17 February 2004
Greetings from Queensland!
Here we sit, overlooking the beach at Yeppoon (near Rockhampton), warm
breeze blowing through the open doors, with parrots and butterflies flying by
outside. We've been in Australia just over a week now, and it's time for the
first of our travelogues for this 3 month tour.
We left home on January 28th, over to Vancouver for the night to prepare for our
early morning flight the next day. We first flew to Hilton Head SC via Los
Angeles, to sing at Jinny Beyer's annual seminar. It was a return engagement
("back by popular demand"!) and it was marvelous. This time we went a day early,
so we could more fully experience the event. We met Caryl Breyer Fallert, a
quilt artist extraordinaire, and spent some quality time with Jinny and event
administrator Carole. The big surprise came after our performance at the
banquet. My 50th birthday was on Feb 3rd. The banquet was Jan 31st, but the
celebrations were about to begin. After our encore, Jinny came to the podium to
thank us. She said she knew about my birthday, and my lip collection at home and
they had a surprise for me to help celebrate. Then, at every table in the room,
big red paper lips were held up - at least 50, but probably more like 100! What
a great surprise. It was all the idea of our good friend Barb Tricarico, who had
been on Jinny's staff in earlier years, but this year was home in Vienna VA.
Thanks Barb!
We flew back across the country to do a few gigs in southern California. A house
concert at Arline and Dick Grotz's home in Palos Verdes CA, complete with
theatre people and Red Hat Ladies. There, I learned that I am now eligible to
wear a red hat - after the poem "When I Am Old, I Shall Wear Purple" (and a Red
Hat). Does that mean I'm old now? I was SURE I'd have to wait till at least 60 -
or 70? John is keeping his eyes open for my birthday present - a red hat!
From there, we headed down to San Diego for a performance at the guild there. We
stayed with Cindy and Robert Feagle for a couple of days, and they treated us so
well! Cindy is a long arm (professional) quilter, and Robert also does some
quilting. There are more quilts in their house than we've ever seen in one place
before! We had a great time with them, and Robert even got John interested in
making a rag quilt for himself. John bought his first fabric too!!! Cindy took
us to the San Diego Zoo on our day "off". What a great zoo! Both John and I had
just finished reading "Life of Pi", and were interested in seeing the Bengal
tiger and the meerkats. But we loved the polar bears and the pandas too.
Our last gig in California was in San Marcos for Eleanor Burns "Quilt in a Day".
It was a sewing retreat with about 45 quilters. It was fun and we even got a
tour of "Quilt in a Day" head office, courtesy of El's son, Orion. These are the
folks who have made the music video of my "100 Ways to Hide Your Stash" -
hilarious!!
Then the long flight to Australia, from LA to Brisbane, via Auckland. 17 hours.
'nuff said.....
Our home in Brisbane is with Jenny and Rod Lanham in Eaton's Hill. I wrote
"Healing Hearts" song (on "A Quilter's Embrace" cd) based on Jenny's story. Last
year they flew up to Weatherford Texas to meet us at Pam and Rich Luke's house
(mutual friends). Jenny organized a number of performances for us in the
Brisbane area while we are here, and they are all going very well. I think she
has a future in the concert promotion business!!! They live in a lovely home in
an ecological area, so there are lots of trees and birds around. We've
thoroughly enjoyed staying with them.
We didn't have much jet lag this
time, and the next day we were out touring Brisbane on the City
Cat - a catamaran ferry system that runs along the winding river
right through the heart of Brisbane. It was a great way to see
the city, and to cool off. The weather has been particularly hot
and humid (mid-30 degree C) and any relief has been welcome. On
Wednesday we zipped out to sing at a shop in Toowoomba, a two
hour drive from "home". Also on the program that night
was Sandy Corry, a sewing and quilting teacher who was conducting
workshops during the days. It sounds like she has a similar
travelling life to ours!
Our next gig was on Friday night in Yeronga, a suburb of
Brisbane. Jenny set this up in an elementary school hall. The
walls were nothing but sliding doors, and we had them all open,
and there were lots of fans going. It was still meltingly hot.
But 100 people braved the temperatures and came to the show. We
all had fun.. Jenny brought her healing hearts quilt with her for
show too.
The next day we had two shows: one at Twin Towns Services Centre
(air conditioned - YAY!!), where Petula Clark and Steeleye Span
were performing. This is a really prestigious gig; I'm told that
I should put this on my resume!! We had about 88 ladies there,
and a really fine quilt show with a few tables of fabric for sale
too. Jenny organized this too, with the help of Kay Kissane.
Great job!
Then up to the hills to a quilt retreat in Tamborine. The 40 or
so gals there were working on the same project - using Robyn
Pandolph fabrics. We stayed overnight, and I got a bit of sewing
done the next morning before we left.
We've been seeing a lot of wildlife so far on this trip. Some
wild goats on our way up to Tamborine, some big kangaroos under a
tree on our way back from Toowoomba. Lots of birds, including a
Tawny Frogmouth (an owl) at Jenny and Rod's, as well as a
yellow-headed parrot. They have a "resident" kookaburra
called "Jack" that they feed bacon fat to. He comes
right up on the balcony looking for treats.
Today the house concert has been organized by our friends Mary
and Bruce Gates. We are staying in their beautiful home right on
the beach, enjoying cold beer and the sound of the surf. Last
night we had an amazing light display from lightning in the
south, with clear sky and stars overhead. We have the house to
ourselves, since Mary and Bruce are travelling. How idyllic!
Somehow being this close to the sea makes the hot temperatures
bearable.
Anyway, that's the news from Queensland just now. It's all going
very well so far, and we're looking forward to seeing even more
friends and having more adventures before we get home again.
Check out the website for the complete tour itinerary
<http://www.singingquilter.com/tourinfo.htm>.
We hope this finds you all healthy and happy. We'll send more
news as time and adventures allow!!
love,
cathy and john
22 March 2004
G'day all. We're now in Victoria
(Australia) for another few days, before we head over to South
Australia on Monday for the last gig on the tour in OZ on 1st
April.
Our time in Yeppoon was great, even though we
missed out on seeing our hosts, Mary and Bruce Gates, who were
off in India! The afternoon house concert took place at Kathy
Butler's, another ex-pat Canadian. That evening the drought broke
and looking out over Keppel Bay from the balcony of M&B's we
watched the lightning and storm work its way north towards us. In
the morning there was an accumulation of 18 cm of rain in the
gauge. But as we headed south to Brisbane again, the day was
fine, if still very warm.
Back to Jenny & Rod's at Eatons Hill and then on down to
spend an evening with friends on the Gold Coast. A swim in the
Currumbin estuary followed by a bbq at the beach and a very
pleasant evening. The Quilt Expressions shop in Eatons Hill was
our next gig. The shop started off air-conditioned, but as the
place filled up with some 60 guests, the temperature rose
inexorably until it was only a few degrees below the 35 degrees
outside! Sweat & glow we did!!
On Saturday afternoon our indefatigable hostess Jenny, had
organised another house concert in her downstairs area, which was
slightly cooler than outside (42C). Standing in front of a fan,
we presented our last Queensland show, again to a very receptive
audience.
Rod dropped us at the airport on Sunday evening for our
"red-eye" flight to Darwin and the
tropical "cool"!! (well, it was cooler than Brisbane)
The usual 4 hour flight was prolonged by two hours plus, sitting
in the aircraft at the loading gate, while a ferocious
thunderstorm bombarded Brisbane airport. The airconditioning
remained on so the enforced delay was not too onerous, although
our friend, Alison McShanagh, at the Darwin end had to wait until
2:30 am to greet us!
Our week in Darwin went altogether too quickly. Jenny Armour and
Tony Suttor, of The Darwin Patchwork & Quilters and Top End
Folk Club, respectively, had arranged for a public concert on
Tuesday night. In attendance was the Administrator of the NT
(=Lieutenant-Governor), Ted Egan, who is also a famous
folksinger. Cathy serenaded Ted with "Prince Charming",
a song about charm quilts (asking for the shirt off his back),
and we performed a number of non-quilt related folk songs as
well.
John, Ted Egan, Cathy, Bob
Juniper, Nerys Evans
The last several nights in Darwin
we spent with Jeff and Lyn Stratfold in their unit overlooking
Cullen Bay. Not too hard to take!! Cathy picked up some
aboriginal-printed fabric in Darwin to supplement her stash, so
the trip was a success on several fronts!!
Back to Brisbane on Saturday, again on the "red-eye",
but this time without any delay. Rod kindly met us at 5:30 am and
took us back to Eatons Hill for a couple hours of shuteye, before
we said au revoir and headed the Holden S/W south to Tamworth
NSW. Anne and Bob Ware were our hosts there, and gave us
a quick tour of the Country Music Capital of Australia, including
the big Golden Guitar (photo op!)
We stopped at the Moonby
Quilt Show the next morning before continuing on to
Sydney and the Blue Mountains. It's an annual show in a heritage
house organized by quilt artist Glenys Mann. In Katoomba
we met up with friends from Sydney, and spent a day walking and
exploring the escarpment, including a ride down the cable railway
into the valley and a gondola ride back to the top. This is the
steepest cable railway in the world, and we set out to the
strains of Indiana Jones theme music... Hold onto everything you
own, or it'll fly away! It felt like we faced almost straight
down at a few points.
Canberra was our next stop, with Scott and
Michelle Law, a SCQuilter whom we had met in Victoria BC late
last year. Our Can/Aus friend Donna Sunderland inspired a
SCQuilters dinner (this is the on-line Aus/NZ quilting group we
belong to) the night before our show there, and Cathy got to see Jenny
Bowker's wonderful photographs from Iran, from which she
had just returned. She was there teaching quilting there to a
number of Irani women, and she has some really incredible stories
of her time both in Iraq and in Palestine. Cathy got started a
new song with the help of Kathryn Hailey using quilt block names
to tell the story. No men allowed at the dinner, and John was
missed by more than just Cathy. We presented our program to the
Canberra Guild on the 4th March. The effect of the bushfires
which hit the ACT last year was very evident, with huge open
fields where pine forests had once stood to the west of the urban
area. Our friends told of their successful fire-fighting when the
crowning wildfires roared up into the forested area at the top of
their street. Some of the suburbs were not quite so lucky. All in
all, 461 homes were lost, and there has been a review of the
readiness of the fire authorities and questions about the
appropriateness of pine forests surrounding the capital of
Australia. Although they haven't replanted the forests, the pines
have self-seeded and are well on their way to re-establishing
themselves.
Camperdown Victoria was our next destination, where we performed
for the Victorian Quilters. Our journey there
took us via Wagga Wagga and The Rock, where Judy Hall has
established her "Punch with Judy"
quilting supply business. We had a cuppa with her, took a look at
their emus, and then headed off to skirt round Melbourne on late
Friday afternoon of the Labour Day long weekend. Carol and John
Eagle, our hosts in Camperdown live in a hundred-year old
converted school dormitory: large entry hall and superwide
staircase to the 2nd floor, huge bedrooms and gargoyles! The
entire town main street remains much as it was in that time -
very charming!
After the Vic Quilters meeting we retraced our steps into
Melbourne to meet up with Dan Miller, Cathy's nephew. We had tea
that evening with him in Young & Jackson's pub, looking out
on to the Flinders Street railway station, with a veritable tide
of people coming and going from the Formula One
car race which was taking place just down the road. Not a place
for a recluse!! Dan was off the next day to NZ to explore the
bungee-jumping and sky-diving activities there!!
On Sunday we embarked on the Spirit of Tasmania II
for a ten-hour trip across Bass Strait. The crossing was
uneventful, under a leaden sky, so Bryce Courtenay's
"Solomon's Song" provided a good read. Cathy completed
sewing another row in her silk hexagon garden maze. (each row is
currently taking about 6 hours.....) We spent that night in
Bridport with Fran Williams, another quilter, and then pushed off
down the east coast of Tasmania on Monday. We fetched up in
Bicheno that evening and had a great walk along the foreshore and
up to the Whalers Lookout, before feasting on curried scallops
and good red wine!! Bicheno seemed the sort of place where John
might be able to live, although Cathy commented that there was no
fabric shop!! (but that can be fixed, I reckon! - C)
Freycinet National Park at Coles Bay enabled us to stretch our
legs again the next day, climbing up to the Wineglass Bay lookout
(along with thousands of others!). A beautiful, if popular, spot.
Cathy and David Craig were our hosts just north of Hobart.
From there, in between a couple of quilt group gigs, we explored
Mt Wellington (awesome view), the Cadbury chocolate factory
(John's birthday present - how appropriate!), and the Female
Factory. The latter was the destination of some 15,000 female
transportees from England in the early 1800's. Conditions there
were very grim, well-described in Bryce Courtenay's "The
Potato Factory". Some 1200 babies were born there to women
prisoners, but 900 did not survive. A memorial installation of
900 handmade baby bonnets placed on milliner's head forms has
been placed in the grounds of the Female Factory ruins. A very
powerful statement about the conditions of that time!
900 Baby bonnets at Female
Factory in Hobart
To find out more about the artist who created this, visit
http://www.christinahenri.com.au
I must say, singing "The
Rajah Quilt" while looking out the window at the mountain
these women saw every day of their incarceration was very
powerful for me.
On Saturday we drove up to Perth,
Tasmania to present our program to the Tasmanian Quilters. Again,
another very successful show. That evening we spent in Penguin,
on the north coast of the Apple Isle, with Chris & Harry
Seccombe (no, not from the Goon Show!). She is current prez of
the Tas Quilters. Their house looks out over Bass Strait, in
another very attractive place to live! Back on to the Spirit of
Tasmania the next morning for a crossing in brilliant sunshine
and minimal swell, with whales, dolphins and albatross along the
way! Another row of hexagons completed, as well as
"Solomon's Song"!
Monday morning, after an evening with Brenda and Peter Dean, we
did our thing at the Mornington Peninsula Patchworkers
in Mt Eliza. A patchwork letter banner greeted us for the
program. That afternoon we motored on down to Blairgowrie near
the tip of the peninsula, to meet, and spend an evening with,
Judy Anderson, quilting friend of quilter Mary King in Salem OR!
What a small world this is!! And wherever you go, there is always
a quilter!!
Back to Melbourne again to Sandy and Andy
Hamilton's, friends from 1979, when Andy was an exchange teacher
in Kelowna BC. A couple of evening excursions to SCQuilty Tarts
and NOTY (North of the Yarra) quilters, and then back down to
Sorrento to catch the ferry across Port Phillip Bay to
Queenscliff. (do you have your atlas out?) A 45 minute trip, more
like the one from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen in British Columbia.
That evening was the first of 4 gigs in four days, with Pat and
Barry Whitford hosting a quilters house concert in Clifton
Springs. Barry has to be the best DH ever - he made
a longarm machine for Pat!!! Saturday found us in Geelong (where
the brochures for Butchart Gardens in our Victoria BC are printed!!) for a return
appearance at the Geelong guild, Sunday in Hoppers Crossing with Glenice Bust, and Monday back to Melbourne for the biggest show
thus far on this tour, for Waverley Patchworkers - about 175 in the audience!
The Hamilton's came to the meeting in Waverley and experienced
what we do, and seemed to be suitably impressed!! One of the other
members of the audience was a woman from Kelowna, Sharon
McCoubrey, here with a group of exchange teachers from Okanagan
College. She isn't a quilter but attended with a woman who was!!
So John and Sharon and the Hamilton's spent some time talking
about Kelowna. small world again, wha?
Today we're having a much needed quiet day. We'll head up to
Bendigo on Friday and on to Adelaide on Monday. Just a little
over a week until we're off to NZ ourselves!! More from the Land
of the Long White Cloud!
Our last week in Australia was
spent in Victoria and South Australia at the end of March. We had
gigs in Bendigo, Cohuna and Adelaide, before flying on to
Christchurch, New Zealand. Our show for the South Australia
quilters in the Burnside Town Hall was the largest of the tour,
and was part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the guild.
You've gotta love a country - New Zealand -
where the security guard at the airport sees the guitar and asks
to hear a tune! As we made landfall on the South Island we saw
tall bare mountains (the Southern Alps), giving way to a large
flat expanse of green farms on the Canterbury Plain.
It was the green that was so amazing, after two months in
Australia. Our eyes couldn't get enough of it. Our hosts here
were old friends of John's from his Vancouver days, Audrey &
Earl Kyle, although Earl was off in Africa. Our first venture,
after exploring Christchurch on Sunday in the
rain, was out to Banks Peninsula. The remnants
of two huge ancient craters that have filled in with sea water
flank the peninsula. We drove along the top, on a winding,
sometimes gravel road. Beautiful views. But it was clear right
off that Cathy wouldn't be doing much sewing in the car as we
drove through New Zealand!
We had lunch in Akaroa, originally a French port
in the early days. It was lovely to be surrounded by French
names. I bought a gorgeous orange sweater made of merino wool and
possum fur. Possums (possa?) were brought in from Australia and
are now a serious pest in New Zealand. One way of getting rid of
them is to use their fur for sweaters... it's the new thing
there. I'm wondering what it will smell like the first time it
gets wet.
On to Dunedin. We had intended to head over to
Mount Cook, but it had snowed significantly in the mountains, and
we didn't really need to drive in snow in NZ - we see lots in
Canada! We stayed mostly in hostels and backpacker places during
our three weeks in NZ, and this type of travel is very well
organised. There are lots of tour buses (Kiwi Adventure) that
would drop off travellers at the backpackers' spots,
then pick them up the next morning to continue their
explorations. Being able to cook our own meals in the communal
kitchens is also great. We spent a couple of nights at the YHA in
downtown Dunedin, a short walk to the Octagon (the centre of
town) and access to the tourist buses. It's a charming town,
known as Edinburgh of the southern hemisphere. The university is
modelled on the one in Edinburgh, and there's a distinctive
"burr" in the accent around town. Cathy bought a skein
of gorgeous hand-dyed wool at a shop on the Octagon, which she's
intending to knit into a scarf someday. We enjoyed our tour
around town, especially the stop overlooking the town and
environs. The next day, we headed out to see albatross on the
Otago peninsula.
We've been very interested in birds since Cathy's first visit to
Australia. Now, if there's a chance to see a nesting colony, or
an unusual bird, we always go for it. In Christchurch we visited
Willowbank nature sanctuary where we saw our first kiwis - in the
dark, as they are nocturnal, flightless birds. Out at the end of
the Otago peninsula, we saw Royal Albatross, one
of the largest of the world's flying birds. There were only four
nests in sight from the hide, but we were fortunate to see an
adult female come "home" to feed her chick. The
"chick" was as big and heavy as she was (about the same
size as a bald eagle's body), but without the 3 metre wingspan of
the parent. These birds are made for soaring, which they do with
great efficiency. It was very exciting to be so close to these
magnificent birds.
Albatross and Chick
The other great birding
experience in NZ happened just after Dunedin. We headed south
down the east coast of the South Island to Balclutha, where Robyn
& Stewart Thompson - friends of our friend Karen Dicks -
live. They drove us out to Nugget Point (one of the great photo
ops of the Catlin Coast) to see Yellow-Eyed penguins. These birds
stand a couple of feet high and have eyebrows of bright yellow.
We watched a few of them climb a very steep slope to get to their
nests.
The next day we drove through Invercargil to Te Anau, at the
entrance to Fjordland. We had booked a day kayaking on Doubtful
Sound (so called because Capt. Cook was
"doubtful" that he could get his boats into the
channel). This is an area that gets the second-highest rainfall
in the world, so we weren't surprised that it was rainy and cool.
But it was a most wonderful time! There were seven of us on the
kayak tour. We took a boat from Manapouri first thing in the
morning, across the lake to a power station. Then a 20 k drive up
over the pass and down to the fjord. Another boat loaded with our
kayaks awaited us at the dock. As we explored the inner part of
the Sound from the water, we were kept warm in our wet suits and
by very welcome hot chicken soup at lunch time. One thing about
rain mixed with sunny bits - we saw more rainbows that day than
we've ever seen before! It was great to get out for a day in this
strikingly beautiful part of the country, away from the hordes of
tourists.
Doubtful Sound, South Island,
New Zealand
From Doubtful Sound, we went
north and inland a bit to Queenstown, the
"adventure capital of the world"; home to bungee
jumping, jet skiing, tandem hang-gliding/sky-diving, and rafting,
among other things. No, we didn't do any of these, but we did
hike up Queenstown Hill for a panoramic view of the area. We were
reminded strongly of parts of British Columbia, as we were for
most of our visit to the south Island.
We left Queenstown to head north and on to the west coast - a
night at Fox Glacier. Like most glaciers, the
ice mass has significantly retreated in recent years, but it's
still impressive. First thing in the morning, we took a walk
around Lake Matheson, to snap the picture perfect shot of Mount
Cook (the highest mountain in NZ) reflected in the still water of
the lake. We encountered lots of tourists here, as well as at
Pancake Rocks further north along the coast.
Then on to our first NZ gig in Picton. Thanks to
the recent first airing of my episode of "Simply
Quilts" on NZ TV, the show was sold out with an audience of
70. It was very exciting - the host quilt group has only 17
members!
We love ferries - you pretty much have to,
living on an island as we do. The ferry from Picton (South
Island) to Wellington (the capital, on the North Island) was
wonderful. We were lucky to have a calm, sunny day and a smooth
crossing. I saw dolphins playing in the bow wave. It got a bit
windy as we approached Wellington - the Windy City. We were
heading to our next gig, the SCQuilter's Retreat
in Auckland (this is the Australia/NZ on-line quilting group that
holds an annual retreat in different locations), so there wasn't
much time to linger. The drives in NZ always seem to take longer
than you expect, since the roads and terrain often require slower
speeds.
The Retreat was great fun. We were there to sing as well as to
mingle, and see a lot of our Australian friends for one last time
on the trip. Jenny Lanham was the first person we saw when we
arrived - she of the Healing Hearts quilt, and our well-met
friend from Brisbane and Texas and Hobart and now Auckland. Where
shall we meet next?
There wasn't a lot of time left on our visit to NZ after the
retreat. We headed back towards Wellington for a gig in
Plimmerton. Then we spent a day in Wellington,
staying with friends of Barb Tricarico's (she's from Virginia!).
The Te Papa Museum was magnificent and very informative on Maori
history as well as the effects of geothermal activity and
earthquakes.
Napier is a town on the east coast of the North
Island. In the 1930s it was very nearly wiped out by one of the
most powerful earthquakes in NZ. In rebuilding, the Town Fathers
decided to have every building designed in the Art Deco style,
which resulted in one of the best collections of the style in the
world. Cathy's getting inspired to make an Art Deco quilt now.
It was a short drive to Rotorua the next day,
where the geothermal activity is most evident. There are places
in town where the pavement feels hot because of the activity just
below the surface. Because of the warmth all the bubbling pools,
geysers and springs, the area was settled heavily by Maori before
the arrival of Europeans. They still have a significant presence
in the area, and this was our opportunity to attend a
"hangi" - a Maori dance and cultural event, followed by
a meal. It was fascinating to learn more about their customs and
traditions. We learned about their weaponry, too, but alas didn't
experience much music. We understand they have wonderful
harmonies in their songs. Next time.
Maori Marae, or meeting
house, Rotorua
Just outside Rotorua
we saw a short hill and a sign saying "Zorb". Had to
stop there, as my nephew Andrew has been looking into this as an
activity to import into Canada. At the top of the hill, you climb
into a very large plastic ball - it's your choice if you wish to
be strapped in "dry" or slosh around the bottom with a
bit of water "wet". The ball is pushed down the hill
and it goes till it stops. It only takes about 5 minutes, but the
delighted screams of the 9-year old girl in her bathing suit
"wet" suggested that it's great fun. Sorry, Andrew - we
didn't try it!
Our time in NZ was almost over. On the day we flew out of
Auckland we got up very early to witness the Anzac Day
celebrations. This day is very important to both Aussies
and Kiwis, it being the commemoration of the assault by Anzac
troops at Gallipoli (with disastrous results) in WWI. There is a
traditional dawn service, which we attended. It was amazing to
have about a thousand people standing silently in the dark
awaiting the ceremony. We were honoured to be able to be there.
Our theory for long flights is to get ourselves very tired before
we get on, and to book an evening flight. That way, we are
already tired and it's much easier to sleep on the plane. We
spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon walking around
downtown Auckland, before we headed towards the airport. The
harbour has lots of activity, including displays of the America's
Cup challenge (including one of the boats which is available for
charter).
We survived the flight, and hit the ground running. We were home
for only two days before driving to a conference in Calgary, and
flying to another conference a week later in Springfield IL.
Things are going very well just now, but it is very busy. We'll
not be home for any length of time until July, after recording
the third quilting CD in Toronto.
So that'll be the end of travelogues until our next Big
Adventure. We hope you've enjoyed hearing of our travels Down
Undah!
