Dear all,
MARCH 2027 One of Katie’s oldest friends from her university
days Mei-Mei visited us in early March, with her kids, Finn and Ella. Katie
was very excited to see Mei-Mei and had planned lots of activities to show off
Brisbane’s highlights, but the weather did not play nicely. We started off with
one of Katie’s favourite visitor activities – sunset cocktails at Mr Percival’s
at Howard Smith Wharves followed by dinner at Felons. All the kids got on
swimmingly, even though they hadn’t seen each other for many years. There was a
lot of reminiscing.
Saturday was drizzly but still good for Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (obligatory
encounter with Australian native wildlife), before dinner that evening at Botellón
in our village. The weather really made itself known on the Sunday when we
hosted a BBQ with Mei-Mei, the kids, and friends Mel, Bernie, Kylie and Paul.
It rained a lot, so we had a damp but fun afternoon. Sadly, someone had to
stand at the BBQ in the rain. That someone was me. Plans really unravelled on
the Monday when Katie had hoped to take everyone hiking up Mt Coot‑tha. After a
full weekend of rain, the first creek crossing was too high to wade through —
not something that happens very often – so they had to abandon the hike and
drive up to the lookout instead. In fact, the sun barely appeared all weekend,
so Mei-Mei, Finn and Ella experienced Brisbane at its soggiest.
By the following weekend the sun was shining again. We went out
with the Barrettes (Katie’s Barre Pilates group and husbands) on Friday
13 March to the Sardinian restaurant Pilloni in West End. I went straight from
work and the food and drinks were all excellent.
Katie’s ongoing French studies at Alliance Française meant we also
attended several films throughout March as part of the French Film Festival.
She went to one with her class, and I joined her for two Sunday afternoon
screenings: The Richest Woman in the World and A Private Life
starring Jodie Foster in a full French-speaking role. Thankfully, subtitles
were provided. Both films featured beautiful people suffering stylishly in
French; enjoyable but quirky.
On 18th March, Katie started her new job as Student Services
& Engagement Officer at St John’s College, working two days a week in a job
share role. A friend of a friend had been offered the role but couldn’t do the
required days, so she recommended Katie instead. Katie sent in her application
on Tuesday, was interviewed on Wednesday and was awarded the job on Thursday. The
job was never even advertised. Clearly it is who you know that matters, not
what you know or what you can do.
We went to another Winosaurs evening on 20th March,
which was themed around the letter M and hosted next door at Anne & Mike
Poulsen’s house. It was a little competitive again, as everyone tried to
squeeze as many M’s as possible into their wine’s label, region, grape and
story. I won with eight M’s, although there may have been some creative
interpretation involved.
On Saturday 28th March, I went to a boys’ poker night
at Jeremy’s house while the girls were out for dinner. The poker was loud and
rowdy but wrapped up around midnight, which was fortunate as we were playing
tennis the next morning. I only lost $50 this time, which felt like a win after
being $200 up last time. I’m still ahead overall, which is the important thing.
APRIL 2027 The first weekend of April found us back at
the French Film Festival for Colours of Time. An entertaining contemporary
story with historical flashbacks, featuring Monet’s Water Lilies cycle, displayed
at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. Katie is now keen to go there next time
we’re in Paris. On Easter Sunday we hosted a family BBQ lunch at our place. It
was a nice afternoon, but a little sad as it was the first family event without
Dad. It felt a little odd without him sitting at the head of the table.
We spent the rest of the Easter week at Brunswick Heads.
Katie had booked a lovely 3-bedroom surf “shack” through Airbnb and it was a
perfect beach week. I hadn’t been to Brunswick Heads for about 40 years but I
don’t think it had changed much! The beaches are quiet and peaceful, the cafés
are organic, and the locals look like they’ve never encountered stress. We
spent mornings playing tennis or relaxing on the beach and afternoons chilling in
the garden at our beach bungalow. On the Friday afternoon we had an outing to Cape
Byron Distillery, for a wander through their botanical “rainforest” and then a tasting
of their many different and varied gins.
On the Saturday night we went to the Spicy Cabaret at Brunswick
Picture House. It was a glorious mix of circus and comedy, and a very polished show
for such a little town. Also on Saturday, Pippa discovered that she could crawl
under the fence of our bungalow and managed to escape several times before we
worked out where she was getting out. Unfortunately, we didn’t have anything to
block the fence with, so she spent the last couple of days locked inside or
tied up like a tiny escape artist. On Sunday we stopped in Mullumbimby for
brunch before heading home. It was a lovely, relaxing break.
On 21st April we went to QPAC’s new Glasshouse
Theatre to see Sting’s musical The Last Ship, featuring Sting
himself in the lead role. It was a gritty story about the final days of the
shipbuilding industry in Newcastle-on-Tyne, based on Sting’s own childhood. The
singing and performance were both great. It must be nice to be so famous that
you can write, direct and star in your own musical.
Anzac Day on 25th April was wet and dreary. We went to
the Anzac Service in Graceville Park in the pouring rain. Afterwards we
went and celebrated our neighbour Nicole Gilmore finally becoming an Australian
citizen after 26 years in Australia, most of it living on Mortlake Road. She
can now officially complain about avocado prices with the rest of us. On 26th
April we had dinner with Matt’s partner’s parents at Stretton, a fusion Chinese
restaurant in Fortitude Valley near my office. It was a lovely lunch, excellent
company, and the kids even shouted us — a rare moment.
MAY 2027 Matt headed to Canberra in early May for job
interviews and returned with three offers from corporate law firms. After
months of applications without even a sniff of an interview, he’d suddenly entered
a hectic interview round with 12 interviews in ten days, mostly online. This
was followed by the trip to Canberra for the second in-person round. It was a
great vindication for him and all his hard work over the last few months. He
could have had more offers, but with three good offers on the table he had to
tell the others that he was not available. On 16th May we took
Kathryn & Matt Donaldson out for dinner. Kathryn is a career and business
coach and had done a tutoring session with Matt on interview techniques and
strategies. We may have to hire her again for future negotiations.
In late May it was the Winosaurs trip to the Hunter Valley.
We flew to Newcastle on Thursday 25th May with our neighbours
Rebecca and Gavin Lee in a little advance side trip to Port Stephens. We visited
Gan Gan Lookout, had lunch at Nelson Head Lighthouse together and then checked
into Bannisters Port Stephens. It rained much of the day, so the views weren’t great,
but the hotel itself was lovely. The highlight was Rick Stein’s restaurant,
where we had a fabulous seafood meal washed down by Rick Stein’s own Hunter
Valley wines. The next morning, I went for a run along the beachfront and had a
swim in the infinity pool just before the rain started again.
On Friday we drove up to the Hunter Valley and stopped for lunch at
the beautiful boutique Bistro Molines, a Hunter Valley institution. We had a
great table with fabulous views. An unmissable experience for anyone heading to
the Hunter Valley. Next was a wine tasting at the Audrey Wilkinson Estate (Katie
already buying more wine than we could carry back home with us) and checked
into Hunter Valley Resort. Throughout the afternoon, the rest of our Mortlake
Road neighbours, 22 in total, converged from different directions and via
different modes of transport. The welcome dinner was at the Spanish hacienda-styled
Iron Gate Kitchen, and Katie had arranged a bus to drive us there and back. It
was a fun and somewhat raucous evening which deteriorated into joke telling, hilarity
and a random plan to create a gated community in Mortlake Road with its own
vineyard and cellar door.
Saturday was the full Winosaurs tour: firstly, Tulloch Wines to
learn about the heritage and history of the Hunter Valley, next the Smelly
Cheese Shop in Pokolbin Village for a tasting of cheeses and chutneys, and then
an elegant, paired wine lunch at the Hungerford Hill Estate with oysters, duck
and six wines to taste. Our fourth stop was a visit to Tamburlaine Organics to
see if we could taste the organic difference (I couldn’t by then), then lastly
the Hunter Valley Chocolate Factory for a chocolate tasting and shopping. After
our scheduled afternoon nap, we had dinner back at the resort with more wine,
storytelling and general silliness.
On Sunday we all went our separate ways but kept bumping into each
other. Katie and I explored the Broke Fordwich area with the Garden, Grape
& Graze tour at Margans, where more wine was purchased to be shipped back
home. Next the sculpture walk and art gallery at Winmark Wines, followed by afternoon
tea at Cezan Restaurant on the Krinklewood Estate — a truly spiritual pairing
of Tiramisu, chocolate fondant and fortified dessert wine. On Monday we
wandered through the immaculate Hunter Valley Gardens, then drove to the
airport and flew home, luggage heavier and livers wiser.
JUNE 2027 On 7th June, we had a family dinner
at Stilts, the very swish new restaurant perched rather dramatically on
the new bridge between the CBD and Kangaroo Point. Before dinner, I caught the
bus from the office over to Kangaroo Point to visit my old friend Ian Muir, who
was in St Andrew’s Hospice in palliative care. It was confronting to see how
much Ian had deteriorated since my last visit. Life has a way of reminding you
of its fragility at the most unexpected moments. Dinner itself was lovely and
expensive (Stilts must be paying off the bridge). Matt is very excited about his
forthcoming move to Canberra – Australia’s capital city, famous for
roundabouts, public servants, great museums and challenging winter
temperatures.
On Friday 12th June, Ian Muir passed away. I had
known him since the first day of Grade 8 in 1979. We were two gawky teenagers
who somehow managed to stay friends for 47 years. He was 59 and had fought a
long, brutal battle with brain cancer. We went to school together, worked
together at Cardno & Davies and AECOM, and both lived in Hong Kong for over
ten years. We had met up in many places and holidayed together all over the
world. He leaves behind his wife Cathy and daughters Carmen and Claire. He was
probably my best friend and losing him was deeply sad.
We hosted a farewell morning tea for Matt at our place with
Mum, Lisa, Andrew and the girls all coming over for coffee and cake. It was
lovely to have everyone together before he left. Matt’s job search has been
long and complicated, with excellent offers from the top-tier law firm Clayton
Utz and the Department of Defence. He is also in the merit pool for the Department
of Foreign Affairs & Trade. The Australian Public Service merit pool
process is bureaucratic purgatory and has been excruciatingly slow. Katie drove
Matt to the airport on 16th June and had a good cry on the way home.
It’s been wonderful having him to stay with us for the past six months or so. He
probably won’t live in Brisbane again, so it really feels like the end of a
chapter.
Mortlake Road had its very own Book Launch on Friday 19th
June. Yes, our street now has a published history. One of our neighbours (a
keen historian) has compiled a book detailing every house and its history and
previous owners. Thanks to Katie’s extensive contribution, our house featured
prominently. The launch involved a surprising amount of wine, which I suppose
is historically accurate for our street.
The next day we went to a Winter Solstice party at the
Tods. They hosted lunch for 28 people on their tennis court. It was a typical Queensland
winter’s day: warm and bright with blue skies. Lunch was long and delicious and
was followed by badminton and then table tennis. The party rolled on until 2am
(we sensibly left before 11pm), and the table tennis became increasingly
competitive and uncoordinated as the evening progressed. It reached such
heights of enthusiasm that one lady managed to fall spectacularly and break both
wrists. Very unfortunate for her. Apart from that, it was a terrific day.
Monday 29th June it was Ian Muir’s funeral. It
was a beautiful service and very moving. They played three photo slideshows set
to some of his favourite songs — Pictures of You (The Cure), Gone Too
Soon (Ed Sheeran), and Don’t Dream It’s Over (Crowded House). His
sister Helen gave a very lovely eulogy. I was a little embarrassed by how much
I featured in the slideshows — apparently I’ve been loitering in Ian’s life a
lot more than I had realised. Afterwards we went to the Centenary Tavern to
raise a glass or three. I tried to give a toast but choked up and had to cut it
short.
JULY 2027 On Saturday 4th July, we had dinner
with Mel and Bernie in their Spring Hill home. The dinner was officially to
plan our upcoming South America trip, though the planning portion lasted about
20 minutes before Mike and Mary‑Anne arrived and the evening devolved into drinking
(very fine wines), singing (badly) and dancing (enthusiastically) to 1980s
classics. We stayed on their rooftop until 1:30am — the latest we’ve been out
in ages — and even received noise complaints from nearby residents. A nostalgic
reminder of our younger, louder selves. Having spent most of Sunday horizontal,
we were then out again late afternoon for a tennis party at the Tods. We
played for about two hours before dinner. Katie and I managed not to embarrass
ourselves, though we were both a little subdued after the previous night’s
rooftop revelry.
Derek, Katie, Matt, Jessie, Molly & Pippa
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