Tuesday, March 20 (Canadian time)

Well, I am back at home in Victoria. I got into Vancouver on Sunday evening around 10 pm. Lynn picked me up and I stayed at her place that night then returned home Monday afternoon.

Wow, what a difference in weather! It is cold, windy, and has alternated between rain and hail today. It was hot in Fiji and Australia, nice and warm in Phoenix, and shorts and swimming pool weather all the way. 

I will post photos under this post. If you have not read the account of the celebration, it is below, in the post of Sunday from the Sydney Airport. One thing I forgot to say was that as I poured the ashes into the lake, Rob shook a bottle of champagne, and the cork popped and champagne sprayed into the water where the ashes went. Would Jenny Leary have liked that or WHAT?!

Rob, Helen, Carl

Sharon, Rob and Carl

Jenny's brother Kevin and wife Val

View from their house

Pat Moran paying tribute to Jenny

Kath and nephew Darren (Rob's brother)

Friends Liz, Sandra, Colleen, Clare and Pat

Helen, Val, Carl and Helen's 2 

daughters, Linda and Kim (niece)

Another Robyn Leary (Wayne's wife -Rob's brother)
Pam, Wayne, Paul (Pam's husband)

What a perfect house for this

Sister-in-law Trish (Peter's wife)

Glenn (Peter and Trish's son) and family

Liv, Liv (that's right!), Fiona 3 weeks from the big event, Nik

Kim (Trish and Peter's daughter) and family

Trish, Liam, Stephen, Kim

Trish and Peter's other son Paul and family
Maddy, Caleb, Paul, Linda

I will post a few more pictures when I receive them from others who took them. Meanwhile, here are a couple of other photos.

Driving on the right hand side of the car, on
the left side of the road is interesting. The
biggest joke about my driving was that every
time I put on my turn signal, the windshield
wipers went on. I finally started remembering (most
of the time). When I came home and started to 
drive the windshield wipers were going on again.

Part of the Toronto waterfront, where Jenny grew up.
Approximately where the boats are moored is
where the 'baths' are/were where they went swimming

A Kookaburra sitting on a wire

Sunday, March 18

Heading Home

Well, here I am at the Sydney Airport, my knapsack on my back, my laptop on my lap. Pat Moran picked me up at Sandra's and we left at 8 AM and we got down here just after 10:15. 

Wow, what a journey I have had. Each part of it has been wonderful.

I was pretty nervous leading up to yesterday. The closer I got to Australia, on each leg of the journey, the more the emotions were coming up. But it was wonderful to see everyone here and I cannot imagine it all going better.

Thursday evening Rob (niece) and I went to Carl and Helen's, where the celebration was to be held. That was a dose of reality, since this was the end of the line. Kevin and Val (Carl's parents, Jenny's brother) were also there.

Yesterday, we gathered at their place and had a very nice turnout. Friends and family were there and Carl and Helen's house accommodated it so perfectly. You will see it in the pictures I will post below. It poured rain all morning, but after the tributes were over, and we went out to the jetty to pour in the ashes, and it had stopped raining. 

Jenny's brother, Peter, had died 2 years ago, and his family brought a portion of his ashes as well. When all were almost in, we sprinkled the last of them in together. The family all came on to the dock and friends watched from the shoreline. 

After that was done, we all went inside and had a great lunch, which was potluck. Carl barbequed some snags (sausage to we North Americans), and we had a wonderful assortment of salads, cold meats and desserts. 

Some folks left then and I remembered we had not played "jenny's Song" that Bill Wilson performed at her Canadian celebration. We played that and everyone really enjoyed it. 

The slideshow, thank you Marg, played through the TV the whole time. They loved it.

Pictures will be below as I have the opportunity to put them on. I have Internet access here, but this will be it until I get home.
 

 If I don't get them all on, I will do it after I return home. They will start with some I took the day before.

Oops, photos later - they are calling us.

 

Thursday, March 15

Well, it is time to leave Port Macquarie and head down to Toronto area, where Jenny grew up. I can't believe I have been here for 9 days.

Trish is going down with me, and she will stay with her son Paul. I am staying with Sandra Crowley, a friend of Jenny's from grade one. 

Tonight Rob (niece who came over in May/June) and I will go to Carl's, Jenny's nephew, to plan the gathering for Saturday.

I will post again in a day or two.

Monday, March 12

Wow, time is marching on! I cannot believe it is already March 12 here and I will be heading home in six days.

Trish and I spent the weekend out at the farm with Kim and family. She married Stephen in 2009, and he has three grown children, Lori, Erin and Joel all in their twenties, and Liam who is twelve. Erin has recently moved back home for awhile. Lori and Joel live in Port Macquarie. 

Yesterday was Stephen's birthday, so they were all there for dinner last night.

I will post some photos below. Hope, the calf is about six months old. Her mother rejected her as a newborn, so Stephen and Kim bottle fed her and pail feed her, and she grazes in her little paddock by the house. She is adorable and loves to be patted and talked to. Of course, I am just the person for that job! She seems a bit lonely, except for the humans and Snoop the dog. They say if/when they integrate her with the others, she will likely be ignored.

A lizard in the back yard

Sweet little Hope

To get the chickens back in the coop, Kim
entices them with scraps in a bucket. You
never saw anything move so fast!

A huge Bird of Paradise plant 

Banana tree

Passion fruit hanging from the vine. They get
hundreds each year

Stephen's birthday dinner
Clockwise they are:
Kim, Lori's boyfriend Josh, Lori, Joel,
Stephen, Erin, Liam and Trish

Saturday, March 10 (Australia time)

It has been nice here in Port Macquarie, hacking around with Trish. Today we will go to a festival of some kind in a neighbouring town, then out to Kim's to the farm. I will be staying overnight out there. So - I will post some photos later.

Thursday, March 8 (Australia time)

Here are a few photos I have taken since I have been here in Australia.


The kangaroos are all around Trish's house and the neighbours, as in they are right up to the house. 

Pam with twins Luke and Kai (age 31/2)

If you enlarge this photo, you will see the 

joey's legs hanging out of the pouch

After dinner tonight there were a few of them

in the front of the house. This teenage joey
has his head inside the pouch, having a drink
of mother's milk

Not a good photo, but I took it through glass.
After they were finished in the front yard they
ran right past me (the wall of the carport,
about 4 feet high, was in between us),
into the back yard

Wednesday, March 7 (Australia time)

I will post photos below. These photos only make sense if you have read the last post.


Trish (sister-in-law) and Kim - niece) and I went out and about a bit today and I got an Internet USB modem so I now have the Internet - yeah!


So here are the photos, but the write-up is below this.

A corner of the marina on Denereau Island

A few of the crew greeting us at the boat

Serenading us for awhile on the way out
Dan, on the far left was my personal snorkel guide

When they anchored the boat, they threw
pieces of bread into the water and the
fish came out of nowhere

Most of the people jumped off the back of
the boat and snorkeled around


The water was a beautiful green colour, but
it does not show up in the photos unfortunately

Approaching the island

Thatched roof huts were built
along the beach to provide shade

The main hut

We were serenaded again as we ate our lunch

Our host, Paul, did a demo on the uses of
the coconut tree, including the leaves and
the fruit. Here here is taking off the leaves
and he made a basket in short order
as we sat and watched. I was amazed at how
strong it was.

Some went kayaking

This was our boat, the MV Oolala


The next photos are of something that fascinated me.
They brought the supplies out to the Oolala as it was
taking us back in. The tender goes faster than main boat,
so they would catch up to us, pull right in behind then someone
would throw two ropes to someone else in the main boat, who
would then cross the ropes and tied them onto the stern
of the main boat. There was about a 5 or 6 foot space between boats.
They got from one to the other by stepping on the cross, then moving
to the other boat. Great as long as you keep your footing. Then they would
pass things from the tender to the Oolala. It fascinated me enough, 
but when they passed a gas generator, I could not believe it.
These boats were scooting right along.

The marina from the water