Day 5 – Friday (Xmas Day)

The kids come in and wake us up early this morning keen to get the second round of present opening underway. After that it’s our Xmas breakfast which consists of croissants and jam, orange juice and a couple of coffees which Kris and the kids went to get from the Coffee Club around the corner. The weather this morning started out cold and cloudy but as the morning goes on it starts to clear a little. By 10:15 we are out the door heading off to the wharf to catch the ferry over to Devonport. Devonport is only a 12 minute ferry ride away, similar to catching the ferry from Sydney to Manly. It costs $36 for a return family ticket which is reasonable. We’re pretty much expecting there to be little open today being Xmas day so we intend to just see how we go. Once in Devonport we walk past the main street, where everything is shut apart from one café, and we head up Mt Victoria. At the top of Mt Victoria you get a fantastic view looking back over Auckland. After taking some photos we walk back down with the thought of getting a coffee at the café we walked past earlier. When we get inside and check out the menu it looks really good and the prices are even better so we decide to stay and have a Xmas lunch. We order a bottle of wine and some lunch and when it comes out it looks fantastic. We finish off with some desert and we reckon for 150 bucks we weren’t going to get anything better or cheaper in Auckland on Xmas day so it turned out really well. We walk back to the ferry terminal, jump on the ferry and head back to the city. We decide to go back to the apartment for a quick break before we head back out. While there I decide to call Mum to say merry Xmas. As soon as she answers the phone she sounds upset and puts me straight on to my brother, Greg. At this point I know something is wrong. Greg starts to tell me that there has been an accident and his son, Lachlan was badly injured in a traffic accident in Kalgoorlie. He was flown down to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctors Service but unfortunately he succumbed  to his injuries. Lachlan was 16. I’m in total disbelief and I can’t speak as my brother is explaining to me what happened. It happened on Tuesday but no one has been able to get in contact with us to let us know. I’m devastated. Devastated for Lachlan, devastated for Greg, my Mum, my family, Lachlan’s family and everyone who knew Lachlan or was associated with him. The afternoon was a bit of a blur and we decided to stay in.

After the devastating news of Lachlan’s passing, I initially decided that I could not continue writing the blog. I have had 3 or 4 days to reflect and feel that whether I write my blog or not, it  does not change how upset I feel and it does not change how much I am thinking of my brother and my family at this time.