Written at Sea! The notepaper in our cabin on the Sun Princess has this injunction written on each sheet. How romantic; it generates the thought of Horatio Nelson scribbling a note to Lady Hamilton that he won’t be able to meet her at the pub that evening as he is still up to his ears in the Battle of Trafalgar. Maybe, when Joseph Banks was setting out his treatise on the flora and fauna of Terra Australis, he headed each page with ‘Written at Sea’.
So, in the fine tradition of those nautical authors down the centuries, this episode of the blog is being Written at Sea – in fact we’re off the coast of Northern New South Wales, heading for our first landfall at Brisbane tomorrow morning. I've attached a couple of pictures of the Atrium on the ship which extends over 4 decks and is where we spend a lot of time. There’s been a lot happening over the past few days. Perhaps the most important is that I have agreed to take on the role of Tasmanian Craft Fair Director for the years 2012 and 2013. I’ll say a bit more about the details later but it means that Marilyn and I will now be obliged to put down roots in Tasmania for the next 2 or 3 years. Out the window goes our plans for a major trip to North America and Europe in 2012; instead, we will set up house in Northern Tasmania and devote ourselves to organizing the two events. The Tasmanian Craft Fair began about 30 years ago and has grown in that time to a massive event held over 4 days in November and involves up to 300 stall-holders and 35000 paying customers. The stalls fill 11 or 12 venues and a fleet of buses drive around the various sites moving the crowd from place to place. Originally set up to give local Deloraine crafts people the opportunity to sell their wares, artists from all over Australia now take part. Often, we invite international artists to attend; in 2008, we had a group of leather artisans from New Zealand, in 2006, Danish cabinet-makers brought extraordinary examples of their work. I directed the Fair in 2007 and 2008 while working full-time at Giant Steps, so it is very much a part-time occupation. The problem is that the work is spread across the whole year. Organisation of the Fair begins as soon as the previous Fair is finished. In fact, the general outline of the next Fair is generally pretty well fixed in the previous year. In January , the Secretary distributes the stall-holders’ application forms and there are hundreds of other tasks to be carried out during the remainder of the year. Instead of the 5- or 6-month overseas trip we had in mind, we will only be able to take trips of 1 or 2 weeks at a time. This is probably not a bad thing as both Marilyn and I get a bit ‘ready-for-home’ if a trip is too long. Currently, we are on the long-anticipated cruise from Sydney to Perth. The Sun Princess is based in Australia so the majority of the passengers are Australian and, it fair to say, of senior years – even more senior than us. There are a handful of younger people, with kids, but they are very much in the minority. We’ll see how things turn out but I suspect the Entertainment staff will have a bit of trouble generating enthusiasm for Crazy Golf or Pool Volleyball. Tomorrow, we will meet our long-term friends, Sue and Ron Hawkins, in Brisbane. Sue was one of the Administration staff at Friends School when I taught there, and she and Ron were also interested in Orienteering. Marilyn and I used to visit them in Tasmania when we were in Mittagong and it was in their house that we made the decision to move back to Tasmania. Sue and Ron now live in Toowoomba and will drive down to Brisbane for the day so we can catch up.
On a closing note, I should report that, as of Thursday last the nesting duck in the Deloraine Caravan Park had managed to hatch out 2 chicks. She then seemed to lose enthusiasm and rolled all the other eggs away. Who knows what will happen to them. The caretaker at the park says she receives regular calls from South Australia and Victoria wanting updates on the progress of the hatching. Grey Nomads obviously have too little in their lives to interest them.
Written at Sea! The notepaper in our cabin on the Sun Princess has this injunction written on each sheet. How romantic; it generates the thought of Horatio Nelson scribbling a note to Lady Hamilton that he won’t be able to meet her at the pub that evening as he is still up to his ears in the Battle of Trafalgar. Maybe, when Joseph Banks was setting out his treatise on the flora and fauna of Terra Australis, he headed each page with ‘Written at Sea’. 
So, in the fine tradition of those nautical authors down the centuries, this episode of the blog is being Written at Sea – in fact we’re off the coast of Northern New South Wales, heading for our first landfall at Brisbane tomorrow morning. I've attached a couple of pictures of the Atrium on the ship which extends over 4 decks and is where we spend a lot of time. There’s been a lot happening over the past few days. Perhaps the most important is that I have agreed to take on the role of Tasmanian Craft Fair Director for the years 2012 and 2013. I’ll say a bit more about the details later but it means that Marilyn and I will now be obliged to put down roots in Tasmania for the next 2 or 3 years. Out the window goes our plans for a major trip to North America and Europe in 2012; instead, we will set up house in Northern Tasmania and devote ourselves to organizing the two events. The Tasmanian Craft Fair began about 30 years ago and has grown in that time to a massive event held over 4 days in November and involves up to 300 stall-holders and 35000 paying customers. The stalls fill 11 or 12 venues and a fleet of buses drive around the various sites moving the crowd from place to place. Originally set up to give local Deloraine crafts people the opportunity to sell their wares, artists from all over Australia now take part. Often, we invite international artists to attend; in 2008, we had a group of leather artisans from New Zealand, in 2006, Danish cabinet-makers brought extraordinary examples of their work. I directed the Fair in 2007 and 2008 while working full-time at Giant Steps, so it is very much a part-time occupation. The problem is that the work is spread across the whole year. Organisation of the Fair begins as soon as the previous Fair is finished. In fact, the general outline of the next Fair is generally pretty well fixed in the previous year. In January , the Secretary distributes the stall-holders’ application forms and there are hundreds of other tasks to be carried out during the remainder of the year. Instead of the 5- or 6-month overseas trip we had in mind, we will only be able to take trips of 1 or 2 weeks at a time. This is probably not a bad thing as both Marilyn and I get a bit ‘ready-for-home’ if a trip is too long. Currently, we are on the long-anticipated cruise from Sydney to Perth. The Sun Princess is based in Australia so the majority of the passengers are Australian and, it fair to say, of senior years – even more senior than us. There are a handful of younger people, with kids, but they are very much in the minority. We’ll see how things turn out but I suspect the Entertainment staff will have a bit of trouble generating enthusiasm for Crazy Golf or Pool Volleyball. Tomorrow, we will meet our long-term friends, Sue and Ron Hawkins, in Brisbane. Sue was one of the Administration staff at Friends School when I taught there, and she and Ron were also interested in Orienteering. Marilyn and I used to visit them in Tasmania when we were in Mittagong and it was in their house that we made the decision to move back to Tasmania. Sue and Ron now live in Toowoomba and will drive down to Brisbane for the day so we can catch up. 
On a closing note, I should report that, as of Thursday last the nesting duck in the Deloraine Caravan Park had managed to hatch out 2 chicks. She then seemed to lose enthusiasm and rolled all the other eggs away. Who knows what will happen to them. The caretaker at the park says she receives regular calls from South Australia and Victoria wanting updates on the progress of the hatching. Grey Nomads obviously have too little in their lives to interest them.
No comments:
Post a Comment