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 8th
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 7th 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 1st 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 5th 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 9th
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 12th to 13th
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 16th 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
