Morning Walk

 I regularly go for a Saturday morning walk at 7 am whether it is winter or summer. I do this event with my friend Alun Davies who's a long-time Armidale resident and with whom I work on Maria Hitchcock's community activist group 'New England Visions 2030'. Of course, in winter the temperature is often -3 C with a heavy frost when we start. But that was not the case today when it was a warm 6 C. Moreover we might be in mid-winter but today's forecast maximum is 19 C (66 F)! And that's in a town 1000 m above sea level! 

Anyway, we went for a walk along Tilbuster Creek and the views we saw were great. These were taken at about 7.30 am on a brilliantly clear day. The creek was high and flowing fairly fast after recent heavy rains.

We saw quite a bit of wild-life including kangaroos and ducks, but we did not see what we desperately wanted to - a duck-billed platypus. It's known to be living in the Tilbuster creek and it is one the world's strangest and most admired creatures. Have a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus to find out more about this mammal that lays eggs!

AS

Immigration Detention

Some people I know staged a protest vigil last week in Armidale's central mall. Their complaint was against Australia's long detention spanning 8 years of people mainly from Asia or the middle east who tried to migrate to our nation by boat from Indonesia. Most have been detained on a remote island of Papua New Guinea in shameful conditions and many people, including me, feel that it's time to let them settle here. Australia is an immigrant nation, with over 30% of the population not being born here. And our migrants come literally from all over the world.

And Armidale is no exception even though it is remote by global standards. In the last few years, for example, we have become home to some 300+ Ezidi people displaced from northern Iraq by Islamic State. As a community we have actively supported these arrivals in many ways - and our support has received warm reception in the national press.

So I went to those staging the vigil and offered my support by way of signing the relevant paper-work. And this is what I saw.

I got there at the very start shortly before lunch-time, so there just a few observers like me. However, I'd guess that come lunch-breaks there would be many more people in attendance.

AS

Out of Season?

 I was in our garden yesterday shifting a large load of wood delivered to keep our home nice and warm in the middle of winter. As I walked past various flower beds I was amazed by the large range of plants in full bloom. This is strange for mid-winter where we have short daylight hours (about 10 hours at our latitude) and many frosty nights (with temperatures sometimes as low as -5 C). Also don't forget that our house is c. 1,000 m (3,281 feet) above sea-level. Here are the pictures I took of our flowers:

Nice, eh?

AS

Celebrating Emily's Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Emily's birthday on 14 June Seattle time (15th here in Armidale) with an online discussion on our Google nest. It's amazing how one can have a video discussion with someone living roughly 12,173 km away with no apparent time lapse. The discussion proceeded exactly as it would have done with Emily sitting alongside us here at home.

Some of the discussion focused on our gift of a basket of plants sent via the USA company You Flowers. Here's a picture taken of our hub showing Em inspecting her gift at home in Seattle.

 

She was delighted with the present including a plant she loves but died when visiting Australia earlier this year. During our hook-up we also managed to exchange words with hubby, Greg, and grand-kids Flynn and Ella.

All up, it was a great occasion!

AS

Another Interesting Meal

Dot and I have recently been in Canberra to celebrate Max's 17th birthday - how the years fly by! That was on the 25th June and, on the following day, we gathered at an up-market restaurant to bring family and friends together. It was an expensive gathering as the meal cost A$88 (48 GBP or 66 US$) per head plus c. $40 per bottle of wine. With 7 participants, the whole show must have cost around A$ 690.

What does one get for A$88? Well, it was an 8 component meal!

2    Tom Yum infused prawns with rockmelon and apple.

3    Tea smoked duck breast with pickled winter melon, goji and osmanthos.

4    Whole Barramundi, with Yunnan style roasted vegetables.

5    Tandoorie Chicken.

6    Lamb Rendang.

7    Stir-fried green beans  with oyster sauce, and

8    Dessert.

Some of the courses were quite small in volume, but the whole show had staff busily delivering food and bowls over quite a long time 

This event was held in the Lanterne Rooms. Here are some pictures of the delicious food in question, which I for one ate with chop-sticks:

And here are some of the participants starting with Max himself and friend Ryan, then Dot and her friend Jane, and finally Rebecca and Rob.:

    

Altogether it was an interesting and delicious event.

AS

Rotary Armidale North's 50th Anniversary

 I'm a member of Rotary's North Armidale branch and, just over a week ago, we celebrated our 50th anniversary in grand style. It took place in the local Bowling Club's auditorium, where well over 80 guests were present. Like many such events, we had a great 3-course meal, heard long-serving members recall important occasions, applauded prominent members as they obtained various awards, listened to a prominent Aboriginal leader as he reminisced about his tribe's past, and networked with members of other Rotary clubs. Armidale has no less than 3 other such clubs in a town of just 25,000 people. Here's our leader, Bob Ryan, introducing the event.

Then a prominent Aboriginal leader, shown here, welcomed us 'to country'.

Then there was a ceremonial cutting of a cake

Here's a long-serving, and indeed founding, member voicing his recollections of club history and events.

Awards were then made to a range of individuals, and the recipient here was Adam Marshall - our member of the NSW Parliament and Minister for Agriculture.

More awards to a variety of people.

Alas. this event also marked the end of our group since Armidale Rotary North will fold from the 1st July 2021 - the start of the Rotary New Year. Loss of a series of members over the last 2 years has meant that we can no longer deliver services effectively and efficiently. For me, this marks the end of my role as the club's youth director and I am tossing up whether to join one of the other groups whose meeting times are unfortunately incompatible with my other activities. I gather than many such organisations are facing membership difficulties in our fast moving and complex age.

AS

A great birthday party!

 Yesterday, Dot and I were invited to a 70th birthday party organised on behalf of a family friend whom we have known for several decades. The event was organised by Chris Martin (her maiden name) who lived next door to us for a long time and had two daughters of a similar age to Emily and Rebecca. The guest of honour was her brother, David. He's a train enthusiast and much of the party revolved around train themes. This included the invitation card which kind of invited us to a rail journey, some food on the table, and a train silhouette along one wall. The event took place in a large up-stairs dining room at the local bowling club and attracted about 50 people, many of whom we knew. We had a lovely meal and some great entertainment lasting almost 3 hours. These pictures illustrate the event quite well. Here, for example, is the 'train on the back wall, but one could walk behind the image and peer out of the windows. David, up front, was having a great time driving his pretend train, as the second picture shows. 

I have often thought 'wouldn't it be nice to drive a steam train', and yesterday I could pretend to do precisely that, as shown above! People mingled freely and often had long and vibrant discussions about this, that and the other.

There were ceremonial occasions like the cutting of the cake.

After that, a band of instruments and singers played several songs about life and travel on railways and each guest had some printed pages providing the words and musical guidance so they could participate. That didn't include me as I have a voice like a foghorn.

 

And at one stage guests formed a kind of rail-trail to meander through the room in a long line before coming together to join in the singing.

Once this was over, people started leaving the event, which had gone on quite a while and included a great meal. Just we were about to depart we seized upon our choo choo biscuits - molded to look like a steam engine!

Thanks must go to the organisers for their imaginative rendition of the party's main theme and its social and gastronomic success. Everyone had a great time.

AS

Reconciliation Week

 A week ago Australia celebrated reconciliation week, which is designed to bring Australia's immigrant population together with Aboriginal communities that have been in our country for maybe 50,000 years. It seeks to better understand and celebrate Aboriginal culture and acknowledge the harm done to Aboriginal peoples stemming from British occupation of this continent commencing in 1788.

Armidale held its now annual reconciliation march, called the 'bridge walk' in which I participated this time around. I took lots of photos of the event many of which are displayed here, starting the Aboriginal flag 'flying' from the city's main bridge. The walk commenced at this bridge but only after numerous speeches presented by important locals.

Here we are assembling - and I found I knew quite a few of the participants, including our mayor, member of state parliament, university vice-chancellor and so on.

Prominent local Aboriginal and member of the Armidale Regional Council, Steve Widders, delivered the main speech remembering the impact of European settlement on Aboriginal peoples, both regionally and locally. These impacts were, in some places, disastrous ... with large loss of life and dispossession of important territory. Steve is speaking into the microphone below.

Some local leaders:

Children unfolding Aboriginal flage to use in the procession, accompanied by someone playing a didgeridoo. 

Kids ready to lead the procession to the bridge and the crowd assembling to follow.

Our walk took us maybe 400 m or so in a loop around the creeklands, after which it was time for additional community leaders to present more speeches outlining the significance and purpose of the day. 

The formalities concluded with a ceremonial dance conducted by three young Aboriginal girls to great applause.

After this, people gathered together for drinks and barbecued food.

It was a moving ceremony and one of great significance for the numerous participants.

AS