and her husband David, are actually staying there tonight and tomorrow night, while they look at Lake Eyre - which is quite full right now, and exploding with wild life. I trust their rooms, and that wonderful "ladies" bathroom have been upgraded by now!!!

Lake Eyre was all salt when we were there !

After that, we drove up through William Creek (3 people live here) and stopped at the Pub for the best hamburger!

Playing with a blue cattle dog at the W.C. Pub - and I have b----y Ugg boots on - goodness me!

Next across to Cooper Pedy - roads were just red corrugated dirt and on many occasions disguised as part of the surrounding terrain - (we questioned a few times - were we still on the road???), no signs, just nothing but the red centre and at times some lovely wildflowers breaking the colour of the earth.

At the dog fence en route to Cooper Pedy!!!

We stayed at Radeka's Underground Motel in Cooper Pedy - the Opal world, incredible experience with everything that doesn't work - we just couldn't stop laughing about our rooms..

Yep, underground!!!

Lois at Crocodile Harry's - part of Mad Max 1 - we think!!!!

After that - on to Marla Bore - interesting stay there, got to chat to the local police!!!.

Then on up to Ularu (the roads were still dirt and corrugated then), when we reached the Northern Territory border, the road changed to bitumen, no we didn't like that so we took a left across Victory Downs Station's dirt roads towards the ROCK!!.

We arrived at exactly the same time the other wives were being downloaded from the Airport bus, they were spotlessly clean, and Lois and I and the yellow lady, were "outback" red, and so very happy with what we and the truck had just done in 7 days. A few years after this trip, Lois wrote about it, I reckon she was in that room of hers every night noting down each day about our incredible experiences. We laughed every day, in fact each day was better than the next, and that was basically all to do with those we met and laughed with, including ourselves, we used to say every night - can it get better, and the next day it did!!!. Some notes from Lois's wonderful reminder of this wonderful journey. The notes started 2 months prior (May 9th, 1985)- "I am flying across Australia en route to Singapore. Beneath me lies the vast Simpson Desert. For three hours we jet over the endless barren landscape, undulating red sand hills, stretching in parallel lines to infinity, punctunated now and then by grey-white patches of dried-up salt lakes, by occasional dots of scrub and trees, and by narrow ribbons of tracks - some leading to an isolated cattle station visible as a cluster of shiny tiny roofs and a small air strip, most just disappearing towards the horizon. This is the "red centre" the "dead heart" of Australia. This is what Liz and I will be traversing by truck in two months time. I am awestruck by its vastness, its desolation, its apparent lifelessness, and for a fleeting moment I question the wisdom of this great scheme of ours. But in the end my enthusiasm is not shaken. On the contrary I feel myself being drawn to this remote land with a compulsion that is stronger than ever. " Lois's words again "Together we discovered that the important thing is not the destination, but the journey." AND WAS THAT THE TRUTH - incredible - not sure our trip home with our partners was as much fun - the yellow lady came back from the Alice on a carriage on the ole Ghan "train" to Port Augusta - back to business and no more adventure".

LOIS AND I ARE REMEMBERING THIS SPECIAL TRIP - SHE IS TOASTING RIGHT NOW IN "BOISE" - IDAHO, USA, and ME ON THE GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA!!! CHEERS KIDDO!!!