Saturday, 23rd October .....

We’ve come to Spencer on the Hawkesbury River to visit our friends, Karen and Tony, who are in the process of moving in, having sold their big house in Baranduda, near Albury. This house is much smaller but is quirky and has wonderful views of the river.

Spencer is a funny little village. Most of the houses are small and shabby. It seems to be still a place for fishermen. There is one general store which sells liquor which the locals drink at the 'Dunkirk Hotel', a collection of tables under a tree across from the shop.


The story of how Karen and Tony came to buy this house is typical of the way their lives unfold. Tony happened to be in a boat on the river, as part of a group scattering the ashes of a deceased musician friend. He rang Karen to say he had forgotten how beautiful it was and they should look at ways of spending more time here. From where he was floating, he could see a sign, advertising a house for sale. He gave Karen the name of the agent and the telephone number and, within a couple of days, they had signed the contract.



It is not a house for older people to live. The land is very steep, and there are many steps. The trees overhang everything so dropping leaves are an issue. However, it is a beautiful, peaceful site and the views are priceless. The builders are in at the moment, extending and renovating to make it more suitable for Karen and Tony’s needs.

There are a number of other interesting houses in the area which started off as a place for weekend ‘shacks’ but is now more likely to have full-time residents.


Unfortunately, Tony is not here this weekend and Samara is away at University. However, there are two other interesting people visiting. Karin is an Austrian woman who spent an exchange year with Karen and Tony when they lived at Bundanoon. She is now about 30 and married to Christoph.
They are a delightful young couple and Christoph, especially, has a wonderful sense of humour. They’ve left this afternoon to drive to Sydney for a party and have taken Montana to drop her off near Gosford to visit some of her friends. Their luggage is still in Paris having, somehow, missed the flight. The airline has promised it will arrive in Sydney on Tuesday and will be forwarded to their hotel in Adelaide, where they expect to be by that time. In the meantime they have been given $120 each to buy ‘essentials’. Christoph has bought a checked shirt with a hood, and Karin has bought a new wallet!

It’s great to have just the three of us in the house to talk about old times. The weather is coming in and there is already the sound of thunder in the distance. It looks like being a stormy night.

Friday, 22nd October …..

It’s been good to see Marilyn’s father looking so well. It is almost as if he has gained a new lease on life now that he has been relieved of the responsibility of his wife who passed away in July. He has re-started his daily physiotherapy to strengthen his muscles and has re-gained his normal cheerful, optimistic manner. The nursing home has found an electric wheelchair for him and that makes him more independent.

Like many older people, he reflects on the past and reminisces on happy times. He has led an interesting life and his stories are fascinating. Marilyn decided we would buy a little voice recorder so that these memories would not be lost. She thought that we would just surreptitiously put it on the table beside him rather than draw attention to it and, perhaps, inhibit his conversation.

He noticed it at once. ‘What’s that?’ he asked. ‘Just my new phone,’ says Marilyn, and it does look a bit like a small mobile phone. Nothing else was said until later when he remembered a name he wanted to tell us about.

‘You can tell that thing that’s not a phone that the man’s name was Bone.’ He might be 90 years old but not much slips by.

Bill’s father, Hilary, was the oldest son of an English family and trained as a Quantity Surveyor. A younger brother was Hugh Lofting who wrote the Dr Dolittle books. Hilary was also literary and worked as a journalist and author when he came to Australia. The family’s lifestyle was very bohemian and Bill, also christened Hilary, left home at 14 to work as a jackeroo. Many of his stories are of this period of his life. He tells Marilyn he would like to write a book which he wants to call, Making a Quid in the Depression. His nom de plume would be Larry Lofting which is the name he was known by at that time.

He met Iris during World War II and they married in 1942. His life changed dramatically when he was absorbed into Iris’s family, who looked askance at his bohemian background and encouraged him to become a sound, conservative citizen and pillar of the church.

Bill’s life story has so many elements of the changes that took place in Australia in the 20th century. His family knew the great artists and authors of the time: Norman Lindsay, Marcus Clarke, and so on. He lived through the depression and WWII and has seen his daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren make their way in the world.

Monday, 18th October .....

We’ve been here before. Marilyn and I are sitting in a hotel in Lithgow, having traveled up from Sydney by train, and having a meal before we catch the bus which will take us to Mudgee. It’s the same hotel we sat in on our last trip up this way and I think we ordered the same dishes from the menu; Marilyn has a prawn and mushroom pasta, and I have a smoky bacon and mushroom. Both pastas are swimming in cream and fill the plate to overflowing.

Just after we arrived a young fellow came in, jeans hanging down past his bum and with a young boy in tow – about four years old, with red hair. We know that his name is Ronald because we offered to keep an eye on him when the young man needed to go outside for a cigarette. They ordered some chips and the young fellow had to dig around in his wallet to make sure he had enough for a bowl of gravy to go with them. Marilyn’s having a chat with them at the moment so I’ll know all about them when she comes back to our table.

It seems they’ve come up from Campbelltown near Sydney to visit Ronald’s grandparents. The young man has been with Ronald’s mother since they were both 14. Something came over Marilyn earlier and she had a bit of a flutter on the poker machines in the next room. Her luck was in and she celebrated by giving Ronald a handful of dollar coins for pocket money.

I thought I would start this blog while we are waiting but I will have to leave it as it’s nearly time for our bus. Anne and Alan will pick us up in Mudgee at about 9.50, so there will be no more written tonight.

Saturday, 16th October .....

At last we’re back on the road. It’s a bit of an interlude between the Philippines trip and the tour of Nepal but we’re looking forward to seeing the family again. Our flight to Nepal doesn't leave until the 26th but we felt we were just marking time in Deloraine and were determined to cut our ties there completely before we fell into the trap of going along with the status quo because we didn't have the energy to break free.

Setting ourselves the target of having to catch a plane on the 26th forced us to work hard at moving the last of our stuff into storage and closing the door on Tower Hill St for the last time. Our flight did not leave until 3.40pm but I had made the mistake once before of assuming we could get rid of last-minute items on the last morning. This time, we got rid of everything on Thursday, spent the night at The Old Bakery Inn in Launceston, and woke up on Friday morning ready to go.

What went wrong? We had a few tasks to complete: have breakfast, check the mailbox,post a letter, buy some plastic bags, drop the car off at Jamie's work, ...... Because it was raining, we thought it a good idea to drop Marilyn and the luggage off at the airport so that I could complete the last tasks and get a taxi back to meet her, without the hassle of luggage.

All of a sudden, it was 3 o'clock and I was still in Launceston! The taxi driver was helpful and took as many shortcuts as he knew, while entertaining me with his plans to visit Laos and Cambodia later this year. I arrived at the airport to hear,"This is the final call for John and Marilyn Christie. Your plane is fully boarded and is waiting for you." How embarrassing! Marilyn, of course, had checked in the baggage earlier so it just meant a quick sprint across the tarmac and running the gauntlet of the accusing eyes of the other passengers, falling into our seats and drawing breath.

I don't really know what all the fuss was about because the plane left five minutes early anyway.

So, we arrived in Sydney last night and traveled down to Wollongong to stay with my brother and his wife. We’ll spend the weekend here and travel to Mudgee on Monday to see Marilyn’s sister and brother-in-law and her father.

Today we visited the nursing home where my mother and Uncle Archie live. My brother and I took them out for morning tea, then Sandy took Mum back to the home and Uncle Archie and I waited for Marilyn to meet us for lunch.

It was a beautiful day, with bright sunshine and clear skies, even though the wind was cold. Marilyn decided we should drive down to Kiama and have fish and chips on the beach. A great idea, but when we arrived, the wind was too cold so we went to a nice restaurant on the wharf. Instead of a $20 shared packet of fish and chips, it was a posh lunch for considerably more. Ever vigilant, I noticed I had been charged $228 for my tempura snapper and chips, which caused considerable embarrassment to the waitress.

Uncle Archie wasn’t able to finish his prawns so they were packed up with leftover breadrolls so that he could have a midnight snack if he so desired.

It’s been a busy day. Tomorrow we’ll try to see the oldies again and also Marilyn’s great friend, Robyn. Sometimes, you need to have a weekend in catching up and touching base with friends and family, but I confess I can’t wait to get on the plane to Kathmandu. It’s been a lifelong dream and I hope it lives up to expectations.

Thursday, 7th October …..

After a 35-hour marathon trip from Manila, we fell into bed last night and slept like babies. Tasmania hasn’t changed much in the 5 weeks we’ve been away. It might be a little warmer but the rain is still as cold and the natives still as restless. It’s nice to be home.

I woke up a little seedy on Tuesday morning after Geoff’s generous nightcap but we only had packing to do so not much effort was needed. It’s just as well that Marilyn was able to off-load 12 Kg to Siaren as we were still struggling to get everything in. Our two big bags weighed a total of 44Kg, our two carry-ons must have been 20Kg between them and I had a heavy backpack as well. Marilyn carried the portable DVD player and her handbag, so we represented quite a significant proportion of the total mass of the plane. Everything safely packed away, we left the house in plenty of time to be at the airport. The first flight was uneventful and we arrived in Singapore a little ahead of time, ready to board for the next leg.

Changi is a fantastic airport. Moving between terminals is easy with the little train and everything is so vast and spotlessly clean. It’s a model of how things should be done. The big B777 was comfortable and we even managed to sleep a few hours before arriving in Melbourne a little ahead of time. At Melbourne Duty Free, we took possession of two bottles of Famous Grouse purchased on the way out and left for collection on our return, adding another 2Kg or so to our load. Marilyn took advantage of the time to stock up on another few cosmetic items.

We’d been on the road for 21 hours by now and the next plane to Tasmania didn’t leave for about 4 hours. We find this the hardest part of any journey: hanging around at the airport, tired and seedy, waiting for the domestic flight home. This time we decided to take control. We won’t take it any more. (possible musical reference).

While Marilyn rang Jamie to let him know we were in, I rang a nearby motel and booked a room for the day. When you spend thousands of dollars on a holiday, the extra $100 for a shower and sleep on the last day is money well spent.

When Marilyn rang Jamie, he and Therese were also in Melbourne airport, but in the departure lounge ready to board their flight to Los Angeles. It wasn’t possible to meet up with them as they needed to check in before we managed to get through customs, but it was nice to talk anyway. They will arrive in Los Angeles where they will transfer to a Las Vegas flight. They’re booked into the Mirage for a few nights, mainly to see the shows, then back to San Diego and Anaheim before returning home. It’s not a holiday I would choose, but they can’t understand why I enjoy out-of-the-mainstream places, so good luck to them.

Our flight to Tasmania was to leave at 7.55pm but Melbourne was having bad weather so flights were postponed until thunderstorms ha passed. We finally got away at 9, and arrived in Launceston, after a rocky flight, at 10pm. Quick taxi ride to pick up the car and we were in bed by 11.30 – a long journey but made easier by stretching our legs in Singapore, and the 6-hour nap in Melbourne.

Today is a Public Holiday in Launceston. Every city and small town in Australia takes a public holiday to celebrate their Show Day. In the days when the farmers brought their produce to the towns and cities to show the results of their efforts and every townie went along to celebrate their success, Show Day might have had some significance. Now, though, it’s just an anachronism and an excuse to close the shops and schools and laze around the house.

We found that we needed to apply for visas for Nepal so it was a quick drive to Launceston to the only Post Office open on this holy day to send our applications and passports by registered post to the Consulate in Melbourne. It’s only 19 days until we leave so I hope the good people of the Consulate for Nepal can meet the deadline.

It’s bed-time. We haven’t really unpacked yet and we’re not sure where we’ll be living for the next 19 days. Will I collect the caravan tomorrow and put it onsite somewhere, or will we continue to camp in this little house for a bit longer? Maybe, we’ll make a decision tomorrow. In the meantime, Good night!

Monday, October 4th …..

Geoff picked us up yesterday morning as arranged and we drove to Santa Rosa to pick up Chit and one of her staff. We found a dim sum restaurant just around the corner from their Manila house and walked home after lunch. There was some talk about a massage but we put that off until today.

It was nice to have a quiet meal at home, especially as Chit’s son, Mark came around with his 2 year old, Franco. Mark is moving with his family to the US. He is a US citizen but his wife and children will need visas. No problem for wife and Franco but the consul official is refusing to issue a visa for their young baby girl. It’s ludicrous.

Chit’s houses are both two-storey with good-sized rooms and high ceilings. In Manila, we were allocated an upstairs bedroom which was very comfortable, until early morning when the next-door roosters became active. What a racket!

Cock-fighting is very popular here and many of the citizens breed cocks. In the villages, a man might be lucky to have 1 bird, but in the wealthier areas, people could have several. When driving around, we pass numerous areas, which can often be identified by the cluster of tricycles outside. Marilyn is ready to strangle the ones next door but the 12-foot fence is proving to be a bit of a barrier.

Chit was going to work at about 11 so we took the chance to get a lift into Makati. To try and control the traffic problem, the government has limited the times when cars can come into town. It all depends on the last digit of your number plate. Even numbers have certain days, odd numbers have others. There was a window of opportunity today and we were able to travel between 11am and 3pm. If we were earlier or later than that, we took the risk of being fined.

We wandered around an exclusive mall called Podium, then went to the famous Greenhills Market. This is unbelievable. You can buy almost anything from pirated software to clothes and dodgy watches. With all the illegal stuff on display, you can’t buy pirated DVDs inside and have to go to a street vendor outside.

There’s a double standard at work here as you can see masses of pirated DVDs on display at Metro Walk.

All these markets are controlled by Muslim families who seem to have a monopoly on these activities around the Philippines. Apparently, they haunt the tourist beaches trying to entice tourists to buy watches and pearls

At home and the masseurs arrived at about 4. It’s not much fun when it’s happening but you feel terrific afterwards. They havc extraordinary strong fingers for such tiny people. For dinner, we went to a popular restaurant called Mesa, in Greenfield 5. The Greenfield complex is an upmarket shopping precinct in Makati. It consists of 5 buildings, linked to each other and numbered from 1 to 5. Kit drove up from Calamba to join us as we wanted to talk about computers. The wish list from Cayucyucan Elementary School asked for two used computers and I promised to see what I could do. Rhoda has found a place where we can pick up a couple for $250 each but Geoff has had an email from Tasmania asking whether he can find homes for some donated by Aurora Energy. Things look under control and Geoff has agreed to make sure that Kit gets the two she wants.

So, home again, where Geoff pulled out a bottle of 18-year old Chivas Regal - gorgeous stuff but perhaps the nip was a little larger than it miught have been.

We have no plans for tomorrow and will pack in the morning and plan to be at the airport by 4pm.

Saturday, 2nd October …..

Everything was under control for the seminar. Elmer had sent out invitations to lots of schools and individuals and the teachers of Hope Intervention were passing around the word. Elmer expected between 60 and 70 participants which would have been an extraordinary response considering the short time for putting it together.

When we arrived at 8.30, the hall was packed and people were still rolling in. When the final count was taken, we had 164 participants. Amazing!

Dr Joel Lazaro spoke particularly well and we allowed his time to run over and finished the whole thing only 20 minutes later than we had anticipated. Cherry and Edwin, a Physical Therapist from Hope Intervention, also spoke well and we left the audience asking for more.

During the breaks, children from Hope Intervention performed. It was great to see and illustrated how far children can come with good intervention. I’ve taken the banner advertising the event as a souvenir.

To celebrate, Kit took us all for lunch to the Jollibee franchise that she owns. She certainly has her finger in a number of pies. We had known about Jollibee for a while but discovered this time that she also owns a funeral chapel business.

In the evening we were invited to the 80th birthday of the father of Kit’s daughter-in-law at a Chinese restaurant. Maybe there were 200 people there, at tables of 12 with wonderful food and great entertainment. Of course, there were the expected ‘special numbers’ from grandchildren but there was a trio of men, the Quanco Brothers (?) who were great. As they said, they were senior citizens, but their voices hadn’t been affected by age.

It wasn’t a late night but we’re dreading the packing tomorrow so will probably wake early.

Friday, October 1st .....

What a day! In a panic to make sure we had seen the best that the Philippines has to offer, Kit suggested we go today to Villa Escudero and be back in time for the Induction of the Rotary Club of Santo Tomas, a town close by Calamba. Having had some experience of the slippery nature of Filipino time-management, I worried that we were trying to squeeze too much in and we would be rushed.

Rhoda generously suggested we should leave at 9 o’clock (a serious concession as she prefers to sleep in until, at the earliest, 11). It should take about 1 and a half hours to get to the Villa Escudero and lunch started at 11 o’clock.

Good time-keeping was under attack almost immediately when Kit had to stop at her office to sign some checks, then we went out of our way to pick up Rex’s cousin, Miguel, so it was after 10 when we finally got on the right road, and 12 before we reached the Villa. We passed through San Pablo where they were enjoying the opening day of a huge SM mall, with 70% discounts in every department. As a consequence, every vehicle in a 50Km radius descended on the town.

Lunch was good, served in the Coconut Pavilion rather than under the waterfall which is a major attraction. On out last visit in January 2008, I experienced sitting at a table in the river with running water around my ankles. Great fun!

We had an hour to spare before the cultural show so we too the carabao wagon to the museum to see what they had on display. On the ground floor, they had a number of the religious floats which they drag through the streets on Holy Days. I’ve never seen so much gold and it raises the old argument of how can the church justify such priceless art works when the poor are starving.

Upstairs they have collections of everything: hats, walking sticks, tiny glass bottles, coffins from Sagada, Chinese pots, coconuts, jewellery, and so on. The mind boggles. There wasn’t time to see everything so we cut our visit short and hurried back to the pavilion for the show.

The Villa Escudero tourist attraction was established to make work for local farmers who were affected by changing farm practices and land re-distribution. They now work around the property in other jobs. Part of their work includes involvement in the daily performance. The owners of the villa brought in professionals from the Philippines Cultural Centre to teach the dances and design the costumes. There is also a 14-strong string band and a traditional Filipino percussion band.

The standard is extraordinarily high. Our mouths dropped open with the artistry and the superb costuming. The dancers are the sons and daughters of farmers and perform like seasoned professionals.

Time was marching on so we hurried back to the van for the long trip home. No problem, said Kit, if we leave at 6.30, we’ll be there by 7.

The hairdresser and manicurist had been organized for 5.00 but it was almost 6 before we got home. Marilyn was looking forward to wearing her new dress but everything was so rushed, it detracted from her enjoyment. Still, she looked fantastic and turned a few heads. In fact, it was after 7 before we left and, after one of Alejo’s famous short cuts, we didn’t arrive at Sto Tomas until 8. I shouldn’t make snide remarks about Alejo’s shortcuts; the traffic is a nightmare and it’s worth trying anything to avoid the worst spots.

The Induction was held in a car showroom. All the new cars had been driven out and left in the rain so that we could use the big space for our party. When we got there at 8 o’clock, the show was just about to begin. Tardiness is so endemic in the Philippines that there were just not enough people there at the advertised starting time for them to get underway. Our arrival might have just tipped the balance, the last three to make it worthwhile.

The induction ceremonies are interminable with speech after speech. This one was better in that the wives and daughters of the Rotarians wore dresses made of the same, pink material, and performed a dance number as part of the program. I’ll make the suggestion at Deloraine that our club might follow suit and wait for the howls of derision.

The meal was good, provided gratis, as was the acceptable red wine, so we had an enjoyable time, a much shorter ride home, but another late night.

Thursday, 30th September …..

The Rotary Club of Calamba decided to give us a farewell party tonight which means caterers are employed, tables are set up in the outdoor area and the karaoke comes out. Kit’s oldest son, Raoul, brought his family along and we had gifts for his new baby and the two sons. The older boy, Ramon, wasn’t there so his gift was set aside – a Time 2011 Almanac, which we thought was a pretty good gift for a 13-year old. Rex surreptitiously opened the present and has become so interested in the book, he won’t give it up. It looks like we will have to replace it.

Rex was encouraged to give up his baby bottles so Marilyn suggested he put them in a gift bag and present them to his new cousin, baby Addie. He took this on board quite well and the ceremony was cheerfully carried out.

There was a good crowd from the rotary club and the caterers excelled themselves and, after several bottles of red wine, the party was certainly starting to heat up. Sadly, the karaoke was a disappointment and I wasn’t able to trot out my prize-winning performance of Piano Man. Oh, well, there’s always next year.