Family Fun
One of the best ways of creating a sense of family is to be together sharing experiences and having fun.
For the last almost 43 years my children and I have been family, for the first 16 of those years together with their father. During those years we have had lots of fun times whether at home, on holidays or exploring our world.
In January 1973, with extended family from the McCaffrey’s and the Wishart’s we celebrated Narelle’s christening. We were lucky that our friend, Fr Bill Jordan, was able to officiate on this day as he had been part of our journey as couple then family from the beginning. I think, Narelle, only being about four weeks old, was a well behaved baby during the ceremony and afterwards back at our home for lunch. Even though it was January, I do remember that it was cold and we had the heater on!
Other celebrations include Keryn’s 1st Birthday party held at Melaleuca Drive, Upwey. Keryn slept much of the time and wasn’t particularly interested in blowing out the candles on her birthday cake but we did have fun with extended family…..with cousins, siblings and parents.
At one party we had at this address, not long after we had a very light coloured carpet laid someone spilt red wine, yes, on the new carpet. It was then that I learnt about the wonders of salt….it worked!
And it was while living at Melaleuca Drive that we made friends with a group of local young couples most who went to St Thomas More’s church in Belgrave. They were the good old days! Some of these people I still see today. And we joined a babysitting club through which couples would earn points by babysitting for each other – and use points by having a club member babysit for you. This enabled couples to go out on their own and know that their children were being well cared for. There were no Working with Children’s checks in those days and we gave no thought to not trusting other members of the club.
When we moved into Fairydell Road it was fantastic to be able to have friends and family come and help us form a garden in front of the house – a working bee!
It was here that we celebrated Daniel’s and Luke’s christenings and various birthday parties – I remember that at a party of Keryn’s we had to find her so we could sing happy birthday and blow out the candles. I think she was overwhelmed by the number of people.
And then there was a party we had for friends one evening at which most of us had consumed a fair bit of alcohol. A friend and I had stayed up talking when the phone rang – it was my younger brother ringing from the police station asking that I drive down to pick him up as he had been picked up over .05. No way could I drive down to a police station so we rang for a taxi – a much safer way of travelling with alcohol in my system.
Often on warm summer evenings we would meet friends and their children at Aura Vale Lake, on Wellington Road, Menzies Creek. I have just learnt that the lake forms part of a drainage system designed to channel run-off water from neighbouring properties and roads, and stop it entering the main Cardinia Reservoir. This system prevents polluted water from affecting the quality of our drinking water.
The children and some of the adults would swim in the lake, but sadly this is not allowed any more owing to bacteria in the water.
We also visited such places as the Botanic Gardens, playgrounds in Selby and Croydon and Fern Tree Gully National Park.
When living in Wodonga, as a family we would often picnic at places like Beechworth at the ‘big rock’ next to the then prison, Woolshed Falls near Beechworth, Chiltern Forest, Mt Pilot, Mt Buffalo, Allan’s Flat Lake (really a quarry that had filled with water), the bank of the Murray in Albury, Sumsion Gardens in Wodonga, The Rock in NSW and even further afield in Yarrawonga. One Australia Day we went to a concert at Wandiligong to hear Eric Bogle sing – that was a great night. One drive in the vicinity of Wymah NSW we came across a bull and cow mating in the middle of the road……what could we do but wait. What a wonderful ‘birds and bees’ lesson for the children! Eventually they and we moved on.
Some of these places we would visit alone (just our family) and others with groups of families mainly of staff from Clyde Cameron College. This was fun and led to the creation of bonds with families, two of whom I still link with today.
Holidays together were mostly fun and some with challenges.
The first holiday I remember from those very early days was driving to Shoalhaven Heads, NSW for a holiday when Narelle was about eight months old. Poor Narelle despite sleeping most of the time was carsick so vomited a number of times on the way there and back – an eventful journey. We had a great few days sharing the holiday with friends Trish and Brian McStay.
When Narelle, Keryn and Daniel were young (4, 3 and 1) we joined my parents and sister for a holiday at Lakes Entrance. Daniel was so easy to have around in those days as all he did was sit on the floor playing with whatever toys we put around him.
And there was a camping holiday shared with friends at Wilson’s Prom.
Then a year or two later we joined a group of friends on a holiday in caravans at Warrnambool. I think that it was on that holiday that Narelle became ill from spending too much time in the sun. We all loved spending time with the children during the day then sitting up drinking and chatting with the adults at night.
At the end of our time in Warrnambool we decided to drive to Adelaide to visit friends who had moved from Melbourne, Cathy and Pete Bayliss and their two children. Keryn today even remembers visiting the swimming pool that had a viewing glass from which you could watch people swim underwater. On the way to Adelaide the car, a Hillman Hunter, which we were driving, developed a hole in the radiator. Tony plugged the hole as best he could then we had to stop often to fill up with water until we could have a proper repair job done! A great thing to happen when driving through the Coorong with three young children.
With this same group of friends one year we spent time at a holiday camp (FeFiFo Farm) at Two Fold Bay on Lake Eildon. Again it was fun being with family and friends. We were able to enjoy bike riding, horse riding, swimming and canoeing. How great was that….all the children related well and so did the adults.
I can’t remember exactly when but I do know that one year we rented a holiday unit at Mt Martha. Other friends rented the unit next door. This was a relaxing low key holiday where we could spend time at the beach, walking and exploring.
Another holiday destination that comes to mind is a house at Merricks Beach that we rented. Not being too far from Melbourne friends and family were able to visit and stay the night if they wished. As Narelle was in Queensland on a guide camp she was not able to join us for this holiday. Keryn remembers that on this holiday she was not very happy and refused to talk to the daughters of friends who stayed.
One year we stayed at a facility of the Redemptrist priests near Apollo Bay organised for us by my mother – I think it was meant to be for single parents and their families. Despite my awkwardness we had a good time as we were able to explore the surrounding area and beaches with the children.
When in Wodonga most of our holidays were spent in Melbourne visiting family and friends.
Not long after our return from Wodonga to Melbourne we went on holiday to Lakes Entrance with the Webber family. The three girls being in their mid-teens enjoyed spending time in the recreation room and the two older boys enjoyed each other’s company doing??? I am presuming that Luke some five years younger than the boys would have spent his time with us or the boys.
Following the separation of Tony and myself family holidays were limited. I remember one year camping at The Lakes National Park with a friend and his two sons – that was fun. One summer I took Luke to Canberra to visit Narelle who was doing summer school at ANU. Another holiday with another friend and his children Luke and I went to Wilson’s Prom…..that was a difficult holiday owing to the different ages of the children and the different behavioural expectations of the parents.
On another holiday we were lucky to be able to stay in a work colleague’s holiday house at Phillip Island for a few days.
As the children got older family holidays stopped as they tended to spend time with their friends going and doing what they wanted to do rather than holidaying with each other and parents.
While we did not holiday overseas or interstate we did spend time relaxing, chatting, exploring and having fun together – an important part of building and nurturing the close relationships that are essential to a happy family life.
Tales to be told 