Sunday 25 June - Brisbane

This week we had Marc in Brisbane. He was down here on a work project, and it was wonderful as his birthday was on Wednesday and we all caught up in town for lunch (see the photos).

There is not much to report for this weekend - I went to the City Library on Saturday to do some research on Ancestry.com, as they offer the service free of charge. I was able to find a lot of my Scottish ancestors in the 1841 census of Scotland. One great find was that of Agnes Smith, who was living on the same farm as one of her daughters and son-in-law, but under the name of Agnes Young (her maiden name). It is probably not all that unusual for Scottish women, but as I couldn't find her husband Francis, I think he may have already died. It is quite exciting to find her there. It will certainly lead to more research! Today I spend working, but took a break this evening to go for a walk around Spring Hill with Darryl. There are some lovely worker's cottages in this area, which have been done up very nicely, and lots of other interesting houses.

Sunday 18 June - Brisbane

This weekend has been very quiet. I went to the National Archives on Saturday to follow up with more research on William Melchert and his career working as a recruiter on the ships bringing South Sea Islanders to Queensland to work in the canefields. Interestingly, I also found some of the Weinheimer family signing on to work on some of the coastal steamers.

Today was a lovely showery day in Brisbane - and I spent most of it working. This week all of my manuals have to go to the printers so it is really do or die!

Tonight Marc turned up. He is on a project at work and they have finally convinced him to come to Brisbane for a few days. He will be here until his birthday on Wednesday, so we are planning dinner on Tuesday night. He is looking great, as you can see by his photo.

Monday 12 June - Brisbane

This week we have had George and Eileen (Darryl's parents) with us from Gladstone. It was lovely to have them with us, although I was away at work most of the time. They caught up with Lionel, and spent time checking out the shopping centres. Eileen and I had a lovely coffee and cake on Saturday morning at Tognini's Bistro, which is just next door.

We put them on the train on Sunday morning.

I have spent most of the weekend working due to pending deadlines, but we will be happy to have a day or two off, later when things quieten down, and when it isn't a busy public holiday (the traffic 'copter on the news was showing solid double lanes of cars all the way from Caboolture to Brisbane!)

Tonight there was a lovely sunset over the Royal Brisbane Hospital...so I have attached a photo.

Cleveland

Sunday 4 June - Brisbane

We had a very social time this weekend - Kathlene came down from Rocky on Thursday evening and she and Adam stayed with us.

We all went for a stroll to the Mall on Friday night, looking for somewhere to eat, and ended up at the carvery at the Casino - which was delicious!

On Saturday, Kathlene and Adam headed down to Dreamworld with Beccy. I went to my TMG user group first thing and then around lunch time Darryl and I caught the train to Cleveland to meet up with Lionel and Viv Ledlie to sample the Moreton Bay Seafood Festival. It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed Spanish Paella along with marinated baby octopus and local wine. Lionel knows lots of the history of the area and took us on a tour of all the developments and many historical sites. We were also lucky enough to see koalas in the wild at Beckwith Street Community Bushcare area. We saw 5, but apparently there can be up to 20 in the area.

On Sunday, my friend Krystyna came down from Ipswich, and we went down to the Riverside Markets and met another friend of hers, Barbara. The weather was absolutely spectacular, and we had a lovely time investigating all the stalls.