Remember to check the Trust website

                                                                       http://www.wcmt.org.uk/

                                           
                                            It could be yor turn next-I wish you well.

                                             Yours, Jane Roberts, Churchill Fellow 2010.

Goodbye spectacular Sydney; goodbye awesome Australia

Tomorrow morning we leave for the airport and our final journey home.

A heartfelt thanks to Jill, the hostess with the biggest heart for such a warm welcome.

Thank you to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust  for the Fellowship of a lifetime and the the most amazing experience.

Thank you to all my blog followers.

It's been wonderful .

Goodbye from Freya and I.

More Sunday pictures...

Final day of Fellowship visits tomorrow....

Sunday in Sydney

Wonderful to have the chance to explore this amazing city and in glorious sunshine too.
Freya and I began the day at TARONGA zOO which has an unparalleled location situated above the harbour.
We spent many hours wandering amonsgt the shade and sun to see giraffes, elephants, gorillas and chimps;along with australian bush life and the nocturnal animals.
We loved the platypus, the bilaby, the potaroo and the wallaby.
Then we caught the Ferry across the bay to Circular Quay and wandered down tO the Opera HoUsE
which was bustling with glitterati because of the Aussie Grammy awards. we finished our treat of  a day at The Rocks,
a popular tourist destination bult on the site of the earliest areas of colonization and steeped in mid 1850s history. 

Lunch with three professors

Today was celebrated with a convivial lunch party , again hosted by Jill at which we were joined by Professors John Hamilton, David Powys and Jill, of course;all luminaries in medical educiation on the global stage.
We feasted on an abundance of homegrown summer fruits and Aussie ice-cream and looked both backwards and forwards at happy times and challenges ahead .
Hoping for sun tomorrow to further explore this tantalsing city.

First day in Sydney

We have arrived in Sydney!
We landed between showers and the weather has been disappointing but more than compensated
for by the warmest of welcomes from Jill Gordon and her family.
Friday saw Freya and I negotiating the public transport system-old hands now-and I met the Manager of the Centre for the Advancement of Adolescent Health
based at the Childdren's Hospital.Fiona discussed the provision of Youth Health Services in New South wales,
different again to what I had encountered in South Australia and Victoria.
She then outlined the work of the Centre: applied research; policy; training and resources and talked in detail about the
education for GPs programme.
This new 12 hour series of modules is currently being piloted in a rural region and is soon to be trialled in central Sydney.
I will watch the outcome with anticipation as the intention of the CAAH is to make the programme available outside of NSW
with the overarching aim being improving the quality of care offered to young people;
wheverer they live.
After lunch Freya and I then set off to explore the city. We jumped on the monorail; browsed in paddy's market; walked round Darling Harbour; glimpsed the Chinese Friendship garden-
sadly now raining heavily ; before we caught the train back to Jill's gracious and inviting house to spend the evening together.

Arriving in Sydney

We are here-I am having a number of difficulties with wifi and donwloading the photos-so test will follow! 

Understanding more of Australia's history

Freya and I are enjoying a restorative time at a good friend's house in Ballarat before concluding our trip.
Today we visited Sovereign Hill to learn more about The Goldrush which shaped Australia in the 1850s. Understanding more about a country-or in the case of Australia-a state's history is essential to grasping how a public service or initiative has evolved. It is particularly useful with regard to understanding more about the population history and stories of migration.

Freya panning for gold. She was proud to be successful!

Ballarat-an Aboriginal name meaning place of rest ( highly appropriate) still evokes its 150 year of history with its solidly built , imposing architecture reflecting its wealth.

It has been good to take stock and consider both everyday life and Australia's history in order to better understand the contemporary picture and to explore how youth primary mental health care inititiaves might translate into a UK setting.

We leave for Sydney tomorrow...Lots of packing to do-I delivered 4.5kg of documents to the post office to be sent by sea yesterday! At least that will have lightened my load.

Spending the weekend in Skeen's Creek, down at Apollo Bay

We were invited to spend the long bank holiday weekend (marking the Melbourne Cup-horse racing-think Ascot! ) away from it all in a holiday haven; along the stunningly beautiful Great Ocean Road.

We weren't so lucky with the weather but the invitation from Teresa and her family to stay in their beach house at Skeen's Creek was a window into another world of rainforest, bush walks, sea,surf and shells which we would otherwise have missed.

The coastline has recently has its heaviest downpour in the last 14 years-finally filling the lakes and waterfalls after a prolonged drought.The immediate consequence is tree strewn bush walks and ankle deep mud paths against an amazing backdrop of native rainforest and bewildering fauna, with unfamiliar birdsong filling the air. We also heard our first growling koala as we slid down to the sea in a mudslide to lgo beach-combing.

Only the children were courageous enough to enter the sea-dressed in wet suits and with well-earned hot chocolate as a post-dip treat. They had great fun!

 After our country adventures we willl head to Ballarat to stay with a good friend from my book group who emigrated a year ago with her husband and twin girls and now works in the child welfare system supporting families who  are homeless. Then on to Sydney for the last leg of the jourrney...

Saying good bye to Adelaide

Goodbye to Parkside school

and goodbye to Megan,Cameron, Freya B and Evie.

 
Friday 29th was farewell day at the wonderful Parkside school where Freya has been so happy and to Megan and her lovely family for welcoming Freya into their home; allowing me to take full advantage of the Fellowship.
Had a final coffee with Dr Cate Howells before Cameron drove us to the airport, regaling us with stories of kangaroos hurling themselves against the front bonnet of four-wheeled drives.....to take the final flight to Melbourne before heading down to the coast to spend a long weekend by the sea.