2014

Dear Friends,

A year ago we embarked on Christmas Eve from Sydney aboard Seabourn Odyssey to spend Christmas and New Year on our first cruise. With our friends Bev and Dud we had a wonderful time and amply celebrated the important dates as well as our 46th wedding anniversary. After Melbourne and Hobart we crossed the formidable Tasman to NZ. Of the several cities and locations Stewart Island, Akaroa, Picton and Tauranga were highlights before disembarking at Auckland.

Not long after our return it was time to drive down on what has become our annual visit to Tassie. This year we stayed a week in Stanley where the visit to the mouth of the Arthur River on the west coast was memorable. A surprise was in store for us as we drove to Burnie one day. There amongst the wood chip piles we came across by chance the ship we had left a couple of weeks previously. The Odyssey was returning to Sydney calling in at Burnie this time.

For the last weeks of our Tassie stay we were at our favourite cottage at Beauty Point north of Launceston. Michael had taken his radio-controlled Laser yacht and was able to sail with the Northern Tas Radio Yacht club on Lake Trevallyn each week. We did our usual trips east, west and south taking in several events like Festivale, the wooden boat festival and our first visit to the penny farthing races at Evandale.

We have given away visiting wineries and this year concentrated on cider and whisky. Cider production is blossoming and believe it or not Tas now has a 'whisky trail' taking you to several distilleries producing on a commercial scale. Tas whisky is winning awards internationally but is somewhat over-priced. Our vote goes to the Hellyers Road Distillery in Burnie with an excellent single malt with a hint of peat and whose visitors centre is magnificent.

Returning home we were glad to have missed out on the hot humid SE Qld summer months. Michael then began his mentoring period to complete his Justice of the Peace training despite delays caused by a paucity of mentors. This allows him to sign on a regular basis in Justice Centres usually located in the shopping malls. He has had a regular 4-hour slot at Robina Town Centre and occasionally fills in at the Southport Magistrates Court where the more interesting court and police documents appear for signing. With a couple of weeks to go to Christmas he has now seen just over 1,000 clients in the last six months or so. It has not taken long for him to be drafted as the webmaster for the Gold Coast Justices Association web site which needed a complete replacement.

Mid-July saw in our 30 years since migrating to Australia. To mark the actual day and to simulate UK conditions we spent a few days in Stanthorpe on the border with NSW. It has an altitude of 1000 m and we needed to huddle around the log fire in our cottage and venturing out on a few bracing walks with friends. We did buy an excellent sculpture of a frill-necked lizard by an indigenous artist at the Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery that now provides us a good memory of our first 30 years in Australia.

The Australia National RC Laser Championships were held at Michael's home sailing club at Emerald Lakes on the Gold Coast in late July. Being on the organising committee brought added pressure but he managed to finish 11th out of a field of 24 which was a significant improvement on last year in Adelaide.

Another tick off the bucket list happened the day after Michael's birthday when we embarked on the aging Lady Brisbane for the 6-hour trip on inland waters and Moreton Bay to the cruise ship terminal on the Brisbane River. The cruise took in waterways very familiar to us from our boating days but the intervening decade has seen major developments, not least of which is the massive new Port of Brisbane, now the second largest in Australia.

Our main 30-years-in-Oz celebration was a trip on the Indian Pacific train from Sydney to Perth. It was 3 nights and days of luxury travel with side trips at Broken Hill, Adelaide and Kalgoorlie. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and the Nullarbor was mesmerizing with subtle changes in vegetation every 50 km or so, far from the boring vista others had led us to expect.

We followed this with a week in Fremantle which was another great tourist experience. We ventured 100 kms north along what is now being called the Sunset Coast and were astounded at the huge pace of housing developments and new townships springing up. It brought us memories of our own Gold Coast perhaps a decade and a half ago.

Margot's ever-changing garden of bromeliads and ongoing and continuing genealogy research keep her very busy. She discovered that at 03.31 on 1 December my ANZAC great uncle Robert Sowerby's name was projected on the outside of the Hall of Remembrance at the Australian War Memorial. This is a new activity with the names of the fallen repeating about once a month. The next sensible hour will be 19.30 in August next year and we hope to be in Canberra to see it in person.

Our health continues to be generally good for our age with just a few minor ailments to keep on top of alongside the every-present need to keep our weight in check if not actually achieving reductions.

We send best wishes for the festive season and a happy and healthy new year in 2015.

Margot and Michael

Mt Maunganui, Tauranga, NZ from The Odyssey

Mouth of the Arthur River, Tas west coast

The Odyssey alongside the wood chips at Burnie

Australia Laser Champs, Gold Coast, Michael's Laser is #172

Lady Brisbane at Marina Mirage, Gold Coast

Indian Pacific at Broken Hill, NSW

The Nullarbor after rain earlier in the year

The Swan, Perth, WA