As 2007 heads towards a close a great wave of change is sweeping across Australia with Labour taking power and Kevin Rudd (from Queensland) taking the helm from John Howard. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens, many people are pleased to have a change of attitude to the big issues of foreign policy and climate change.
In the meantime there is change looming for David as he graduates from University, he’s finished the year with some stunning results (High Distinctions!) and an award for Excellence in Film Production which entitles him to a year’s free hire of equipment from the Film school. David’s graduation ceremony is just a few days before his 21st birthday and the day after his birthday celebrations.
Meanwhile Mark is still working as an audio visual technician with Staging Connections. As well as working on some very interesting (and some not so interesting) events this year he has made some short films and filmed a music video which has made it to national TV. Mark is heading to the UK on Boxing Day for a holiday, he’s planning to spend time in Newick, Didcot and Tyne & Wear. We think he’s mad to be visiting at the coldest time of the year, but it’s the only time he can take a decent amount of time off work as Australia basically shuts down in January for holidays!
Amy has had a really busy year, she’s been working very hard at school but also found time for some fun events outside of school. January saw the opening of the brand new Queensland Academy of Creative Industries and Amy joining as a foundation pupil. As with any new school there have been some ups and downs but it has given Amy the opportunity to be involved in some great activities and – the best thing about the Academy as far as Amy is concerned is her new friends. She loves having mates who love the things she does, like theatre, music and film. They all support each others’ activities attending shows and concerts, Amy’s musical friends are always on hand to write a score for her latest film project! Amy has had a couple of great opportunities with Queensland Theatre Company this year, she undertook a week of work experience, attended their Theatre Residency week, and performed in a physical theatre piece at the launch of their 2008 Youth & Education Program.
Amy celebrated her sixteenth birthday back in February with a Masked Masquerade Ball – a fun event which we hosted at a local hotel. In November Amy and her school mates celebrated the end of the year with a semi-formal event, another great opportunity to dress up.
There’s been a couple of milestone birthdays this year apart from Dave and Amy. Jacky celebrated a double digit change back in January. Rather than a party Jacky chose to celebrate by renting a beach house down in NSW near Coffs Harbour. It was a terrific week with various friends coming down for a couple of days. Joan and Sandy were over and it was all great fun. Northern NSW is very pretty and green, the weather was perfect, the house was right on the beach, the champagne chilled to perfection and most mornings a school of dolphins swam by. Jacky has also done a couple of crazy things like abseiling down the Kangaroo Cliffs in Brisbane and she and John both enjoyed a hot air balloon ride over Brisbane.
In June Jacky & David headed back to the UK to spend some time with Jacky’s Mum and Dad. They thought they were going over for the summer and had visions of enjoying a few weeks of beautiful English summer weather BUT it rained and it rained and it rained! Still it was great to spend time with the family and catch up with a few friends in between the showers.
Talking of rain, we all (except David who was busy working at Myers selling furniture in the sales) started the New Year in New Zealand, again we thought we were going over for the summer but it was cold, wet and windy and very reminiscent of holidays in Wales! Still it is a beautiful country, it was fascinating to experience the volcanic activity and it was great to use the opportunity to catch up with old acquaintances Dawn and Robert Barratt, as well visiting the farm where Amy stayed when she did the exchange in 2006. Mark and Amy did a tour of Lord of the Rings sites while John and Jacky hid out of the wind in the Tge Nawa museum in Wellington.
We’ve been living in Chelmer for 18 months now and finally we have our new deck, its wonderful, access is from the living area and it overlooks the pool. It took months to get all the planning and the builders on board but once it was started it took shape fairly quickly and it certainly didn’t take Amy long to start making use of the day bed! We had a deck opening party in just a week or two ago. Chelmer is a great suburb to live with friendly natives, pleasant (flat) walks and a great train service.
It seems like John has spent much of this year searching for the right boat to buy and after a worldwide search (literally!) he’s just agreed a deal on a boat which is currently in Florida! The plan is that it will be shipped over and arrive sometime in February. Then hopefully many weekends on the bay in suitable comfort will be in store! John has also joined the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron and is also active in the yachting branch of Rotary.
Jacky has recently changed her job, after a couple of years at Queensland Arts Council she has moved to the Queensland College of Art and is working with the Director. I think it was the amazing river view from her top floor office on South Bank that helped her decide. So far it’s been a bid odd as her new boss was there for 3 days and then went away for 7 weeks! It’s Jacky’s first experience working at a University and its certainly different. The College is part of Griffith University and includes the film school that David has been attending, so for Jacky’s first few weeks David was a regular visitor to her office at lunchtimes to blag a free lunch!
As the fifth anniversary of our arriving in Australia is looming and it will be time to consider how successful the experiment has been so far. Jacky does have concerns that John is now finally adjusting to life down under – he is seen regularly getting up early and going for walks with friends at 5.30am!! Is that the same John who considered 9am to be early!
Hope you and yours have a great festive season and an equally fantastic 2008.
The Burkett’s Downunder
