Farewell dear Barry

We farewelled Barry off to Maccesfield on Wednesday evening after his 2 week stay in Sydney. He had already been to Perth for 2 weeks and enjoyed the hot weather over there. Just as well, as his first week in Sydney was rather wet. We did ventured out to Darling Harbour after one previous attempt had failed and went to the Maritime Museum. Tony and I had been there once before but only to the gift shop as we were buying presents then to take overseas. This time we had a good look around the museum and even went on the submarine. Tony got a bit claustrophobic and was pleased to get off. I couldn't believe how small the beds were. Also the tiny galley that was capable of serving four meals a day for 64 men. The men would all have had to be midgets. When they got into bed they wouldn't have been able to turnover. Maybe they were all so tired they didn't care. This submarine HMS Onslow was commissioned in 1968 during the cold war, a tense time that called for a submarine to watch, listen and collect information without detection. The most secretive work was tracking Soviet submarines moving into the Arabian Gulf from Vladivostok via the Coral Sea and the Great Australian Bight. It was decommissioned in 1999.

We had coffee in the QVB before getting the bus back home as at this stage it was raining quite heavily.

The Great Australia Clock (this is one of 2 clocks in the building) - This clock stands 10 metres tall and depicts 33 scenes from Australia' s history from both Aboriginal and European perspectives. An Aboriginal hunter continuously circles the exterior of the clock to represent the never ending passage of time.

On the clock are replicas of the Crown Jewels, wax model of Queen Victoria dressed in full coronation regalia seated on an ornate chair, a letter from Queen Elisabeth II written in 1986 to be opened by the Lord Mayor of Sydney in 2085, a tribute to recipients of the Victoria Cross and replicas of royal paintings.
Barry visited most of our local shopping centres, Castle Hill, Parramatta, Winston Hills, Baulkham Hill, North Rocks and Macquarie Centre. Also most of the local clubs. He enjoyed our"local" shops and had many a coffee. In the evening Barry and I would take off for a walk. I tried to take him different routes and we even did one via the Chisholm Centre.

On one of the sunny days we took him to Manly via the M2 bus and ferry and did our usual walk around to Shelley Beach.

We have renamed a part of our lounge room "Barry's Corner" as this is where he used to sit, have a beer or a cup of tea and read his book all the time.

Had an early morning call from Kerry-Ann, she had food poisoning and so did Felise. So I went and got Jake and he spent the day with us. They both slept most of the day and were feeling a bit better this evening.