Christmas greetings

Love and Best wishes to all for Christmas and the New Year

WA Experience

Hi All,

Have been back a week from a conference in Fremantle (with a couple of days R&R thrown in for good measure). Had a day walking through Kings Park (41 degrees that day) and had an interesting guided talk of the native flora in the park. Then a wonderful day on Rottnest, cycling around the island, seeing the clear water - but too cold to swim for us northerners - and visiting the gun emplacement - protection during the war - seeing the quokkas and then taking the last ferry back to Fremantle. A couple of days of conference for Graham and I did some catching up with office work.

On Friday afternoon we did a tour of the tunnels under Fremantle prison, not escape tunnels but water tunnels for the early town water supply. Very interesting. Then on Saturday we hired bikes from Perth to ride to the Swan Valley - got a bit lost on the way but it was very pretty riding along the Swan River for at least part of the trip. We visited a couple of boutique wineries, as well as the Margaret River Chocolates and tasted some honey from a stand on the side of the road. Once again quite a warm day but not as bad as the early part of the week.

Along with some good food and plenty of the WA wines, and beers, we had an enjoyable week.
Now back at the hard slog until the Christmas break.

Bron & Graham

Bryan and I have just had two weeks travelling in Vietnam. It was a great experience. At first the mad traffic in Hanoi was a little daunting but we soon became old hands at stepping onto the road and not stopping as the vehicles manoeuvred around us, horns constantly beeping. The scenery in Halong Bay, where we stayed overnight on a junk, was breathtaking and in Hoi An we were fortunate to miss the floods which devastated the area soon after our departure. Our trip ended with several days in Ho Chi Min City, the highlight of which was a day excursion to the Mekong Delta. This was a great day out and I would recomment it to anyone visiting the area.
Although you work in thousands, things are amazingly cheap once converted from Dong to dollars. The people are friendly and helpful and the shopping very affordable.

Trip to Japan

HI All,

We had a great trip to Japan in early September and it has taken all this time to get around to telling you about it. We had two nights in Tokyo near the Ginza area and did lots of walking, as well as taking a trip up the river. Interesting to go under 14 different bridges, all painted different colours. Then a visit to the Asakusa area with the temple as well as a massive mall, lots of little stalls selling different foods, sweets and clothes, souvenirs etc. Lots of fun people watching and trying some of the foods.

The highlight of the time in Tokyo was the early morning visit to the fish market - see photo of the giant octopus. We had "breakfast" at one of the street restaurants serving fresh sushi - fun just watching the chef preparing it and all the staff yelling as each new customer came in.


Then by train to Takayama, a smallish town between the mountains. Several of the thatched roof houses, usually used for raising silkworms in the top stories, have been moved there to form a village. Interesting to visit and wander through the different styles of homes and workshops on the side of the mountain. Along the river there were morning markets, with the most juice, large peaches and apples grown nearby. We stayed at a local ryokan and we had our (I think) first ever shared bath! It was relaxing though. The food of course was exceptional.


We took the local train through the mountains although because the line had been damaged by the earthquake, part of the trip was by bus. Lovely countryside through the steep mountains. Then onto the coast and around to Kanazawa. City that has some of the geisha areas similar to those in Kyoto. The highlight of Kanazawa was the Kenroku Garden, a landscape style of garden and one of Japan's three great gardens. We also visited the (restored) castle. Amazing how many of the buildings in Japan have burned. Although probably not amazing when everything was built of timber and they had open fires in the homes. We visited several factories - small "cottage industries" making porcelain, gold leaf, silk painting for kimonos,etc. We also visited the "ninja" temple - fascinating with all the hidden floors, secret doors and passages, trapdoors etc. Even though the tour was in Japanese we did follow most of it through the guide given to us.


The ryokan in Kanazawa was a modern style, hotel type with the most amazing meal I think we have ever had in Japan. Huge crab claws, sashimi of many different fish and molluscs, pickles, fish - I was quite full by the end of it but we had to try everything.


After a full week, we took the train back to Narita for our trip home, missing the typhoon which had roared through the day before. Lovely to have that break though.


Bronwen & Graham

100km cycle

Bronwen, Shane, Cameron and Graham rode their pushbikes 100km (actually, 106km - we felt each one of them...) from Brisbane's South Bank to Southport on the Gold Coast this past weekend. The event was a charity challenge benefitting Diabetes Australia and the Heart Foundation.

We did this so you don't have to. Really, don't do it. It was truly exhausting. Spend your weekends catching up with friends or on the golf course...

We can recommend, however, the Yatala pies on the way back from the Coast.

Many thanks to Carolyn for driving down and picking us all up!

Safely home.

Bryan and I had a great holiday in Queensland despite starting with a few hiccups. The weather at first was not what Melbournians were seeking but we could not begrudge the rain. The fact that I succumbed to some sort of virus was also a bit off putting but we are not easily discouraged and still love our trips to Queensland. Usually takes me a few weeks before I settle down and stop threatening to sell up and move.
We are still hoping for some Queensland contributions to the site so don't rest on your laurels.

Safely home.

Diving with Sharks!

Helene & Bryan - hope you have a relaxing time in Mooloolaba when you head north of the borders. I have just had a week off up there, and went diving with the sharks at Underwater World. Maybe you should try it! (I still have all my limbs.)
- Cameron

Labrom footy fiends

Thankfully the football season is nearly over! Most afternoons for the past 6 months have been taken up with footy training, games on Saturday. We have all enjoyed going to the Gabba to support the Lions. Fraser is playing under 10s and Sandy is in the U8 team. Mitchell has just finished his course of Auskick. The footy season culminates with the end of season camping trip with other father-sons from the team to Moreton Island next weekend. A weekend of relative tranquility with only George and no footy for me!

Our blog site

I am hoping to establish a blog site as a form of family communication whereby anyone in the family can add comments, photos, news of activities. Us Melbourne folk sometimes feel we don't know much about the rest of the families activities. If you have any news of activities, photos of happenings in your life then please add them to our site. I've put a few things in to try to get it started but it is now over to you.
Love
Helene Solley

Drew and Danielle have recently had a wonderful holiday. They travelled in Spain, Portugal and Morocco,- not always in great luxury.

The Solley boys

John, Peter, Bryan and Graham Solley, (sons of Owen and Vivien), and their families and offspring are the focus of this blog site.

Melbourne Solleys

We've just enjoyed a lovely weekend with Graham and Bronwen. A lunch at the MCC helped ease the disappointment of a Lions defeat. Drew and Danielle hosted us for post match "drowning of sorrows". Sunday saw us braving the cold winds for a Yum Cha at the Docklands area. Danielle joined us. Having just returned from two weeks in Thailand she found the goosebumps on her suntan a bit disconcerting. Bryan and I are now counting down the time until we head north for some sunnier days. We should be in Qld by the 18th.