About Lauren

Currently

Lauren has finished her second year at Notre Dame.

She is doing a double major with Sports Science, adding a year to her course (5 years). I just don't know why she'd do that to herself but she reckons that life will be easier spread over the extra year? She has completed her swimming instructers qualification, her lifesaving and surf life saving quals plus she has completed her surfing instructors ticket. She is still working as a surfing instructor for the summer months.

I think that she's a chip off the old block and has a real thirst for travel now.

She took part in the university games in the Gold Coast mid year and had a terrific time. She saw some old friends from school and ini and met some very good new ones.
Currently, she's in Cambodia doing volunteer work and getting some good vocational experience. I know that it has been a huge eye opener for her and she will have many stories to tell.

Below is an excerpt from an email that I got from her today. She is staying in Siem Reap where the Angkor Wot temples are:

I hadnt realised the vibe Phnom Pen would give off but it is impossible to miss once you get there. We went to the places thousands of people were tortured (S21) and also the genocide museum which was the place so many people were killed. There is abigger divide between rich and poor there and the poor people seem to struggle alot more with red light districts everywhere and also situations like on slumdog millionaire the movie that I know youve seen, where the pimp will purposefully starve a baby and send women out on the street with it to beg for money then he takes the money aund lets the baby starve. Very upsetting. The other things we did there were feel good stuff like markets and things. I am fine but Im at the hospital at the moment seeing a friend that is sick and also very home sick.

Lauren's just visited me in Melbourne for a quick visit. See some pics HERE.

About John Prothero

John Prothero's story (thats me) tells of my links to places such as Great Barr, West Bromwich and Birmingham in the UK. I hope to chronical some of my associations with Sydney, Warnbro, Perth, Karratha, Wickham, Gove etc in Australia and many other parts of the world.

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Our family name: Prothero, seems to be Welsh, it is the Anglicised form of the Welsh; ap Rhydderch 'son of Rhydderch'.

There is a section which encompasses what I know of my father, Arthur Prothero. Unfortunately he is no longer alive and he was not one to discuss himself much! Like most sons, it was not until I slipped into the role of parent myself that I fully understood and appreciated my father. I now know that if he were here today, that his would be the life which I would most like to know more about. His life as bomber navigator during WWII was surely his defining era and I have done some research using his log books. The information gleaned from this source viewed in conjunction with gazetted information from RAF Bomber Command makes interesting reading!

We're finishing off the holidays with a trip to Margaret River and quaffed some seriously good wines of late! I should stick to Coral Bay as it's much healthier! Here we're sipping at the Colonial Brewing Company situated next to the Cheese factory, over the road from the Chocolate Factory.

Last year turned into a year of "future planning"! It turned out to be quite busy in the classroom but I decided that my travelling days (where work is concerned) are over (apart from within Australia)
If I haven't been in touch recently, please forgive me and perhaps I'll see you soon!

Currently

Well here I am in Melbourne and all is going well. I finally arrived at the beginning of March after a long trip over from Perth.
I have settled in well and am enjoying the work environment. I have had a good look around the place and what a big change there is in this place. The city itself is modern and a real buzz of activity. The outer areas are growing at a great rate of knots but I couldn't help noticing the derilict factories that are strewn around the suburbs. I think that Melbourne is feeling the effects of the mining boom and the high value of our dollar. Manufacturing is suffering as a result and more and more companies are going off shore where they can take advantage of low wages and costs. It concerns me that when out boom is over, we will no longer know how to make secondary products and we will feel the slump just as badly if not worse than everyone else!

I have caught up with a few folk that I haven't seen for a long time. Here I am with my old pal from Dampier (37 years ago was the last time I saw him.) We had a very pleasant lunch on the South bank of the Yarra river and it almost seemed like only the other day since I'd seen him. We both look different but the sense of humour prevails.

Me, well last year I went to West Africa, South Africa, New Guinea, Lihir Island in the Pacific, Indonesia and of course, my beloved Coral Bay. Overseas, I've been teaching an Information Management System to gold mining personnel. Dakar airport in the middle of the night was just how I imagined the yanks last day in Saigon was. It was absolute pandemonium! I went to a place called Sabodala which is, in relative terms, near to Timbuctu (which is across the border in Mali). About the only thing of interest were the wild baboons that roam the area and the great football skills of the Senegalese workers. This time, I travelled via Johannesburg where I had not been for over 30 years. What a difference! I find that there is still a stark black / white divide but I went to the Apartheid museum in Joburg and it hit home what a long way they have come! I went to Mandella square where the malls and shopping areas generally was as good as anything that we have in Australia. Mostly white faces here though! I had to travel to Pretoria where my father spent some time in the 40's. This is the administrative and business center of South Africa and obviously, things aren't travelling too badly. However, my driver (Trevor, a white guy, tells me that business for him just now is not very good at all). Things were tingling with excitement, re the World Cup. Sadly for me, it turned into a non event as those bloody vuvuzelas sent me troppo!

Lihir Island was very interesting to me. I was on my way to Bougainville in the Solomon chain of islands many years ago. I got to Melbourne as a civil war broke out and was stranded. Lihir is relatively close and similar in nature to Bougainville so I acheived a long ambition when I got there. I am putting together a video that I took on the island. I will post it here when ready. The island is volcanic and thermals spring out everywhere (plumes of steam). The gold company actually drill to tap into this vast supply of relatively free energy. The island is right on the equator and extremely tropical. It rains just about every day followed by hot sun. This being the reason that so much grows here and everywhere is green jungle. I wont bite the hand that fed me except to say that they could do better with their tailings disposal. I am back in the classroom teaching people what they can do with computers and must say how much I enjoy the interaction with the students.

About Marjorie

Currently

Marjorie has had some major health issues recently and is not the globe trotting gal that she used to be.The picture above was taken last year when she still considered herself as a Saint Trinians gal!

Sadly, she has lost much of her get up and go though is still lucid and intelligent as ever.

Thankfully, she is surrounded by many friends and kind neighbours who all look out for each other. She will no doubt receive the help of many for whom she has shown great kindness over the years in the RAAF Estate.

She has recently moved to a new downstairs unit and still gets out and about, limited though this may be.

She is always happy to hear from old friends and can be contacted through the message page