Dads plate of birds...and Estelle.

I really love this old photo of my dad.

It was taken somewhere between 1963 to 1965, at what was then the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary, now known as the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. What began, many years ago, with people feeding Rainbow Lorikeets in their garden, developed into a famous tourist attraction on the Gold Coast.

When I was just a tiny little thing and we lived on the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, mum, dad and I would have a camping holiday "up north" every now and then. The Bird Sanctuary was a must visit destination back then, and dad (along with many other tourists) enjoyed being a part of the feeding frenzy by holding a plate of mush for the birds to land on and flick everywhere!

As you can see in the photo, dad is more concerned with keeping an eye on the cheeky Scaly-Breasted Lorikeet that has taken a fancy to the pipe in his pocket! You can see mum on the right of the photo, standing clear of the flying bird mush.

This morning I had a phone call from John and Raestelle. They had been down to the Murray River to take photos of the "Avoca", which had sunk yesterday, and Estelle was very keen to show her friends on blip what had happened to this grand old lady. Problem was, she couldn't remember how to upload a photo, so John phoned and I talked him through the process. Estelle is improving every day, John says, although she is constantly frustrated with knowing what she wants to do and say, yet the body still isn't coordinating successfully with the mind's requests. The doctors say she will come good eventually, it will just take some time.

John deserves a medal, really he does! What a lovely, calm and patient man he is with Estelle. In her rush to get her photo uploaded, Estelle hit a few keys when she shouldn't, typed a few words incorrectly, and both her and John laughed when he told her about the mistakes she was making. Estelle always said they were like two peas in a pod, her and John. I do believe she is right. It warmed my heart to hear the two of them together, battling out the process of sharing a photo with you all. Please do drop by Estelle's journal, if you haven't already done so.