Birthday Boy

It is just a year now since we moved into, and camped in this house and arrived home to find a lovely welcome letter and bottle of red at our front door - they were from Kumi (Kumiko) and Bob, our next door neighbours and the Paradise Springs Residents Association. Yesterday it was Bob's birthday, and Kumi had invited us in (along with 16 others) for a celebration lunch - what a tremendous afternoon, and such an interesting crowd.

Bob's celebration "ice cream" cake!

Kumi is an Opera Singer, but late yesterday she played her baby Grand and sang some soft ballads for us.

Bob accompanies her on the singing tours in Japan

And is quite a showman himself

A truly delightful afternoon, great food all prepared by Kumi, super company and we loved the last minute entertainment.

Another weekend has flown by

Time seems to be flying again this month. We had a really pleasant weekend, starting off on Friday with lunch at Ailsa and Rod's place, just south of Brisbane - we took up both Aunts. The lunch (salmon steaks along with ambrosia for dessert) was super.

Rod doing the honours.

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Loads of talk on travel and swapping books - Ailsa and Rod take off for France and England in October for a month, and of course are looking forward to spending time with their eldest daughter, Jo (my oldest God daughter). Think the 3 of them will concentrate on the very south of England this time, and then Ails and Rod will stay with friends in their cottage in the Dordogne - we had quite a bit of information and many photos on this area, as in May 2003 we spent about 3 weeks in this province - Ian and Sarah drove across from England and joined us in an old farmhouse for a week.

The old Farmhouse

The farmhouse had a pool for Sarah and Ian to enjoy during this part of their honeymoon!

Ian and his Dad in Brantome, Dordogne

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Saturday, a gardening day - did loads of stuff, now we just have to order in the mulch and spread that. That evening we watched those Kiwi "All Blacks" demolish the"Wallabies" yet again!!! Sunday morning we trotted off to the Farmer's Market, picked up some goodies and came back home for lunch with Gail and Steve. The day was very pleasant - we ate outside, making up our own pizzas which were super, and finished off again with clafouti from Montmartre. It was a great afternoon - Gail and Steve travel south for a month on Friday to look after 2 of their grandchildren, while their youngest daughter completes her Nursing exams.

Since Monday it has been raining, the garden needed it, so we are just doing some internal catching up. We did go to the movies yesterday and saw "The Special Relationship" (the Blair/Clinton story). Both of us really enjoyed it - the actor who plays Tony Blair is excellent.

Jack Wroe

Jack - the eldest grandson, who turns 10 next week, had a visit to Warwick Castle during his holiday in England - looks like he was enjoying this little bit of history.

All dressed up for a Joust

And then some archery

Now back home to the USA, School and more Ice Hockey

JACK - HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR NEXT WEEK!

Red Centre flora and reflections

Lisa has just emailed photos she took of wildflowers which are starting to flourish in the Red Centre. This particular one is named the "cattle bush" and I believe it is also sometimes called "camel bush" The colour looks stunning against the back drop of the MacDonnell Ranges around Alice Springs.

Bees are happy too!

And peaceful reflections along the Llparpa Claypans

Ta Lisa, I never get tired of our Red Centre.

Captain James Cook - and Whitby, Yorkshire.

There is a rhyming Aussie slang - the expression "Have a Captain Cook" means "Have a good look"! Well that is the truth!.

This he did!

In the map above - the red is his first trip, the green is his second, the blue is his 3rd, and the dashed blue is his crew's course after he was killed in Hawaii.

King George 111 presented this Logo to Captain Cook's widow in 1785 to be borne by his descendents and placed on any monuments.

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Over many years we have seen so many monuments to this incredible explorer, in Anchorage, Alaska overlooking the Cook Inlet onto Mount Susitna in 1996!

In 2006, we toured north Queensland, spending a lot of time in Cooktown, where Captain Cook spent some weeks repairing the Endeavour - Yes, the River is named the Endeavour.

Frank checking out the Memorial

Everywhere we go, he has been there before us, even here there is the Captain Cook Memorial Lighthouse at Point Danger, overlooking Cook Island, and so it goes on - he was an incredible sailor and explorer!!.

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The Captain's own turf - his monument in his starting place - Whitby!

Frank's sister, Margaret and her husband Kevin, have just had a week in Whitby with their family. Whitby is basically the home of Captain Cook, and I believe his 4 ships were built here, anyway it caused this Aussie "to have a good look"!

Whitby Harbour and Pier

And the Heather Moors of North Yorkshire (heather still reminds me of Mum and her love of Highland Dancing.)

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The Faulkners arrive!.

Marg and Kev's sons, L to R - Nick, Dan, Matt and their grand kids Jack and Emily. L to R. Clare (the newest Mrs Faulkner) and Abi, Matt's fun partner. Clare and Nick were married in a helicopter above the lights of Las Vegas. They will celebrate this with many others at their favourite Pub in Sheffield early September, unfortunately we have had to decline, we won't be able to make it, but our thoughts will be with them, we will toast them and remember New Years Eve (2008/2009) in Sydney's Botanic Gardens - with Nick, Clare and her family.

Uncle Nick and Jack on the hunt for crabs!

Emms - Whitby's beach babe!

Sunday's feast

We relaxed and did very little on Friday and Saturday, with the exception of watching a rather sad rugby match where the Kiwis annihilated Oz. Sunday we went to Gail and Steve's for lunch. A lovely day, there were 11 of us, as Petrina (Gail and Steve's eldest daughter) flew up from Sydney for the weekend. Steve really excelled with his barbequed racks of lamb, along with Petrina's delicious berry sauce, he also made a rather nice lemon meringue pie -we really did eat very very well - it was a super few hours.

Alex was delighted as he had just got his Driver's Licence on Friday - Sue and Ash now have their own driver!! Maddie still has to sit for hers.

Petrina continues with her aversion to blue cheese (which Gail served on Sunday as one of her entrees), I tried to introduce Petrina to it at the White Horse Inn in Berrima when she was 14, she always reminds me of this fact!!! Apparently I did the same to my eldest God daughter Jo, (now based in London) when she was 14 too - why I felt it was necessary to subject these young ones to "blue cheese" I really don't know!!. In fact I think I took Jo to her first Mexican restaurant 25 years ago as well, that was an eye opener for her then - currently she travels all over the world with her job - her diet is quite varied now - not sure about the blue cheese though!!!. We are off to have lunch with Jo's parents (Ailsa and Rod) this coming Friday.

The cousins (L to R) - Lachie, Petrina, Maddie and Alex

It was great to catch up with Petrina again, and hear about her different travels, last one was to Jordan, Oman and Syria. Next she is going back to India (Madras) for the 3rd time to a friend's traditional wedding - should be really interesting. She is a top photographer, has entered some National Geographic Photography competitions. We caught up with her again on Monday over at Runaway Bay, before she flew back to Sydney in an appalling storm!.

Another from Montana

Yes a "Mountain Goat" from Montana - Lois forwarded another photo from their trip today. There is a story here -' while they were driving up the "Going-to-the-Sun Road" this young creature meandered across in front of them to some high ground with the appropriate backdrop and stood patiently for some photo shots' - true! I have seen a few of these mountain goats before in the Canadian Rockies, but from a great distance, can't say any have actually stood on a scenic rise for me to click a photo or 10 - good one Lois! I decided to find out a bit more about this breed - as goats are my very favourite animal, and after farming them for some 15 years, they still really interest and amaze me. This particular goat is a large hoofed mammal, found only in North America (Rocky Mountains and Cascade Range regions), it resides at high elevations and is a sure-footed climber, resting on rocky cliffs so that predators cannot reach, it is often referred to as the Rocky Mountain Goat. Now what amazed me is that it is not a member of Capra, the genus of true goats; it belongs to the family of Bovidae which includes antelopes, gazelles and cattle!!! However it is in the subfamily of Caprinae (goat-antelopes) with 32 other species including true goats, sheep, the chamois, and the musk ox. These mountain goats are the largest mammals found in their high-altitude habitats which reach elevations of 13,000 feet or more. This critter is maybe of little interest to most, but to me the goat is a pretty smart and intelligent creature!

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!!!!