2004

Dear Friends,

This year has flown by as both of us have been exceedingly busy at work. We only managed one significant holiday, 'overseas' only by counting Bass Strait. All our other breaks have been a series of long weekends exploring Queensland and northern New South Wales. We are still adjusting to not having a boat, but now have a 4WD to compensate. On our various trips it became apparent that off-road capability was the only way to see some of the wilder and more interesting areas. Driving the long, deserted beaches is also a very popular pastime in Queensland, particularly the 2000 km of beaches north of us to the tip of Cape York.

Our German friends, Tina and Wolfgang, have always expressed an interest in seeing Tasmania after hearing so much about it from us. In February we took advantage of the cheap Virgin Blue airfares to make a lighting 10-day trip around the state. We stayed at four centres to see as much as we could in a few days; Hobart, Queenstown, Burnie and Swansea. Luckily the rain was completely absent even in Cradle Mountain (this is the first time Margot and I have actually seen the top of the mountain). Our art deco apartments in central Burnie were a real find. It was there we enjoyed some enormous crayfish (large lobsters for our UK friends) fresh off the boat from Stanley. It was a hectic trip but most enjoyable, especially the many new tourist facilities developed since we lived there. Being back in Tasmania has rekindled our never dormant attraction to the state, and we are planning a five-week trip back there starting just before Christmas.

Our previous boating time in now mainly devoted to cycling to which the Gold Coast region is ideally suited, being mainly reclaimed swamp, extensive canals and their pathways and low beach sand dunes. I now manage an early morning 10 km round trip to Broadbeach and back a few times a week. With a high-tech Swedish bike rack on the back of the 4WD we can now take the bikes long distances to enjoy new rides. We are even intending to take them along as we drive the 2000 km down to Tasmania (via ferry) in 10 days' time.

One of the new developments I have been involved with is incorporating industrial training from Microsoft into some of our academic subjects. To do this I have to achieve Microsoft certification myself. We had a rare extended trip to Sydney in September so that I could attend a training course while Margot enjoyed being a tourist. Our apartment on the edge of Sydney Harbour at McMahon's Point had a magnificent view of the harbour bridge, and being only 200 metres from a ferry terminal allowed us to go everywhere by ferry. It was a great experience. Subsequently I became a student again and managed to pass my exam to become a Microsoft Certified Professional in web applications. During our last semester I taught the same material to my own students. Next week, some of them take the optional Microsoft exam and, hopefully, achieve certification in their turn. Adding such industrial certification to their university degree should make the students more attractive to employers. On top of this I have become a director of a new research centre specialising in projects on connected communities which takes up quite a bit of my time as it becomes established.

Margot continues her work on our family history. Our wider family tree has grown to number just under 5000 people and back to the mid 17th century. Just last week she traced a relation by marriage on her side to be the publisher and founder of Whittaker's Almanac, namely Joseph Whittaker. While in Sydney we were able to find the grave of my great great aunt Ellen who emigrated to Australia in 1912. She was buried in Rookwood cemetery in 1918. It was her nephew, Robert, my great uncle, who came with Ellen to Australia who subsequently joined the ANZACs and died at Gallipoli that started Margot on her apparently unending quest.

At work, Margot has been busy often 6 days a week managing the move of over 1000 of her Council staff colleagues to new office space. As the change management facilitator for IT infrastructure she designs and plans for over 40 sites around the Gold Coast Council region, the second largest local council in Australia after Brisbane. Needless to say, she has been looking forward to our long break for several months.

After yet another hectic year we are both looking forward to some relaxing, cooler weeks in Tasmania. We hope that you have an enjoyable festive season, and send you our very best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year.

Margot and Michael