Overnighter at Douglas with some of Pauls work colleagues

Paul had booked a trip to Douglas Hot Springs with a few work colleagues a few weeks ago to show them the place as they had never been there - well one had been there years ago.

 

Just went for the one night but had a good time and some more practice with the camper trailer.  We took the scenic route home and the others enjoyed the view at the top of the Telstra Tower hill near Robin Falls.

 

Was good sleeping weather without being very cold - although it was cold enough for some nice steam early Sunday morning when we all went down for a swim around sunrise.

 



Monica "hops" into a new job

Monica started her new job today where she works for a WA government program with troubled youth in Wydham.  She's always been interested in following her mum in this kind of work so this is hopefully a great foot in the door.

She was working for Toby's family business helping out in the office which is in the same building as her new office.

Unfortunately she hurt her knee quite badly in netball the week before and is on crutches at the moment.

Testing the camper at Douglas

We spent the long weekend at Douglas Hot Springs and used our new old camper trailer for the first time. It went well although we're still learning how to set it up etc.

The weather was a bit hot during the day but cool enough for sleeping at night.  Water was nice and there wasn't too many others there.  A few of the family went including Rob/Jessie, Tim/Tania, Baggsy, Kevin/Jo etc.

Uncle Wilson's funeral

Today we joined family and friends in Maryborough to celebrate the life of Wilson Thomsen.

 

It was a big turnout and Uncle Wilson was obviously very respected and loved in his community.  The service was really beautiful.

It was great too to catch up with cousins Paul , Craig and Peter hadn't seen for ages or in some cases ever met (eg some of Aunty Hazel's children) - they would've loved to see more of them.  It was really good to see Uncle "Nookie" also who is in poor health.  Uncle Nookie is Uncle Gilbert's older brother and son of Sophus (Dick).

Was really awesome to have Craig with us as he hadn't caught up with the QLD relatives for many years and was able to spend some time at Traveller's Rest etc.  Peter had to go back on the Tuesday but Paul, Gwenny and Craig stayed until the Wednesday.

Rosanna and Shannon's wedding

 

The big day has arrived!

 

 

Well was a beautiful day - even if it didn't go quite to plan!    The plan was to have the ceremony on the beach but a very rainy day made that out of the question - fortunately as you can see we were able to get a few photos later at the spot.

So the ceremony was held inside where the reception was held later (this was always the backup plan) and it was a lovely intimate occasion.  Family and friends were wonderfully helpful and it was great to share the occasion with them.  A special thanks to the likes of Jessie (doing photography), Ree-Ann (make-up etc) and Nadine (general organising and support) who all worked very hard!  There were of course many others who helped out a lot and we are just very thankful to those who made the trip to celebrate the big day with us.

Shannon and Rosanna Beath left early the next morning to their honeymoon in Thailand.  They'll be passing by Darwin on the way back home in a couple of weeks where we'll have a bit of a get together for those who couldn't make it down to the wedding.

Farewell Uncle Wilson

Wilson with his young brother Ivan in 1940

My father's brother passed away this morning. This old world has lost a very special man and won't quite be the same without him. I believe he is in a better place however, although we'll sorely miss him - especially Aunty Narelle, Karlie and Kim and their families. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all!

Uncle Wilson is the 4th and second youngest child of Noble and Jessie Thomsen (Paul's father Ivan being the youngest).   The five children in order of age are Nora, Hazel, Clyde, Wilson & Ivan.   Uncle Clyde has lost all his brothers and sisters now.

Uncle Wilson has had a long and brave struggle with serious health issues the last couple of years and we knew things were pretty dire.  The news was still a shock and very heart wrenching.

We know Uncle Wilson would not want his passing to effect our wedding celebrations and we'll therefore endeavour to enjoy things albeit with heavy hearts.  Paul, Gwenny, Craig and Peter Thomsen will extend their trip and go up to Maryborough for the funeral next week.

The rest of us off to the Gold Coast for the wedding

Well this is our view the first night from the hotel - not a bad location!  Well that was until we realised that the construction site at our feet had very noisy machines during the day!

Ah well all the more reason to get up early and do stuff instead of sitting around the hotel :)

Me and David joined Gwenny and Rosanna the first night at Shannon's place and then drove down the next day.  Daniel and ReeAnn flew down with us but we dropped them off at Ree's sister's place for a couple of days as they were attending a cousin's wedding.  They drove down her sister's car a couple of days later.

Well it was a great week - as the girls fussed and stressed about the wedding the boys went swimming heaps at the beach and just relaxed.  Was good to spend time with family and friends who were down also from Darwin and many other places (eg Troy from Brisbane and Craig/Lynn from Adelaide, Michael and Leanne from Maryborough etc). 

We did have an interesting time on the Thursday when Daniel and David got in a rip and needed a bit of help to get back on the beach!  I didn't tell Gwenny about that one until after the wedding!

Was great to catch up with the new very-soon-to-be-inlaws too!