In February we applied to go on exchange to Canada (to get away from Bruce’s Principal at the High School) and had a possible link with Greg and Judy very early in the piece. It took a few nerve wracking months for this to be confirmed but eventually all was in place and we started to get ourselves organised to go away.
While doing this all the usual events happened. In May, we had Darby day in Dwellingup, which gave us a chance to catch up with the Uncles and Aunts and tell them the exciting news. Again, we managed to have our whole family there and the day was very enjoyable, as it has been for the past 50 years. It is amazing how some traditions start up and then continue all by themselves, we can turn up to Dwellingup on Mother’s Day any year and be confident of finding 20 or 30 Darby’s having a picnic.
In July Bruce took the annual school trip to Fall’s Creek. We were very lucky this year, since we had no snow at all with two weeks to go and then large dumps occured making it one of the best years yet. Unfortunately the ski trip won’t be going ahead for the next couple of years due mainly to a lack of support from the executive of the school. Hopefully this will be rectified by the time Bruce gets back and the trip will start up again.
In August, Rosie’s father Ron fell very ill and died. Although not unexpected, it is always a sad time and we all went up to Geraldton for the funeral. It was a good time to catch up with family and to get everyone together for a few photos. The whole Burnett clan hadn’t been together in the one place in living memory and after listening to them talk to each other, I don’t think it will happen again in the foreseeable future.
October saw Liam’s 10th birthday and hopefully the last of the big parties. We had nine kids over, all boys, and had a great time. The treasure hunt gets more involved each year and Bruce sent the boys to all corners of the paddock in search of little cars, yoyos and other treats.
Liam and Bruce made the piniata again, and again it proved very difficult to break. The kids belted it all over the place until the string holding it up finally cut through it and broke it open. Great fun.
Liam has had a great year at school this year, and much credit must be given to his teacher Sandy. She has forced him to eat fruit and demanded high levels of achievement. Liam has responded magnificently to the discipline and has improved in all areas. We cannot thank Sandy enough for her effort’s.
The end of October saw the Margaret River Show and Liam was in his element with the laser guns. He was hiding behind trees and hay stacks shooting people.
He was also old enough now to start doing some of the better rides and fortunately one of his friends, Dylan, had an older brother to take them both on the tumbler. Bruce and Rosie were never going to do it.
As can be seen on the right, Liam’s love of guns has abated. He is making some really good designs and with the help of Nik, the HOLA of D&T at school, he is able to get them cut out on the band saw.
Before leaving for Canada, we asked out local politicians for the Australian Flags and the Western Australian flag. Nola Marino (MLC) was kind enough to come to the primary school and present them to Liam and Bruce at their assembly. They then went back to Liam’s class and discussed the meaning behind the flags with his class mates.
We also had an article in the local paper telling everyone what we were doing and what we were hoping to achieve during 2009.
Hopefully we will achieve everything we have planned and we are all really looking forward to 2009 with great anticipation.
We had a very hectic last couple of weeks of 2008. We wanted to visit all the relatives before we left for our year in Canada, but we also wanted to stay in Margaret River for Jamie’s birthday (Liam’s best friend) and then Dave and Barb’s Wedding Aniversary Party. This meant that we couldn’t leave for Geraldton (750kms) until 21st December. After a three days of eating and drinking we went directly to Albany (850kms) for Xmas dinner with Bruce’s family. After another 3 days we went back to Margaret River (400kms) to clean the house, pack our clothes and leave for Perth (300kms) with a stopover in Mandurah.
While in Geraldton we visited the HMAS Sydney memorial again, but generally we just relaxed and caught up with everyone. Liam went to the farm for a day and worked solidly picking up paddy melons for John, who paid him $10 for the privilege. Doug was also in town helping to look after Betty. Jaxon happened to be staying, which gave Liam a friend to play with the whole time we were there.
I always love the views of the harbour from Nola and Johnny’s house, watching the ships come in and out and at night seeing all the green and red navigational lights flashing. Rosie and Bruce also managed a game of golf in very pleasant conditions, something we are not expecting for a while once we get to North America.
The drive down to Albany went well, with Liam sleeping the first half of the trip. Rosie has never travelled on this road before and Bruce hadn’t done it for 20 years so it was an interesting drive. Once in Albany, we settled into Phillip and Kathleen’s new home in Bayonet Head, with good views of the Albany Harbour. The scenery around Albany is magnificent and there is a real history in the port town that nearly became our capital.
Once in Albany, settled into Phillip and Kathleen’s new home in Bayonet Head, with good views of the Albany Harbour. The scenery around Albany is magnificent and there is a real history in the port town that nearly became our capital.
After Xmas, we had Peg and Mathew’s birthdays, which meant that the celebrations continued. To get better prepared to be able to eat more, we went off for a tour of Albany, which included the Princess Royal Fortress.
This was a fantastic place full of the history of Albany and gave a great insight into the mentality of the empire back in 1893 when it was established (and used right up to 1956). Albany was first discovered by Cpt George Vancouver (something in common with Canada). The views from the fort were very impressive, as you would expect since it was designed to protect the harbour from invasion (of the French and then the Germans and Japanese).
We also visited Mr Clarance, which has a war memorial for the First World War. Albany was the port where the Australian Troops gathered before shipping out to Turkey and he Middle East. It is quite poignant when you realise that this was the last view that many of them ever had of Australia.
Mum’s birthday saw all the grandchildren gathered together in one place which was also really important.
We left the next day for Margaret River and then packed to go away for the year.
