Australia Sunday Jun 1, 2014
Dear Family and Friends:
Another month gone by.
We are now in the middle of winter and the average temps have been in
the high 70’s, warm for this time of year but we are enjoying it. Everything is really dry, they have been
watering the lawn around the Temple and Buckland House the past week. The weather man has been predicting rain for
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 60-80% chance.
We got some rain this afternoon while we were in Church. Sister Smith said she thinks the weather
people over here flunked weather school in the US and came over here and got a
job. They are never right. Hopefully we will get more rain this week.
Monday night we were sitting here watching “Mash”, one of
the few shows worth watching over here, when a knock came at the door and it
was Sister Archibald with 2 pieces of mud cake with strawberries and
cream. About a half hour later another
knock and it was Elder Killebrew with a couple of pieces of warm brownies. Wow! They were all really good.
We had a good week at the office capturing 18,500
cards. On Thursday we took 10 copied
boxes back to the warehouse and brought 6 back leaving 17 on the pallet to
finish the project. It definitely is
going to get done. Of course we still
have to have really good weeks. One card
that I saved to tell you about was the death of Frances Peat, died Mar 28, 1842
at age 10 years and 9 months. On her
stone it reads: Pray dear Parents as you pass by. Look on my grave and do not cry. But hope my
soul has gone to rest with my dear God, whom I Love Best. It was an isolated grave on Ruin Wharf Road
near Mooney Mooney.
Friday was the Birthday morning Tea and the finance dept was
in charge. They had homemade chips and
dip. They buy the chips at a place about
5 min from the office and they are warm when they get them. They were so yummy! They had about 5 kinds of bread with
toppings, cheese and barbecue sauce, garlic and cheese bread, onion and cheese,
vegetable and cheese, and crackers with cheese, tomato and pickles. Fresh fruit, watermelon, cantaloupe, kiwi,
pineapple, and grapes. Chocolate and
strawberry milk and plain milk, and juice.
It was very good.
Saturday after cleaning and doing some laundry, we went to
Temple Housing and picked up Kailee and then went to the Smith’s to get
them. We told them we would take them to
Wiseman’s Ferry as they had not been there yet.
We stopped at an information center and got maps and went along the Old
Great North Road that was constructed between 1826 and 1834 and it remains one
of the major engineering feats of the convict era. Up to 700 convicts worked on the road at any
one time. The convicts were
re-offenders, and the living conditions were harsh, work was labour-intensive
and the equipment crude. The many
bridges, complex drainage systems and walls that remain are a monument to the
labour of the men that built them and represents an important era in the
development of Sydney and the Nation.
The road was constructed during a period of colonial expansion as it
became necessary to link settlers in the Hunter Valley with Sydney via an
overland route. Prior to this, passenger
travel and transportation of goods was conducted via ship. The road also facilitated further expansion
of Sydney and provided greater access to agricultural areas, especially within
the Lower Hawkesbury region. It was very
impressive to see after you knew the history.
There is still beautiful agriculture ground all through there. We stopped at the Hawkins lookout and found
the marker that told some of the history of the convict gangs that worked on
the road. We went down to the river and
crossed it at Webbs crossing and drove to St Albans. This is a very old town and we got out and
went into the courtyard of a restaurant that is housed in one of the old
buildings. There was an old iron wheeled
tractor and a huge old tree. We looked
at the pictures inside and then left and decided to take another old road back
to Wisemans Ferry. Most of it was dirt
and washboard and narrow. We found a
very old cemetery, St Albans and some of the markers were in the early 1800’s,
one 1805, and Australia was discovered in 1790 so they were some of the
original settlers. There were none in
the 1900’s and a lot of the stones were broken and very hard to read. It was fun walking around and reading
them. The drive along the road was
beautiful, lots of old stone houses in the middle of farm ground, and a few log
cabins. Most have just left them there
and built newer homes. We got back to
Wiseman’s around 1 and rode the ferry over to have lunch at Convicts Kiosk, a
really good hamburger and chips with chicken salt. Then we went back to find the kangaroos but
there were none out so we went back across the ferry at Webbs and went to
Ebenezer Church and graveyard so they could see it. The drive there is so pretty. We saw one farm that was cutting sod, and
another that the cabbage looked ready to harvest. A lot of the early settlers came to this
valley because of the fertile soil. We
came home through Winsor and stopped for and ice cream cone and show Kailee the
town. We got home about 6 and we had a
few sprinkles of rain, otherwise it was beautiful, just a jacket sometimes.
When we got up this morning the road was a little wet but we
hadn’t had much rain. I told Dad it
needs to rain really hard while we are in Church to wash the dirt off the
car. When we came out everything was wet
and the car looks pretty good. It just
sprinkled on us on the way home. Church
was really good, the Stake President was there to release the two counselors in
the Bishopric and sustain 2 more. Relief
Society and Priesthood was held together and it was all on Family History. The Stake is having a special Temple Day on
July 25th and they want everyone to take their own names. The youth will do the baptisms the week
before. They gave everyone the My Family
booklet and told everyone to get busy.
We are thankful we take our own names every Tues night.
Guess that is all for another week, we were thinking about
Amanda at her graduation. This is the
first one of the grandchildren we have missed.
Happy 5th Birthday Henry on the 4th.
As we close remember the words to the 1st verse
of “How Gentle God’s Commands”
How gentle God’s commands! How kind his precepts are! Come
cast your burdens on the Lord and trust his constant care.
We Love you!
Mum and Dad
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