19 - Canberra family time - Nov 2021

Entry 19 – Canberra family time - November 2021.

It had been a long time since we had personal time with our Canberra based family, since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. There was still the stigma of covid-19 all around us with media created panic and way too many conflicting rules.

There was an atmosphere of unease, created by a woeful lack of constructive political leadership. Way too many chiefs implementing their own rules without any form of consistency with the other chief’s own rule implementations. Anyone would think people were getting frustrated with our country’s political leaders handling of the covid 19-pandemic?

It felt wonderful catching up with our son, daughter in law and Granddaughter Pippa and meeting our latest family addition, 7-week-old granddaughter Lacey.

Three-year-old granddaughter Pippa, enjoyed removing lots of wrapping paper from an abundant supply of presents built up over the last year and more, loving each one.

Since our last visit our Canberra family had also moved to another house and our son was keen to get the assistance of his dad with some home maintenance / upgrades.

Mary was about to enter her golden years, turning sixty in a month. For a special celebration of this milestone age, Tim and Penny had arranged for Mary to experience a balloon flight over Canberra.

The alarm announced it was time to get up at 3.50 am. First chore was to make a phone call to verify the weather conditions were suitable. Weather conditions were good for the morning balloon flight. It felt far too early and our consciousness was in sleep mode. A quick shower did the job awaking us and we drove to the balloon flights meeting point. The excitement level was rising, watching the inflation of the balloon. We boarded the balloon basket and floated up and away.

It was very peaceful floating above the Australian capital of Canberra. It provided a different perspective of life on the land, looking down from above.

Mary “SO” enjoyed her balloon flight, somehow managing to stay aboard the basket after everyone else had alighted.

We even got to help deflate the balloon from its inner sanctum, pulling down its fabric walls forcing the air out.

It was a fabulous experience; one we would be reminiscing about for many years. Thankyou Tim and Penny.

We spent our days at Tim and Penny new home for eight days straight and we took it in turns providing lunch time meals. Pippa enjoyed Mary’s home-made pasties and another day we had roast where she ate a whole parsnip, half a turnip, broccoli, carrots and meat. She did enjoy all types of food.

We had a fabulous time enjoying the company of our grandchildren.

It was a wet week with a few days of over 30 mm of rain fall making for some colourful sunsets and foggy mornings.

We had a fabulous time at Canberra. Our primary focus on family time. We do like the large variety of attractions on offer in Canberra but for this visit we chose to segregate away from people gathering areas due to the covid-19 pandemic risk.

We were about to leave Canberra, heading home. It was time to focus on the latest covid-19 debacle, rules and hot spot locations along our route.

More to come.