Out and About in March

After my brother Simon's funeral I drove mum back to Melbourne and stayed with her for a few days before heading back to Canberra. It was a wet drive down with rain most of the way. We stopped overnight at a bed and breakfast in Rutherglen to break the journey which was nice. On the way home I called in at the Fern Tree Gully Market and caught up with mum, then walked up the 1000 steps at Fern Tree Gully- quite a steep climb and lots of people but the Dandenongs are such a lovely place to be.

A week after I got back Amy and I headed out for a walk, we walked through the Cork Forest at the Arbouretum always and interesting place to visit.

We also checked out the National Rock Garden which has some amazing rocks.

Rain Finally Arrives in Canberra

Canberra has been struck by drought and it has been very brown and dry over the last few years. While the drought hasn't really broken over the last couple of months we have had some decent rains which has seen Canberra green up which is so lovely to see.

It has been a while since we have seen wet bricks!

The ponds around Gordon which have been so low are finally filling up.

So lovely to see green again.

It has been a long time since Point Hut crossing was closed

We walked our bikes across the crossing as you can see there was a lot of mud!

Bill, Amy and I went for a drive out to Tharwa to check out the fire damage and enjoy the green view. As you can see Beau came with us and enjoyed being up on the tree.

Family Photos

Simon's funeral was an opportunity for the family to gather together and be together and an opportunity to get some family photos.

Below is a photo from of Pam with her grandchildren.

In the back row from L to R- Nathan, Matthew, Mia, Ben, Nicky, Kelly, Natalie, Joshua and Daniel.

Front Row L to R - Lachlan, Amy, Pam, Charlie and Ella.

Nicky lives in London and was out in Australia for a wedding when Simon passed away, it was good that she was here and able to attend the funeral, otherwise it would have been a hard time for her back in the UK

Below is my cousin John Goss, with mum and then Fiona and Geoff Goss. John and Geoff are my cousins- there mother Fay Goss was one of mum's sisters. Fiona and Geoff flew over from Adelaide for the funeral, which was so lovely of them. John lives in Canberra.

Kerrie Jones, another cousin- daughter of Geoff and Jill Hocking- Jill was my dad's sister. She lives in Melbourne and flew up for the funeral. Their efforts to come at short notice was so touching and appreciated.

Here is a photo of Pam and I with my other 3 brothers, Kim, Michael and Gary

Slide Show From Simon' s Funeral

This the the Slideshow that Bindi put together for Simon's Funeral

A Post I Have Been Putting Of

I have been putting off posting on my blog for a couple of months now and the reason for that is that on Monday 24th February my youngest brother Simon Mamouney was in a single car crash on his way home from work, he passed away instantly. I got a distressed phone call from my sister in law Bindi around 8:30pm at night, I dropped everything and headed over there trying to process what she had just told me. I am one of 5 children and Simon was my youngest brother by 14 years. It was such a shock to get this news and even today over 7 weeks later it still doesn't seem quite real.

Simon and Bindi moved to Canberra nearly 17 years ago, just after Mia was born. I was so excited to have family in Canberra in particular my younger brother and his family. We have enjoyed many family dinners, picnics, holidays over the years and in particular have enjoyed visiting them in Austria and Ireland on their various postings with Simon's job with the Department of Foriegn Affairs and Trade.

This is probably one of the last photos I would have had taken with Simon, it was in Ireland when Bill and I visited them in October 2018. It was on a beach near Grange, over on the West Coast near Sligo where we met Bindi, Simon and the kids for the weekend. This beach was where some of the Spanish Armada was shipwrecked- Simon always loved his history.

The funeral was held a week later on Monday 2nd March with the Mamouney Family from Melbourne all in attendance and the Snow Family from Melbourne and Perth  also coming to Canberra. 

The funeral was a sad occasion but at the same time a wonderful celebabrtion of his life. Simon and Bindi had probably packed 40 years of adventures into the 20 years of life they had together.

Below is the program and photos of the funeral.

Photos adorned the walls, Bindi was a keen photographer so we are fortunate to have so many photos of him to help us remember the wonderful times we have had with him,

Bindi, his wife with their children, Charlie 14 and Mia 17

The funeral was held at Lyenham Chapel, it was a huge funeral, with people travelling from all around Australia. Cousins unexpectely came from Melbourne and Adelaide. Fellow workers from DFAT were there. It was quite a day. We were very fortunate that this all happened before the COVID -19 Pandemic took hold and were were able to gather together to mourn and process this tragic event. There was a private cremation later but we didn't attend this.

Hoodies and Echidnas

Amy ordered Bill a Macaw Hoodie for Christmas has only just arrived, looks pretty stylish!

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Out riding at Tharwa last Monday ( the day before the fire started) and we came across this baby echidna crossing the road. We were squirting water from our water bottles in front of it and you could see it lapping up the water with it's long tounge. We did this for about 10 minutes, just gently squirting more water every 30 seconds or so.

Fires Burning

A fire started last week in Namadgi National Park which is on our door step in Gordon. Last Tuesday it really flared up under fairly moderate conditions and then Friday and Saturday  it was 42 and then 43 degrees with moderate winds so they were really high danger days. We have gotten through those days, it is a little cooler today on Sunday as I am posting this a maximum of 34 degrees but they are forecasting erratic winds and thunderstorms so still have to keep up to date with what is happening but certainly we are breathing a little easier. The fire will continue to burn, it is only 6km away from us now but it is now coming out of the mountains and onto the grass lands where they have lots of fire fighters finally able to start fighting the fire and try and contain it. The Emergency Services have done an amazing job in putting in lots of containment lines, laying retardant lines, they have been able to do some back burning which is giving them a chance to contain the fire and allow the fire on this northern front to back down so that is good news. Below is a prediction map of the worst case scenario that was posted last week showing possible ember attacks on the southern suburbs (Gordon and Banks) fortunately that didn't eventuate so that was good news.

View from our driveway of some of the plumes of smokes in the early days. You could see all the smoke not far away but we were having days of good quality air in the suburbs.

The fire cloud building

  And building

This was Thursday night, we went outside and to the south it was smoke and sunset

 And to the north clear blue sky