After the Opera – the sad passing of Marzipan the cat
Many in Melbourne this week are mourning the passing of Marzipan, the grand old tortoiseshell diva of the city’s theatre scene. The much-loved Astor cat died on Sunday 24th March 2013 Australian time after a lingering illness, at the ripe old age of 21 years. It was...
Sunshine Blogger Award 2013 – a welcome surprise!
For those in the dark : `The Sunshine Award is an award given by bloggers to other bloggers. The recipients of the Sunshine Award are bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.' To be honest, this Sunshine Award may well be my first...
Red Desert Dreaming – modern times, ancient magic (The Kimberley, Western Australia)
Strange figures are painted in broad strokes of red ochre – Wandjina spirit-men – eerie round faces with big pools for eyes. I stand next to Maurice, “a Worara blackfella” and a driver at local mines. I ask him why they have no mouths. His voice is hushed, as he...
Just a Matter of Time – a glimpse of old Cochin (Kochi, India)
I’m in Melbourne, startled as the nurse draws the curtain behind me, the click of the rings on the rail loud in the quiet of the ward; the sweet smack of cough mixture wafts through the room. I turn away from Sally, my long-time neighbour having a tough time but...
Feline of the Opera – in search of a tortoiseshell diva
Outside there's a neon finger-sign soaring skyward, the oversized letters reading `ASTOR'. The building’s not much to look at; the high facade brick, of cream and red. The veranda is low and squarish, the fascia lined with a string of bare light globes. From a street...
A Viking Funeral – parting ways
Boerne is 51yrs old, handsome in a rugged sort of way; olive skin, high cheekbones and black straw-like hair. He’s never been a talker and we sit on the veranda drinking beer instead, our eyes drawn to a 2 x 6 metre recycle bin out front. At the end of the day the sun...
Home Sweet Home – not the Nullarbor (Nuytsland, Western Australia)
Arriving yesterday, we’ve turned off the Eyre Highway towards the Great Australian Bight – careering down a steep escarpment across dunes and a rocky 4WD track – to 50km southeast of Cocklebiddy; the old Eyre telegraph station. In the morning we meet Shirley while...
Forever in Neverland – modern day immortality
'Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.' ― JM Barrie There’s a large page-4 headline and a small picture. His face is olive-brown, tilted slightly towards me, the hand of a close friend across the back of his bare neck....
A Bhutan Christmas – an ode to Sandy Hook
Sometimes I sit and think, pondering the luxury of an unquestionable faith in something; to know that innocent kids killed in a pre-Christmas tragedy will somehow find a better place. From a cathedral of sticks I gaze across at the towering neo-Gothic spires of St...
All at Sea – where there be dragons (Kadavu, Fiji)
A courageous rooster crows in the sleepy Fijian village below. I clamber up concrete stairs by the dining room, along a spur straddling huts of palm frond thatch and sheets of rusted iron. Monster mango trees throw a shroud of welcome shade – cool and dark – over...