Fun without the sun on the Sunshine Coast

Camping can be a bit like sailing – you need to check the weather on a regular basis to avoid bother.

We fully intended to camp in Caloundra after leaving Brisbane, but news and weather reports said gale force winds and rain were lashing the Sunshine Coast.

Caravan parks around Caloundra were being evacuated and the beaches were closed because of floods and raw sewage pollution.

There was nothing for it but to head for high ground, in this case the Ocean View caravan park in Landsborough, as we needed a base from which to call on friends and rellies nearby. Our trusty Pajero had little problem hauling the van up the steep incline and we found a great site (above) with clear views of the sea and surrounding hills.

Our first port of call was my nephew Matthew Dique’s farm in Campbell’s Pocket about 15km west of Caboolture as the crow flies, and about an hour’s drive from their home in Brisbane.

Matthew (right) has some cattle and horses and is planting lemon grass. He has done a terrific job renovating the farmhouse, set high on a ridge, which offers all the comforts of a well-appointed city home.

It was great to catch up with Matthew and Anne, and children Isaac and William. A big night of wining and dining on Anne’s lamb and risotto ensued.

Next morning we were delighted to have our presence graced by my niece, Matthew’s sister Natalie Wendt, husband Philip and their kids Isabella, Sam and Ben. We swapped yarns over a huge breakfast of bacon and eggs.

Above right: William Dique, Sam Wendt, Isaac Dique, Ben and Isabella Wendt.

Right: Carol, Anne and Matthew Dique, Phil and Natalie Wendt.

Next day Carol and I got together at the Buderim Tavern for lunch with more long-lost rellies: Carol’s cousin Fay Earle, Fay’s daughter Allison, another cousin Kathy Baird and her daughter Ainslie who live on the Gold Coast, and Carol’s sister Kay Bertini and husband Paul.


Right: Carol's brother-in-law Paul Bertini, cousin Fay Earle's daughter Allison Green, another cousin Kathy Baird and her daughter Ainsley, Carol, Fay Earle and Kay Bertini.

After promising faithfully to keep in touch we left to have afternoon tea with two aged relatives of mine who have retired in Buderim: my mother’s cousin Philip Bartley and his wife Daphne.

Philip and Daphne met in India, married and settled in the UK, where Philip served in the RAF during World War II. He later joined Qantas and lived for a time in Sydney, including in our very own Riverwood, believe it or not!

Right: Afternoon tea with Philip and Daphne Bartley.

It was wonderful to see them in such good health and to see that Philip has not lost his dry sense of humour.

For the record, Philip’s dad Percy had five brothers: Edwin, James, Alan (my grandfather), Donald and Podgy, and a sister Marjorie. Donald’s son Maurice (Moggy) migrated to Australia with his family in the 1960s, and suffered blindness. Unfortunately we have lost touch.

Philip has a sister Colleen living in Canada. Another sister Barbara, who died recently in the UK, was very close to my mother when they were teenagers in India.

So much for family matters. This was to be a busy day, for next it was time to call on Carol’s dear friend and school chum, magistrate Di Fingleton, and her husband John McGrath at their lovely home in Pelican Waters.

There we were treated to a delicious dinner of baked turkey with all the trimmings cooked by John, the most energetic man I have met, who relishes in the intricacies of fine cuisine.

Right: Chef d'honneur and friend.

While Carol and Di discussed politics, John and I discussed the rules of healthy living, rules that I must confess were pretty much abandoned after the second bottle of red.

Carol and Di Fingleton -- a toast to future happiness.

We sensibly stayed the night and early next morning awoke to the sounds of John busily preparing breakfast. His really is a hard act to follow.

Our next destination is beachside Woodgate, near the cane growing township of Childers where -- you guessed it -- more rellies await our arrival.

Brisbane was a blast

Before leaving Brisbane for points north I dreamed of a headstone that read:

Here lie Carol and Nigel Dique
Survived the worst Brisbane floods for 35 years
Only to be killed by kindness….

During the three weeks of our stay, alternating among the homes of my brother-in-law Colin Boyle, sister-in-law Kay Bertini and sister Bet Green, we have been pampered like royalty and taken on some terrific jaunts.

And fed gourmet meals. Any more of this and we’ll end up like the characters in Marco Ferreri’s controversial 1973 movie La Grande Bouffe who ate themselves to death.

I exaggerate, of course, but the extra avoirdupois we now carry is real.

A ferry ride to Stradbroke Island, courtesy of my brother John recalled endless summers holidaying there as a child, exploring places like Amity Point, Point Lookout and the Blue and Brown lakes.


Right: Brother John and Carol on the Stradbroke ferry. Left: John and me at the Blue Lake.

John actually went for a dip in the Blue Lake, which Carol and I thought was brave, given the time of year, but he insisted the swim was invigorating.

An evening birthday party at Shorncliffe held for my nephew Joseph, also brought back childhood memories, fishing off the pier and long walks on the esplanade, as did a visit to Bribie Island.




Right: My nephew Joseph's birthday party at Shorncliffe. Joe is third from the left.

Below: Carol and my sister Bet at Bribie Island.




South to Sydney -- and north to Kingaroy

Carol took time out to fly back to Sydney with her sister Kay to see our grandson Thomas dance in Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker at the Opera House – an outstanding performance they say, which has made us all proud.

Colin drove me to Kingaroy, famous for peanuts -- and former Queensland Premier, Joh Bjelke-Peterson, but we won’t go there.

Our objective was to reconnect with my nephew, Colin’s eldest son Michael, who has been working in Kingaroy as a school teacher and principal for 20 years, his wife Julie and musical kids, Lachlan and Lara. I should mention Lara bakes ‘melting moments’ that really are to die for!

Michael, who is around 6ft 5in in the old measure, also stands tall in education, doing some terrific work in curriculum development.

Right, from left: Lachlan, his dad Michael, me, Julie, Lara and Colin.

Rain ensured golf was off the agenda, so it was back to Brisbane where I caught up with an old schoolmate Kevin Noonan. While the rest of the city was drowning in the floods, we recalled the good old days (when, as Kev says, men were men and falsies were teeth) while downing a seemingly inexhaustible supply of ‘black rats’.

Right: Kev Noonan and me at his Acacia Ridge home recalling the good old days over a few rumbos.

A final thought on Brisbane: if there’s a recession, it doesn’t seem evident here, with enormous infrastructure projects and housing developments in places like the Redlands and Sunshine Coast districts.

Our next stop in tranquil Landsborough, in the Glasshouse Mountains region, provides the opportunity to catch up with more dear members of our extended clan. Watch this space.

Merrymaking and mishaps on Mother's Day

Mother’s Day in Brisbane saw Carol, her sister Kay Bertini and their cousins get together for fun and food. It was also a day of high drama.

The cousins, all on the late Nanny Taylor’s side, i.e. nee Dossetto, were Lyn Cotton, Cheryl Dossetto, Tracey Jones, Michelle McLaren plus Carol and Kay, and assorted husbands, mums (including Marj and Beattie Dossetto), partners, kids and other rellies.

Right, Carol and Kay.



The sumptuous
gourmet lunch was kindly hosted by Michelle and her partner John Bastin-Byrne, one of nature’s true gentlemen, at their two-storey mansion set on three acres in Samford next to Cedar Creek, your classical babbling brook.

Right, Lyn, Michelle, Kay, Tracey, Carol and Cheryl.

The property, in rolling hills with magnificent views, is a bit remote from facilities we normally take for granted. We were most impressed by John’s environmental management systems, including rainwater collection for domestic use and biocycle wastewater treatment, providing for fruit trees and other plants.

Right: Tracey Jones and daughter Chloe. Below: Marion Dossetto, Michelle's daughter Aimee and mum Beattie, John Bastin-Byrne, Michelle and son Luke, his wife Jasmine, Jasmine's mum Jan and her partner Ian.

But there are dangers in
working on a property where parts are steep.

Bobcat bother

This steepness got the better of John’s bobcat before our arrival and it finished up down the bank (but thankfully not in) the creek (below right).

John’s mate turned up with another bobcat to the rescue but once again the steep sides proved calamitous, sending it tumbling down the hill to rest upside down in a gully. Fortunately no one was hurt.

There was nothing for it but to call in the heavy metal: in this case a 20-tonne excavator whose clanking presence drew the men, like so many kids, from the lunch table.

The excavator made short work of its task, gouging out a platform for itself (right), then ramps to pull out first one bobcat and then the other: a masterly performance in a sticky situation.

Given the focus on boys’ toys, Mother’s Day finished up in a sense Father’s Day.


















Clockwise, from left: the rescue bobcat upside down in the gully, the first bobcat safe and rescue of the second.

On the way back to where we were staying at Carol's sister's home in Camp Hill, we dropped in to see another niece, Catherine Dimmick and her family.

More news on Brisbane in our next report.






The Dimmick family: Tony, Emily, Jake, Cath and Bethany.

Moments of magic in Moreton Bay

As sailing is my passion, I leapt at the chance for a morning cruise around Moreton Bay aboard a 30ft catamaran, courtesy of skipper Bill McLennan (pictured at right), a good friend of my brother-in-law Colin Boyle.

Also on board were Bill’s wife Cheryl, a friend Pamela, who kindly provided the champagne and dips, and Col.

Carol declined, having lost her zest for sailing long ago.

In glorious sunshine we skimmed at 5-6 knots in the light airs over to Stradbroke Island and back to Victoria Point.

I was most impressed by the living space on board this ocean going yacht, which has a large open cabin and wide hulls each with room for double berths and lots of storage.

I asked Bill, who has sailed both, what was the essential difference between sailing monohull yachts and cats.

“With a monohull, you know when the wind gets up,” he said, “whereas with a cat, you may not even notice you’re in a gale.

“You’ll be powering along and may only find out you’re going too fast when you flip, and then it’s too late. So you have to monitor your wind speed regularly and shorten sail accordingly.”

Bill has never ‘flipped’ – he’s too experienced for that. Thanks for the advice Bill, and many thanks for the sail.

Sausage sizzle at Kath's

Immediately afterwards we proceeded to Birkdale where Colin’s eldest daughter, my niece Kathy Casley had arranged a sausage sizzle lunch in the gardens of her spacious high-set home for us to reconnect with more family.

It was great to see nieces and nephews whom we haven’t seen for some years, and meet their children.

Pictured (from left, back row: Niece Kathy Boyle, Jasmine Delta and Phoenix (daughter and son of nephew Steven Boyle and Mickey), Robert Boyle (nephew Peter and Katrina), Charlie Green (nephew Thomas and Kellie), Zachary Boyle (Steven and Mickey), Toby Green (Thomas and Kellie) and Tia (Steven and Mickey); front row: Marley Bugeja (niece Kara and Paul), Grace and Xavier Boyle (Kathy and Zac), David Boyle (sister Mary and Col) and Peter Boyle with daughter Stella Mary.

Carol with Jasmine Delta Wolf-Boyle and Stella Mary Boyle. Right, Steven and Mickey with Jasmine, Kara Bugeja and Marley, niece Jocelyn Boyle and her brother David.

Naturally chaos reigned and coherent pictures were obtained only with extreme difficulty. Clearly another baby boom is under way.

My sister Bet and family pictured in the previous web log also attended.

Many thanks to you Kathy and to Zachary who cooked the snags.

Right: I'm with niece Kathy and husband Zac, and their children Xavier and Grace.

Below: In the midst of nephews Peter Boyle, Daniel Green and David Boyle, and on the other side David Dique and Steven Boyle, and Steve's dad Colin -- useful people to call on if you're punching above your weight in a fracas.





Trivia

It was a long day, culminating in a trivia night at the local school hall to raise funds for a community project in Equador. Some of the questions were hard especially the ones on collective nouns, like:

What do you call a group of nuns? A flap. I kid you not!

What do you call a group of cockroaches? An intrusion.

And a group of army tanks? A clank. And there were lots more like that.

Next time we’ll report on Mother’s Day – quite eventful so stay tuned.

Brisbane -- so many people to see, so little time

Our caravan is now parked – as to the manor born -- in the back garden of brother-in-law Colin Boyle’s Victoria Point, Brisbane property.

Colin, the lord of the manor, has an enormous home on an enormous block of land, not untypical of properties in the Redlands Shire, which is great news for nomads like us who need somewhere to stay awhile.

He and my deceased and sadly missed sister Mary raised seven children in this home, which Colin has generously allowed us to use as a base to visit our hordes of relatives.

We have also spent a few days with Carol's sister Kay and husband Paul who have spoiled us to the core with their hospitality. Fortunately Kay has dragged us out on early morning walks to burn off the calories ingested the previous evening.

At this point I should mention that family is the name of the game in this part of the woods. I come from a family of seven children and have 31 nieces and nephews, many of whom live in or near Brisbane, and they have hordes of kids whom I am anxious to see.

Carol is in a similar situation. She has 12 nieces and nephews and as her mum had 12 siblings, she has zillions of cousins living in Queensland. Seeing only a fraction of them will keep us busy.

First up, my sister Bet Green’s son John and his vivacious fiancée Joan Yang who have moved to the northern suburb of Virginia, cordially invited us to their housewarming party.

There we caught up with my dear sister Bet and husband Greg, their sons Thomas, Daniel, Joseph and John, Thomas’s jazz pianist wife Kellee and their two charming boys Charlie and Toby, and Kellie’s parents Paul and Kerrie Crooks, and friends.

Pictured top right, I'm with Bet, John and Joan. Right, Kerrie Crooks, Bet, Carol, Bet's son Thomas, Colin's son David and Colin.

Thomas's wife Kellee adding the icing to the cake.

These are all creative people who are equally at home conjuring up gastronomic delights as they are music or art, so we all finished up not just satiated but struggling to get to our feet.

A couple of days later, to my surprise and joy, my other dear sister Alixe appeared as out of nowhere, and we able share stories. Alixe lives near Adelaide and we hope to catch up again on that leg of our journey.

Alixe, me and Bet.

More on our Brisbane sojourn soon.

Fishing, phishing, family and friends - phew!

Heaven has arrived at the Kingscliff Beach Holiday Park.

The wind has dropped and the clouds have vanished. The sea has lost its anger, changed from a soupy brown colour to a glorious aqua marine and has come alive with fish.

Once the word got around about the fish, every person in the camp with a rod and line headed to the surf out front. And they weren’t disappointed.

They have hauled in bream, whiting, swallowtail, tailor and flathead. The conversation has been all about bag sizes.

You can see the fish in the waves as they roll in. On the horizon the professionals are dragging nets.

I contemplated rigging up the old rod that my young brother Pat gave me in Grafton to join in the frenzy.

However, either through laziness or logic, I figured a better plan of action might be to head down to the nearby fish depot, where fish would soon be arriving by the tonne, offering a more convenient option, less messy and probably cheaper if you cost in bait and gear.

Committed anglers may disagree, saying it’s not about the fish, it’s about the fishing – like, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.

Carol resolved the dilemma when she said she felt like steak and sent me off to the butcher’s.

By the way, a random online check of my Mastercard statement revealed that someone in Milan, Italy had withdrawn around $2500 in Euros the previous week. I kid you not! Was I the victim of phishing? The card is cancelled and the bank is investigating.

Meanwhile, we continued to receive visits from family, the latest being Carol’s niece Bernadette and her kids Casey, Ellie and Lucy; and another niece Therese, her husband Ben, and their kids Bridgette, William and Max.

Right: Therese Green and son Max, dad Paul, son William, and husband Ben.

For the record, we have four daughters (Sue, Louise, Julie and Angela) and 10 grandchildren aged from 19 down to one bun waiting patiently in the oven: Emma, Luke, Tim, Amelia, Tom, Lucinda, Bryce, Cameron, Kurt, Lily and Yet to be Born.

Carol’s only sibling, her sister Kay, also has four daughters (Bernadette, Catherine, Madonna and Therese), and 12 grandchildren, all under 10 years of age: Casey, Ellie, Lucy, Bethany, Jacob, Emily, Ruby, Jack, Grace, Bridgette, William and Max. Imagine babysitting them all at once! Above right: Bridgette and Lucy in the surf.

We topped off our Gold Coast sojourn by visiting old friends, Diane and Des Kenny at Bilinga (Diane and Carol were pupils at All Hallows convent).

Right: Diane, Des and Carol doing what they know best.

Then Rick King and his partner Rosie, who are doing up a home at Mudgereeba, joined us for a big seafood cook-up and stayed overnight. Rick and I were workmates on The Courier-Mail back in the ‘60s and later partners in PR in Sydney. Did we enjoy a few beers?
Is the Pope a Catholic?

Next comes Brisbane where we plan to reconnect with many more family members.