Holiday Fun and surviving the New Year...

The Nehill family have safely embarked upon, undertaken and returned from the annual pilgrimage to Mallacoota. In a nutshell- it was GREAT!
Well, Ok, we didn't sleep and it was a 9 day diet of Vegemite toast, icecreams, Chocolate, coffee and muesli (until I burst out in cold-sores) and other nasty fatty things, with the occasional bit of fruit or vegetable thrown in.
I love camping, and I love the great outdoors. We got our fill of both, staying 6 nights at Mallacoota, then detouring on the way home at a beautiful spot in South Gippsland for 3 nights in the Tarra valley on the edge of the Tarra Bulga National Park.
We met really nice people, and we took our dog too so we got to meet other doggy people and other nice dogs as well.

Mallacoota was hot, windy and full of flies. Tarra valley was cool, tranquil and also full of flies.
But both spots are beautiful. The wildlife was amazing- loud kookaburras woke us every morning in both places- and I missed them this morning. At Tarra Valley, the massive gums housed feuding Koalas. Friendly lorikeets fed out of feeders in the caravan park and I heard bird calls I've never heard. I feel bereft without the constant piping of the bell-birds clear call. Rabbits in plague proportions bounced everywhere, even in broad daylight- a pity we weren't allowed to loose our dogs upon them.


I got to really relax at Mallacoota, all cares dropped away, and I enjoyed reading The Kite Runner, playing with the dog, the daily coffee at the cafe and not having access to the computer! We checked out the Beach Mission kids and got to have a few laughs at their annual Panto- this year it was Indiana Jones.
We walked and rode a lot, until it got very windy - then we went roaming about the streets of Mallacoota in the car, checking out the wonderful views- it's a very beautiful and remote spot- and I so hope it stays that way .

Packing up to leave Mallacoota was a real effort, but the next destination,"Best Friends Holiday Park" a few hours drive south-west was a real respite from the crowds, and a haven from the dust and heat. Even Sylv and her mate were eventually really enjoying themselves without all the trappings of shops, and the constant presence of friends. The highlights were playing in the river, sliding on the cascades, and just having fun- and the bon-fire at night- it was a lovely family time.

Staying at Tarra Valley was such a good move- because we were all enjoying each other's company by the time it came to leave-
I really think that by getting back to nature and leaving all the trappings we were able to really help ourselves reconnect with each other, and even with our own selves.
The 3 days in the bush seemed to really helped to soothe, refresh and give us back a sense of fun.

I think you know that you have had a really good holiday when you come home and feel really happy about being home again.

Time for a Hiatus

Well Uni is over for the year, and so far I have managed to spend a good deal of time sitting here in front of the computer but haven't really achieved a lot-
a few games of Scrabulous, a bit of e-mail contact, a fair bit of doing nothing...
But that's OK!
We had a torrid couple of months, John's dad becoming very ill and dying, Sam turning 21, Uni assignments, colds and infections,
Now I think I have a license to just sit back a bit and chill
Don't I?

While the world around me begins to wind up frenetically with all the shopping, buying consuming and stressing over the traditions of over-consuming, buying, shopping, stressing over Christmas,
I intend staying grounded and sane, well, I can try.
Christmas will be low key (as ever), but even more so this year, we will be minus Pa, and temporarily minus my in-laws' grandma .
So one oldy (Kath) and the first Christmas without her other half.
Weird and sad.
I still am surprised at the depth of grief I have for him. Not having him just feels so strange.
And it's not like we had an amazing rapport, or that I gave him special attention as he got feeble and more deaf, sometimes I forgot he was even there!

Even so, the world is different without him. I'm aware of my mother-in-law, being on her own, and and I know it's going to be tough for her for a while.



Now, about my new life-style- it includes a daily siesta, and I'm due for mine in 5 minutes!
By the way, Sam's party was heaps of fun, the kids all loved my speech.
I deliberately kept it pretty unsentimental, and yet the boys in particular were very touched by my words, and said so- which, when you think about it is pretty amazing-
I mean, boys, coming up to me and telling me what a wonderful mum I was, and that they hoped they would have their mums say such things about them.
I actually didn't say very much-
I could have said so much-like about how much I adored and lived for that baby-how my whole life had revolved around him. I was so intensely besotted with and proud of him, and all that he was and all that he did.
How disappointed and heart-stricken I became when he turned on me, and lashed out in his temper rages during moments of ill-health and then adolescent hormonal surges.
How useless and rejected I felt when he discarded me and my adoration of him, as he became a man.
How I still worship him from a distance, but keep it mostly quietly to myself these days (only my ever sharp-minded daughter has suspicions, which she regularly voices, in jealousy!)

Ok, Now it's out- and that's good. I never got to say it so I can be assured the words never got to embarrass him. I roasted him in a good natured and fairly superficial way- and he loved it- any more mushy, and I know he would have hated it!

This is Sam and co. having fun, his sister looking glam in the black sparkles on the far right.