Welcome home Kiddies

Off the plane and of course Saz has made the most beautiful welcome home cake ever! Not to mention the taste. It was absolutely delicious! The panda is for Chel and the dragon is for Duane. Isn't it just amazing.
  

Then Pheobe's calls up for a visit. The two of them look so delightful ...

 ~ as if the proverbial butter wouldn't melt in the proverbial mouth! Hah!

 

What? Who? Us?

Then standing outside in the yard with her ever so proud Daddy

...and later at the farm where he's planted her whole block with fruit trees and natives. You may recall that I had earlier blogged about this. It's her 21st birthday present. We've already picked and eaten peaches and nectarines.

Talk about the gift that keeps on giving!

Christmas at THE OLIVE

 You can almost hear the little elves yodelling in the background!

Merry Christmas everyone from Bec and Naomi!

Chelsea's Graduation and Proud Parents

Well we are well and truly proud of our daughter Chelsea who has just graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Sociology with 3 High Distinctions and 2 Distinctions. She’s also been invited to do Honours in 2013. Well done Kiddo, as Pop would say.

 

Dids and I flew over to Brisbane for her Graduation and as Chelsea was still in London, we spent the first night dining out with Duane. He seemed to have no complaints whatsoever!

 

The next morning we drove back up to Brisbane Airport to collect Chel after her long flight from London, through Dubai, back to Australia.  She was wiped out, but had Sunday to recuperate before her Graduation Ceremony on Monday evening. We drove up to Mount Tamborine to check out the markets. Beautiful drive but we missed the best photo. No. Did's wasn't driving too fast!

 A short stroll through Southport and I was seriously taken with this shot. Who knows. It may well end up as a painting one day.  Pretty amazing isn't it!

 

Time to dress for Chel's big night. All quite excited and all quite nervous too. 

Chels with her very proud Father

Then the whole fam damily standing outside Chel and Duane's front door.

Time to enter the Gold Coast Entertainment Centre. The two tiers in front of the stage are filled with graduates. Somewhere in that gathering is Chelsea.  She could easily spot us.

 Though how that was possible I simply don't know.  You can see the amount of  relatives and friends in the back tier. That seating ran right around the hall and it was packed to the max. Great view. It started out very sedately but wound up with catcalls and whistling. Mama included.

 The stage itself held all the bigwigs. Each name was announced and as you can see from the screen behind, it was very easy to see what was going on .

...and there's Chel receiving her congratulations from the Dean.

Our girl has graduated. How proud Dottie would have been. "Aah es shi gatem briens fe Macey's. Her great great grandfather bin es barrister you know"

Chel and her friend Courtney, who is also Brent Adam's lady. Well done girls.

Suzanna Wright ~ dar fe Freshie's ~ also graduated as a School Teacher. Doesn't look like any schoolmarm I've been taught by!

Chel and Brent. Good friends. Born and bred in Ball Bay. How could they not be delightful.

The proud parents yet again. Can't get enough of her.

Later on, back home, when everything has returned to normal, Brent offers to cool us down from the stifling Gold Coast heat! Charming lad.

At Brisbane Airport heading home to Norfolk, and Santa with his merry singers, entertain us as we wait.

England Swings Like a Pendulum Do!

5th Commonwealth Youth Parliament – London

The Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly were proudly invited to submit entrants for this years 5th Commonwealth Youth Parliamentary conference to be held in London UK to mark the Diamond Jubilee year of Her Majesty the Queen. The event is part of an ongoing commitment by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and the CPA UK to its young people, giving them the opportunity to engage further with politics, parliamentary democracy and the commonwealth. This year’s theme was ‘governance’, exploring the topic at the local, national and international level. Chelsea Evans applied to attend and was successful.

 

After arriving in London on Monday night, then having a quick look around central London on Tuesday morning, the conference began with an introductory evening at 5pm on Tuesday the 4^th of December at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. This allowed time for the 60 delegates from around the Commonwealth, including the Falkland Islands, Malta, Saint Helena, Canada, South Africa, Bermuda, New Zealand and 5 other delegates from throughout Australia, to mix and mingle. On arrival at Westminster, CPA Chair Rt Hon. Sir Alan Haselhurst MP welcomed all of us as the future activists, leaders and lawmakers of the commonwealth and urged us ‘to form friendships, build networks, and to share cultures and understanding’.

 

 

The 3 ½ day conference was packed from start to finish, but because Chelsea had to catch a 10pm flight back to Australia "...I was unable to stay for the award ceremony, however it was an amazing opportunity to meet youth from all over the world who where interested in the future of their communities on both a local and global scale. It opened my eyes to issues affecting others, not only in other small communities but at all reaches of the globe. Yet each and every person at the conference was willing to learn and expand their understanding of the people and cultures around them. I made many friends and have been in touch with several since the end of the conference. I look forward to continuing my awareness of other people’s cultures and how we can all make a positive difference in the lives of those we are close to. I would like to thank the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly for giving me this opportunity and to our letl community, all my friends and family for their support. I hope to see many more young people from Norfolk Island take these opportunities, because you never know what could come of them".

 

 

A gathering at Mrs Pye's

The NI Jazz Festival  brought to the island some very dear friends. Mrs Pye held an intimate soiree for the Feral Swing Cats, muso's she has known for a number of years and delightfully, asked Dids as he also, knows them.  As usual, Jackie was a fabulous hostess and a great night was had.

 Seen here helping Doug to eat his dinner!

 JenJen ensuring that all is going well

 Albert ensuring that JenJen is fine

 Cami and Stewi gazing at the camera

  Michelle and his lovely wife gazing at Jeff

 Dids having a quiet chortle to himself

 Jeff and his beautiful lady

 Jackie and JenJen up to no good

 and speaking of which. .. here's Pendo

 Pete is delighted with everyone

 then he and Albert settle down to put the world to rights

 Doug's wondering what type of beetle Pendo's brought him

 Pendo and Dids are settling into the Harem quarter                      

 for a quiet drink

 This is a small snap of the small nibbles that Jackie and JenJen put together! Thank God it wasn't Thanksgiving!

 Uh oh. Cami joins the boys

 Eating time chaps

 Then Jen requests a song so Stewi plays while Cami sings

 ...and we are all entranced.

Thaenks fe ucklun Mrs Pye. It was just great and we're free any night you'd like to have another