Sunday, 1 Oct 2017

Well it has been 2 weeks since the last post.  I wonder if I can remember anything, as I am not sure what I did this morning.

Mon, 18 Sep -   called Toyota and scheduled the car for maintenance on 25 Sep.  Margaret went over to one of the sisters for her weekly "declutter" activity - helping clean out & organise her house.  I worked on the lawnmower and ordered a new throttle cable for it.  Then we collected the Elders at 4 pm and drove out to the Jones' for dinner.  The Jones live on Flaggy Creek Rd which is more like a sand/gravel path (see picture below).  We did have a good time and it is interesting to see how some of the Aussies live out in the middle of the woods.

Tues, 19 Sep - Went to the hardware store to get some items to fix the coffee table that was falling apart in the living room. Still things to fix in the house.  Margaret took one of the sisters to the dentist and then we picked up some pants from one of the members so Margaret could mend them.  Then off to the Primary activity.  After the activity we stopped by the hospital to visit a friend of the Church who was in for repiratory issues.

Wed, 20 Sep -  Talked with my mother this morning - she still has a house guest (Pauline) for a few more weeks. Elder Haley was to help with a move, but the people moving were sick so it was postponed for a few days.  The wife cancelled the move and then the husband called a bit later and was asking why we had not shown up yet - typical wife/husband communications - glad to see that I am not the only one.  In the afternoon we read the Book of Mormon with the YM who live a few blocks from the Branch meetinghouse. The Elders came over in the evening for dinner and then District Training Meeting (DTM).

Thurs, 21 Sep - final fixing of the coffee table - I hope.  Margaret picked up one of the sisters and took her to a doctor's appointment. We then worked on cutting out and sewing some shorts for the Christmas shoe box charity project. Margaret fixed some meals for one of the sisters that is a bit crook (sick). We met with the YM/YW for their weekly activity.  Both YM & YW are now meeting o the same day.  They did their final preparations for the TREK - handcart adventure.

Friday, 22 Sep - Met one of the families at the meetinghouse so they could vacuum the upstairs.  Mike did the ground floor.  Margaret took one of the sisters to the supermarket so she could do some food shopping.   The Flu bug bit into mike today, so he was not doing so well later in the day.

Sat, 23 Sep - Mike is fighting the flu bug and it is still up in the air as to who will win.  Margaret helped one of the sisters run some errands.  We have a few (not many) sisters that do not have a car and need help getting around town. Thankfully everything in Grafton is only 10 minutes away.

Sun, 24 Sep - Mike is losing the battle with the flu bug, so he did not go to Church meetings today. But the good news is that he is only feeling poorly and does not have any energy.  Hang in there Elder Haley. One of the counselors in the Mission Presidency spoke in Sacrament meeting today, but Elder Haley missed out.  Sister Haley said that all the talks were good today.

Mon, 25 Sep - The flu bug is losing the battle, but not giving up.  We took the car into Toyota this morning and then walked (15-20 minutes) over to downtown South Grafton. We went to one of the fabric stores and Margaret bought a number of Aboriginal prints that she did not have in her collection. Mike just paid the bill.  Sister Haley then helped one of the sisters with going to the supermarket to buy groceries.  Later in the day, she met with the RS president and they went over the Visiting Teaching (VT) roster and activity.

Tuesday, 26 Sep -  Mike is still fighting the flu bug, but is winning the fight. BUT the bug is not giving up easily.  Margaret provided taxi services to two different sister during the day so they could make it to doctor appointments or to get some groceries.  We held the primary activity at the meetinghouse even though it was school holiday, but we will not have the activity next week.  Mike met with President Norman to discuss some branch business. Mike took the sewing machine apart so he could remove some broken pieces.  We went to Sals Sewing in South Grafton to see if they had the parts - they did not.  But they work with a man who may have the parts.  Mike called and he did and would bring them to Sals Sewing in the following morning.  Mike went to the meetinghouse in the evening to have an emergency meeting with President Norman.

Wed, 27 Sep -  Talked with Mike's mum and then headed to Sals Sewing.  We found the sewing machine repair man in the back and picked up the parts.  While in South Grafton we visited some of the members there and found out where some of the family had moved to.  Mike then went back to the house and put the sewing machine back together. 

Thurs, 28 Sep -  Margaret provided a ride to one of the sisters who needed to go someplace.  Mike fueled up the car with petrol, so we had a full tank for when our YSA visitors (the "kids") arrive later today.  The YSA (Ka Yi, Luigi, Shawn) arrived about 430pm from Brisbane.  We had an early dinner so Mike could go to the meeting house for a branch presidency meeting.  The kids had helped Margaret clean up the dishes by the time Mike got back.

Friday, 29 Sep - We took the YSA to Brooms Head in the afternoon, after just "goofing off" in the morning.  We did meet with the Elders and had lunch with them before heading to Brooms Head.  High Tide had come in by the time we got there so we did not get to walk on the beach that we had planned to walk on.  We did get to the red cliff lookout area and were able to see a number of kangaroos - up close.  Then on to the end of the Brooms Head road where we were able to see the rocks, surf and some beach (in the far distance).  Next time we will come earlier and see about walking over to the nice, long beach.  Then off to home and homemade pizza.  We did use the Lawrence/Maclean ferry going and coming.  It is nice to have the ferries to use in crossing the Clarence River - it saves driving south for 10 km and then driving back.

Sat, 30 Sep - We headed for Washpool National Park in the morning.  Before leaving we said a prayer asking for safe travels and a safe/enjoyable venture.  Washpool has the Coombadjha creek running through it and some cascades/waterfalls.  Plus it is the home of subtropical rain forest, but we haven't had much rain for a long time.  On the way, we noticed that the car was leaning a bit on the back left side and it was not because Luigi was on that side.  We stopped and found the tyre was losing air - slowly, but losing it.  We checked the boot (trunk for you Yanks) and found that we had a full size spare tire and that it was full of air - nothing like prayers being answered.  We changed the tyre and then continued our trip.  Once we got to the park we ate lunch and then looked for the hiking trail. The hike was 8.5 km to and back from the falls.  The trail was easy in some parts and not quite so easy in others.  We did not see another human on the trail the entire time we were hiking; although there were several people at the campgrounds at the beginning of the hike.  It was good to get out of the city & house and do some hiking with the YSA.  The trail and forest was really enjoyable and we have a very nice time.  The only draw back was that Mike found 2 ticks on himself when we got home. We removed them and put alcohol & anti-bacterial ointment on the bite spots. No one else had any ticks.  I guess Mike is just "sweet meat" and will have to lay off of the ice cream.  We had BBQ sausages for dinner.  Mike is beginning (not there yet) to get a handle on bbq sausage on the barbie. We celebrated Shaw Long's birthday tonight even though it is really tomorrow.

Sun, 1 Oct - Oh my September is gone.  Today was Shawn Long's birthday.  We did attend our Church meetings.  Today was Fast & Testimony Sunday in Australia even though it was General Conference in the USA. It was a good testimony meeting today and the testimonies were uplifting. We will watch the General Conference sessions next weekend.  We had dinner at the house with the YSA and the Elders and then sent the YSA off in their car so they could catch the bus back to Sydney.  Now it is time to collapse.  It was a good visit and we look forward t more of the same in the future.

Flaggy Creek driveway to the Jones

Jones water tank

How you get electricity in the bush

Flaggy Creek drive in the dark

Cricket on Tuesday afternoon as part of the Primary Activity

Cricket at its best

Sun rise near Clarence River

Coffee table in the process of being fixed.  the top was not attached to the legs

Bundaberg sodas.  Family owned and really good tasting.  Sarsaparilla, Cream soda, Ginger beer & Blood Orange

Rainbow Lorikeet on the bottle brush tree outside the computer room window

Typical Grafton house on raised brick supports

South Grafton hotel. 

Another hotel.  love the iron work

A home in South Grafton. love the iron work

Papaya growing in the front yard of a home in South Grafton

This house is RAISED really high.  No flood will get to them

story behind one of the Aboriginal fabrics

Story behind another aboriginal fabric

Roos in the grassy area next to a park a few blocks from the house

Brother PS55 sewing machine in a torn down state, waiting to get new parts.

Missionary hanging out his laundry to dry

Dodge ball at the primary activity

Got him !!!!!

A mob of Roos near home

Sunset

By golly, he did get it back together and it works.

Brooms Head - Shawn, Luigi, Ka Yi, Sister Haley

The beach from Red lookout towards Brooms Head

Ka Yi & Shawn - Brooms Head look out

Roo & Joey, Brooms Head Look out

Luigi taking a photo of a Roo

Trying to touch the Roo, but no success

Sister Haley at Brooms Head look out

The beach to the south of Brooms Head at the end of the road

Guess where?

Sign to "Short's" Road.  Mike's mum's nick name is Short

The setting sun (rays) coming through the clouds.

the kitchen crew working on dinner

Home made pizza - before

Home Made pizza - AFTER

Ant hill on the way to Washpool National Park

Working on changing the flat tyre.  Thankfully the spare was inflated properly an a full size spare

Cattle on the hill

Washpool National Park entrance

Ka Yi at the beginning of the hike

Washpool walk

Part of the washpool trail

Washpool trail map

Something was of interest at this point of the hike

On the trail

A different part of the trail

Another ant hill on the trail

Coombadjha creek water fall/cascade area

looking down creek 

The intrepid Three some 

looking back up the creek

With not much water, the falls are not doing too well.

Elder Haley taking a rest at the falls

On the trail back to the car park

Coombadjha creek

Coombadjha creek looking the other way from a bridge across the creek

Well do we go left or right????

Shawn being appreciative of his birthday cakeS

Yep, more than 1 cake as we were not sure which one we wanted to get for Shawn

Ka Yi, Luigi & Shawn with birthday cake.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHAWN.

Shawn, Elder & Sister Haley, and birthday cakes

Sunday, 17 September 2017

Monday, 11 Sep - We said good-bye to Zizi this morning as we put her on a bus to Byron Bay at 0800.  Margaret went to help continue the declutter of one of the sister's homes and Mike went back to the house to vacuum & clean.  Finally got the last of the unwanted things in the garage into the rubbish bin.  Now we can make our own clutter.  Dinner tonight is meatloaf and we have Scott coming over for dinner and FHE.  Both Margaret & I took a nap this afternoon to catch up on rest that we missed over the past few days.

Tuesday, 12 Sep - we made a trip to Bunnings (hardware store) to pickup an inside/outside thermometer.  We are told that it will get hot here in Grafton and we wanted to be able to measure the outside (and inside) temperatures when the summer months arrived.  So far this spring the lows outside have been in the 9-11 C range - chilly, but not too cold.  Then over to one of the Sisters places in South Grafton.  She is moving houses - just around the corner thank goodness.  We spent a lot of time packing and removing "clutter".  Then some of the rest of the ward  helped move the packed things over to the new house.  We were able to make it to the Primary youth activity at the branch meeting house in the afternoon. The kids played soccer with the young missionaries.

Wednesday, 13 Sep - Talked with Mom Haley this morning.  She still has an extra house guest for another week or so. Then we went back to South Grafton to help finish packing and moving the sister. We did not read Book of Mormon with the YM today as the flu is still making a rampage through Grafton and the boys are recovering, but not well enough yet.  We miss reading with them as they bring some very good comments and questions.  We held District Training Meeting (DTM) at our house at 730pm.  I accused the elders of doing this so that we would provide dinner before the DTM.😁Elder Gibb is the new District Leader and he did a great job conducting the meeting and providing the training - his first.  The training lesson was on "The Spyglass" by Richard Paul Evans.  It was about vision and having a vision which would lead us to making the vision become reality - we are what we think we are.

Thursday, 14 Sep - Today was an errand and fix things around the house day. No emergencies today.  We did go back to South Grafton for a bit in the morning to help sweep out the house for the sister there, and we did take a car load of things over to the new house.  YM/YW was held together tonigh and will be from now on.  The YM/YW made a practice TREK by pushing wheelbarrows around the neighborhood which had several bricks in them to add weight. Margaret worked with Sister Stiller on a shoe box charity project and prepared for the upcoming 72 hour kit activity this coming Saturday.

Friday, 15 Sep - BE NOT WEARY OF WELL DOING. A day without having to clean or move one of the members.  It was a welcome relief and change from the last 3 days.  We did go to the bank and ask them to check the night deposit box as one of the Church deposits had not been recorded.  We had a similar problem in Sydney where the night deposit box was either not checked regularly or the deposit was stuck up in the box.  Either way, this causes a problem when Church HQ looks for a deposit in our bank account and it does not show up.  The bank people said they would have a look into the box and let us know.  We got a call from the Elders and the Auntie of one of our members was admitted into the Emergency room with breathing issues, so we headed to hospital.  There we met with the lady and talked with her for a while.  Then asked the nurse if we could have some privacy so that we could administer a blessing.  The Auntie is a member of another faith, but she was pleased to have us give her a blessing.  Then back downtown to try out the Indian restaurant there - it was a good meal and we will go back.  While downtown Margaret took me on a shopping trip to look for items to be put into the shoe boxes.  The shoe boxes are for children ages 2 to 14 in some of the 3rd world countries.  This is a community service project and not directly sponsored by the Church. We found several things, plus some items for the 72 hour kit activity on Saturday.

Saturday, 16 Sep - The Relief Society held a "72 hour kit" emergency preparedness activity this morning.  There was a reasonable turnout, but not the largest.  Several items were distributed to help the sisters get started in making their 72 hour kit.  Mike went over to one of the neighbors during this time and visited with her as she was having a garage sale.  She was wearing an apron that one of the ladies in town made and sold - it had a lively aboriginal print on the front.  I showed it to Margaret when she got back from the RS activity.  We spent awhile talking with Maureen and offered to help take things to the "Op shop" (opportunity or thrift store) in town if they were not sold by her.  She will try 1 more garage sale this coming weekend and then take any leftovers to the Op shops.  In the late afternoon we went back to hospital to visit the Auntie (Bobby) and see how she was doing.  She was not sure when she would be going home, but still had a bad cough and was on oxygen.

Sunday, 17 Sep - Branch Presidency meeting at 730am - at least it is not at 630 am like the Newbury Park Stake High Council meetings 😏 Then PEC and by 10am we were ready for the Sunday branch meetings.  The speakers delivered really good messages this morning - the messages are always good.  The first speaker was one of our YM (young men) and he talked on being in the world, but not of the world - he did a good job.  He was followed by his mom who talked on being spiritually self reliant. She has been fighting cancer and shared some experiences with us that were really strong testimonies of her faith and trust in the Saviour, Jesus Christ.  The final speaker was a sister who lives 1 1/2 hours from the branch meetinghouse. She and her family face that challenge each week for Primary; YM/YW and Sunday.  She talked on how to keep the Sabbath Day holy.  All the talks were good and down to earth so that we were able to see how to apply the Gospel principles in our lives.  After Church Margaret and I stopped by hospital and visited with Bobby since she was still there (we learned that she would remain in hospital until Wednesday).  Interestingly she has asked that I say a prayer for her after each time we visit.  We also visited another Sister who was in hospital and made arrangements to visit with her at her home on Tuesday and give her a blessing.

Primary Age Activity - soccer

The Elders are trying to keep up with the younger kids, but not sure who is winning

The sun setting on Grafton and the Clarence River

The clouds help make the sunsets here.  This is from the Carr Peninsula

The cattle do not seem to be very impressed with the sunset

Rainbow Lorikeet like the bottle brush tree.  Boy are they noisey.  Mike sees them each day on his morning walk/exercise

Caught one Lorikeet in flight

The wood deck was removed and now we have dirt - hopefully grass some day.  Mike moved extra brick from the fence line to make steps on/off of the veranda so we did not have such a big step up or down.  We walk this way several times a week to put out laundry to dry.