Post #197 21 October 2019

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our activities in the period 19 September to 21 October 2019.

We arrived from China on 19 September; had a couple of days in Sydney with Caroline and Andrew & kids, then back to good old Canberra.

International news during the past month was dominated by President Trump (so what's new???). He pulled American troops out of Northern Syria, allowing Turkey to march in and push the Kurds away from their border.  In Washington DC the Democrats started investigation of possible impeachable conduct by the President in relation to Ukraine.

Boris Johnson's Brexit maneuvering continues to fascinate, and frustrate.

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge ran a marathon (42.2 km) in 1h 59m 40s - first to crack 2 hours. How can anyone run that far, that fast - he did the impossible!

Locally, the biggest event was the Canberra Raiders making the rugby league Grand Final for the first time in 25 years; the Sydney Roosters beat us in a close contest.


Herewith photos of some of our activities

In Sydney, with Andrew.

Vera with Jay-Jay (two-and-a-half) and Eddie (five-and-a-half).

Testing of new tram line from Central Station to Randwick, along Devonshire Street. We pass this way when taking the kids to Day Care in the morning, and back again at night.

Some interesting old hotels along Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, like the Dove & Olive.

Another old hotel on Devonshire Street dating from 1879, The Shakespeare.

The Rugby World Cup started in Japan. Big crowd watched Australia play Fiji at Eastern Suburbs Rugby Club ("The Beast") in Woollahra. We won, but not convincingly.

We joined a U3A one-day bus trip to Sydney to see West Side Story at the Sydney Opera House. Left Canberra at 7am, morning tea at Berrima, matinee started at 1pm, dinner at Mittagong, and back in Canberra at 9pm.

It was a beautiful day and Sydney Harbour looked a treat!

Andrew came down to see us before the show started.

A full house watched the matinee performance.

The impressive cast of West Side Story.

The Canberra Raiders Rugby League team played a Semi-Final in Canberra.  Great excitement as we had not made the Semis for many years. Our opposition were the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

I went to the Semi-Final game with Peter Carey, his daughter Adrienne and nephew Gregory.

Canberra Stadium was full - 26,500 attendees - a sea of lime-green (Raider's colour), with a scattering of Rabbitohs supporters.  Great atmosphere as the crowd got behind our team.  It was one of the most exciting events I have been to for years, so much noise and buzz (including the Viking Clap which has become a feature of Raiders fans). Memorable night.

Headlines in the Canberra Times the following day - the Raiders beat the Rabbitohs to get to the NRL Grand Final next weekend, our first GF appearance in 25 long years!

Canberra "went green" in the week leading up to the Grand Final.  Everyone was talking about the Raiders and wishing them well.

I watched the Grand Final at the Southern Cross Club with Noel, David, me (wearing Raiders cap), Paul and Neale.  We played the Sydney Roosters; a tight, hard contest as you would expect.  The score was 8-all with 10 minutes to go. The Raiders had the better of the second half and were attacking Rooster's line but great defence held them out. Suddenly the Roosters back-line made a break, and the full-back James Tedesco scored a very good team try. Canberran's hearts were broken, but the Raiders did us proud.  

An interesting talk by Indonesian Ambassador HE Kristiarto Legowo, a charming man. 

Vear & I rode our bikes to Commonwealth Park to see Floriade, Canberra's Spring Flower Festival.

Floriade lay-out.

Some of the marvellous flower displays at Floriade. It was a beautiful Spring day.  The following week the weather turned cold again.

Concert by the ANU's Chinese Classical Music Ensemble.

The concert featured an Erhu Quartet - reminded us of our friend Sun Yu in Qingdao who was an expert Erhu player.

We saw the new Australian movie "Ride like a Girl" which chronicles the life of Michelle Payne (born near Melbourne on 29 September 1985). She was the youngest of 10 kids, her mother died in a car accident when she was just 6 months old and she was brought up by her father who trained race horses. Like most of her siblings Michelle became a jockey.  In November 2015 she won the Melbourne Cup, Australia's richest horse race, the first female winner in its 155 year history.  Her mount was "Prince of Penzance" and the odds were 100 to 1!!! An incredible story. Fine acting in the movie - worth seeing.

A concert by the Canberra City Band - a variety of free concerts are performed in the foyer of the High Court of Australia on Sunday afternoons. 

It's Spring in Canberra, which means the cotton-wood trees are 'snowing'. Tough time of the year if you suffer from hayfever!

On the evening of 15 October 2019 the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) hosted a panel of young speakers to describe their experience of the "New Colombo Plan". They spoke very well - gives me faith in Australia's future to witness such bright young minds.

The AIIA panel was introduced by President Heath McMichael (far right). 

I attended this lecture at the National Library of Australia by Dr Laura Millar, a visiting academic from Vancouver, British Columbia.  She argued that we are "drowning in digital data" - the world is inundated by 2.5 billion gigabytes of data every day! How can we filter all this 'stuff''? She distinguished between evidence-based truth (which is based on verifiable facts) and personal truth (which is created by our individual beliefs).  The Washington Post asserts that President Trump made well over 10,000 false or misleading statements in his first 3 years in office, but he (and his supporters) disagree - who is right????

On 18 October we celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary with a dinner and show called "Forever Diamond".  Peter Byrne entertained the audience for 3 hours with many of Neil Diamond's greatest hits.  A most enjoyable night.

The Snowy Mountains Hydro-electricity Project was inaugurated 70 years ago, in October 1949.  A number of events were held to mark the anniversary of this huge infrastructure project, including a film & panel discussion at Parliament House, Canberra, and an Open Day at Snowy Hydro's headquarters in Cooma. This event was a special interest as my father worked for the Snowy Scheme from 1954 - 74, and I spent my formative years in Cooma.

A big crowd (mainly former employees) attended the 70th anniversary celebrations in Cooma. Vera & I drove to Cooma from Canberra (110 km) for the day.  I drove this road dozens of times as a young fella. Nice to visit the town where I grew up, although I couldn't really imagine living here now!

A view of the Head Office building - modernised since Dad and Aniko worked there.

My sister Aniko and her friend Janina in front of the main entrance of Snowy Hydro.

Two old-timers, Manfred Hader and David Roberts, swapping yarns.

Huge ANTAR trucks were used in construction.

Former workers inspecting big bulldozers which were used to build the Snowy Scheme.

The Rugby World Cup is being played in Japan; in the pool games Australia lost to Wales but beat Fiji and Georgia. On 19 October Australia played England in the first Quarter Final; we were thrashed 40-16 (four tries to one). Most of the match statistics were in our favour (eg we had 64% possession, we ran for 578 metres compared with England's 275 m, England made 181 tackles to our 78) except the one that really counts - the score board. England's defence was solid, and its kicking and finishing excellent - they made the most of every opportunity. New Zealand beat Ireland, so will play England in the first semi-final - should be a beauty. The other semi-final will be between Wales and South Africa.

Once a month Canberra Blues Society has a 'blues Sunday' - good fun.

On 20 October Canberra Vikings beat Fiji Drua 29-28 in the semi-final of the National Rugby Championships. A game of two halves: Fiji led 22-0 at half time, then Canberra came back.  They scored the winning try in over-time. Amazing.

On Monday mornings I am a volunteer English Tutor at Woden Library. This morning we had 18 participants in the English Conversation Group; some refugees from the Middle East, but also new migrants from China, Japan, Colombia, Egypt, etc. We start off with everyone describing some recent event or activity, before we break into smaller groups for discussion. Worthwhile.

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I read "Monkeys in the Dark" by Blanche d'Alpuget (published 1980). The setting is Jakarta in 1966, in the months following the abortive Communist coup and President Sukarno's grip on power is weakening. Blanche was married to a Foreign Affairs officer and they had a posting to the Australian Embassy Jakarta in the late 1960s. It's fiction, but obviously based on some of the characters she observed at the Embassy and in the community. She is quite a good writer - worth a read.
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Tomorrow, 22 October, we will go to Sydney to give Andrew a hand with the kids while Caroline is visiting the factory.  Then on 26 October we'll fly to Indonesia for a family reunion and other things.

My next post will describe our Indonesian adventure.

Until then, best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Vera Olah and Alex Olah
Canberra, Australia
Monday 21 October 2019