Detention policy

Good news for Australia today – there have been “sweeping changes” announced to Australia’s mandatory detention policy (ABC News Online).  The Age reported on this today, and in an interview with Dr Graham Thom from  Amnesty International, Lateline foreshadowed these changes last night.  The upshot is that detention of asylum seekers will be a last resort and it’s likely that large numbers of people who’ve been indefinitely detained are likely to be released into the community.  This is such a more humane and sensible attitude to take.  You can also read the transcript from Radio National’s The World Today...

 

On ya Kev!

 

 

Kalbarri

We’re back from our holiday in Kalbarri – the first time we’ve ever stayed in one place for 7 nights on holiday!  We camped for a few nights, including at Coalseam and at  Eurardy Bush Heritage Reserve, where we met Paul and Leanne, and their 2 girls, Beth and Maysey.  Beth is 2 years old, and Harrison just adored her.  Leanne took us on her morning native animal monitoring run, and we checked their traps for dunnarts, frogs and native mice (I maintained a respectful distance...).  Leanne weighed and measured the animals before releasing them.  At Kalbarri we had a unit right across from the area where volunteers feed pelicans each morning (Harrison got to throw a fish to them).  We went bushwalking, canoeing and even hired a little surf-cat and went sailing.  Many of the tourist things in Kalbarri are a bit amateur and over priced, but the location itself is fabulous.  Plus there’s a cafe run by a woman with celiac disease, so we could buy food for Harrison with confidence.  On our last night we had a sensational meal at the Grass Tree restaurant, and the chef was really helpful with Harrison’s meal – he had a large (and healthy) kids menu with several things on it that were gluten free, and was happy to make whatever Harrison wanted to eat.

 

The band

Harrison spent the whole trip home yesterday afternoon planning his first band.  He picked 3 friends who would be in it with him (Andy, Aaron and Felix), who would play which instrument (he couldn’t decide between the piano or guitar for himself), who would sing etc.  Apparently Andy is very funny, so he’s the lead singer.  He’s decided that he will be the one who thinks of all the songs, and the major planning snag in his mind is how to fit a piano through the door when they play a concert.  When he becomes a rock legend in about 20 years time, this will be a good anecdote for the Rolling Stone feature on him.

Scamp's Adventure

I bought Harrison Lady and the Tramp 2 when I was in Melbourne. He loves Lady and the Tramp, and knew from the shorts on that DVD that there was a second movie. We've had to put it away, because he ends up in tears every time he watches it. He is heartbroken by the baby in the moving missing Scamp when he's run away, terrified of the dog catcher, and traumatised by the idea of a dog pound.

Melbourne

I had THE most relaxing weekend in Melbourne.  I was in Geelong for a leadership course last week, and Simon arranged for VJ to come down on Friday and shouted us 3 nights at an apartment in the city.  We did the usual Melbourne things – took trams, went shopping, ate out lots.  I went to the Medieval Manuscripts exhibition at the State Library also.  But the best thing of all was the fact that for 3 nights in a row I got 10 hours sleep.  This was the first time in 4 years that I have had sleep like that.  I know you can’t bank it, but it was VERY nice at the time.  So thank you Simon!!!!

Mystery solved

We got a call from day care on Wednesday afternoon asking us to pick Harrison up because he was sick.  Well, he looked terrible, and was sick again in the car on the way home. But after a bath he was suddenly full of beans, and hungry – as though nothing had happened.  This didn’t seem like an ordinary tummy bug, but we couldn’t think of any time he might have eaten any gluten.  Next morning he was full of energy, but we had to keep him home from day care in case this was a contagious tummy bug.  When we called them to let them know he was fine, they mentioned that he’d only had vegetable soup and couscous for lunch the day before, so they were sure it wasn’t the food.  Doh!!! Couscous!  The mystery was solved, and the cook was mortified by her “brain freeze”.  Everyone was very apologetic.  Of course, now they’re all nervous again about what to feed him...  We’re going to organise a dietician to come and talk to a staff meeting.

 

Happy birthday

Harrison turned 4 today!  Four seems such a grown up age for our little boy – I feel a bit sad about this milestone.  We gave him his first “real” bike with training wheels.  His feet only just reach the pedals.  I made the 4 cake from the Women’s Weekly Kids Party book for him to take to day care.  It looks very impressive for not much effort, as it uses plastic toy road signs, foil covered chocolate cars, and ready-made royal icing for the “roads”.  I converted my favourite chocolate cake recipe (which uses soured milk and a warm cocoa paste) to a gluten free one, and that seemed to work fine. 

ANZAC day

We took Harrison into the city this morning to see the ANZAC day parade. He particularly enjoyed seeing all the marching bands.
This afternoon I killed a couple of hours with Harrison at Uni, and we discovered a "Nearer Nature" marquis on the foreshore at Matilda Bay. They had various animals - frogs, snakes, lizards and snails there for kids to hold and learn about. Harrison absolutely loved it. Didn't want the snake curled around his neck, and got a bit girly about having a frog jump on him, but he loved touching all the animals, so long as someone else was holding them. Snail are his all time favourite animal, so having a basket of snails to explore was heaven for him. Nearer Nature is a Dept of Conservation program. They do various fee based things like overnight camping trips, but this one was free.

Seedy side of life

Simon and I wasted a date night last night on Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.  It was a very disturbing portrayal of a family of people with virtually no redeemable features who spiral into self destruction, and it left us both feeling less than good about the world. 

Piano!

We made a major investment on the weekend.  Simon bought an electric piano (in a single visit to one shop – most unlike him!).  The boys are already making good use of it.  Harrison is able to turn it on and bash away whenever he likes, and he and Simon have a duet of “Froggy went a courtin’” going (Harrison’s role is to hit a single note in time with the music).  The box (literally the size of a coffin) is also being out to good use as a boat, a train, or a hiding place.

 

A couple of weekends ago we took Harrison to a WASO concert for under 5s, and Harrison had his first go on a violin.  He also tried out Simon’s violin at home.

 

Along with Simon’s recent discovery of ITunes, which has reignited his passion for making compilations, the piano is changing the tone of our household.

Shannon to the rescue

Shannon Lush’s Speed Cleaning bible came into its own on Sunday after I discovered Harrison had used a fabric marker to draw with, and not always on his paper!  The laminated top of his kids table appeared to be ruined forever.  Sugar soap had absolutely no effect, and seeing as fabric marker stays on clothes even when washed in Napisan I wasn’t confident.  But Shannon advised that perfume on a cotton ball removes permanent marker from a whiteboard, so I tried it on the table.  Felt a bit silly using Red Door to clean Harrison’s table, but it worked perfectly (and smells nice!).  Not a trace left.

 

Gold digging

We ventured into the wilds of Kalgoorlie over Easter.  We seemed to share the Great Eastern Highway with quite a lot of Gypsy Joker bikies, and even more police on Good Friday.  They were going to Kalgoorlie, and even turned up at the Super Pit lookout on Saturday (police escort in tow).   There were plain clothes police, uniformed officers, marked cars, unmarked cars – it seemed half the WA Police force were tagging along after the Jokers.   We assumed there must be some huge drug raid in progress, or a murder investigation, but there was nothing in the news about it.  Asking around at work it seems that this is just all in a day’s work for WA Police.  Where ever a group of Gypsy Jokers go, so do several patrol cars, just to make sure there’s no trouble.

 

Apart from trying not to inadvertently offend any outlaw bikie gangs, we had a good time in Kalgoorlie.  Harrison got to pan for gold (and picked up a sizable rock that he decided was his very own gold nugget (we wish!)), and go down an underground gold mine.  The Easter Bunny managed to find him at Kalgoorlie and left eggs scattered around the courtyard of our unit.  He also got a soft Peter Rabbit toy with a blue jacket that has barely left Harrison’s side since Easter morning. 

 

We stopped at York on the way to Kalgoorlie and discovered a lovely cafe that had gluten free bread, and a gorgeous home-made gluten free chocolate cake.  Apparently there are several places in York with gluten free food (but on Good Friday only one was open), so a weekend visit is in order.  Kalgoorlie wasn’t so strong on catering for his diet, and we had to take food for him everywhere we went.  I guess it’s just something we have to get used to.

Leaving home

Harrison has announced his intention to move in with Carla, one of his day-carers. Carla has looked after him for 2 years, and leaves today to go on maternity leave. Harrison has decided that the way to cope with her loss is to move in with her and her new baby. He would like the baby to be a boy, and to grow up very fast so that it becomes his big brother. He has also started asking me to pull my hair back in a pony tail like Carla (and when I do he sighs, looks lovingly at me, and says "Hi Carla").... I'm trying not to take it personally.

Buried in books

We took this photo of Harrison as a memento after we came home from the Writers Festival.

Our house

Here are a few views from our house... They're taken from our balcony (sunset and Rottnest) and from our front door. We regularly see the colourful tops of kite surfers from our front door, and at night we can count the flashes of the Rottnest lighthouse from our dining room. On Australia Day we watched the City Beach fireworks from our balcony - close enough to smell and see the smoke.

City Beach sunset

I took Simon to dinner at Oceanus restaurant at City Beach on the 12th - to celebrate his native title book coming out, and also as an early Valentines Day dinner. It was a very hot night (and astonishingly, the restaurant isn't airconditioned!). All that glass directly facing the west, with the tables positioned for sunset viewing made for an uncomfortable dining experience. We did have a nice meal (the Asian influenced tasting plate we shared was lovely, Simon's steak was apparently great, but his dessert was simply scoops of a readily available brand of gelato, and mine was a bit uninspired).

Weather

I have Toowoomba, Brisbane and Perth weather on my iGoogle page...  so I can see if we’ve chosen the right place to live!  Over the last week it looks like Perth has begun its cool-down.  The overnight temperatures are usually lower than Toowoomba’s even if the maximum for the day is relatively high.  And it now takes quite a long time to warm up during the day.  For instance, right now it’s 21 degrees in Perth, and 29 in Toowoomba, and our overnight temp was 5 degrees lower than Toowoomba’s.

Writers Festival

The Writers Festival is on at UWA this weekend, as part of the Perth International Arts Festival.  Simon is away for a 4 day weekend (driving up to Kalbarri to check out places for us to stay in July), so I thought I’d take Harrison along on Sunday.  It’s the “family” day, so there are children’s book readings and actors doing fairytales.  Should be fun.

Best seller?

Simon’s native title book has sold almost 200 copies in the first month (which is about $24,000 worth). Pretty good for a “heavy” academic book.

On air again

Hooray - I'm at home and online! The Telstra guy came (6 hours late, but he did arrive), and found an apparently very simple problem which could have been fixed as far back as January 25th... It's so nice to make a call on the landline, and such a relief to fire up the laptop and find we're on the network.