Discoveries with Dougall 44 - Colours that matter.

A huge downpour in the night but the day brightened so I set off with Dougall. Yesterday I had gone to a Chemist shop and I realised that it felt liberating walking past the Hair Colouring Section! The only colours that matter are the ones I come across on our walk today. 

Everything was glistening and gleaming. We were too. 

St Helena Island

Off to St Helena today - a small island in Moreton Bay. Beautiful sunny day, calm sea, a short journey by ferry. This island started as a quarantine centre - how of the times - and ended up as Queensland's first penal colony. 

Its name has a story - An aboriginal man whose nickname was Napoleon was exiled to the island for stealing an axe. He was exiled to "Noogoon The place of the Flying Fox" the Aboriginal name for the island. Of course the real Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to an island similarly called for six years until his death. In the case of this Napoleon he didn't think much of his prison, made a canoe from local trees and sailed off in a short period of time. The island however has been known as St Helena since 1828.

The island operated as a successful model prison for 65 years. Ruins suggest a well organised and cruel prison which was profitable. It was a harsh life for both the inmates and the prison wardens. There was a perimeter wall around the prison so they could not enjoy the beautiful views and the wonderful butterflies in their thousands which we saw. It was hard to reconcile what we were hearing with what we were seeing. 

The island is now a National Park and most of it is restricted. However the prison is heritage listed and can be visited and it makes for a fascinating insight for the early days of the state. They died young from tuberculosis, phthisis, typhoid. They were flogged and whipped. The wardens had to live without their families for months on end and needless to say this was no a place for women. 

We wandered over the prison area listening to the stories of the times, learning about the characters and their misdeeds. There was an Aboriginal called Julius Caesar. He was sentenced to 16 years of hard labour for murder. James Kenniff excelled at everything he undertook in the prison's workshops and when he finally left the prison he was given a set of tools with which to start a new life. 

For me the day, tinged with the horrors of the system, was full of the affirmation of life and nature taking its place on and around the island once more. We saw Sting rays buried in the sand as we walked across the pontoon, oyster catchers, cormorants and bee eaters everywhere. Thousands of Monarch butterflies, Blue Tigers, Orange Ringlets and Painted ladies abounded on trees which offered their red and fertile fruit and flowers to them. It was just magical. Fields had crocuses and lilies in them, old Olive trees, once planted by a Superintendent to extract oil.

This is good management of both history, place and nature. Do visit - To go to the heritage areas you need a guide. 

How to... Aussie style.

I have been living in Australia for close to 9 years, the longest of any of our overseas postings. I am tempted to stay for a whole lot longer! Part and parcel of living here is surviving fires, lockdowns, storms, venomous snakes, spider bites and of course shark attacks. Australian Geographic, to which I subscribe, had this article in their newsletter today and I sent the link to the family. Is that odd or just pure Aussie life to the extreme? 

Nothing like keeping us on our toes, or preserving them, at all times! 

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/shark-blog/2021/09/how-to-survive-a-shark-encounter/ 

Meanwhile not everything is life threatening, though you would think so if you ever read Bill Bryson on Australia, so sharing with you some of the more sedate and definitely pleasurable moments of an Aussie neighbourhood. This walk in Paddington revealed some little treasures. Isn't this creeper amazing for all its knots and and skyward buds ? 

The contrasting colours of the blue fruit and leaves of the Quandong Tree 

I see you - do you see me? 

A park bench in amongst the birds of paradise - who would not want to sit there. 

Evidence of a happy meal possum land - expertly emptied out and the intact pawpaw dropped on some good looking leaves. 

These little orchids just appeared in the branch of trees. 

And finally today since we started in the ocean let's head back there. A nugget from my mate Rod - he introduced me to Ambergris. What whales bring up or poop for want of a better description, like birds expectorating the indigestible materials in pellets. Apparently it is one of the most sought after materials in the making of perfumes as this makes them last longer. Yes I know we talk about a whole lot of things at the Radio! Some Omani fishermen became very rich when they discovered a lump in 2016. The smelly lump was valued at a mere US$ 3million ! 

Happy Weekend everyone and keep a lookout for the Ambergris. Forget Lottto Tickets this is a much more pleasurable way to get rich quick looking for ambergris on your next beach walk. 

The battle of the Blooms ... and Sydneysiders

It's a long weekend in Queensland and the end of school holidays for most. The clouds have departed replaced by unending sheets of blue, 32 C  and it was time for me to explore a favourite neighbourhood. Dougall is on holiday with his family so I ventured out alone. The conversation in my head was which one do I like more the yellows or the purples, maybe it is the yellows, but then the purples are so iconic. Let me show you both and you can choose. The Caribbean Trumpet Tree Tabebuia Aurea or the Jacaranda Tree. 

The evening brought the NRL final on TV - two Sydney teams were being hosted at Laing Park in Brisbane because Sydney is still in lockdown - 100 days and counting.  It was not until I came to Australia that I took much of an interest in Rugby. As far as I was concerned that is where my boys got fat lips and broken collar bones. These injuries still happen on the field and those men that go out there and play the game know the dangers but also the thrills, and last night's game was an edge- of -your -seat kind of game between two Sydney teams, the Penrith Panthers and the Rabbitohs from South Sydney. 

The story that I didn't know but now do, is where they got their name from. Apparently at a time when food was scarce, bunnies were plentiful and that is what they hunted and ate and they sold the rabbit meat by shouting rabbit -oh to attract buyers.  They sport red and green, colours of the Waratahs. 

The Penrith Panthers are from Western Sydney near the Blue Mountains. They just missed out on a win last year and were hungry to get one this year- they did to the delight of many fans in the stadium.

Sorry locals you probably know all of this, but these are nuggets or svingi  to me. 

The Menu was bloke-ish but decidedly international.

Gaucomole with Aussie Avos and Black Tortilla chips. A French Camembert and a Greek Goat's milk Fetta cheese, Olives, Boerewors chilli sausage from the South African shop, chips with coleslaw and then a childhood delight from the Italian Deli in New Farm Castagnole aka Σβιγγοι svingi  - so good you cant stop at one - they were right. 

 I didn't and consumed three all in one day to my shame. Delicious. 

Storm Season is here

Severe Weather systems in the air, covid outbreaks which may or may not land the state in lockdown once more, storm season is upon us and winds swirling round the place with hints of red and purple. The world is at once opening up and closing down on itself. Flashes of light across the sky and thunder booming into its very centre. We cower and shield and hope that climate change will not deliver our end with our leaders going blah blah blah according to the irrepressible Greta. 

This is the kind of cross that I warm to and its a small natural reminder of all those thousands of lives that have been lost to Covid. 

The day after the jacaranda came down Walter was on the stump wondering what had happened to his tree. It did break my heart but there are lots more trees in the garden we hope he might choose to adopt. 

Even the birds are ruffled - Dennis and Doreen were not amused at the appearance of this Currawong on the deck perhaps sensing the treats in the butcher birds bowl. 

 So time for the proverbial cup of Tea and a good book while the earth receives its first good soak.

The Confessions of a Beachcomber ... and a housewife

I have just had the privilege to read "The Confessions of a Beachcomber" by E.J Banfield. Lent to me by a descendant. Published in 1908 it is the story of E.J Banfield who was born in Liverpool. He emigrated to Australia in 1854 aged 2. He followed his father into printing and journalism until he found it exhausted him and he took off to Dunk Island off the coast of Queensland where he spent the better part of a quarter century until his death in 1923. He lived on the island with his wife Bertha and he wrote the book about what he saw around him. He describes all the fauna and flora in great detail as well as all the fish, turtles and dugongs in the ocean. He talks about his encounters with Aboriginals on the island and some of their hunting habits. It's a fascinating insight into the little island and how this man chose to live a better simpler life. Apparently it was quite the bestseller and he became a well known personality, an early day celeb. 

He says "Here I come to my birthright - a heritage of nothing save the most glorious of all possessions: freedom- freedom beyond the dreams of most men in its comprehensiveness and exactitude. These haphazard notes refer to the exercise of rare independence. They reveal my puny efforts to be none other than myself." 

"Each day has been blue - radiantly blue- nothing more". 

He concludes- "If the day and night are such that you greet them with joy and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal - that is your success." 

And now... to the confessions of a housewife. There is an ad on Aus telly where a housewife sniffs inside her washing machine and screws up her face. Its stinky and the answer is a Dettol- like- disinfectant - I laughed when I saw it - what next?  To disinfect everything from your daily life is SO wrong. But when I opened my washing machine to my horror I smelt something whiffy and soon found out why. Look what was in between the rubber tubing. 

I don't live on an island off the coast of Qld - how on earth did this centipede get into my washing machine ?Any answers or guesses? Life is indeed on a bit of a spin cycle! 

Lets be friends FUREVER

Last night we had the pleasure of attending a show at Brisbane Powerhouse called "Lets be friends furever". This is a where I tip my hat and my Shmackos to creativity, alive and well, in the arts world and say thank you to the creators who came up with such a warm and wonderful show. 

The seats had been cleared from the front and they created a pen with a grand piano, a dogs kennel and a a few other little doggie artefacts. The lights dimmed and we were told in a strong and firm voice to SIT, SIIIIT - good. 

And then it began - a show about dogs and our connections with them, alternating video testimonials from dog owners and their pets and live presentations of them with an interviewer booming questions at them. My favourite was Carl a returned Commando who was first up with Guja his dog- how he had almost walked away in fear of its aggressiveness and then turned back to meet the dog and become bound to her. Their close bond was so very obvious to everyone in the theatre. 

We loved F..ing Brett and Steve and their owner - clowning around on stage for their entire time. How F..ing Brett who eats chickens, was rescued or at least taken from a less than engaged neighbour and how these two just love one another. 

We met Ava, the Afghan and heard about how her hair grows, that she is a hunting dog and a show dog for her adoring owner. 

Two children came on stage to introduce their cocker spaniel. They seemed to think their doggie was a bit dim but they loved her nevertheless and sang a song all about her. Big dogs, little dogs, pooping dogs all made an appearance with their various owners, some looking like their beloved pets. 

A Great Dane - a puppy weighing a mere 78 kilos who sniffed at the dog kennel and didn't stand a hope in hell getting into it. Her owner telling us her husband wanted a cat and she came back with this one. 

And this little pug, the runt of the litter, weak and barely able to survive but who is now thriving and has some 30,000 followers on Insta ! 

The show then brought on a vet - a handsome and serious one- who talked about pets dying. The messages from owners who invest so much love and attention and also money in their pets is of course they do all these things knowing they have a short life and losing them is possibly one of the most painful experiences we ever go through. The video footage was heartfelt and moving and my friend, who is a dog owner, was chocking up. I remembered the enormity of losing Tara.

How does a show get over this hump, where do they go from here? Right on cue three people walk in with the most adorable puppies and exchange true and interesting facts about how much money we spend on them, how much fitter and happier we are because of them, how much poop we scoop up, how many shoes get ruined, let alone carpets chewed. 

But we love them and they love us back unconditionally and unreservedly. 

What more can one hope for in life. To Brisbane readers - go and see it -https://www.brisbanefestival.com.au/whats-on/2021/lets-be-friends-furever

To all the rest - enjoy your best friend, cherish them as they cherish you.