WEDNESDAY 20 OCTOBER    HEALESVILLE

I went to the shops for food for today’s visitors, and to the Post Office to pay the caravan registration – that was only $28. Unfortunately, the phone bill that I also paid was rather larger.

John’s two former colleagues came for a visit, in the late morning. John enjoyed hearing all the school news.

Then V visited for about three hours in the afternoon, having a late lunch with us. As always, their plans keep changing, but there may be some more travel – and there is talk of possibly settling in the Bendigo area, of all places. I gather real estate is cheap, and she is a country girl, at heart. She was genuinely interested in looking at our more recent photos, having recently travelled some of those parts herself. We gave her the zircon earrings – she really liked them. It was a great visit.

Tea was home cooked fish and fries.

TUESDAY 19 OCTOBER    HEALESVILLE

Down the highway and towards the city. I dropped John off at his brother’s at Templestowe, so they could go to bowls together.

I went to my brother’s, over at Ivanhoe, for lunch. It was quite pleasant. He had some old photos of our mother’s, that he was hoping I could identify people in. I looked at his photos from a recent Tasmanian holiday, and he looked at mine from the desert. Quite a contrast! As an artist, he is always looking for new subject matter and inspiration.

My nephew was home from school with a sore throat. I think he just wanted to be part of the visit!

Later in the afternoon, I went back to Templestowe. We had dinner there with R and his wife – much more travel and family talk.

So – that was two good visits done in one day.

SUNDAY 17 OCTOBER    HEALESVILLE

It was a lovely, sunny day.

K, P and friend R came out to lunch. We had a BBQ sausage lunch. K likes fiddling with fires, so we lit an open fire in the area provided for same, by the creek, and used our BBQ rack over it. A pleasant time was had by all. They left mid-afternoon.

BBQ lunch by the creek at Badger Creek Caravan Park

There are still hordes of kids and parents in the park – more than we like to have around!

We had a light tea of leftovers from lunch.

SATURDAY 16 OCTOBER     HEALESVILLE

We went to the local shops for some groceries and the papers.

John went off to bowls at Lilydale.

I cleaned the van. Was still feeling poorly, and with a dry, ticklish cough, now. It has certainly been a virulent bug.

Phoned V. She arrived in Melbourne last Wednesday, after having a bout of food poisoning in Adelaide, and staying there for five days. She is going to her class reunion tonight. I had been under some pressure to go too – was quite close to that cohort of students – but asked her to explain that I was ill. She will come to lunch one day next week.

We had a very quiet night. There was no real improvement with the TV – it is hard to tell here, because of the mountains all around.

WEDNESDAY 13 OCTOBER     HEALESVILLE

This was a very quiet day. John was nursing his illness. I felt awful – aching all over. I spent much of the day in bed.

TUESDAY 12 OCTOBER     HEALESVILLE

In the morning, I phoned and cancelled the meals we had planned for tonight and tomorrow, with John’s brother and my brother – because John was feeling so ill. He went to a local doctor and was prescribed anti-biotics for the throat.

Later in the day, I started to feel like I was coming down with something similar. Can’t be tonsillitis, because I do not have any, but something akin to that. Not fair!