Librarian Down Under

Sunny days in the Whitsundays

2009-11-17T12:15:00.006Z

The Whitsunday Islands are a group of islands off the Queensland coast in between Townsville and Mackay. Several of the islands are upmarket holiday resorts, and others are uninhabited and designated National Park. Access to the islands by sea is mainly from the small town of Airlie Beach, which is where I stayed for my three nights in the area after travelling down from Townsville. Originally I had booked one night on Hook Island, the only island with accommodation remotely within my price range (the islands are very expensive to stay on) but unfortunately due to a mix up with my booking the hotel rang me to cancel, so I stayed in Airlie Beach for three nights instead. Despite its small size, Airlie is a busy and thriving town, mainly because it is known as the gateway to the Whitsundays, although it is a destination in itself, and very popular with backpackers.

After my previous day of coach travel and convalescence I rose feeling a lot better from my bout of food poisoning and decided to try and make the most of the rest of my holiday so I booked to go on a tour of the islands on an inflatable raft-type boat, which, because it sits on top of the water, is meant to lessen the effects of seasickness. It was a great tour to choose. The boat was speedy and relatively small so our group got a nice personal service from the tour guides. Also these boats are the only ones that are allowed to actually go right up onto the island beaches, because they don’t damage the sand or reefs.

After a very pleasant boat trip past some of the smaller islands, and a quick stop to pick up passengers from Daydream Island, our first stop was just off the edge of Hook Island and a gorgeous reef where we had our first snorkel. It was different to the reefs I had seen off the coast of Cairns, and here I got to see a bright red starfish! There was also an underwater cave that you could swim up to, although I couldn’t go inside because I didn’t have diving equipment on, but I did swim right down underwater to have a look, and due to an opening further down where a shaft of light illuminated the coral-lined cave you could see right through it – amazing!

Next up we sailed round the back of the uninhabited Whitsunday Island, the biggest of the group, to Whitehaven beach – and this is really why the Whitsundays are the paradise islands! The beach is several kilometres of pure white sand and the sea here is really shallow and the most perfect shade of turquoise that shimmers because of the sand underneath. It’s really breathtaking and these photos just don’t do it justice at all. The sand itself is quite weird: it is made from 99% pure silica, which was produced from an underwater volcano and then washed up on the edges of the island. The sandbars and inlets are constantly shifting with the tides and currents so the sand looks like it’s rippling, and it squeaks when you walk on it! It’s meant to be very good for the skin too. We had several hours here and, after eating a hearty lunch (my appetite finally returning with a vengeance!) I just wandered around admiring the view and paddling in the sea looking for rays, which live in the shallow water – there were loads of them swimming around, and you’ve got to watch out because they bury themselves in the sand for camouflage! You can just about make one out in this photo.

Whitehaven beach was intended as the perfect place to bring Pam on her trip to Australia. She was a real beach holiday person and I know she would have been so thrilled to get the chance to visit such a wonderful place. I thought about her a lot that day; it was such a shame that I wasn’t able to share this experience with her.

After a few hours of lazing around I took a walk into the interior of the island along a track, passing thousands of tiny soldier crabs who were busy fossicking away in the sand. I ended up high up on a rocky outcrop with a lookout point where you could see the whole of the beach laid out – what a magical stunning sight! I also learnt a bit about the sad story of the original Aboriginal inhabitants of the island who were virtually exterminated by the white settlers, or who died from imported diseases – a familiar story in Australia unfortunately. The aborigines lived in harmony with nature and managed to keep this island in its pristine state for thousands of years, you could hardly tell anyone had ever lived there. Thankfully, although the original landowners have gone, the island is a National Park and is protected from any development whatsoever. There is nothing permanent allowed on the island and you have to take everything with you ‘leaving behind nothing but footprints’.

Once we had sailed back to Airlie I was pretty exhausted yet again so I just ordered a pizza and stayed at the hostel bar to do the pub quiz. I joined a team with two girls from Germany and – thanks to my sheer genius – we won! So we shared the prize of a bottle of champagne between us. How marvellous.

The following day, with my money rapidly running out and another big holiday coming up in a week, I decided upon a fairly relaxed day wandering around Airlie, sitting on the beach and reading my book before taking the coach back to Mackay the following day.

Towns Town

2009-11-15T06:15:00.008Z

I had taken a weeks’ holiday to spend with Pam, who was due to come out to Australia and visit me, and we had planned to spend a week travelling up the coast together. When Pam passed away just 3 weeks before she was due to arrive in Mackay I considered cancelling my holiday, but I decided that Pam would have wanted me to go anyway and enjoy myself, and a week away was probably what I needed to take my mind off things.

Aggie, Helen and Louise from the library were driving up to Townsville for a conference and, seeing as I hadn’t actually booked anything yet, I decided that this was as good a place as any to spend a few days, so I hitched a lift with them.

The name of Mount Fuji in Japan actually means ‘Mountain Mountain’, because fuji is the Japanese word for mountain. Townsville also sounds like it means ‘Townstown’ (ville being French for town), however the city was actually named after one Robert Towns, a businessman who set up cattle stations in the area. Townsville is the largest metropolitan centre in tropical Queensland.

Helen used to live in Townsville many years ago and on our first day there, after dropping me off at my hostel, she offered to take me to a few places on a little sightseeing tour. The city is dominated by a huge red granite outcrop called Castle Hill, and this was our first port of call. There are fantastic 360 degree panoramic views of the whole city from the top, and you can also see out to Magnetic Island in the distance. It was a beautiful clear day and you could see for miles, although it was extremely windy! After an hour or so admiring the view Helen drove me around the city so I could get my bearings and then we went along The Strand, which runs along the seafront.

Later that evening I met up with Helen and Aggie, along with a couple of other librarian friends of theirs that they had met up with at the conference. We went to Palmer Street, which is the main eating area of the city, with lots of lovely restaurants to choose from. We ended up in an Asian fusion restaurant and I had my favourite Laksa soup, which was delicious. A few bottles of red wine later and I headed back to my hostel for a well-deserved rest.

The next day I was up bright and early to explore the city further. I wandered through the streets lined with Art Deco buildings, reminiscent of those in Mackay. Townsville straddles the Ross River, and the riverside developments are superb, giving the city a pleasant, cosmopolitan feel. It’s a very attractive city, with the riverside and marina, beach and seafront, the dramatic cliffs of Castle Hill, the fertile river basin and the mountains behind it, then out to sea you have the forested National Park of Magnetic Island. I spent the afternoon in the wonderful Museum of Tropical Queensland. It’s huge with loads of things to do inside. They had a really interesting exhibition on about railways in Australia – perfect for a geeky train freak like me! I spotted a few railways to check out on my Tasmania trip, if I get the chance! After the museum I wandered along the riverside and then to The Strand and lay on the beach for a few hours reading my book and looking out to sea at Magnetic Island where I had planned to spend the following day. Later that evening I went back to Palmer Street for another meal in a restaurant… and that’s when it all started to go wrong for the Librarian Down Under…

I woke up at about 6am with terrible stomach cramps and ran to the toilet, which was all the way down at the far end of the hall, to be sick. Ten minutes later and the same thing happened. I had food poisoning! I then spent the whole of the day running to and from the toilet. Close to death, I languished in my bedchamber like a Bronte sister with consumption, moaning and sweating in the un-airconditioned hostel room, wondering whether this was going to be my undignified end, and generally feeling very sorry for myself. I couldn’t bring myself to eat anything and reluctantly conceded that I would have to forgo my planned trip to Magnetic Island.

The next day I felt a little better but I had a four hour coach journey to contend with. I was worried that four hours trapped on a coach with only a horrible coach toilet to be sick in might prove to be the worst journey ever, but thankfully my stomach and bowels were empty after the day before and by the time I arrived in Airlie Beach I actually felt a lot better, but was extremely tired, probably because I hadn’t managed to eat anything for 2 days. I was picked up by the hostel shuttle bus and as soon as I got into my room I collapsed on the bed and fell fast asleep.

Moby Dick

2009-11-15T06:02:00.005Z

The next meeting of Book Group was held at my place the day before I heard the news about Pam. The table was set for us to read Moby Dick by Hermann Melville. To say that it was a struggle for us all to finish this book would be an understatement! I did eventually finish the book in time to discuss it but I was the only one of the group that managed to do so, although Lorel and Michele both made valiant efforts to get to the end. When I picked this book I had no idea quite how long it was and how difficult it would be to read.

I think everyone knows the basic premise of the story of Captain Ahab’s insatiable monomaniacal search for the huge white whale, as told through the eyes of a young sailor called Ishmael. There is so much more to this book though, and really in parts it reads more like a manual to whaling, with infinite detail about the processes and equipment involved in the whale hunt and the production of whale oil. Melville obviously knew what he was talking about and did meticulous research for his book. There is also a lot of information about being a mariner on the high seas, and the nature of ships and sailing, including the many perils that a sailor may face on the seas. We also get a sense of the geography of the sea and the vast distances travelled by these ships.

The crew of the Pequod (Ahab’s ship) is a very multicultural affair, although we never really get to know any of the characters in much depth, other than Ahab, and Ishmael himself seems to disappear from his own narrative as the story unfolds. Another intriguing character, Queequeg, a savage from the south seas, whom we meet in the first quarter of the book also seems to gradually vanish from the final chapters.

All in all we are left with a novel which is high in description and factual information, sometimes at the expense of characterisation and plot, which is why I think we all struggled to engage with it at certain points. Having said that I did enjoy reading it and I am glad to have read it, although perhaps it wasn’t the best choice of novel for a book group.

Poor Helen was unwell so she didn’t come to this book group meeting, but the other four of us had a hilarious time, despite the difficulty we all had with the book. I think that our discussions actually helped us all appreciate certain parts of the book more because we were able to share our own interpretations and explain things to one another. And of course there were endless jokes to had from the title, the blubber, the sperm and all of the gay sex that was hinted at throughout the novel (which was totally lost on Lorel!) So considering how serious and worthy the content of the novel was it surprisingly produced one of the funniest book group meetings so far!

Saying goodbye to my friend

2009-10-01T06:34:00.004+01:00

Pam's funeral was held at 11.30am GMT on Tuesday 29th September 2009. At 8.30pm AEST I headed to the beach to join Pam's family and friends in spirit to say goodbye to someone we loved very much.

I lit some candles (it was pitch black on the beach) and sat quietly listening to the waves lapping on the shore. I poured myself a large glass of red wine, rolled a cigarette and toasted the life of my friend, Pam. To everyone who knew Pam, this unconventional ritual will seem a very fitting tribute. It made me feel very close to her somehow and I chatted with her and reminisced about all the fun and happy times, the sad times and the utterly ridiculous times we have shared over the past ten years.

As I wished her a final goodbye I tossed a sprig of purple flowers into the sea (purple was her favourite colour). The flowers were picked from Donna's garden and have a beautiful, intoxicating scent.

On my way home, a huge great bat swooped down right next to my ear. It felt to me as if Pam had sent it to say goodbye to me - trust Pam to choose a bat to send her messages!

Although Pam is gone she will be with me always, in my memories and in my heart.

Some sad news

2009-09-19T13:41:00.004+01:00

This morning I got a phone call from my friend Kay back in England. She had some sad news to tell me. Unfortunately my wonderful and lovely friend Pam passed way last night. She was only 49.

Needless to say I am quite devastated by this news. It still hasn't really sunk in properly yet. It has come completely out of the blue, because Pam has not been suffering from any serious illness prior to her death. It was very sudden. She was due to fly out to Australia to see me in a few weeks time, something we have both been looking forward to for months, so it makes it all the more distressing that I won’t now get to see her and show her the life I have been living here in Mackay. I so wanted to share this experience with her.

Pam has been a close friend of mine for about ten years ever since we met while working together at Park Lane College. She is also like a second parent to my cat, Smokey, who she has been looking after while I am here in Australia. I am sure that Smokey is going to be as bereft as I am, because he loves her very much and always loved going to stay at Auntie Pam’s house because she was a soft touch and always gave him extra food; although I’m not sure he fully appreciated it when Pam sang showtunes to him! Pam has also left her own two cats, Pasht and Amun, without a mum. They were her pride and joy and they will miss her terribly.

Pam and her next-door-neighbour and best friend Kay have been great friends of mine since I moved to Leeds and we have shared some really fun times together. Pam’s annual Big Brother parties on the final eviction night were legendary as many of our friends will attest and they were some of the funniest nights of my life. Pam always knew how to throw a good party and always welcomed people into her home. She’s also befriended Donna and Letitia since they have been in England, taking them out to one of her favourite nightspots – The Wendy House – which was certainly an experience for the Aussie girls! There will be a big Pam-sized hole in lots of people’s lives. I have also spent two very special Christmases with Pam and Kay, and Kay’s children Jake and Leila. Pam, never exactly a dab-hand in the kitchen, always liked to be in charge of cooking the roast potatoes at Christmas, with a glass of wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other! That’s probably how I will always remember her.

Pam has been a marvellous and kind friend to me over the years. She was always there to talk to if I had a problem, despite her own ongoing battles with bipolar disorder, and you could be sure she would offer you sage advice. When I had the complications with my tonsillectomy, Pam was wonderful, not just with me, but also with my parents, who were worried sick about me. They and I were very thankful for everything she did.

I didn't know whether I should put anything on this blog about what has happened but on the other hand I can't pretend that it hasn't happened either, and undoubtedly this event will have a lasting impact on my life from now onwards.

I am going to miss Pam terribly. I can’t believe I’m never going to see her again. She was a wonderful lady.

R.I.P. Pam Howard 21/06/1960 – 18/09/2009

Sizzling Sarina

2009-09-19T13:17:00.004+01:00

Last weekend, Michele One L and I took a trip out to the nearby town of Sarina for a little day trip. The Sarina Sugar Shed is a sugar mill that has been turned into a tourist attraction, and neither of us had ever been before, and it was supposed to be really good, so we decided to make a day of it. We arrived in Sarina and met up with our friend Troy, who works at the library there. Over the last few weeks the library has undergone a transformation, and for a couple of days a group of us had been there putting up the new shelving, taking down the old stuff, and moving all the books around – exhausting but rewarding work, and the refurbished library looks great! We popped in, after Troy had closed up for the day to have a look at the new library, and then we three wandered down the road to the Tandara pub, one of our favourite watering holes, for a spot of lunch.

After lunch, Michele and I drove to the Sugar Shed. As had already been on a tour of a sugar mill we decided against doing it again, but there is also a wonderful gift shop selling all sorts of sugar themed goods that they make on-site. They had all sorts of sweet liqueurs, sweets and fudge, and some delicious-looking bottled sauces, chutneys and jams. Michele was most pleased with her purchase of a giant Sarina pencil for her to write the minutes of the next branch meeting :-) I bought a very funky blue Sarina T-shirt and a calendar featuring ‘Sarina’s Sizzling Sons’, local guys with their shirts off – mainly quite disturbing, especially the one of the old man dressed as Tarzan *shudder*.

Unfortunately the art gallery was closed, but we did pop into the arts and crafts shop to look at all the hand-knitted baby clothes and patchwork quilts and suchlike before heading off to have our photos taken with the famous Sarina Cane Toad, which has been inexplicably christened ‘Buffy’. On our way home we slipped off the highway to a place called Homebush and had a beer at the general Gordon pub, a real ‘local’ Australian country pub. It was a lovely, amusing and fun day out!

Catching up

2009-09-19T11:30:00.009+01:00

OK, OK, I know I am about six weeks behind with my blog. The longer I leave it, the more there is to tell you, so I am going to rattle through what’s been happening over the last month or so since I got back from my trip to Cairns.

The weekend after Cairns we had our next book group. Susan chose ‘Hamlet’ by John Marsden, an Australian author whom we had all met earlier at an event during the Arts Festival. The novel is a retelling of the famous Shakespeare play. I was apprehensive about reading the book, because I had studied Hamlet at A Level and knew the play very well and wasn’t sure whether I would approve of a retelling. Unfortunately I was proved right. The group was unanimous in not really enjoying the book and its flimsy characterisation and lack of depth. One of the major problems with this novel is that John Marsden does not seem to have decided whether it is set in modern times or contemporary with Shakespeare. This leads to jarring inconsistencies, such as he mentions that Hamlet is wearing jeans, and the characters often speak in modern day ‘teenage’ English, but on the other hand they are living in a castle and reading by candlelight. Hamlet seems to have been redrawn as a sex-crazed teenager who watches the cook masturbating, and all the deep inner turmoil of Hamlet prevaricating about whether and how to avenge his father’s murder that is so central to the play is virtually absent. I was really disappointed and wouldn’t recommend this book.

A few days later Helen, Susan and I went to a health and well-being expo to watch Lorel’s debut performance in her belly dancing troupe. Lorel looked wonderful in her outfit, complete with gold jangly bits and toe jewellery! It was really fun to watch and Lorel obviously enjoys this alternative was of keeping fit.

The following weekend I accompanied Kathleen, Barwon, Naten and Tia to the Ocean International Hotel to watch a performance of ‘Nunsense’. Kathleen’s mum works at the hotel as the restaurant manager, so before the play we had a delicious meal with five star service! The play itself starred Kathleen’s sister, Tara and was a musical about a group of nuns who were trying to raise money to bury their sisters who had been accidentally poisoned. It was absolutely hilarious and I laughed so hard I nearly cried. It was a really good night, and the amateur cast were very professional and very funny indeed.

The last week in August was Book Week, and on the Friday I went to one of our smaller library branches out in Walkerston to help out at the Walkerston Book Week Parade. The parade has become an annual event and all the kids from the local schools join in, and parade down the main street dressed as their favourite book character. There were hundreds of kids there and some of the costumes were just excellent. Of course, all the library staff have to join in too, so I decided to go as Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter books. As my friends back home will know, whenever fancy dress is required I like to do things properly, so *snip* off came the curly locks, and on went the bleach to make my hair as Draco-like as possible. I found a tremendous Slytherin T-shirt in one of the op-shops, hired a wizard’s cape, and even sprayed Donna’s sweeping broom gold and turned it into a Nimbus 2001! Helen joined in this theme and came as Professor McGonagall, and Kath was Luna Lovegood! Some of the kids had obviously chosen Harry Potter as their inspiration and we found a totally marvellous Professor Dumbledore, and a group of girls had even come dressed as the Hogwarts Express! There were loads of other great costumes, and all the kids (and grown-ups) had a fantastic time.

I was invited by my boss, Aggie, to a party at her house to celebrate her husband Mike’s 50th birthday, and also a belated celebration for her own 50th earlier in the year. Aggie and Mike live in a lovely big house in Andergrove with a big back garden perfect for parties. Their son Tom manned the ubiquitous barbecue, and there was a huge cake, and obviously lots of champagne and gin and tonics! A bunch of my friends from the library also came including Jan, the manager of the library service, who turned up dressed as a St Trinian after having been to another party, a fancy dress 21st party, which explains her ridiculous outfit! I even did a solo rendition of the dance routine for the Time Warp, to much hilarity (why wouldn’t anyone join in – is it because I was just too good??)! Of course true to form, Susan and I were two of the last to leave, at about 1.30am! Thankfully no golden bucket award for me that night, Donna, although I have to confess I was pretty close :-)

Conservation, coffee and craters

2009-09-19T08:25:00.006+01:00

The day after my trip to the reef I was a little bit exhausted so I had a long lie in. Not one to sit around for long, though, I soon hopped on a bus for a trip to the little town of Port Douglas, a few miles up the coast from Cairns. It was whilst on the bus that I saw my first crocodile, sunning itself on the banks of the river, as we crossed a bridge! I spent a pleasant day wandering round the shops there, having coffee and reading my book, watching the world go by. I also climbed up to the lookout, high up on the promontory, to get a great view of the town. My saunter to the beach wasn’t so successful, because just as I sat down on the sand, it began to rain. Nevertheless it was a nice little trip, and not too strenuous.

The following day I met up with a guy called Pete, who had agreed to drive me up to the Atherton Tableland, which is inland from Cairns, up through the range past Kuranda, on a high plateau. Our first port of call was the Mareeba wetlands, a bird sanctuary and conservation area which has been kept in its natural state, and is an important habitat for many birds and other animals. Pete and I took a walk around one of the lakes, around the edge of which are dotted hundreds of termite mounds. They are really quite big, many the height of a person, all made out of mud or some form of organic matter. There were also these huge dragonflies, as big as a small bird, and bright red. Pete has got a really good digital camera so he managed to get some really good shots and then burned them to a CD for me, which was really kind of him.

The Atherton Tableland is a very fertile part of Australia and there are lots of farms and plantations in the area growing everything from mangoes to strawberries; it is also renowned for its dairy farms nd cheese making. There are also several coffee plantations and one of these, called Skybury, was our next stop. The plantation is set in a beautiful location, and the main building has a shop selling their coffee, and also a restaurant where we had a delicious lunch. Unfortunately we had missed the tour and coffee tasting, so after lunch we headed to the town of Mareeba to another coffee place to do some serious coffee tasting. This other place was much bigger, and it even had a coffee and tea museum, with a huge collection of coffee pots and tea pots, grinders, samovas, teasmaids and all sorts of coffee memorabilia from all over the world, and from all periods of history. There were thousands of artefacts and it was really very impressive and informative. Then we went to the coffee tasting room and sampled all the coffees they grew on their plantation, and also other coffees from around the world. They also have a chocolate factory on site and there was as much free chocolate as you could eat! We finished our visit with a nice cup of coffee (what else?!) and a slice of chocolate cake. Yum!

Totally wired from our caffeine injection, Pete then drove us to the nearby Malanda Falls and had a little walk along the river to a place where platypuses live. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to see any this time but it was a lovely, quiet tranquil spot. Finally, just as it was getting dark we stopped off at Lake Eacham, one of the region’s crater lakes. These are lakes that have been formed by volcanic eruptions and then water has filled the crater. Thanks to Pete I had a really nice excursion around a lovely part of Australia and it was a great end to a great week in Cairns.

The following day I hopped on the Tilt Train for my journey back to Mackay. This train was far superior to the Sunlander, much faster but also a bit more expensive. You can only travel business class on the Tilt Train, but this means you get a built-in video screen, which helps the long journey pass that little bit more easily. 11 hours later, I arrived back home and went straight to bed :-)

The magical kingdom

2009-09-19T06:47:00.009+01:00

I am not a very confident swimmer in the sea and I don’t really like being out of my depth. Swimming pools are fine, but the sea freaks me out a little. However I was desperate to see the Great Barrier Reef – how can you come to Cairns and NOT see it? So I suppressed my fears and booked a trip on a boat to go snorkelling on the reef. It was an early start, and a good 2 hour boat journey from the harbour out to the particular part of the reef we were visiting. The weather was breezy and grey, with a few spots of drizzle and the crossing was somewhat rough. Quite a few people got seasick but thankfully I managed to keep my breakfast down, although I felt a little bit wobbly. This all evaporated though when we arrived at Paradise Reef, which is a submerged reef. We all got wetsuits and snorkels provided, and I also hired an underwater camera so I could take some photos for you all to see. It was my first time ever snorkelling and I was a bit apprehensive, especially just jumping off the end of the boat into the sea, with no sight of any land in any direction, but jump I did, and from the second I put my face underwater and saw the reef I was utterly mesmerised by what I saw.

I really can’t put into words the beauty of this underwater kingdom. It was amazing! The coral is of all different shapes and sizes, some like giant brains, some like delicate lacy fans, some with tentacles, some like sponges, little tiny fuzzy ones and ginormous fungus-like ones, and every colour of the rainbow, and some were multicoloured. The photos really don’t do it justice at all – the colours are so vivid, almost cartoonish they are so bright.

And then there are the fish. I am no ichthyologist, so I don’t know what they were all called, but there were hundreds of them. Of the ones I do know, I saw angel fish, damsel fish, butterfly fish, clown fish, parrot fish. Some were tiny and some were quite big, some seemed to be solitary and others swam about in big shoals. A whole shoal of little silver fish swam all around me at one point, which was like being showered in magic fish snow! The fish don’t seem to be fazed at all by the humans flapping about in their dominion and thankfully we didn’t encounter any sharks! I also saw sea anemones, starfish and all sorts of other things. We spent about an hour or so snorkelling at Paradise Reef before clambering back onto the boat and having a delicious lunch that was provided for us with plenty of vegetarian things for me to eat. Then we headed off to our second spot, which was called Michaelmas Cay.

A cay is like a sandbar that just pops its head above the water level. This particular one is a bird sanctuary and turtle breeding ground so humans are only allowed on a very small area of the beach. This time we could wade into the sea and snorkel through the shallow water and out into deeper water if we wanted to. This is where I saw the giant blue wrasse. It was huge, about half the size of me, with a big blue mouth. Unfortunately my camera malfunctioned at this point so I couldn’t get any pictures of it, but it was amazing to swim next to this marvellous fish. There was also a group of huge black, white and yellow angel fish which were each the size of a dustbin lid.

After another hour of snorkelling at the cay it was time to get back on the boat and head home to Cairns. My trip to the Great Barrier Reef is definitely the highlight of my trip to Australia so far, and is also one of the highlight of my entire life. It was the most amazing, magical spectacle I have ever seen and I am so glad I managed to conquer my fears and do it, because it was just wondrous. It’s something everyone should aim to do in their lifetime and if I ever get the chance to do anything like this again I won’t hesitate.

Mountain retreat

2009-09-14T09:53:00.004+01:00

Kuranda is a village nestled in the rainforested mountains behind Cairns and is a popular destination for people who want to see original arts and crafts in the old-fashioned markets, and experience its laid-back hippyish culture. Sometimes not being able to drive leads me to transport solutions that really make the journey as exciting as the destination itself, and this was one such occasion. The Kuranda Scenic Railway was originally built to link the inland mines with the docks at Cairns but is now a stunning tourist attraction. Being a lapsed trainspotting geek, I just had to take the opportunity to have a ride on this lovingly restored train, complete with the original carriages, and stations that have been preserved as close as possible to how they would have been in the railway’s heyday. The locomotive winds its way along a precarious track route up into the mountains, past gorgeous gorges and across cosmic chasms. There are 15 tunnels (some of them even have several curves in them!) and lots of bridges, the most picturesque of which is a beautiful curved bridge which spans the Stoney Creek Falls. Once up into the mountains the cliffs fall away on one side and there are amazing views of the whole of Cairns, right out to sea. Further up, the Barron Falls plunge down into a deep ravine to dramatic effect and the train stopped here for a few minutes to allow the passengers to get out and take photos. An hour and forty-five minutes after setting off I arrived at Kuranda station having had a really exhilarating journey.

I traipsed off to find my hostel, just around the corner from the station as it happens, and was led to my room by a friendly hippy. Actually the room was more like a cell, and freezing cold! The hostel was this massive rambling old ramshackle building that had at some point been a church. Not exactly the most salubrious establishment I have stayed in, but it had a peculiar charm about it, despite its tumbledown nature.

I wandered into the village and visited the various markets (there are several) selling all sorts of things: hand-made sweets, Indigenous artwork, kangaroo and crocodile skin goods, ethnic jewellery and also some of the local mango wine (a bit sickly actually). There was loads to see and I even managed to stumble upon the local public library (I am such a library geek!). Later in the afternoon I went for a walk along one of the rainforest trails deep into the jungle, with barely a soul in sight – wonderful! I then headed back to the village to find somewhere for dinner Unfortunately, after the tourists leave with the last train back to Cairns at 4.30 the whole village just kind of evaporates. Pretty much everything shut up shop at this time and I found it a struggle to find anywhere to have dinner. The only place that was open was a pizzeria and I was the only customer there for the entire evening (the pizza was nice though).

The next day (after a rather chilly night in my cell) I followed the instructions of the friendly hippy and set off on a walk into the rainforest towards the Barron Falls to find a secret water hole unknown to most tourists. My walk took me for part of the way along the railway track, and past the hydroelectric dam across the Barron River, which provides Cairns with its electricity. After a little scramble across some rocks I eventually came upon a beautiful, secluded lake crisscrossed with deep channels in the rocks around the edge and surrounded by rainforest trees with little tiny sandy beaches dotted here and there at the waters edge. The lake is above the huge Barron Falls but it is hidden away from the tourists by huge craggy rocks and dense forest, and because it is above the falls it is croc-free and therefore safe for swimming. I could hardly wait to dive in to the clear, cool water; it was deliciously refreshing! After a little swim I found a little sandy cove and sat down to eat my lunch and read for a few hours in the dappled shade. A bit later in the afternoon I did some more scrambling over the rocks to the head of the waterfall so I could look down as the river tumbled over the edge into the deep chasm below. What an amazing sight, and much more dramatic seeing it from this angle!

To get back to Cairns from Kuranda I took the Skyrail, which is a cable car that swoops you down the range above the rainforest so you can get a fantastic birds’ eye view of the trees, mountains, river, canyon and waterfalls. You can also see the railway snaking its way along the edge of the range. In my cable car I befriended a Chinese family who were also here on holiday and when we got to the cable car station at the bottom of the mountains they very kindly bought me a photo of us that was taken just as the car swooped into the station!

The Librarian and the Prime Minister

2009-09-02T10:59:00.005+01:00

I cadged a lift from Ingham to Cairns with Margaret and Andrew’s daughter, Johanna, who was returning to University there. She very kindly dropped me off right outside the hostel I had booked, the Traveller’s Oasis – it was a really nice, clean and well-equipped hostel, probably the nicest one I have stayed in so far. It was evening by the time I arrived in Cairns so I dumped my stuff and went out to have a little wander around the town to get my bearings and called into a nice Thai restaurant for some dinner before heading back for an early night.

The next day I was up bright and early for an exploration of the city. Cairns is undoubtedly a tourist mecca, but I felt it had a much nicer feel to it than the Gold Coast with less unashamed commercialism. You can actually feel that Cairns has a soul and personality of its own over and above its abundant tourist industry. I stopped off at the information centre and picked up a guide for a heritage trail of Cairns’s old buildings and wandered around looking at some very pleasant architecture, popping into the city library (with a beautiful old-fashioned interior) and the art gallery. There was an interesting exhibition on based around environmentalism, with sculptures created from discarded material found on beaches, water conservation and protection of ecosystems.

In the evening I met up with a Maltese guy called Stef, who took me out for a delicious Italian meal and then to the new marina development. This area of the city has undergone a radical transformation and the result is truly impressive. There are classy bars and restaurants all fitted out to the highest specification with some really innovative designs and

the whole effect is modern and sophisticated. It was while having a rather expensive gin and tonic in one of these classy establishments with Stef that we spotted someone we both knew. Instinctively we waved at him and as he waved back at us we suddenly realised that this was none other than Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia! He was in town for the Pacific Island conference and was out for dinner with his family. I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t bring myself to approach him to get a photo – although I was sorely tempted! As we looked around the bar it dawned on us that the place was teeming with plain-clothes police officers, so it’s probably just as well.

Sugar is sweet

2009-09-01T05:14:00.008+01:00

My first big holiday trip kicked off at 5am with a taxi to the train station. I had booked a trip on the Sunlander, the train service that goes right up the coast of Queensland from Brisbane to Cairns and is supposed to be one of the most scenic train journeys in the world. Unfortunately I got off to a bad start when the train was two hours late arriving into Mackay, so despite getting up at the crack of the sparrows I had to delay my excitement a little longer before commencing my journey. The trip was indeed scenic and the train itself was comfortable and spacious, though it felt at times like the driver was a novice because the carriages lurched and rattled at every station and set of points, and the carriage of pensioners I was in were getting thrown around and gave up a chorus of shrieks every time the train juddered and jolted, which was fairly frequently.

I arrived in the small town of Ingham in the mid afternoon and was met at the station by Peter Sheedy, a friend of Helen’s, whom I had met previously at Helen’s 60th birthday party. He and his wife Elizabeth had generously invited me to spend the weekend in Ingham with them on my way up to Cairns.

Vast swathes of North Queensland, including the areas around Mackay and Ingham, are dedicated to the sugar industry. Sugar cane fields stretch out for miles and miles up the fertile coastal region and dotted here and there are the sugar mills which process the cane and turn it into raw sugar. Most of the raw sugar is then sent overseas to be refined. My stay in Ingham was to be an educative one, with sugar at its core. After a nice sit down and a cup of tea Peter drove me out to the Victoria sugar mill to meet his friend Bernie who worked there. Bernie gave me a very interesting talk on sugar production and then gave me a tour of the mill to show me the various processes involved. The steam powered machinery was so loud that he could not give me the talk as we went along, and we had to wear earplugs to protect our eardrums. The smell was overwhelming, a sickly sweet burnt caramel odour that was inescapable. The chemistry and technology in the production of such a ubiquitous foodstuff as sugar was really quite illuminating and what really impressed me was how all the by-products were recycled in some way; nothing was wasted, everything either used for fuelling further processes, or sent out to be used as animal feed or fertiliser.

Later I was invited to dinner with Bernie and his wife, Sue, at their house, which Helen used to live in when the Page family resided in Ingham 18 years ago. We were joined by Peter and Elizabeth, two other friends of Helen’s, Andrew and Margaret (Andrew is originally from Bridlington!) and their neighbour, Erica. We had a gorgeous meal followed by a delicious bottle of port. Everyone was so kind and welcoming to me, it was really wonderful.

The following day, after a little wander around Ingham town centre, Peter had arranged for me to go out into the sugar cane fields to see the sugar cane being harvested. We met up with a guy called Michael (who used to go to school with Helen’s eldest son, David) who talked me through the process and then invited me up onto the harvester to see how it was done. I knew I was going to have some wild adventures in Australia but I have ended up doing things here that are never listed in any Lonely Planet guide! The cane is cut and threshed by the harvesting machine and loaded into trailers pulled by tractors which drive alongside. The tractors then take the cane to the nearest cane railway and dump it into the cane bins. The whole countryside is criss-crossed by a network of cane railways and the cane trains take the cane to the mills for processing. Some of the trains are half a kilometre long! They are really quite impressive.

After a delicious lunch of Turkish flatbread pizzas cooked by Elizabeth (I am bringing that recipe back home, guys!) I went out to the TYTO wetlands centre on the edge of Ingham. This is a protected area that hasn’t been drained for sugar plantations and has been returned to its natural habitat as a sanctuary for wetland birds, crocodiles and other native plants and animals. I saw a snake slither across the path in front of me, and also gaggles of grey wallabies hopping around. It was lovely.

On my last day in Ingham, Peter and Elizabeth drove me out into the hinterland to the Wallaman Falls. This waterfall is the highest single drop in Australia and it’s magnificent! It tumbles down a cliff into a deep canyon surrounded by rainforest which covers the mountain range all around. Peter and I took a walk down into the canyon to stretch our legs and get a closer look. The landscape of Australia really is breathtaking and this is the side of Australia that I love the most.

Later that afternoon, Peter drove me out to the small town of Lucinda, which is on the coast, at the mouth of the Hinchinbrook channel to see the final destination of the sugar after it has been processed. More cane trains bring the processed raw sugar out here where it is stored in gigantic bins the size of aircraft hangers. The sugar produced in Ingham is all exported; it is not kept for domestic consumption. It is then loaded onto ships to be sent overseas for refining into the white sugar that we put in our tea. Lucinda is notable for its jetty, from which the sugar is loaded : it is the longest sugar jetty in the world and is 6km long. It is so long that it was built with a curve in it to match the curve of the earth! So after my visit to Lucinda I saw the full cycle of sugar production, from planting and harvesting, to processing and transporting, to finally being loaded for export. I told you my trip was educational!

Thank you to Peter and Elizabeth and all the other lovely people I met in Ingham for making my stay there so enjoyable and welcoming me so warmly. It was a wonderful experience that I will always remember.

Christmas in July

2009-08-17T09:08:00.005+01:00

I’m not entirely sure of the reasoning behind it, but it seems to be somewhat of a tradition in Australia to celebrate Christmas twice a year. I assume it has something to do with the fact that Christmas on December 25th is in high summer and is therefore usually a boiling hot day, whereas in Europe it is celebrated in the middle of winter and so, to redress the balance and have a ‘cold Christmas’ the Aussies like to do the whole thing again in July, which is their winter. In Mackay, however, it is not in the slightest bit cold, not even chilly, except possibly at night. And so at the Gordon White library we celebrated Christmas in July with, yes you guessed it, a massive big feast with all the Christmas trimmings. Del co-ordinated the event which was executed like clockwork, with vegetables and puddings provided by various members of the team. We ate in two sittings at lunch time, so as to provide an uninterrupted service for our customers :-) The meat-eaters had chicken and boiled ham, while I had a delicious nut roast that Del had cooked specially for me. This was accompanied by roast potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans and lashings of gravy. For pudding we had a choice of syrup dumplings, trifle, or sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce; but why choose one when you can have all three?! It was a lovely day and really just yet another excuse to eat lots of nice food and have a good chat with your work colleagues. It’s a really good idea, with none of the usual stress, worry and financial meltdown associated with Christmas in December. I think I should import this idea into Britain!

Earlier in the day we had our full staff meeting and this month we heard the nominations for the Nancy Award. This is a really lovely idea that Mackay libraries have invented, the aim of which is to ask members of the team to nominate their colleagues for the award which is designed to honour the 'quiet achiever', that is the person who gets on with their work with minimum fuss and fanfare, and who is a real asset to the team. The award is named after Nancy Pearl, the famous American librarian, and the award itself is a Nancy the Librarian action figure - with added shushing action! It's really nice to hear everyone reading out their nominations and thanking their colleagues for a job well done. I nominated Troy who works at one of our smaller branches, in Sarina. I have been working with Troy quite a bit recently because their library is getting a bit of a facelift and I have been going down to help weed their collection. Troy is great fun and is always smiling. Since working with her we have built up a great rapport. I was thrilled when Troy actually won the award, and it also coincided with her anniversary for 25 years with the library service. Well done Troy - you deserved it!

The Mackay Litterati

2009-08-17T08:40:00.005+01:00

The next Friday was the Literary Dinner, which is part of the Whitsunday Voices literature festival that is held simultaneously with the arts festival. Mackay played host to several famous Australian writers who were headlining the festival, one of which, John Marsden, is the author of our next Book Group book! Kath, Helen and I had met John Marsden the previous evening at the Educators Forum, and he is a very interesting and entertaining man, so I am looking forward to reading his interpretation of ‘Hamlet’. I attended the dinner with Helen, Lorel and Aggie. Aggie’s husband Mike was compere for the evening, which included poetry and a hilarious speech from Australian radio presenter Jean Kittson, who got all hot and bothered about the wonder and magic of books. Each table was set with pretty little light-up plastic wine goblets (Goblets of Fire!) that gave the room a green shimmer. It didn’t take us long to work out that we could change the colour of these so we rebelled and turned ours red, and we also took them home at the end of the night so we can drink in the dark at the Deck on Scanlan! After the dinner (which was delicious – I had a Thai-style salad with toasted tofu) we danced the night away with a band called Mango Junction, which performed some great cover versions, including one Aussie modern classic with the chorus “No way, get F**ked, F**k off!” I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get the image out of my head of the whole of Mackay's literary types shouting this delightful ditty with gusto!

The following day Susan and I walked along Shakespeare Street to the Kucom theatre for our stint behind the bar for the Kucom Company’s production of Noel Coward’s ‘Fallen Angels’, starring our friend Kath Ward! Volunteering to serve behind the bar got us free entry to the show. I had come along a few weeks previously with John to help paint the set, and we also ended up painting the theatre toilets as well! The play is set in the Roaring Twenties in London and centres around two women who had fallen in love with the same Frenchman during their youth, and, with them both subsequently married, were anxiously awaiting his imminent return. It is a light, whimsical comedy, that descends into farce, and there were some very funny bits, especially as the two lead characters got progressively drunk as the evening went on (“More champagne, dear?”). Kath played a great part as the French maid Saunders, and she even got to play a bit of Edith Piaf’s La Vie En Rose on the piano (why is it that Edith seems to pop up everywhere I go these days?!), and Kath definitely got some of the best lines in the play. After the play we went back to Kath’s for the after-party with drinks and wonderful home-made nibbles. We had a great time and can’t wait for the next performance, which will be one of their infamous ‘Farndales’, apparently!

Mackay's artistic persuasion

2009-08-17T08:17:00.007+01:00

From the 11th to the 25th July, Mackay celebrated its own Arts Festival. I have been so impressed with the quality and diversity of artistic offerings that this festival has brought to the region and have participated in as many things as I could. The fortnight that the festival was on was chock-full of exciting, interesting and inspiring events and I barely had a day or evening where I wasn't been busy, which is partly why I haven’t been very diligent in updating this blog!

The festival opened with much fanfare, as the city also celebrated the opening of the new Mackay Entertainment & Convention Centre, the MECC. The new centre played host to one of Australia’s most popular rock stars, Jimmy Barnes. I had never heard of this guy beforehand, but he is a legend in Oz, and the whole city was thrilled that he was going to be appearing. The main concert was inside the new MECC but the council had also decided to let the party spill out into the grounds and had erected a huge screen outside so that anyone could go along and watch the concert for free outside. It was a really buzzing, friendly atmosphere outside, as families and friends had brought along picnics and drinks to enjoy the show on the grass. Susan and I met up with Kathleen, Barwon, Tiah, Naten and Kathleen’s Mum and had a great time rocking along to Barnesy’s songs. I only recognised two songs, one of his called ‘Cheap wine’, which seemed appropriate, and he also did a fantastic duet with his daughter of one of my favourite songs, ‘Proud Mary’. After the show we went back to Kathleen and Barwon’s and I finally got my chance to play a didgeridoo – Woo hoo! I was crap at it, needless to say, but that is hardly the point.

The following day Susan and I were picked up by Cody and Vanessa for a trip to Grasstree Beach near Sarina for the ‘Songs for Sarina’ world music festival. It was a beautiful sunny winters day, with a light breeze, and the setting for the festival was perfect – the stage had been set up right on the edge of the beach, which is a beautiful sheltered cove with crystal clear turquoise water and yellow sand. We were joined later on by Andrew and Lee, and their dog, Girl. It was a relaxing and chilled-out vibe with music from the Fijian choir, an Aboriginal group of dancers with didgeridoos, Mexican guitarists, and a weird duet who were singing medieval madrigals. The highlight of the day unfortunately came right at the end, as the sun was going down, and it got quite chilly; she was called Kavisha Mazzella, an ARIA award-winning Italian-Australian singer who sang lilting melodies in the style of Norah Jones, followed by some wonderful 17th century Italian stuff. Very eclectic but beautiful to listen to in the cool of the evening.

On Tuesday the 14th, I joined Susan Poosan and Michele One L at the new MECC for a burlesque night. The new centre is very impressive; classy and sophisticated and a real asset to the city. The show we went to see was by a group called Tarnished and they performed a highly amusing show filled with a mixture of acrobatics, dance, contortionists, comedy and sauciness! All of this was done with the aid of some frightfully ridiculous costumes with feathers and sequins everywhere. They even provided each member of the audience with their own feather boa so we could get into the spirit of the evening. At the end of the night the three of us scoured the emptying room to see how many discarded boas we could snaffle to take to the next Book Group meeting (we managed nine in the end)! Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so don't have any pics of this evening, but you can rest assured that the boas will feature strongly in future events.

The Moon and Sixpence

2009-08-03T02:06:00.001+01:00

The second meeting of the Mackay Friends Book Group had been delayed several times before we eventually met on Friday 10th July at Lorel’s newly-refurbished house to discuss W. Somerset Maugham’s novel ‘The Moon and Sixpence’. Lorel’s house got severely damaged in last year’s floods and the renovation work had only just been completed a few days before, and she had only just moved back in. The whole of the downstairs had been re-done, with a wonderful new kitchen and a sleek, pale finish in all the rooms. We were honoured to be her first proper dinner party guests. We also welcomed a new member to Book Group, Michele One L, who has got short hair and glasses like the rest of us as we were most amused to notice! Lorel cooked pumpkin soup, made from one of her home-grown pumpkins, followed by a delicious Tofu curry. ‘The Moon and Sixpence’ is a curious novel, based on the life of the artist Paul Gaugin, but sufficiently fictionalised so that it cannot be considered a biography. It did give the impression of being written a bit like a biography or a documentary, with a certain detachment from the story that prevented the reader from fully engaging with it. I think we all agreed that we quite liked it on the whole, and that certain sections were very entertaining but it is also a bit of a patchwork novel, with large sections of the story deliberately missing, so it has a stilted quality to it. Having said that, there were some nice passages of writing, and little vignettes of scenes that were pleasing, and the character of Strickland (the cipher for Gaugin) was well-drawn and truly disagreeable, and detestable, but also quite comic and amusing. Although this novel was flawed I did enjoy Maugham’s style of writing, so I have since gone on to read another of his novel’s ‘The Painted Veil’, which was excellent and would heartily recommend. Lorel’s Book Group was a great success and everyone had a thoroughly good evening, even if the book itself wasn’t universally acclaimed. Our next Book Group will be hosted by Susan Poosan and she has chosen ‘Hamlet’ by Australian author John Marsden as our next selection. Watch this space for more book talk.

Kath is sweet sixteen ... again!

2009-08-03T01:50:00.003+01:00

On 4th July Kath invited me out to celebrate her birthday. Susan and I were picked up by John, one of Kath and Donna’s friends from the Kucom theatre. As we walked to the restaurant we were most amused to realise that we’d both bought her the exact same present – a big bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin, with accompanying fresh limes – obviously we know her very well! Kath had chosen a Russian restaurant to celebrate her birthday – one of those places she’s always been meaning to go to but has never got around to. I was a bit disappointed with the menu to be honest, as there were no vegetarian main courses, so I had to settle for having two starters, as the chef was not willing to make me anything specially. Kath was on top form as usual and we had a good time, despite the food not really being up to scratch, although Kath said she quite enjoyed her meal. Susan and I decided to compensate by having a shot of Russian vodka instead – and that’s when it all started going downhill! We ended up at Gordi’s, a rowdy karaoke bar, and it was only a matter of minutes before Kath was up on stage, strutting her stuff to ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’! The gin and tonics were in full flow and after Susan and friends did a shambolic rendition of ‘Dancing Queen’, it was time for me and Kath to perform our duet – we had chosen the Kylie and Jason classic, ‘Especially For You’! Naturally I sang the Kylie parts, and Kath sang the Jason parts. I say ‘sang’, it was more screeched and wailed, but I have to take my hat off to Kath because no-one else in the world has ever got me to perform karaoke, and I doubt they ever will again. Luckily I was so well lubricated that I only have a vague recollection of what had occurred, and thankfully was too drunk to get any photos taken. The night came to a farcical end when Susan and I went outside for a cigarette and the doorman wouldn’t let me back in without ID, even though I had been in and out about 5 times before without being asked. Obviously I don’t carry my passport around with me, so I had to traipse off home in inebriated shame and text Kath to tell her why we hadn’t returned. A typically ridiculous end to a very ridiculous evening!

The Shed On Schaefer

2009-08-03T00:28:00.004+01:00

On 19th June a group of us went out to celebrate Barwon’s birthday. Kathleen and Barwon had left the kids at home for a change, and we were joined by Tara and Danny, Warren and Sarah, and a whole host of their other friends I hadn’t met before. Barwon chose an Indonesian restaurant called Kevin’s for his birthday celebration, which is owned by an eccentric friend of theirs whose name is, unsurprisingly, Kevin. It was a very nice meal, although, as the only vegetarian in the group I had to wait a little longer for my food than everyone else and, as a consequence of drinking on an empty stomach, I was a little bit tiddly by the time my food arrived! After our food we tripped up Victoria Street to The Whit so the boys could shoot some pool and me and the girls could smoke and gossip about the boys! A fun night was had by all.

The following weekend Warren and Sarah invited Michele One L, Susan Poosan and Graham D. Taylor over to their place so the girls could experience the bar they’ve built in the garage at the back of their house. We have affectionately named it ‘The Shed on Schaefer’, after the name of their street (similarly my house has been christened ‘The Deck on Scanlan’, or sometimes ‘The Burrow’ after the Weasley’s house in Harry Potter, but anyway, I digress..). It turned out to be a rather wild night! Kathleen, Barwon, Tiah and Naten were there, John and Zoe (who came camping with us to Proserpine in April) and several other people. It really is like a proper bar, and we had a timely homage to Michael Jackson, playing all his best tunes on the jukebox, which resulted in some ridiculously bad dancing and the obligatory pathetic attempts at moonwalking, as you can imagine! Tiah brought her new pink electric guitar, which Barwon commandeered and he treated us to some of his classic Australian rock music as usual. Susan excelled in her new job as a barmaid, plying the crew with alcohol all night and making sure we were all having a good time. Just as we were about to leave (after one too many gin and tonics), the heavens opened and it pissed it down. Unfortunately we were forced to remain in the Shed on Schaefer for another hour (what a shame) until the rain subsided, by which time we were in no fit state to be out in public… needless to say I awoke the next morning with a rather sore head!

Exploring the region's heritage

2009-07-13T12:19:00.006+01:00

Greenmount Homestead is a restored Queenslander near the village of Walkerston in the Pioneer Valley. It’s a period building which has been kept as a museum showcasing what life was like for the pioneers who came to the Mackay region in the late 1800s. It’s a beautiful setting, raised up on a little hill and surrounded by green pastures and cane fields. On a slightly cloudy, breezy 31st May I went with Helen, Susan, Courtney and Jack to the first ever Greenmount Heritage Fair. There was a stage with local musicians playing, lots of interesting stalls and exhibitions and Courtney and I also went on a tour of the house, which is looked after by Gladys, the Aboriginal housekeeper to the Cook family who were the original owners. She was a real character, telling us all sorts of stories and anecdotes about the family. We finished off the day in true colonial style with a Devonshire tea on the veranda!

A few weeks ago I went on another day out with Helen on one of our days off. Helen drove me way out of Mackay, inland to the south-west to the village of Nebo. On the way we took a detour way off the beaten track down a little dirt road to the ghost town of Mount Britten. This was a township which thrived in the mid-late 1800s when gold was discovered in the area. Now all that’s left is a few bits of machinery and ghostly shadows on the ground where the streets and houses used to be. It’s a lovely deserted spot, with some great views of the surrounding mountain ranges and it was a lovely hot sunny day. There has been some archaeological excavations in the area which have turned up some interesting artefacts. Most of the building still survive, but they were taken apart, moved somewhere else, and then re-assembled; none of them are left standing in Mount Britten. One of the hotels, for example, is now a private residence in Nebo, a few miles down the road. The area round about is still mined. There are gemstone mines all over this area, including one at the appropriately named Emerald. There are also lots of opencast mines and quarries that are still in operation.

After a little walk around the deserted township Helen and I continued along the road to Nebo. It’s a large village on the Peak Downs Highway, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It’s got a very impressive village pub/hotel which was our ultimate destination; apparently it’s got a great menu. Unfortunately due to our little detour the kitchen had stopped serving, so we had to make do with a beer instead. We picked up a sandwich from the shop down the road and sat on the edge of the creek for a little impromptu picnic. We then went for a pleasant walk along the riverside path, which is decorated with mosaics that were made by the local school children. It was really nice to spend the day out in the countryside and see a bit more of the local area – thanks Helen!

Kamusta ka?

2009-07-11T07:20:00.008+01:00

Sunday 14th June was the day we celebrated Filipino i ndependence. Every year the Filipino community of Mackay celebrates winning the independence of their homeland from Spain in 1898. Kathleen is half Filipino and was born and grew up in the Philippines and she invited me to join her family, Barwon, Naten and Tiah, and the rest of the Filipino community in Queens Park for a day of fun, food and entertainment. Kathleen’s sister Tara was there too. Tara is a fantastic singer, and we had seen her perform before in Les Miserables. Unfortunately we missed her rendition of Advance Australia Fair. She was there with her boyfriend, Danny, who we had all seen stark naked two days before when he played the lead role in an amateur production of The Full Monty!! Kathleen’s Mum is not only a great cook, but she is actually an award winning restauranteur so I really hit the jackpot when it came to the food. She had also very kindly made sure there was plenty of vegetarian fare for me to eat and it was all delicious. Filipino food is predominantly rice-based. Rice comes with everything in one form or another, and they even make their puddings and cakes out of it! It was another gorgeous sunny winter’s day in the park and we were kept constantly entertained by several performances of traditional Filipino dances, a fashion parade of Filipino costumes from the various provinces and ethnic groups, some modern dance routines performed by some of the Filipino teenagers, and some hilarious games. There was one game called Maria Goes To Town, which basically involved two teams of men that have to dress up as ‘Maria’ in women’s clothes, complete with headscarf and parasol. The men takes turns to dress up then run across to the shop, collect an item and put it in their basket – it was hilarious, made all the more so by the Filipino women who were cheering, shrieking and screaming with uncontrollable laughter from the sidelines. I have never seen anything quite like it in my life!

As the sun went down after the Independence Day festivities we went back to Kathleen and Barwon’s place for some drinks on their veranda. Tiah had her confirmation that morning, so her Grandmother had bought her a special present to congratulate her – it was a pink electric guitar with it’s own amplifier – Tiah was loving being a rock chick, as you can see! Her heavy metal performance of I Love You Lord, the song she sang for her confirmation, was truly something special "...and I WOOOOORRRRRSHIIIIP YOU!" We had a lovely evening eating Cheezels and Tiah took great delight in treating me like a life-size mannequin, dressing me up in all manner of ridiculous outfits! The Hawaiian Hula outfit has nothing to do with the Philippines, just in case you were wondering! It was loads of fun and a lovely family day.

Just in case you were wondering, Kamusta ka? means How are you going? in Tagalog, one of the languages of the Philippines.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

2009-07-01T13:27:00.008+01:00

After being well and truly eclipsed by the juggernaught of Helen’s four-day birthday marathon my 32nd birthday kind of crept up on me unawares and I didn’t really make any plans to celebrate it. My friends in Mackay had other ideas and insisted that I do something, so I invited everyone around to the Veranda on Scanlan for drinks and nibbles on the Sunday. Luckily it was a public holiday the next day so I managed to force some more champagne and gin and tonics down my neck (which was a struggle seeing as we had been celebrating Helen’s birthday with copious amounts of alcohol for the last four days!)

I invited lots of my new friends from Mackay over for the soiree. Helen was there of course, and Susan. Lorel came too, Aggie and her husband Mike, Michele (with one L) who has recently started working at the library with me, Kathleen, Barwon, Tiah and Naten Gooch, Andrew and Lee (a couple I met randomly a few months ago), Donna’s nemesis Cody the website manager and his wife Vanessa. Unfortunately Kath was at a netball tournament in Townsville so she couldn’t make it. But we did manage a video link over the Internet with Donna and Letitia so they could join in the fun and say hello to some old friends.

As my friends from England will already know my taste in music is totally awesome – so we danced and wailed the night away to all the Australian classics including Jason Donovan, Rolf Harris, the seemingly ubiquitous Home and Away theme tune, and of course beaucoup de Kylie! Michele One L obviously knows me very well already because she crowned me with a tiara for the night! It was a wonderful evening and I enjoyed myself immensely. I had been feeling a little homesick that day, having received cards and presents from my friends and family back home and realising how much I missed you all. I was feeling a bit sorry for myself thinking about everyone in England so it was gratifying to see that even though I have only been in Mackay a short time I have met a great bunch of really lovely people so far and I know that there will be plenty of fun and lots more exciting times to come...

Surprise! Helen turns 60

2009-07-01T12:57:00.006+01:00

Over the past six months Helen Page has quickly become my closest friend since moving to Mackay. She is kind and generous and is always helping me out with the shopping or taking me on day trips. We also have a great laugh together and have shared delicious meals, fun book group meetings and some very happy times, often involving large quantities of champagne. It has been wonderful to meet the Page family; between her and her daughter, Susan, they have really made me feel welcome in Mackay and I have been treated very much like one of their own. I was therefore thrilled to hear that on 4th June Helen would be celebrating her 60th birthday and Susan was planning a surprise party for her the following Saturday. The plans began way back in about March and Susan had contacted various friends and relatives from all over Australia who would be coming to join the party.

On her actual birthday (the Thursday) Helen’s son David, his wife Courtney and their baby son, Jack came up from Singleton, NSW, and joined us at Helen’s house with her other son Jonathan and his girlfriend Kath, Susan and myself for dinner and champagne.

The following day Jonathan hosted a barbecue for the family, and Lorel and I joined in as well. Helen got another shock when her daughter Margaret flew in on leave from the Navy to join us. This was, so Helen thought, her birthday party.

The next day Helen went out for a small family gathering to a restaurant called Church on Palmer, or so she thought! When she walked in a huge collection of friends, colleagues and relatives were there to greet her, and nearly frightened the life out of her! It was such a lovely night with a great bunch of people – Lorel was there, and also my boss Aggie, who is great fun, and Bente, the librarian from Walkerston library. The restaurant and the food was marvellous. It was the nicest meal out I have had yet in Mackay and the service was excellent. I will definitely be going back there. As it was my birthday the following day, and with me drunkenly bemoaning (with my tongue firmly in my cheek) that I did not wish to be completely eclipsed, one of Helen’s relatives decided that I should have Happy Birthday sung to me too – and I was also obliged to make a (rather drunken) speech.

So thank you Helen for being such a wonderful friend, for taking care of me and for making me feel like part of your family. Here’s to many more happy occasions!

The Great Library & Information Week Challenge!

2009-07-01T12:49:00.003+01:00

The 25th - 31st May was Library and Information Week, which is to celebrate all the great things that libraries do across Australia. It was also the first big library event that I have helped to organise since being at the Gordon White Library. The Information Services team consists of me and Louise and we were the driving force behind the preparations, ably assisted by Kath from Young People’s Services. We organised a full programme of events including National Simultaneous Storytime (where libraries across Australia read the same book on the same day at the same time to an audience of little anklebiters), Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea to raise money for the Cancer Council, catalogue demonstrations three times a day, a special edition of Baby Bounce where all the mothers got to take away a DVD starring the lovely Kath (!), a series of quizzes for kids and adults, and finishing off with the piece de resistance – the Twilight Ball – a screening of the popular teen movie ‘Twilight’ in fancy dress, with a vampire theme! The week was mostly a success (although very stressful!) and the Twilight Ball was a triumph with over 50 people attending and it was loads of fun. The picture is of Me, Kath and Del under the balloon arch that was made especially for the occasion by Jess the Community Services librarian (who knew people had these special talents!). By the end of the week I was totally knackered and although I enjoyed it I am glad I won’t have to do it again next year – Donna, it’s over to you, love! One good thing came out of it though, I was very humbled to win the coveted Team Member of the Month award and got a $10 K-Mart voucher for my trouble – thanks very much guys!

She used to bring me roses....

2009-07-01T12:39:00.003+01:00

On Wednesday 20th May I went to see a play at the Mackay Entertainment Centre called ‘Walking by Apple Tree Creek’ with Helen, Lorel and Veronique. It was a poignant and sometimes funny story about an aging couple travelling around Queensland in their caravan visiting the ‘Big Things’ – the Big Bull in Rockhampton and the Big Avocado in Tweed Heads among them. What I hadn’t realised when we went to see it was that the whole play was a monologue by the main female character, Del and, although her husband Stan appeared on stage with her the whole time he didn’t actually speak. I really enjoyed this one-act play and afterwards we met up with the cast in the bar area. This was a momentous occasion for me because the lead role was played by none other than Carol Burns (Who the hell is that? I hear you ask!). Well she played the iconic character of Frankie Doyle in a certain Australian drama series set in a women’s prison – yes that’s right, it was Prisoner Cell Block H!! Just to jog your memory that’s a picture of her in the laundry room at Wentworth (Frankie Doyle is on the left, squaring up to Bea Smith). As you can imagine I was beside myself with glee at this fortuitous meeting and chatted with the charming Carol for about half an hour – she was really lovely and friendly. I also managed to get her to sign a flyer for me (and another for my cousin Stevie, who is madly jealous!) and she also posed for a picture with me and the guy who played her husband, Bob Newman. Unfortunately the pictures didn’t come out very well, but I got to meet her which was the main thing. So now I have met Frankie Doyle, Doreen Burns (on my last visit to Australia when she was in ‘Priscilla’ in Melbourne) and Joan ‘The Freak’ Ferguson in London. I wonder how many more women of Wentworth I’ll get to meet before I go home!

Rocking in Rocky

2009-06-12T07:31:00.007+01:00

Kath, in her capacity as an umpire for netball in Queensland, was required to travel to Rockhampton for a tournament and she asked me if I’d like to go with her. It was also her friend Belinda’s birthday so Kath had decided to stay for the whole weekend. Never one to turn down the offer of a party I accompanied her on the long trip south to ‘Rocky’, as the locals affectionately call it. It took a little over 3 hours to drive to Rocky, which is the nearest town of any size to Mackay. In that time we probably passed about 5 houses and nothing else whatsoever in between, nothing but the road stretching out in front of you as far as the eye could see, which wasn't much seeing as it was dark!

We stayed at Belinda’s house, which is right near the centre of the town, just a block away from the Fitzroy River which is apparently home to wild crocodiles! Thankfully I didn’t see any, but there are warning signs up along the banks of the river to stop people swimming. The water in the river is so brown and muddy that if there was a croc in there you wouldn’t see it until it was too late! Belinda's house is a lovely old Queenslander that she has gradually been renovating. It had to be lifted a foot or two to make the living area under the house high enough to be useable and she’s done a great job doing the place up. Belinda was one of Kath's friends that came up to Mackay for my Australia Day party way back in January, so it was lovely to see her again; she's very friendly.

I have to confess that I was not expecting much from Rockhampton, given the responses from my colleagues when I told them where I was going to spend the weekend, but, even though I am a vegetarian librarian I was pleasantly surprised with ‘The Beef Capital of Australia’. It’s about the same size as Mackay but as a testament to its history as a gold rush town in the late 1800s there are lots of lovely old buildings, unlike in Mackay where most of its buildings were destroyed by the cyclone in 1918. In a funny way it reminded me a bit of Leeds, I think because some of the buildings date from a similar period. I followed a Rockhampton heritage trail that I got from the Tourist Information Bureau which told me the history of each building. The Fitzroy River is also very picturesque despite its muddy brownness. The riverbanks have been nicely landscaped and it’s possible to walk alongside the river for quite a distance.

On the Saturday I went to watch a couple of netball games that Kath was umpiring – she suggested I watch the men’s games – yes, men play netball in Australia! In the afternoon I went to Rockhampton Art Gallery and saw a really interesting exhibition on Japanese art, which juxtaposed old, traditional Japan with new, modern Japan, for example showing an old photo of young ladies training to be geishas at the turn of the last century next to a picture of teenagers in an Internet café. I also could not help myself visiting the new city library that had recently opened. It was a really nice, light airy building with lots of art and local history painted on the walls, but I thought it was actually let down by messy shelves – I caught myself straightening the books as I walked past – old habits die hard!

We had a good barbecue later on, and Kath’s friend Missy came to join us. Missy lives a few more hours further south, out in the bush with her husband who makes things out of crocodile skins. She was a lot of fun. Later in the evening Kath, Missy and I decided to slip out of the party to escape from Belinda’s highly disagreeable relatives (total bogans!) with a couple of bottles of wine and went to the local BYO curry house down the road, where we had delicious onion bhajis and I had vegetable korma. I think I had the best dish because when Kath and Missy’s lamb was served it was bright green! Very odd-looking.

On Sunday we decided to go out for lunch to a lovely Vietnamese restaurant on the banks of the river. I had my favourite tofu Laksa - bloody gorgeous! We sat out on the balcony on a bright, sunny day and just below us on the grass in a little open-air amphitheatre there was a free jazz concert. Loads of people had come down to sit by the river and eat their picnics and drink champagne whilst listening to some (rather good) jazz. It was really pleasant and sophisticated; not at all the impression of Rockhampton I had before I arrived. It was a fitting end to a very nice weekend.

Surfer's Paradise = Graham's nightmare

2009-06-09T09:45:00.006+01:00

I spent three days on the Gold Coast, which is basically a big 35km long strip of beach with a series of towns from Southport in the north to Coolangatta in the south which have all merged together to form one continuous built-up area that’s known as the Gold Coast. The hostel I had booked was in Southport, which is not at all like the Merseyside town. It’s a bit quieter and more laid back than the bustling, popular tourist area of Surfer’s Paradise a bit further down the coast. It was a pleasant enough place I suppose although there was nothing particularly special about it, but it did have good public transport links down the coast so that was good.

I was pretty exhausted from all the walking and excitement of Springbrook the day before so I decided to have a fairly relaxed day on the beach. At the northern end of the Gold Coast the coastal currents have created a series of lagoons and sandbanks. One of these sandbanks, known as The Spit is a long sandy bar that is mainly undeveloped, and has been allowed to stay pretty close to its naturally wild state of sand dunes and scrubland, which is in sharp contrast to all the high-rises and concrete which typifies the rest of the Gold Coast. I spent the day on The Spit, lounging on the beach reading my book (Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, in case you’re interested) and paddling in the crystal clear water. To my surprise this section of the beach was pretty deserted all day, which was nice and by the end of the day I felt recuperated and ready for a more active day tomorrow.

I got up nice and early and went to have breakfast (Eggs Benedict) in a little café in Southport before catching the bus down to Surfer’s Paradise. To be honest, all the rampant commercialism, long strips of bars and tourist shops thronged with eighteen-year-old Scousers out on the town is not really my thing, although the beach here (as with the rest of the Gold Coast) is beautiful pale white sand that stretches for miles. Lots of people come here for the theme parks and water parks, which I am really not interested in, so I found myself at a bit of a loss as to what to do. Within 5 minutes of being at Surfer’s I had got the general idea and seen enough so I walked inland to the Gold Coast Arts Centre and visited the art gallery and outdoor sculpture park, which was much more pleasant. I walked back via Chevron Island, which is a nice little enclave of sophistication, and had some lunch in a charming little Italian Bistro. I went to a little park across the road to write a few postcards and was surrounded by a flock of galahs! It was definitely a highlight, and of course I took great pleasure in telling them to "Rack off you flaming galahs!" There was not much else to tempt me in Surfer’s so I spent the afternoon meandering south along the beach, watching the surfers try to stay upright, and generally watching the world go by.

For my final evening, after returning to the hostel to shower and change I decided to go back to Chevron Island for dinner in a little French restaurant I had noticed earlier in the day. As I walked around the corner to the back entrance where there was an open-air veranda I noticed there was a sign painted on the side of the building that said BYO, which is Aussie for an unlicensed restaurant where you can bring your own alcohol. I quickly hurried down the street to the Bottle Shop to get some wine, and then went back to the restaurant. As I went in the waitress said she was sorry but they were not BYO. I said “But what about the sign on the side of the building.” She replied, “Oh, it’s been there for 10 years and we keep forgetting to paint over it.” I should have taken this as a warning

sign, but I didn’t. As I was shown to my table I noticed 3 things: Firstly, that although it was 7.30pm I was the only guest in the whole place (and remained so for the duration of my visit), secondly that although there were about 20 tables in the place, only 4 of them had place settings. I surmised that they were unused to catering for lots of guests. Thirdly, and most bizarrely seeing as it was supposed to be a French restaurant, Bob Marley records were blaring out of the speakers. Having said all that the menu looked good and I figured that I would get good service seeing as I was the only person there. Ha Ha what a ridiculous place it was. It had definitely seen better days and had a preposterous mish mash of unsuitable furniture and naff little ornaments dotted around. It looked more like a junk shop that a restaurant. Still, my onion soup was delicious, but the chevre chaud salad I ordered for my main was pretty lame and the wine was cheap plonk. Towards the end of my meal I was shocked to see some other guests arrive but they were obviously just friends of the owner who had come to hang out rather than stay for a meal. In summation it was an amusing evening for all the wrong reasons, but I guess it’s all part of life’s rich tapestry.

Surfer's Paradise definitely wasn't my idea of paradise - more like my idea of hell, but there were lots of other things I did on my trip to the Gold Coast that made the trip worthwhile. If I was to do it over again I probably would have only spent the day there and saved my money for something more to my taste. But I did get to see a galah!

Land of views and waterfalls

2009-06-09T09:23:00.005+01:00

There aren’t many places you can fly directly to from Mackay airport, as it’s quite a small, local affair. Most of the places you can get to are only served by Qantas, which makes things a bit more pricey. When I saw some cheap tickets to Brisbane for sale with Jetstar I decided to buy them, even though I had already been to Brisbane before but I figured I would just use Brisbane as a stopping off point to go on somewhere else. This is how I ended up having a few days on the Gold Coast.
I flew into Brisbane on the evening of the 9th of May and was met at the airport by Glen, the guy I had met on my previous visit. It was really good to see him again and he very kindly offered to let me stay the first night at his place in Graceville in the Brisbane suburbs. We caught up over a delicious bottle of Chianti that I chose from a case of European wines his friend had donated to him. I wish I had friends like that!

The following day we got up fairly early and headed out of Brisbane, inland to the Gold Coast hinterland. I had expressed a desire to see some of the National Parks in the surrounding area but they are impossible to get to on public transport. Luckily Glen is a keen bushwalker so he was more then willing to take me out for the day for some serious walking and sightseeing. He suggested Springbrook National Park as being a favourite spot of his for walking so we headed there in his car which took a few hours (it still astounds me every time I go anywhere just how massive this country is!)

Springbrook National Park is a truly breathtaking place of staggering size and beauty. I know I will run out of superlatives in my description so please bear with me. The park is based around a huge extinct shield volcano that exploded millions of years ago and created a ring of sheer cliffs, surrounded by a high plateau, with the ‘plug’ of the volcano, Mount Warning, clearly visible in the flat plain of the solidified rock. The whole place is covered with sub-tropical rainforest, and it’s dotted about all over with spectacular gorges and high waterfalls. It’s a magical place, like something out of Lord of the Rings. You can just imagine elves living in the lofty trees and dwarves in the caves behind the waterfalls. Thankfully I had Glen as my guide who knew all the best places to see and the best places for walking. We saw the Purlingbrook and Twin falls, walked down the cliff-face of the canyon, had a picnic by the Rainbow falls and ended our day at the appropriately named Best-of-all Lookout, where you can see pretty much the whole of the volcano laid out beneath you. It’s one of the most stunning sights I have ever seen, and the forest goes on for miles and miles. In the far distance you could just make out the sea, and the towering skyscrapers of the Gold Coast which looked like tiny matchsticks against the magnificence of Nature.

After a marvellous day that I mostly spent gasping in awe at every turn in the road, Glen drove me to the hostel I had booked in Southport on the Gold Coast. To thank him for giving me such a wonderful experience that I would never have been able to organise myself I took him out to dinner at a nice little Chinese place we found, just on the edge of Surfers Paradise. He then left to drive home so he could get up for work at 4am the next day – I didn’t envy him that! Within 2 minutes of waving him goodbye I was fast asleep.

Une soiree Francaise

2009-06-09T09:01:00.003+01:00

Many of my friends will know that I have a penchant for all things French, particularly du pain, du vin, et du fromage! It will come as no great surprise then that I decided to hold my own French evening for a couple of my friends on 3 May. I invited Kath, Julia and Susan over chez moi to join me for une soiree Francaise with music provided by some of France’s premiere chanteuses including my favourites Vanessa Paradis, Jane Birkin and Edith Piaf, followed by an exclusive screening of La Vie En Rose, which I had purchased on DVD specially for the soiree. Kath made a special effort to dress up a la Francaise for the occasion: It was almost as if Catherine Deneuve herself had made an appearance! We began with la potage de l’oignon, followed by une salade Nicoise avec beaucoup du pain et fromage. We particularly enjoyed a magnifique piece of Rocquefort purchased from a delightful little epicerie that I have found in Mackay. Of course all this was washed down with beaucoup de vin including a Beaujolais to begin with, then a white Burgundy, a delicious Chablis and a Bordeaux. Mmmmmm! Tres delicieux! And you’ll all be gratified to know that the Milord dance has successfully been introduced to Queensland. Mon Dieu!

As you can see from the picture it was all a bit too much excitement for poor little Julia, who collapsed in a heap of Burger Rings and Nintendo. Zut alors!

The Reader

2009-06-09T07:51:00.006+01:00

The inaugural meeting of the new Mackay Friends Book Group was held on the 24th April 2009 at 18 Hodges Street, Mackay. In attendance were the founding members of the group: Helen, Susan, Lorel and myself. The chosen book for discussion was The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, which has recently been made into a film starring Kate Winslet. The book is set in Germany after the Second World War and is about the relationship between a 15 year old boy called Michael and a much older woman called Hanna. It transpires that Hanna had previously been a member of the SS during the war and eventually goes on trial for war crimes. The book does not give clear-cut easy answers. We never really know what exactly Hanna did because we only hear the various accounts of what happens. We are therefore in the same position as the jury (and also Michael himself) in deciding upon Hanna’s guilt or innocence. Hanna was not a leading member of the SS, she was not a politician: she was merely one of thousands of foot-soldiers who carried out orders. It’s an ambiguous story of what constitutes ‘evil’, and how culpable individuals are in times of war when they are ordered to do things but are not, in themselves, the orchestrators, and hold little power. It also asks questions about what the ordinary German citizen really knew about what was going on in Europe during the war. It’s an unsettling novel, and one that really makes question your own morality. I enjoyed it, despite the disquiet it made me feel, and I thought it was an interesting and different approach to books where the Holocaust is a central theme. I would recommend it, although my view was not shared by all the members of the group.

The Book Group was a great success and carries on the grand tradition of a perfect excuse for a group of friends to sit around and eat and drink copiously (not that any excuse is really needed!). The next book we will be discussing is The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham at Lorel's newly-refurbished house on Paget Street. Feel free to read it and contribute your comments to this blog!

Camping in the rain

2009-04-30T12:11:00.007+01:00

Over the Easter weekend I went camping with some friends to a campsite on the banks of the O’Connell river near a town called Proserpine, two hours drive north of Mackay. I was invited to join the group by Kathleen, who works for the council. Most Fridays I go to the council bar, called The Boozer, in the admin building on Gordon Street and Kathleen serves behind the bar. She was going for her first camping experience with her family and asked me if I’d like to come along too. There were nine of us altogether: Kathleen and her husband Barwen and their two children, Naton and Tiah. Also in the group were two couples, friends of Kathleen’s, Sarah and Warren, and John and Zoe. We also had Warren’s dog Aspro, and John’s dog Xena. We were quite a formidable team! I had met most of the gang several times before. Warren has recreated an entire pub in his garage, affectionately known as ‘The Shed’, complete with bar, bar stools, fridges, optics, jukebox, and all the paraphernalia you would expect in a real pub. I have spent several Friday nights after The Boozer propping up the bar – and the best thing is it’s the only pub in Australia where you can smoke!

I managed to find a tent in Donna’s garage, along with a sleeping bag and inflatable mattress. Unfortunately, the week leading up to the trip the weather began to take a turn for the worse and by the time we set off on Good Friday it was absolutely tipping it down (again!). When we got to the campsite the rain thankfully eased off long enough for us to put up our tents but it rained on and off for the whole weekend! Luckily the boys had come well prepared with several huge tarpaulins which we strung up around the camp for shelter. This was an absolute godsend because it would have been a rather miserable weekend otherwise. To say that the camp was well equipped is an understatement: we had a huge gas barbecue complete with oven and gas rings, five ‘eskies’ (that’s cool boxes to the Brits), a dining table and chairs, electric lights, and enough food to feed an army. Kathleen even brought her rice cooker!

Most of the activity of the weekend revolved around cooking, eating and planning what we were going to cook and eat next! We did manage to get in quite a bit of fishing too (the boys were all keen fishermen) but the fish obviously weren’t biting that weekend so I was spared the ethical dilemma of whether to eat a humanely caught wild organic fish. Barwen brought his guitar with him and we had several evenings of music and questionable singing abilities, particularly from myself, despite my encyclopaedic ‘knowledge’ of Australian pop music. Apparently Craig MacLachlan just isn’t cool! I did however manage to persuade the gang to join me in fulfilling one of my Aussie essentials as Barwen graciously and patiently managed to learn the chords to the Home and Away theme tune!

On Saturday Kathleen and I left the rest of the group fishing on the river bank to explore Proserpine, which is a sweet little town with a great shop called Colour Me Crazy which sells loads of really cool stuff, and I got my picture taken outside the ‘famous’ Proserpine Post Office. Sunday was a reasonably dry day (in comparison) so we all jumped in the cars to visit the nearby Cedar Creek Falls, a series of huge waterfalls in the Conway National Park. After all the rain we had had the falls were gushing and the waterhole below them was full of clean clear water. After a scramble up the cliffs at the side of the falls to the top, and them back down again I stripped down to my ‘boardies’ for a swim in the gorgeous water, and managed to swim right under the waterfall itself, which was an amazing if slightly painful experience!

It was a lovely weekend, despite the inclement weather, with a really great bunch of people and I’m sure we are going to have lots more fun times together.

A little bit of drama

2009-04-13T08:54:00.009+01:00

I’m just waiting at home for my lift. I am off camping to a little place called Proserpine a couple of hours North for the Easter weekend. I’ll give a full report when I get back. While I’m waiting I thought I’d catch up on what’s happened in the past few weeks.

My friend and colleague, Helen, went away for a couple of weeks to Singleton in New South Wales to visit her daughter and new-born grandson. While she was away I agreed to call in on her other daughter Susan to check she was coping being in the house by herself. One Thursday evening I went round and we had a lovely evening together in the kitchen, baking. I wanted to make sure Susan was eating properly while her Mum was away so Susan decided to bake a pie under my expert instruction. We made a delicious vegetable pie with wholemeal pastry accompanied by roast potatoes and cabbage. Mmmmmm! I think Susan’s got the cooking bug now … Helen is very pleased that she is so enthused with domestic matters.

The following week I had two theatrical experiences. On the 18th of March I went to the Mackay Entertainment Centre with Veronique to watch a play called ‘Cake’, which was written especially for the 150th Anniversary of Queensland becoming a State of Australia. It’s set in a small Queensland town and is about three women who are in a cake baking society. It was very funny with some silly musical numbers and lots of Queensland humour and lots of cake and pudding references. Most amusing!

The following Saturday I went to help out at the Kucom theatre, which is the amateur theatre that Donna, Letitia and Kath are heavily involved in. Kath asked me if I wouldn’t mind volunteering to help out serving at the bar, and I would get a free ticket to the show for my trouble. The performance was a series of three one-act plays, which were all very well done. One was a monologue, another was a radio play written by a local Mackay playwright, the third one was set in an amateur dramatics society and was very funny – this one was my favourite. I had a great night and met lots of lovely cultural people, and also felt like I was doing my bit for Donna while she is overseas, keeping her place warm for when she gets back! I signed up as a friend of Kucom so I will be helping out at future shows (though not on the stage I hasten to add!)

My third theatre experience was last weekend when I went to watch the final performances of the Youth Week improvisation workshops. Kath and Helen, in their capacities as Young People’s Librarians organised some activities for Youth Week, one of which was an improvisation workshop for teenagers facilitated by an actor who had come up from Melbourne. They held workshops on each day of the week and this culminated in a public performance on the final Saturday. It was hilarious and all the kids did really well.

On 27th March my colleagues at the Gordon White Library organised a night out and meal at a restaurant called Simon’s Wok, which, as you might have guessed, serves lots of south-east Asian cuisine. I had the vegetarian banquet, which was delicious and far more than I could eat. It was really good to spend some time with my colleagues outside of work and have a few drinks with them. They have got more nights out planned for me in the future. They reckon I need to experience a Librarians’ Big Night Out in Mackay. There will be vodka jelly shots involved: I am very scared!

Bris-Vegas and a fine romance

2009-03-26T12:48:00.005Z

I flew to Brisbane on Saturday 28th February. It’s only an hour and five minutes in the air and I managed to get myself a pretty cheap deal on the tickets. I stayed at a small hostel called the Kookaburra Inn. It was nice, clean and I had a room to myself, which was very reasonably priced. I think I am beyond sleeping in dorms now at my age. I need my sleep and my own space too much :-) The hostel was in an area of Brisbane called Spring Hill, near to Fortitude Valley which is the lively, young area, out of the CBD but apparently the place to go for a good night out. I went here on my first night for a delicious Vietnamese meal and a few drinks in the local gay bar, The Wickham.

The next day I got up (reasonably) bright and (reasonably) early and head into the city centre to do some sight seeing. The city is on the Brisbane River and it’s very easy to find your way around. My first interesting experience was stumbling upon the Brisbane City Library, which is the coolest library I’ve ever seen: it has fluorescent pink and yellow light-up shelving, a meeting room that looks like a space pod hanging suspended from the ceiling, and a loans counter that glows in the dark – what an imaginative use of space and colour to create a really welcoming and creative place. I was so glad to have the opportunity to find plenty of cultural activities so visited the University art gallery, which had some amazing aerial photography of Australia by Richard Woldendorp which was my favourite. He managed to make his photographs look like abstract paintings – really clever and beautiful.

I walked through the city Botanic Gardens and crossed the river to the South Bank and passed the man-made Streets Beach on the banks of the river, which was obviously very popular but a bit too crowded and full of noisy kids for me, so I headed for another gallery, the new Modern Art gallery. This was a bit of a disappointment because I didn’t connect very well to many of the exhibitions they had there, although large sections of it were closed while they put in new exhibitions. I did enjoy the Indigenous art gallery which had some really funny, satirical paintings juxtaposed with some sombre and poignant works. Next door was the State Library of Queensland so I had to go and have a peep in there, although by this point I was a bit exhausted so after cooling down in the very welcome air-con I went back to the hostel for a wash and a change and a little rest before my next adventure.

I caught the train from Brisbane Central to a place called Caboolture, and then onto a bus to Bribie Island to meet up with Jonathan and Shannon, a couple that had invited me to stay with them. It was fairly late when I arrived because of the long journey, so we just had a lovely Thai meal and watched a film. The next day was warm and sunny with a light breeze and the three of us drove out to the beach on Bribie Island. It’s such a beautiful place: golden sand, clear blue water, views across the ocean to the mainland with pointy purple mountains in the distance. We had a nice walk along the beach and had dinner in a little café before going for a drive round the island which is about 70% nature reserve. The other 30% is very much a rich persons place with huge great mansion houses everywhere that have their own jetties for the yachts as well as a driveway that can hold 3 cars!

I travelled back to Brisbane late on in the afternoon and then went for a date with a guy called Glen. We went out for pizza and then he drove me to a place called Mount Coot-tha, which is this big rocky mountain that sticks up on the edge of the city and which has the most spectacular views of the whole of Brisbane. It was dark by the time we got up there so we saw the city lit up, and it looked like it was covered in sparkling jewels. The stars in the sky in Australia seem much brighter than the ones back home for some reason, so the stars in the sky and the lights of the city all blended into one display. Unfortunately the pictures don’t really do it justice.

The following day I went back to Mount Coot-tha in the day time by myself on the bus. The plan was to get the bus to the top then walk down the mountain, through the other larger and supposedly better Botanical Gardens, and end up at the Planetarium. Unfortunately I must have took a wrong turn right at the beginning of my walk because the paths bore no resemblance to the map so I ended up just wandering, hoping I would find the Planetarium eventually. This did not happen and I found myself in the middle of a housing estate! I decided the only option was to go back the way I had come and ask someone. This meant going back up the mountain which was more of a vertical cliff-face, in the heat of the day. I honestly thought I was going to die right there, and no-one would even find me for weeks because I had not seen a person for the whole two hours or so I had been walking. I was creating a little waterfall down the mountain with my own sweat; not a very attractive sight. I did finally manage to get to the top again without expiring of heat exhaustion or drowning in my own perspiration and decided to take the not-so-scenic-but-at-least-it-got-me-there route along the road to the Planetarium.

I got there just in time for a show, which was very impressive and informative. When it finished I went outside to meet up with Glen again who took me back to his place for some food. He lives in a lovely old restored Queenslander in the older part of Brisbane called Graceville, which, when a Queenslander pronounces it, sounds like ‘graceful’, which I found quite pleasing. Glen was a lovely guy, really friendly, easy to talk to and fun to be with. (He’s pretty sexy too!) Alas he lives in Brisbane, which realistically is too far for it to go anywhere, but I had a great couple of days with him and he’s invited me to go and stay with him again if I want to, and he may even take me camping in the Outback in his campervan (oh, it’ll be sooo Priscilla!).
On my last day I only really had the morning before going to catch my plane and, to be honest, I was pretty knackered from all that gallivanting that I just mooched around Fortitude Valley and had a nice big fry-up for breakfast before catching the train to the airport. I had a lovely few days in a cool, vibrant, cultural city, and I even managed to squeeze in a little holiday romance too!

Hamish, the Mayor, the TV crew and a Taste of Harmony

2009-03-22T03:25:00.005Z

Well you can all breathe a sigh of relief now because I was not washed away to sea by Cyclone Hamish. Thankfully he passed us by with little damage to Mackay, but a little further down the coast a container ship was damaged in the storm and thousands of litres of oil flowed into the sea, washing up on nearby Bribie and Moreton Islands near Brisbane. This environmental catastrophe was all the more upsetting for me because only the week before I had visited the beautiful beaches of Bribie Island … but I’ll tell you more about that later.

On 25th February my celebrity status in Mackay excelled to even dizzier heights when I was invited to have morning tea with the Mayor of Mackay. I was chaperoned by the head of the library service, Jan Kilbourne, and enjoyed tea and cakes with the councillors. Col Meng, the Mayor, formally welcomed me to Mackay on behalf of the council and said that the rain we’d been having was just like the snow back in England … no, I don’t really know what he meant either but it was very pleasant to be so warmly welcomed. Col then asked if I’d like to say a few words: I was totally unprepared for this but I managed to garble something about it being a great honour etc etc and I thanked the council on behalf of both Donna and myself for enabling the exchange to go ahead. Jan later assured me that I didn’t make a complete fool of myself, so that’s OK. I am now famous right up to the very top of Mackay society! :-D

A few people have asked me to tell you more about work, so in order to satiate the desires of my adoring public I shall do just that ;-) I am the Information Services librarian at the Gordon White Library, as I think I’ve already said. I do three reference desk shifts a week, which mainly involves answering stupid questions and trying to work out why the computers aren’t working. I do occasionally get a nice interesting enquiry, which is always welcome. My counterpart at the city library is Louise, who’s very nice and enthusiastic and we get along very well. We make up the Information Services team and we are responsible for organising and running the IT classes, which are designed to help people who are not confident at using computers, particularly older people. Despite my initial terror at the prospect of ‘teaching’, I have since found that I actually quite like doing them. Louise and I are also responsible for updating the library pages of the council website, which is fairly familiar territory for me. We are also in charge of maintaining the Reference collection and the online databases, of which we have quite a lot of work to do when I go back next week. Last week we re-launched a service to school children called My Tutor, which is an online real-time instant messaging service to help kids with their homework and assignments. There were teachers, librarians and students from all over Mackay there and we even had a visit from the local TV news crew – yes my celebrity status is now being used to endorse all sorts of initiatives! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to speak on camera because I had to go and run a computing class :-( but Louise ably filled this position! There are a few other bits and bobs that I do but these are the main core tasks of my role. I think things seem to be going pretty well at work and I feel like I am making a valuable contribution, so that’s all good.

On Thursday we had a celebration for A Taste of Harmony Day, which is a celebration of multiculturalism. The library organised a huge lunch where everyone brought in food from a different country. I contributed French onion soup and baguettes. It was a really good communal experience and I stuffed my face full of lovely food. I even got curry all down my clean white shirt – luckily I didn’t have to be on Ref Desk that afternoon!

Not out of the woods yet

2009-03-08T02:56:00.005Z

High tide has been and gone and thankfully there was no storm surge. This was the most critical point because if the cyclone had passed by Mackay at the same time as the tide was at its height it could have been disastrous. We are still on Cyclone Warning, as the cyclone is still North East of Mackay and moving South. The likelihood of a storm surge has diminished but we could still be in for some destructive high winds. It's still raining on and off but nowhere near as heavily as yesterday, and the rainwater has receded. They are giving us half-hourly reports on the local radio station and I will report back when we have been given the all-clear.

Giles has been a complete moron about the whole thing. He refuses to take it seriously and seems to think it's all a load of fuss about nothing. He is so stupid he even went down to the beach this morning at high tide! I know I can be prone to over-exaggeration and drama, but everyone else is taking the warning very seriously and, as I mentioned before, several people have rung or called round to check we have adequately prepared for the worst and I know of several people who evacuated yesterday, just in case. I'd much rather take the word of Steve from next-door, who is a local and knows what he's talking about, than listen to Giles who is obviously a bit of a half-wit! Thankfully Giles is moving out on Thursday. He has decided to go back to New Zealand to look for work as the company he works for here has cut his hours due to the recession. He is so infuriating sometimes and I can't say that I will be particularly sad to see him go. I just hope the cyclone doesn't wreck the airport thereby preventing his imminent departure :-D

Living on the edge in the Purple Zone

2009-03-07T13:04:00.007Z

"Hamish" has now been reclassified as a category 5 tropical cyclone (the highest rating!) which means that it has winds of 295km/h. It is heading South-East following the line of the coast but not predicted to actually come onto the land. Everyone is listening to local radio to find out the progress of the cyclone and to check the latest advice from the council. They have announced that they advise people living in the Purple Zone to evacuate (this includes me!) but as I have no transport and live in a Queenslander which is 8 feet off the ground I have decided to stay and look after the dogs and the cat. The main threat is from a storm surge, which will cause flooding from the sea as the cyclone is due to pass close to Mackay to correspond with the high tide (which is also going to be a King Tide) sometime early tomorrow morning. Phones are still working and I've been in regular contact with Susan who lives a few streets away and who is home alone in the Purple Zone like me.

Alex and Kelly came over to check that I was OK. They helped me take the tarpaulin off the car port, and we have got masking tape ready to put across the windows if the wind gets any worse. The girls have decided to evacuate (they live in the Purple Zone too) and have gone to stay with their friend Debbie who lives on higher ground over in North Mackay. Connie, Spike and Freedow are safely ensconced in the house and everything seems as secure as it can be. Giles has been no help at all: he drank a bottle of 'jungle juice' early on this afternoon and passed out on his bed hours ago. He has been mostly oblivious to the whole thing...

On the advice of the council Emergency Procedures brochure that Alex gave me, and also with some help from Steve the next-door neighbour who came round to check that we were OK, I have put together a cyclone survival pack just in case the roof blows off the house and we are stranded due to a storm surge. It's got a spare change of clothes (wrapped up in a plastic bag), tinned food, bottles of water, first aid kit, torch, matches, toilet paper, towel and candles in it. We had a power cut for 2 hours earlier on this evening so I was glad to have already gathered a supply of candles. The power has come back on now, so fingers crossed we'll be OK. It's all very exciting! I'll keep you all posted on how things progress.

The last time a tropical cyclone actually hit Mackay was in 1918. It was one of the most destructive cyclones ever to hit Australia and flattened virtually every building in the town with the Town Hall being a notable exception. Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself!

And yes, I confess that I do feel a little bit like Dorothy Gale - I wonder if this house will land on a wicked witch?

Battening down the hatches

2009-03-07T04:07:00.006Z

You'll never guess what... it's raining again!

After a week or so of fine weather Mackay is drenched in rain yet again, only this time it's serious: we are on Cyclone Watch (whenever you hear people saying Cyclone Watch, it sounds like they're using capital letters, so I'm trying to replicate the gravity extolled upon this phrase typographically so you can get a sense of how it's used).

Tropical Cyclone Hamish is currently a category 3 storm located 250km East of Cairns and it's moving south towards Mackay. It's expected to intensify and be upgraded to a category 4 storm overnight and to be in our vicinity within the next 24 hours. I have been primed with cyclone preparation instructions from my colleagues at work so today we have been moving all loose items from the garden and putting them into the garage; this is to prevent strong winds from picking up debris and hurling it at your windows. Giles and I have also prepared a Cyclone Survival Kit (more captial letters!), consisting of torches, candles, food and water etc in case we lose power. There are evacuation plans which we have to study in case the call goes out for us to evacuate the area, and we are expected to monitor the local TV or radio to check for updates. As an employee of Mackay Regional Council I am also on the list of emergency volunteers should the need arise for the disaster plans to be put into operation.

I know that it's totally inappropriate but I am secretly rather thrilled at the prospect of a cyclone. Never having been witness to such an event I am intrigued as to what it will be like to experience something like this. The rain has already been falling heavily for 5 hours and the roads are starting to turn into rivers. Next door's garden is more like a lake (see the picture) and the rain is drumming so loudly on the tin roof that you have to shout to make yourself heard.

Gale force winds are expected for Mackay even if the cyclone itself does not pass right over us and, even if it stays out at sea we will still not necessarily be safe: depending on the timing, if the cyclone corresponds with high tide we could witness a storm surge, where the sea is driven onto the land by the wind. As the house is only a couple of streets away from the beach this could spell catastrophe for the Librarian Down Under ...

Back to the jungle

2009-02-21T05:27:00.007Z

Today is yet another dreary grey wet day, and there's nothing much going on so it will give me a chance of catching up with my blogging and getting you all up-to-date.

Last Saturday I went to the Botanical Gardens with Veronique for an evening with the Friends of the Gardens. The Friends are volunteers who help out with planting, organising events and fundraising etc. They also have social events every so often and Veronique kindly took me along. A few of the botanists gave us a guided walk around some of the new parts of the gardens and afterwards there was a barbecue and drinks as we watched the sun go down over the gardens. They also gave out the calendar of events for the coming year so I think I'll go and help out at some of their planting days at some point later on, it sounds fun, and will be a good place to meet new people.

On the Sunday I went on another trip to Eungella. This time I went with Alex and Kelly (the lesbians from Scunthorpe), Jodie, their friend who was over for a visit, and Debbie, Alex's work colleague.

We stopped off at Pinnacle for one of their famous Pinnacle Pies - I had the veggie option obviously. It was a red hot sunny day so the place was packed with people who had taken a trip out. There was a guy there singing live music which was really rather good.

We went to a few different places that I hadn't visited on my last visit to Eungella. The weather was much nicer on this visit and it was bloody hot, but as soon as you get up to the top of the mountains it suddenly cools down several degrees and makes it much more bearable.

It had also been raining a lot the previous couple of weeks, so the creeks and waterfalls were all gushing nicely. This made for some good photo opportunities, but unfortunately it wasn't so good when we went in search of platypuses. Broken Creek is the place where you are most likely to see them but because of all the rain the creek was very high, fast-flowing and murky. We waited and waited and waited but alas it proved to be a platypus-free day.
On the way back we stopped near a small township called Finch Hatton and pulled up at a beautiful secluded spot next to a river and went for a swim. The water was crystal clear and lovely and cool. I could have stayed there all day! Further down the road is Finch Hatton Gorge; unfortunately due to all the rain the road to it was flooded, so we'll have to go back there another time as it's supposed to be stunning. I'll keep you posted.

Trying to catch up... Edith Piaf and cakes.

2009-02-21T04:49:00.007Z

It's really hard writing this blog. The thing is that the more things I do the less time I have to write my blog, and the less time I have to write my blog the more there is to write each time. If I wrote something on my blog every day then I'd basically not have much to tell you because I'd be spending my every waking hour sat at my computer desk! So please be patient with me. I will try my best to catch up. Just to put you in the picture we are currently two weeks behind schedule. OK, here goes.

Two weekends ago (Friday 6th February 2009) I went to the Mackay Entertainment Centre with Helen and Veronique who work with me, and Helen's friend Lorel, to watch a show called Wild Women of Song. The performer was a woman called Kelly Auty and she sang songs from the 20th Century's most influential female artists, and each artist was introduced by a slight costume change, and a potted history of their life. She did Janis Joplin, Josephine Baker, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Etta James, Marlene Dietrich and many others. It was quite original and lots of fun. The highlight for me was when she did Edith Piaf and of all the great songs she could have picked she maginficently performed the Book Group Anthem - Milord! Oh I nearly fell off my chair with glee! Wish you could have all been there with me to do the Da da da dee dee dum, Da da da dee da dum bits!! Rest assured I sand them as loud as I could to compensate and managed to get the whole room clapping along. Oh what joy.

Playing the drums for the evening was a guy called Nick Carrafa, and it was bugging me all night where I recognised that name from. Eventually I realised that he used to be in Neighbours, back in the days of Scott and Charlene and Plain Jane Superbrain! He played a guy called Tony Romeo. Unfortunately I was a little bit tipsy by the end of the night and didn't manage to get my picture taken with him to add to my collection of semi-famous Australians I've met. Better luck next time!

The following day (with a slightly sore head after consuming copious amounts of vino) I went to the Botanical Gardens with Kath and Julia. Unfortunately it was absolutely pissing down with rain (again!) so walking round the gardens was a bit of a stupid choice of things to do. Needless to say after 15 minutes we were soaked to the skin, so we headed for the cafe instead where Kath and Julia had chocolate milkshakes, I had a big black coffee and we each selected a little patisserie. I was jealous of Kath's choice in the end which was a little Key Lime Pie. Later on I went over to Kath's where we watched the weirdest film called Hedwig and the Angry Itch (which is about a mad drag queen) and polished off a bottle of Bombay Sapphire between us. So the day wasn't a complete wash out after all!

Rain, rain go away ...

2009-02-12T09:18:00.005Z

It's bloody raining. Again! For those of you back home in the UK that are suffering in the blizzards of snow and are irked by visions of me lazing by the pool soaking up the sun day in day out you may enjoy a pleasurable feeling of schadenfreude when I divulge the truth about the weather here in Queensland recently: In the last three weeks there have been only two dry days with no rain, and for many of those days it has rained and rained and rained virtually without a break. Today, for example, dawned bright and clear with the promise of a delightful warm day ahead. Just after lunchtime the sky darkened and grey clouds rolled in and it began to rain... It's been raining non-stop now for 7 hours. And it's not your regular British drizzle, it is absolutely pissing it down! There's been a full-blown tropical storm today with thunder and lightning, the full works.

We have been fairly lucky in Mackay: 60% of Queensland is flooded. Some places have been cut off for weeks and have had to have food airlifted in. The roads north of Mackay to Townsville are impassable, and Cairns is also cut off. This time last year Mackay suffered terrible floods that wrecked lots of homes (this house that I am living in was flooded too!). The heavy rain then coincided with a king tide, which is an extra-large tide, combined with winds blowing the sea inland.

The weekend before last it rained constantly all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday without stopping. There is nothing you can do because the rain is to heavy to go out in, you would be soaked in a minute, and you can't wear a waterproof jacket because it's much too hot and humid and you would sweat so much that you would be soaked anyway (believe me, I tried it - yuk!). So all you can do is sit in the house listening to the raindrops falling on the tin roof of the verandah, gazing out at the wet, grey, flooded garden, which is not much fun really.

I suppose I can't complain too much. It is the wet season after all, and the plants and grass seem to like the rain, even if I am totally over it! So enjoy your schadenfreude while it lasts, because the rainy season is due to end in March and then it will be blues skies and sunshine all the way through until November, and you can bet your bottom dollar I will be crowing about it constantly. Ha Ha Ha!

Advance Australia fair

2009-02-09T12:23:00.015Z

“Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free…”

January 26th was Australia Day, which is a public holiday. Kath Krazylegs and Susan Stormcloud organised a party for me at my house to ensure that I got the full Aussie experience. There was a barbie, of course (which we actually threw shrimps on hee hee), and Australian flags everywhere, Australian tattoos on everyone’s bodies, and the Triple J Hottest 100, which is a countdown of the most popular songs of the year on the Triple J radio station. Unfortunately no-one else shared my keenness to put on Craig McLachlan, or the Home and Away theme tune :-( However I managed to make my contribution to all things Australian by wearing my Jason Donovan T-shirt!
The party began at about lunchtime and went on until early evening (it gets dark at 6.30 here, even in summer). Kath’s friends, Belinda, John and Charlie were there, along with her daughter Julia and Charlie’s daughter Natalie. The week previously I had made some new English friends at the council, Alex and Kelly, who are from Scunthorpe and have also recently moved out here. They brought their friend Chanel. My boss Aggie and her husband Mike also came with their daughter, and of course there was a whole menagerie of animals, Connie, Spike, Freedom and Kath's little dog Susie all joined in the celebrations with gusto! There was loads of food, and loads more alcohol, kept cool in the ‘eskies’ (cool boxes). We drank Japanese Slippers (Midori, Cointreau and lime juice with crushed ice) and I gave the day an English twist by making a jug of Pimms and lemonade as we played cricket on the lawn! It felt especially English when it kept pissing down every five minutes – it’s not a proper barbecue in England unless it’s raining, is it? Kath's dog Susie enjoyed the game of cricket immensly and proved to be the best fielder on the team!

Bloody ripper mate! Git the footie out the ute and crack open a tinny, ya great hunk o' spunk!

Rumble in the jungle

2009-02-05T12:22:00.006Z

One of my new work colleagues, Veronique, very kindly offered to take me to Eungella, which is a National Park an hour and a half’s drive from Mackay. On the way we went through Marian, a small town which has a museum dedicated to the famous Australian opera singer, Nellie Melba (after which the Peach Melba dessert is named). The drive took us past the sugar plantations which stretch for miles around and upon which the region’s economy is largely based, and then on up the picturesque Pioneer valley. At the head of the valley the mountains of the National Park rise up very steeply and are covered with sub-tropical rainforest, while the flat valley bottom has been cleared for farming. The mountain ridges are very dramatic and are often covered with mist and clouds, which gives the place its name; Eungella (pronounced yung guller) means “Land of the clouds” in the language of the Goreng Goreng people that originally lived in this area.

The last section of the drive winds up the side of the mountains on a narrow, snake-like road right to the top, where you get the most magnificent view of the valley below. There is a small township at the peak, which has a few hotels and a hair-raising runway where people jump off the side of the mountain to hang-glide. Veronique dropped me off here so I could walk through the rainforest and she drove to pick me up at the other end of the two-mile trail. It was amazing to walk through here, and also to know I was the only person to have done so for several days because every now and then as I walked I could feel thin strands of gossamer woven by spiders across the path. I didn’t see a single person for the hour or so I walked through the forest, and all I could hear were the sounds of the creatures, trees and plants all around me – it was truly magical!

Further along the road we stopped by a creek for a little picnic where I spotted my first kookaburra (or rather I heard it cackling long before I actually located where it was perched). We then went to the waters edge and stared into the large pool. After about half an hour of watching I saw what we had come here for – a duck-billed platypus!! They are much smaller than I imagined, about the size of a guinea pig, but flatter, with webbed paddle-like feet and of course the tell-tale wide, flat beak. They are quite shy creatures that only come out at dawn and dusk and don’t stay on the surface for very long; they spend most of their time under water searching for food in the mud. You can spot them by seeing where they disturb the mud at the bottom of the pool, and the tiny bubbles they let out. We were lucky enough to see five different platypuses at various points along the creek – they are so cute and I could have stayed there watching them for hours but unfortunately it just got too dark to see anything else. I will definitely take this home as one of the highlights of my Australian adventure.

To see more of my bushtucker trial, go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34157494@N02/show/

Mooching around Mackay

2009-02-01T03:33:00.009Z

On my second weekend in Mackay I decided to explore the city centre and orientate myself in my new surroundings. I'll fill you in on a little bit of information about the history of Mackay: It is built at the mouth of the Pioneer River, and was first settled by a man called John Mackay in the 1860s. Its main industries are sugar cane and coal mining; the former is declining, the latter is booming. The town was hit by a cyclone in 1918 which flattened virtually all the buildings, with the exception of the town hall (pictured) which survived. Consequently the town was rebuilt in the Art Deco style and many of these lovely period buildings are still around.

The main shopping street is called Victoria Street and is lined with palm trees (pictured), although most people seem to prefer to do their shopping in the new air-conditioned shopping centre, Canelands.

The south bank of the Pioneer River (where the city centre is) has recently been redeveloped and a riverside promenade has been built, along with two artificial lagoons that provide outdoor swimming facilities and which are very popular. Mackay seems to be undergoing a bit of a renaissance and there is evidence of a lot of investment and development here.

The day I went exploring Mackay was the hottest, sunniest day so far. In the heat of the day you can just feel your skin blistering so I had to
keep reapplying my factor 50 sun screen, even though I was dripping with sweat and, mixed with the sun screen I ended up covered in a sort of white glue!

Later in the evening I went out to Mackay Harbour with Kath and Susan for some drinks and a walk alongside the new marina, which looks all very swanky and sophisticated (just like me!) Unfortunately you can't sit on the beach here because it is full of sandflies and they will eat you alive apparently - oh well, it looks pretty though!

After a few gin and tonics we headed back into town (a 20 min taxi ride) and headed for the Indian restaurant, as recommended by Kath. Now, coming from Leeds I have eaten in many Indian restaurants in my time, and eaten a myriad of curries. How unprepared I was therefore for the cullinary delights that I experienced in this very modest and unassuming eaterie which served me one of the best curries I have ever eaten! Everything was so fresh and clean, the onion bhajis were obviously specially made just for us, and I don't normally rate dhal that much but this stuff was just heavenly. And it was BYO (Bring Your Own booze - the Aussie initialise everything!), so it made for a very reasonable night out. If any of you come out to visit me this will be on our list of places to go.

After drinking the three bottles of wine we took to the Indian, on top of several gin and tonics I had consumed at the marina, when we got to the next bar (The Whitsunday Hotel), for some inexplicable reason I found myself drinking Malibu and pineapple (I think the palm trees must have put the idea into my head). In the restaurant we had met up with this lovely couple on the table next to us, the female half of which turned out to be the daughter of one of the women who works with me at Gordon White - yes, it's that "small town fever" thing! There was some live music on, and a pool table and lots of drinking and merriment. At about 1am I decided to call it a night when said girl began writhing about on the pool table like a poor-man's Britney Spears after one too many frozen cocktails! Nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable introduction to Mackay, my new home for the next 12 months.

To see more pictures of Mackay, click on this link to my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34157494@N02/show/

First few days at work

2009-01-28T12:03:00.006Z

I have started work at the Gordon White Library in Mount Pleasant, on the North Bank of the Pioneer River, and about a fifteen minute car journey from home (it would be about 30 minutes on my bike but I haven't been that brave yet - the Mackay drivers are shocking!). I get a lift every morning from Susan's mum, the very kind Helen Page, who is the Children's Librarian at Gordon White.

My boss, Aggie, is originally from Scotland and she has been very welcoming and accommodating to me as I assimilate to my new role as Information Services Librarian. Aggie has devised a two week induction plan for me where I spend an hour or two with each member of the team to find out what they do in each bit of the service.
I have been put onto the Procedures Committee, which decides what each procedure Pacifically entails. My previous work colleagues will be amused to hear that they have documented procedures for absolutely everything here - there's hardly anything for me to organise! They even have a procedure for creating new procedures - how marvellous is that? Helen, I will be putting that one on the agenda as soon as I get back!

As you will all have seen, I was ceremoniously inducted into the Gordon White Wig Club. I thought I loked rather fetching! Do I look chookie in that wig? I think you'll find I look very good for my age! Evidently all librarians have to go through this ritual of having their photo taken whilst sporting the library wig - no really, I saw photos of all the staff with it on, some looking more glamourous than others I have to say. There were even shots of Aggie and Donna wearing it!

Speaking of Donna, bless her, I must tell you this: I hear you guys in the UK have been having what Christa Ackroyd on the Yorkshire News likes to call a "Cold Snap", and Donna e-mailed me to say that she thought my heating wasn't working properly - I said, sorry love but it's on full blast, you'll just have to put another jumper on and get a hot water bottle in your bed! Oh how I chuckled. I'd love to say she'll get used to the temperatures, but to be perfectly honest after living in the UK for 31 years I still freeze to death every winter. Oh well ... maybe the summer will make up for it (??!!)

Thankfully the Gordon White library is air-conditioned. It's been raining here quite a lot and after it stops raining it gets really muggy and damp. I arrived at a full staff meeting the other day having walked the 30 minutes to the City library where the meeting was, and staggered into the meeting room like I had just clambered out of a river full of sweat, with a face as red as a kangaroo's arse! They all think I'm mental for walking 2 miles, and I'm beginning to come round to their way of thinking! If you wear a kagoul it may protect you from the rain, but when you take it off you are soaked with your own sweat instead - nice! So I guess it's six of one and half-a-dozen of the other.

So, possums, I think that's about all for now from your favourite galah. If you want to see more pics of where I work, click on this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34157494@N02/show/ Unfortunately Flickr only let you have three sets of photos unless you pay more and I'm not shelling out any dosh peoples, so you'll just have to get over it. All future photos will be in my main 'Photostream'!! The newest ones should be at the beginning. I've got lots more to tell you so be sure to check back again soon ...

First excursion with new friends

2009-01-15T11:56:00.007Z

Kath took me on my first tourist excusion to the Northern Beaches which are, yes you guessed it, to the north of Mackay! As is is still the school holidays she brought her daughter Julia along with her, who is an absolute darling!

Shoal Point is Kath's favourite Mackay beach so we started off there. There's a big sign by the beach which says 'Beware of box jellyfish' and as you can imagine this perturbed me somewhat. However Kath reassured me that box jellyfish were hardly ever found in the sea at this point unless the wind was blowing from a certain direction, and if there had been a lot of rain (which there hadn't). The sea was just too inviting to quibble about this for too long so we had a great time splashing about in the shallows (I still didn't want to go too deep for fear of sharks other jellyfish, deadly sea urchins, stone fish or manta rays - I wish my work colleagues hadn't bought me that book of Australia's Deadliest Creatures!!) As you can see from my checklist on the right, we thankfully didn't spot any deadly box jellyfish that day (phew!).

Kath had brought provisions for my first proper Aussie barbecue on the beach Barbies are so popular that the local council provide them at picnic spots free of charge for people to use. And before you all ask, with me being a veggie, we didn't "throw another shrimp on the barbie!!" in fact Kath's neighbour keeps chickens and had provided us with a box of eggs "fresh from the chook's bum" which we ate instead with mushrooms, spring onions, and Kath and Julia also had bacon. The barbecues here aren't like the ones back home, they are gas powered with a flat metal plate, like a hot plate. I'll bring you more barbecue facts as I get them, barbecue-spotters!

After the barbie we went to the local watering hole (i.e. pub) for a well earned drink. Kath and I had a Corona, and Julia had lemonade. We all had a lovely day out and it was a great introduction to Mackay and the beautiful surrounding area.

Afterwards we all went back to Kath's house for gin and tonics. Julia loves Hannah Montana and has everything with Hannah Montana on it. Kath served up a delicious Egyptian creation called dukkah, which is a mixture of sesame seeds, salt and spices mixed together in a dish. You get a bit of bread, dip it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and then dip it into the dry dukkah - delicious! Later on in the evening we were joined by the lovely Susan Stormcloud. Susan is a trainee librarian whose Mum, Helen, works at the Gordon White library with me. We sat up and drank gin and wine until way after dark and Julia had gone to bed. Susan then (inappropriately) phoned her ex-boyfriend who (conveniently) is a taxi driver, and he (obligingly) took Susan and I home. All in all an excellent opening into my new life Down Under. It was certainly nice, different, unusual!

To see more piccies of my trip to the Northern Beaches with Kath and Julia, go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34157494@N02/sets/72157612546467833/show/

My new home

2009-01-12T03:54:00.005Z

When I arrived at Mackay airport I was greeted by Donna's friend Kath, who has been very friendly and helpful in my first few days here in Mackay. She drove me to Donna's house in Scanlan Street which is to be my new home for the next 12 months.

The house is detached and made of wood, with most of the living space on the first floor. It's big, spacious and perfect for living in a hot climate.

There's a nice big garden, and I was most impressed to see a lovely pool round the back - I think I'll be making plenty of use of that over the coming year!

A wooden veranda reaches around two sides of the house and that seems to be the place where most of the socialising goes on. It's covered so it's nice to sit out there in the heat of the day and get some shade from the very hot sun, but also allowing a nice breeze to cool you down.

I am sharing the house with Donna's two dogs, Connie and Spike. They are both really sweet-natured collies and seem to have taken to me rather well.

Freedom the cat is the master of the house and I think I am going to get on with him really well. He's a lovely grey tabby cat who meows a lot when he's hungry, which makes a change from poor mute Smokey.

In addition to the three pets I also live with Giles who's living over here now but is originally from New Zealand. He also seems very nice and although we may seem like a bit of an odd couple, I think we are going to be just fine living here.

Just along the road from the house is the Town Beach (about 5 minutes walk). The tide goes out a very long way so if you want to go in the sea you have to time it right, and also watch out for deadly box jellyfish which are in the area and can give you a nasty sting apparently.

The town centre is about a 25 minute walk away and seems to have everything I'll need. The supermarkets also seem to cater fairly well for vegetarians, so I don't think I'll have a problem obtaining stuff to cook on Donna's big stainless steel range cooker!

Oh, and did I mention there's a pool (ha ha!)

Everything is just perfect and I think it's going to be great living here.

If you want to see more pictures of the house and the pets, visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34157494@N02/sets/72157612416992633/show/

Singapore update

2009-01-11T05:21:00.008Z

My trip to the island of Sentosa was a bit of a disaster! The cable cars were a right rip-off so I decided to get to the island on the monorail instead, which was cheaper and quite fun. It seems that the island is currently being turned into a luxury resort so most of it looked more like a building site rather than the idyllic island retreat I was hoping for (see the picture on the left). All the free attractions such as the nature walks and gardens were closed and I refused to pay into the rubbish looking touristy activities so decided just to wander around the island itself on foot.

Unfortunately it was when I decided upon this course of action that the heavens opened and I experienced my first tropical storm. I was drenched to the skin! There was very little to do that was indoors that you didn't have to pay for so I decided to cut my losses and hop back on the monorail and explore other parts of the city I hadn't yet visited.

Chinatown was amazing, really colourful and full of decorations for the impending Chinese New Year celebrations. There were red lanterns and pictures of cows everywhere (next year is the year of the Ox, apparently). So I had a lot of fun traipsing round looking at all of that, and, yes you guessed it, more eating!

I then headed for Kampong Glam, the Malay part of Singapore (That's Bussorah Mall in the photo on the left), and Little India, which is nearby. (The Hindu temple of Sri Veeramakaliamman is pictured below) More food stalls and little restaurants in this quarter, but it's very interesting that each part has its own unique character and smells. The architecture is different, and the people milling around in the streets also differ depending which quarter you are in. Singapore is truly a multi-cultural city. I was utterly fascinated by everything and had a great time just wandering around and drinking it all in. It also seems to be a very safe city and, although it's quite popular with tourists, it didn't feel like everything was deliberately directed at tourists, and you didn't get any hassle walking around the streets with people trying to sell you things. A very pleasant place. I liked it.

See more pics of my visit to Singapore here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34157494@N02/sets/72157612300160469/show/

The following day, my last one in Singapore, I headed out to the Botanic Gardens, while passing on the way along Orchard Street, which is the Singaporean equivalent of Oxford Street. The place is a mecca for shoppers and each shopping centre is a temple to capitalism. This isn't really my thing, but it was interesting to catch a glimpse of it before quickly moving on.

The Botanic Gardens are just outside the city centre and they are incredible. I was so glad to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city to this oasis of peace and nature. They have an orchid garden which is just incredible, and the orchids were in full flower. They have a VIP section which is where they have orchids that have been named after famous people that have visited the gardens. There's a Queen Elizabeth orchid, which is pink and white, and there's a Margaret Thatcher one which is the colour of rotten meat! Ha Ha! Unfortunately I left my camera in the hotel that day so haven't got any pictures of the gardens, but I thoroughly enjoyed that day.

I had had enough of gallavanting, and my feet were bloody killing me after wandering down every single street on the whole island so it was time for the next leg of my adventure to begin as I headed off to the airport to fly to Brisbane, and then on to Mackay......

Singapore sling

2009-01-05T01:29:00.003Z

Well I am here in Singapore on the first leg of my journey to Oz.

The flight, as predicted, was horrific, boring, and I did not get a wink of sleep the whole way here. When I arrived it was 8am and couldn't check into my hotel until 3pm, so I had virtually the whole day to go exploring. Unfortunately I was so exhausted that all I wanted to do was sleep, but that wasn't an option so I heroically battled on, soaking up the sights and sounds of Singapore. January is the wet season and within an hour of arriving I had experienced my first downpour, although it wasn't too bad really. The air is very humid though and the main activity I have been doing is sweating! Not very pleasant when you haven't had a wash for 24 hours! Lovely!

My hotel is right slap bang in the middle of the red light district, but it's quite a cool place full of interesting shops and food places selling lovely Singaporean dishes.

The place smells wonderful, just like my kitchen when I am making Laksa noodles, which is understandable because Laksa noodles are one of the Singaporean delicacies here, so one of the first things I did was find myself a little noodle shop and ate some! Delicious!

I eventually managed to find the Raffles Hotel, which is very famous for inventing the Singapore Sling cocktail. The lobby was so wonderful (mainly because it was air conditioned and I looked like a dirty rat that had drowned in its own sweat) so I stayed and had a cocktail, which came with a little bowl of olives and a bowl of cashew nuts. It was sumptuous, and despite my appearance I did attempt to look as sophisticated as possible. When it came to paying the bill (for one drink!) I ended up emptying my entire wallet of all Singaporean currency (it cost $25.90 - about 14 quid!) but it had to be done really and as far as I am concerned it was money well spent.

When I finally did manage to check in I was so utterly exhausted that I had a shower and fell fast asleep. I didn't wake up again until 4am so I obviously needed to catch up. This now means that my body clock is still not quite adjusted to local time but if I keep it like this at least I might be able to manage to get up early for work for a change once I get to Mackay! (Hmmmm - how likely is that???) It's only 9am here and I have already walked around the local area (called Geylang) for 2 hours.

I had more noodles for breakfast in a little vegetarian hawker stand I found. Hawkers are like little mini food courts with lots of little stalls selling different stuff. They are very cheap and the food was delicious. I think I could get used to this!

Later I am going to visit the island of Sentosa which is just off the south coast and you get to it by cable car. Then I', going to have a look around Chinatown and Little India before finding somewhere nice for my evening meal. As you will have gathered most of my sightseeing seems to revolve around where my next meal is coming from, but seriously, if you could smell the food all around you like I can you would understand why - I am constantly hungry and want to try everything, although I did draw the line at the stir fried frog I saw today!

Ciao for now xx

Having a breather

2008-12-07T22:49:00.000Z

I am currently resting from the manic preparations for my trip Down Under. In this relatively quiet hiatus from the frantic maelstrom of the last couple of weeks, or even months, I have today enjoyed a time of relaxation and calm. I am sure tomorrow will return to the usual high octane level of activity as there is still loads to be done, but the worst is now out of the way, and I am going to endeavour to pass the next three weeks in excited but tranquil anticipation. I will keep you updated.