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| The Lord family-James, Diane, Elizabeth, Max the dog, and John. Charles is in the cricket uniform below. Diane is the daughter of my mothers half brother. |
| Glenn's Journals 12-14-02 Tasmania The lights came on around 6:00 am as we would be at the port in Devonport, Tasmania around 7:00 am. We returned to our cars around 7:15 am and finally made our way off the ferry and through customs just after 8:00 am. We thought it would be to early to call our relatives in Longford so we went into town to find breakfast. The only thing we found seemed to be the McDonald's so we ate there before stopping into the local craft store and supermarket. We then located a pay phone and called our relatives Diane and John in Longford. Diane is the daughter of my mothers half brother. At this point we only knwe of each other through the fact that my mother had worked on our genealogy charts and located this side of the family only a few years back. This would be the first time that we would meet. On the drive to Longforsd we stopped at a garden maze, that we thought was entertaining, and a copper art store that we had read about in the Lonely Planet guide book. We finally arrived around 11:30 am at Diane and Johns 280+ acre farm. (They also have 1000+ acres farther in the hills nearby.) John greeted us as we pulled in where we met the rest of the family including Elizabeth (18 years old and having completed her first year at uni, or university), James (17 years old and starting year 12, he plays Australian Rules football and Cricket), and Charles (a strapping 14 years old who also plays Australian Rules Football and cricket). "Gordon" was also there and is my mothers half brother. We enjoyed the morning tea with the family who had been working around the farm with it being a Saturday and all. They were also working on the farm today as it is Diane's birthday tomorrow. After morning tea and some enjoyable introductions John and James took us around the farm to see the poppy's ( a particular good crop) and the tree plantation that James is developing. We also learned an amazing amount about the history of Tasmania and the surrounding area. The tour included meeting the horse, checking out the sheep sheering station (as they have 200+ sheep) and the east side of the farm as well. We returned from our walk to an offer to stay for lunch which we pleasantly accepted. After some more enjoyable conversation and sharing of stories among all we joined Diane and Elizabeth in corralling some sheep into a different paddock so they could eat on a new section of grass. By now we had messed up their day and what they had expected to get accomplished but they were very pleasant about it and James and Charles enjoyed watching a rental movie instead of working in the garden. Diane and John had a wedding to attend tonight but we were invited to stay the night and join the Liz, James, and Charles for a barbeque at the house on the acreage in the mountains. We appreciated and accepted the offer. Before we headed out for dinner we agreed to help out by driving Gordon back to his place in town and dropping off the rental movie. It was a nice chance to spend time with Gordon as I had not done so much during the day. We enjoyed talking with him, along with seeing his place and some of the beautiful paintings his wife had completed. He has a beautiful place!!! We did manage to return the rental movie and stop at a bottle shop for beer on the way back to the farm. We met back up with the kids, packed the coolers, and rode with them up to the house in the mountains. The ride was only 30 minutes or so and the view across the valley was spectacular. James cooked the meal on the barbeque while the rest of us sat around and had a few beers (except Liz who was driving tonight). Again we shared stories about a varied array of topics before heading back to the main house around 8:30 pm. The rest of the night was spent playing Shangai rummy until we finally crashed around midnight. |
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