Families...

OK, it's been a busy week in the city with my Mum visiting -- concerts, movies, dinners, shopping. My mother, at 81, is amazingly energetic. But for me the most exciting thing is that I've also embarked on an endeavour I've been promising myself to undertake for years now.
I've begun investigating my family's ancestry.
With Mum's visit as an incentive, I went to the Townsville Family History Association and my adventure began.
My head is now buzzing with names and places and shipping lists. We didn't know much at all about Mum's family -- and all I want to know, at this stage, is when our ancestors came to Australia, where they came from and what they did there.
I've already tracked down one family who came out from Cambridgeshire in 1853 and as you can guess, my imagination has taken flight as I picture them on that boat, the David McIver -- young husband and wife with six children, including a baby (after leaving two babies buried back in England) taking that long sea journey to the other side of the world. Only the mother and one son could read and none of them could write.
I've also discovered a great-grandfather who was a German national and naturalised as an Aussie just before his marriage in 1891. It's like doing a huge jigsaw puzzle and just as addictive. Yeah, I'm hooked!
Tomorrow we head to Tarzali for a few days. Frosts are predicted, so the fire will get another workout.