Christmas 2008

This year football became a basis for family bonding. Everyone was saying the Hawks would be premiers in a few years (they still have the equal youngest list), but this year no one could beat Geelong. Until the grand final that is. For Martin and Philip the year started badly when they delayed their membership renewals and missed out on their favourite seats. Therese was sensible in retrospect. She booked an expensive category   of membership and as a result got grand final tickets. Philip was given a concession ticket and went to the match  in fear and trembling that he would be asked for identity. Martin failed to get a seat in the ballot. Brother Tom visited from Perth in November bringing the replay dvd with him. It is not only a family affair! Even David Ryan has not recovered from his doctoral days. We had to make do with TV. Even so Gloria pretended to work until the result was clear. These days David is concerned with more serious stuff - or at least so he claims. Fortunately his Orchestra continues to prosper. The ABC is giving him an increasing amount of air time and have issued his last CD in a very fancy format. It is devoted entirely to his music and is proving very popular.    Giselle is in Berlin currently having deferred her first year University. She has been told to look up Andreas. Clare is now taking her singing quite seriously. Therese has a promotion at the Museum and has been involved in several major exhibitions. One on Rugby League must have been somewhat against the grain.  Max starts senior high next year. Milly had to defer the second semester due to ill health after making her high distinctions in the first. This year (almost) all will be in Canberra for Christmas. It has been an odd year with serious weather extremes. We will have rhododendrons still flowering at Christmas.

We had a pleasant few days entertaining the Powells in February. Michael was here on sort of business as a corresponding membership of the Academy had been arranged for him and he had to sign the book.  They are clearly committed foreign travellers as we look forward to welcoming them again next February. Bill and Denise Murray put in a welcome appearance.

Gloria got very excited and purchased a very large fractal created picture by Michael Barnsley. We probably need a bigger house to display it in the manner it deserves, but it certainly generates excitement. The Barnsleys are currently in the US   and we are looking forward to their return. After all he has a red Nissan Patrol of a certain age.  Gloria has bought another plough disc suggesting more larger scale glass works.

The sad family news was the deaths of Hans Weber and Jim King during the year. Professionally Chris Heyde was a serious loss after battling cancer for many years, and not only to our coffee club.

View from Lucifer's Thumb	Mt. Warning from the Tweed bridge at Murwillumbah

Travelling North This always seems like a good idea in a Canberra winter. We left the weekend after CTAC08, heading north up the NSW coast, bypassing Sydney and Newcastle, and making a motel stop in Port Macquarie on the first evening. Paused briefly at Kempsey for necessities such as hats to replace those left at home, then through Bellingen and Dorrigo en route to Chaelundi Falls in Guy Fawkes National Park. The night was cold for our first camp, Gloria would claim that is an understatement, and we were to find it cold until way up the Queensland coast when it became just cool.  There is a spectacular lookout here that goes by the name of Lucifer's Thumb, and it is an easy walk. In bright sunshine it served to get circulation going again. We rejoined the Princes Highway at Grafton (that proved easier said than done) and made a second motel stop at Ballina. Next stop was Mt. Warning where there is a delightful caravan park. Mt. Warning is one of three mountains named by Cook as he sailed north and the first spot in Australia touched by the morning sun. It is a good half day walk. Our next stops were two nights at the Wilderness Camp across the river from Noosa, three at Eurimbula National Park across the bay from the town of 1770, and  three nights at Cape Hillsborough. These are favourite places which we visit  regularly. It was perhaps the first time it was too cold for swimming. From Cape Hillsborough we visited the new marina and resort developments at the port of Mackay and found them somewhat puzzling. Next we headed north through Townsville (stopping at the Frosty Mango as usual) to Jourama Falls for an overnight camp and a walk up the gorge to the falls before heading to Mission Beach via Ingham. We had planned some shopping in Ingham and were almost thwarted by Sunday closing (still!), but a coffee shop/deli was open.  It proved excellent and it was quite some time before we moved on to Cardwell for lunch and then Mission Beach. One result of the cold was a delayed fruit picking season. However, we did fairly well at an honesty box at a farm gate. At Mission beach we stayed for five nights at Sejala, Gloria's favourite beachfront cabins - her demand for her birthday. It was a relaxing time with one unusual incident. One morning we were just finishing a liesurely breakfast when we became aware of a lightly clad asian girl in front of the cabin. She looked cold and possibly shocked. Gloria wrapped her in a blanket. Her english was largely nonexistant. It seemed she came from Thailand but couldn't tell us where she was staying. I rang the estate agent to see if they could suggest possible help. The principal came straight round but we then spent some time trying various suggestions before ringing the local medical centre. It turns out these have access to a translation service, and after that it was plain sailing. She had been staying with her aunt and presumably helping in the family restaurant at Wongaling Beach. She was very very homesick. After this we were basically to head back, but first the car needed servicing in Cairns. We stayed in a motel for two nights before heading up to the tableland via Atherton. We made a stop at Milaa Milaa Falls (the most perfect) and another at Millstream Falls (the widest) before continuing to Charters Towers via the Kennedy and Gregory development roads.

Jourama Falls	Sejala cabin beach view

Next day we headed out on the Flinders Highway to make campground corner recce stops at White Mountains and Porcupine Gorge National Parks. White Mountains is very remote and all the usual cautions apply. The sheltered camp at Canns Creek is pretty good, and there seemed to be water close to the surface of  the dry creek bed. We had backpacked into Porcupine Gorge years ago. This time the gorge was mostly dry and there was a strong wind blowing (cold of course). We camped in Hughendon before heading to Barcaldine via Winton and Longreach. The next stop was the Blackdown Tableland where our increasing suspicion of an extra layer in the National Parks bureaucracy was confirmed. On site registration is becoming a thing of the past in many places. Here at least we had a dedicated phone to Rockhampton (250 k's away). The procedure took 20 minutes There was no such luck at Porcupine Gorge or White Mountains. Just threats of penalties for those who had not registered in advance.  We had time to make a rather rushed visit to Rainbow Falls before setting up camp. Next day we followed the Parks 4wd crcuit before leaving. Heading south we made another recce stop at spectacular Isla Gorge before camping at Miles. We made one more motel stop at Gilgandra before arriving home.

Erinundra waratah	Milaa Milaa Falls	Climbing Snowdrift

Other travel:  Melbourne trips hardly count as travel. However, one trip developed into something more elaborate. In April there was a party in Geelong for Milly's eighteenth birthday. We managed to combine this with a visit to Tony and Marjory's new house in Torquay plus Peter and Wendy Young were visiting, and we were able include them in a visit to see Gloria's sister in Hamilton combined with a visit to the Grampians. It was also another campground recce opportunity, but just when I think the Grampians section is complete they open another of the fire damaged sites. It did rain in the Grampians, even fairly hard at times, but it didn't dampen our spirits. Plus we recommend the restaurant in Tarrington. In October we were back in the Victorian deserts again with a group from the Land Rover club. We started as usual at Lake Cullulleraine with visits to the Kelleys and to the Meringur History Centre. Again camp recces determined the route to a significant extent as we explored the area around Murrayville fairly extensively before taking the Milmed Rock track across the Big Desert to the big dry lakes on the Wimmera river and Wyperfield National Park. Then to Snowfdrift (the famous isolated white sandhill) and through the Sunset Country to Hattah Lakes and on to the Barmah forest beside the Murray before heading home. Some tracks seemed much more difficult than on previous occasions, especially in Wyperfield. We tended to blame drifting sand, perhaps another aspect of this year's strange climate. We did have some very hot weather at Mount Crosier so we put off preparing dinner until nightfall to avoid the flies on a day when the temperature approached 40. The strategy did not pay off as the evening brought incredible swams of termites which were attracted to our lights. Part of their act involved them shedding their wings. We kept finding these in the cars for weeks after. The local bat population was happy however. Next was a club trip to see the Waratahs in Erinundra. Mid November seems to be the magic time. This time they were flowering everywhere. In this special area rules seem to get broken and the waratahs reach 12 metres high. There was also a much richer substory than last year with yellow pea flowers and white daisy bushes in profusion. Next we signed up for a club wine tasting venture in early December. Then realised we would be only a few kilometres from the Wonnangata valley area. So we didn't return with the majority of the party but with the Hunts we took a long way home. It was certainly one of our best trips. It would have been even better if Gloria had been feeling better. We came out of the valley using Hart's spur which climbs almost 1000 metre essentially straight up. Then down Tea Tree spur to the next valley and  across a long ford to a camp at Talbotville, an old gold mining area. We were told the road out was suitable for 2wd vehicles. True, but it was barely  wide enough for a single vehicle and skirted an almost sheer drop almost all of the long way up. No one said anything until we reached a lookout at the top. We then discovered that we had all been thinking the same thing! There is an alternative seriously steep 4wd route to the lookout. From Dargo we headed north to Omeo on the Birregun road (highest point Mt. Birregun 1560 metres), and then via the Limestone Creek track to Davies Plain and a camp at Charlies Ck. Here the 2006 fires proved terminal for most of the trees in contrast to the fairly general recovery seen on previous days. Everywhere there is abundant seedling growth. Also the Limestone Creek and Davies Plain tracks  have been seriously washed out and are badly  rutted and rocky. The Murray was forded without incident (the next weekend might have been a very different story), and we had an early lunch in Jindabyne.

Cresting Hart's Spur	Murray crossing

Conferences There was a bit of a sad story here. I was booked to give a keynote talk in Heidelberg for Georg Bock's 60'th birthday celebrations. I am particularly keen to attach his name to an estimation procedure he has been using successfully for 25 years. I have been able to give a convergence rate analysis for large sample which explains why it proves so effective. But the Doctor diagnosed back trouble. It was also a CTAC year. This was in Canberra in July. Canberra is not everyone's favourite venue at this time of year, but there are extenuating circumstances. Also the meeting was up to the usual high standard. The following week we headed north and found that this winter it was cold most places.

Happy Christmas

Mike and Gloria