2009

Dear Friends,

We are running a little late this year having just returned from a most enjoyable week in Auckland, NZ. Michael was attending his first ASCILITE (educational technology) conference and it is looking like this will be his main research area from now on as he applies his passion for social media to teaching. Because he had to spend the money from his teaching award mentioned in last year's letter we were able to afford a superb apartment on Princes Wharf in Auckland Harbour. With a few days leave after the conference we were able to take a ferry trip or two to islands around the harbour, the volcanic island of Rangitoto being the most impressive. Rangitoto only emerged from the sea 600 years ago and is pure lava. The only downside was the local Auckland virus which we both caught and imported back to the Gold Coast. The direct flights from Coolangatta to Auckland were a real boon.

As it turned out 2009 became our year for visiting 'islands'. Our fly-drive island hopping began in February with a summer trip to northen Tasmania. We were so lucky to find a self-contained cottage at Beauty Point overlooking Dalyrymple Bay on the Tamar. Part of the small Pomona Cottages development our accommodation was superb - so well appointed and with stunning views east across the Tamar to the mountain ranges beyond. Even the weather was kind and we took a large variety of day trips to the surrounding coasts, river banks, wineries and inland lookouts. The local Beauty Point Hotel counter meals were hard to beat and Michael became a Boag's beer drinker.

Throughout the year we continued our short trips to some of our favourite haunts like the Sunshine Coast and hinterland which are within easy drive. This was also the year to check out Sydney again and we decided to concentrate on harbour walks around both North and South Heads, new ground for us. The weather was cool and blustery but ideal for walking. We also spent interesting days with various friends on the Moreton Bay islands of North Stradbroke and Macleay. These are reached by car ferry over short distances from the mainland.

Following his Bond teaching award Michael went on to higher things achieving a national Australia Learning and Teaching Council citation award with a higher monetary value which will hopefully fund a longish overseas study trip in the coming months. We joined the other Queensland winners and partners at a lavish ceremony at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane where the awards were duly presented. It is good to see teaching skills now being valued on a par with research excellence which has always stolen the limelight in the past.

Michael also achieved another personal teaching milestone in May. On the 16th, and to within one day of exactly 20 years, in the same lecture theatre he gave the opening lecture to the same core information technology subject taken by all newly-arrived students at Bond. Telling the students of this historic occasion he hastened to add that the lecture contents had changed considerably in that time! The first lectures in May of the four core subjects were the culmination of a week of celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of Bond University. We now have over 30,000 alumni spread around the globe. Bond also is the highest ranking Australian university in 2009 on a number of counts according to the Good Universities Guide so we have helped build a significant institution.

For over a year Michael has been acting as web master for the Clear Island Waters Action Group (CIWAG) who have been doing all they can to stop a large residential development of the golf course adjacent to where we live at Rhode Island Resort. Our own villa overlooks an internal lake rather than the golf course itself but we still oppose replacing the lovely green space of the course with 1,200 dwelling units up to 9 storeys high housing 3,500 additional residents. CIWAG worked tirelessly to elicit almost 1,500 individual letters opposing the development. We now await the outcome from the Council planning committee and Michael has now resigned from the action group.

So pleased were we with the Beauty Point cottage that we booked another week there in early September, right in the depths of the Tasmanian winter. Fortunately from our previous visit we noted the cottage was well set up for winter including a heat pump and an impressive pot-bellied wood-burning stove in the main living space. Although we had an occasional showery day the weather was kind overall and not too cold for the time of year. After all our 5 years in Tasmania in the 1980s meant we knew what to expect and were not disappointed. We also stocked up on warm clothes from Slaters Country Store in Sheffield south of Devonport. This is a beautiful old traditional clothing store over a century old and always worth a visit. Our trip round the Boag's brewery in Launceston was also memorable.

One visit that Michael would have liked to make was the reunion after 42 years of some of his closest undergraduate friends at their University of Birmingham in November. Nevertheless he was able to chat at length to all of them during the get together courtesy of Skype which was the next best thing to actually being there.

We are now generally fit and healthy once the NZ virus works its way out. Once again we are having a quiet time at home over Christmas and New Year with just the occasional meal with friends at appropriate times. 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

December 2009

From our Auckland Waterside apartment, December 2009

Artemis Cottage, Beauty Point, Tas, February 2009

From Manly Headland, April 2009

From the Gold Coast Sun, July 2009

Looking to Auckland from the top of Rangitoto, December 2009