Start of the Holiday

ANZAC Memorial wall... 102,000 names.
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Today has served as my introduction to Australia, and it's been a good one. This morning, I went with Jackie and her family (minus Graham, who is working today) to the ANZAC war memorial in the city centre. It's a wonderful building, well thought-out and presented. I've includede a few photographs of the building just for those of you want to see. It's tremendously humbling, I think, to see how these men and women lost their lives so that people such as ourselves could live the life we have.

The actual memorial building itself.
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We also went to take a look at New Parliament House, or at least we were across the lake from it. I'm thinking of going back there myself at some stage, it does look fantastic, really modern. And, for someone who wants to major in History and Politics, it should prove to be interesting.

I've also started to get to know Jackie's family a little better - I always knew them before, as Jackie is my godmother, but they moved to Australia two years ago now. There's Jackie, obviously, my godmother and a lifesaver, along with her husband Graham, who works in the Defence sector - I don't know exactly what, but there you go.

Jackie and her family
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Four kids - Isabel, Harriet, Elle and William. As you can imagine, the boys are outnumbered two to one normally, so me being here has kinda evened things out for the time being. The kids are all radically different though, it's really strange. Isabel reminds me of myself, blond and quiet, but an avid reader when she can get to it. She also looks a bit like her father. Harriet, on the other hand, is almost an exact clone of her mother in every sense of the word, right down to the stubborn attitude but the motherly care. Elle is another story again, a five-year old redhead who believes she knows all and that others should listen to her and her alone. As you might imagine, she and Harriet are a bit like my brother and sister - one provokes, the other responds, and the cycle continues.

The National Library seen through the spray... beautiful.
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William is the last one, my godson, and only two. He's the only boy, which means he must feel a little left out. He's got bags of energy, however, and never seems to be still for more than a moment or two. Speech is still getting there, however, and he seems to have a strange preference for the word 'beer' - every time we see a fountain, it's all he says. I'm not sure if this is normal for a two year old, but there you go.

Anyway, am going to go and help Jackie sort some stuff out, and also have to reasearch the rest of my travels - five weeks or so in Australia left now, and looking forward to every minute of it.