Post #139 7 April 2017

Gentlefolk,

This post covers the period between our return to Canberra (from Queensland) on 7 March, and our departure for Hong Kong on 28 March 2017.

The big event was the birth of Jay Milton Olah, our new grand daughter, in Hong Kong at 2.20am on 8 March 2017. I know babies are 9 months coming, but the actual birth always seems like a miracle.

Caroline's parents, Paul & Niniek Milton, arrived in HK just before the birth; Vera and I followed later in the month.

Just passed 15,000 hits on the blog since it started in February 2014. Total of 714 in the last month: top three sources Australia 205, USA 175, and Germany 80.

Here are some photos of the new baby, and other events during March 2017.

The birth of Jay Milton Olah on 8 March 2017; 2.9 kg, 48 cm long.  Welcome to the world, Baby Jay!  Our best wishes for a happy and fulfilling life.

Proud parents Andrew & Caroline, with baby Jay.

Jay was born in HK Sanatorium Hospital.  This was the view from Caroline's room, looking across Happy Valley Racecourse to Causeway Bay.  Their apartment is at the far end of the racecourse, only about 1 km from the hospital.

Back home in the apartment, after five days in hospital. Niniek is nursing Baby Jay.

A close-up of Baby Jay, 5 days old.  The miracle of birth / life.

Baby Jay in her crib at home.  Babies are so incredibly tiny when born, aren't they?

On 28 March Vera and I will fly up to HK to see our new grand daughter; can't wait. That will be the subject of my next post.  In the meantime, here are some of the things we got involved in, in Canberra.

In the three weeks we were away the weather has changed, from the heat of summer to a feeling that autumn is here.  Beautiful, clear days, great for bike riding around Lake Burley Griffin. I love the big blue sky here. 

Another view of Lake Burley Griffin, the cycling/walking path.

The Super 16 Rugby competition has started, including the Canberra team, my beloved Brumbies. I've been an avid supporter for 20 years, and try to get to all the home games when I'm in Canberra.  Actually there are strong rumours at the moment that Australian Rugby Union will cut one of the 5 Aussie teams in this competition (Qld Reds; NSW Waratahs; ACT Brumbies; Melbourne Rebels; and Perth Force).  I agree that we just don't have the depth of talent and the financial resources to maintain 5 teams, but let's hope the Brumbies are not the one to go.

The Brumbies had a good win over the Perth Force (but they lost to the New Zealand Highlanders last week).  The Brumbies have been the most successful Australian side in this competition, and after one month are leading the Australian Conference - but all the Aussie teams are struggling to win against New Zealand and South African teams this season.

With my friend Noel Cock at the Brumbies game. Other regulars at the games are David Evans, Paul Flint, Jim O'Callaghan, Paul Nicol, and Neale Emanuel.

Afternoon tea at home with Bruce & Linda and Neil & Helen - old friends from dancing days.

We celebrated John Milne's 80th birthday. John and Somsong have been friends since 1973 when we were colleagues at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. In fact, they were the first couple to invite Vera to their home when we started dating. Lovely couple. John was a media specialist and very good at his job.

John and Somsong Milne with two of their children, Penny and Marcus. Their other daughter runs an orphanage in Northern Thailand and couldn't make the birthday party.

On 14 March we attended the funeral service of Barbara Cleaver (nee Evans), the sister of our good friends Christine and David Evans.  I met David in 1965 when we both worked at Treasury, so I've known the family for a long time.

David Evans reminiscing about his sister, Barbara, at her funeral service.

One day when I was riding my bike I came across a meeting of the Rolls Royce Owners Club, on the lawns near the National Library.  Many wonderful old cars.

... more Rolls Royce cars ,,.

... and still more RR cars ....

Some of the later-model Rolls Royce cars. 

On 19 March we attended an outdoor  "Brass Band Concert" at Hall, on the outskirts of Canberra.

Some of the crowd at the Brass Band concert.  We went with Donna and John Bakker, and Demsi.  The weather was a bit threatening, but fortunately the rain didn't start until the concert was over.  A nice way to spend a summer's evening: together with friends, a picnic, out in the open, listening to music.

The Brass Band concert was sponsored by our financial advisers, Stephen Barnett and Scott Lilley whose office is located in Hall.

Vera's birthday on 21 March.  

Celebrating Vera's birthday.

Dinner with Aniko and Peter Carey, and their daughter Adrienne to celebrate Vera's birthday.

On 25 March we visited the Versailles Exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA).  

We were given a private tour of the Versailles Exhibition by our friend Maria Helena Nicol who is a volunteer guide at the NGA, and very knowledgable about the Exhibition. .

Some of the stunning exhibits in the Versailles Exhibition.  

We went to a concert by "Blood Sweat and Tears"; Jazz-rock band which was touring Australia from the USA.  Their hey-day was 40 years ago, and these were all new musicians, but still good to hear the old songs ("You've made me so very happy", "And When I die", "Spinning wheel", etc.  In April we've booked to go to a concert of Elvis songs, and then The Animals in May. 

I attended a public lecture on "Globalisation" by Professor Richard Baldwin an American academic who teaches at a university in Geneva; he is a world authority and excellent communicator.  Basically, he thought Globalisation is unstoppable in the digital age, despite people like Trump wanting to turn the clock back.  Canberra is great for prominent visiting speakers and I'm hoping to get to many more lectures like this one. 

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On 28 March 2017 we flew to Hong Kong to see Andrew & Caroline & Little Eddie & Baby Jay.  The next post will describe that visit.

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I've almost caught up on my blog - just one more post and I'll be up-to-date.  So pleased.

Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Friday 7 April 2017
(Post written in Hong Kong).

Post #138 6 April 2017

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our time in Brisbane 21 February to 2 March 2017 (with a side trip to Noosa on 27-28 February).

Jen & Tom have a nice house in a suburb of Brisbane called "The Gap", about 10 km north-west of the city.

A view of their pool from the verandah.  Their house faces a park on three sides - they only have a neighbour at the back - so lucky.

The three boys are growing so quickly.  Kurt will be 12 in July (High School next year), Kurt was elected as Captain of one of the sports houses at Hilder Road Primary School - great effort!  Nate turned 10 in March, and Sid will be 7 in April 2017.  Good kids.   They support the Brisbane Broncos Rugby League team - didn't like me wearing the Canberra Raiders t-shirt!

With our daughter, Jennifer, who turned 41 in January.  She is an impressive young woman.

I helped Tom remove some trees and shrubs in his garden. Turned out to be a much bigger task than we expected.  Fortunately a neighbour saw us struggling and lent his chain-saw - made all the difference.  

We enjoyed swimming in their pool, usually twice a day, in the morning and again in the afternoon.  It is not very large, but you can still get a bit of a workout - and it is deliciously refreshing to jump in on a hot day.

Tom is keen on fishing and has his own run-about.  This time he took some friends out prawning, but only came back with a couple of kilos - slim pickings. They have two cars: a Pajero diesel and a little Hyundai i30. 

We attended the weekly assembly of Hilder Road Primary School which the boys attend.  It is about 1 km from their house, about 500 students.  A well-run school with lovely big grassy play areas. At this Assembly Kurt had to make an announcement, and Sid received an award.

Jen & Vera at the school Assembly.

The boys are crazy about sport, especially cricket, surfing, fishing and rugby union.  Tom got tickets to attend the first "Super 15" Rugby Union game of the season at Suncorp Stadium; the Queensland Reds beat the Durban Sharks 28 - 26 in a nail-biter! 

Nate making a face during the Reds game.  The boys play for GPS in Ashgrove and proudly wore their uniforms. 

One night we had dinner at the Sichuan Bang Bang restaurant.  It's unusual in that it shares space with a pizza restaurant called "Violetta".  We enjoyed some Chinese dishes (delicious!), but then the boys insisted on finishing up with pizza!

In the Chinese - Pizza restaurant.

Vera and Jen preparing dinner in their kitchen.

Having dinner in their dining room. The got the comfortable dining chairs from Reddie (click HERE) and the table was made by Tom's cousin in Melbourne.  Beautiful real-wood furniture.

On 27 February we drove up to Noosa to stay with our old friend Will Costin. Noosa is regarded as one of the premier beach locations on the east coast of Australia. It is located at the northern end of the Sunshine Coast, and is about 2 hours by car from Brisbane.  There are many nice beaches on the Sunshine Coast, Caloundra, Mooloolaba, Maroochydore, and Coolum, but Noosa is the pick of the bunch.

 Will and I met in 1973 when we were both working in Jakarta; Will was a young engineer with Kinhills, and I was in the Trade Section of the Australian Embassy.  Will grew up in Narooma on the south coast (where my sister Angie now lives) and went to school in Bega. My High School in Cooma used to have sports competitions with Bega High, so it is very likely that we met on the sporting field. Anyway, we became firm friends.  Later Will worked for the Asian Development Bank in Manila and Vietnam.  He came back to Australia five years ago and settled down in Noosa, a lovely seaside town. 

One of the lovely beaches at Noosa.  Isn't the sky beautiful?  We rarely saw skies like that in our 6 years in China.

Will is an avid body-surfer and we caught some waves - great fun.

Will is a keen golfer and showed us the Country Club to which he belongs: golf, tennis, swimming pool, gym, restaurant and bars. 

Noosa and nearby Noosaville have several "canal developments" flanked by impressive, large houses. 

On the return journey we spent a night at Tweed Heads to catch up with old friends Irene and Dennis Smith, and Sue Searson.

Then stayed with the Morrisons again at Nambucca Heads, and the Miltons in Sydney - gracious hosts, we are so lucky to have them as friends.

We popped in to see my niece, Sasha, who lives in the suburb of Sylvania in Sydney's south.  Her husband, Davide, was at work.  They have two gorgeous kids, Bonnie and Oscar (both in school).

From Sydney we drove to Wollongong, about 100 km, to see my ex-student Yu Zhi Chao (Charles).  This is a view of Wollongong from the top of the escarpment.  Charles is doing the 3+2 program, in which a student does 3 years at a university in China and then two years in Australia; he will end up with two degrees.  We booked into a motel, and took him out to dinner that night.  He seems to be going really well; majored in Safety Engineering at the China University of Petroleum and is doing Mechanical Engineering at University of Wollongong.  He hopes to graduate in June 2017.  An impressive young man.

Charles and me after dinner in Wollongong. 

The main beach near Wollongong City.  It was windy and there was a big surf running, so the beach was closed to swimmers. Beautiful white, soft sand.

The following morning, Tuesday 7 March 2017, we were planning on a leisurely drive back to Canberra.  But we got the news that Simon's father had passed away (after a long battle with cancer) and his funeral would be held at 10.30am on 7 March.  So we got up early, and drove straight to Canberra - got to the funeral parlour just in time.

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So ended our three week trip up to Brisbane and back to Canberra.  We were blessed with fine weather (later in March Sydney, Wollongong, and the north coast was hit by torrential rain and flooding).  It was good to catch up with several old friends - when you get to our age you value friendship more and more.

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The next post will be about events in Canberra.  Then on 28 March we flew to Hong Kong to see our new grand daughter - that will be the subject of a separate post.

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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah

Canberra, Australia

Thursday 6 April 2017

(We are currently in Hong Kong; I've managed to catch up on a few posts - almost up-to-date now).