possum52

Many Australians do go to Gallipoli Lyle and there are quite a few different tours to cater for them. I know quite a few who visited either on ANZAC Day or while visiting Turkey as part of holiday in Europe. A couple visited while working in the UK. Many all also visit the battle sites in France and Belgium and in particular Villers Bretonneux. We are very aware as a nation what Anzac Day means to us and it is the same I think in NZ. There were 40,000 people at the Melbourne Dawn Service at the Shrine at 5.30am this morning and probably similar numbers at other capital city services. My ten year old granddaughter has been asking her parents for the past couple of years to take her to the Dawn Service at the Shrine - they usually attend a local service. She evidently took it all in and wants to attend every year. There are always many children and teenagers at the various services and marches and I think that even primary school children learn about the battles of both world wars.

Not ANZAC Day, but have been at sea on a cruise on Remembrance Day where there was a short service broadcast over the ship's PA. We had to ask a group of international passengers to stop talking during it which was disappointing. My son and granddaughter attended the service at the Shrine in Melbourne this morning and my husband laid a wreath on behalf of our fire brigade at a dawn service at the local RSL. I watched the Currumbin service on TV and watched the streaming of the Melbourne service on my laptop at the same time. Just watching the service at Gallipoli. Then it will be time for the football at the G.

Sorry, it is so far out for you but really where would you expect the ship to dock? The bigger the ships get, the further out from river cities the ports have to be. The cruise ports for London are Dover (77 miles/125km and Southampton (79 miles/128km). The distance from Brisbane CBD shuttle drop off is 15.4 miles/24.8km to the BICT.

We've had a couple hint that we say how much we paid but I just said we had a good price. But there was one couple who insisted that they tell us all about their cheap cruise every time we saw them onboard which seemed to be often. We tried to avoid them but they always seemed to find us.🤣

Aren’t they spelt Slappa, as in Slappa’s thongs?

My husband has two pairs of Hokas. His podiatrist recommended them once he was able to wear shoes after his two toes were amputated. He bought the blue ones as the place that he was referred to only had those in his size (13), He bought a black pair recently at the sports store where our grandson works at the weekend.

Take care and don't overdo it Lyle.

Thanks Mic for putting up the scores. I was out watching my grandson play this afternoon.

My Northumberland roots are in the south - North Shields, Tyneside and Bedlington. Interestingly, our former next door neighbour came from Bedlington and has moved back there to be closer to her family. I find it fascinating to think about how our Australian accent developed from the dialects and accents of the first settlers and convicts of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and then the immigrants from the mid 1850s from the various areas of England, Scotland and Ireland. Plus of course those who came from all over the world from the gold rush times up until now.

Both Rob and I have Campbell ancestors - his from Cork in Ireland and mine from Northumberland. I assume they were originally Scottish. I have not been able to go back further in tracing where they originally came from.

Has Parkes moved states? Thought it was in NSW.

In our part of south west Victoria, we called it German sausage and there was also Strasbourg sausage, spelt a couple of different ways. My grandfather, a couple of uncles and cousins were all butchers and the highlight for my children was a visit to one of their shops and given a slice of stras,

Wow, you were all very fortunate with your respective accidents/incidents. The poor man who fell, I hope that his lacerations heal well. It just shows how easily a mishap can occur and how vital travel insurance is. Linda, enjoy your trip to Devon and Cornwall.

Rob and I were given gift vouchers to the restaurant Meat & Wine Co so decided to have a night at Crown Promenade and use our gift vouchers for dinner which we did on Sunday night. The restaurant (at Southbank) is about a 400 metre walk from the hotel so it was perfect for us. Dinner was amazing, we started with a small loaf of hot rye bread with butter and olive oil, we both had fillet steak with salad - I had chips and Rob had potato mash. Dessert was liquid - a Dom Pedro - vanilla bean ice cream blended with Baileys - so good. The steaks were cooked perfectly to our liking and overall, a wonderful meal. Yesterday morning we had a buffet breakfast which filled us to dinner.

Sorry to hear you had a fall Lyle and hope you are feeling better. I'm sure Lynn is appreciating you being around even if you do have sore ribs. I still have moments of grieving for my Mum, it is nearly two years since her death. It comes on unexpectedly and I shed a tear or two. I think it is all pretty normal to do so.