Picture of the week - Autumn 13th April 2008

G'day once again,

I know that by now you've seen our home from every angle but I couldn't resist capturing the Oak trees with their changing leaves at the top of our garden.

Matt and Jen are on holiday and we are off to Daydream Island for 5 days tomorrow. It is a small island resort off the Queensland Coast and we're excited about our first trip to the Great Barrier Reef. We fly from Newcastle which means a 2 hour drive from Taree early tomorrow morning. We fly to Brisbane ( 1 hour 10 min ) and then to Hamilton Island ( 1 hour 20 min ) before being transported by boat to Daydream Island. Details about our island paradise next week.......

The reason for our trip is our local area's annual Paediatric Meeting which seems to be as much social as academic. I will be giving a talk entitled " Paediatric HIV / AIDS - Does the South African Perspective apply ? ". While I am by no means an expert on HIV / AIDS it is a great opportunity to open some eyes as to what HIV is doing to subsaharan Africa - prevention, management, obstacles ( mostly Governmental ), orphans........

We have had a weekend of relaxation and tidying although Matt had a hockey game ( they were thrashed again - no depth ) and Jen had Ballet rehearsals for the approaching Eisteddfod. Some of the tidying was clearing up after the builders ( same everywhere it seems ) and just knowing that I was going to come across a snake or two. The only question was how big and what colour. Fortunately, I only came across two small ones ( no, they weren't earthworms ! ) and let's just say they won't be a threat as adults.

Well, goodbye from Taree where the air is becoming crisper and where Autumn is showing its glory.

With love
Dyl, Bron, Matt and Jen

Picture of the week - Daydream Island 20th April 2008

G'day !

Well we're back from The Whitsunday Islands and what a time we had. Nothing boring about islands popping up out of a clear blue sea. Daydream Island is a resort in it's entirety and you can walk along the boardwalk from the North to the South and then back through the rainforest in about an hour.

I could have sent you pictures of sunrises, sunsets, reefs, fish, islands but you should come and see for yourselves - a trip to Australia wouldn't be complete without a visit to the vicinity of The Great Barrier Reef. I settled on this picture although Jen wasn't mad about having her picture taken with a topless mermaid. In fact, she first covered her breast ( the mermaid's ) with her hand but then decided that was even more " gross ". You can imagine !! The background picture is taken from the North and our room faced East. We snorkelled, swam in the pool, played pool, played minigolf and tennis and of course had a daytrip to snorkel on Hardy Reef which is one of the 2900 reefs which make up The Great Barrier Reef. It was a 45 minute boat trip out to the reef and the sea was really rough. About half of the 300 people on board lost their breakfast but we were all OK. It was amazing how prepared the staff were. I'm sure they had bets going..... This was all something we hadn't even considered. Snorkelling on the reef was a really special experience although from a diving point of view there are almost certainly better places to go.

Oh yes, I had a bit of conference too and my presentation went well. Can you imagine that at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle ( biggest Neonatal ICU in NSW ) they have 2 births to HIV positive women a year ????

It has been raining since we arrived home and I have just had to nip out to disconnect the effluent from the septic tank ( Envirocycle ) because of a sudden deluge - no waterborne sewerage here !!! Bron and I haven't been able to get on the ride-on mower and we're having withdrawal. We'll have to think of something else to do.......

Goodbye then from a soggy Manning Valley - part of only 5 % of Australia that has never been called a drought zone !!

Lots of love

Dyl, Bron, Matt and Jen

Picture of the week - Shoal Bay

Greetings !!

What can I say ? Australia is a big place and we've got to see as much of it as we can. Yes, we've just got back from a long weekend away. It was the kind of weekend you just don't want to come home from......you know what I mean ? Friday was a Public Holiday ( ANZAC Day - Australia and New Zealand Army Corps [ or something thereabouts ] ). It is a day to commemorate Australian and New Zealand soldiers and is taken very seriously. It is also the only day when it is legal to play " 2 UP ", apparently.

Right, this week's picture was taken yesterday at One Mile Beach ( most patches of coastline have a One Mile Beach and some even have Four, Seven and Nine Mile Beaches - don't ask ! There are also One [ and more ] Mile Hills on the major highways . As you can see, the rain has stopped - but I digress.
Left to right -
Penny and Glen Buchanan with their children Ryan and Greg in front of them. They were having a genuine Australian holiday........they've travelled just about everywhere else in the world ! Glen is a Radiologist in Johannesburg and we have stacks in common - DHS, Wedding Anniversary, fantastic wives....
Glen and Andrea Schlaphoff with their children Dale and Rhett. Glen is a Radiologist and Andrea gave up a big job at DiData when they moved to Sydney 6 years ago. We met when I was an Intern and Glen was in 6th Year. It has been great to enter their lives again. I think the feeling is mutual but I must admit, I haven't checked.
Bronwyn and Dylan Wesley with their children Matty and Jen. Dylan is a .....................................................................................................................................................beautiful wife Bronwyn.
Andrew and Mandy Stuart and their children Kelly and Sean. Andrew and Mandy are both, you guessed it - Radiologists who left SA for New Zealand 11 years ago and then crossed the Tasman to, you guessed it - Sydney, about a year and a half ago.
We all stayed at Shoal Bay Resort and Spa - check it out http://www.shoalbayresort.com/ and don't forget to " Google Earth " Shoal Bay. It all falls into an area called Port Stephens - wow, what a spot !!! Shoal Bay is on the Southern side of the bay ( Port Stephens ) which is huge ( seven times as much water as Port Jackson ( Sydney Harbour ), Glen S. tells me. There are numerous bays, beautiful hills and fantastic seaside beaches which are easily accessible.

Work is going well, by the way and Matt and Jen are back at school tomorrow.

Lots of love to you all,

Dyl, Bron, Matt and Jen