So I went home to Benalla for two weeks, because on the 13th of November my Dad passed away. On the 15th of November I caught a flight home from Berlin to Melbourne via London and Hong Kong. Hong Kong airport stinks like Ratsac. Seriously very off putting.
Anyway when we finally landed in Melbourne we had to stay on the plane for a bit while paramedics came on board (case of bird flu I suspect) and when I finally got off guess who was waiting for me? Not only the lovely crew of Jess, Chris, Gretchen and Josh, but also Bracksy!
Yes that's right Steve Bracks was at the airport gate campaigning for my vote. After a few paparazzi-like photos Jess approached him with the line, "Hi Mr Bracks, I´m a first time voter and I was wondering if I could have a photo with you?" all very cute. He is pretty good-looking for an olde timer.
That night I stayed at Chris and Dave´s with Gretchen and Jess before Mal and Jan picked us up and we drove back to Benalla. It was so good to see Mum. Also Pa and Auntie Hilde were there which is always awesome. That weekend was massive with Mal, Jan, Andrew, Simon, Paul, Auntie Marg, Uncle Ray, Auntie Marg, Uncle Pete and Gretchen as well as heaps of other people around.
On the Sunday night we went yabbying down at the dam with the superb equipment of old stockings and dog meat. We would have been able to use the real yabby trap but a while ago Dad blew up a stump and it landed on the trap so thus the ladies underwear. (Turns out the yabby trap belonged to someone else anyway haha) Highlights were definetly the awesome game of throwing rocks at the black plastic floats in the dam and making people skull their drink if you hit one. That and explainations as to where the yabbies were (with pantomime). Needless to say we didn´t catch any and finally had to go back to the house to get some food and hit up the tennis court.
Monday night after the funeral was a really nice BBQ at our house and more swimming and tennis playing with the addition of Coop and G. Thank-you to the people that emailed, called, sent cards and came to the funeral. It was really good to see Rob, Georgina, Irene and her mum, and heaps of other people. Sorry to all the people that I missed but thank-you for everything. That night we finally got to bed at 2.30am after many stories and hilarity.
Wednesday was a big day with Pa turning 85! Go Pa! Uncle Ross and Auntie Marg&Uncle Ray were there to share in the celebrations which was really nice.
Gretchen went back to Melbourne on Wednesday and returned on Saturday with her parents, Alice and David, as well as Josh in tow. We visited the golf club for beers and kangaroo watching and then back home for a relatively early night before the Tourist Day of Glenrowan and Milawa, back in time to get Josh on the train back to the big smoke.
Monday Mum, Jess and I drove to Melb and tearily waved goodbye to Jess as she flew out to London at midnight, after another beautiful dinner at Chris and Dave´s (Great Barbie work Ben!).
Finally I flew out back to Berlin via Singapore and London, arriving back to Berlin on the 29th of Nov. Despite the circumstances I had a really good time at home. Thanks again for everyone for your support. I´m so lucky to have a wonderful mum, sister, friends and family.
Now all I have to do is catch up on all the work I missed in the last two weeks (sigh) and plan my Christmas!
Love sally.
Benalla Hotels
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