Dear Friends, this is
a longer than usual missive as I’ve just returned from a lovely trip to Sydney with
Danny Millman. When I left you on Sunday, 7th May, we were about to
head off to breakfast, where we were entertained by Janine’s stories of her
trip to Hanoi with her son, Paul; by Judi’s précis of her week away with
Michael at the Mornington Peninsula; by Barbara’s tale of a sleep specialist
who asked, among other inappropriate questions, whether any of the group of
paraplegics & quadriplegics in front of him, had ever woken up ‘feeling paralysed’? His Master’s student
was no better when she asked them all to participate in a quiz called ‘Last Man Standing’ & invited them
all to stand.
Wes & I headed off
to Clunes for the 11th Annual Book Town & had a wonderful time
looking for treasures amongst all the books for sale. We came home with eleven,
which cost us $28 in all – bargains every one. Each year this Festival gets
better & better & we were most impressed with the organisation, as well
as the numbers of residents having garage sales. Every shop we passed had
books, even the IGA supermarket!
We came home via
Allendale, which is such a beautiful hidden village of our Shire & admired
the horses, the wells, the unmade main street & thought about the very
different lives being lived in this place. As we were close to Kingston we
drove along its magnificent 3 km Avenue of Honour, which comprises 285 trees,
mostly Dutch Elm. At the time of the 1st World War, Kingston was the
administrative centre of the Shire of Creswick, which is why the Avenue was
planted there & not in the much larger town of Creswick itself.
Bilbo Baggins with
most of his toys within easy reach!
I had decided to miss
the Tuesday morning film & filled the time with appointments instead –
fringe trim, manicure & pedicure. I finished off with a lovely catch up
with Judi over a carafe of Jasmine tea at her place. The afternoon was spent
sewing up more men-sized beanies & a girl’s jumper & matching beanie.
Jodie, who now runs Keeping Daylesford
Warm had sent out an SOS, so I responded & she was thrilled to have a
few more items for her first distribution, which was last Thursday.
Danny & I had a
wonderful trip to Sydney. We had the serendipitous start of pulling up outside
Qantas at the same time. Everything went smoothly & after checking into our
hotel, we walked to Myer to get Danny some new casual shoes & me a new
cosmetic bag. We were highly successful & ended up with afternoon tea in ‘Victoria
Sydney’ on the 3rd floor of Myer – chandeliers, patterned wallpaper
& tall casement windows! Dinner that night was at Neutral Bay with Jane
& David & their good friends, Stephanie & Aescel Bush.
Friday morning, we
were determined to visit the crypt at St Mary’s Cathedral, so after tea &
toast at ‘Kikko Café’ in the Queen Victoria Building, we set off across Hyde
Park. Of course, there was a Mass for schoolchildren, which went on for 90
minutes, so we ended up doing a circuit of the Cathedral & then finding a
patisserie in Woolloomooloo where we had hot drinks and admired the amazing
array of goodies at ‘Flour & Stone’.
It was worth the wait
– the crypt is magnificent & quite unlike any I have ever visited before. The
terrazzo inlay marble floor is dominated by a huge Celtic Cross, which is
adorned by celebrations of the 6 days of creation & the 18 names for Mary,
the Mother of God. As well there is a small exhibition detailing the history of
the early Australian Catholics & the first church on this site, which was
destroyed by fire.
We walked back to
Chinatown to meet David & Jane at ‘Marigold’s’ for yum cha lunch. After
that, we caught the ferry to Manly & visited the surf beach, as well as
spotting the International College of Management, where our nephew, Rohan Fell,
is studying. We looked for him on the surf beach, but were out of luck! Danny
had dinner that night with his friend, Peter, after we two had demolished most
of a bottle of shiraz in my room!
I walked around Hyde
Park early on Saturday morning before Danny & I went back to ‘Kikko Cafe’
for a healthy breakfast. Afterwards we headed for The Rocks & explored some
of the oldest parts of Sydney, including the Garrison Church & Observatory
area.
David & Jane
picked us up back at our hotel & we headed to the Sydney Rowing Club for a
lovely lunch with Terry, Tim & Marj before the footy. Lunch was Greek style
food and I enjoyed a piece of barramundi to die for.
We arrived at the
Sydney Showgrounds in good time & found we had excellent seats on the wing,
three rows from the front, which meant we were very close to the play. The game
was fast & furious & the lead changed 16 times over the 4 quarters. GWS
grabbed the lead with less than a minute to go & were delighted to finally
beat Collingwood.
Here
we all are L-R Terry, Marj, Tim, Jane, David, Danny & Karen
We
were dropped back at our hotel, Metro, in Pitt Street, and Danny headed off to
dinner with his friend, Min, while I walked to the nearest convenience store
& bought an egg & lettuce sandwich which I ate, which watching the
footy on TV.
While
Danny had a sleep in on Sunday morning, I walked to Circular Quay, the Opera
House, Mrs Macquarie’s Chair & back through the Botanic Gardens, trying to
avoid the Mothers’ Day Fun Run (missed the runners, but turned a corner &
found the walkers)! Danny & I met at 11 for brunch at ‘Kikko Café’ yet
again & were picked up by David Knox a couple of hours later & taken to
the North Sydney League’s Club in Cammeray.
Brunch at Kikko Café
Jane
had bought tickets for 5 of us to see the Mothers’ Day concert starring the
Australian Tenors & Marina Prior. The fifth was her 97-year old father,
Frank, but he was too unwell to come, so Jane’s friend, Merrilyn, joined us
instead. The concert was fantastic – loved the 5 tenors & particularly
their rendition of the Seekers’ song ‘We Are Australian’, which would make a
much better National Anthem than our current dirge, ‘Advance Australia Fair’,
which makes me cringe with embarrassment each time I hear it. Marina was very
accomplished & sang a wide variety of songs before inviting the tenors to
join her in some operatic pieces.
Danny
was off to dinner with his friend, Reece, and partner, so I took myself to
Chinatown & walked upstairs to enjoy a meal at Red Chilli Sichuan, which
prides itself on its authentic décor & food. Here is my steamed clams with
unusual vegetables.
The
next morning I was up early for a final walk around Hyde Park before Danny
& I headed to ‘Kikko Cafe’ for breakfast on our last morning. We checked
out & headed to the airport by train (so embarrassing that we don’t offer
this easy form of transport in Melbourne) and all went well until we boarded
our plane & discovered that not only was it full, but nearly everyone had
brought their suitcases on board & the plane didn’t have enough room for
them all. A chap near us opened the overhead locker that holds the pillows
& blankets & tossed them out to everyone around him to stow under the
seats in front. This took care of 3 of the cases & the remainder were taken
to the front of the plane to be checked in. When we landed in Melbourne the
crew had arranged for us to disembark at the back of the plane as well as the
front, as many of those of board were seated quite a few aisles away from their
bags.
By
the time, we had disembarked down the stairs & visited the toilets, my bag
was at the carousel, so we headed out to the 1 minute pick up area, where Wes
was patiently waiting for us. It was lovely to see him & he very kindly
drove Danny home to save him a trip on the Airport bus into town & back out
again to Northcote by train.
Since
arriving home, I have gone back to early morning walks with Wes & Bilbo
most mornings & am enjoying them very much. While we were in Sydney, I
found it easy to walk 10,000+ steps & I find this exercise very beneficial,
so have been trying to keep it since my return.
While
I was away Wes spent his time helping Barbara, visiting Smokeytown with Brian
Nash, watching footy & keeping Bilbo walked, fed & happy. Since my
return, he has spent an afternoon with Glenn Mack; a day in Ballarat with
Barbara while her roof rack & wheelchair apparatus were re-attached to her
car; finally spent most of a day in our garden mowing & watering, and on Friday
he had a most enjoyable time in Melbourne playing golf & having lunch with
Danny Millman, Robert Preston & Tom Tyrrell.
I
have been lucky enough to see three wonderful films this week. The first,
‘Denial’, I saw with Wes at the 10am Tuesday session here in Daylesford. It was
most powerful, with superb acting performances by Timothy Spall as the
dangerous David Irving, & Tom Wilkinson as the defence barrister. I was so
proud to be an Australian when we banned David Irving from entering this
country again in 1993.
The
other two were part of a day at the Kino in Melbourne with Judi Allen. We
caught the train at Woodend & saw ‘Things to Come’ that showed us a slice
of life of a philosophy teacher in Paris. She is passionate about her work
& enjoys passing on the pleasure of thinking to the next generation. This
film is beautiful, poignant & intensely personal. After lunch in the food
court, we went back & saw the stunning new Australian film “Don’t Tell’,
which is the true story of a young girl who fights back in the court after
suffering sexual abuse at a prestigious private Anglican school in Toowoomba.
Jack Thompson is excellent as the barrister & the rest of the cast makes
the horror of this experience come alive. The case changed Australian child
protection laws & led to the resignation of the Governor-General, Dr Peter
Hollingworth.
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