Getting Out And About or More Positives From Covid

I recently read The Battle of Brisbane – Australians and the Yanks At War. See here: .https://wordpress.com/post/brizzymaysbooksandbruschettasite.wordpress.com/5664

One of the positives from Covid and its lingering presence is that in order to survive and remain relevant organisations of all shapes and sizes are having to change with the times. A case in point, the Museum of Brisbane, totally seperate to the Queensland Museum, has recently added some fascinating events to retain interest and to educate.

One of these is a Walking In Wartime tour that steps back through time to look at Brisbane during World War 2 and includes the sites of the infamous Battle of Brisbane.

Other venues include a Dance Hall, a Church which was instrumental in the supply of war brides, Aussie Code breaking secrets, and the Douglas MacArthur Museum.

Now just hold on : 25 years living in Brissi and I’ve never previously heard of this place. What’s going on????

Of course I’ve booked.

The other innovative event I’ve only discovered with 24 hours notice is the Farmgate Trail in the Scenic Rim, only 90 minutes west of Brisbane. The idea being that you pack the esky and travel west to meet primary producers selling their wares : meet the farmer and buy from the paddock with fresh vegetables, cheeses, wines, and camel and beef meat on offer.

What a great little excursion, and a fun way to show the kiddies where their food comes from.

On a personal note Brisbane is back out of Lockdown. Just in the nick of time too as I attended my zoom book club in pjs with a glass of wine…..

Kultya At Last.

I was planning on sharing my pleasure having attended several live performances in the past fortnight. You can tell that everyone is as pleased as punch to be out and about when a capacity crowd sings along with an Irish pipe band…..

Margaret Fulton The Musical was great fun, probably more so because the young performers were obviously overjoyed to be back on stage, which rubbed off on the audience. Who was Margaret Fulton? She was the cook who taught a generation of women that meals did not have to consist of meat and three veg. She introduced Paprika and other spices to the palates of Australian women as well as the Pressure Cooker. ( Never used one as I remember as a young child a catastrophe in my mother’s kitchen).

The local Community Theatre put on a production, Women Of Their Word, featuring the writings of Australian women such as Judith Wright, Dorothy Hewitt, Mary Gilmore and others, who were not only poets but activists. Wonderful stuff and included Devonshire Tea.

And an Irish pub band had everyone in fine spirits with their songs of rebels and treason. Nothing warms the heart like the odd rebel or two.

Yes, I was going to tell you all about these events which reignited an old girls spirit. Unfortunately, South East Queensland has just gone back into a hard three day Lockdown. Hoo-bloody-ray.

Just as well I managed to pick up a few books and DVDs on the weekend……

PS. Stay courageous fellow Brisbanites. It was time to start on a new project anyway.

Darmongah Lookout Park At Mount Mee, Qld.

Mount Mee is approximately 90 minutes drive north west of Brisbane and is part of the beautiful D’Aguilar Range with spectacular views of the Glasshouse Mountains. 

View from Woodford

From the top of Mount Mee, expansive and picturesque views of seaside Caloundra and beautiful Moreton Bay can be enjoyed – except on rainy, misty days like when we visited. 

As well as the scenery there are numerous road stalls selling fresh eggs, pumpkins, and local honey. You know I just have to stop at these, don’t you?

The biggest win on this road trip was discovering the Darmongah Lookout Park on Mount Mee Road. After all the rain the rolling hills were green and littered with fat, fluffy lambs. No photos : it was too pea soupy.

Attached to the Lookout is the Mount Mee War Memorial which is just delightful.

The war memorial is in three parts; a memorial dedication, a growing pine tree and the Mount Mee Roll Of Honour. 

The pine tree was planted on Anzac Day in 2008 by local war veteran, Mount Mee resident Sapper Len Pedwell. The tree is a direct descendant of the last standing pine tree on the Gallipoli Peninsula that was destroyed by gunfire in the battle that later became known as the Battle of Lone Pine. 

Behind the tree a large iron bark log (Eucalyptus crebra), in honour of the township’s timber felling history, under an open gable-roofed shelter, which bears the Mt Mee Roll of Honour, for the First World War, Second World War, Korea, Malaya, Vietnam and East Timor.

The boulder carries three plaques: one commemorating the dedication of the memorial; one describing the Battle of Lone Pine; and the centrepiece, stating:- “We remember with gratitude those who served without counting the cost, in times when people’s freedoms, beliefs and ways of life were under threat. Lest We Forget”.

And then there is this :

Sir – would it help if I shed a tear

I swear it’s the first time since this time last year

My spine is a tingle – my throat is all dry

As I stand to attention for all those who died

I watch the flag dancing half way down the pole

That damn bugle player sends chills to my soul

I feel the pride and the sorrow – there’s nothing the same

As standing to attention on ANZAC Day

So Sir – on behalf of the young and the free

Will you take a message when you finally do leave

To your mates that are lying from Tobruk to the Somme

The legend of your bravery will always live on

I’ve welcomed Olympians back to our shore

I’ve cheered baggy green caps and watched Wallabies score

But when I watch you marching (Sir) in that parade

I know these are the memories that never will fade

So Sir – on behalf of the young and the free

Will you take a message when you finally do leave

It’s the least we can do (Sir) to repay the debt

We’ll always remember you – Lest We Forget

Damian (Dib) Morgan 1998

It really is coming across the unexpected that makes these little road trips so extraordinary.

Book Of The Week

We’ve all heard “over-paid, oversexed and over here” said of the American servicemen in Australia during WW2.

I had not heard their retort, a popular toast which went : “To Australia – the land where the flowers have no fragrance, the birds no melody and the women no virtue.”

The Battle of Brisbane by Peter A Thompson and Robert Macklin is a well researched account of two days in November in 1942 during which an American military policeman shot dead an Australian soldier and wounded six others and a civilian. There were also many hand-to-hand fights where many on both sides were seriously injured.

To be honest it is not pretty reading.

This is a Brisbane I do not know, and times I’m not familiar with though I have friends who remember their school days with a bomb shelter in the playground. It is also interesting that all the landmarks mentioned are still spoken of by older folk and I am aware of where they would have been situated.

MacArthur’s stay in Brisbane is also covered – and is also not pretty. Many years ago I remember having a swish meal overlooking the Story Bridge and being told the room was old Doug’s HQs. Do you think I can remember where it is?

Similar View

Fascinating read but tragic. Just like the riots involving negro soldiers in Townsville, the bombing of Darwin, and the mini submarines in Sydney Harbour, so much of this information was hushed up at the time and when finally revealed lacked details. The identity of both the dead Australian and the American involved only came to light with the publication of this book in 2000.

Just wish that they’de hush up Ms Markle and Harry Windsor.

Sculpture In The Vines @ Sirromet

Despite the easing of restrictions the four walls started to cave in. Can’t say that the oppressive humidity provided much inspiration either. So damn uncomfortable in so many ways leading to an urgent escape …..to the local winery.

Sirromet Winery at Mount Cotton is only a ten minute drive south and is considered very swank. The grapes aren’t grown on site but rather within the Granite Belt, south towards the NSW border.

In the mid 1860’s Mount Cotton was mostly chicken and vegetable farms, and although a few of each still exist it is now mostly suburban with several tracks of land dedicated to koala and wildlife conservation.

Sirromet opened in 2000 and like many wineries these days brought in big name chefs and cultivated fine dining. It is also a popular function and wedding venue, and has a good reputation in viticulture study programs.

Like most businesses they have had to diversify and Sirromet recently installed glamping accomodation – as in sexy tents – and is the venue for big music events. Midnight Oil next month. Bizarre, Peter Garrett has to be ten years older than I!

So here’s the irony : did not have one glass of grape juice this visit. Too hot, too slimy, just too much.

We enjoyed following the Sculpture Trail which is a walk that takes you through the grape vines, the lavender garden, and the picnic areas – just make sure to take water with you!

There are over twenty pieces of art amongst the rolling hills of Sirromet and if you take the Little People there is an activity to keep them interested too.

What to do with your used coffee pods

It must have been hot : not one wallaby spotted and we knocked off a bottle of water. Sad days, I tell you……

Sad.

I cannot tell you how good it was to get out and explore.

NOTE

If you miss Sculpture In The Vines I can most certainly recommend combining a tour of the winery with a wine tasting, followed by a charcuterie board at the Cellar Door.

Pandemic Quilt Project

The Greater Brisbane area has just come out of a three day Lockdown albeit with restrictions. Having been flat chat for the last month I relished the enforced slow down: movies during the day, toasties for tea and never picked up a broom.

It reminded me once again of all the satisfying projects that came out of Lockdown 2020. ( Don’t look at me like that : stuffing and baking a cauliflower does not qualify as a project apparently).

Back in autumn, when Lockdown was as its strictest, ABC Radio Brisbane put out a call to Queenslanders to contribute a small textile square which would be made into a ‘quarantine quilt’.

The only criteria were that the squares needed to measure a particular size, they should feature joyful and colourful motifs, and they needed to represent people’s isolation experiences during the pandemic, with a focus on what made them happy.

Too easy? Not for this black duck who failed art and sewing and was asked to leave cookery class in High School.

Courtesy of Queensland State Library.

The submitted squares came in by the hundreds.

“Woven into each square are the personal stories of individuals who have not only struggled through life in lockdown, but who have also kept a sense of humour about life in a pandemic. The finished squares, mostly depicting the lives of women around the state, feature everything from going bra-less at home, a plumber doing repairs, gardens, books, cups of tea, jigsaw puzzles, and face masks.”

Once all the squares were collected they were attached to backing thereby constructing the quilt, which is now hanging proudly in the Queensland State Library.

What I really like is that each square includes the details of how it came to be : who created it, how it was created, and what it represents.

Courtesy of Queensland State Library

For more info, including a breakdown of each and every square, go here:

https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/queensland-quarantine-quilt-comes-state-librarys-collection

Considering I neither knit nor crochet I found this fascinating.

Now that’s what I call a PROJECT.

A New Year – A New Decade

Haven’t managed to stay up till midnight for over forty years. It’s one of those quirks for being a bright eyed, bushy tailed morning person. 

Don’t set New Year Goals nor Resolutions though I am ruminating about some new projects. Despite being retired I like projects. I have a need to achieve or create. Little things. Little things are okay.

“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.” – Anais Nin

So let’s share something chilled and wet to bring in the new decade together. Join me at my local waterhole, the Grand View Hotel in Cleveland, Queensland.

Built in 1851 the Grand View was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. It is well regarded for its views overlooking Moreton Bay to beautiful North Stradbroke Island ( AKA Straddie – because we’re a lazy lot), and its alfresco dining in the beer garden, regularly voted one of the best in the state. The tucker passes muster too.

G.J. Walter Park is situated between the Grand View and Toondah Harbour ( where the ferry terminal carries passengers to Straddie) and is one of Queensland’s oldest parks being gazetted as a public reserve in 1889. 

This area is home to koalas and many bird species that depend on the mangroves and mudflats for survival. Of course this means that it has been targeted by Developers for the construction of 3600 units and a water park. Apparently this is called progress.

Said farewell to 2020 at lunch with my youngest daughter sitting amongst the frangipanis. She reminded me that I’ve always been one to question progress. Sounds like another project, doesn’t it?

365 new days. 365 new chances.

Cheers!

This Week In Books (Spring)

The old bod is a little under the weather with all the Spring Cleaning taking place. Simply crashing when I hit the sack. The pile of books beside my bed just continues to grow……. ( Note that the wretched Hilary Mantel just keeps moving to the bottom of the pile. I tell you : it’s killing me). This one was gifted to me by a girlfriend from the other side of the country.

Thank you Teneille. Next on the list.

A few months back my daughter in Canberra visited the Australian War Memorial as she is want to do regularly as it is near her favourite *cough* wine bar. Yeah, ok, her mother’s daughter. ….She sent me some Poppy Seeds for planting, both Red and Purple (for the animals). No success with the red as per usual though signs of a good showing of the purple for Remembrance Day.

Thanks Cat Balou

Year 12 Exams have finished, there is an abundance of Driving Schools on the road with their pimpley clientele, and the young things are a tad hormonal with the freedom and spring weather. It appears they had a wild night at the Local Community Library as I spotted half a dozen novels in the creek. Literally. I have taken to making my visits armed with a gold club – to fight off the swooping magpies of course.

Spring also means Spiders. What I think about spiders cannot be repeated here.

Not into Romance Novels or Chook Lit ( Aussie romance in a rural setting generally including chickens ) though have read my fair share lately thanks to Covid Brain. Thought this map was a clever marketing strategy combining books with travel. What do you think?

Happy Weekend Peeps. Queenslanders, remember to vote, and the rest of my mob, watch out for those ghastly arachnids. Everyone else, remember:

A Walk Around IndigiScapes

We’re on the tail end of winter which means that the possums visit nightly carrying babies on their backs, the magpies are pinching the matting from my hanging baskets to build their nests and the Australian natives are just beginning to flower for Spring. Perfect weather for a walk around our local bushland gardens based on the original flora of the area – IndigiScapes.

IndigiScapes is also home to a variety of fauna including Koalas, and the birdlife is quite extensive, encouraged by nesting boxes high in the tree tops.

There are picnic grounds, bush walks, and different themed gardens featuring native plants. An Explorer Centre encourages the Little People to identify points of interest in the bush, and the Cafe serves light meals featuring native ingredients such as Wattle Seed and Lemon Myrtle.

Attached to IndigiScapes is a Native Nursery where many volunteers prepare seedlings for purchase. I’m a big fan as I live next door to a Koala Corridor and assist with the revegetation of the area with saplings which would have originally existed in the area.

Pre Covid the gardens were popular with families over holiday periods for the array of educational bush activities such as worm farming and basket weaving, and as the perfect venue to wear the little blighters out.

I’ve also attended some of the the weekend workshops they’ve run on attracting bees to your garden, composting, wildlife journalling, wild flower arranging and encouraging bees.

Entry to IndigiScapes is free. Take a bottle of water and just keep walking – you never know what you will stumble upon.

Located in Capalaba, suburban Brisbane. Fancy that.

“I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. ” E.B. White / Letters of E. B. White

A Sunday Drive To Manly

Manly is a bayside suburb of Brisbane located approximately 19 km east of the CBD and less than a fifteen minute drive north along the coast from where I call home.

Sundays at Manly are normally busy with Farmers and Creative Markets dotted along the foreshore. Not so today after heavy overnight rain although dog walkers, coffee drinkers and Little People on all sorts of wheeled transport were out in full force.

Because it is bounded by Moreton Bay – with its spectaculars view out to St Helena Island ( a colonial penitentiary with major claims to brutality) –  a number of boating clubs are based in Manly including the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. In warmer weather there’s a lot of Jimmy Buffet wafting across the water.

Numerous Seafood Restaurants and Cafes line the streets, as well as The Mad Hatters Bookshop and an Art Gallery that never fails to disappoint.

Way back in the 1840’s the suburb in which I live was mooted as the Capital City of Queensland. However, when Governor Sir George Gipps visited it is reported that upon disembarking his boat he immediately sank into the mudflats up to his waist. He was so annoyed by this that he quickly changed his mind. It was low tide at Manly this morning with mudflats of a similar ilk. Can you tell?

In earlier days Manly was known as a holiday spot for those from the city or farmers from the country and it still has a bit of that vibe.

Worth a visit, particularly during those wicked Queensland Summer months when you’re about to throw yourself under a bus if you don’t get some relief from the humidity.

TIP

Some of the local restaurants are flash but always remember, you are paying for the real estate. Sails at the Manly Hotel puts on a good feed and you don’t need a second mortgage.