Dec 19-30 - Around Perth, End of Year Studies

Just a few highlights of the past week and a half.

On a couple of days we've gone down to the local park. There have often been other local kids there. Jude took the whip down the first time, and wow they were stunned when they heard it crack out! They all lined up and wanted a go, and on the three occasions I think we've been down there the same kids have all had a go at cracking the whip! They demonstrated what we had learned ourselves, that it's a lot harder than it looks!

 

Our three (centre, rear), with Josh and Lynette's kids Laila (far left)
and Luc (far right), and Johannes (front centre). Oh, and the whip far left!

Readings at Chris and Kathryn's.

On Friday Dec 21 we went around to Chris and Kathryn C's house to do the readings. Chris has been reading the blog in detail since he found out about it a week or two ago, which led to the curious circumstance where most things we went to mention about our trip he'd already read! He knew our car, he recognised the damage on the front of the car from the kangaroo incident at Coen in July, he'd read about the caravan leaf springs breaking (both times) and our quarantine dramas when we entered WA! There really didn't seem to be much news to tell him!

 

 

Aunty Mim with some cute nephew
whose name I can't remember!

The next night Dec 22, we visited Jeff and Sally H, who were being visited by Josh and his wife, their daughter Katelyn. We hadn't seen them properly for about four years so it was nice to catch up with them again. Jeff showed us some of his footage from his travels up north, and these rekindled a bit of a fire in continuing our trip, and was one small factor in deciding we'd extend.

 

Josh and Katelyn's boys supposedly asleep!

Philippa and Priscilla, Bek, Jude,
Mim's mum, Mario and Dianne

Sunday 23rd Dec we had Mario and Dianne S, and Philippa and Priscilla W over after the meeting (two of Mim's aunties). It was lovely to enjoy the afternoon with them.

Caravan looking nice and glossy now!

In an earlier post we mentioned the polishing job on Mim's parents' caravan to get rid of the scratches. Our van was similarly plagued, if not worse, and I've spent a lot of time working away at those. It's getting there although still not perfect! The paint wasn't in the best condition when we bought it and it's looking better now than it ever has!

The challenge is really the weather - it's been so hot over here that you can only do a job like this in the evening, and most evenings there've been things on.

 

We now have one of these in the Pajero!

I also utilised the Boxing Day sales to get 30% off a new battery for the Pajero. We worked out the old one had gone flat at least seven times since we bought the car, due to things being left on overnight, but things which didn't draw much current and shouldn't have been enough to wipe out a good battery. Large batteries like this aren't cheap anyway, and Century batteries tend to be fairly expensive, so 30% represented a decent saving for a tool which should last for a good few years now! I hope we have no more flat battery stories to share!

End of Year Studies

 Perth's EOY studies have been on Judges, looking at how the judges had to take radical action to break out from the idolatry Israel repeatedly sunk into. There are many relevant lessons for us from the Judges period where we need to stand up against poor choices and the pressure to conform to ungodly ways.

On the evening of the second study they had a cafe night which was lovely! A good opportunity to catch up with old friends!

Perth End of Year Studies cafe night at Eastern Suburbs' Hall

A couple of days ago we had a beach outing to City Beach. How's this beach hey? Pretty good for a suburban beach! The water was pretty cold but on a hot day it was very refreshing!

City Beach, Perth

-- Greg