welcome to 2010
I am pleased to be in this new year.
The last 15 days or so have been exceedingly pleasant. It's partly survivor's relief-since Baz died, my eyes and senses have been in appreciative mode. I still feel sad when I think of him-of not saying goodbye properly the last time we saw each other (a mediocre pub meal in autumnal Adelaide). The youtube slideshow of his work reminds me, again, of how talented he was and how much better at drawing and painting he was than I am. He had the gift and he worked so hard at it.
Another reason for being so happy is that I have been lucky enough to spend my time in beautiful outdoor places: Halls Gap/Grampians; Robe/Limestone Coast, Port Elliott/Fleurieu Peninsula. Sadly though, I look at each of these places with the eye of a prospector, seeking the new gold of water. Robe has many outdoor lakes, mostly not visible from main roads. The Grampians is cooler, covered with creeks and lakes and trees. Where we live, water is a precious and rare sight, our local national park has only memories of creeks and waterfalls. Hmmm.
Returning to Robe is so comforting, nothing too much changes there thanks to its heritage value. The charm of the place couldn't be "improved" by developments of the noughties. There is a completely appalling looking marina proposed at Cape Jaffa (think Hindmarsh Island, think North Haven) but that's at least 25 kilometres away.
I have an overhead satellite map of Robe that I kept pinned up in my kitchen all of 2008. I looked at the coast, the headland and compared it to the seaside village I was currently living in, and to the township portrayed in Lee Tulloch's second last novel, and wondered what stories could come out of the town for fiction. So on this visit I wanted to see more, get more photographys and more impressions. Visiting just before Christmas turned out to be ideal.
We were in town for the pre Christmas pageant, made up of floats of local businesses and parades by the local football and netball team. The Rotary club held a sausage sizzle outside the library, and the large Norfolk Pine was lit up by lights. We ate in the Robe Hotel, the first place that I ever stayed at in Robe, and although it had been updated, it was really exactly the same as 1983. Even the perspectives were the same: playground, view to the bowling green, glimpse of the ocean.
Since the days there I keep writing of it, thinking of it, looking forward to when I next return to it.
The last 15 days or so have been exceedingly pleasant. It's partly survivor's relief-since Baz died, my eyes and senses have been in appreciative mode. I still feel sad when I think of him-of not saying goodbye properly the last time we saw each other (a mediocre pub meal in autumnal Adelaide). The youtube slideshow of his work reminds me, again, of how talented he was and how much better at drawing and painting he was than I am. He had the gift and he worked so hard at it.
Another reason for being so happy is that I have been lucky enough to spend my time in beautiful outdoor places: Halls Gap/Grampians; Robe/Limestone Coast, Port Elliott/Fleurieu Peninsula. Sadly though, I look at each of these places with the eye of a prospector, seeking the new gold of water. Robe has many outdoor lakes, mostly not visible from main roads. The Grampians is cooler, covered with creeks and lakes and trees. Where we live, water is a precious and rare sight, our local national park has only memories of creeks and waterfalls. Hmmm.
Returning to Robe is so comforting, nothing too much changes there thanks to its heritage value. The charm of the place couldn't be "improved" by developments of the noughties. There is a completely appalling looking marina proposed at Cape Jaffa (think Hindmarsh Island, think North Haven) but that's at least 25 kilometres away.
I have an overhead satellite map of Robe that I kept pinned up in my kitchen all of 2008. I looked at the coast, the headland and compared it to the seaside village I was currently living in, and to the township portrayed in Lee Tulloch's second last novel, and wondered what stories could come out of the town for fiction. So on this visit I wanted to see more, get more photographys and more impressions. Visiting just before Christmas turned out to be ideal.
We were in town for the pre Christmas pageant, made up of floats of local businesses and parades by the local football and netball team. The Rotary club held a sausage sizzle outside the library, and the large Norfolk Pine was lit up by lights. We ate in the Robe Hotel, the first place that I ever stayed at in Robe, and although it had been updated, it was really exactly the same as 1983. Even the perspectives were the same: playground, view to the bowling green, glimpse of the ocean.
Since the days there I keep writing of it, thinking of it, looking forward to when I next return to it.
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