Post #160 8 Dec 2017

Gentlefolk,

This post covers the period 16 November - 3 December 2017.

The main event was a 'surprise lunch' on Sunday 19 November for my sister, Angie, to celebrate her 70th birthday.  A fun event, it was organised by her daughters Britt and Sasha and held at the Narooma Golf Club with marvellous views of the golf course and along the coast.

But we were also involved in lots of other things.  Here are photos of activities Vera and I were involved in during this period.

Sasha and Davide (with kids Bonnie and Oscar) came from Sydney; Britt came from Canberra with her children Lani, Dejon and Novi; Aniko and Adrienne, and Vera & I came from Canberra.

Birthday girl Angie with daughters Britt and Sasha.

Angie is looking at the special digital album Britt compiled. An amazing, creative piece of work. You can see part of the golf course in the background.  

A view of one of the lovely beaches around Narooma; makes one realise what a lucky country we are with great beaches, relatively few people, and clear blue skies.

After lunch we all spent time at the beach. From left: Aniko, Vera, Angie, Adrienne, and Sasha.  It was a lovely warm day, some people were swimming in the sea but the water was still too cold (around 20C) for most of us.

That night we all went to the atmospheric old Dromedary Hotel in Central Tilba, about 20lm from Narooma, to listen to folk music and have dinner.  

Local folk musicians jamming at the Dromedary Hotel. Great atmosphere.

On Friday night 24 November we attended a "Blues Piano" night at the German Club.  Wonderful honky-tonk music.  

The four pianists who put on the concert of Blues Piano.  Talented musicians.

The Indonesian Embassy held its annual "Indonesian Festival" on Saturday 25 November.  Lots of cultural events, and of course several food stalls.  

Vera & I helped on the Australian Indonesian Families Association (AIFA) sate stall.  Some of the helpers, from left: Demsi, Maria, me, Vera,  Dinche, and Erna.  The profit raised by our stall was donated to a local charity.

It was hot work, cooking 500 lamb sates on a charcoal barbeque. 

Indonesian dances were performed.

Iis Dunbar (wife of Raden Dunbar, they live in Bandung) entertained the crowd with a selection of pop songs. The little lady has a big voice.

The Indonesian Ambassador, HE Kristiarto Legowo, sang a duet with Iis Dunbar.

Neil Moffat celebrated his 70th birthday.  We met Neil and Helen about 25 years ago when we were all into latin dance, particularly Salsa and Argentine Tango.  I liked salsa, but could never meet Vera's high expectations regarding the Tango.  These days we are back into New Vogue (aka Sequence Dancing) and I'm glad that our Tango days are behind us.

Vera and I with birthday boy Neil Moffat.  

I attended a book launch at the National Library by Jelena Dokic; here she is signing a book for a fan.  Although she reached a world tennis ranking of #4 she never won a Major (got to semi-final at Wimbledon).  The book describes the abuse she suffered from her father, Damir Dokic, who was a domineering bully. 

After many years we caught up with Helen and John Hemphill.  John and I worked in the Trade Section of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in the early 1970s but after that our paths didn't cross; they helped organise our wedding when we got married in Jakarta in October 1973.

On 28 November I attended a dinner at the Chinese Embassy for committee members of the Australia China Friendship Society; from left: Teck Lee, Neil Birch, Mr Cai Wei deputy Ambassador, and me.

The menu for our dinner at the Chinese Embassy.  Our host, Mr Cai Wei, deputy Ambassador, is originally from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, so the cooks prepared Zhejiang food.  Delicious.

One of the dishes at the dinner.  Beautifully presented.  Of course chop sticks were also provided but we had the option of using knife & fork. 

Squirrel Fish pieces, but so creatively presented.

On 1 December the Clerk of the House of Representatives, David Elder, hosted Xmas drinks for the Alumni Association; from left: me, David Elder, and Fred Cook. I worked at Parliament House for about 5 years, after leaving Austrade in 2001.  It was fascinating to observe the political process at close quarters.

Dirty Dicks Theatre Restaurant on 2 December, with friends Chris & David Evans, Bob & Siri Morrison, and Neale Emanuel.  The show was a little disappointing ... perhaps we needed more lubrication ... 

Bob and Siri Morrison at Dirty Dicks.  We have often stayed with them in Nambucca Heads (enroute to Brisbane), so it was good to be able to reciprocate when they visited Canberra. Wonderful friends.

We have joined a monthly dinner group called Guys & Dolls; this Italian Theme Night was hosted by Sandy and Peter at their home in Campbell. From left: Geoff  Banbury, Dianne Downes, me, John Bakker, Helen Moffat, Stafford, and Vera.

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A major event during this time: the 'retirement' of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, after 37 long and tortuous years in power.

There has been continuing drama in the Australian Parliament related to Section 44 of the Constitution which states that Members of Parliament must only have Australian citizenship. S.44 has suddenly come into focus, and the High Court has given a narrow interpretation which has caught out several MPs and Senators who had, mostly unwittingly, inherited other citizenship through their parents.

A State election was held in Queensland and, after a week of uncertainty, it looks as if Labor has been returned, with just enough seats to govern in its own right.

President Trump continues to puzzle.  Yesterday he announced that the US Embassy would be relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; overwhelming advice was not to disturb the status quo but he went ahead anyway.  As expected, very strong negative reaction.  Why do it? Why? Why? Why?

Time Magazine chose the participants of the "me too" Movement as its 2017 Person of the Year; started with serious allegations of sexual harassment against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and two recent high-profile casualties of Movement: Senator Al Franken and Congressman John Conyers.

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Looking back over recent weeks for this post made me realise that we have definitely settled back into life "Down Under" and have a pretty busy schedule of activities.  In fact, I seem to be chasing my tail ... need to make time to play golf, ride my bike and read more books (how did I ever fit in work????)

Recently I read "The Secrets of the ANZACs, the untold story of VD in the Australian Army 1914-19" by Raden Dunbar (published in 2014).  So many poor bastards: 5 minutes of fun became 5 weeks (sometimes 5 months) of misery; horrible cures at that time, thank god for penicillin!

Christmas is approaching fast and we've been to several end-of-year functions.  This year Andrew & family will come to Canberra while Jen will be in Melbourne with Tom's relatives.

My next post will probably be at the end of December. 

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Best wishes for the Festive Season, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex Olah & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Friday, 8 December 2017