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2014 Christmas Blog

Bob & Joyce Newell, Bribie Island, Australia

The year 2013 to 2014 transition occurred with Joyce volunteering and attending the Woodford Folk Festival. (http://www.woodfordfolkfestival.com).   Woodford was great – both helping put this massive village together (I helped with mainly sewing decorations), and the Festival itself.  Bob took advantage of Joyce leaving to visit Janet in Geraldton (Western Australia) which included Christmas together in Exmouth (Yardie Creek Homestead) and Red Bluff (137km north of Carnarvon), building furniture, and golfing.

 

Red Bluff Tent Cabin, WA

Bob and Janet at Kalbarri NP, WA

 Bob's Furniture, WA

Janet's Gingerbread Tower, WA

Home again, Joyce continued with her Tuesday recorder group in Maleny (70 km north-west), now in about its 20^th year. This year Bob joined her trips with joint early morning bird-watching at Mary Cairncross Park (rainforest) and Baroon Pocket Dam (mixed eucalypt forest) followed by being driving-range volunteer at the Maleny golf course (9 holes under construction).

Looking over New Course 

Clubhouse & Driving Range

As well we enjoyed Bribie and surrounds with cycling, walking, kayaking trips, seagrass monitoring, printmaking, laughing, and singing (Joyce) and golfing (Bob).

Various “Green Men” (tree spirits) 

Rainbow prints and Orabela quilt

Special trips included camping at Caloundra while Joyce joined in a scratch performance of Handel’s Creation, having Janet visit for ten days in May, a couple of camps at Booloumba Creek (north-west of Maleny), and a special kayak trip up the Pumicestone Passage to Caloundra and back in May/June (two days up, one day resting, two days back- about 30 km each way).

In June we joined about ten others at a volunteer week at Lake Allom on Fraser Island making a new walking track and renovating several buildings at an old forestry camp. We enjoyed visiting the island after quite a few years absence. It is still a magical place but is showing signs of over-use (and abuse) by many more visitors – once a quiet haven but now on the backpacker must-do list.

 

Lake Allom, Fraser Is 

Western beach, Fraser Is

A special treat in July were some genuine Dutch stroopwafels (an ALDI special) which revived memories of our time in the Netherlands forty years ago.

Joyce departed on her second camel trip in the first-half of August this time to the eastern Simpson Desert with 17 pack-camels, 4 cameleers, 8 to 15 fellow walkers and 3 to 4 naturalists. She thoroughly enjoyed the 200 km trek over seventeen days, the solitude of the desert, and the comfy swag and myriad stars at days end. Further information at (http://www.desertexpeditions.org/great-white-lakes-expedition.html and photos from one of the group members, Cecilia https://www.flickr.com/groups/2672518@N21/pool/ (8/14 photos only – Cecilia was also on an earlier part of the trek this year in May in the Western Simpson, where the sand was much redder.)

 

Joyce and Billie 

Joyce's overnight camp

Camels on the move

Landscape with trees

August 20 saw Bob elected President of the BribieBUG (Bicycle User Group). The BUG organises a programme of social rides and advocates for improved facilities on the island and adjacent mainland. A few interesting years coming.

In early September we returned to Lord Howe Island (about 600 km SE in the Tasman Sea). We thoroughly enjoyed our two weeks spent golfing in the early morning and then cycling, bird-watching, walking, beaching and even a kayaking trip over the coral reefs.

 

 

White Terns 

 

Lord Howe Woodhen

 

Lord Howe Golf Course

Putting by the lagoon

Pandanus forest 

 

Typical Lord Howe shoreline

October brought a second track-making volunteer week at Lake Allom on Fraser Island. Then followed by a week in a Tannum Sands cabin while Bob ran a Daesim training course at the Gladstone QAL alumina refinery.

Rough track cleared

Finished by Terry the Tractor

We have one last trip planned for this year. Dec 11^th we fly to Christchurch, New Zealand, to meet Janet and together spend a week on Stewart Island (just south of the NZ South Island) before joining our Heritage Expeditions Galapagos of the Southern Ocean cruise on December 23rd for 12 days visiting Subantarctic Islands south of New Zealand (The Snares, Auckland Islands, two days at Macquarie Island and at Campbell Islands on the return trip). We are looking forward to lots of sea-life and bird-watching, a bit of kayaking and hopefully some unusual relatively good weather on the Southern Ocean (visit http://www.timeanddate.com/weather/australia/macquarie-island to see what the weather is usually like). More news on this trip after we return.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Newell Family News 2013

New Years Day 2013 marked the start of the last of our 3 months as caretakers at the Eyre Bird Observatory , a lovely remote location on the Nullabor Plain a kilometer from the beach in the south of Western Australia.  Janet was heading home to Albany 1200 km west, after a great visit for Christmas, so we celebrated with a golf game on the beach. 

New Years Golf

on the beach

at Eyre

The month included a watching a war between collared sparrowhawks over water rights at the birdbath when the temperature rose to 47.6 degrees (a reminder of things to come in our warming future with possibly increasing drought??),  a birding trip to Twilight Cove where the Nullabor escarpment joined the coast (see photo 2) and a frequent entertainment by the Observatory's most charismatic inhabitants, the Major Mitchell Cockatoos.  Caretaking in January was a busy time, with hosting two week-long courses of 8 to 10 people, as well as house-keeping, maintenance, caring for other guests and birding. It was a great privilege to be able to spend three months in such a beautiful place, and we thank the Committee who run the Observatory for Birdlife Australia for making our stay possible.

Sparrowhawk Water Rights Battle

Impressive Limestone Escarpment at Twilight Cove

Life is Fun for Some

We left Eyre Feb 7th in the capable hands of Pete and Meg McCarthy, and headed home by a longer scenic route.  Bob finished playing the Nullabor Links golf course – the world’s longest with holes at roadhouses across the Nullabor finishing in Ceduna.  (He had started in October in Kalgoorie during our trip to Eyre and ended up with 111 for the 18 rather interesting holes). We continued east via St Ive Station (north of Gawler Ranges), Port Augusta, Mambray Creek NP, Crystal Brook, Loxton (on the SA Murray River), Swan Hill, Echuca, Shepparton, Mt Buffulo, Bogong High Plains, Omeo, Orbost, Cape Conran NP, Ben Boyd NP, Eden, Merimbula, a very wet round of golf at Tura Beach, Narooma (camped at Brou Lake and birdwatching boat trip to Montague Island), Batemans Bay, Bathurst, Mudgee, Scone, Girraween NP, arriving home Feb 25th after a 5369 km trip.

Kalgoorlie Golf Course - Nullabor Links holes not all like this

The rest of the year we have mostly stayed closer to home, enjoying Bribie Island, trying to put more focus on just being, and on appreciating life including friendships, and less focus on the need to be constantly doing.  On the health side, we have both been lucky to have no major problems, though Bob had cataracts removed from both eyes in April – and Joyce had both her eyes done a couple of years earlier.  We feel this is increasingly simple and common operation is worthwhile doing as early as possible because it definitely increases one’s quality of life.

Stained Glass Hanging of Noisy Pitta

Bob has focused on golf, with 2 or 3 games a week social and competition, and being treasurer of Dad’s Army, the social group he plays with.  His involvement with the Community Arts Centre on Bribie which he had supported in many roles for over 3 years, chiefly as treasurer and IT expert, ended mid-year after a breakdown in communication with the committee.  This change in direction has definitely had a silver lining, as he is enjoying the extra time and energy just to be, and to explore other options.  He turned 70 in August, and celebrated with his first ever sighting of a noisy pitta, an uncommon rainforest bird which had eluded him all his life.  He made the stained glass pitta in the photo in celebration of the occasion.  

 



Joyce has continued her musical interests enjoying playing with a recorder group in Maleny, and with the Bribie Island Orchestra, and singing with an informal group.  She greatly enjoyed a workshop on making glass beads early in the year, but has not managed to resume her glass fusing and slumping interest yet.  Instead her artistic energies have focused on printmaking, which has led to this year’s Christmas card.  She is also trying to focus more on appreciating life, through regular explorations of the bushland on Bribie, and on meditating weekly with a Christian Meditation group.



Joyce's glass beads by the front window (on left).

Glass Beads Close Up

Joyce's Christmas Cards

Both of us are active in the Bribie BUG – Bicycle User Group (https://sites.google.com/site/bribiebug), and have introduced several of the members to geocaching (http://www.geocaching.com), with rides to find most of the caches near Bribie.  We hope to create some cycling-friendly geocaching trails on the island next year.  As well as regular Wednesday and Saturday rides, the group has had several weekends away, camping, cycling and kayaking, something we hope to continue in 2014. 

 BribieBUG Rides and Stalls






Joyce visited Janet in Albany for two weeks at the end of July helping Janet tidy up and pack in Albany (400km S of Perth) and find a place to live in Geraldton (400km N of Perth) where she started a new job working on a project to help protect rare and endangered plants in this area known for its wildflowers.

Our main trip away was in late August to the Northern Territory to explore areas we had missed on previous trips.  We enjoyed a 6-day kayak tour down the Katherine and Daly Rivers (http://geckocanoeing.com.au), which both let us explore some fascinating and remote country, and to enjoy great kayaking in clear water with lots of interesting, but not too challenging rapids.  

Kayaks and Guide's Canoe on Daly River

Bob navigating a Small Rapid

We also went on a 5-day tour by 4WD through Kakadu National Park to the Cobourg Peninsula (http://www.venturenorth.com.au/cobourg-tours.html), again to explore a remote area we hadn’t been able to reach on our own since Arnhem Land is an indigenous area requiring permits to enter.

Sunset from Camp

Tour Group

Rock Art Guide

Lotus Lily Flower

There was also great birding in the wetland swamps of Kakadu National Park and in Arnhem Land. And of course there were also many crocodiles, freshwater and saltwater, so you had to be watchful.
 

Jacana (a lily walker)

Jabiru (a stork)

Lurking Crocodile

We plan to finish 2013 in separate directions.  Joyce is going to the Woodford Folk Festival as a setup volunteer and then an attendee, while Bob is flying west to Geraldton to visit Janet and to spend the Christmas week with her in the Exmouth and Shark Bay areas.

Bob’s mother Kath Matskows, now 92, is living reasonably contentedly in a home in Toogoolawah, with Bob’s sister Noela helping out when needed.  Craig is still in Boston working with VMWare and living with his partner, Karen.

The message on this year’s card – Dare to be Vulnerable - is a reminder to try to explore beyond our self-set limits that give us a false sense of security.  We are trying to and see our civilization and its future realistically instead of through the rose-coloured glasses that most people, especially our politicians, use to hide from the reality of the inability of humanity to comprehend and solve the problems facing our increasingly complex world.  This level of honesty is not pessimistic – it just opens the window to truly accepting the complexity and fragility of our beautiful world, and to being able to live with appreciation of all that we have. 

We wish you all a beautiful and exciting 2014.

Joyce's 2012 North American trip

Here is a brief overview of my trip (16 May to 7 September 2012).

Boston 16 May to 9 June visiting our son, Craig, and his partner, Karen

A great visit with our son Craig, his partner Karen, and her son Max as they made time in their very busy lives for walks, lots of talk and meals together, mainly on the weekends. 

I spent the week days away, mainly camping and enjoying the spring weather and exploring Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard (a large island south of Cape Cod known as a haunt of the rich and American presidents - and for me, an island dweller, the joy of visiting another beautiful island) mainly by bicycle.

Camping near Provincetown on Cape Cod

Roses growing right on the beach

Spring orchids everywhere, with  large turtles in ponds behind the dunes

Martha's Vineyard camp                                                                    Dunes a bit like home - except with oak trees

I flew to Ottawa, saying goodbye to Craig at the airport as he returned from Silicon Valley a couple of hours before I flew out.

 Ottawa Area 9 June to 8 July

First a 5 day beginners Whitewater Kayaking course on the Ottawa River north of Ottawa ,http://www.ottawakayak.com/ where I learned that although I lack the strength and coordination to roll a kayak without a lot more practice (I have always dreamed about rolling a kayak like an Eskimo), I now know how the rolls are done - and enjoyed 4 days running Grade 2 rapids on a beautiful wild stretch of river - with a guide to turn me over whenever I flipped the boat (which happened all too frequently as I slowly learned how to stay upright).

Next a week exploring Ottawa, staying with Jane Wilson, a friend who I met at McGill University in the 60's, and cycling around Ottawa.  I enjoying sharing her love of music (and of life in general), and playing chamber music with some of her musician friends.  I also enjoyed seeing the noisy sea gull colony on the river across from the Canadian Parliament building, and reflecting that both the squabbling gulls and the parliament sounded very similar (Canada and Australia both have disturbing problems with deteriorating quality of parliamentary debate.)

I next spent the next 2 weeks with Jane at the Lake Macdonald Music Centre halfway between Ottawa and Montreal at a bilingual CAMMAC (Canadian Amateur Music) camp  cammac.ca/en/- 1 week focusing on the music of Schubert, and the second on Early Music - where I enjoyed playing recorder with some very talented tutors, singing, listening to some great music, meeting lots of interesting people, canoeing and seeing loons and beavers - and the beautiful bush surroundings of the camp. 

Then sad farewells, and bus and train  with a quick visit to McGill University in Montreal  en route to Toronto.

Environmental art in Ottawa River in Ottawa

CAMMAC in the morning mist

Toronto 8 July to 20 July

A very enjoyable visit with my cousin, Sally Mason, and other Davidson relatives, catching up on family history.  Also with two other friends from McGill, Brenda Birkin, and Cynthia Ng-Littlejohn.  Toronto has grown greatly in the 15 years since I last visited, and now, at over 5 million people, has a very big city feel, with multi-story buildings and apartment blocks reaching far from the downtown area. 

I left Toronto at 1 am by bus for Wawa on the north shore of Lake Superior.  In a city that size, there is nothing unusual about moving around in the middle of the night by subway or bus.

Slate Islands Lake Superior  21 July to 27 July

I had visited Lake Superior, the largest fresh water lake in the world, in 1986 on a cross-Canada trip with Craig and Janet, and taken a picture of the clear water - and memories of this water drew me back for a sea kayaking trip on the Slate Islands about 10 km offshore in the very north of the lake www.naturallysuperior.com .  Six of us and 2 guides spent 5 days exploring the islands which are known for their population of woodland caribou which is the most southerly population remaining.  

Lake Superior

The boat which transported us to and from the islands

Campsite close to the water

Woodland caribou - not overly attractive!!!

Indian pipe - an intriguing  flowering plant which is a parasite on a fungus which is attached to roots of another plant, and helps feed that plant.  The host plant feeds the Indian Pipes through the fungus. 

After the trip, I went overnight by bus to Winnipeg, then caught a Via Rail train (which had the same carriages that were in use when I went across the country to McGill almost 50 years ago), and enjoyed a more luxurious trip overnight to Edmonton.  

In Edmonton I stayed with Grant Fisher, Bob's PhD supervisor, and met his wife LaRie, and visited with Mary Spencer, my PhD supervisor and her husband Hank.  I enjoyed walks through the University of Alberta Campus, much expanded since we were students there, and along the Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, plus a most amazing and extraordinary exhibition of large photographs of moths (http://www.moths.ca/) at the Royal Alberta Museum - we had to struggle with ourselves to keep from touching the pictures to feel the velvety surface of the insects.

Then by bus to Calgary.

Calgary and area  1 August to  7 September

In Calgary, I was based with my brother, Alan, his wife Linda, and their youngest daughter, Heather, who have provided me a welcome home away from home several times over the years.  I also enjoyed catching up with their son and daughter, Philip and Jayne, who swept through twice while I was there on their motorcycle trip from Alaska to the tip of South America (www.ultimateride.ca), once arriving from Alaska and heading south in a camper to the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, and then returning from Nevada to pick up (and repair) their bikes to head on south.  I wish them much joy in their adventure.  

In Calgary, I extracted a bicycle from their garage to explore Calgary, and visit several friends from school, university, and previous visits to Calgary.  I enjoyed visits, walks and long talks with Lydia Smith,  Marilyn, Harvey and Betty Johnson, Cathy and Art Sanden and Ruth and Jerry Westland - it is great to be able to renew ties and share experiences of where life has taken us.  I also spent a week in Lethbridge with Patty and Graeme Greenlee, and Patty's 102 year old father Lyman.

Calgary was hosting an international fireworks festival (www.globalfest.ca/)when I was there, and we went to all 6 nights of it, fascinated by the variety of dramatic effects each group achieved in their 20 minute display.  I also hired a car twice for overnight camping trips to the mountains near Banff and Lake Louise, cycling on some of the beautiful trails with my trusty bike, and hiking in the high alpine meadows, first in brilliant full bloom, and a couple of weeks later starting to show their fall colours. Alan and Linda and I closed my trip with 3 days hiking and exploring in the mountains in Waterton National Park, where we were delighted to see several bears feeding on the fall berries.

Then finally, home to Australia via Dallas/Fort Worth.... for the magical jump from fall and the summers end, to early spring with first flowers and birds starting to nest.  It is an amazing world.

Lake Loiuse

Moraine Lake

Mountain meadows near Bow Summit

A pika - a resident of the high meadows

One of many mountain butterflies

Crypt Lake, Waterton, is in the high valley to the right, and reached through a 20 m tunnel starting in the cliff just left of centre - there is a track approaching it across the scree just above the trees. A beautiful 18 km return hike well worth the effort.

I sat on the plane next to a man coming to Brisbane for a conference on Inner Peace - and realised that my trip for me had been a journey to a deeper understanding and discovery of inner peace through the combination of renewing ties and exploring my capabilities more deeply.  

Thanks to the many friends who shared so much with me and helped me on my journey, and the many others who enriched my life during the trip - thanks to you all for being part of my life.