2006

Dear Friends,

As we were looking back over our photos for the year we realised it has been a placid one when judged by our activities and travels. This is in contrast to our extra business at our places of work where the pressure seemed relentless.

We began the year in a mirror image of 2006 with a Tasmanian visit although a much shorter one this time. Trying to reduce the driving involved we made the fortuitous decision to take the drive-on ferry from Sydney to Devonport for the first time. This 24-hour mini-cruise takes in the sights of Sydney Harbour, passing through The Heads, and the Furneaux Group of islands in Bass Strait. The ship itself was excellent and we found it a convenient way to reach Tasmania. Sadly too few other people agree and the ferry service was terminated in September when by coincidence we were in Sydney again and glimpsed the ship the day before her final voyage.

After a couple of days in Burnie in our favourite art deco apartments we treated ourselves to Christmas at the Moorilla Winery chalets with spectacular views of the Derwent. Claiming to be in the top ten accommodation locations in Australia our peace was shattered by the live music of two weddings on successive nights not 50 metres from our chalet door! Leaving Hobart hurriedly we sought the tranquil banks of the Tamar at Dilston just north of Launceston. We then spent a most enjoyable few days in the Tamar region. One of our visits was to the museum at the Beaconsfield gold mine soon to reach global prominence with the protracted but successful rescue of two miners. Needless to say we followed the rescue along with Australia and the world with more than usual interest. Our hasty departure from Hobart prevented us looking up old friends but we expect to be back in January 2008.

Our more normal regular weekend trips in past years were partly driven by the need to put on at least 15,000 km each year in Michael's university leased vehicle. We chose to revert to our own private cars this year so our trips have reduced somewhat. We had an enjoyable drive down to Wagga Wagga for Michael to attend CodeCampOz with a bunch of Australia's professional software developers. On our return journey we caught up with some retired Bond colleagues on the NSW Central Coast.

This year saw the advent of Michael's significant birthday. Not being in favour of big celebrations of any kind we partied with some neighbours who are part of our regular weekly bbq group, and a couple of other low-key occasions.

By chance we became enamoured with the Sheraton in Noosa to our north and eventually made three trips there, one for a conference. Even though Noosa is becoming a miniature Gold Coast we have thoroughly enjoyed the river trips, beach and park walks and the trips to the inland lakes and lookouts. The major roads to the Sunshine Coast are also much improved so travelling time is more reasonable.

Margot's department at the GC Council underwent a major restructure this year but she survived as a one-person unit. This suits her very well and gives her a welcome degree of autonomy. She is able to vary her tasks and is able to tour the fifty or so office and depot locations as she weaves her microwave and fibre networks across the region. The constant stream of new library and relocation projects, a couple just a block or two from Bond, keep her ultra busy.

She has continued her family history research going at a good pace and from time to time we publish the family tree on the web (linked from our home page at http://mrees.net). A couple of emails a week from across the globe now reach her with queries from people with family links to entries in our family tree. Just last week she hit the unexpected 24,750 person limit of her genealogy program. As you might imagine the search for alternate software that has a higher limit and can import the considerable detail is underway, and is proving traumatic!

Michael's work in the new super-faculty of Business, Technology and Sustainable Development has stabilised this year. Information technology student numbers are on the rise again albeit slowly. A new head of the IT School, Iain Morrison, has been appointed and is now spurring the research activity after the inevitable major revision of the computing degree and major subjects.

Another of Michael's new interests is his catching the blogging bandwagon. He has been keeping his own blog since the start of the year, and over the last two semesters has been introducing blogging to his students as part of the subject assessment. Surprisingly not all students have taken to blogging, probably since it requires some skills in written communication, something IT students often find difficult.

Podcasting has also become very significant for Michael whose iPod Nano is now completely dedicated to holding audio podcasts mainly taken from information technology sources. He is constantly listening while travelling to work and during his solo almost daily cycling to the beach and back. Margot's Nano by contrast is full of British radio comedy with Dad's Army and Yes Minister featuring prominently.

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

Anne Bay, Green Point, NW Tasmania, December 2005

Riverbank Cottages, Dilston, Tasmania, January 2006

Michael's significant birthday at Rhode Island

Aboard the Noosa River Ferry