WILLOW SPRINGS TUESDAY STUDY CLUB

Tuesday Study Club ended their year for the summer May 18th 2021 with their annual Spring Party. It took place at ‘Club 60" in Mountain Grove. The theme this year was Australia. Most of the decorations were given by Norman Harris who has made his home in Australia. He is the brother of club member Pauline Cape. ‘Club 60' supplied the tablecloths and napkins.

Jim and Angel Alessi, owners of ‘Club 60,' and one their triplets, Kaylee, prepared the delicious food. Angel made the dessert, a wonderful Australian Pavlova with slices of kiwi and a variety of berries on the side. Kandi and Karena, triplet sisters, served the food. After the great food, Pauline and Kathleen Carel told of their visits to Australia.

Pauline spoke a little bit about her visit to Australia. She went there with her mother to visit her brother, Norman. Norman kindly sent all the items we enjoyed for our party.

Pauline and her mother spent most of their time visiting with family because besides Norman and his family, Pauline’s mother’s youngest brother had emigrated to Australia many years ago. So they had him and all of his family to visit with also.

Pauline has wonderful memories of her time there, but three of her fondest memories are going to the Australian Zoo, home of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Erwin; another is the Kangaroo Park; and the other one, her favorite of the three, the Koala sanctuary where she had her photo taken holding a Koala called ‘Nomad.’ That’s the name Pauline gave the Koala that Norman gave her when she and her mother left Australia.

Kathleen visited police friends in Brisbane, Australia in June 1989, winter in the southern hemisphere. She spoke of her many adventures while there. Being a law enforcement officer herself at the time, her friends brought her to visit the Queensland Police Headquarters in Brisbane, which houses a wonderful police museum, the Woodridge Police Station in Brisbane where her friends were police officers, the Redcliffe Police Station in Brisbane, and the Tweed Heads Police Station in New South Wales who were having a “Hill Street Blues day,” according to the sergeant who gave them a tour of the station, which connects underground to their courthouse. Two adventures that Kathleen enjoyed immensely were riding with one of her friends on his shift in Brisbane, and the other was riding on patrol on the Brisbane Water Police boat.

Kathleen enjoyed visiting animal preserves including the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Koala Town and the Alma Park Zoo. She shared a photo of a kangaroo kissing her cheek in the Alma Park Zoo, a very special memorable experience for her.

Other excursions which Kathleen enjoyed were visiting a museum in Brisbane City that included a wonderful area of Aboriginal history, walking through a rain forest in the Tamborine Mountains, touring many locations along the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane and the Gold Coast south of Brisbane, visiting the Captain Cook Memorial Lighthouse on Point Danger marking the border between Queensland and New South Wales, seeing a panoramic view of Brisbane from Mount Coot-tha, and treating a friend to a dinner cruise on the Kookaburra Queen II for Father's Day (USA).

This ended another season of lovely meetings. You will be hearing from us when we start meeting again in October.