Post #201 5 January 2020

Gentlefolk,

This post covers the period 15 December 2019 to 4 January 2020, which includes the run-up to Christmas, then our week at the coast, and finally back home in Canberra.

What an extraordinary time of highs and lows it turned out to be; read on ...

AIFA picnic, Canberra

The Australian Indonesian Families Association (AIFA) had a Xmas gathering on 14 December. Most Indonesians are Moslems, but they take any excuse for a get-together and a meal of delicious Indonesian food.

Father Christmas came to the AIFA party to the delight of the younger children.

English Conversation Group, Canberra

On Monday 16 December 2019 my English Conversation Group had its last meeting of the year.  The participants all brought a plate of food to share. It took a few months for the group to get going, but now around 20 people show up every Monday morning.  The main idea was to give new migrants an opportunity to practice English, but actually many of our participants are spouses of people working at Embassies. 

ACFS end-of-year dinner, Canberra

The Australia China Friendship Society (ACFS) had an end-of-year dinner. Here Carol Keil, the President, is welcoming members and guests; ten staff from the Cultural and Educational Sections of the Chinese Embassy attended. One of them was seated at our table, and Vera & I commented how well-dressed and well-spoken she was - sophisticated - so different from Chinese diplomats a few years ago.

Minister / Counsellor Yang, head of the Cultural Section of the Chinese Embassy, replied to Carol's welcome.  He has been here for 4 years and will complete his posting early 2020 and return to Beijing.

Conference on China at ANU

I attended the first morning of this conference hosted by the ANU.

Visitors from the Cook Islands, Canberra

We hosted some visitors from the Cook Islands: Tatari, her partner Uriia, and children Angelina and Chuaana. Aniko and Peter joined us for "fish & chips" at the Yacht Club. Unfortunately the smoke haze was pretty bad that evening, with visibility down to less than 2km.  Earlier we took them to Weston Park, where we found a big mob of kangaroos - they were amazed and thrilled to see wild animals virtually in the centre of Canberra.

Of course we had to take them to IKEA and Costco - two huge emporiums - we had pizza for lunch at Costco (enormous, and tasty).

Our grandsons visit Canberra

On 19 December our grandkids, Kurt, Nate & Sid flew down from Brisbane and we picked them up at Canberra airport. This was a chance for us to bond - Jen and Tom will drive down in a few days.

On our balcony: from left, Sid (10), Nate (12), and Kurt (14).

It was cousin Francesca's birthday, so they all went to the water park/swimming pool at Jamison. From left: Isaac, Sid, Kurt, Francesca, and Nate. They were exhausted after four hours on the slides and in the pools.

Vera with Marty Roberts, Tom's brother and father of Francesca and Isaac.

On Friday morning, 20 December we went to watch the Canberra Brumbies (rugby union) team train - their last session before the Xmas break. The boys are keen rugby players, especially Nate. They play for GPS ("The Gallopers") rugby union club in Ashgrove and are keen supporters of the Queensland Reds, but also know the Brumbies.

Brumbies players training.  The smoke haze was pretty bad.  They were doing an hour on the oval, before moving to an indoor gym.

Nate and Sid helped with stray balls, and got talking to some of the players. Nate chatted with Tom Banks, the Brumbies fullback (he knew all about the GPS "The Gallopers" rugby club in Brisbane) and Sid chatted with Isaak Fines.

On Friday afternoon we did a tour of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) facilities in Bruce. A young hurdler, Molly, was our guide.  This is the special swimming pool where the top swimmers train. We also saw the gym, and the Volleyball courts. Most athletes had gone home for Xmas. 

At the AIS the boys took the cycling challenge - they lost!

On Saturday we took them to a nearby go-cart track.

Kurt was classified as an adult and got to drive the (larger) green go-carts. Nate and Sid are smaller, so drove the red go-carts. 

Kurt whizzing around the track. They all loved the thrill and excitement of go-carting. Of course one session (10 laps) wasn't enough - they just got the taste - so they had a second run. It's not inexpensive: the first run cost $32 each, the second cost $27 each.

The boys all play basketball, so Saturday evening we took them to watch Canberra's womens professional team, the Capitals, (they were WNBL Champions last season) play Bendigo.  

The Capitals play at the Royal Theatre in the National Convention Centre - great venue for spectators.

The Capitals won 76 - 66. The teams were even at the last change and it looked as if an upset could occur, but then the Caps drew away in the final few minutes. Here the players were stretching after the tough game.

Jen and Andrew & families arrive in Canberra for Xmas

Jennifer and Tom drove down from Brisbane in one day (1,300 km). They shared the driving, but it is still a long way to come in one hit.  Here is Jen walking with Caroline, with Tom behind. We were a bit startled to see Jen's pink hair (mohawk style) - she is her own person! 

Their dog, Ketut, had an accident when a sharp branch pierced the thigh on her back leg - she needed 30 stitches - can you see where the vet shaved her? Ketut had to wear a "funnel" to stop her from licking or biting the stitches.

Andrew and Caroline came down with their kids Eddie and Jay-Jay.  Also Caroline's parents, Niniek and Paul Milton.  Here they are playing bey-blade; from left: Sid, Jay, Eddie, and Nate.

Our five grandkids - note the Xmas tree in the corner with all the Xmas presents. At 4pm on Xmas Eve (24 December - we follow the European tradition of celebrating on Xmas Eve) we had our own little 'bescherung' (exchange of presents). 

Jen, Niniek, and Caroline. 

At 6pm on Xmas Eve we met with the other extended family for Xmas Dinner: Aniko & Peter; Adrienne & Michael; Liz & Richard & Hannah; Jen & Tom & Kurt & Nate & Sid; Caz & Andrew & Eddie & Jay; Niniek & Paul;  Britt & Lani & Touey & Nouvie; Angie; Vera & Alex. Moritz had to work that morning, and then drove from Melbourne (600km) - he didn't arrive in Canberra until 10pm, by which time most were in bed. Britt did a wonderful job decorating the table. We had the Dinner at the Southern Cross Club because of the heat and haze this year - a good decision. After dinner we had another 'bescherung' - the kids got many presents - Jen organised a 'Secret Santa' so the adults got at least one present each. 

Kurt at the Xmas Dinner.

Father and daughter at the Xmas Dinner. Similar hair-styles???

Aniko & Peter with Jen & Tom.

A week at Broulee, on the NSW South Coast

The following morning, Xmas Day, Tom & co left early to drive to Broulee on the South Coast to have Xmas Lunch with Tom's parents (Barbara and Richard) & siblings (Marty & co and Fiona)   We followed later - rented a house nearby in the same street in Broulee.  Andrew & family (and Niniek & Paul) stayed with us, while Jen & co stayed with Barbara and Richard.

The house we rented in Broulee had a huge combined family & dining room and kitchen. 

Lunch on our balcony; from left: Moritz (partly hidden), Paul, Caroline, Jay, Eddie, Andrew, Vera.

Caroline, Fiona (Tom's sister, from Adelaide), and Jen.

Vera, Barbara (Tom's mother), and Niniek.

Paul (Caroline's father) and Richard (Tom and Marty's father).

Tom (from Brisbane), Marty (Canberra), Andrew (Sydney), and Moritz (Melbourne).

Andrew and Eddie playing Jenga - Eddie is the champion!!

Eddie working on a complicated 'shark' puzzle; helped by Paul, Andrew, and Caroline. Eddie is good at puzzles.

The boys played cricket on the street at every opportunity. Fortunately it was a dead-end street with little traffic.

The house we rented had a lap pool. We swam mainly on the beach, but the water was cold - about 18C - you really needed a full wet suit to stay in for any length of time.

The nice beach at South Broulee, where we spent most of our time. It was about 10 minutes walk from our house.

Another view of South Broulee Beach.  Jen & Tom's boys, Tom, Marty, Andrew, are all competent surfers and spent a lot of time catching waves.

Teaching the kids to ride body-boards.

Moritz getting ready for a swim at Shark Bay, about 200m from our house.

There was a child-friendly swimming area near North Broulee Beach, just before crossing the bridge to the village of Mossy Point.

Some of Andrew's friends came for dinner: James Hutton and his partner Melissa, Paul & Annette, James Gribble and his partner Deidre. Vera and Niniek made pasta, delicious!

We played nine holes of golf at Moruya Golf Club. It was like a green oasis (uses recycled water).

It was good to get on a golf course again. Barbara had the best score - 46 for 9 holes - followed by Paul Milton.

New Year's Eve (31 December 2019) was hot, dry and windy.  Bush fires became much more threatening. Some people took refuge in Moruya, but we stayed on. At about 9am we were told that a fire near Mogo was getting closer, and we took refuge on South Broulee Beach. 

The sky/ clouds / smoke became an eerie red/crimson colour, just as happened in Canberra during the 2003 fire storm which destroyed 500 houses.  Many people came to take refuge on the beach. We knew we were in trouble. It was difficult to say how far away the fire was: 10 km, 5km, 1km? The sky turned black with all the smoke, with occasional crimson flashes of flames.  Then suddenly at about 11.15am the wind changed to a strong southerly.  The strong wind blew the fire away from us, towards inland. There is no doubt that township of Broulee would have suffered great damage had the wind change not arrived.  We would probably have been safe on the beach, but there would have been many embers flying and who knows what may have happened.  

As the fire drew closer, the sky turned black from smoke, with crimson patches were we could see flames. In amongst all this mayhem, some of the boys couldn't resist having a swim. Crazy!

The southerly change included strong wind gusts of 40 or 50 km/hour, and the temperature dropped from 35C to 20C in a matter of minutes.  An hour later the smoke had cleared, and the fire was no longer visible, so we all went home again with a great sigh of relief. Other villages up the coast were not as lucky. Mogo was smashed, Rosedale lost about 40 houses, Malua Bay 45 houses, and the industrial estate at Batemans Bay was badly damaged. We were so lucky to only lose one house and a school building at Broulee.
We lost power and mobile coverage, so New Year's Eve was a quiet affair (we went to the Roberts house for a drink). The following day, New Year's Day Wednesday 1 January 2020, as the extent of the damage became known, the authorities ordered tourists to leave the coastal towns - they had enough to cope with looking after the residents.  We packed up and left the next morning, Thursday 2 January. Vera and I drove south to take to Brown Mountain Road to Cooma and on to Canberra (took us 8 hours to do 350km), while Andrew & family and Paul & Niniek went north along the Princes Highway to Sydney (took them almost 24 hours to get home - 400km - the Highway was closed at Milton and they had to spend the night at Marshey's place).

Fires had burnt some of the areas we drove on our way back to Canberra. This photo taken near Bemboka in the Bega Valley.  There are 150 wildfires burning in NSW alone, with more in Victoria. This is a national disaster of huge proportions, the full extent of the damage will take time to assess. And, you know, there's still two months of hot summer to go.  Only heavy rain will put out all these fires, but we are in a drought and little rain is forecast.

Back in Canberra again

Tom, Jen and the boys left Broulee early on Friday morning, 3 January. They stayed with us on Friday and Saturday nights, and then left for Sydney. 

Jen in our living room, relaxing with their dog Ketut. Saturday was very hot - reached 44C (111F) , a new record for Canberra - so we basically stayed inside all day.  But we were still better off than Penrith, inland from Sydney, which recorded a max temperature of 48.9C (120F) yesterday.

Friday 3 January 2020. The Canberra Times reported on the exodus of people leaving holiday places on the coast and heading home.

Saturday 4 January 2020. Another day of very high fire danger: hot with strong winds. Many coastal towns were threatened, but in the event it wasn't too bad.  Broulee was saved by a Southerly change again, as was Narooma where my sister Angie lives. Alleluia!!!  But now these towns are running short of supplies - particularly gasoline and food - so the emergency isn't over yet.

Canberra has had several days of thick smoke haze - from the fires along the coast, driven here by the southerly winds.  Many people are wearing masks - reminds us of our time in China.

Sunday 5 January, Tom, Jen and the boys prepare to leave Canberra for Sydney (they will have a few days there enroute to Brisbane).

The boys saying goodbye to Vera. From left: Sid, Nate, and Kurt at the back. So much has happened since they arrived in Canberra on 19 December, just18 days ago.  This has certainly been a memorable Xmas / New Year!!!!

...

That's it for this post, folks.

My next post will cover the remainder of January - hope / expect that it will not be as exciting a time as recent days.

Our very best wishes for 2020, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Vera & Alex Olah
Canberra, Australia
Sunday 5 January 2020.