Genealogy Cruising & Back Home - Genealogy Notes 27 Feb - 7 Mar 2016

I am finally back home after three weeks away on the 10th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. Read about Days 7-12 here (also has a link back to Days 1-6 if you missed it) and I am still to write Days 13 to 18 plus my overview report. Should both be finished by the end of this week.

Scottish pipe band bravely playing in the rain as we left Dunedin, New Zealand

I came home with seven new Unlock the Past research guides which I am looking forward to reading:
Paul Blake - Discover Protestant Nonconformity in England and Wales
Christine Clement - Migration to New Zealand (2nd edition)
Cathy Dunn - Norfolk Island 1788-1814
Thomas MacEntee - The Genealogy Do-over Workbook
Chris Paton - A Decade of Researching Ireland 1912-1923
Chris Paton - Discover Scottish Church Records
Helen Smith - Google the Genealogist's Friend

It was a fantastic trip but always good to be back home. A pile of mail to sort through, washing and shopping to be done and I won't mention the weeds in the garden. Obviously not much rain while we were gone as some plants have died or are looking a bit dried out yet those pesky weeds thrived. After adding a bit of bird seed to the feeder our Rosella and Lorikeets have welcomed us home.

While still in Perth I sent off my April blog and article to The In-Depth Genealogist and realised I have been writing for Going In-Depth for just over 12 months (with three months off for my accident). Time flies when you are having fun.

And fun is the operative word at the moment. I was super excited to see that Findmypast put up the Irish Roman Catholic parish registers while I was away. I have only had a little time to explore but already I have found some of my missing Finn and Beakey ancestors (and all variations of those two names). The interesting thing is that some of the Finns were indexed as Funn, not a spelling I have previously considered. So I need to do some more searching and then let Findmypast know so they can consider text correction for the entries. The writing is really poor and you wouldn't make the connections without my prior research and knowledge of the families.

Sadly my direct ancestor, great great grandfather John Finn is remaining elusive. But I now have more of his brothers and sisters so perhaps he is not too far away!

My priority this week is definitely the new National Family History Month website which has languished while I was away. Lucky for me the designer is patient. A couple of friends are trialing the new events page which will save me a lot of time adding events in the lead up to August. No more cut and paste and I will be free to do other things. Sponsors have also been fantastic and I can't wait to share that news with everyone. Not long now.

Looking forward to some more normal weeks ahead not to mention some personal genealogy time to follow up things from the cruise. Until next time.

Genealogy Cruising & Trove Funding - Genealogy Notes 12-26 Feb 2016

Hard to believe that two weeks have passed but I have been having lots of fun on the 10th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise touring round New Zealand and across to Sydney and then on to Melbourne, Adelaide and Fremantle. While in New Zealand I went technology free, my annual rest period from social media, but we are now back in Australian waters and I have turned the wi fi back on.

Since the last Diary I have flown to Auckland, New Zealand and spent two nights at the Kiwi International Hotel, sightseeing on Auckland Harbour and taking the ferry over to Devonport. In future I think we need to ask where others are staying as I found out afterwards that another geneablogger and Facebook friend was also at the Kiwi International.

Celebrity Solstice at Tauranga, New Zealand

It has been good catching up on Celebrity Solstice with some of the regular cruisers and meeting new cruisers with some from the UK and the US as well as Australia and New Zealand. I have done a separate report on Days 1 to 6 and it is on my SHHE Genie Rambles blog site. Read about the first six days here.

With no online access, I slept better and longer although that might also have something to do with daylight saving in New Zealand. Even the sun doesn't get up until 7.15am! I am reading more and not feeling like I am chasing myself with lots of things to do.  So totally relaxed.

Of course the downside is I have no idea of what has been happening in the geneaworld or what new records are now online.  Or what my geneafriends are up to. Hopefully it won't take me too long to catch up once we are back home.

One thing that has distressed me is the proposed funding cuts to the National Library of Australia and the future of Trove and its ability to keep giving us wonderful content. Read Tim Sherratt's post on #fundTrove for more detail on the funding cuts and how we can voice our concerns. 

This update is from a cloudy Melbourne and stay tuned for cruise updates, hopefully from Adelaide in a couple of days time. With a full program of genealogy lectures on sea days it is often hard to find the time to write blog posts too. Until next time happy searching.

Genealogy cruising and NFHM 2016 - Genealogy Notes 5-11 Feb 2016

Well I will start with the good news. From tomorrow I will be winging my way to Auckland where I will be joining Unlock the Past for its 10th genealogy cruise. I have already seen Facebook posts re Judy Russell (aka The Legal Genealogist) arrival and touring around SE Queensland and meeting other geneabloggers. Judy is one of the key presenters on the cruise and I am really looking forward to meeting her and listening to her sessions.

Paul Blake from the UK is another key presenter and Louis Kessler from Canada who I have met on an earlier UTP genealogy cruise. Plus quite a few of our leading Australian and New Zealand speakers which is just as well as it is an 18 night cruise with 8 full days at sea with presentations from 9am to 8pm. For days when we are in ports, there are after dinner presentations. All up 72 topics in a single stream so no gut wrenching decisions on whose talk to miss out on. Plus there will be 4 Research Help Zone periods for one on one questions, or maybe even small groups.

I'm giving 8 talks, 3 of which are after dinner so I hope I can stay awake. I remember on the first cruise saying that after a long day of touring or talks people would not turn up for evening sessions. On the cruises I have been on, the evening sessions are always well attended so I totally underestimated people's passion for genealogy! Which is a bit silly in hindsight as I am one of those who usually turns up!

For those of you not doing the cruise, there are shore sessions in the various ports in New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin) and Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane post cruise). Both Judy and Paul plus some other speakers will be doing sessions - check here to see places, dates and programs.

We will probably do another trip on the
Wellington Cable Car, New Zealand's only funicular railway. 

During the voyage I might get a blog or two written (finding time is the hard part plus internet access is not cheap on board) but once back in Australian ports I should be able to use my wifi. There will be an overall cruise report at the end but with an 18 night cruise I will need to break up the detailed reports into smaller posts. Plus I am looking forward to seeing those New Zealand cities again as it has been a few years since we were last there.

Now for the not so good news. I had really hoped to unveil the new National Family History Month website before I left. It looks really good and I love the new logo and colours. Those of you who know me will already have an idea what the colour is! However I haven't really had a chance to test it all out, enter a few events not to mention learn how to do all the behind the scenes stuff. Rather than go away and hope it will all be ok, I would rather wait until I am back in a position to deal with any last minute hiccups, if any. So March looks like an exciting month and probably another steep learning curve for me.

The week has been busy doing text for the new NFHM web pages, writing my April article and blog for The In-Depth Genealogist and generally tidying up before I leave. The one bit of exciting news that I picked up via Facebook is that Trove 7 will launch on 25 Feb 2016. To do the changeover Trove will be unavailable from 5pm on 22 Feb so that is 2-3 days of no Trove.

I'm glad I will be at sea with no internet as I find that most days at home I am jumping onto Trove to look something up. I won't be impacted by being Troveless for a few days but if you are a Trove addict, plan something else for those few days.

Have a great time researching while I am away and look out for some geneacruise blogs either here or on my SHHE Genie Rambles blog. Until next time.