Tall Tales - Cheers 2015

I split this up into a month-by-month chronology of the year, as very few of the stories seemed big enough for their own section. Might be some updates. Check back occasionally.

Quiet month obviously.

Too quiet, somethings going on.

Emily turned 20 on 15 March.

Amelia bought herself a car and got her P's. This is not the car.

This is the car!

Michelle headed off to Uluru for a few days with the girls from her exercise group. They met up with Lisa Curry to ride some camels, visit an Aboriginal settlement and drink too much wine. All in all they had a fairly good time.

In late March Steve headed off to Sydney for a few days to speak at a conference and enjoy a harbour cruise.

After Michelle's birthday (3rd) and Steve's (7th) we welcomed the Townsends to Maroochydore for a few days.

Emily came home for a week. Then back to studies in Melbourne.

Michelle and her paddling buddies competed in the Australian Outrigger Championships in Mooloolaba. They competed in the novice class and had a few mishaps after capsizing a couple of times. The course is 8 kilometres, so was a fair test. No news on a 2016 campaign as yet.

Hannah turned 25 on 19th May.

Not a lot on.

Hannah starts outings with Sunshine Butterflies, a disability support group. The Butterflies get together in Noosa and Hannah travelled up with whatshername, who lived nearby. This lasted until October, when Hannah decided she had had enough.

We (Steve, Mchelle and Amelia) boarded a plane late on 31 August and headed off to Europe. We arrived in Italy on 2 September. More photos here.

Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, Belguim, England and Wales. More details here. Hannah stayed on the Sunshine Coast Creek, spending some time with Jean and Brian down on the Gold Coast, and playing hostess to Nicola, Brett and their girls in Mountain Creek.

Last Rugby match watched, last interesting site seen, time to get back on the plane and come home. Dammit. Back to work for everyone on 12 October. Back to reality, time to pay for the trip.

Hannah has got herself a motorised wheelchair, to make shopping centre navigation a bit easier. She has only had a couple of outings so far and needs a bit more practice so as not to be a danger to the general public.

Steve flew down to Melbourne in early November and met Emily at the airport. The two of them turned around and drove back to Maroochydore, via Tallangatta. Emily was renting a house with a few Uni friends, however with the exception of Emily, they were doing three-year degrees and all finished up in November. They gave up the house and moved back to their respective families to look for jobs.

Now that Emily has landed a job up here, she plans to work until late February and then drive back to Melbourne for the last year of her course. She hopes to pick up some prac. teaching placements at Tallangatta and at Maroochydore, if she can swing it.

Michelle and Emily started an exercise/diet regime at Fernwood Gym. I think they were glad when it finished late December. The 5am starts take a toll.

December's big event (bigger than Xmas) was Amelia's 18th birthday on the 3rd. She couldn't wait to be 18 and do whatever she wanted. Fortunately she has not wanted to do anything too stupid.

Emily is taking advantage of being home to learn to drive a manual. Her and Steve head out 2-3 times a week for half an hour while Emily kanagaroo hops through roundabouts and grinds the teeth off the gears. She is going fairly well and would like to do the driving test to get her manual endorsement, if we can work out how to do that in Queensland with a Victorian licence.

Steve bought a kayak. Only a cheapie to use on the lake. He only has to drag it about 200 metres down to the lake. Steve and Emily have been out 2-3 times a week since the kayak arrived home.

We have signed the lease for another 12 months on the house at Mountain Creek. The house in Horsham is still being rented. We will probably look at putting it back on the market in February. The tenants are looking after the place fortunately.

We are staying put for Xmas and New Year. Michelle's parents, Jean and Brian, are coming up from the Gold Coast for a couple of days around Xmas.