March 21 - Sheds and Gardens

We had good news from our travel agent today. Our airplane tickets have been finalized and we will be going home this week.  It’s going to be a long slog, but we should be home by the end of the week. Of course, we’ll be in fourteen-day quarantine once we get home.

Our trip is coming to a quick conclusion. Today we are going to visit John & Ellen’s main community service organizations. John is one of the main executives of the Sanctuary Point Men’s Shed.  Australia’s Men’s Sheds is recognized as one of Australia’s largest male based community development organisations.This Men's Shed is funded mostly through donations of used equipment and fixtures and the sale of projects that the members have created. There are a wood and  a metal working shops and a huge miniature railroad on the second floor. Shed is a misnomer because it is really a large two store garage. The intended benefits of this organizations is to provide a space for men to working on projects, learn new skills and socialize with the expected result that mental illnesses such as depression will be decreased.

Ellen was attending the Clifton Community Food Garden’s monthly sale of their produce. The aim of the garden is to provide a common space for the community to grow vegetables and fruits and also provide educational opportunities that promote good health and well being using organic principals. There are about 60 members who work the gardens, weeding, feeding and pruning the plants. Ellen makes pickles, jams and chutneys from the vegetables and fruits mostly grown in this garden in order to fund the garden. She is also on the executive. John is also heavily involved with building enclosures for the garden beds.

During our visit we had the pleasure of talking to several volunteers who working either in the Men Shed or the garden.  We were told by several people that John & Ellen are the driving force behind these projects.  These conversations reinforced our believe that Canadians and Australians have very much in common and that Aussie are among the most friendly people in the world,

In the afternoon we went to Jerrawangala National Park. Here were able to view close up the damage caused by the bus fires and see how quickly the forest is recovering.  It was mind boggling how much of the forest was touched by the fire.

We stopped at Tianjara Falls to view the waterfall.  It was in a deep gorge which was very picturesque, but it showed the damage caused by the fires.

On our way back to John & Ellen's we stopped to see a mob of kangaroos on John’s regular golf course.  There must have been close to 50 kangaroos on the edge of the 14^th hole.  This included a mother and her joey, who had not left the pouch.