1770 and Skiing in Japan.

                                                                                                                                              Letter No. 275

Dear all,

DECEMBER 2024 We had a very different Christmas this year, with Matt overseas and most of Derek’s family sick with flu and COVID. The three of us enjoyed a slow relaxing day with lots of yummy Christmas food. Straight after Boxing Day we headed up the coast, taking the dogs with us on their first long road trip. The first stop was Noosa and Jessie drove up to enjoy this part with us. The traffic was terrible, and it took over 4 hours for what is usually around 2.5 hours. We had a lovely two-bedroom Airbnb with a pool, and did the usual Noosa beaches, restaurants and shopping. The dogs were very well behaved, sitting nicely under the tables and loving the local dog-friendly Sunshine Beach.

Katie spent a lot of time watching the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race placings, as our good friend Paul was racing his yacht Solace in it. This is a very challenging 1200km ocean race which often has terrible weather conditions. This year was no exception and sadly two people died on the first night being hit by the boom, and one person was washed overboard. It was the first time Paul had raced in the Sydney to Hobart, so we were all quite anxious. There were 16 boats in his class and Solace came 8^th in just under four days, which was a great result.

After three nights in Noosa, we drove on up to Agnes Waters, just north of Bundaberg, and Jessie returned home. It should have been a 4-hour drive but when we were nearly there, we discovered that the police had just closed the road due to a fatal car accident just ahead. We were the first car stopped by the police and then had to make a 1.5-hour detour to get around the road blockage, retracing our route back to the motorway and then driving further north and back-tracking.

When we finally made it to Agnes Waters we were staying in a huge eco-retreat on 7 hectares with a paperbark forest surrounding the house and a lake at one end of the property. We were worried that Molly & Pippa would run off into the forest never to be seen again, so I walked the boundary fence with them both as soon as we arrived which took about 15 minutes. It wasn’t too big and was fully fenced so it was quite secure. They were both very good and stayed within visual distance of the house most of the time, except for the morning when Pippa saw a huge kangaroo just outside and was off like a rocket chasing after it. The big roo took a few large leaps and was over the fence and gone in a flash, but Pippa spent the next two days looking out for it at the exact spot where it had disappeared.  

We spent four days exploring Agnes Waters and neighbouring town of 1770. There wasn’t a lot to see, but we did a few nice walks and looked around a cute little museum dedicated to Captain Cook who had stopped in the nearby bay in 1770, obviously. We ate fish and chips one night while watching the sunset, and did a tour along the coastline in a submersible, looking at the black cockatoos and other wildlife and learning about the ecology of the area. It was New Year’s Eve during our stay, but there wasn’t much to do so we had a nice seafood feast and watched a movie. A pretty sleepy place and a relaxing few days.

JANUARY 2025 After four days in Agnes it was time to head south again. Our next stop was the Bundaberg Rum Distillery, where I did a tour while Katie took the dogs to the dog park. The tour was fascinating and delved into the history and the processes of rum production. The distillery had burnt down entirely twice due to the flammable nature of its product. The Australian Navy had also requisitioned the full output of the distillery in both world wars for the sailors. Katie met me in the gift shop, and we struggled out to the car groaning under the weight of all the Bundy rum and liqueurs I had bought! Pippa and Molly were a hit in the café but weren’t allowed on the tour as they were under 18 (and also dogs).

Our final stop was Rainbow Beach, just north of Noosa. I had last been there when I was about 12 and the town had barely changed! Katie had booked a cute little Airbnb just walking distance from everything, and we had a few more relaxing days playing tennis in the mornings, taking the dogs to the beach and going for walks and drives. We also went to the Carlo Sandblow, which was quite an astonishing sight – a huge sandy area like a giant sand dune, where nature is reclaiming the land by wind blowing the sand up the side of a tall hill. It’s a very unique site which has been used as a movie set due to its spectacular lunar landscape.

We drove back to Brisbane on Tuesday 7^th January and were both back at work the next day. A great little road trip for all of us and the dogs were very well behaved.

On 16 January we went to The Gabba to see Brisbane Heat play the Hobart Hurricanes at cricket with our friends Mel and Bernie. It was quite an eventful night as the DJ’s mixing booth caught fire midway through the game. There was a lot of smoke and flames about 3m high. It was on the other side of the stadium, and it was pretty concerning. We thought they would evacuate the stadium, but after about five minutes someone found a fire extinguisher and put the fire out quite quickly. There were a lot of jokes about burning the dance floor, not the stadium. The game was very exciting too and Brisbane lost on the last ball.

In other January events, we went to Slipstream Brewery for lunch with Ian and Cathy Muir who have moved back from Hong Kong after 30 years! Our school mate John and his wife Karen also came, and it was great to catch up. We also enjoyed Australia Day long weekend, with the usual Australia Day BBQ at our friends the Biddle’s. They had a cute new puppy who was very cuddly although also a little bitey.

FEBRUARY 2025 On 1^st February Sandra Rontree came to Brisbane. Sandra was a great friend during our Manchester days and was here for five days on a work conference. She arrived on Saturday night and on the Sunday we all went on a boat trip to Tangalooma on Moreton Island. Jess came with us as well. We picked Sandra up at her hotel and were on the boat by 9am. It was a perfect summer day. It was about 1.5 hours ride to Tangalooma and then we had 45 minutes snorkeling around the shipwrecks just off the beach. There are 15 shipwrecks, all deliberately sunk by the Queensland Government between 1963 and the 1980s to create a safe anchorage for recreational boats. Over time, the coral has formed around them, attracting diverse marine life and heaps of colourful reef fish, so it is a popular spot for snorkeling and diving. It was awesome. We had a seafood lunch on the boat and an afternoon on the beach before heading back to Brisbane.

Sandra’s daughter Zoe arrived in Brisbane a couple of days later and on Wednesday 5^th February they both came to our house for a Surf and Turf BBQ dinner with Moreton Bay bugs. Zoe and Jessie had best friends in primary school but hadn’t seen each other for 14 years. They got on like a house on fire and it was great to see them reconnecting. The next night we met Sandra and Zoe again at Howard Smith Wharves in the city for cocktails at Mr Percival’s followed by a delicious Greek dinner at Greca. It was so great to see them both and especially to catch up on all the Hale and Bowdon news and gossip.  

We went for a belated Christmas lunch with Lisa and Andrew on 9^th February as everyone had been sick at Christmas and our usual festive gathering had been cancelled. Everyone was looking fully recovered and we had a good family day.

The next weekend I went on a Boy’s Ski Trip to Japan. There were six of us going altogether, four on the same flight on Friday. The flight left on Valentine’s Day; luckily, I had someone else to blame as I hadn’t booked the flights. We flew into Osaka, but the flight was delayed and we didn’t get to our hotel until about 11pm and hadn’t had dinner. Luckily there was a noodle place just downstairs. We made it to bed just after midnight. We were all in a dorm style room, but I was so tired, I didn’t wake up at all despite the inevitable snoring.  Next morning we had to get up at 6:30am to get back to the airport for our flight to Chitose Airport. The flight was again delayed (thanks Jetstar) and we only had time for a quick bite in the airport before we jumped on a bus for the 1.5hr trip to the ski field at Niseko, arriving around 4pm. I hadn’t realised what an epic journey it would be to get there. Fortunately, we were staying in a nice modern 4-bedroom (8 bed) house right in the centre of town.

Our group of six had very mixed skiing abilities. Two were complete beginners (never skied before), two were competent (I was one) and two were expert (aka insane for people our age). We helped the beginners get their skis on and to the meeting place for their first lesson and set off. We had six full days skiing and made it round all three valleys over the course of the week. Due to our different ability levels, we mostly skied in pairs and met up for lunch. On the last day we took the beginners almost to the top of the mountain and skied down together on red runs. They were pretty nervous. They didn’t really trust the “expert” skiers to look after them but trusted me. Sure enough, the experts decided to go down a black run to meet us at the bottom. One of the beginners fell and lost a ski about 50m above me. I had to take off my skis and trudge back up the hill to help him get his skis on again as the slope was too steep for him.

Niseko was nice but was full of Aussies. Even the locals had Australian accents! We had some great meals out over the week. There were also lots of food trucks in little squares with seats and open fires to keep warm. They were cute, but it was too cold to sit outside for long. After dinner we went back to our house most nights and played cards (and drank whiskey). We left on the Saturday morning and did the whole trip in reverse. We arrived home on Sunday morning after an overnight flight from Tokyo. It was a great week’s skiing, but I would think twice about going again to Niseko due to the long journey.   

The day after I got back I went to work but started to feel unwell by lunchtime and had to go home. I spent the next two weeks only working half days with a high fever and hacking cough. I must have picked up some germs on the last flight home. I isolated myself downstairs in Matthew’s room, so Katie and Jess wouldn’t catch it from me (they didn’t).

At the end of February, it was time for another Winosaurs evening. For something different, rather than talking about the wine we had bought, we had to talk about something of historical interest in the suburb. Lots of people had researched their own houses and told us when they had originally been built, who had owned and lived in them and so on. It was pretty interesting. We talked about Francis Lookout which is in the next suburb and has early settlers’ graves from the 1800s. Jessica had volunteered for our local council woman a few years ago and helped to research and construct a signboard at the site talking about its history, so we had a ready-made information talk. It was a good evening and very interesting. One of our neighbours is planning to put the information together into a little book. I was still a little worn out from my flu, so I went home promptly at the end of the formalities while Katie kicked on a little.

MARCH 2025 We had a sad day on 1 March as Jessica moved out. She moved into a four-bedroom house in Milton with three girlfriends. I helped disassemble and reassemble her bed, while she and Katie moved everything else and gave her new room a good clean. Her room is a good size and looked lovely when she got it all set up. It was very quiet at home without her and felt strange to now be “empty nesters”. She wasn’t gone for too long though, as she came back the next day (Sunday) for Family Dinner. Pippa was devastated too, and every night for weeks she waited downstairs for Jessie to come home. We had to drag her up to bed every night, poor little dog. Eventually she got used to it and rejoined us upstairs. She still gets wildly excited every time Jessie calls in for a visit.

The next week Brisbane was threatened by Cyclone Alfred. People started panicking waaay too early and started closing things down from Tuesday when the cyclone wasn’t expected until Thursday evening. Just as the entire city had shut down, the cyclone promptly slowed down and hung around off the coast for three more days. Our office was closed from Wednesday, but the Cyclone didn’t end up getting to us until Sunday morning. During this time, it got far less intense. There were some quite strong winds on the coast and fallen trees and 500,000 people lost power but (luckily for us) there was hardly any impact at our house. We did have a lot of rain over the week – 685mm according to our rain gauge. Meanwhile in Milton, Jessie’s house lost power for three days, so it was an interesting start to her life with her new housemates.

I had a work trip to Mulwala on 12^th to 13^th March for a project we have there. It is on the New South Wales / Victorian border and a very beautiful part of the country. It was very dry and hot but still very scenic. That weekend, Katie went to see a Collectivo concert with a group of her Pilates girlfriends. Collectivo is a classical music group run by my sister Lisa’s sister-in-law Tanya Frazer. Katie said it was very good and met Tanya and the other musicians in the foyer afterwards. The husbands met in West End after the concert, and we all had dinner at Italian Street Kitchen which was nice.

On 16^th March Katie and I had a date night and went to Sirromet Winey for A Day on the Green to see Roxette. The were supported by Jon Stevens and Boom Crash Opera. Jon Stevens was fantastic and alternated between INXS and Noiseworks songs for the whole set. He is so great. I had never seen Boom Crash Opera before, but they are also one of my favourite bands. Roxette was fantastic. The lead singer, Marie Fredriksson, died of a brain tumour in 2019, but had been replaced by another Swedish pop star Lena Philipsson and sounded almost identical. The band was so good. I still have an earworm of Roxette songs two months later.

The next weekend we went to Peregian Beach for the weekend. I took the Friday off and picked Katie up from work early afternoon and we made it to the pub for dinner by 6pm. We stayed at our friend Kylie’s house. I have been helping her do structural alterations to the house. Unfortunately, the renovations were in full swing, so we had a bedroom but no running water. It was a little like posh camping. The dogs came with us too and we spent Saturday morning on the dog beach. The weather was perfect, and they had a great time on the beach. It is funny that now Matt and Jessie have left home we’ve started taking the dogs out instead and doing nice things for them rather than the kids. Pippa just loves racing up and down the beach, seeing all the other dogs and dashing into the surf.

That’s about all for now.

Cheers from Derek, Katie, Molly & Pippa

Katie's Trip to China & Christmas

 

Letter No. 274

Dear all,

Katie went to China on 25^th November to meet Matt for two weeks visiting Shanghai, Hangzhou and Xi’an. Here is her trip report:

SHANGHAI Matt and I met at the airport on Sunday. It was so great to see him there waiting for me. We took the fast Maglev train to town and a taxi to our hotel, the very luxe 5-star Shanghai EDITION, a contemporary designer hotel with a New-York-meets-Milan vibe. The view of the Shanghai Bund from the 29^th floor Roof Bar was astonishing; we had drinks there and then dinner at the hotel’s refined Chinese restaurant Canton Disco.

On Monday we strolled along the Bund admiring the heritage buildings, then on to the Yuyuan Gardens Bazaar with its cute and charming shops and restored historic buildings. Ye Olde Shanghai for tourists but lovely nevertheless. We visited a tea house for tea tasting and sweet treats, with a huge selection from which we chose jasmine tea and white rose tea with jellied cumquats and crystallised sugar pandas. We ate fried shallot cakes from a street vendor for lunch, which were so good. In the evening, we took a one-hour Night Cruise on the Huangpu River and then went on to a tiny local restaurant for dinner, which serves the most delicious Xiao Long Bao crab dumplings (steamed buns) -- so good that the restaurant has a Michelin star! We finished the night with a cocktail in the hotel’s elegant Lobby Bar.

Tuesday was a great day exploring the French Concession area in a full-day walking tour. The whole area was conceded to the French from 1849-1946 and so there are European style buildings and tree-lined streets not found anywhere else in Shanghai, with a distinct feel in each of the different areas. Our first stop was Xintiandi which has very high-end French restaurants and boutique stores selling French perfumery, Moet & Chandon and other luxury goods. Second stop was Tianzifang, with mostly arts & crafts type stores, hole in the wall places and stalls offering hands-on activities like massages and ear-cleaning.

We also did a somewhat accidental deep dive into propaganda, visiting four tiny museums, each no more than half an hour to explore. The first two were very current and thronged with Chinese people: the Museum and the Memorial Hall of the Site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Very interesting to see the way that the CPC presents history with multiple videos of happy smiling Chinese people enjoying prosperity in flourishing Chinese nation etc etc. We then visited the Former Home of Sun Yat-Sen, who is considered the prime revolutionary of the breakdown of Chinese dynastic rule and the initiator/father of a new China.  Uniquely, he is revered in both China and Taiwan. Finally, the Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Centre, a tiny space packed with over 6000 propaganda posters from the 60s onwards, all collected by one man (who was there and who we talked to). Many of Chairman Mao’s posters were destroyed in the 80s, which is why he started his collection “to preserve history”. It would have been pretty subversive / revolutionary at the time. It was completely fascinating. Very few people there, no Chinese, only foreigners.

In the evening, we emerged in the hotel lobby just as a large “tree-lighting” event was starting. The hotel’s friendly concierge spotted us, ushered us straight into the VIP area and handed us champagne and canapés. Afterwards we were photographed with all the presenters as VIP guests. We had a nice Shanghainese dinner with a 1950s style cabaret singer and then a final drink in lobby before bed.

HANGZHOU On Wednesday we had a 1.5 hr train trip to Hangzhou. Chinese train stations are huge, as big as airports, and the trains are fast, clean and efficient. We stayed in Westlake enclave, a country village almost in the forest and close to the lake. Dan’s Sea Country Guesthouse couldn’t have been more of a contrast to the Edition. It was small, cute and traditional, with only five guest rooms and very quaint and quirky. There were cats everywhere.

In the afternoon we walked to the Lingyin Temple complex. It was a pretty forest area and vast temple complex. One temple had 500 bronze Buddhas and another housed the largest wooden Buddha in the world, apparently. We used our incense sticks to wish for family health and prosperity. On our walk back we stumbled upon the most amazing Chinese restaurant. It was tucked away but was heaving and seemed very elegant. We had a cute, curtained cubby inside the restaurant. Only after we sat down we realised that it was a vegetarian, organic, alcohol-free, and fusion restaurant bringing in flavours of Thailand, Japan, India and Italy. It also turned out to be Michelin-star recommended! The food was unusual but absolutely delicious. We had vegetable wontons with chilli oil, Westlake sweet and sour lotus root, mushrooms sauteed in olive oil and truffle-infused rice, which was divine.

Thursday started with a very traditional breakfast at the guesthouse of Chinese rice pudding, boiled eggs, dumplings and a few cooked vegetables. We then set off to explore the beautiful Westlake area from all angles. We walked around it on very pretty paths, cycled around it on rented bicycles, and took a lovely boat cruise across it. We also visited the famous Leifang Pagoda for fantastic views across the whole lake. There was also a tea plantation and museum. There was a LOT of walking (my iphone Health app was in shock) so we had to stop for restorative coffee breaks at the ever-present Starbucks.

Friday was a slower-paced day exploring old Hangzhou old town – the tourist shops, the market, the Drum Tower, the very beautiful home of a wealthy businessman built in the 1870s, and the museum of Chinese medicine (this area is quite well known as a centre for pharmaceutical knowledge). We did some shopping, ate more delicious dumplings and then in the evening we found an Italian wine bar and had pizza and red wine for a change.

XI’AN Saturday was a travel day as we flew from Hangzhou to Xi’an. There was a stuff up with taxis in the morning, as we hadn’t realised that taxis couldn’t enter the gated village we were staying in at the weekend. It was a bit of a mad rush, but we made the plane and then arrived at the Han Tang Inn in Xi’an around 4pm. It was a very different vibe again, a small hotel, but very elegant in a minimalist but homely style. We had a delicious Chinese dinner that night at a nearby restaurant, with a new favourite -- sweet and sour eggplant.

On Sunday we went to the Museum of the Terracotta Army, which was an absolute highlight of the trip. It was a full day with a one-hour bus ride and there was so much to see. The scale of the site is just breathtaking. Emperor Qin had it built over 2200 years ago to protect himself in the afterlife; it took 720,000 workers nearly 40 years to complete the work. There were three pits to see. Pit 1 houses around 2000 warriors, mainly soldiers, with many more yet to be unearthed and possibly over 6000 in total. The museum was built around the site in 1976 when they were rediscovered, and the archaeological teams are purposely not excavating them yet because the original bright colours fade or peel very quickly when exposed to natural light, so for the time being they remain buried. Pit 2 has about 700 warriors and captains, and Pit 3 has just 72, these were the army leaders & generals. There were clay horses too, but the carriages (made of wood) have long since disintegrated. Some of the warriors were found almost whole, but some were in pieces, most likely due to fire, earthquakes and looting, and some have been painstakingly reconstructed. No two faces are the same, and the detail in the hairstyles, the armour, the body shapes, the faces, the shoes, is all just incredible. Sadly, all the original craftsmen met an unfortunate end when they were buried alive to keep the army’s location secret. Emperor Qin was quite the tyrant. We also went to see a smaller museum with a reconstruction of horses and two carriages, which was also astonishing. We took so many photos. It was an incredible sight.

That evening we decided to try out a bit of Xi’an nightlife. After some wandering, we found Sharky’s, a bit like a Hard Rock Cafe concept serving burgers, tacos, cocktails and with a live band. We had a great and random night. I ended up on the dance floor giggling with a group of local girls while Matt played pool with a couple of engineers from Kazakhstan who didn’t speak any English. We got back to our hostel well after 1pm. What fun.

Monday was another Xi’an highlight – cycling the imposing City Walls. They have been fully restored so you can cycle right around in about two hours. Each corner has a beautiful tower and there is a huge entrance gate on each side with an internal “trap” to keep out invaders. The city walls were so thick, it would have been almost impenetrable. Xi’an was one of the ancient imperial capital cities of China, long before Beijing was a capital, so it just oozes history and historical significance. Local couples love to dress up in ancient costume and go up there to have photos taken. That night we went to the Tang Dynasty Show. It was designed for tourists, but an impressive show nevertheless with dancing, costumes, music, staging, acrobatics and special effects, telling the story of Empress Qin.

Our final day was a full-day trip to Hua Shan, one of China’s five sacred mountains, known for its steep and precipitous geography. This is a huge granite rock formation, with the tallest summit being South Peak at 2154m above sea level. The cable car ride did most of the work but was the most extreme thing I have ever done. It was utterly terrifying and an astonishing feat of engineering as the cable spanned wide valleys and then went straight up the sheer rock. Derek would have loved it but I could barely look. Once at the top, there was still a fair bit of climbing to do, and eventually summitted the three highest peaks (South, West and East). It felt quite glorious being at the top of the South Peak, but not something I’ll repeat. What a special trip it was. I loved having this time to travel with Matt, with so many exciting experiences.

Back to Derek now. Perhaps too much food info from Katie there! I took the day off on Friday and picked Katie up from the airport. Unfortunately, she had picked up a bug (which had written off just the last day of her trip) and was quite unwell. I took her straight to the doctor from the airport and it turned out to be Influenza A and she then spent the next week in bed. It was Matthew’s birthday on 8^th December. He was in Taiwan by himself; it was the first birthday he has not been with us. We did have a lovely Facetime catch up with him though. Katie recovered well enough for us to go and see the movie of Wicked on 14^th December. We had dinner in the village afterwards at a new wine bar. The previous one on the same site went broke, and the food in the new one was much better, so hopefully it will stay in business. The movie was awesome if you haven’t seen it. The next day was the Mortlake Road Christmas Party. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon and good to catch up with all our neighbours.

It was our last day of work for 2024 on 20^th December. We had lunch at the Waterloo Hotel just down the road from the office and settled in for the afternoon. I wobbled home about 7:30pm and had a nap on the sofa. The next day was our annual Christmas Drinks party, so doing the setup was a bit of a struggle. We had a new Christmas Cocktail this year, an Apple Ginger Spritz – gin, sparkling apple juice, ginger beer, with mint and red currants. It was quite a hit. Katie did a lovely spread of canapes – cucumber dill circles, rare beef on crostini, smoked salmon with beetroot and horseradish, baked brie, devils on horseback and turkey cranberry pastry puffs. This was followed by the usual ham and coleslaw rolls, then mince pies and run balls. We had around 45 people but Katie vastly over catered as usual so we had all of the above for the next week. I also managed to stuff up the calculation for the cocktail quantities, so we’ll be enjoying the Apple Ginger Spritz for quite some time. Oh well. It was a great party.

We had an unusual Christmas this year. We were meant to go to my sister Lisa’s for lunch but their whole family got struck down with COVID. Lisa rang me on Christmas Eve, about 30 seconds after I had bought enough prawns and oysters for a party of 20. We invited Mum and Dad to come to us instead, so we could tackle the seafood feast, but on Christmas morning, Mum came down with the flu. So, in the end it was just Katie, Jess and I for the first time ever. We had a very quiet and relaxed morning, opened our presents slowly, had lunch, lots of champagne and a snooze and swim in the afternoon. I managed to struggle through the oysters, Katie had a few prawns and we froze the rest!  

We hope you all had a healthy and happy Christmas, with hopefully some travel opportunities and great food in the new year.

Cheers from Derek, Katie, Matt, Jessie, Molly & Pippa

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Letter No. 273

Dear all,

SEPTEMBER On Weds 11 September we went to the Tivoli to see Andrew Strong who was the lead singer for the band in the 1980s movie “The Commitments”. We went with Ant and Katie Whittle. The concert was great and the band played all the favourites from the movie. Ant had got VIP tickets in the balcony section with its own private bar, so it was pretty swish, although a bit late for a school night though.

On Friday 13^th September the council decided to enforce a local bridge closure, shutting off the main bridge that leads from our suburb across the river to the city, the main local shopping centre, and all of our workplaces. It was closed for two weeks for essential maintenance work. This meant that local residents had a 1 hour round trip detour to get to Indooroopilly on the other side, rather than five minutes to drive across it. The local Facebook community was incandescent with rage for weeks beforehand. It was not too bad for me as trains were still running over the rail bridge, but it meant that Katie had to catch a train and a bus to get to work which took her 45 minutes rather than just 15. The bridge was meant to be closed for two weeks but opened four days early in the end. Then the same people who had previously been outraged started complaining that it should remain closed as it was so peaceful in Graceville. The poor council just cannot win!

On Friday 20^th September we both took the day off work to go to our friend Leona’s mum’s funeral.  Monica was 100 years old, but the last ten years had been pretty grim for her with dementia and multiple falls resulting in several broken ribs and two broken hips. It was a catholic funeral which went on for nearly two hours. Afterwards there was a wake/lunch at the local bowls club and then we went back to their house for an extended wake. We left at about 6pm but the last mourners didn’t leave until about 11:30pm apparently.

OCTOBER We had a few quiet weeks before the King’s Birthday long weekend (5-7 October). On the Saturday night it was our friend Derek Trebilcock’s Annual Garden Party. He is an architect and invites mainly clients and a few friends. It is always a good bash. He sets up a long table of about 40 people underneath a wisteria arbour. Some years the wisteria is in full bloom and is just exquisite. The party was probably just a week too early this year as only two flowers (out of thousands) had opened!

The next night was a tennis afternoon at Leona and Jeremy’s house. They have a puppy Olive, so we decided to take Pippa. The two dogs had got on like a house on fire the last time they had met (three months earlier) so we thought they would be fine. Olive had grown quite a bit though and was now about double Pippa’s size and was playing as roughly as they had before but Pippa was a bit intimidated. We took Pippa onto the tennis court with us and tied her on the sidelines to keep them apart. Pippa quickly spotted the chicken coop on the other side of the tennis court, and when we finished playing tennis and let her off the lead, she made a bee line for the chickens. We knew the gate was closed, so let her watch them with great interest for about ten minutes. Unfortunately, Pippa then discovered that the gate wasn’t properly latched, worked it open and darted in. Suddenly all hell let loose. There was much squawking and an explosion of feathers as Pippa chased the chooks around and they jumped and flew away from her. Katie and I sprinted across the court at top speed and into the coop and luckily Katie managed to grab Pippa quickly and held onto her, squirming. I took her out with a huge mouthful of feathers. It was SO embarrassing. Thank goodness she hadn’t actually caught one of them. I had to take Pippa straight home in disgrace. We had a few more games of tennis before a BBQ dinner and some lively political debate.

The next day we got up early and took the dogs to Palm Beach for a swim in the ocean. It was their first beach trip for about six months and Pippa was noticeably more well behaved and not so wildly excited. She still had a huge day playing with all the other dogs at the dog beach, while Molly sat quietly with us most of the day. We had a nice lunch at our favourite beach café before heading back home. Thanks King Charles for the long weekend.

On 16^th October we went to dinner with our friend Libby to interview her new boyfriend, Rod. We went for Tapas at Botellon in the village. We had a nice dinner and Rod passed his interview. That weekend we went to stay at our friend Kylie’s beach house at Peregian Beach on the Sunshine Coast. I was primarily there to certify some structural modifications that had been illegally made before Kylie had bought the property. When she applied for the house to become an Airbnb, the council had worked out that structural walls had been demolished, so I had to work out the easiest way for her to reinstate the walls, certify them and then submit plans to the council. Kylie insisted that we stay for the whole weekend, so we drove up on the Friday after work, stopping for a quick dinner that night at the Peregian Beach pub. On the Saturday we had a beach morning and then I spent several hours measuring up for the structural works, up ladders, in loft space and muttering over the drawings that bore very little resemblance to the actual structure. I ended up re-measuring everything so it took three times as long as expected. We had a lovely dinner on Saturday night at Bask, then did a bit of shopping on Sunday morning before driving home.

Friday 25^th October was busy for both of us. Katie had her annual UQU Clubbies Gala Awards Night. This is her report: It was a huge and successful night at the amazing Cloudland with multiple moving parts: 320 UQ students, 31 awards categories, 58 glass trophies, 14 presenters on stage, 3 dance/musical performances with 28 performers, 3 photographers, 1 videographer, 1 photobooth, 1 DJ on a rolling platform, 4 background videos, a PowerPoint compiled by yours truly, and a 17-hour work day for me.

Meanwhile I went to Winosaurs by myself the same night. There happened to be lots of single people there that night with partners away for some reason or the other. That meant there was a proportionally larger amount of wine and more food for each person than usual. It went on quite late as the hosts were a bit lax in moving the wine tasting along. Katie came home after midnight and found me fast asleep on the sofa with the dogs watching TV. On the Sunday we also managed to sell Matt’s car and French Horn in the same day, so his bank account took a positive upward hit. Enough for another four months in China if needed!

NOVEMBER On 2^nd November Daisy Kupusarevic arrived (daughter of our UK friends Chris and Sharon) to stay with us for five days. We hadn’t seen her since she was about eight and she had changed a bit. Katie went and picked her up at the airport because I was seeing Cold Chisel in concert that night. It was their 50^th Anniversary tour and they were playing under a big top tent. They were supported by The Cruel Sea. The tent was set up on a huge oval and surrounded by food trucks and a bar. I went with a mate from work and some of his friends. We sat on the grass and had dinner before going in to see the encores for The Cruel Sea. I only knew two of their songs and they were both in the encore so that was great. Cold Chisel were fantastic. The best concert I have been to for a long time. The average age of the crowd was probably about 55 so everyone was fairly well behaved.

On Sunday we took Daisy out to show her a little of Brisbane. We went to the Milton Markets, the Mt Coot-tha Lookout and then had a lovely lunch at Joeys on Kangaroo Point Cliffs. The restaurant has a fantastic view of the botanic gardens and the city. We caught up on all the gossip from the school parents we had known in our Manchester days, which was quite entertaining. I did a seafood BBQ at home that night with Moreton Bay Bugs, as Chris had had something similar when he stayed with us and apparently had remembered it. Daisy was an excellent guest - we gave her suggestions of things to do each day, and she took herself off and amused herself. On the Wednesday night Katie, Daisy and Jessie went to Mr Percival’s at Howard Smith Wharves for sunset cocktails and then I joined them for an Italian dinner at Ciao Papa overlooking the river. Daisy is such a lovely young lady and very independent; it was a pleasure having her to stay with us. Jessie got on well with her too.

On 3^rd November we also took temporary ownership of a third Jack Russell, Hunter, who belongs to a work friend of Katie’s. He was only 15 months old but was totally untrained. He had been sleeping in his owner’s bed, jumping on furniture, eating human food (mostly ice-cream it seemed), was considerably overweight, didn’t come or sit, and chewed lots of things in the house. The first night he howled all night until we locked him in the study at midnight. We felt a bit sorry for him as it wasn’t his fault, he was just very young and scared in a new place. After a while we managed to get him to eat dog food, even though Katie had to sit on the floor with him and hand feed him while resource guarding against Molly and Pippa. By the end of the first week he was sleeping in a dog bed, going for regular walks, eating by himself, and had even lost a little weight. He and Pippa tore around like mad for hours having play fights, but he was too much even for her, and she started hiding under the sofa. Molly just snarled at him, and he kept well away. He was a nice little boy, but we were all pleased when he left after two weeks.

On 7^th November Matthew finished the first half of his HSK4 language course in Yangzhou, then flew to Bali to meet some friends and go sailing around the Indonesian Islands. In other travel news, we are thinking about Morocco next year. Some friends Peter and Karen Gibson had been recently, and they invited us around for a BBQ to give us tips about their trip. Peter met us at the door wearing a fez and Karen served us food in her Moroccan-bought tagines. After dinner we watched their holiday video on TV. It reminded me of a 1970s slide night.

The next night we went to see Take That with Sophie Ellis Bexter at A Day on the Green with Ant and Katie Whittle. It was the last night of their Australia tour, but there was rain predicted so we took our wet weather ponchos etc. We arrived, had dinner and settled into our seats just as it started spitting rain. Sophie Ellis Bexter was great, but just as she got to her best songs, the storm came over with lots of lightning, so they had to halt the show. We all stood in the pouring rain waiting for the storm to pass over so she would come back on and sing Murder on the Dance Floor, whilst keeping well away from the very tall sound structures! After about 45 minutes, there was so much lightning that they decided to cancel the show. The entire audience turned and started walking back to the cars en masse. Just then the torrential rain changed to completely biblical rain and we all got soaked to skin. Luckily, we were parked in a good place and got home within an hour, quite soggy. Other people were stuck in the car park for two hours! We got a full refund a couple of weeks later, but were sad to miss Take That.

The next weekend, Mel and Bernie Thorpe invited us to see Michael Franti in concert at the Tivoli as a thank you to Katie for doing the flowers at their wedding. Neither of us knew any of his songs but he was fantastic and the whole venue was alive and jumping. I had no idea you could have so many happy positive songs in one set!

It was the AECOM Christmas Party on 23^rd November. It is always a great event, and this year’s theme was The Mad Hatter. I had spent weeks working on my hat -- a top hat with a sloping top decorated with all sorts of mad things – candles, a goat, cogs, wheels, a pressure gauge, playing cards, conduits, jewels, googly eyes and mirrors. I was very proud of it and it featured in many of the event photos. If there had been a prize for best dressed, I would have been in the finals. Katie went as the Cheshire Cat with cat’s ears and a large smile on a stick. We had a great evening but went home promptly after the event as Katie was flying to Shanghai the next day to have a holiday with Matthew.  

DECEMBER On Wednesday 4th December Jessica had organised a Panel Discussion: Ending Violence Against Women through Primary Prevention through her group Girl Up Brisbane. They had four amazing professional panellists – Stephanie an urban planner speaking about the Safe Cities, Safe Streets program which advocates for women and girls’ safety in public spaces; Sharon a senior sergeant in the Queensland Police Force working chiefly in child protection and across the DFV space; Kara a solicitor and former Australian Young Lawyer of the Year who founded Australia’s first specialist DV law firm and initiated the first domestic violence strategy for the City of Brisbane as a City Councillor; and Nidhi, a facilitator and educator who currently leads the ChangeMakers program empowering men to engage in gender equity conversations.

Jess was stressed about selling enough tickets but there a was a last minute run and in the end the venue was quite full. I went along to support as well. I knew some of Jessie’s friends who were there and chatted to some of the more mature people who came along – one of whom was the ex-Attorney General, Yvette D’Ath. It was a good evening with lots of thought-provoking discussions. Jessie was ecstatic about how well it went.

Merry Christmas from Derek, Katie, Matt, Jessie, Molly & Pippa