A flight down to Tasman Island

There's a guy in our church who has a pilots licence. When Dad and Mum were here last time, he took Dad and I on a flight. Today Simon and I went on a flight down the coast over Eaglehawk Neck and Port Arthur and then right down to the cape and the desolate Tasman Island. It was a beautiful day and an awesome experience. I took 140 photos and Simon had the video camera. I've picked out a couple to show you (mind you there's plenty of duds in my lot - but isn't that the marvelous things about digital cameras. No doubt Simon will get to work on the movie version.

A cruise to Peppermint Bay

Well when we did the shopping last we week we got a shoppa docket for a cruise company offering two tickets for the price of one during their winter slump. We decided to use our day off for a cruise all the way down to Peppermint Bay. The trip lasted about 5 hours and included a wonderful lunch. You will see on the pictures below the route we followed. The crusie goes down along the Bruny Island coast and was truly a treat. It was lovely heated boat with great big windows and plenty of good coffee and food on board. All up we had a wonderful day and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Tomorrow - well it's back to work I go.

Do you remember this man?

Did you pick the face? Kris Kristofferson, now 68 tears old and still singing. Jo and I did something quite unusual for us and went to his concert in Hobart tonight. After listening to about 40 minutes of songs from James Blundell, Kris Kristofferson came out and sang without a break for well over two hours. He simply stood with a microphone and a guitar and sang to us. There was the endless list of oldies that everyone seemed to know so well, Me and Bobbie McGee, Sunday morning coming down, Silver tongue devil, Loving her was easy and so many others. They just seemed to flow one after the other. It was a night of nostalgia and memories for many who attended. I glanced around the audience and it felt like Jo and I were about the youngest there! Many of those in the audience could not resist singing along with some of the old favourites.

Music is a powerful thing. It can stir the memory of years gone by and rekindle feelings of yesteryear. Since being in Hobart I often ponder what it is about the old hymns that some of the people here hold onto so dearly. I also enjoy some of the good old hymns, but why is that? Is that they remain meaningful for me, or is it simply that they stir up nostalgic feelings of the past. I can’t sing the hymns without seeing myself many years ago in the congregation of Dandenong Baptist Church where Laurie North or Norm Johnson would be leading the hymn singing. The hymns evoke vivid memories for me. My question is however, is there a difference between nostalgic worship and genuine meaningful worship?

I listened to a 68 year old guy tonight sing songs I have known for many years. His voice was quiet and measured. It wasn’t a voice or a style that would communicate to my four teenagers. They were even rather mystified that we would buy tickets to hear ‘some old guy sing. Those who attended were pretty much all people who were there for the same reason as we were – nostalgia. I wonder why it is that so many of the older people want to sing hymns that my teenagers think are weird. Nostalgia maybe, but maybe nostalgia is legitimate in creating meaning in worship today. I’m not sure what I think about that. I’ll have to ponder the question for a while!

Do you know these people?

Well they are all Holts! Meg, Simon and myself to be more precise. The photo was sent to me by Mark.

Jo's visit to Canberra

Jo has just returned from her trip to Canberra. I asked her to write up a report of her trip to publish on our page. This is what she has written:

As my plane was landing in Canberra my mind went back to the last time I had flown into Canberra. It was quite a number of years ago when Larry and I attended ‘One Heart for the Nation’. This time I was on my own. After a bit of wandering around the city I found my accommodation. It was nothing fancy, but it was clean and warm. I had arranged to meet up there with my friend Alison from Warrnambool. Not long after I checked into my room there was a knock at the door and there was Alison. Well this meant time to catch on all the news. We headed off out for tea together along with two others staying at the same hotel who were also attending the conference.



The conference was organised on by the Australian Parliamentary Prayer Network and it was incredible! The first two days were held in the great hall of Parliament house. Throughout the day many senators and foreign diplomats joined in with some of our sessions. On the third day we moved into the old Parliament house building.

God’s presence was so tangible in our sessions which included worship, teaching, prophecy and intercession for our nation.

Some of the highlights that stand out in my mind:
• Meeting up with my friend Alison again
• Seeing snow fall in the streets of Canberra
• Awesome times at the conference sessions each day
• Connecting with so many people whose lives reflected a deep passion for Jesus
• Feeling at home in our nation’s capital

Maybe best of all, it was so mice to come home again and know that I had been missed. (And from us who stayed at home it was nice to get her back!)

Now it's snowing at our place

This morning Sarah woke me up saying, "Dad, look out the window". Wow a winter fairy land. Yes, Hobart was covered in snow this morning right down to sea level. The kids thought it was good because it meant that they didn't have to go to school. They could have got there, but some of the schools were closed, so they thought they should stay home just in case!!!

There's snow on our mountain

At last we have had a decent fall of snow on our mountain. Hobart's skyline is dominated by Mount Wellington. Today is Grandma's last day with us and so we set off this morning to get a little closer to the snow. We couldn't get all the way up in the mountain in our car, but we got a good way up and found plenty of fresh snow to walk around in. A photographers delight!

Jo's off to Canberra

Today Mum and I took Josephine to the airport and waved goodbye to her for a few days. She's off to Canberra where she will meet up with her friend Alison from Warrnambool. They are both attending a conference organised by the Australian Prayer Network with Cindy Jacobs. The conference is being held at the great hall in Parliament house. The rest of us will have to fend for ourselves until she returns on Friday. Maybe I'll get her to write a story of her trip when she gets back!

Preaching on the other side of the river

Well today was the day. Quite some time back I accepted an invitation to preach at The Howrah Church of Christ. Howrah is over the other side of the Derwent River. It is also the church where our Tassie relatives attend - Graeme and Brenda and family. Graeme led communion at the service and before I got up to preach he decided to introduce me to the congregation by way of an interview. Grandma is still with us (until tomorrow), and so she tagged along as well.

Lunch at Graeme & Brenda's house

Of course, after church we got invited back to Graeme and Brenda's place for some lunch. It was a wonderful Sunday roast which we devoured in minutes! We've been to Graeme & Brenda's place a few times now. They live right on the beach and have an amazing view right out their loung window. This is what we saw today

Grandma arrives in Hobart

Tis the season for visitors here in Hobart. We’ve been blessed to have several of our friends come and stay in recent weeks. This week it’s Mum’s turn – or Grandma as she is most commonly known around here. Mum arrived on Saturday afternoon and has settled for a nine days on the Island. Sunday meant two church services and we also fitted in lunch at Muir’s on the pier. Muir’s serve all types of seafood and it’s delicious. Mum and I both enjoyed a full serve of Tasmanian scallops. After eating our main course at Muir’s we moved on to the chocolate shop where you get to look at an amazing array of hand made chocolates to enjoy with your coffee. Natrually we didn’t need any tea last night.

Monday morning and Mum announced that she would like to go to Bruny Island for the day. By about 10.00 am we were setting off in the new car for the ferry to Bruny. It takes about 25 minutes to drive from home to Kettering where the ferry leaves. The trip across only takes about 15 minutes. Bruny is an unusually shaped Island. It is actually almost two islands joined by a narrow neck of land in the middle. We did a bit a of a figure eight around both ends of the island stopping at several spots on our way around to walk a little and view the scenery. The only down side of the day was the pies and pasties we bought for lunch. They were very stale and quite hard to eat. Afterwards none of us felt real flash. Should have packed a barbeque like I originally suggested!








We made it home again by 4.00 and we all collapsed on the lounge with a cup of coffee. Like every Monday, it’s my day off, but it’s back to work tomorrow.