During Term 3 Eric was recruited by Casuarina Senior College (where Luke did his final years of schooling) to help as a maths tutor. He was quite looking forward to this as it was part time and mostly the hours fitted in with mine spent at the farm. Unfortunately he found there was nothing set up for his role when he first arrived, so he put a lot of time into preparing and setting up. He was to be working in a room off the library and quickly found that he and Bev, the librarian, had a lot of interests in common like cooking and holidays in regional France. For a number of reasons he found that he was spending a lot of time waiting for students instead of feeling fulfilled by helping them so at the end of the term he quit.
Soon after we arrived home we were recruited by School Sport NT into voluntary positions. Eric was to be on the board and become the Assistant General Manager of the Pacific School Games (PSG) and I was to be a manager of the 12yrs and Under Track and Field Team. These games will be held in Adelaide in early December. At first it didn't require much of a commitment; a few meetings for Eric and a weekend meeting for us both early in the year. Then on the first weekend in September the NT Athletics Championships were held and we were required track side to fill volunteer roles as announcer and recorder. It brought back memories of us both competing for Ringwood Athletics Club in the early 80's. And might I say, neither of us have ventured near a track since. My aths team was chosen from the results of this meet and since then there have been many hours spent arranging training sessions, fitting and ordering uniforms, helping with fundraising and chasing levies, etc, etc. We have athletes coming from Arnhemland, Katherine, Darwin and the rural areas. None of the Alice or Barkly athletes made the team. Eric has been busy collating all the team lists, accommodation lists and flight manifests for all the sports in which the NT is represented including touch, soccer and basketball, all for boys and girls.
We continue to go out birding on a pretty regular basis. The build-up has certainly arrived and it is pretty steamy so we head out early or late. We have revisited Knuckeys Lagoon and Holmes Jungle Reserve recently but continue to enjoy the variety of birds that call Casuarina Coastal Reserve home too. Between us we've recently found the long tailed finch, reclusive black butcherbird, bar-breasted honeyeater and flocks of red-tailed black cockatoos. Surprisingly we've found a Jabiru visits the waterhole between the 4th and 7th hole on the Darwin Golf Course too!
Eric has been playing competition golf regularly with an old colleague from our teaching days who is also on a few-days-a-week retirement plan. Tom plays off a handicap of 3 so has lots to offer a player whose handicap loiters around in the teens. I have also been a regular on Tuesdays and Thursdays but I mostly only play 9 holes with Eric. I have contemplated playing with a social group of ladies on a Thursday afternoon to get my handicap but it will have to wait until the Athletics competition is over, so something to look forward to next year. I seem to get plenty of physical exercise working on the farm and in the garden at home but Eric has found a number of bike trails cut through the forest between Tiwi and Lee Point and enjoys tackling them on his bike.
A couple of Eric's Hash House Harrier mates invited him to join them at a Sportsman's Long Lunch at Sky City Casino listening to guest speakers James Hird and Kevin Sheedy. Being an Essendon die-hard supporter, he found it to be a very entertaining afternoon hearing stories recounted, not from the press, but through the eyes of these AFL Legends who were deeply involved.
We celebrated Adrian's birthday together with the whole family at Frying Nemo's, a fish and chip shop on the waters' edge at Tipperary Waters. We hadn't been there before but read good reviews and the view was certainly beautiful as the sun went down.
It was noted that we didn't supply a birthday cake so a bbq followed by sticky date pudding on our back veranda was planned for the following Sunday evening. Unfortunately, we chose that same day to reinstall the shadecloth over the pool and Eric lost his footing stepping from the roof onto the step ladder. He came crashing down and spent the next 6 hrs in Emergency at Darwin Hospital. Unbelievably he didn't suffer any serious damage, just bruising and we count ourselves as very lucky. Things could have been so much worse, though he has had to give away the golf and cycling for the time being. The good thing was Eric had already prepared the pudding, so when Adrian came over to finish putting up the shade he went home with half of it.
At the farm, with the beautiful dry season well behind us and the sweaty build-up descending, we are starting to enjoy the smell of ripe mangoes and pineapples again, the magpie geese have returned, the tree frogs are croaking and the first of the frill-necked lizards have been spotted. Mowing the lawns and keeping a constant eye on the garden edges so the buffalo grass don't encroach on the beds has become a priority at this time. Our finches are nesting and the fish are almost plate size so will be harvested soon. It becomes very hot and steamy, especially in the afternoons, so it is a good thing all but one of the classes is scheduled before the lunch break. I still love it and spend far too much time there doing unpaid work.
Soon after we arrived home we were recruited by School Sport NT into voluntary positions. Eric was to be on the board and become the Assistant General Manager of the Pacific School Games (PSG) and I was to be a manager of the 12yrs and Under Track and Field Team. These games will be held in Adelaide in early December. At first it didn't require much of a commitment; a few meetings for Eric and a weekend meeting for us both early in the year. Then on the first weekend in September the NT Athletics Championships were held and we were required track side to fill volunteer roles as announcer and recorder. It brought back memories of us both competing for Ringwood Athletics Club in the early 80's. And might I say, neither of us have ventured near a track since. My aths team was chosen from the results of this meet and since then there have been many hours spent arranging training sessions, fitting and ordering uniforms, helping with fundraising and chasing levies, etc, etc. We have athletes coming from Arnhemland, Katherine, Darwin and the rural areas. None of the Alice or Barkly athletes made the team. Eric has been busy collating all the team lists, accommodation lists and flight manifests for all the sports in which the NT is represented including touch, soccer and basketball, all for boys and girls.
A couple of Eric's Hash House Harrier mates invited him to join them at a Sportsman's Long Lunch at Sky City Casino listening to guest speakers James Hird and Kevin Sheedy. Being an Essendon die-hard supporter, he found it to be a very entertaining afternoon hearing stories recounted, not from the press, but through the eyes of these AFL Legends who were deeply involved.
We celebrated Adrian's birthday together with the whole family at Frying Nemo's, a fish and chip shop on the waters' edge at Tipperary Waters. We hadn't been there before but read good reviews and the view was certainly beautiful as the sun went down.
It was noted that we didn't supply a birthday cake so a bbq followed by sticky date pudding on our back veranda was planned for the following Sunday evening. Unfortunately, we chose that same day to reinstall the shadecloth over the pool and Eric lost his footing stepping from the roof onto the step ladder. He came crashing down and spent the next 6 hrs in Emergency at Darwin Hospital. Unbelievably he didn't suffer any serious damage, just bruising and we count ourselves as very lucky. Things could have been so much worse, though he has had to give away the golf and cycling for the time being. The good thing was Eric had already prepared the pudding, so when Adrian came over to finish putting up the shade he went home with half of it.
At the farm, with the beautiful dry season well behind us and the sweaty build-up descending, we are starting to enjoy the smell of ripe mangoes and pineapples again, the magpie geese have returned, the tree frogs are croaking and the first of the frill-necked lizards have been spotted. Mowing the lawns and keeping a constant eye on the garden edges so the buffalo grass don't encroach on the beds has become a priority at this time. Our finches are nesting and the fish are almost plate size so will be harvested soon. It becomes very hot and steamy, especially in the afternoons, so it is a good thing all but one of the classes is scheduled before the lunch break. I still love it and spend far too much time there doing unpaid work.
Comments
Post a Comment