Bottles of Booze

 Dot and I have been rearranging our house to enable painting of walls in some living areas. In the process, I had to empty one place where we stored bottles of mainly spirits. I used to buy quite a few bottles of this that or the other while overseas or in some parts of Australia, but recent aversion to spirits has left many unopened. Here's a picture of the bottles extracted from one location in our house:

The list includes  Vicker's Gin (Australia - OZ); Cointreau (France (FR); Remy Martin Brandy (OZ); Benedictine (FR); 100 Pipers (UK); Shiraz Liqueur (OZ); Limoncello di Sorrento (Italy - IT); Tudor Royal Scotch (UK); Hennessey Brandy (OZ); Teacher's Highland Cream Whiskey (UK); Jim Beam Bourbon (USA); Chatelle Napoleon Brandy (FR); Grand Marnier (FR); Marko Dry Vermouth (OZ); Calvados Boulard (FR); BORZO Vodka (UK!); Drambuie (UK);  Maple Schnaps (Canada); Port (Portugal); and Licor di Leiti (Portugal).

Then I remembered that I hid a whole lot more bottles in my study ... mostly Scotch Whiskey. The list comprises: Ballantine, Bailey's Irish Cream, Tobermory, Langavulin, Glenmorangie, and Bushmill Malt Irish Whiskeys. In addition I have Doktor Vodka (Russia), Gota De Minas Cachaca (Brazil), and Sulwha Saki (Japan).

Anyone fancy visiting me for an extended booze-up? It might take a couple of weeks or more to clear the decks prior to checking in at our local hospital!

AS

New Year Fireworks 20-21

 Armidale might be a small town of c. 25,000 people, but it has a tradition of great firework displays heralding the New Year. And at 9 pm on the 31st December 2020 we collectively saw one of the best displays ever. Thanks to the absence of COVID-19 in our region a large audience comprising all age groups - and ignoring social distancing - crowded on to the Wicklow field, which forms part of our green corridor along the banks of Dumaresq Creek.

The cloudy sky ensured a jet black background, which made the displays all the more impressive. And, for 10 minutes, the audience gasped at - and applauded - the great aerial display paid for by the Armidale Regional Council. The pictures below are representative of what we saw - lots of different colours and configurations of the fireworks.

Because of the virus, organisers of the event decided to give the  displays greater altitude this year so that people could potentially watch them from the safety of their homes. This ploy didn't seem to work well given the massive throng of viewers clustered on the creeklands!

AS

First Park Run in 9 months

 I used to go for a Park Run every Saturday morning at 8 am, but that halted in early March because of COVID-19. Given that we had up to 200 runners and social distancing would be very difficult with that number of participants, the event has has been in abeyance until now.

So today I joined maybe 50 others on the first run in 9 months. Organisers offered two alternative routes, one 5 km and the other 2 km. I chose the latter because of lack of running practice over the longer distance and I didn't want a second round cardiac arrest. 

I was able to run half the distance and walked the rest, albeit at a fast pace - not bad for a 75 year old. I was first back for my category in record time, but only because I was the only performer to select the short route!! Here we are assembling at the start on a brilliantly clear sunny morning. Even at 8 am the temperature must have been around 19 to 20 C.

And here's a selfie. Apologies for the expression. I wasn't as fearful as I look, but I was looking towards the sun!

AS

Other great sites on Norfolk Island

 In my last post on our visit to Norfolk Island, I will focus on several the many other sites we visited and explored over our 5 full days there. Sometimes we made our way around the island in the hire car we had provided for almost the entire trip. On other occasions we were on guided tours. Both means of getting around were great. On one guided tour we visited a pretty church way out of town.

One evening we heard about a food fest down at the remains of the Kingston prison. It was a lovely and lively evening out with masses of people visiting the various ethnic food stalls and consuming their purchases at the tables and chairs provided.

On another occasion, using our hire car, we made it to the top of Mount Pitt, presumably named after the British Prime Minister in the middle of the 18th century. As the sign says, it is about 318 m high and just short of the highest point - Mount Bates. We had an excellent view over the whole island from this vantage point.

These following pictures show some of the views, including the island's international airport!

The island's Botanic Gardens lay close by and we explored them avidly.

On another occasion, we visited a lovely museum at Kingston that was home to one of the principal managers of the convict prison back in the early to mi 19th cecntury.

And here's a rear view of Dot inspecting the kitchen area

We sure did a lot in just a little time - all of it enjoyable.

AS

Dead Centre of Town

Towards the end of our stay on Norfolk Island, we decided - out of curiosity - to visit its cemetery. Two things we immediately obvious. Part of it held the remains of prisoners and their supervisors - dating from the period 1825 to 1855 when the island was home to repeat offenders from the penal colony of New South Wales. What struck us was the incredibly young age of most of the deceased - often in the 20 to 40 age bracket. More alarming still was the high proportion who died from drowning!

These first two pictures are general views taken from the western where many of the island's deceased residents from convict days are buried. I don't think I've seen a more picturesque cemetery anywhere else. 

These, in particular, were the graves of convicts and their guardians.

Here, for example, are several sad stories of drownings and accidental shootings among the officers of the penal colony.

Some, of course met a sticky end.

After the closure of the prison in 1855, the entire population returned to the mainland and Norfolk Island had no population. This news must have reached Pitcairn Island, which is still a British possession, quite quickly. Pitcairn island, one of a group of 5, was only a tiny 5 sq km in size and occupied by mutineers from the Bounty (spelt Baunti on Norfolk Island) and their mainly Tahitian wives. Pitcairn, it seems, was too small to sustain them, so they petitioned Queen Victoria to give them Norfolk Island (34.6 sq km) as a new home. This wish was granted, and a group of 94 people from Pitcairn arrived at their new home in 1856. Some had the surnames of Baunti mutineers: Adams, Christian, McCoy, Quintal, and Young. Others had Pitcairn surnames derived from free settlers: Buffett, Evans and Nobbs. 

What amazed us was the high proportion of graves with all these surnames etched into the head-stones. Here' for example, lie the remains of two Buffetts, one with the same first name as our daughter Emily. She reached the ripe old age of 80. Her husband did even better and reached 90. I wonder if he's related to the famous Warren Buffett who runs Berkshire Hathaway, is also 90 years old, and is worth roughly US$80 billion.

And blow me down if we didn't see the grave of the famous Australian author, Colleen McCullouch.

Her lie two Baileys, one of whom nearly made it to 90.

And, for my last picture, here is the grave of a Christian - the most prominent surname on the island. This one caught my eye because he was a MAXWELL!! That's also the name of one our grand-kids. Note, too, he almost made it to 80.

I wonder if life on a beautiful and peaceful island encourages longevity, apart of course from when one drowns or is executed. Hmmm. I might weigh up migrating to Norfolk island!!

AS

Burnt Pine; NI's Commercial Hub

Whilst on Norfolk Island (NI), we stayed in the township of Burnt Pine. Whilst it has a typically Australian small-town configuration in many ways, it also differs in several respects. Let's find out what I mean by those remarks. 

This is Taylors Road next to the Aloha Apartments where we were staying. There's a huge number of such places on NI and especially at Burnt Pine, due to tourism being the island's main activity. I took this picture out of trading hours so the road was largely empty. In business hours the roads are crawling with cars.

I liked to see this kind of advertorial on the pavements, this one showing a map of the island.

Believe it or not, NI's small population of just 1,748 - as of the 2016 census - can support a purpose-built shopping mall with a supermarket and so on. Mind you, we should add in large number of tourists for much of the year given the island's sub-tropical location.

Towards the eastern end of the shopping centre I came across the green-roofed store with grandson Max's written in red on the green roof. He's just landed his first job with K Mart at age 16, but I was unaware of his owning a store on NI.

More views of shops on an early morning walk - again no traffic. The famous and beautiful Norfolk Pines are everywhere.

The shot below aroused my interest, but after several attempts I still couldn't find the tomb and must presume it's still in Egypt.

Sometimes, in the middle of the day, the shopping centre comes alive with heaps of vehicles vying for the angle parking slots like those show here.

Nearby this board shown below sets out residents' distress at having decision-making powers largely removed off-shore to Canberra. The adjacent park has hand symbols and names of all those locals seeking to have powers restored to NI residents.

More picturesque views of the town.

Now for some strange observations. Firstly, Burnt Pine is awash in cafes. This probably reflects the large visitor numbers with time on their hands and a desire to take breakfast and / or lunch out of their accommodation. Perhaps also, locals wish to meet up with each other. This option probably reflects the fact that few locals appear to live in suburban homes like they do in most towns and cities I know. It seemed to me, driving around the island, most people live on what we, on the mainland, call rural residential allotments (maybe up to 5 hectares in size) or larger hobby farms. The island is heavily dotted with these kinds of homes.

AS