Category Archives: Habitat for Humanity

2019 – Good memories

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Another year ends and the 20s are about to begin. I can look back on 2019 with almost unalloyed satisfaction. High spots of the year:

  • A two-night mini break by rail to Warrnambool.
  • Seeing our church continue to grow, with the opening of a new service in Docklands.
  • Being headhunted to help with our church ‘mums and bubs’ midweek meeting creche. For some reason this old single guy seems to be quite good at looking after little people!
  • A four-night cruise, Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane, on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, made even more special by being upgraded to a suite. No upgrade for my 2020 cruise though!
  • Visiting Brisbane for the first time.
  • Through the year working as a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, building homes in Yea.
  • Visiting friends and family in the UK – when I emigrated I promised to go back and visit them each year, a promise I had to break in 2018 following surgery, and taking a first-time stopover in Singapore on the way home, something I will do again
  • Through the year working as a volunteer guide at the Newport Railway Museum, also joining the works team.
  • Taking a winter holiday in Port Hedland – seeing big boys toys close up.
  • I only got to see one musical but it was a superb one, ‘Come from away’, the remarkable true story of thousands passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them in the aftermath of 9/11
  • And continuing to run my software business, which celebrated its 30th birthday in April and once again reached my annual sales target (just).

A bus trip to Yea

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Habitat Yea 31 May 2018

Habitat for Humanity Yea 31 May 2018

As many of you know, I’ve been a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity for eight years and have spent the last six years working on our Yea (125km/75mi NE of Melbourne) project, putting in a day or two most weeks.

Following surgery last month I’m temporarily not allowed to drive or build. I did though take the chance today to ride the V/Line bus from Southern Cross to Yea and back, which gave me a couple of hours to see what’s happened in my absence (lots) and catch up with my building friends.

The bus ride: About 2:15 each way (driving takes 90 minutes). Until its closure in 1978 Yea was a key stop on the Tallarook – Mansfield branch line. Lance Adams’ history of the line is well worth a read.