Deck the halls with boughs of Holly (and Allan)

Christmas 2007 has effectively been and gone and although we are still recovering it was great to catch up with friends and family. Our whirlwind tour started in Sydney with a few days at Mum's to recover from the drive down. A few days looking at the view out Mum's window will do anyone the world of good. We then spent Christmas Eve with the Starrs (our friends as opposed to those big balls of gas in the night sky) - then headed down to Chez DeRooy.

Christmas Day was at Chez DeRooy with a brief interlude Dad and Neroli's for presents, champagne and a wonderful onion tartlet. Christmas lunch with the whole DeRooy clan was a well choreographed event after which Oma and her elves distributed gifts among the family. Leaving the DeRooy's we headed to Picton to catch up with the Johnson's for a prawn feeding frenzy. After enjoying much animated conversation with the Johnson clan we retired at Chateaux Jessup (Mandy and David's) for the night. The next morning, Mandy spoiled us with a breakfast worthy of a B&B or hotel before we took Amah to see Fuddah's headstone which had been put in place just in time for Christmas.

After more ham and more turkey at Sue's we started on the road to Canberra to visit with Squeezy and Papa, Mo-pants, Chr-Ast (Chris and Astrid)! More on family fun in Canberra, Three-Pig-Day and Christmas photos to come.

Cheesy Christmas Letter

Greetings from Brisbane,

Some of you may have received letter this in hard-copy or via email but just incase you didn't, here it is again. The Holnal Cheesy Christmas Letter!

When we last left you in 2006 we were still living in Gove and probably not sure what 2007 held for us. Since then much has happened so here is a little round up of 2007.
In January/February we finished up work in Gove and made the decision to move to Brisbane at the end of our contracts. During our last trip to Gurrmurru we said goodbye to our Yolngu family and were honoured to have the most senior elder in our family Wali Wunungmurra farewell us with a moving speech.

Wali, we later realised, is the last living signatory to the famed bark petition that is displayed in Parliament House. Wali thanked us for our commitment to the Yolngu people and in particular to our family. It was an emotional day all round as when we left we didn’t know if and when we would see them again.

In mid-February we packed our bags and jumped on a Tiger Airways flight to Singapore, thus beginning our second South-East Asian holiday. This time we visited Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia. More detail on our holiday below.

On our return to Australia we officially relocated to Brisbane where Alcan put us up in a beautiful apartment on the Brisbane River for 3 weeks while we found a new home. Holly left the house hunting to Allan while she started her new job at Alcan Pacific’s Headquarters. Al found a place in Milton; approx 2km from Brisbane’s CBD and down the road from the XXXX factory and Suncorp Stadium. In hindsight maybe Holly should have been more involved in the house search! After finding the house Al started his search for that illusive flying job and continued studying for his Airline Transport Pilot’s License.

In April/May we finally found a church to call home. Since we arrived in Brisbane we had been visiting different churches around Brisbane trying to find one that suited us. We tried so many churches and in the end we decided to give Brisbane City Church a go and see if that’s where God was leading us. We are still there nearly 8 months later and are enjoying ourselves immensely. We have made many new friends and joined a great life group (read bible study) where we have had a chance to get to know some really great people.

June, July and August was winter in Brisbane and seeing as we hadn’t experienced temperatures colder than 24 degrees in over 18 months we found it FREEZING! In June Holly sat for her last Uni exams ever and we had a little celebration for that occasion even though she still had one more semester of study to go. In July we donned our blue gear and braved the maroon onslaught at Suncorp Stadium for the 3rd game in the State of Origin series.
This year definitely went out in style as some major moments occurred in November and December. In November, Holly finished her Bachelor of Arts (English) after 6 years of part-time correspondence study. A big thank you to all those who helped he along the way, especially Ruth for proof reading her assignments in the early days and Allan for putting up with ‘Stress-Ball Holly’ during exam time.

And in December Holly, lost her job and regained it in the space of about 2 weeks! To explain that a bit further, Rio Tinto decided that her current role in Brisbane was no longer required, but she was later offered a 12 month contract in her old role in Gove (fly-in fly-out) while her colleague is on leave.

Phew! And there you have it, that was 2007 in a nutshell (“What kind of nut has a shell this big?” – Austin Powers). Could 2008 be any more exciting? Yes we think it can!

2007 Major Moments

2007 also saw both milestones and mourning for our family. In August we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary and in October we celebrated Oma’s 90th birthday. However, in July Holly’s grandfather (Ken’s father) passed away and in November Allan’s grandmother (Michelle’s mother) also passed away. Despite the sombre circumstances these occasions allowed us to spend time with our family that we otherwise might not have spent.

Almost 6 months to the day that we moved to Brisbane, Allan found that illusive flying job that he was looking for. His new employer, Great Western Aviation, gave him a foot in the door and a chance to fly twin-engine planes (Navaho’s and Chieftain’s for those that are interested). It was a long time coming with much door-knocking and resume-giving on Allan’s behalf but it was worth the perseverance.

Also in November, Astrid & Chris got hitched. Yes, Holly’s little sister got married. It was a wonderful day, so much fun for all especially the bride and groom who, after the wedding, headed off for their honeymoon at Hyams Beach on the NSW South Coast.

Crazy times in Cambodia

Picture this.....a truck carrying huge blocks of ice, a van with 25 people inside and 10 on the roof, a brand new Ford F150, 15 motorbikes with at least 4 people on each, and 5 bicycles all trying to cross two lanes of traffic with no traffic lights or give way signs. No police and no road rules except use your horn at all times. Complete mayhem right? Well now imagine both of us on a motorbike (read: ‘posty’) in the midst of this madness and you've got our trip to Cambodia.

In March 2007 we visited Cambodia and we decided to do less touristy things and spend more time with our friend Donna and the Cambodian kids at Joshua and Deborah House. Every morning at 10am we taught English at Joshua house to about 6 boys ranging in age from 12-18. Then we would go to Deborah house where Allan taught the older girls and Holly taught the absolute basics of English to the younger girls. It was such a rewarding experience to spend time with these young people and listen to their stories and their dreams for the future.

Whilst in Cambodia it is impossible to ignore the horrific history from which the country and its people are still recovering. We visited both Tuol Sleng - the Genocide Museum which is a former prison and torture chamber from the Khmer Rouge days - and the killing fields which lay just outside Phnom Pehn. What was even more interesting than visiting these sites was hearing the stories from the people we were working with who were in their early 40's and experienced this horror first hand in their early teens, not even 30 years ago.

The primary reason for our visit to Cambodia was to support our long time friend Donna Byham who is working their as a missionary supporting the young people of Cambodia and building them up into leaders of the future.

More information about Donna’s work can be found at www.futurefocusproperty.com/Sure_Destiny

Working in a sweaty wonderland

Alarm bells ring, are you listening,

In the sun, sweat is glistening

An industrial site,

Humid days and hot nights

Working in a sweaty wonderland

Gone away is the work suit,

Here to stay is steel cap boot

And with a hard hat,

Monogoggles and that,

Working in a sweaty wonderland.

From the bauxite I can build a fortune,

Then pretend that it is all my own

They'll say: Will you move

I'll say: No man,

But I will do the job

When I'm in town.

Later on, when the sun's gone,

We sit and dream in the air-con

In the sea we will wade

This paradise that God made

Working in a sweaty wonderland

(Sung to the tune of 'Winter Wonderland' if you hadn't already guessed)

This is my Christmas tribute to Gove after my recent trip and the decision to take up a fly-in fly-out Gove role for 12 months. I'll be seeing a lot more of this sweaty wonderland in the months to come.

You've been synergised

Don't you hate those corporate buzz words? Downsizing, rightsizing, tele-working, sustainability, blah, blah, blah. Well here's a new one for you. I've been synergised. Yes, that's right, once I have finished my colleague's maternity leave cover (sometime around Oct next year) I am no longer required. At some point during the joys of integration between Rio & Alcan, they (the proverbial 'they') decided that I was a cost-saving.

So what does that mean for me? Well it means that I'll keep doing what I'm doing as long as they keep paying me.....and then who knows! My boss has been synergised too so at the moment I don't even know who I work for.

On a better note Al should soon be number 2 pilot (no that doesn't mean he gets all the 'shit' jobs, hehehehe :) as another guys is most likely leaving for a job at Qantas in the new year. Basically what that means is Al will get more flying, which means more hours, and the faster he can apply for a job with an airline. And the faster he gets a job with an airline the faster I'll get CHEAP air travel! Woo hoo!

The life of a pilot's wife does have some perks......eventually.