Photos and Stories from Melbourne

Red and Silver Christmas Table

CHRISTMAS 2010- FERN TREE GULLY at the NORMOYLE'S HOME:  

We had a lovely Christmas - the table was set elaborately and beautifully! The theme of the table was red and silver and Sue has these fabulous Santas that hang from the glasses! I loved these!  We had a lovely pre-breckie and then waited for Mark and Lauren to arrive..  then we ate and open prezies.    Even the dog got to come and celebrate!

Santa hanging from my glass!

Monty in the middle of it all!

After Christmas we headed down to the beach for about 5 days.  The Normoyles have a camper superbly located in Torquay (pronouced tor- key).  This is about 5 km away from Bells beach which is where a famous surf competition happens every year!  This small lovely town is home base for Rip Curl, and there are outlets for Billabong, Roxy, and other surf related stores!  Shopping there was quite fun!

These are people going out for a surf lesson

I loved seeing the progression of them getting onto the water.

ready to feel the water and learn from a pro!

A Norfolk pine, singularly beautiful right next to the water

Brookie at dinner!  I think those are fish balls!

Thought I'd prove I was there!

We decided to drive along the Great Ocean Road to go see the 12 Apostles.   These are rock formations that the sea has eroded over time.. There are no longer 12 of them as some have collapsed into the sea.  They are beautiful and breathtaking!

We also drove into the  Otway National Forest to see if we could see some koalas in the wild!  They have had an epidemic of Chlamydia and have been vaccinating them and then moving them.  We believe this area is where they have been moved to because we saw at least 30 koalas in the trees. Brooke said she has never seen so many. They were amazingly cute, "drunk" on the Eucalyptus leaves.  I know they are not "bears" because they are marsupial but you sure want to snuggle with them like a bear :)  I guess that is a fallacy as well because you would not cuddle a bear... but you get the picture!

Mommy alert and looking right at me!

I am scrunched up but comfy!!!

Look how close I am.. I could nab him!

Is this guy for real????

 Oh how I love these little guys!!!!!

My new screen saver at work!!

 These are the 12 Apostles!  Beautiful.. what more can I say!!  It was a little windy that day but the crispness adds to the beauty in my opinion.

Wind swept but happy!

See we were there!  Trying to get a picture!

Flora and fauna

Hilarious sign!

I love the waves on this photo!

Beginning of regrowth after last year's fire.

5 colors:  death and rebirth....

 















This was such a fantastic trip.  

Lovely food, traveling, camping, walking, beaching, sipping copious amounts of champagne, boating, driving, viewing, site seeing, coffeeing, shopping, movies in pure luxury, family time, and friend time! 

Brooke and her family made me feel so at home.  I was relaxed and entertained and just all around loved my experience of Australia! 

Christmas Giving in Mukbo, China December 2010

Since I will not be able to be at home in Colorado this year for Christmas, I decided that giving a gift that will benefit a whole family in need is the best way of celebrating family.    I decided to buy a Yak for a family  in need (detailed below) through the Pentok Institute from the Staffords, Andersons and Hills.

Lhapal and his family are nomadic herders, living on grassland quite a long way from any major towns. Lhapal is 30 years old and he and his wife have two children, a preschool boy and a school-aged girl. The girl is not attending school because the family cannot cover the expenses and the school is so far away.  Additionally, the girl has to help with household chores because the mother is always sick with an undiagnosed illness. The family has no money to send her to a hospital.

Lhapal and his wife started their herd with 5 yaks from Lhapal’s parents. Over the last 10 years he and his wife have worked really hard and have raised 15 more yaks.  Lhapal also helps other families to graze their yaks and sheep for additional income of around 1,000—2000 RMB a year. His wife makes around 500—1,000 RMB a year from selling surplus butter and cheese. They now have enough money to buy food and clothes but no surplus to save for their children’s education or pay for medical help for his wife. Their primary desire is to have enough money to raise some more yaks and be able to send their two children to school.

Pentok means “to benefit and positively impact others.” The Pentok Institute, founded in 2007, is a not-for-profit, grass-roots initiative based in Qinghai Province. It aims to empower women from rural areas to take the lead in improving the quality of life in their communities. Projects include education, women’s leadership development, cultural preservation and community development. To date, 100% of the money Pentok has received has gone directly to projects benefiting local communities.

How does the yak-loan system work?

Pentok formed the Yak Loan Project Committee consisting of a local highly respected Lama named Samdan, the village leader Darbum, and a respected elder man named Uncle Drolby. Fifty low- income families from the Mukbo region were identified using the criteria of the number of livestock they own, additional caterpillar fungus income resource potential, the amount of debt they have as well as the number of school-aged children in each family. (Caterpillar fungus grows in the ground and is widely used as a traditional Chinese medicine)

The poorest six of these families were identified and interviewed. These are families who are barely able to meet their basic needs, let alone repay debts or educate their children. The Pentok Yak Loan Project Committee aims to provide 10 milking yaks for each family. The families can keep their loaned yaks for five years during which time the families will keep all by-products, such as off-spring, milk, meat, wool, butter and cheese. Most of this will be sold to generate cash income; some will be kept for their own families’ use. They will repay half of their loan in Year 3 (5 yaks or equivalent funds) and the other half of the loan in Year 5 (5 yaks or equivalent funds). By Year 3 of the project The Yak-Loan Project Committee will therefore be able to distribute milking yaks to another very poor household in the village so the project can be self-sustaining.