Family events.............

 

Another catchup post, as we are near the end of the year, and thus I need to order a new blog book. And as this post occurred back in October, perhaps I need to update newsfromjude.

We had 2 events to attend in October on the same day, so decided a long weekend in the van would be in order. We combined this with some appointments that I needed to attend in Murray Bridge, so plans were made for these on the Friday. One of these was to go to the bank in Murray Bridge to get my surname changed on my cards. Sounds easy, and the girl in the bank clicked on her computer and said it was all good.......but it was not long before I received 2 new cards, and both with the same surname!! (My next move was to sit on the phone queue and this was eventually successful.) 

We decided to head to the hills and checked into the Mount Pleasant Caravan park for 3 nights, which was convenient to the 2 events we had the next day. It was a lovely park and the weather was very spring.

 

It was then time for a cuppa and bikkie and a chance to use our new mugs..............

On Saturday we attended a reunion for Barry's family, the Randell connection, and we met at the home of his cousin. There was a good rollup of relatives that he knew and we shared lunch.

We had to leave before the end of the day as we needed to drive further on to attend the engagement party of my granddaughter. The weather was quite warm by then, and we enjoyed a lovely catchup with family. The wedding is planned for next April, and the date is marked on the calendar already.

The next day we trawled through the cemetery at Gumeracha looking for the graves of Randell ancestors. We found Barry's grandparents graves...........

.....and other Randell relatives. This cemetery is very old and not used anymore...........and many of the headstones are broken and hard to ready which is very sad.

This is the Salem Baptist church where many family events were held over the years.

This was formerly the Carter family farm..........

...........and this is the former Randell family farm.

It was very interesting driving around where Barry's parents and grandparents used to live. That evening we enjoyed a meal at the local hotel with one of Barry's friends, who now lives nearby, but used to live at Bordertown.

On Monday it was time to head for home, and we drove through Mannum to check out more Randell history.........

This Rotunda on the Mannum riverfront was erected in memory of Captain Randell who is one of Barry's ancestors. Not sure of the exact relationship on the family tree.....but he was famous in the river steam boat era...................

After our visit to Mannum, we drove to Murray Bridge for a catchup with Mum and then home, via Tintinara.................where the old railway station has been painted as below..........as is a great tourist stop..........

Then it was time to get back to reality after another lovely few days away.

We are currently on the next trip, but this time in a different caravan........little did we know that the last trip was to be the final journey in our pop top van.

Be back another day,

Blessings, From Jude