A few weeks back PC had the opportunity to attend a seminar in the Big Smoke, he was rather excited as this meant he could stay with, and spend time with our City sons. Always keen to spend time with their Bros, our next three oldest also headed down with him. As our City sons were working both days and PC attending his course, the question was, how should our teens and tween use their time in Sydney?   Suggesting this could be an educational opportunity for ‘Country goes to the City,’ I armed our 17, 14 & 12 year old with a list of potential places of interest within reasonable distance of…

  Tuesday was the highly anticipated day we were going to Taronga Zoo!! and we were delighted that both the older boys were able to join us.  Adding to the excitement was the fact we were traveling by ferry all the way; up the Parramatta River on the Rivercat and then via the Taronga Zoo ferry across the Sydney Harbour to the Zoo.     We arose early and drove to the Rydalmere Ferry Wharf in time to catch the 7:49am ferry.  Parking at the ferry car park is free. Travelling up the Parramatta Ferry on the Rivercat was a magical trip that morning, we had the ferry to ourselves for most of the…

  We set out Monday morning for our second leg of ‘playing tourists in Sydney‘ to find that work on the tracks was still happening as Monday was a Public Holiday. For my o/seas readers, Boxing Day, the day after Christmas is a Public Holiday but when it falls on a Saturday or Sunday as it did this past year, the public holiday is transferred to the Monday, still confused, not to worry we get a little confused too. Anyhow this meant a repeat of the previous days transportation routine, we changed at Parramatta from the train to bus, drove to Olympic Park again and were transferred back onto the…

When we made the decision to spend Christmas in Sydney with our lads we decided it was also an opportunity to have a holiday. Though we are occasionally in Sydney to visit family we never have time to actually take advantage of what our State’s capital city has to offer.  This time would thought we’d ‘play tourist’ and explore and experience.     It’s been fourteen years since our last family holiday, in part some of this is due to the cost of accomodation for a large family. We were fortunate to be able to stay with out boys in their rented home, it is a small three bedroom home with…

Day 11- Monday 29th August Whilst in Mt Isa I was keen to visit the School of the Air, the educational program in which children who live in remote areas of Australia receive their education. Launched in the1950s, School of the Air is a combination of correspondence lessons and daily class sessions via a telephone network system. Originally class sessions were via the pedal radio and later a high frequency radio.  Since 2002 however, they are via a telephone network system, with the plan to include webcams in the future.  For some however this will never be a possibility as geographical isolation will not support the technology.  One student hooks up via a satellite phone which is not totally reliable.   We saw…

Day 10 – Sunday 28th August We began Sunday by attending Mass with family:)  It happened to be World Day of Migrants and Refugees, and as many women and children attended in their national dress it was easily apparent how many different nations are represented in Mt Isa.  There were well over 20 different nationalities present that morning.  It was a unique and blessed experience to hear the Mass readings read in a couple of different languages, many nations, One Faith. Afterwards we headed out to Lake Moondarra, a perfect place for a Sunday picnic.  The Lake was built by Mt Isa mines in 1956 for the mines use, the largest dam in…

Day 9 – Saturday 27th August What an incredible sunrise to awake too!  Saturday Morning; my brothers, PC and our four eldest awoke in tents on a Cattle Station, an out of Mt Isa. My brother Chris’ microlight is stored in his hanger at the Station (ranch). Flying his microlight is one of Chris’ passions and he undertook a huge effort to own one.  To obtain his flying license he travelled thousands of kilometres to the nearest flying school and totalled many flight hours. Before taking his guests up, Chris took the microlight for a solo test run. Microlights might look fragile but they are incredibly strong.  Australian microlights have…

Day 8 – Friday 26th August Friday morning we visited the Mt Isa Underground Hospital, built by miners during the 2nd World War.  After Darwin was bombed in 1942, Mt Isa who was only producing lead, were fearful they would be the next target. The Underground Hospital was dug in the hills behind the hospital within15 weeks.  All miners volunteered their services, working after their shifts finished at the mines, mostly mining by hand. Whenever the air raid siren sounded (which sometimes happened a few times a week), all patients would be evacuated to the Underground Hospital. The Underground Hospital was divided into three ‘wards’.  Including maternity and babies as well as…