The Great Wall of China

 

“The Great Wall”

We have all read about “The Great Wall of China”, we have all look at picture, wondered how big it really was and how it was made, but it not till you stand at the first step and you look up, that you see for the first time just how wonderful it is and what a an amazing thing it really is.

The first lot of steps are straight up, I made it up these steps and that was as far as I could go, from there you when up the hill to the first tower, Ross made it to there, no one in our group made it past the first tower.

As I sat on the step for an hour waiting for them to come back down, I thought about how this wall was made, back then there were no trucks to carry the stones/rocks or bobcats to lift them and some of this stones/rocks are so big, the steps where not all the same sizes, somewhere quite deep and that what made it so hard to climb.

To think that all this work was don’t by men, and that the stones/rocks where moved and carried on the backs of men, is truly amazing.

Jackie our guide told us they think about one million workers on the wall and many people died in the making of the wall, and that they were laid to rest with in the wall, so that, they could become the guards wall, many of the Chinese where  laying flower on the wall for this reason.

Most of these pictures where taken by Ross

S.M. Mac Arthur ©

"Old Town" Taiwan

When we were in Taiwan Nikki and Theo took us to a place call “The Old Town”, it was up in the hills and mile from anywhere, but it was so different in so many ways.

It was like stepping back in time, the town was at the end of the rail line, there was only one car in town and it was the Police car, it was no good having cars as the street where way to skinny to drive down, you could drive there but you had to leave you car at the edge of town and walk.

The railway line cut the town in half, on one side of the line was a prayer tree, with bits of bamboo with prayers written on them hanging from it. Besides the train cutting the town in half, there was also a river that ran through town.

There where food shops and people selling things in the street, it was just a great place to see.

The country around the town was very hilly, but just beautiful, and the people made the most of the waterfalls and open space.

S.M. Mac Arthur ©

My Dad!

Geoff and Koby are still best friends, 25 years on,ByCAITLYN PATMAN, Geraldton NewspapersJune 11, 2012, 10:08 am
What started as a way to pass the time for retired hotel owner Geoff Bailey has bloomed into a 25-year partnership with Koby Lee-Steere.
Mr Bailey saw an advertisement for a teaching assistant at Holland Street School, Geraldton and thought, “that would suit me down to the ground”.
“I went in and started right there on the day,” Mr Bailey said.
It was there Mr Bailey met Mr Lee-Steere, a 16-year-old man with brain damage and hearing loss.
Mr Bailey became his carer and has remained by his side for 25 years and counting.
“He’s no trouble at all,” Mr Bailey said humbly.
“We get on so well together.”Up until last year Mr Bailey cared for Mr Lee-Steere five days a week on a fortnightly basis but now spends time with him two days a week and on public holidays.
Mr Bailey, now 85 years old, and Mr Lee-Steere, 41, enjoy walks and coffee with Mr Bailey’s wife, Pat.
“He goes mad for coffee,” they said.
“When he arrives, he sits straight down and waits for a coffee,” Mrs Bailey said.
“If Geoff’s not around, Koby will go looking for him.”
Geoff is originally from Perth and met Pat in her hometown of Mt Magnet when he was working as a relief station master.
They married and over the years managed a newsagency, a betting agency, a roadhouse and The Grand Hotel in Mt Magnet.
The couple moved to Geraldton in 1981 where Mr Bailey retired.
Mr Bailey received a Making a Difference Award in 2002 from the Disability Services Commission and shows no signs of slowing down.
He recently passed his driving test again after having to sit again on reaching his 85th birthday.
“I’ll keep going until I cark it,” he laughed.

Taroko Park taiwn

 Taroko National Park Taiwan, is famous for its marble gorge. Taroko National Park has an area of 92,000 hectares (approximately 227,336 acres). The park established on November 28, 1986.

There’s beautiful landscape here, and wonderful waterfalls, you could spend a week there and not see it all, we where the all day and saw only a very small part of the park.

S.M. Mac Arthur ©