This is a picture of Mum as a child in Ballarat. The picture below is of the "The Cedars" where she lived from age 3 months to 11 years in Ballarat. I will add some poetry, 2 written by Mom, one by myself about Mum's childhood. We visited Ballarat, but "The Cedars" has been replaced by a white modern monstrosity and Lake Wendouree is currently dry due to the drought. This was a little disappointing, however, we loved visiting with Mom's cousin Gwen and family. 
We were in K.I and Adalaide and saw rainbows that lasted for hours. In fact the rainbow day in K.Island lasted for most of the afternoon. I wonder if the longevity of rainbows in Kangaroo Island and Adelaide have anything to do with how far south they are? I googled the question, but couldn't discover an answer. Maybe it has something to do with the angle of the sun? I was taking a picture of these last 2 and Jacki and I ended up having about a long conversation with a couple on the street. They were very jealous that I had a camera with me!
This is the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney. This is probably where we came in when we arrived in Australia by ship when I was 10. I very clearly remember leaving at the end of our trip. My Mum was very sad and crying because she was leaving Australia. I started crying also. She told me I didn't have to cry because I wasn't leaving my home and parents. I still cried. Sounds like me, huh. I think somebody had sent us a Bon Voyage basket with food to our cabin. I also remember that whenever we left a port there were streamers. Everybody on shore and on the ship bought these narrow different coloured paper streamers. You would hold the end and throw the paper roll to shore (or to ship). Someone would catch it. Those on shore and on ship would hold onto their end of the streamers till the ship left shore making the streamers break. There were hundreds or thousands of these colourful streamers connecting the ship to the shore. It was very beautiful and very exciting. 
I will tell you another Sydney ship story as told to me by my Mum. When she was 11 her family moved back to Brisbane from Ballarrat. Mum and Grandma were going from Melbourne on ship to Brisbane and Uncle Laurie and Grandpa were going across country with a touring car. There was a ship strike and so the ship took them only to Sydney not on to Brisbane as planned. Somehow Grandpa heard about the strike as they were traveling by car and picked up Mum and her Mum in Sydney. They had to squeeze the whole family into the car with all their suitcases, etc, but managed to make it to Brisbane. 
These are school children on a field trip to the Rocks (the oldest section of Sydney) sitting under a fig tree. These are amazing trees with exposed roots. 
This is the view from out apartment in Sydney. When I was 10 we stayed for 2 days right across the harbour at with our Aunt. 
Grandma enjoying her daughters, grandson & great-granddaughters with the Kangaroos at Lone Pine
Happy Grandma Jacki and Airah at the beginning of our trip in the L.A. airport
Bailey smiling it up in one of the Remarkable Rocks on K.Island
Look at these faces! Happy lot, huh! Happy as Larry, Happy as a dog with 2 tails, Happy as a pig in shit, Happy little Vegemite, all Aussie phrases describing a happy person. Listen up Larry, you are married to an Aussie now, turn that frown upside down and live up to your name! Actually the cute picture of Airah and Aubree was taken after all 3 girls each wanted something different to eat from different restaurants so they had to go back to the apartment and have a discussion with their Dad, Sean. After a few tears they were all smiles. Airah and Aubree remind me of my sister Diane and I who are also 15 months apart. We fought like cats and dogs, but were also the best friends. I used Mum's, "lets sing a song" technique when Aubree and Airah were fighting in the car and it worked great! 
My cousin Geoff laughs at many American phrases. He seems to think, "I guess" is especially humorous, or maybe it's the way we say it that he finds funny. Anyway the above picture is a typical deli with different types of meat pies. "Dogs eye" is another way of saying meat pie. It is one of many rhyming slang phrases used by Aussies. They really have fun and play with language. For example "Capt Cook" means "take a look" and "china plate" means "good mate".
Inside the Sydney Opera House looking out at some of the roof sails
Bailey from our balcony in Sydney. "Good on ya" Jacki for finding us this apartment. We found when planning our trip that it was cheaper to stay in apartments since there were so many of us. Even when there were just Mum, Jacki and I apartments or small cottages were definately the way to go. 
Been away so long I hardly knew the place, Gee it's great to be back home. As you can see everybody at home has been bored and lonely without me. 
CC looking out for my return. I have posted Australia pictures on the slide show, but will continue with memories and pictures of Australia for awhile in my next posts. If you get tired of my yabbering, let me know.
Storey Bridge
Brisbane through window of the City Cat
Train over Maryvale Bridge (also called Emma's Bridge because she was born as it was completed)
