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Post by Tonnet on Jan 24, 2016 0:14:06 GMT
Tonnet, glad to see you back on the BB. Had no idea that you had health issues. You are very brave for going through the chemotherapy. My 35 year old niece has Lupus and had to undergo chemo also after steroid treatments didn't help her condition. When she was on steroids it was so difficult to see her swollen face. It really seemed to distort the shape of her face. The chemo must have been very strong because her doctors advised her not to have anymore children before he placed her on the treatment schedule. At any rate enjoy your time in New Zealand and if you get a chance take that Shotover racing boat trip on the Southern Island. That was a blast. I am so looking forward to hear where your mystery bus tour takes you for the day. I assume it will be somewhere in Tasmania?? I'm very sorry to hear about your niece. My treatment has been hectic but nothing I couldn't handle. Lupus is a terrible form of cancer and ladies are not encouraged to have children as they pass the strain down through females. I have lost two dear friends to this terrible disease. My mystery tour will be from Perth in Western Australia. I have lived here since 2013 as all my family had gravitated here and now I am living with my daughter and son-in-law. We will be away all day with morning and afternoon teas and luncheon provided. I am going to suggest a passing of the hat to collect extra money for the Lord Mayor's Appeal - I am sure that we will get a good response.
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Post by Tonnet on Jan 24, 2016 0:20:19 GMT
Tonnet: As the saying goes " May the Force Be With You". Happy Travels and many more in the years to come. Your friend Purvis (Canada). Many thanks, Purvis. It's good to be back on air. I'm not letting the moss grow under my feet. My Haematologist reckons I am a pretty tough old soldier and reckons my response to the treatment has been significant. I can actually notice the difference almost daily!
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Post by Tonnet on Feb 9, 2016 17:48:27 GMT
Monday 1st February saw me up very early and raring to go!
I drove over to Casey Australia Tours coach depot, arriving very early for Bryan Casey who was actually going to be our driver for the day. A few others also rolled in as parking for the day was very easy. The main body of the group were being picked up at East Perth. We were not to be disappointed as it turned out to be a lovely day.
The run out of the city was good and we headed north, stopping at an old railway system dam which has now become a wildlife sanctuary and is now kept very well as the water is no longer needed as there are no more steam trains in Western Australia. Our ultimate destination became the historic town of York located on the Avon River. Lunch was partaken of in the park beside the river - a lovely spot! In the afternoon we drove on to Mundaring Weir. We were back at the depot by 5.30pm, having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Another tour was organised for the next day as Caseys were swamped with acceptances!
Between the two days we raised $9600.00 for the Lord Mayor's Distress Appeal so it was a pretty good effort!
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Post by plane2catch on Feb 14, 2016 6:17:37 GMT
Ykkes, Christchurch just had another earthquake. Thankfully reports are that it wasn't as bad as the one that hit in 2011. Those pics from that damage looked terrible. So glad I visited back in 2007 before the quake hit.
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Pauline
Full Member
Normandy, Brittany & the Loire Valley, WW1 Battlefields and Northern Spain in Sep 2023 with Insight
Posts: 210
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Post by Pauline on Feb 15, 2016 2:13:23 GMT
If Tonnet is on the tour I think he is on, the group should be getting into Christchurch tomorrow.
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Post by Tonnet on Mar 22, 2016 22:21:58 GMT
Sorry for not responding sooner, Pauline. Yes, we were in the South Island but actually in Qneenstown in the west. We did not feel the quake there and were several days away from returning to Christchurch.
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Post by plane2catch on Mar 22, 2016 22:45:16 GMT
Tony, I wondered where you were when the quake hit. Glad your travel plans weren't disturbed.
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Post by Tonnet on Mar 25, 2016 1:39:16 GMT
It's Good Friday here in Perth and we have been given an 80% chance of rain - so badly needed! This city founded on sandhills and flats as well as salty marshes would not have been my ideal location for a town let alone a city! The Swan River is not navigable for any significant vessels or craft hence the location of the port at Fremantle. Sometimes the ferry (catamaran type) from South Perth to the CBD cannot travel as the water is so low.
However dams in the hills and boring for underground supplies allows us to exist in this area. It was mooted many years ago to pipe excess water from the Kimberleys area of the far north to supplement all the settlements along the coast as well as some of the inland centres but it was put in the 'too hard' basket by short sighted politicians and public servants - terrible waste!
Anyhow, that is my little rant for the morning and I am sitting back enjoying a coffee. The sun is shining and the birds are singing. We are very fortunate in this suburb to be located against the foothills of the Darling Range, east of Perth city. There is a considerable tree coverage with old trees and stumps left to provide nesting spots for the parrots and others. There is no heavy industry in the area. Very occasionally we hear a rumble from Perth Airport, located to the north, which operates 24/7 with no curfew. This allows us to align with the eastern states as far as arrivals over there.
It's time to take Leo for his first walk of the day and I must do that before any rain comes later in the day delaying his second walk. The local Vet has said he is overweight and has to be maintained on a strict diet with plenty of exercise. It is not a hard chore as he lets me know when he is ready to walk each time and loves his time on the street and one of the local parks - loves other dogs and is especially fond of kids.
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Post by Tonnet on Mar 26, 2016 0:59:42 GMT
Well the rain has arrived - coming at 11pm last night with no fanfare. We had been advised that storms would accompany this but nothing happened. It has been soft and soaking into the garden very well doing a lot of good and it has been non-stop for the last ten hours. Here is a picture of a neighbour's very water-wise garden of succulents and cacti.
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Post by Tonnet on Mar 27, 2016 4:43:04 GMT
The rain has stopped but we have greatly benefited from 18mm received. Our local creek, Yule Brook, had no flow. This stream feeds into the Canning River and ultimately into the Swan River, north of Fremantle. Here is a shot of the no flow and this means the Lesmurdie Falls which is the feeder is not working too.
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Post by Oz-T on Mar 28, 2016 9:15:02 GMT
Well, I hope everyone is enjoying the Easter period. In Australia (and new Zealand) we get public holidays for Good Friday and Easter Monday. Good Friday is very similar to Christmas Day - shops are closed and no sporting events take place; in fact, not much happens at all. Easter Monday has the shops open, as well as football games. Unless I'm mistaken, both Canada and USA don't observe public holidays over Easter. For those who follow religious observances, Good Friday in Australia is an important day on the church calendar, as is Easter Sunday. And for those who don't, there's a four day break to relax or travel. And in some states, they tack on a couple of weeks of school holidays at the end of Easter. Attachments:
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Post by chech on Mar 28, 2016 11:16:15 GMT
Yup...it's a holiday here. All stores are closed on Friday and Sunday. The religious types file into church and the rest of us celebrate the original holiday that was hijacked by Constantine....the celebration of the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of sex and fertility and a few other things....Istar (Easter) And her symbols? Eggs and rabbits, of course. Okay. Lions. But who's checking? So we hunt eggs and eat chocolate rabbits.
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Post by solaria on Mar 29, 2016 0:32:23 GMT
We had a fun Easter! Firstly we had bad wind & rain on the thursday & Friday which meant we lost power twice, for sevreal hours. We are in the country so that meant all things were off! Water included.
Then it became fine and quite nice - all things working until our wifi router went on the blink - figuratively as well as actually. As it was Easter break I couldn't contact our isp until today and then had to drive into the city, not our local town, to pick up a new router. It works! Obviously, or I would not be sending this post.
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Post by Owen on Mar 29, 2016 1:50:41 GMT
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Post by solaria on Mar 29, 2016 18:58:12 GMT
Oh no! My mother's name was Gertrude but she didn't like cats! Always had a budgie in a cage.
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Pauline
Full Member
Normandy, Brittany & the Loire Valley, WW1 Battlefields and Northern Spain in Sep 2023 with Insight
Posts: 210
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Post by Pauline on Mar 30, 2016 1:57:08 GMT
Well, I hope everyone is enjoying the Easter period. In Australia (and new Zealand) we get public holidays for Good Friday and Easter Monday. Good Friday is very similar to Christmas Day - shops are closed and no sporting events take place; in fact, not much happens at all. Easter Monday has the shops open, as well as football games. Hi Oz-T, the AFL might not have any sporting events on Good Friday but I think the NRL did, which I personally think is very wrong.
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Post by Oz-T on Mar 30, 2016 8:44:28 GMT
Never a NRL fan, Pauline. Real football is Aussie Rules!
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Post by chech on Mar 30, 2016 14:08:18 GMT
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Post by solaria on Mar 30, 2016 19:44:36 GMT
There is only one football - the Beautiful game!
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Post by Oz-T on Mar 31, 2016 0:53:44 GMT
Not everything is necessarily beautiful with that code of football, Solaria...
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Post by solaria on Mar 31, 2016 20:15:13 GMT
Scaredy cats need not apply!
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Post by Oz-T on Jun 15, 2016 11:22:45 GMT
I'd like to keep this thread going for general chitchat, in memory of our friend, Tony.
Apologies for being terribly absent from the forum over the past few months; time has been in short supply. I resigned from a senior job late last year and took a bit of a break to attend to a few matters, including some business consulting work, looking after a terminally ill relative, some handyman tasks around the home, teaching myself oil painting and making a start on a new book.
Semi retirement seemed like the logical progression until I was offered a fulltime contract job for a year managing a team and that's kept me busier than ever. And to top that off, a few weeks back I became a grandparent for the first time and have spent an enormous amount of time taking photos of and bragging about a very cute little baby girl. And trying to slow the rate that new grandma Mrs Oz is attempting to spend a fortune on baby clothes etc.
So I'm way behind in reading travel tales and other news on here, although I plan to catch up.
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Post by tiffany on Jun 15, 2016 13:48:57 GMT
Congrats on your new granddaughter Oz! I'm sure you'll love being a doting grampa!
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Post by marielouise on Jun 15, 2016 14:09:18 GMT
Yes congrats on your new grand daughter. Our first grandchild was born a little over a year ago. We are thoroughly enjoying her, we had to make travel plans to go just before her birth, when we went to Italy in Feb-March, which was a perfect time of year for us since we don't like heat. The parents will be taking her to Barcelona, then to Malta in August to visit my father.
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Post by chech on Jun 15, 2016 20:57:28 GMT
OMG! Awesome! Congratulations!! We want pictures!
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Post by Oz-T on Jun 23, 2016 10:29:27 GMT
Thanks everyone. I've had to re-learn how to apply suitable protection to safeguard the carpets. Fortunately, Chech left a few disposables behind when she visited last year with some of her untrained felines.....
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Post by californian on Jun 24, 2016 16:05:15 GMT
Congrats Oz-T and Mrs OZ, just now discovered your newest post and the adorable picture of your granddaughter, what a cute baby! Good luck trying to keep Mrs. Oz under control buying stuff for the baby, lost cause, Oz, give it up!
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Post by Oz-T on Sept 7, 2016 4:15:13 GMT
Well! How is everyone?
Me? Damn busy with a whole lot of projects etc still. And this grandparenting thing takes time too - I've even given Baby Oz a couple of baths and changed nappies. The verdict: I seem to have not lost the fine art of holding a baby in bathwater and not letting her slip out. And nappies? Hmmm... I never did like surprises...
Sorry about not putting any baby photos up here - parents are a tad picky about photos on social media, but I suspect that the cuteness would be too overwhelming anyway...
No holidays planned for some time yet and definitely nothing big this calendar year. Maybe next year, depending on spare time being available. More likely it'll be a local holiday where I can indulge in some of my many hobbies, in this case, photography and astronomy. I've been preoccupied with my new camera and just about got my pilot's licence to drive all the controls. And 90% of the photos so far are of Baby Oz. Mrs Oz is pleased.
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