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About Alotau

Hello all today I am just going to tell you a little about our second port of call Alotau in Papua New Guinea, we docked at Alotau which was a somewhat short distanced from the town if you were fit you could walk into town in about 30 minutes but we didn’t we got a cab into the town cost us $5 so that was ok.

Moving on, Alotau is the capital of the Milne Bay Province it has a population of around 78,000 it around 7,970 square kilometres in size, this is the are that the battle of Milne Bay took place during the second World War in 1942. An Aussie digger won the Victoria Cross during the battle can’t tell you which Aussie digger as don’t have free internet to go searching.

The locals in the area speak English as well as another 48 languages although there is around 350 different languages spoken in Papua New Guinea.

The currency used is the Kina but many stalls accepted the Australian dollars as well but of course it was cheaper to pay in their own currency.

Each year in November the national Kenu and Kundu (drum) Festival sees clans from all around the Milne Bay Province come together in Alotau to race for spoils and glory some travel up to a week to get there to share their culture with others.

Sunday’s Post and Did You Know Monday

Hello everyone, here we are on a cold Sunday morning, I did something this morning I rarely do, I went back to bed after I did my morning exercises and after I threw a load of washing on and slept for another two hours.

Yesterday I had Leo while his mum worked but only during the day not over night and Kathy and the girls came over, well Kathy had to bring my weekly grocery shop over I do click and collect where I do the shopping online and Kathy collects it and brings it to me.

So I get up not long ago and go to get the washing out of the machine and bloody hell the damn machine was out of balance and not finished,grrrrrrrrr………………….

So I unpacked the dishwasher and now I am sitting here and writing this……………………..

You know something I hate itchy underarms mine get very itchy, spoke to the doctor about it and he said it might be my deodorant, no happens even when I don’t use deodorant, so than he said it was my laundry detergent but I don’t think so as it happens even straight after my bath, so of course he then said it was the soap, I don’t use soap, ok the body wash but I use different types of body wash and not the same one every time, so than he said he had no idea……………………that makes two of us.

On Friday Jessica bought me a new pair of slippers for Mother’s Day, yeah a little late but that’s ok anyway one of the first things she asks yesterday was do I wear them, yes I wore them Friday night and Saturday morning. Now I don’t like to wear slippers much with just my bare feet as my feet sweat but with my problems so days getting my socks on I wanted something I could slip my bare feet into after my bath and first thing of a morning before I get dressed for the day. I wear shorts and a tee shirt to exercise in then I go and get dressed for the day afterwards.

Natasha and Blain both gave me photo frames which I like and Kathy gave me a new breadboard as the one I had was broken and I do like to use a breadboard each day, has to be a wooden one so the toasted sandwich doesn’t sweat and become soggy.

Oh yeah Jessica emptied Leo’s money boxes he has here and banked the money, he had $215 in his money boxes and yes took a few years to save that much but now it is in his bank account which has over 3 grand in it. I have money boxes here for all my grandchildren and Daemon and I add whatever coins I have spare to them on a regular basis.

On Friday mum had to go with Dawson while he opened up a cashcard account because he is now 18 and will be going to Centrelink on Monday to register and will at some point get a payment once he leaves school if not before. It is Centrelink who pays unemployment benefits and family payments and disability and such. If he doesn’t already have his own Medicare card he will have to register for that as well, here you get your own card usually between the ages of 16-18.

Tim and I are going over to my parents again today for lunch because last weekend my brother Dave was unable to make it and so we are doing it again so he can be there, last weekend I wanted to put it off till this weekend but Sandra didn’t want that and all I could think was if you had to find the money for the KFC it would be different sis………………that said we love her and had it anyway.

Ok started this yesterday morning, yes it is now Monday morning I had planned to finish this yesterday and post it but didn’t get around to doing it so here I am doing it now.

Being Monday that means it is did you know Monday, so I am asking this, did you know:

A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in a single night

Five things Friday

Good morning all it is Friday again, didn’t do a post yesterday I planed to answer some letters, I managed to answer none yeah a big ole 0 how that sucked for some reason I just didn’t get around to it, oh well no biggie……………….

So what do I have for this weeks five things, stuffed if I know, let me think………………………….

No ink

8 unanswered letters

Pissing off my daughters

Thinking they will get over it

Being told I am a gossip and not trustworthy, I only share things with my mum or eldest daughter, the person who said this shouldn’t have said what they did and upset so that I needed to vent and rant to someone, it’s done deal and move on.

ODD a Rant

Hello everyone, please excuse me while I have a little rant this morning……………………………

As some will know my 9yr old grandson has Oppositional Defiant Disorder or ODD he also has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD, these are really medical conditions and not some lame ass excuse to excuse bad behaviour in children like some people and members of the family think, I will not mention names but those who think this know who they are.

For those who do not know ODD is a suppose to be a childhood behavioural problem but my eldest daughter who is 31 and my nephew who is 18 both still have ODD so I don’t think it is just a childhood condition. Also more boys than girls have the condition, with the ratio of two to one.

ODD is one of a group of behavioural disorders know collectively as disruptive behaviour disorders, which include conduct disorder (CD) and ADHD.

Those who have this disorder do not react well to bossy people who they consider as bullies, you need to speak to them in a calm tone, demanding they do something or yelling and going crazy will not work. They will become argumentative and will not back down easy, they do not get the whole I am the adult you are the child you have to do what I said thing.

Children with ODD can become easily angered, annoyed or irritated, they have frequent temper tantrums and argue frequently with adults particularly those they are most likely to interact with. It is not uncommon for them to refuse to obey rules if they don’t understand why the rule applies. They seem to deliberately try to annoy or aggravate others but often that isn’t what they are intending to do.

They have a low self-esteem as well as a low frustration threshold and often will seek to blame others for accidents because they fear getting into trouble.

The condition is treated best with the aid of medication, medication allows the child to remain calm and concentrate and it reduces the amount of flare ups the child has. Also some people would do with parental training to help the parents better manage and interact with the child usually this is the first step in treatment but from personal experience medication is a big part of treatment.

These children do not just need more discipline to behave right, they need to be spoken to and interacted with a little different from a child who doesn’t have ODD. This is something some I know do not get. Also many who have the condition may be on medication for their whole childhood and into their adult years, some may need medication their whole life. So family members and those who are in the suffers life need to understand that and not make the child feel something is wrong with them because they need medication.

At my grandson’s school there are many children who need some form of medication each day so children like my grandson do feel different because they need medication.

Saying the child is “just like their parent” in a negative way is wrong or saying that you hope any other sibling doesn’t turn out the same way is also in my opinion wrong, it is like you are saying the parent of effected child is in some way inferior and that is so wrong.

These children are often quiet bright and are deep thinkers and can have a lot of patience with younger children I don’t know why that it is but it is what I have seen in those I know with ODD.

With my grandson it is wrong to compare him to his older cousin they are very different boys and I love them both equally and differently just as I love both my granddaughters the same and differently because even though they are sisters they are also individuals.

About Brisbane our first port of call

Our first port of call was Brisbane, so I am just going to tell you a bit about the place, it became a municipality in 1859 and in 1924 it was consolidated into a metropolitan area. It is situated on the Brisbane river in the southeast corner of Queensland, Brisbane is the capital of the state of Queensland and has a population of around 2.5 million.

Brisbane has a subtropical climate so it is usually hot and humid during the summer months which is between December and February with the temperature being around 40°c during the day and nights around the mid to high 20’s.

Of course the main language spoken is English but there are many different cultures and nationalities in Australia so many other languages spoken as well but for the most part we speak English or as Tim would say we speak Australian here in Australia.

Of course the currency in the Australian dollar, our money consists of coins ranging from 5cents to $2, our silver coins are 5cents, 10cents, 20cents & 50cents and we have two gold coins being $1 & $2. Then we have our notes which consist of $5, $10, $20, $50 & $100, $5 is a purplish colour, the $10 is blue the $20 is orange, the $50 is yellow and the $100 is green, Tim and I rarely have $100 notes in our wallets most we have 5, 10 or 20’s.

Queensland is also home to the famous Gold Coast with 26 miles of beaches and many resort hotels and Queensland’s casino, also around the Gold Coast you will find Movieworld and Dreamworld both are theme parks and both are popular and expensive.

Queensland is known as the sunshine state because it is suppose to have around 300 days of sunshine each year, since I don’t live in the state I have no idea if this is the case or not.

The state of Queensland was named in honour of Queen Victoria who signed the proclamation separating the state from the state of New South Wales in 1859.

The Koala is the official state animal, the official state gem is the sapphire, maroon is the state colour worn by the Queensland footy team in the State of Origin footy games which is NRL. The states bird is a large grey crane known as the brolga and the state flower is a lovely Cooktown orchid.

There are over 200 national parks in Queensland covering around 16 million acres.

One of Brisbane’s most recognisable attractions in the historic Newstead House, it dates back to 1846 and is the oldest surviving home in Brisbane, it was originally a simple colonial Georgian cottage but if you ask me back then most homes were pretty simple, anyway it has been transformed over the years into a huge homestead with a sprawling verandah featuring panoramic vista (whatever that is). In 1939 it became the first Australian house to be preserved by its very own at of parliament.

Did you know Monday/Toothbrushes

Ok since things are returning to normal that means this Monday you get did you know Monday with another fact out of Leo’s 1000 facts book, this weeks fact is this:

More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones

What colour is your toothbrush?

Mine is usually pink so not blue but Tim always likes a blue one as does Leo.

We all now that toothbrushes are available with different bristle textures, sizes, and forms but did you know that most dentists recommend using a soft toothbrush since hard bristled toothbrushes can damage tooth enamel and irritate the gums.

Also did you know the first bristle toothbrush resembling the modern one was found in China dating back to the Tang Dynasty which is between 619-907 it consisted of hog bristles, just so you know.

Home and returning to normal

Hello all, I am home safe and sound got home around 1pm on Friday afternoon and today is Sunday didn’t do a post Friday or Saturday as I just didn’t feel like it but here I am on Sunday morning at last writing something.

We have had Leo since Friday after school and will have him till Thursday after school, why you wonder well he wanted to stay Friday night because he missed us and yesterday and today his mum will be working till late in the afternoon and it is just easier for him to stay here with us.

While I was hanging up the clean clothes I thought about how we all may call something by a different name, like what I call a coat hanger some will call a clothes hanger same thing different name, same goes for a pillow case or a pillow slip some item slightly different name.

However, while on the cruise I was confused a bit by what they called lemonade it wasn’t lemonade it was lemon squash aka Solo what to us is lemonade is what they called Sprite for us Sprite is just a brand name of lemonade like Coke or Pepsi is a brand name of cola.

So when they said that you could have water, juice or lemonade free with your meal I was looking for Sprite not lemon squash, I don’t drink lemon squash but my dad does.

I also noticed that at times they called custard, vanilla sauce and what they served up as pie on pie night was more like pasties although you could get a normal Aussie meat pie from the burger place.

Things are returning to normal here, I have exercised yesterday morning and this morning again so getting back into it yesterday only did 35 minutes and this morning I managed 52 minutes.

I read a heap of blog posts this morning and will post this as well before I go over to my parents place for a late Mother’s Day lunch with the family. Speaking of Mother’s Day my daughters and my sisters need a bit of a slap they all had an extra two weeks to get us presents and they still say they didn’t have time or money to do so, what the hell is with that. Although Kathy-Lee gave me a new wooden breadboard yesterday for Mother’s Day which I love as the old one was broken..

Tim and I gave mum her present on the day, well we ordered her roses from the ships florist and Tim bought her a compact mirror while he was ashore that day which she really liked.

Last day of cruise

Last day aboard and I have been worried about mum as she hasn’t been with it this morning, I returned her to her cabin at 10.30am so she could have a lay down as she was falling asleep while we were sitting on deck 7 this morning.

Tim went and bought mum a bottle of water and told her to drink some, after doing so she started to improve and he told me to let her rest till she was ready for lunch which I did. After lunch I went back to her cabin and helped her pack some stuff ok most of their stuff expect for dad’s stuff.

I have now packed all my stuff that needed to be packed but Tim said he will do his stuff so I will leave it to him although I feel like doing it but I never know how he will react sometimes he is fine with me doing it sometimes not so much.

My right ankle is still very sore as it the palm on my right hand but the hip is pretty much ok now as long as I don’t lay on it or do anything to cause the pain to return I should fingers crossed be ok.

Tomorrow I have told mum that I will push her off the ship, so she doesn’t have to walk thus the reason we are packing as much as we can in the luggage that is taken off the ship for us with only a few items being carried off by us.

I have now had shower and will wear what I have on tomorrow.

Two more sleeps till home

Ok two more sleeps before I am home and able to have a hot bath and sleep in my own bed and even though I have loved the cruise I am looking forward to my own bed and a hot bath. I am also missing my girls and grandchildren, I have bought them all a gifts and hope I have not forgotten anyone.

I think we are all looking forward to returning home my brother and sister in-law will be picking us up again and Dave said they will be leaving very early to get down here as near the terminal there is some disable parking spots and they would like to get one of them and as Dave said they can nap in the car while they wait for us better then paying over a $100 for parking.

For most of the cruise we have not felt the ship move much at all, well I have not although this afternoon while I was trying to have a nap I could feel it move and can while I am sitting here typing this and have to say it is kinda nice the gentle swaying of the ship.

This morning mum and I went and bought a few more things and put some money through the pokies didn’t win anything though. While at the casino Tim was with us and mum said to him was he going to put money through the pokies or stand around and annoy us, so he left to have a smoke and we didn’t see him again till lunch time.

After lunch I had a nap but didn’t sleep well I dozed on and off for a couple of hours give or take and woke the last time with a start after I heard someone walk into the cabin and come sit next to me on the bed and touch my hip, I opened my eyes expecting to see Tim but he wasn’t there and I called him but he wasn’t here at all.

I can tell we are getting closer to Sydney as the temperature is dropping and it is getting cooler although today outside it was nice mum and I sat out on a deck and watched the water, something both of us and well as dad find very relaxing.

Also when I went to the toilet earlier I had a woman as me if mum was my mum or Tim’s much she thought she was my mum as she said we looked alike but she had heard Tim call her mum as well so wasn’t sure. I said she is my mum but Tim has called her mum for over 30 odd years, she thought it was wonderful that he called her mum as well.

As mum said my dad called her mother mum as well but he called her dad by his given name Ron, dad like Tim was very close to his mother in-law.