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question one . discuss times you have gone away on holidays together
well up until . when the children were over about five we very
         rarely went away on holidays . but after that we used to go up the
         east coast of Victoria and New South Wales . that was for a number
         of reasons because it was safe it was fun there was a lot of
         activity .. and there was a bit in it for the children and
         ourselves . what do you think love?
yes well it was an affordable holiday because you could stay in
         caravans um and there were a lot of activities for young children --
          and all sorts of activities centred on young children in those
         areas --
prob probably one of the main reasons was it was affordable we
         could we could get in our caravan we could spend a week and it
         wouldn’t cost that much and there was a lot of activity and a lot
         of things around that we could do without spending a lot of money
         because we could not afford that much at that stage but later when
         the children grew up we stopped in a couple of flats up in Eden ..
         we did a few more things um we could more affordable and it was
         more comforting because you know we could spend our time you know
         and leisure in a bit more better accommodation and the kids could
         ah have more things .. when they got a bit older we thought we’d
         have a special holiday because you know with three children . all
         boys . you can only have ‘em as children and go on holidays
         together for a certain amount of time so we planned to go to Fiji
         which we did 3 years ago and we stopped in the Fijian over in Fiji
         . and we had a great time what what do you recollect of that
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yes that was an excellent holiday . what did you think of it
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oh yeah it was quite good there was heaps of things to do there was
         like tennis courts you could play golf do bowls . anything you want
         it was just great holiday . it was just good for like any any type
         of family could go . it was really good for anyone
well what about when you were younger when we used to go up the
         east coast and have a bit of fun at Eden and Mallacoota and
         Merimbula etcetera . can you remember much about that and what you
         did?
yeah that was quite good we did that fair whi- long time ago but . um
         because it was really good because it didn’t really cost as much as
         well like we could go up more often because it’s it is quite a fair
         way but not not like going to Fiji or anything and that was also
         quite fun as well there was lots of things to do up there as well
so probably when you summarise it our holidays were centred
         around what we could afford . what was the best that we could do
         for that sort of um time frame .. and what fun we could get out of
         it as a family . and I’ve got no hesitation in saying that . we had
         a lot of fun on those holidays now with the boys getting much older
         they’ve got their own bits of life to go to and probably we will
         not probably share a holiday together for quite a while I don’t
         know . but over the years it’s been very effective but again it was
         all based around what we could afford and what we could do
yep ..
((pause in taping))
question two . travel patterns
basically the travel patterns that ah for our holidays were
         basically around ah what activities and the most fun we could have
         as a family and the with the budget we had for our holiday in our
         early days um that’s why the east coast of Victoria and New South
         Wales were naturally our first choice because we did not want to
         spend our holidays if any around the proximity of Melbourne
         etcetera but once the children grew up and we could afford a
         special holiday to somewhere like Fiji um we looked to go overseas
         as a family . um basically I mean in summary of what we could
         afford and where we could go as far as travel pattern is ah around
         Victoria and New South Wales until we could afford something a bit
         better and what we could ah have fun with
question three . how has shopping changed over the years
well from my point of view shopping has changed quite a bit
         because ah over the last twenty years ah since I’ve been married
         there used to be a lot of little shops and you used to shop
         traditionally at your local shopping centre . now with big malls
         etcetera well that cater for a whole different variety of shops and
         larger supermarkets etcetera such as Safeways etcetera you can shop
         in the one complex although I don’t shop much because I leave it to
         the wife um it’s more convenient and it’s close to in close
         proximity to our house um there’s parking it’s convenient but I
         think you should ask my wife because she is the one that does the
         majority of the shopping every week
well it is a lot more convenient to go to the local
         supermarkets now rather than just shopping in your small shopping
         centre as we started twenty years ago with the competition amongst
         supermarkets the prices seem to be a lot much more competitive and
         your the specials can be very good at the shopping centres . ah you
         would not consider going in to the city as much any more um it is a
         lot more convenient in buying clothes or presents or doing
         Christmas shopping just to have to go to the local complex where
         the parking is a lot easier and as I said before you quite often
         get some very good specials because of the competition within these
         supermarkets
yeah I remember years ago it used to be a big deal to go into
         the city and just . do a lot of shopping because that was
         traditional in the way we live and the way we shopped . go to the
         city and that’s where everything was but now you’ve got your mall
         and you’ve got your Fountain Gate shopping centre and that’s what
         you do you just don’t want the hassle of doing anything else
OK what do you think of the changes
from my perspective the changes are much better because you
         don’t have to travel as far you’ve still got um the convenience of
         all the shops that you ah that you’d want to buy different sort of
         gear with . food clothing . etcetera right at your door stop .
         without having to travel into the city you know
I think one of the most important changes has been the length
         of time the shops are now open . you used to be only able to shop
         nine till five during the week and then till twelve o’clock on
         Saturday . now we have all day Saturday and all day Sunday trading
         which is a great convenience to people who work and towards the
         Christmas time we have trading all night which gives people who
         work night shift a chance to do their Christmas shopping and life
         is a lot more convenient now as far as shopping is concerned
that’s a good point because sometimes now that I shop with my
         wife where traditionally I never could because I’ve got to work
         during those hours
OK um which members of the family do most of the shopping
without a doubt it’s my wife . I don’t have the time or
         patience to do the shopping the majority of the time unless there
         is something that I really want myself and ah want to go out and
         buy it myself
yes I would have to admit that I do all the food shopping in
         our house and just basic clothing but people who need clothes of
         any specific type they just go and buy them themselves
OK how often do you go shopping
I go shopping for the food once a week um but I may have to buy
         bread and milk at the local shop two or three times a week
from my perspective basically I would shop only -- every couple
         of weeks if I wanted something that I needed personally or that I
         had to go out and um find for you know one of the family or such as
         that
OK where do you go shopping
we go shopping at Fountain Gate shopping centre or Hampton Park
         supermarket um or sometimes just into various for convenience foods
yeah it’s only obvious we go to Fountain Gate because it’s the
         it’s not far away and it caters for all types of shopping from
         clothing to food to anything that you really want
OK question four . how do you spend Sunday
um from my perspective because I work long hours during the
         week and I like to play a bit of sport I play golf on Saturday
         Sunday is either spent catching up on all the work around the house
         a bit of maintenance . lawn mowing etcetera um . or you know having
         friends over for a BBQ or similar things such as that . ah my wife
         has a different sort of focus on Sunday and she’ll tell you
well sometimes I attend a show I show dogs and quite often
         their shows will be on a Sunday or I like to go to the Sunday
         markets um which are held locally and we’ll quite often spend that
         day also visiting friends
OK has that changed
well it’s changed as the children have grown older when they
         were younger we would quite often go on family BBQs or go to the
         beach or to the local pool but now they are doing their own thing
         and I’ve developed my own interests and so has my husband and we
         just carry out those interests
basically basically we’ve got a lot of freedom to spend our
         time to ourselves and what we want to do because early on when the
         kids were younger etcetera we had to um sort of spend Sundays as a
         family
um what time do you get up on Saturdays and Sundays
I don’t like to sleep in that late I’m usually up around eight
         o’clock on both days um because I believe when you wake up later in
         the morning or some people in the afternoon it it’s a waste of a
         day and it gives you more time to do work or go and play golf on
         Saturday etcetera
yes I like to get out of bed about seven thirty or eight in the
         morning because I think there’s a lot to do in that day
all right question five . do you think Australia should be . should
         have a different flag
without a doubt . I think gone are the days when we were
         reliant on Britain . ah we’re independent I would like to see a new
         flag I don’t like the Union Jack being part of the Australian
         society because what do they give us now? . it’s virtually nothing
         I would rather just independence and us the Australian people and
         the Australian country being ourselves
ah should Australia become a republic
without a doubt ah we’re an independent country we’re ah we’re
         multiracial we’ve got our own way of living we’re fairly
         independent . why shouldn’t we be independent of everyone else? .
         why should we be reliant on the British Commonwealth to tell us
         what to do? . we we’ve got our own way of life
ah question six how has the area . area you live in changed
well from our point of view we live on the outer perimeters of
         REDACTED and that is probably one of the
         major growth patterns um in the Melbourne suburban area . ah when
         we first moved here ten years ago there was virtually not a house
         around . now there’s houses everywhere . we’re part of virtually
         suburbia when ten years ago we were virtually out in the country
         area although we’ve got five acres we’re virtually surrounded by
         houses and um therefore there’s a lot more people around and a lot
         more traffic . and it’s not part of the country any more it’s part
         of suburbia and it disappoints us but we’ve ah got to put up with
         it
OK last question . question seven . how does your family celebrate
         birthdays
well
would you like to answer this
normally if it’s somebody’s birthday we will go out for tea
         together um . if it’s a special birthday like an 18th or a 40th
         we’ve had people around or we’ve gone to a special restaurant um
         but mainly by going out for tea as a family
I think my wife is right . birthdays should be celebrated as a
         family and we try to do that every year . either individually or as
         a party having friends around
OK what about other special days such as religious holidays
we as a family don’t um attend church um although Good Fridays
         we do abstain from eating meat um but Christmas Days always hold a
         special day and Easter Sunday is too . I often attend mass on
         Easter Sunday and I always go Christmas Day um . apart from that we
         don’t sort of do anything special for any religious day
well I’m a bit more different from that because I’m not very
         religious at all and basically I celebrate Christmas traditionally
         . um Easter in the normal way . but I believe they’re all set-
         special days
ah what sort of food do you eat then on the ah religious holidays and
         birthdays or whatever
well Christmas Day we always have a traditional Christmas lunch
         and tea um . Good Friday I never cook meat we always have fish um
         but apart from that there’s no other particular religious day that
         we don’t do anything away from the normal meal
and that’s right and I support that
oh thank you very much