Sunday, December 29, 2013

Monday 30th December

A week has flown by in a flash of Carol services, church services, Amanda's birthday, Christmas, picnics and all the other happy things that make for a happy family holiday. Each evening, after the children are in bed, the adults relax in the TV room with our coffee/tea/rooibos and discuss the day and the plan for the next before enjoying a couple of episodes of the BBC comedy series "My Family", of which Amanda has the complete boxed set. It helps us unwind before setting off to bed and it is a lovely time laughing together.

Last Monday we spent Amanda's birthday in King's Park, which sits high on northern bank of the Swan River. It is a huge well established park with beautiful trees and lakes and lawns which one can only dream of having at home. The maintenance of the grass is truly amazing and it means that families can sit under the trees on blankets and chairs free of dust and ants - the bane of any picnic. The children have a great time and without too much effort soon have new friends with whom to share their explorations. 

Caleb and Nici setting off

Tuesday was Christmas Eve with all the usual last minute preparations for Christmas. We had decided to have a cold Christmas lunch, so the (de-boned) turkey and the ham had to be cooked and the Chrismas pudding (in this case a wonderful ice cream pudding made by Granma Sarah) prepared.
St Phillips had decided not to attempt a midnight service and opted for an 8.30pm which some of us attended. Amanda and Gavin were on duty after the service serving champagne, orange juice and Christmas cake which was a great opportunity for the 'regular' members of the congregation to have fellowship with the 'visitors'. Back home the final touches to presents were being made and the children had the fun of preparing for the visit of Father Christmas.

On Christmas Day the children had been warned not to wake the adults until 6.15, and only then when coffee and tea had been prepared and served in the lounge. At that point we all gathered for the traditional opening of our Christmas stockings which the children love so much.
The whole family attended St Phillips for the Christmas service where we shared with many other happy families in the celebration of the birth of Jesus.
Back home again we shared our Christmas presents with each other. There were so many carefully chosen and thoughtful gifts. I love it when I hear things like "just what I wanted" or "you remembered". The kids naturally want to see everything all at once, but soon the hub-bub dies down as each settles down with a new book or the favourite toy of the moment and the one with a servant gift moves through the room with a big black plastic bag collecting all the wrappings, sticky tape and packaging.
The quiet didn't  last for long as there was a meal to be prepared, salads to be constructed, meat to be carved and the table laid. We moved the old family dining room table out onto the back entertainment area and with the extra room and the four additional leaves in the table were able to set for 15.


We were joined for lunch by the Van der Mescht family - Riana, Brett, Abby, Jess anf Riana's mum Rene. We had a great lunch and, with the arrival of pudding, the usual Jobling tradition of "things left in the pudding" - eggs and streamers, lots of streamers. To the children and a stranger at the table it is an awesome sight as the Jobling males pull amazing things out of their mouths! This year Josh was in on the act too, so the table was soon covered in multi-colored streamers! I believe this tradition started with my grandfather who used to find a hard-boiled egg in his pudding when everyone else was looking for silver coins. My dad was a past master at the trick and, apart from the egg, would also 'find' the wooden spoon  and various other kitchen implements used in the making of the pudding - all pulled out of his mouth!

Boxing Day was 'chill' day for the family, so Sarah an I drove into Perth to the Koorong Christian Bookshop for Sarah to spend her Christmas book voucher and also for us to enjoy the book sale. Australian sales get into full swing on Boxing Day with merchandise marked down 50 to 70% - everything is on sale and the Aussies go on a mad spending spree.
Koorong was not too busy and we spent the morning browsing through the books and having lunch in the coffee shop.

On Friday we took the boys kayaks and a picnic down to Matilda Bay on the Swan River where we met up with Amanda and Gavin's friends Sue and John Boswell, their children Sasha and Jason, and Sue's parents Harry and Sheila Rostrum (on holiday from Durban North). The weather was amazing and we sat chatting on the banks of the river while the youngsters paddled the kayaks and played on the (again, well-kept) grass.

The city of Perth from Matilda Bay - Gavin's office in BHP Billiton is in the tallest building in the foreground.

We were joined by this family of Black Swans (from which the river takes it's name)

Caleb

On Saturday Sarah and I went to a picnic held to celebrate the 70th birthday of Norman Clough, a member of St Phillips, who is a Facebook friend of Sarah's. The picnic was held under the trees on the lawns of the Civic Centre in Cottesloe (where the Carol Service had been held). We met up with a number of folk we had met at church and spent the afternoon sharing on common experiences.
While we were at the picnic the junior part of the family drove out to Mundaring Weir. This is a massive water project set up years ago to pump water to the goldfields way out to the east. The huge lake is beautiful, surrounded by forest and an ideal place for picnics and walks.

Yesterday, Sunday, Sarah, Josh and I went to St Phillips for the morning service and then drove on down to Freemantle to meet up with the others. Jeremy, Brenda, Caleb and the girls visited the old Freemantle Prison, built in the 1850s to house convicts. The prison closed in 1991. It is a bleak, yet fascinating, place and leaves one very aware of the horrors associated with incarceration.
We all met up at the Kailis Fish Cafe in the old fishing harbour for lunch where we had the most incredible melt-in-the-mouth fish and chips. Voted the best fish and chips venue in Perth the place was buzzing, and the perfect weather and the holiday season meant that every table was taken.
After lunch we strolled through the waterfront precinct enjoying the people, sights and sun.
Josh and Caleb (in hat) 

Gavin and Amanda

Ruth, Caleb, Nici and Joshua (above)

Brenda, Jeremy and Sarah in conversation

Today, Monday, we are off on another adventure picnic to the Swan Valley. One of the high-lights is the Margaret River Chocolate Factory!


Sunday, December 22, 2013

Monday 23rd December

We have had a wonderful weekend together as a family.

On Friday evening we spent the evening at King's Park - a park high on a bluff overlooking the Swan River and the city of Perth. It covers a huge area, with gardens, forests, bush, and scenic lakes. In one open section of the park an outdoor cinema is created over the Christmas holiday period and it here that families gather with their picnics in the early evening, to enjoy time with friends and family as the sun sets, and then, as darkness falls, to enjoy a family movie. The movie we saw was the new film from the creators of 'Shrek' - 'Frozen'. The film is a wonderful fairy tale set in the depths of a cold winter, with two princesses, a handsome, but poor young man, a reindeer and a snowman. The snowman draws much of his character from the donkey in 'Shrek', and is probably the star of the show.
Well worth a family outing as it is released soon after Christmas.



On Saturday the Tilson family went in all directions - shopping, Christmas celebrations at the Yacht club, practice for the Carol service, etc.
The Junior Joblings visited old university friends south of Perth and turned the trip into an adventure by catching the bus from the bottom of our road to the local train station, the train into the city, and then the train south to where they were met by their friends.
In the evening Sarah and I drove to Mullaloo Beach where we had a good walk along the cycle and walking path. The wind has been blowing quite a bit and so the sea was choppy, which did not deter the kite surfers from taking to the water - they were amazing as they travelled across the water at great speed, flying over waves and spinning round at speed to change tack.

Yesterday, Sunday, Sarah and I started the day by going to the early service at St Phillips, Cottesloe which is the church that Gavin and Amanda have been attending since they came to Australia and where they have made many good friends. Most of the rest of the family went to the later service.
Sarah and I were on lunch duty and so, on the way home from church, stopped in at Coles (the supermarket that provides all the groceries for Australian Masterchef) to do the shopping , before getting home and facing the challenge to prepare a pork roast, complete with roast potatoes, carrots and broccoli, and a chocolate cheesecake to follow. Cooking for ten is quite a challenge, but most satisfying to see that even the most hungry is completely sated!
After a rest in the afternoon we all drove back down to Cottesloe for the Carol service. This service, organized by St Phillips, has been running for the past eighteen years in the gardens of the Cottesloe Civic Buildings where there is a huge lawn which has room for well over a thousand people doing the typical Aussie thing of having a picnic as they prepare for the evening. There is a stage set on a terrace at the front of the lawn and from here, as the sun sets, the carols are led and the tableaux and plays performed. Josh was playing in the 'orchestra' with his great buddy Matthew. Their job was to play the triangle - Josh holding the triangle and Matthew tapping it!

Gavin played the store-keeper in the little play 'A sweet Christmas' ......

....... And Caleb played Joseph in the Christmas tableau.

It was a lovely evening, although surprisingly cool.

Today is Amanda's (43rd) birthday and we are all going down to Kings Park to enjoy a birthday brunch.











Thursday, December 19, 2013

Friday 20th December 2013

I can't believe it is Friday already - the days have flown by!


Here are our grandchildren in a picture posted by Sarah.
Joshua (13), Nicola (6), Ruth (8) and Caleb (10)

Thoughts on the flights from Durban to Perth -
Long!
One does actually sleep on the flight - why else would you have to begin a movie three times before you manage to see it through to the end?
The food was not too bad either, it is just that eating it reminds me of boarding school where we sat on benches and elbows had to be tucked well in. One also has to work out what to do with the little bags of cellophane which contain the biscuits etc., and the clear plastic tops that cover the little food containers. When removed they have to be put somewhere; they refuse to be folded, and if stuffed into your empty drinks cup they use some hidden energy form and explode out again; so I came up with the ingenious idea of sliding them under the tray. Out of sight, out of mind ...... Until you lift up the tray to hand back to the cabin attendant and that hidden energy finds a release. One day someone is going to make a mint of money designing a user-friendly feeding tray!

Arriving at 01.00 was not as bad as I thought it would be, the ones who really took the hit were Amanda and Joshua who came to meet us and had us back home by 2.30 for a drink and biscuit before a shower and bed. Happy children's voices woke us at some time and we were able to start Thursday catching up with the kids which brings true joy to any grandparent's heart.
The day was spent in unpacking and another long sleep in the afternoon before we set off as a family to Hillary's harbour for a picnic with a number of friends from the church the family attend. It was a beautiful evening with a memorable sunset.

It is an interesting dynamic having the whole family under one roof. It would be very easy to allow the feeding of ten people to become to focus of every day, but with a plan for each day in place, I know that we we will be well fed and yet have plenty of time for all the outings which we want to enjoy.

Today the car is to be valet-ed and in the evening we will be going to the open-air theatre in Kings Park to see "Frozen". 




Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Tuesday 17th December

Today our part of the family adventure begins!

I guess it all started with Jeremy and Brenda coming to the end of their contract with Christ Church, Kenilworth in Cape Town. This happened at the end of November 2013, and they decided that they would take a three month sabbatical before they started on a new path of ministry - Jeremy has been appointed Director of Alpha, South Africa and starts his new job on the 1st March 2014.

Amanda has longed for her brother, Jeremy, along with his wife Brenda and their two girls, Ruth and Nici, to visit her and her family in Perth. Amanda and Gavin with their boys, Joshua and Caleb, moved to Perth just over five years ago and are now very happily settled in their own home. So it seemed that the right start to the sabbatical would be a trip to Australia, in December.

It didn't take Sarah and me many seconds to realise that the whole of our family could be together for Christmas for the first time ever! So it was that we booked our tickets for Perth, via Dubai travelling on Emirates.

Jeremy, Brenda and the girls arrived in Perth early in December and have had a great time exploring Perth and Margaret River with aunt, uncle and cousins.

Today we lock up our home and head for the airport for what looks like being a loooong journey - eight hours to Dubai, a five hour lay-over, and a ten hour flight into Perth. (SO glad the family didn't move to Brisbane!)

Here is a picture of our home in the glow of a golden evening sunset.