We arrived in Warrnambool on Friday night just in time to watch the Royal Wedding - Yeeh ha! What a glorious testament it was to Jesus, watched by millions. (And Cath, I also commented on the Cardinal's enormous eyebrows and suggested perhaps they were purposely grown to such fantastically grotesque lengths to keep his hat from falling into his eyes!?)
I found a church online called Extreme Life Inc. that we hesitantly visited on Sunday - we weren't sure what we were in for with a name like that! We relaxed though after the first 5 minutes and really enjoyed the service and message. Afterwards, we had our first invite to lunch (since we've been on the road) from David & Joanne. They had previously travelled around Australia with their 5 kids, so we had much in common (minus all those kids). We had a great time with them and it was so nice to be included in their family for the afternoon.
Geoff's dad had mentioned that they had some long lost relatives living near Warrnambool. Geoff randomly decided to give one of them a call. After assuring the poor man who answered the phone, that we weren't crazy and perhaps we were even related to them, we were invited to their small farming town of Wangoon for a visit. It turns out there is a WHOLE tribe of Adams living in this town!! Just mention "The Adams Family" in Warrnambool and they'll all point you to Wangoon...
So awkwardly we arrived at a Dairy farm owned by Alister Hugh Adams. Geoff's middle name is also Hugh, which has been passed down for 5 generations! I think it was this common link that assured Alister we were OK. After chatting to Alister for awhile, he then took us down the road to another farm owned by David Adams, who knew more about the family tree. He knew of Geoff's grandma and his dad has visited Geoff's parents a few years ago, before he passed away. The photo below is David and his wife Meredith, their niece and David's mother in law... They were so friendly, I was sad to leave!
We were surprised when he pulled out some an old scroll with the Adams Family tree inscribed dating back to 1761...
After carefully studying it, we found Geoff's dad and his brothers! (Anthony, Christopher, Derek, Stephen). We were then able to add to it with their kids and grand kids...
We tried to get a photocopy of it at the local store but it was too big being A2 size. So we took a bunch of photos of it which Geoff wants to piece together. David also took us to the local church as nearly everything inside has a plaque on it, dedicated by a member of the Adams Family...
We learnt that one of the original Adams found some gold, put it in a teapot, and bought a farm in Wangoon. Many of them are dairy farmers, or pastors and missionaries. It was a different way to spend your Monday afternoon, I must say. At the same time though, it was pretty cool to find out a bit about your ancestors.
We stayed in Warrnambool until Wednesday, and then travelled inland to the Grampians... but more on that in the next blog... I'll just say three words "Three Degree's Celius!!"
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