Over the years I have had a number of items on my bucket list, some I have achieved, some I will not achieve due to circumstances beyond my control, and a couple yet to be achieved.
 
Once I retired I felt as though I needed to reconnect with my family and one of the things that became important to me was to travel to England to see my brother and his family.    My brother, Les, was gifted with a beautiful Tenor voice, and having sung on Brian and the Juniors for a number of years and then a member of the Young Australians, was invited to study in England for 6 months.   He left for England just after his 21st birthday in 1972, never to return. He travelled, studied and met his wife, Brenda, a beautiful Soprano who he married, had a family and has made his home in England.     In 2016 the need to see him was constantly on my mind.   Together with my oldest son and his family we left Australia and I spent 3 wonderful weeks with him, visiting Coventry Cathedral which was dear to my Dad’s heart, went to 13 Coronation Road, Coventry where my father lived, but could not find the school to see the my father’s name recorded as Dux on the School.   It was a wonderful time catching up on 44 years of being apart.   We also took the opportunity to travel to Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
 
I also had another bucket list item which I was looking forward to.   I was hoping to retire at 70 years and my partner and I were planning to travel to a number of Formula 1 racing circuits in Europe that we had seen on television over the years.   We had already travelled to America to visit the Nascar and Speedway circuits as part of our work at Winton Motor Raceway.   Unfortunately my partner passed away unexpectedly and I was unable to achieve this bucket list item, however when I visited England in 2016 my nephew obtained some tickets to Silverstone, so I did achieve one part of my bucket list.
 
I have had a number of other items that I have achieved over the period of time, owning my own home and being very lucky to live reasonably comfortable in my latter years, something that I feel fortunate in this current world we live in.   I sit in my home, with my two cats and my bird and say to myself, how lucky am I.    
 
One thing I would like to achieve is to go to the Sydney Opera House to see the Australian Symphony Orchestra in concert.     This would be so wonderful to sit in the new theatre and soak up all the wonders that this theatre offers, listening to music by composer’s I enjoy.
 
To enjoy my life fully, one thing that is very important on my bucket list is to receive a long awaited letter from Royal Melbourne Hospital with a date to have my operation at last.  I have been advised that I am now on the waiting list to be operated soon.    Hopefully this will alleviate the pain I feel, but more importantly return full sensation into my hands and then I can return to some of the activities and drive again, things that have made an impact on my life.
 
Heather Wallace

I have always had a bucket list sitting in the back of my consciousness.

As I get older my bucket list has maybe shortened. But essentially it has stayed the same.

Although a bucket list is always nebulous and can always be subject to change when I was younger my bucket list was almost endless. I wanted to do so many things.

I wanted to do things. Just do things. I wanted to get away from where I was. I wanted to be able to do anything I wanted.

I wanted to travel to exotic places. I wanted to meet exotic people. I wanted to eat exotic food. I wanted to experience exotic adventures.  I wanted to see interesting places.

I wanted to live in London.

I wanted to live for one whole winter in Vienna and be able to go to concerts and the opera whenever I wanted.

I wanted to have a successful career. I wanted to have an interesting job. I wanted to work with interesting people.

I wanted to have a stable domestic life. I wanted to have a happy home. I wanted to have many friends.

I wanted to be talented at something. I wanted to be good at things. Maybe two or more things.

I wanted to be good at sport. I wanted to be able to run well. I wanted to be able to play football. I wanted to be a respected spin bowler. I wanted to be part of a team.

I wanted to have a pet kangaroo who loved me. One who lived inside and slept on the couch.

I wanted to be able to sing opera. I wanted to be able to write music. I wanted to be able to sight read music. I wanted to be able to play the violin in an orchestra.

I wanted to be able to write. I wanted to be a good writer. I wanted to write something that others found interesting. I wanted to write novels.

I wanted to be able to relax and enjoy myself. I wanted to feel contented.

I wanted to be respected by people I respected. I wanted to feel some connection to people I admired.

I wanted to know more people. I wanted to have lots of friends.

I wanted to watch more interesting tv. I wanted to work for the BBC.

I wanted to belong to some important group. I wanted to have  influence in some public issue.

I wanted to be free. I wanted to be beholding to no one. I wanted to be confident enough to say anything.

Neville Gibb
​September 2022

​There were several items on our “Travel Bucket List” prior 2020.  But the list has changed after the 2020/2021 impacts on life around the world.

We had talked about another European River Cruise.  Assuming the weather is co-operative, you basically experience a hotel on water.  Once on board the boat, you unpack.  Then you are taken from city to city without ever again having pack or unpack until the end of the cruise.  A very comfortable way to see towns on the waterways in Europe.

My husband would love to have once more visited Italy.  This would have been to visit a major gliding centre around 100 Kilometres from Rome.  And maybe we could once more spend some time exploring ancient parts of Rome itself.

Then there is Scotland.  Or more accurately, the Scottish Islands.  Although there are still parts of the Scottish mainland we have not visited and would like to see.

Visiting some parts of Australia that we have not previously seen would also be of interest too.

BUT, the bucket list has shrunk.

It is likely that as far as overseas travel is concerned, we may make only one further trip once the world has settled down.  This will definitely include the Shetland Islands, so Scotland and the other island clusters would be part of the trip.  I thought it would probably be in 2024.  And the time of year would be up for discussion.  There is a Folk Festival over Easter each year in Shetland.  But this is not the best weather for travelling so far north.  Can we risk it?  Still Scotland seems to be in my blood and I do want to go back, and if it means Easter, then so be it.  Perhaps the river cruise will be removed from the bucket list…and maybe Italy as well.

BUT, a further change.

We may decide to go to Cologne in Germany.  The Benalla Yarn Bombers have been invited to send an item to the Cologne Yarn Bombers Festival at the end of March 2023.  If we do participate, what better opportunity is there to combine a Scottish trip with a visit to Cologne.  The timing could not be better.  It is around two weeks before Easter, so no debate about time of year for a Scottish trip and the Shetland Folk Festival.  Mmmm.  Can we do it?  Do we want to do it?   Much discussion to come with not a lot of time to decide.  And should there be a visit to Italy as well?  We will not be far away.  I don’t know if we could fit a river cruise in the same trip.  Then again, a Rhine to Danube cruise would take us around Germany.

Of course, Australian travel will be much easier, with a lot less planning involved.  We just need to decide where and when.  But will probably have to wait until we sort out the possible European travel in 2023.


Joy Shirley
​September 2022

In all of my life I have never made up a “bucket list”.  Of course, I have had dreams; I have had aspirations; but not a Bucket List.
 
I held a clerical position in a Stock and Station corporation for approximately 17 years, and there were many occasions when I felt that I had no future there:  that I had dreams of an alternative career.  I noted that a public accountant in the town had a brand new English sedan car and I felt envious.  Wouldn’t it be nice to be an accountant?  I dreamed, and despite having been counselled by a neurologist to study accountancy and to work for myself I took no action.  Then, totally out of the blue, I was offered a job in an accounting practice!  I jumped at the opportunity and my dream became an aspiration!  I would become a qualified accountant.  I then worked in the practice for 1 months, familiarising myself with the Income Tax Assessment Act and routine accounting.
 
Then I commenced, in May 1968, studying with Hemingway Robertson Correspondence School and the Australian Society of Accountants.  (The Society conducted its own examinations.  I was later to discover that this arrangement would terminate at the end of 1972.)  I set myself a target of studying 20 hours per week and found this to be ambitious.
 
Hemingway’s assignments were very time consuming and, in an effort to do better, I registered with M & M Accounting Services in Flinders Street, Melbourne.  For six months I travelled weekly to the city to attend tutored sessions (6pm to 10pm) for two mathematics courses.
 
By June 1972 I had completed and passed 19 of my 20 subjects.  One subject to become qualified!  Auditing!!  I had till November to study and then sit the examination.  I knew no-one who had passed Auditing on the first sitting!  How would I go!  I studied diligently, but … yes … I failed.
 
The Society had terminated its program of setting examinations!  I was in Limbo!
 
Then fate smiled!  The Society consulted with the Bendigo Institute of Technology (now Latrobe University).  I could do a 12 month course at the Bendigo campus, studying Auditing.
 
This necessitated three periods per week.  Monday, Tuesday and Friday.  My employer was obliging and allowed me to be absent for 3 half-days per week.  In consideration I was to work Tuesdays evenings and Saturday mornings.  And so I passed with a pass mark of 87%.
 
My dream; my aspiration had come true.  I was now a qualified accountant.
 
Then, the big test!  Did I want to become “Chartered” and eligible to purchase a share in the practice?  Or was I content to remain an employee?  The advice of the neurologist came to mind: “study accountancy and work for yourself!”.  I decided to become “Chartered”!
 
This decision came with the requirement to study the Chartered Institute’s “Professional Year”.
 
And so began the most demanding year of all.  I joined with eight other students from Wagga Wagga, Albury, and Wangaratta to do, oh, so many assignments, and meet monthly in Albury (9am till 9pm). Also, the "week-end from Hell"at the Institute's head quarters in Sydney!  The topic - Computers. In the early 1970's computers, to me, were a "foreign" language. Being in my 40s by this time I was the oldest.  The others were in their early 20s and had a better appreciation of technology.  I was physically ill! However, success comes to the battler!  We all passed, and I became a partner in the Chartered firm of Smith O’Shannessy on 1st July 1975.  Thus, the fulfilment, not of a “Bucket List”, but of an “aspiration”.
 
 
​
Ray O’Shannessy OAM. FCA. CPA.
August 2022

​I am fortunate in that I have very little left outstanding on my bucket list. Although I never actually called it a bucket list, I did have a range of things I wanted to achieve. Plans, dreams and ambitions which began when I was still very young.

Travel - I longed to travel to all the countries I was learning about in school. Some exotic and romantic places that drew me to them. Well, I achieved that dream in 1972 when I booked my first cruise, four single young Ladies sharing a cabin. I travelled on the Fairstar sailing out of Fremantle W.A. around South Africa to the UK. In South Africa we docked at Durban and were given the option of transferring to a bus and doing an overland section before rejoining the ship in Cape town to continue on to the UK. I jumped at the change as it gave me the opportunity to see real African wildlife running free.  We saw some amazing creatures including a very curious Lion. We even walked around a Zulu village, probably set up for tourists, but it showed us how they lived back in the day. We were also allotted some shopping time at both locations and I learned very quickly how to negotiate with market traders and the like, thanks to a very helpful young crewman who delighted in escorting us.

Being born in the UK I had no problem organizing a three-year working holiday. I made good use of my time, based in London with relatives, I was ideally situated to do short or longer trips across the sea to places I had only ever read about. I saw the beautiful country of Holland, tulips, windmills, and very friendly people. One of my shipmates was from Holland originally so she took great pleasure in showing me her favorite places. I saw Gouda and Edam cheese being made, watched a skilled tradesman making a pair of clogs and painting intricate patterns on them. I went to the Canary Islands and France and also saw as much of Europe as I could.  My second cruise was on a ship called the Australis and this time we did the Suez Canal enroute to Australia.

Family roots – I had always dreamed of visiting the little town in Wales where my family originated and catching up with Grandparents and a variety of Aunts and Uncles, whom I had known as a small child. It was a very long time since we left for our new life in Australia. This I achieved also during my working holiday. Travelling by train and bus I covered as much of the UK as possible, including Merthyr Tydvil, Aberystwyth, Carnarvon castle and many many lovely villages set in the green hills of Wales. I covered Weston Super Mare, Torquay, Polperro and many other places around Devon and Cornwall. I even made it to see a real Edinburgh Military tattoo.  Of course, being horse mad in those days, I made a point of seeing the wild ponies in Dartmoor and the New Forest. So many wonderful place and memories.

Also achieved – I have owned a racehorse, had great career, driven a V8 holden around Bathurst, met the Beatles, owned a house and met the love of my life.

Still to do – I love trains, especially older steam and vintage trains. My only thing left to do is to travel Australia riding all the different rail routes including, The Ghan, the Savanalander and all those amazing scenic routes.  I have been on Castlemaine Malden and Steamrail Victoria vintage trains as well as the Indian Pacific and Overlander. The blue mountains tourist train also was quite an experience. I also need to read all those books in my library!


Heather Hartland
September 2022

September topic: Bucket list.

‘Okay! I will go with whatever is the alternate topic’.

‘Oops, perhaps that is too easy.’
 
 ‘Is it worth a passing glance?’
 
‘A reflection, possibly even a 500 word memoir?’
 
‘But I am still resisting!’
 
‘Was dear Henry passively resisting through his excuses?’
 
‘Perhaps he didn’t really want to fetch water for dear Liza but couldn’t directly refuse.’
 
‘If I create a bucket list, I could set myself up for disappointment!’
 
‘Even worse would be creating a bucket list, because others think I should.’
 
‘……. And the idea of a bucket list is linked to the expectation of ‘kicking the bucket’.
 
‘Perhaps I don’t want to contemplate dying or even creating a list of desirables that will foreshadow such a turning of the last page.’
 
‘To be upfront, I do have adventures or experiences that I could put in a bucket wish list. Disconcertingly,  they simply fade to lesser importance as quickly as Henry’s water flows out of his bucket.’ 
 
‘In truth, my most memorable experiences have come completely out of the blue. Not from any envisaged bucket list goal’
 
‘In a small room in Florence, confined to a small ‘back against the wall’ space behind Michelangelo’s David, I was transported to another place, marveling the contours of David’s marble posterior and Michelangelo’s genius’.
 
‘In Catania, I came upon a plumber’s strike with police, on a fire brigade’s extension ladder, trying to extricate a trio of demonstrators on the top floor of a building. At the same time the rest of the plumbers supported the trio above by sitting on a dozen unconnected new cisterns, in the middle of the street ’.  An unforgettable invitation into the Italian soul.
 
At other times, it sometimes feels like the universe is determined to shake me out of complacency. It offers experiences demanding that I take note of the uniqueness of each individual or the awesomeness of nature in the immediate.’   
‘Perhaps creating a bucket list would focus too much on the future and I would miss the opportunity to being fully in the present’
 
According to Google, the idea of a bucket list became popular after the 2007 Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson movie of the same name.

'Two terminally ill men, with only six months to live, decide to explore life and make a bucket list comprising all the things they have never tried before. A fun movie with some deep philosophical observations.’
 
During the List movie, Morgan Freeman offered this commentary.
 
‘You know the ancient Egyptians had a beautiful belief about death. When their souls got to the entrance to heaven, the guards asked two questions. Their answers determined whether they were able to enter or not.
 
‘Have you found joy in your life?’
 
‘Has your life brought joy to others?’
 
 
On reflection, these two goals could very well be my bucket list.


Graham Jensen
August 2022

​Watching a u-tube of the 10 biggest waves ever recorded I realised I was homesick for the Southern Ocean!

On my study wall there is a picture of the inscription on the back of Antarctic Explorer Ernest Shackelton’s grave stone. It reads, “I hold that a man should strive to the utmost for his life’s set prize.”
 
Returning from Antarctica after visiting Scott and Shackelton’s huts we encountered a very bad storm and realised what the early explorers went through to achieve that goal.

From my diary: February 25th 1995

We are 23 passengers on a small Russian ship. In the past three weeks we have sailed through the southernmost latitudes of the roaring forties, the furious fifties, the screaming sixties and the shrieking seventies, otherwise known as ‘The second circle of Hell’.

There is an old seaman’s saying, “At Latitude 70 degrees South there is no God.”

My bunk has become my haven; . . . a place for reflection, contemplation and peace.   A place where I can turn myself off from the continual pitching and rolling of the ship beneath me and the incessant high pitched shriek of the wind.

There will be no opportunity to wash today. The rule is no longer one hand for yourself and one hand for the ship as when we are standing it is now ‘two hands for the ship` and all dressing and personal tasks must be managed in your bunk.

After breakfast we return to our bunks for the rest of the day. It’s just too dangerous to stay on our feet.                         

​A day of wild motion; the blue curtains around our bunks swishing wildly back and forth on their tracks like crazy pendulums. My jacket swings horizontally in an arc from its hook on the wall.

We lie and listen to the sounds of the afternoon; the creaks and groans of the ship as it labours in the heavy seas. The waves being driven by the west wind as we travel north are hitting us side on. At times a rogue wave that has welled up from a deeper ocean current and is out of sync with the others, hammers into the side of the ship, making a slamming, screeching noise like something jagged being dragged along the steel hull. …  Occasionally the sound of vomiting blends with the crash of the waves and the shriek of the wind!         
​                                
Juhan Smuul wrote of the voyage through the Southern Ocean, while returning from Antarctica with a Russian expedition in 1957.  “Waiting; a barren void. Yesterday is left behind. Today, nothing more than the threshold of tomorrow and that tomorrow on which everything hinges is elusive and full of uncertainty.”   
 
I lie here on my bunk waiting for tomorrow, but perhaps tomorrow I will still be lying here feeling the ship cresting the waves and as Shokalskiy drops vertically beneath us experiencing a couple of seconds of being suspended above the mattress, before gravity takes over and it feels as if we are heading straight down to Davey Jones locker, until the whole sequence begins again.

I venture up to the bridge this evening. I have more respect for Shokalskiy now. She can right herself after a 52 degree roll, with the starboard side of the ship nearly going under the water. The crew say that 60 degrees is the point of no return! 

I stay on the bridge until late trying to comfort a very frightened Japanese cameraman. He says. “Very frightened, very frightened; there is great danger!” I tell him that I have been in worse seas than this. He looks at me incredulously and says. “Where on earth are you from?”  Then, “Ah Austraria! I rike it there. I have filmed at Cairns, very beautifurr!” He is happier now that we are talking about the tropics. I am thinking, `we are very different, you and I, right now I would rather be here.’

The crew link hands to form a chain, to get me off the bridge when I leave.

Four days later.

This evening in calmer waters we are all on the deck on top of the ship, searching for the loom of the land of New Zealand. We think we can smell land; the grasses and pollens and trees and all things that are precious and familiar to us. Ingrid is ringing her mother and she is crying tears of happiness. Collis is bowing, arms outstretched saying ‘thank you’ for our safe return. The Chinese film crew, who kept to themselves for most of the voyage, are now with us. We are all smiling and laughing.  Tomorrow morning we will wake up beside the wharf at the port of Bluff.


Bev Morton
​September 2022

My “Bucket List” has changed as I have aged. As a child, the one and only item in my wish list was to set down roots in one place and grow up surrounded by friends and family.  This wish was never realised, as my family constantly moved as my father sought to fulfill his Bucket List.  
 
One would think that this would have influenced me in my adult life, that I would have set up home in one place and stayed put. Our present abode has rocketed to the top, as far as time spent in one home, as we are currently in our ninth year of residence.  Does this mean I have now realised my childhood dream and can tick it off the list or is there another move to come – apart from my final move in a coffin.
 
I had never had a list of places I wished to visit until after I was married and, with our first daughter, we set off to see the world and family members living in Ireland. We spent eighteen months away, as my husband was a teacher and gained employment in Ireland. This enabled us to travel in Europe as the summer holidays were spread over three months and thus our taste for travel was ignited. Paris is always on our bucket list, regardless of our frequent visits there.
 
Once retirement arrived, we were free to take our time. Our first trip was a camping trip up through Central Australia and across to West Australia before returning home.  We had great plans to do a similar trip but turning right instead of left at Darwin.  So far that trip has not occurred so that is one item still on our list.
 
Since then, we have managed several overseas trips which have covered places I had never thought to visit, such as China and Canada. China was a big surprise as I had thought it would be grey, polluted and full of apartment blocks. We were lucky with the pollution as our time in Beijing was spent under blue skies and we discovered many green spaces.  As for Canada, that has to be seen to be believed.
 
We still have many destinations remaining on our wish list.  My husband has never been to Tasmania, so I would love to take him there.  Kangaroo Island is on my list.  I am regretful that we didn't get there before the fires, but hopefully we will make it there.  New Zealand is another country I would love to spend time in as we have only ever passed through there on a flight from America.  Ireland and Paris are always on the bucket list as places we enjoy visiting.
 
Fortunately, I cannot foretell the future so whether the remaining items on my Bucket List get ticked off remains to be seen. One thing I know for sure is, there will always be a new dream to replace those  already accomplished.
 
 
Marg McCrohan
September 2022