Visiting Family and the Queensland Gemfields - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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What a lovely small town in Australia! Amazing, how few people live there! The mine looks like something really special and seems Rory enjoyed the experience very much!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
The sapphires and jewelry made from them are exquisite. The mine museum looks very interesting and I can totally see why Rory, or any boy, would want to return over and over.
What a cool trip! The word "Gemfields" in your title hooked me in. DH is a rock hound and we go diamond digging (Herkimer Diamonds that is) every year in upstate New York. He'd love a shot at mining sapphires and opals! But he wouldn't be satisfied with a mine museum, he'd want to prospect.
We went back to the house and David went for a rest. Jan had made homemade fruit cake and she had put a load of candied ginger in it and it was gorgeous. We sat outside and chatted for a while watching Nell run around in the sun. Once David got up he told us he had about 6 months left and that he expected Jan would have to give up work soon to look after him full time. He warned Graeme to get his prostrate checked. He also made me smile as he told us about a place himself and a friend had been planning on going gold prospecting. He was saying he was so excited to go over it with a metal detector but he just wasn't up to doing that anymore. i felt he was itching to get Graeme into the business. It was no longer about making money for David only finding the gold and the Gems.
We spend a few hours looking over some family photos and he had some lovely ones of my mum when she was very young and others of my Aunt and uncle from Edinburgh who I had spent a lot of my childhood with.
Afterwards David took us out fossicking. He had gotten a licence for us which I still have an plan on taking back to Scotland to frame. We dug for a while and then washed the first as when it is clean the Saphires sparkle. We found 6 which we took back. David had a look at them and said they were not worth cutting but I am going to keep them anyway as a lovely reminder.
We had another lovely dinner (David and Jan wouldn't let us take them out) then Jan and I went to bed earl leaving the boys to the Whisky.
I slept very very well deep waking late. The quiet country air was very very good for me.
Another fun day and seems like all of you had a great time together! So sad to hear about David's ongoing extreme health issue!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
What a lovely time you're having with them, albeit tinged with sadness. That's how I feel reading this and I'm sure that's how it must have been for you.
So sad that David is losing strength so fast and is longing to do some more prospecting. He's been lucky to find a way to make a living that he really loves, but it's really too bad that it's ending too young. Must have been wonderful to see those old family photos.
So sorry to hear of David's prognosis. I work in a cancer center, and see too often how young some people are when they are struck down. And how many times it is in someone who hasn't gotten checked as they should. Hope Graeme will heed his warning!
Neat that you found some sapphires, even if they weren't up to snuff in quality.
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Amazing, how few people live there! The mine looks like something really special and seems Rory enjoyed the experience very much! 
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