Postcard to the Parish

Greetings from Nattai National Park, New South Wales

“You might think that December in Australia would be all about beaches, surfing, barbecues and Christmas lunch in the sunshine with a decorated fir tree at the side. All true. But a highlight for us was a hike expedition in the Nattai National Park - 500 sq km of more or less unvisited eucalyptus forest in the gorge of the Nattai River.

For three days we saw nobody else as we had to ourselves wild camping, carp fishing, extraordinary Liquorice Allsorts mix of mineral-filled rocks on the river banks, swimming spots, wildscreeching Kookaburra and other forest noises, snake spotting and wonderful wilderness hiking. Even abnormal Australian weather served up a full spectrum of conditions from 30+degC heat on our walk-in day with monsoon-like rain to send us back out on Day Three.

It seemed like a slightly surreal trip into pre-history. Thankfully we had our Australian friends to guide us safely past the spiders, snakes and Bull-horned ants.

Doubtless we will be going back.”

Stephen Vaughan

A FREE service for people with NHS hearing aids includes: Basic Maintenance, Battery Supply, Cleaning & Re-Tubing, Trouble-Shooting and Advice

Sessions will be held at The Link (St Bartholomew’s Church) on:

10:00am – 11.30am, every 2nd and 4th Thursday

Our NHS volunteers are trained by the audiology department of the Royal Surrey County Hospital. Visiting the Hear Here clinic may save travelling long distances or the difficulties of access to the hospital.

The Hear Here scheme was launched in March 2013 as a partnership between Guildford Diocese and the NHS. There are now over 200 people trained in hearing aid maintenance. Hear Here was successful in winning the Faith Action & Health Award in 2018 for continuing to provide support for those with hearing loss across Surrey and North-East Hampshire.

Enquiries to:

Hearingchampion@halsemereparish.org

QUIZ ANSWERS:

1. Kathmandu, 2. Epiphany. 3. The Neo-Babylonian Empire, 4. The battle of the Somme 1916, 5. Seven - Metis, Themis, Eurynome, Demeter, Mnemosyne, Hera, and Leto, 6. The Nile—6650Km, 7. Modest Mussorgsky, 8. Andy Warhol, 9. 1893, 10. Officer Dibble, 11. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, 12. Gall bladder; Appendix; One lung; Spleen; Uterus; One Kidney; Colon; Bladder, 13. Brompton Cemetery, 14. Claret is any red wine from the Bordeaux region of France. 15. Mushroom. 16. Out of respect for the Apostle Saint Peter, the first pope, no pope has ever adopted the name Peter II. 17. The Outlaws, 18. The year of the rabbit.