Post #159 15 November 2017

Gentlefolk,

This post covers events/activities in the first half of November 2017.

Caroline went on a business trip to Indonesia, so Vera & I spent 8 - 16 November in Sydney to give Andrew a helping hand with Fast Eddie (3.5 years) and Little Jay-Jay (8 months).  We had forgotten just how "full on" looking after little kids can be....

Here are some photos of the last two weeks.

Old friend Will Costin visited Canberra and we went to the Peter Dombrovskis exhibition at the National Library of Australia. Many wonderful photographs of the Tasmanian wilderness.

The annual Panda Competition run by the Australia - China Friendship Society.  This year the theme was "Chinese clothing/dress".  Many fine entries by Canberra school students.  

The prize-giving ceremony was held at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, an impressive building.  Afterwards the Embassy also provided lunch for all the competitors and parents & staff.

Corinne and Vera sorting through the winning entries.

About 60 "winners" attended from different primary and high schools around Canberra.  Some proud teachers and parents also attended.  I was surprised at how "multi-cultural" the students were: Caucasian, kids of Asian (mainly Chinese and Indian) heritage, Middle East, even some African kids.  Australia has changed dramatically from its largely British-and-Irish ancestry 70 years ago; first migrants from a range of European countries, and then Asia and Middle East migrants.

A group photo with all the winners holding their certificates and prizes.

The Cultural Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy, Mr Yang, was very helpful in supporting the Panda Competition,

We spent 8 - 16 November in Sydney, helping Andrew look after the kids, while Caroline was in Indonesia.  Here is Vera with little Jay-Jay (now 8 months old).  

Another photo of Little Jay-Jay.  Uber cute!

Andrew taking Eddie to the day-care center, a 15 minute walk from their apartment in Surry Hills.

On Saturday 11 November we took the ferry from Circular Quay to Manly, and arrived just in time for the Remembrance Day commemorations (WW1 Armistice came into effect at 11am on 11 November 1918).  WW1 was such a horrible war, especially in the trenches of France; so many young Aussie men, basically looking for adventure, either killed or injured.

Despite still being Spring, 11 November was a lovely warm day and there were crowds of people on the Corso and on Manly Beach.  Quite a number surfing and swimming.  The water is still too cold for us (20 C), but Andrew had a swim.

In Manly we met up with old friends Emil de Graaff and Katie.  We first met them in Rio de Janiero back in 1979, and then caught up again in Hong Kong, Jakarta and Singapore - it was really quite strange how we followed each other around. They live in a beach suburb just north of Manly, and have a hobby-farm at Muggee.

The following day, Sunday 12 November, we drove down to Maroubra Beach in Andrew's new Peugeot 3008; an impressive SUV.  Another beautiful day, lots of people on the beach and surfing & swimming.

Caught this ibis getting into a trash can.

15 November 2017 the results of the postal survey on Same Sex Marriage were announced.  80% of adult Australians participated, and of those 62% voted Yes, and 38% voted No; a clear majority.  So now the Government will introduce legislation to make Same Sex Marriage legal in Australia.

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That's it for this post.

I've changed the blog title from "Letters from China" to "Letters from Down Under" to better reflect that we are now living in Australia again.

Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex Olah and Vera Olah
Sydney, Australia
Wednesday 15 November 2017.

Post #158 4 November 2017

Gentlefolk,

This post covers events / activities in October 2017.

We arrived back in Canberra on 21 September 2017 after our visit to Indonesia and Perth (see Posts #147 - #157).  We settled back into our usual life very quickly - one of the benefits of living in an apartment.

It is Spring here in the Southern Hemisphere and the weather in late-September and October was great - cool nights (down to zero C sometimes), but usually clear, sunny, days (maximums around 20 C) and relatively little wind.  So much better than this time last year, when we arrived back from China - the weather then was cold, overcast, rainy, and windy.

First some photos in Sydney, then in Canberra.

When we have time in Sydney a favourite trip is to take the ferry from Circular Quay to Manly.

A view of Manly Beach; it was a lovely day and some people were swimming, but still too cold for us.

Replica of the Endeavour at Darling Harbour. How did men cross vast oceans in such small ships? Brave.

We had dinner at a restaurant in Dixon Street, Chinatown, with a German tourist we met Bernard Jensch (his hobby is plane-spotting,  and he loves holidaying in Australia). Very busy - lots of people, eating, walking around. Balmy night, many diners sat outside.  We walked  back to Andrew's apartment after dinner and were really surprised at how many people were about - in contrast, Canberra on a Sunday night is very quiet indeed.

As a change we took a ferry from Circular Quay to Parramatta (90 minutes).  We were surprised how big Sydney Harbour is and how little highrise development has been allowed (only at Homebush and Parramatta).  

We had a look around Parramatta and then caught a train back to Central - only one stop, at Strathfield, so quick trip.

Our friends Angie and Howard Eakins visited us for a weekend, and we took in the annual Spring Flower Show called Floriade.  Very nice.

Here are some photos around Floriade.

Not only flowers at Floriade!

The day we sent to Floriade was "Doggie Day", lots of people brought their four-legged pets.

Vera's cousin, Ailan, and about 20 others flew from Perth to Canberra to attend a wedding.

The wedding took place in St Andrew's Church.

The Choir of St Andrew's Church sang hymns during the marriage ceremony.

Paul Milton and Niniek (Caroline's parents) visited from Sydney.  Heath McMichael joined us for dinner at the Canberra German Club.

Dinner with old friends Jim O'Callaghan and Yvonne.  We met at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta 1988-90.  Jim was head of the Immigration Section and I was in the Trade Section.  We both loved running with the Hash House Harriers.

We have started dancing again - New Vogue or Sequence Dancing - with the Canberra Old Time Dance Club (on Thursday nights) and at the Southern Cross Club (Wednesday nights, fortnightly). After about 8 years ... the steps slowly come back ...

Canberra Old Time Dance Club barbeque at Bob & Kay Stoddard's place.  Some of the old stalwarts: from left Diane, Brian, John, Elizabeth, and Glennis.  Nice to catch up with old friends.

We finally got around to hanging some family pictures in the study.  Good memories of Jennifer and Andrew as they were growing up.

We attended a talk and book signing by Ex-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Canberra to promote the first volume of his autobiography "Not for the faint-hearted".  We met Kevin and Therese at the Australian Embassy in Beijing in 1985-6 (Kevin was in the Political Section, and I was in the Trade Section). I have long been an admirer - he is a man of  vision and intellect - who could/should have been a great leader of Australia. 

On 30 October I gave a talk to the Australia China Friendship Society on "Aspects of Chinese Culture".  Questions I addressed during the talk included: Why does one see so few old people in China?  Why doesn't the game Chinese Whispers work in China? Why do many young Chinese admire Jews? Why does China only have a single time-zone? Are there left-handed Chinese? etc.  Also gave similar talks to the Pan Pacific Women's Association and the University of Third Age.

With Brian Keil at the ACFS talk on Aspects of Chinese Culture.

On 31 October, three siblings celebrated Angie's birthday with lunch at Batemans Bay.

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Many important developments in September/October, including:

Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy, died aged 91.
Independence referendum by the Kurds (in Iraq), and by Catalonia (in Spain).
Shooting in Las Vegas (58 dead, hundreds injured).
Eight people killed by terrorist in Lower Manhattan (I rode a bike on that same pathway).
19th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC); another 5 years for Xi Jin Ping.
High Court ruled five Members of Parliament were unable to serve (including Barnaby Joyce, Deputy Prime Minister) due to their dual-citizen status (S44 of Australian Constitution).
In the AFL Final, Richmond Tigers 108 beat Adelaide Crows 60; in the NRL Melbourne Storm 34 beat North Queensland Cowboys 6.
The Houston Astros beat the LA Dodgers to win the 2017 Baseball World Series.

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The first thing I do every morning is check CNN and The Washington Post for the latest on President Donald Trump.  He is an incredibly intriguing person and a constant source of interest and puzzlement - news is so much more interesting now!  No one can really fathom the way he thinks and acts.

The first indictments in Robert Mueller's Russia - US Election investigation have taken place; more to come???

President Trump is off to Asia next week - sure to be interesting.

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Well, I'm happy to have caught up my blog with our recent travels.

Don't forget, only 50 shopping days left till Xmas!

Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex Olah & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Saturday 4 November 2017

Post #157 2 November 2017

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our visit to Perth, Western Australia, 14 - 19 September 2017.

The main reason for visiting Perth was to see old friends Graeme & Cora Stephens and Sean & Alexandra O'Shaughnessy.

We had 5 days in Perth, then a couple of days in Sydney before finally driving back to Canberra.  We'd been away 2 months, saw lots, met many old (and new) friends, had a great time.

As much as we enjoyed our trip, it's always nice to come back to home sweet home, familiar surroundings, sleep in our own bed, etc.

Spring in Canberra this year was amazing, cool nights but warm, clear, sunny days, very little wind and rain (so different from when we arrived here one year ago).  That will be covered in subsequent posts.

 Perth is the capital of Western Australia (the largest State in Australia).  It is a great place, but isolated.  The nearest big city is Adelaide, 2,130 km and Perth to Sydney is 3,280 km. Our flying time from Bali to Perth was 4 hours, which explains why so many Western Australians go there for holidays.

With its population of  2 million, Perth dominates all aspects of Western Australia (total population 2.6 m).

Perth is almost the ideal city (except for its isolated position): situated on the beautiful Swan River; its port is picturesque Fremantle; many accessible beaches, parks and gardens; there is little pollution.  It has a comfortable climate; annual rainfall of about 80 cm, enjoys much sunshine, mean maximum temperature of 25C, mean minimum temperature of 13C.

We stayed 3 nights with old friends Graeme and Cora Stephens.  We first met them in 1980, in Rio de Janeiro.  I was at the Australian Consulate, and Graeme was CEO of an American oil company. We kept in touch and managed to see each other in different places around Asia.  They visited us in Beijing in 1986, and we visited them in Kuala Lumpur in 1989. Later we met up in Perth and in Canberra. This was the first time we had seen them for about 8 years. Graeme started as a rock geologist before switching to oil & gas; successful career - he had a knack for finding "black gold" ! 

Graeme & Cora's impressive modern home in the suburb of Beerliar in Perth.

Graeme in one of the lovely living areas in his house.  They have extensive collections of Chinese blue & white porcelain; rare coins; old books; and fossils.  

Graeme used to love playing squash and tennis, and riding his bike, but with two knee replacements he has had to slow down.  Now often takes his pet bird "Sunny" on walks around the area, to the great delight of neighbourhood kids (and adults).

Graeme and Cora invited neighbours Ian & Robyn around for dinner.  They are all mad-keen Aussie Rules fans; we watched the Quarter finals: Geelong Cats beat Sydney Swans tonight, and then Western Sydney Giants beat the Perth Eagles the following night.  Graeme and Cora's son, David, was a very good footballer, he is now a budding film director.

One day Graeme took us down to Mandurah, a rapidly-growing area about 60 km south of Perth.  We had lunch by the marina, lots of nice boats.  A good freeway makes for an easy drive down the coast (there is also a good rail service between Mandurah and Perth), the infrastructure here is really good and they plan ahead, impressive.  

Then we stayed with Alexandra and Sean O'Shaughnessy.  They live in the suburb of Winthrop.  They have two married daughters, Nicole and Karen, and 4 grandkids (all girls!). I first met Sean way back in the 1950s when we were both students at St Patrick's Primary School in Cooma NSW, and we have stayed friends ever since. Sean has a great sense of humour and is a great joke-teller.

Sean took us up to Kings Park which has wonderful views of Perth and surrounds. It was a Sunday afternoon, and the Park was crowded with locals and visitors enjoying a lovely Spring day.

A view of Perth CBD from Kings Park.

Monday Sean & Alexandra showed us around parts of Perth: Booragoon, Applecross, City Beach (coffee), Cottesloe Beach, then lunch at Calangelo's Restaurant at Fremantle. 

Cottesloe Beach.  It was only Spring, but there were quite a few people on the beach with some even swimming and surfing. 

We saw this beautiful eagle.

Some more bird life at Cottesloe Beach.

Saying goodbye to Alexandra and Sean at Perth Airport on Tuesday 19 September 2017.  Our flight left at 9.45am and arrived in Sydney at 3.55pm (time difference).  We had a couple of days in Andrew's apartment (they were away) and then drove back to good old Canberra.  Our two-month holiday was over.

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So ended our two-month trip (Sydney, Bali, Java, Bali, Perth); now back to the East Coast.

It has taken a while to catch up with my blog - but good to re-live recent events again.

My next post will be about 'normal life' again.

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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
2 November 2017