A Summer Down Under
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| The aptly names Sunshine Coast |
Earlier this year in May, as we were packing our bags for an 18 months trip, it did fleetingly cross my mind that we had perhaps taken on a bit too much. Packing for a week, a month, even six months - no worries! But what do you need for a year and a half, where two thirds of it is travelling overseas? It helped that we will really only have warm weather – following our summer on the boat (see earlier blog) and a sunny autumn in France / Spain, we were then heading to Australia and New Zealand for five months. It did not help that we had snuck in a week of golf at Barnham Broome, necessitating clubs and trollies for both of us. Fortunately, that turned out to be a fun week!
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| Golfing with Richard and Ann |
The five weeks following Scotland round France in the Rugby World Cup turned into wonderful reacquaintance with France. We knew the result before we left. Scotland was never going to make the top two in a group which included Ireland and South Africa, despite being ranked 5th in the world going in. We enjoyed the tense (and not so tense) games with Kieran and Emily and explored four new cities.
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| Paris with Johnny and Rachel too |
This trip has been long on the cards and a dream I have held for decades. Despite a combined 16 trips to Australia in our past – none together – we both wanted to spend an extended time here stopping and getting to know the local culture and people. Along the way we have caught up with a few friends and family.
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| ‘Cousin’ Lyn and her husband Wes |
First off was my Singapore tennis partner Kathy and her husband Ian whom I last visited here 20 years ago – ten minutes chatting and it was if it was last month! The Ian’s bonded over good Australian wine and local dark ale. My ‘cousins’ (well they are probably second cousins’ trice removed or some such – it’s too complex to compute!) Lyn and Wes came to trek with us in Tamborine Mountain. I last saw them when their daughter was swimming for Australia in the London 2012 Olympics.
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| Padarn Old Boys Reunion |
Ian caught up with two friends whom he has not seen since Uni days – conveniently Nick and Mick married Australian sisters, and we enjoyed a raucous evening including old dining hall songs. Be glad there is no video! And we spent a week with my old school friend Michelle from 46 years ago. She and I have only met a handful of times since – including in 1994 when we were pregnant together with our daughters. Between her and her husband Bernie, she now has 16 grandchildren. I needed a family tree to keep track!
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| 46 years of friendship |
Bridge has proved an excellent passport (or should I say bridge) to meeting local people. It turns out that our bidding system which is a bit of a mystery to people at our Club in Edinburgh is totally standard here and so we fit right in. People have welcomed us warmly to the three local clubs we have visited, giving us insider tips on places to go and local eating joints. Indeed, just today, a lovely lady we met at over cards last Wednesday invited us to her home for drinks and nibbles (which in fact was enough for dinner!) on their deck. We have only won once – better to be middle of the pack – or so we tell ourselves!
So, a few reflections on our experiences so far – two new and one which we knew already. The first thing that we noticed immediately was the ubiquitous references to First Nation Australians. Previously my experience of aboriginal culture was limited to rock art in Kakadu and the sacred site of Uluru. But now everywhere there are statements with an acknowledgement of and respect for the Elders past, present and to come and gratitude to the tribe whose land has been “shared”. It was even included in Ian’s Sydney Harbour Bridge climb induction.
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| Ian on the BridgeClimb |
But underneath it all, little seems to have changed. Two days before our arrival there was a Brexit style referendum proposing a voice in Parliament for First Nation Australians. The result was a resounding ‘No’. We have spoken to people on both sides of the argument but as with Brexit you tread carefully on what is a sensitive and divisive subject.
On a lighter note, we went to see The Sapphires at the open-air deckchair cinema in Darwin. This internationally acclaimed film follows an aboriginal girl band who played to the troops in the Vietnam War. Great sixties music supported the true story which addressed some of the darker sides of Australian history. Darwin turned out to be an excellent base for history all round. We scootered everywhere – one crash apiece left us with a few cuts and bruised egos, but it was really the only way we could get about in the 40-degree (with humidity) heat.
We enjoyed the Flying Doctor Museum – which included coverage of the extensive service which operates today, and also the recreation of the Japanese bombing of Darwin in WWII. Extraordinarily this heavy bombardment where hundreds of lives were lost was kept secret at the time from the rest of Australia, in order to maintain morale – impossible to image in today’s instant news world. Another museum includes an excellent recreation of Darwin’s Cyclone Tracy in 1974, which I remember being spooked by when I visited in 2001.
The second surprise for us has been the incredible café culture. There are independent cafes absolutely everywhere, and an excellent cup of coffee is assured even in the back of beyond. A fair number roast their own beans. Most come with great cakes (especially the toasted banana bread) and tasty brunch options. They open at 6am (ideal when I went to watch the start of the Yamba triathlon where the swimmers hit the water at 6.20am) but are shut by early afternoon. No tea culture here! The food generally has been excellent with lots of great seafood and fish along the coast. Highlights have been an Asian small plates restaurant in Noosa run by a MasterChef runner up, and sundowners (or cocktail hour as we called it) at a boutique hotel in Katherine Gorge – the canapés were sublime.
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| Nambucca Heads |
Best of all – and really the reason we both love it here so much - is the incredible outdoor lifestyle. We have trekked in the forests, walked miles on the sand, swum in the sea and the freshwater pools, canoed in Katherine Gorge, driven up 40 mile beach, and eaten most of our meals outdoors. I still believe (the Jury is out with Ian) that the beaches in Australia are the best in the world.
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| The beach at Yamba |
It helps that the sun shines most of the time, and Australia is really just one large island. We have watched a local cricket match, the triathlon in Yamba and more surfers than we can count. We are woken most mornings by an exuberant dawn chorus and often wonder why the birds here are so colourful. We have seen crocodiles, wallabies, kangaroos and pademelons but as yet no koalas. They are shy at the best of times and sleep most of the day – but also their population has been ravaged by the wildfires of recent years. On the one ‘dreich’ day, we took ourselves to the ‘Scottish town’ of MacLean where we found the Malcolm tartan lamppost – one of several hundred they have painted as a tourist attraction.
After three days in Brisbane at the end of this week, we fly to Western Australia for a month. There we will be joined by four or our five children for Christmas / New Year (Lewis has too many gigs at this time of year), staying in Freemantle and Yallingup. Very little has disappointed to date. There was an anxious few hours when we arrived late into Brisbane to find our motel had been condemned and shut down ten days before. And we have felt a niggling disappointment that we are now too old to emigrate here – it is seemingly impossible over the age of 55. Were we younger I think it would be a no brainer! More seriously we are just having the most fabulous time – and often remind ourselves how lucky we are to be sharing this adventure. We send you all best wishes for Christmas and the New Year and if you want to share something of our Aussie experience, you could always pop the turkey on the barbie!
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| Dwarfed by nature … and by my husband! |
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