JANUARY 2004
EDITOR'S SOAPBOX
Welcome to the latest edition of the family newsletter. I can't believe how quickly time has passed since the last one. It seems like just the other day the leaves were beginning to change. At this point we barely remember what leaves on the trees would look like!
As I began the last newsletter, Trevor was about to leave for a 6 month deployment to Afghanistan. At this moment he is less than 20 days away from returning.
I have a great contribution from Nicole this time, in her role as Roving Reporter from Down Under. She will soon be headed back to Australia to do more research for this newsletter. (And probably to have some fun as well.)
DAD & EVELYN
Dad & Evelyn have had a fairly quiet time of things, which suits them just fine. They traveled to Moosomin when Dad's older sister Bertha passed away September 25th. They attended her funeral and did a bit of traveling around the neighboring countryside before returning home. They had a small crowd in for both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. They had a fair bit of company spread out over the Christmas holidays. Dad celebrated his 87th birthday on New Year's Eve and they went to Southey to celebrate with dinner out.
Bev's daughter, Melissa, is attending Aviation Mechanics School at Red River College in Winnipeg. She’s staying with Sharon and Wally for the first while but has arranged an apartment. Genevieve’s boyfriend may be getting a job in Thompson, Manitoba soon and that would certainly be a big move. Felicia is in grade 10 in Regina and getting very good marks. She’s happy to be going to a city school. Zoe is still very busy babysitting. She’s in grade 7. She recently won a biathlon and will be going to the Provincials in Kelliher.
JIM & MARYANN BRANCH
Jim & Maryann have had a rather interesting time since the last newsletter. It's hard to say where to begin. Let’s start slowly and work our way up to the more interesting stuff. They have been sticking fairly close to home in the last number of months. Between Maryann’s full time job and Jim’s hours at the store, they don’t manage to get away as much as they’d like to. Maryann was very happy to have all her “chicks” around one table at Christmas. That hasn’t happened very often in recent years. They had a wonderful time over the Christmas season with all of their family.
Their lives changed a lot during the early morning hours of January 4th. That’s when Jim’s store burned down. It was totally gutted. By the time the alarm folks called him and he was able to get there the fire department was working on a building that was “fully involved”.
Jim is now dealing with the various hassles of insurance, etc., and is unsure what the future holds in regards to his business. He will make decisions as he finds out more about it all. As expected, he’s primarily just grateful that it happened at night and that nobody came to any harm at all.
Joy & Reg have been as busy as ever. Their girls are a going concern, as always. They had the usual busy preparations for the beginning of another school year.
The picture above shows the 4 of them, all ready for the first day of school. The picture below shows the two younger ones with Barb's two little girls (easily recognizable with the white blonde hair).
They were dealing with a tragedy early in the winter when there was a car accident that killed several teenagers in the area. It turned out that Andi and Brandi’s best friends were among those killed. Joy hosted several family functions over the Christmas season.
Sonya & Nick have been enjoying life and keeping busy. Sonya has been acting in a new position over the last several months. It has involved some traveling, which she really enjoys. I’m quite sure that her title would not fit on the average business card. It is: Coordinator, Facilities Project Management in the Major Projects Division of Real Property and Sustainable Development for CCRA. Quite the mouthful. The good thing is that she very much enjoys it. They went to a couple of really great concerts recently. One was Cher on her farewell tour. That would have to be a total blast! The other was Bryan Adams when he did his benefit concert, another totally amazing performer. In October Diane went to Surrey for a conference and spent some time with Sonya & Nick, helping them clean up their Thanksgiving leftovers. Steven & Meredith went to visit with them at the end of October when they were back in B.C. finalizing details of selling their house. In November Sonya & Nick spent a weekend at Harrison Hot Springs. They both headed to Alberta for Christmas with their families, carefully dividing their time between each family. Nick’s brother Mike got engaged just a couple of weeks before Christmas so there was much to celebrate. For the first weekend in January they went to Silver Star Mountain beside Vernon to do some snowboarding. They were just in time for the cold snap. –37 when you’re boarding down a mountain isn’t a whole lot of fun. After those first few hours of freezing on the snowboard, Sonya spent the rest of the time in the hot tub or sitting in front of a big fireplace reading. (sounds very sensible to me) They plan a similar trip to Apex (near Penticton) in March.
Steven & Meredith moved to Alberta right around the time of Steven’s birthday in September. He accepted a position at the London Drugs in Sherwood Park. They sold their home in B.C. and are now living with Jim & Maryann until they decide to look for their own place, probably in the spring. In the meantime, Steven has been doing very well in his new position and is currently hoping/expecting a transfer/promotion to a larger store before too long. Their friend Andrea accompanied them to Alberta and is also living with Jim & Maryann. Meredith is hoping to find employment soon. They are hoping to take a trip to Spain sometime around March. It will be their long delayed honeymoon so they would like to go for their anniversary. In the “small world department” Steven’s old school buddy, Danny Racette is living near them and they are re-establishing contact after a lot of years.
JEANNE & FRED BRANCH
Jeanne & Fred were at the Triffo family Christmas pot-luck dinner on December 6th. They were at Jackie’s for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. Jeanne has been getting lots of hours in at the two lottery booths. Fred’s son Mike recently became the new Vice President of his union.
Daniel is getting straight A’s in school again so he was spoiled (as usual) at Christmas time.
We have pictures of Terry’s early Christmas present (with Danny on top of it) as well as the new motorhome after they got all the decals put on it.
They had one guest over for Christmas Dinner and a fair bit of company on Boxing Day. They had a New Year’s Eve party with about 25 friends this year. Lots of fireworks in the back yard at midnight with the whole neighborhood watching. Terry’s snowmobile blew up for the second time in mid-January. Of course this happened 50 miles from the truck (which was already 40 miles from home). Terry went back the following weekend with 15 friends to retrieve it. At least it wasn’t too cold, only –25 but it was quite windy so you could only see about 100 feet ahead and Terry got a bit of frostbite on his neck.
LARRY & SHARON BRANCH
Late in September, Larry had finally caught up with all his business work, pretty much just in time for school bus time of year again. Sharon worked through Thanksgiving and Christmas, as she often does, so they adjusted their family get togethers accordingly. One of Sharon’s cousins from Odessa died after a snowmobile accident in mid-December. Sharon has recently developed rather painful heel spurs, not that it’s slowed her down any. She and her family are busy planning a 50th anniversary party for her folks.
Amber bought a colt, who she named Joker, at the end of August from South Dakota. It was getting very good at getting out and taking off so they kept him with the Donnelly’s while they built a new corral for him.
Amber started a job with the PMU in Qu’Appelle in the fall but it didn’t work out so she’s at home again for now. She’s been dealing with new braces on her teeth recently, and has been doing a lot of research on horses, checking on the latest equipment and looking for jobs.
Dylan is doing the usual stuff for a guy his age – fast cars and fast women. Well, he’s trying anyway. He’s looking forward to finishing school soon, though he hasn’t figured out exactly what he wants to do afterward. He recently curled in the Youth Spiel in Regina but his team didn’t do as well as hoped.
JO-ANNE & ROY BRANCH
We’ve had a fairly busy fall and winter so far. We had a wonderful visit during late August and again in September with Gaylene & Dennis. I’m sure that many of you aren’t familiar with those names but you would know Leonard & Charlotte Triffo. Gaylene is their daughter and I think it was the first time I’d seen her since she was way shorter than me. Now that’s saying something. They explored various parts of Atlantic Canada over a 3 week period. They got so caught up in the romance of PEI that they became engaged there! We had a great time at Liscombe Lodge on Labour Day weekend. We took a paddle boat up the river, spent time on the putting green, went for walks in the nature trails, and played some outdoor ping pong.
We had some serious excitement when Hurricane Juan struck in the wee small hours of September 29th. I believe it was officially stated to be Category 1 but further evidence showed that it was actually Category 2. I wrote an extensive description to family and friends afterward and you can click here juan.htm if you are interested in reading it.
We spent a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year. In December we went to a John McDermott and Nana Mouskori concert. It was absolutely wonderful and a great way to get into the Christmas spirit. We spent Christmas Eve day at Susan & Rob’s house.
Christmas Day was spent with our good friends Michelle & Kim.
We spent New Year’s Eve at home and went to a fantastic brunch the next day at one of the local hotels with our good friend Diane. We wouldn't normally do something that extravagant but the hotel picked up the tab because they were feeling badly about a bad experience we had there a few weeks previously.
Business continues to be good. Selling knives through KnivesDirect.com was absolutely crazy busy leading up to Christmas and is still going strong. Between that and other business activities, Jo-Anne decided to quit her dental job in early February. It was only 8 hours a week but the work hours weren’t able to be flexible and it was getting to be too difficult to fit into the schedule there.
The Kidney clan have been keeping themselves very busy this Fall and winter. Erica, the youngest of the clan, started school in September. She loves it and has become her teacher's little helper - fetching milk, delivering notes to other classes and helping other students in the class. The males of the clan, Alex and Rob (and Bucky the dog) got themselves a new hobby, four-wheeling. Whether there be rain, sleet, hail or snow, not a day goes by that they don't take the bike out for a spin or two or three. Rob, the eldest of the clan, has gotten so obsessed that he even spent two hours shoveling their path out after a big snow the other day. We're keeping an eye on him! When he sneaks a sleeping bag out to the shed, we'll call in the straight-jackets. Susan, the Den Mother, has been keeping busy with her job, as usual. Hurricane Juan, who rudely interrupted life in Nova Scotia, decided a little redecorating was needed in downtown Halifax and took away the roof of her building. So a lot of Susan's days have been spent begging (threatening?) contractors to hurry up and fix her roof and trying to convince tenants that the water dripping in their offices is just part of the new relaxation techniques being tried at the building. They're not falling for it, by the way.
ALLAN & CAROL BRANCH
Allan has been very busy with his project in Regina as it enters the final stages. He has been writing up sales constantly as they strive to fill the building and they are meeting all of their goals quite nicely. Allan did some traveling over Christmas, dividing his time among family and friends in Regina and Saskatoon areas. He is looking forward to living full time in Saskatoon, hopefully in February/March timeframe. He has been preparing for a play that he is involved in, which will be held the early part of February. It’s not the sort of thing he’s ever done before and he is finding it to be a lot of fun. He’s still curling in a couple of leagues. His mixed league team is undefeated so far this year and it’s been a lot of fun for all of them.
Trevor has been very busy in Afghanistan since I wrote the last newsletter. I will provide a link here to his personal site which Chris set up for him to update. http://copper.usask.ca/trev/ Afghanistan has been quite an experience for him, different from his previous deployments in many ways. The most difficult part was losing some close buddies in a terrible incident there. He managed to take some good “leave time” while he was there and did some exploring in Thailand. He switched to more of a “desk job” toward the end of his deployment, which was much safer, but a lot less interesting. The CBC taped a Christmas show at Camp Julien and Trev was rubbing elbows with guys like Tom Cochrane. Life is a Highway - indeed!
He is currently very busy as they work on “handing off” to the next group of troops, who are already arriving there and learning the ropes. Trev is very excited about his upcoming transfer to Edmonton, where he will be much closer to family and friends. He will be joining 3PPCLI, Alpha Company. He rather enjoyed spending New Years Eve at the bar at their camp in Afghanistan, drinking with the Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson. One of his buddies was the first to give her a kiss at midnight! He is expecting to return to Canada on Feb.16thth. He’ll spend a few days in Petawawa “debriefing”, then he’s on his own until nearly mid-April when he has to report for duty in Edmonton. He will have a beautiful souvenier of this particular deployment. Click on the thumbnail picture below to see the larger image.
Chris & Shanin headed up to Edmonton area early in November to attend the wedding of a friend. It became a multi-purpose visit when they went to the Western Conference semi-final football game between Sask and Edmonton. They also spent time with Jim & Maryann and their crew while there. Chris then headed down to Regina, staying with Di & Ger while the Grey Cup was on.
Kelsey has been busy with her university work and moved in with Allan several months ago. They are enjoying living together and acquired a cat from Frank. From what I heard initially, the cat was busy becoming boss of the household, which is as it should be. It was raised by Frank though, and its upbringing shows. It still runs into a lot of walls and does not do well with stairs. There have been several “crash landings” at the bottom of the staircase. Kelsey, Carol, Bri and another lady are singing in a barbershop quartet. They will be competing in April and will also be in a big show with the Chimo Chordsmen at the Centennial Auditorium on May 1st. Kelsey is taking 5 classes in this university term so she’s kept very busy, but she’s been happy with her marks so far.
GERMAN BRANCH
Life has been busy in Axel & Petra’s household ever since Linus arrived.
Linus is growing like a weed. He’s 72 cm long and weighs 10 kg. The doctor keeps asking them if there are any giants among their ancestors. There are only 3% of children in his age group that are taller/heavier. Axel and Petra have not been on any long motorcycle tours lately due to expanded family duties and some bad weather. They have done a few local rides. Axel’s Opel (car) now has 325,000 km on it and just passed the inspection. When we were in Germany we called it “Opel mit Hammer” because the only way he could start it for a time was if he hit something under the hood with a hammer while someone else turned the key. Axel finally finished his PhD with his defense on Dec. 4th. Addison Wesley will soon be publishing a book called “MDA Distilled”, which Axel co-authored.
DON & TRUDY BRANCH
Don & Trudy had company during the Christmas season. Mark & Kelly, along with Kelly’s Mom and Ady Johnson all came for a visit. They had all three of their kids home for Christmas. Don & Trudy attended a lot of dinner theatres in November and December. They are now preparing for the “One Act Play Festival” which will be held in Strasbourg in the fall. Don has been attending a Director’s Workshop. He’s also still on the Credit Union Board and is now on the local School Board as well, where he manages to bring up a lot of good issues. Trudy still serves on the Co-op Board. Don was part of a group who provided entertainment in January for the send-off that was held for the Kelln rink who were representing Saskatchewan and going to the Senior Men’s Curling Championships in Vernon, BC. Don was one of the “Sloppy Bottom Boys” and they got a lot of laughs for their performance.
Danielle managed to make it home for Thanksgiving to visit her folks and all of her grandparents. She keeps busy with going to the gym quite regularly and has recently signed up for a Nutrition seminar. She has been hired at a different Shopper’s Drug Mart. This one is much closer to home for her and she feels it’s a very good move. She’s actually within walking distance of home now. One of the pharmacists there is someone she worked with at the Gordon Road Shoppers in Regina years ago. She had company when her folks and Nicole showed up in November for a few days. She celebrated her birthday quietly, but the following week Nicole and her two Australian friends were there to visit. She recently finished a 3 part seminar at work with training on blood pressure meters and blood-glucose monitors. When she does training sessions for clients on blood-glucose monitors she gets paid training fees and bonuses like free movie passes and that sort of thing. She made it home for Christmas this year as well, getting a ride with her friend Neil rather than taking the bus. On January 3rd, Shoppers had their Regional Christmas party at the Roundup Centre in the Saddledome.
Nicole had a wonderful time in Australia, as you will read in the separate article on her trip. Not long after returning home, she had a couple of her new friends come to Canada for a tour they had previously planned. She accompanied them and showed them around her home area a small amount, and also spent time in Alberta with them, going to the mountains and looking around Calgary where they visited with Danielle too. At the moment, Nicole has been giving some pointers to Justin’s basketball team and has been planning a return trip to Australia. Her work visa was approved in less than 5 hours and she leaves in mid February. She doesn’t start back at university until September so she now has the opportunity to explore another country, working while she’s there and traveling around. That should be an excellent addition to the academic education she is getting. Nicole’s entire family was able to travel to Winnipeg in August to see her play in the Rugby National tournament.
Justin has been involved in basketball and has been working a few hours in the local computer store for Lance. He’s attended a lot of the Strasbourg hockey games lately as a spectator. He has also been busy raising money for the Youth Group trip to Hamilton in August. He goes to the local gym with Nicole quite often.
JACKIE & WAYNE BRANCH
Wayne & Craig had an absolutely wonderful surprise early in September. They made a big win on a ticket that they had purchased together.
It is a 100th Anniversary XLH Sportster 883 Hugger Harley Davidson motorbike. I believe that Brandy is now the proud rider of this bike. Jackie & Wayne continue with their home improvements. They raised the roof (literally) on Thanksgiving weekend, getting it all shingled and the siding replaced.
They had a crowd of about 20 for their Thanksgiving meal. On October 5th they went to a memorial service at the hospital for all babies who passed away prematurely. They were accompanied by Cory & Jess, Jess’s Mom, Cairo, Taiva, Denise, Tessa, Tom & Tiffany. In November Jackie sold the winning tickets at work for the Grey Cup. Cory’s friend Tom won the tickets and Jackie received a $100 gift certificate from Sears. Jackie & Wayne had about 20 people over for Christmas Dinner at their house.
Denise is back working at Sarcan again and they had a party to celebrate Tessa’s first birthday in January. Tessa was the latest “victim” in the chicken pox outbreak that has been roaring through all of Jackie & Wayne’s grandkids.
Cory is still working for H.R. Enterprises at the U of Regina site. He plans on writing his GED soon and then applying with the city police. That would sure be a wonderful career. In the meantime, Jess is on an educational leave and is taking courses through Athabasca University. She’s working hard at it and enjoying it very much. They’ve had a chicken pox epidemic in their house recently and that’s never much fun.
Jess has been getting back into flute playing and singing and plans to teach Cairo as well. Taiva will soon be going to Pre-Kindergarten and is looking forward to it. Cairo will be starting it next year.
DIANE & GERRY BRANCH
Things are as busy as ever in their household. Thanks to Di’s employer, they had free tickets to the Grey Cup. This also included a “grab bag” of useful articles to keep them warm and comfy during the game. They had good seats and very much enjoyed watching the Snowbirds fly over. They had a very sad and difficult time over Christmas when Ida’s brother Elmer passed away on Dec. 23rd. Diane’s territory has been expanded a bit so she travels up to Prince Albert from time to time. She’s still enjoying her job very much and Ger is perfectly content at his lottery booth.
Niki has been volunteering at a senior citizen’s home in Regina and really loving it. She’s doing well in school, still getting excellent marks, and is beginning to think about her future career, possibly in law. Her immediate plans are to save every penny, get a job at a Mac's store in the summer when school is out, and put all of her savings toward buying a Mustang for herself. It has always been her dream car and she figures she might be able to swing a used one by the end of the summer. She hasn’t been involved in sports recently in school but is planning on getting involved in basketball and curling again. She recently finished her driver training course.
Frank has been hopping around all over the job market during the past number of months. He had left Roger’s Video in July and then went to Star Tech call centre. After a period of time there he decided it just “wasn’t his thing”. The call centre business can be a pretty negative place to be. He decided to simplify his life by moving home in the fall. He began working at Zellers late in the fall. He has done very well there and had full time hours until after Christmas. His hours are cut back quite a bit now, which has given him more time to get his university application ready and figure out his classes for the September term.
RELATIVELY SPEAKING
Aunt Bertha passed away on September 25, not long before her 89th birthday. Her funeral was very well attended.
Erwin tells me that the forest fires in B.C. came within about 150 km of where Bridget, Ray, and Aurora live, but even at that safe distance their electricity was out for a period of time. Bridget, Ray & Aurora headed off to Portugal in September where, ironically, they were also dealing with forest fires. Bridget has a good friend living there, who served as their tour guide. While "in the neighborhood” they also visited England, Spain and Morocco. They were gone for about a month.
Agnes & Ron and Al & Sandi Triffo have decided to be Snowbirds this winter. They drove their motorhomes down south from Jan 5 until sometime in April. They will be exploring Nevada and Arizona.
Dave & Nancy spent the summer and fall preparing for
their new modular home, which is now on the property. The old farmhouse came down in October.
This picture of Dave in the trench was taken before he broke his right arm at work.
Amy was in hospital mid-January with what turned out to be a gastric ulcer. A very, very painful experience for her, but it can be cleared up by medication, thank goodness. Actually, since they moved out to the farm they’ve had a small string of bad luck. Amy was in a roll-over accident and broke her foot in another accident. As mentioned above, Dave broke his arm at work. So far, Nancy remains unscathed. However, they are all very happy with their decision to move out to the farm, they are enjoying country life. Patty & Art purchased the quarter across the road and had the Young’s sow it to hay for them. The old farm has now grown to a section – half in pasture and half in hay.
Reinhold & Grace had company late in the summer when Grace’s grand-daughter and her children arrived for a few days. Reinhold twisted wrong when shoveling snow late in October and ended up with a “bum leg”. He had twisted his sciatic nerve. After a few physio sessions it improved a great deal and now it’s as good as ever. Reinhold and Grace drove down to Calgary to spend Christmas Day with Brian & Heather. They spent a quiet New Year’s at home.
Brian & Heather headed out to Sask in the fall. They took in the Grey Cup game (no Riders in it – boo, hiss) and were able to visit the old homestead one last time before it came down. They saw Don, Trudy, Nicole and Danielle when they were all in Calgary recently. During the summer they had a visit from Terry, Judy & Daniel who went down to buy a motorhome.
Wendy & Dick are still busy with their respective careers. Both were able to take some time off at Christmas and enjoyed a trip to Strasbourg to visit the folks. Dick reports that his parks are getting busier all the time, which speaks well for the economy. They went camping to Emma Lake for a couple of weeks in the summer. Chris didn’t go back to SIAST in Moose Jaw last year. He went home to Elbow for awhile, then decided to head for Saskatoon and find work there with Wavecom. He is enjoying his job very much and is living in a townhouse with a couple of other guys. He lost a number of items in a house break-in, which was no fun at all, and has some misadventures with his car that ended up in fender-benders, so it’s been a rather challenging (though interesting) year for him.
Elinor & Ingolf had a very nice celebration for their 50th anniversary. Wes & Wendy surprised them with a night at the Spa in Moose Jaw.
The picture above shows what the place looked like when they were finished with it. I'm kidding! Sadly, part of the old structure involved in the Al Capone tunnels was destroyed by fire in January. Elinor & Ingolf had honeymooned in Moose Jaw, all those many moons ago, so it was a sentimental journey for them. In January, Ingolf’s sister, Emma Huntley, passed away.
Brook is having a wonderful time living in B.C., as you can see in this picture.
It was taken at the Winter Ball sponsored by the bank she works for. That is Brook (upper left) with 3 of her good friends. She was home in Sask for Christmas. She and her folks headed to Strasbourg to spend Boxing Day with Elinor & Ingolf. Helen has still been having breathing difficulties at the school where she is employed. Fred is driving truck again, usually about once a week or so.
Aunt Elsie had a bit of a fall while visiting at Lynn’s house over the holidays. She cracked a couple of ribs. Fortunately, she has lots of friends in Strasbourg who helped look after her.
I hooked up with Marilyn in the fall by telephone and we’ve spoken several times since. She and her husband, Joe, recently moved to Manning from High Level. They are now much closer to Terry and Shawna, who are in the same town. Marilyn has been having some problems with arthritis in her feet and some vertigo problems. It hasn’t dampened her spirits though, she’s just as much fun as ever to talk to.
MANITOBA UPDATE
Corey Legrand continues to be my source for news on the Manitoba front....
Johnny Uhl is in poor health again. He is at home but finds many everyday chores to be a great challenge. Hopefully he will improve soon. Johnny’s grand-daughter, Melissa has moved back to Beausejour from Winnipeg. She is working in the municipal office. His other grand-daughter, Ashley, will be graduating later this year and moving to Winnipeg.
Corey’s folks, Don & Cheryl Meads, are enjoying living in Pinawa. Pinawa is quite a tourist centre in the summer but the winters are very quiet. They enjoy seeing all the wildlife that comes right into town.
Corey and his brother Paul are living together in Winnipeg. They look after a person with a disability, as well as going to university. Their brother Tim is also busy getting his university education. Their youngest sister Megan is in grade 10.
Al Kuly has started a small perogie making business in B.C. He is enjoying excellent health and is doing well.
REPORT FROM DOWN UNDER
Nicole had a wonderful time in Australia in October. She had many interesting things to report. For instance, when you flush a toilet, the water really does go down the bowl opposite from here. Apparently people there drive on the “wrong” side of the road too. There were palm trees everywhere and the weather was gorgeous. And, in her own words:
I just got back to Brisbane from Fraser Island! The largest sand beach in the world! ITS BEAUTIFUL! It is also a dingo reserve and home to many, many different animals! I SAW MY FIRST DINGO there, and my second... lol! Apparently a couple of weeks ago a dingo attacked and killed a 14 year old boy so there aren't very many left because they killed 28 of them because of that! There were also many different types of snakes... death adders, taipans and tiger snakes (the poisonous ones) and many different types of pythons. I saw the biggest spider in my life there! If you take a piece of paper and look at a quarter of it that was about how big the spider was! SCARY for all of you who know how much I hate spiders! On Fraser Island there were also Brumbies (wild horses). And a sign saying that you have to be careful of them because they kick and bite! They also had Goannas, which are HUGE lizards!! I was looking for one but never did see one! It was a great experience there... out in the rough without much civilization!
I’d say she sounded pretty excited and was definitely having fun. During the trip they actually got around to playing some rugby, which was the whole point of the trip in the first place. They did very well. Hers was the first team from Saskatchewan to ever play in Australia and Nicole got the first “try” (goal). They won by a small margin and Nicole was responsible for 15 points. And again, in her own words:
I have seen a lot of cool animals since I have been here! I just recently saw little padymelons... and some parrots and bush turkeys. We also saw some possums. When you go to bed at night or even if you turn your back during the day these little critters try to steal your food from wherever it is! I was in Laminton National Park for three days and I went on a nice long 7 hour hike... 17 1/2 km. I saw some cool trees and some cool birds and a crayfish/lobster type thing... it was amazing! Things here are really good. I have been traveling all over. I have been from Fraser Island to Byron Bay so far and everything is just beautiful! Apparently in Byron Bay all the way over 20 miles to Nimbun it is legal to smoke drugs... people come over and ask you all the time if you want to buy some... its crazy stuff.... really weird. Almost like Amsterdam. I FINALLY SAW A KOALA! Not just one though, I saw a mom and its baby! They are so adorable! I saw dolphins and whales the other day while we were swimming in the ocean at Myall Lakes! Then we saw some white swans and some huge giant lizards that are called Goannas! The wild life here is amazing! I have seen Kangaroos and everything! I also went sea kayaking and experienced a lot of new and cool things! I pet my first kangaroo!
And here is her final message from Down Under:
G'day everyone! How is everything going? I am just in Melbourne airport before departing from Australia :( I can't believe how fast the time flew! It seems like I just got here and just started to have fun! The last two weeks have been incredible! I have met tons of new people and met tons of new friends that hopefully the relationships will last a life time! I have had the most fun one person could ever imagine and I am dreading the thought of coming home to the SNOW!!! Over the last two weeks I have seen just about everything Sydney has to offer! I have been to the Aquarium, seen the night life scenes and gotten to know some people :) I have never imagined I would swim in the ocean so many times and never get sick of it! Or awakened at 5 in the morning to the sounds of tropical birds and frogs and lizards and not gotten annoyed! Its amazing how you can be in the middle of a huge city and there will still be lizards on the fences basking themselves in the sun! The things you see here are like no other place in the world! I was a little worried about coming here with 18 girls that I didn't know! Now, I am here by myself and I miss the people who took the role of being a big sister (since I was the baby on the trip!!) I miss being around them and saying goodbye to some of them for a long time was a really hard thing to do! Saying goodbye to people that I met in Australia who live there was another really hard thing! I have had a wonderful experience here and would jump at the chance of coming back! This place is heaven!!! I should really find something else to do now - I have 4 1/2 hours before I can check my bags so maybe I will go exploring and see what I can find to do around here! I will talk to you all later and I hope to hear from you soon!
I left the report primarily in her own words because her enthusiasm comes bubbling through in every sentence. As mentioned in an earlier part of this newsletter, she is indeed on her way back there and I hope to have future reports from her.