Since we have returned to “normal” life, after our adventures, we have been in lockdown with the rest of Melbourne and Victoria. My husband misses his weekly golf games with his mates and looks forward to when he can do that again. I am quite happy and occupied at home. We are both fully vaccinated.

These are some of the things I have been doing:

• Family History Research

After decades of saving bits of information, stories, and photographs, I am finally compiling it all and see an end in sight. A bonus has been the remote access to the Ancestry Database. This has allowed me to fill in lots of gaps and extend my tree.

So far, I have found 22 ships that our ancestors arrived on, mostly from England, Ireland, and Scotland, one American, and one German. Three convicts on my side and one convict on my husband’s side.

I have one mystery that I cannot solve, and he is a key ancestor. I have found him in England and found him in Australia, but I don’t know when he arrived exactly somewhere between 1851 and August 1853. Perhaps there is a major misspelling somewhere that has not translated well into the digital files.

The excellent course I completed online through Future Learn has added a richer dimension to my research. I know what I am doing. Genealogy: Researching Your Family Tree, Future Learn UK.

• Exercise
  • Daily Yoga with Adriene which I love and keeps my body aches at bay.
  • Walking within the five-kilometre restriction. This can include a solid upward walk with views of the bay. Logging these on Strava gives an added interest.
  • Cycling along the foreshore track now and then.
  • Unfortunately swimming at the local pool is not allowed at the moment. We look forward to when we can go back there regularly.
• Creating
  • I finished an oil painting that I had on my easel for too long. Marg’s elephant at Salvia Court. And started a new painting.
  • Cooking lots of yummy food that we then have to share between the two of us. Cheesecake, Lemon Meringue Pie, Apricot Sour Cream Tart. Practicing for when our family can get together once again.
  • I practice playing my piano occasionally.
• Media consumption
  • Listening to the Rich Roll podcast every week and Chat 10 Look 3 .
  • Watching the daily update with Dan Andrews, Australian Survivor, The Voice, The Durrells, Trip In A Van, and Scotty’s Gone Walkabout.
  • Reading The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes. His interpretation of those early years offers only stories of flawed humans, on all sides of the equation, trying to survive on this Earth. There are no heroes in this tale.