Mangana Mission News - December 2010 and January 2011

Dear Family and Friends,
firstly may we wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a  wonderful  New Year ahead for 2011.
The past year has flown by at warp speed and now here we are planning and preparing for another that has just begun.

Lunch on the Paddlesteamer Resteraunt, St. Helens

Apologies for not doing a December Blog however life at Mangana Mission has been so hectic over the past several weeks that my Blog duties were placed on the back burner.

Francois hard at work at Mountain Mikes

December saw us being graced with 3 great Helpers - Cara from Canada and Justine and Francois from France. The result of this strong team being here was that a huge amount of work was completed around the property.

Cara putting her back into it.

The vineyard has now been planted out with hundreds of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris grape vines now in the ground. Cara has been kept busy over the past hot week keeping the water up to them!

Justine and Friend

The team also completed and painted the new " Chookingham Palace" where we now have our first real live stock on the property.

Painting the roof of the chicken house

 9 New Hampshire chickens which were collected from Ellindale South West Tasmania on the 9th January. Thanks must also go to Mountain Mike from Mangana Heights for all of his technical and building expertise that helped this project to be such a great success ( as well as being the Co-Driver on the chicken collection trip!)

Chookingham Palace complete

Cara and Justine spent 2 days creating a magnificent painting on the back wall of the stage whilst Francois became a talented lawn mowing expert.



Back wall of the stage thanks to Cara and Justine

Just before Christmas we were blessed by a new arrival at Mangana Mission. After the sad passing of Jeromie we were very grateful to receive a new baby boy kitten - Victa from Gary and Cody in the village. He has proved to be a wonderful addition to the family and is a constant source of amusement to all.

Our new kitten- Victa

We all had a very enjoyable Christmas Day and Boxing Day with lots of laughter, alcohol and friends dropping in. Mangana Central was really hectic!



Christmas lunch at Mangana

 New Years Eve saw us run our second Mangana Mission Party with about 25 friends attending from all over the North East Coast.

Steve and Jason on the stage at New Years Eve Party

Andre after being made up for New Years Eve

Live entertainment provided by Russell on the flute, Steve and Jason on their guitars and Phil from St Helens on his guitar as well. Thanks for the boys for their wonderful entertainment and by all reports a great time was had by all in attendance.

Francois looking coy with a wig on at New Years Eve Party.

We wish you all a Very Happy Year ahead in 2011. May it be filled with happiness, joy, love, success and most importantly good health.
Till Next Time,
Love and Light,
Andre' & Kate