Hitting the Spot

There were a lot of opportunities to see the Coogee community at work and play on Sunday. In perfectly clear, blue sky weather we started the day with a walk to Clovelly Beach. Both Coogee and Clovelly beaches, and their first lines of breakers, were packed with kids and families, all fully involved in their very well organised Minnows and Nippers Junior Surf Lifesaving Programs.

Heading around the gorgeous, turquoise blue Gordon's Bay, looking absolutely pristine clean from where we were on the headland walk, it was obvious there was a large crew of volunteers for Clean Up Australia Day. They were combing the rocks around the bay and filling bags with fishing detritus and bits of construction site, blow away rubbish. I admired the volunteers' choice of site for their civic duty, trying not to feel too guilty as I remembered all the Clean up Australia Days I had been involved with over the years with my schools.

Sunday afternoon we walked up to "The Spot" on Perouse Road to take a look at "The Spot Film and Food Festival", to celebrate the Australian Film Festival being staged at the historic old Randwick Ritz and to promote the food delights on offer in this little corner of Coogee-Randwick.

The roads around The Spot were blocked to traffic, a big stage was set up, musicians were warming up and the smell of food from various street stalls indicated this could be a serious contender for providing dinner.

Crowds (mainly locals) were gathering and actors in various disguises (Austen Powers, Marilyn Monroe etc) were attempting to warm them up. Three guys circulated doing very convincing "Style Police" impersonations. Rob got a cool stamp because his shirt and shorts (and havaiana thongs) were so well coordinated.



But things really livened up when the Abba revival group took over from the Jazz musicians.

All the little girls in the district, and their grandmas, went off.

But the heavy duty event of the festival rolled around after Abba had finished. Apparently Claudia Karvan and Steve Bisley were to be inducted into the Randwick Ritz Walk of Fame (joining other luminaries like Michael Caton & Bud Tingwell), and Peter Garrett, Minister for the Arts, Environment and Heritage (and ex front man, Midnight Oil) was there to present it to them (while being very vocal about his passion for the Australian film industry).

Funnily enough it was obvious that Peter Garrett was the star of this show. He was the one everyone wanted to photograph & be seen with. I suspect a lot of people in the crowd thought he was still with Midnight Oil. It must be so nice for Peter to get back to his adoring locals after withstanding the voracious Canberra Press pack in sitting weeks.

Rob took the opportunity to give Peter Garrett a pep talk, something to the effect of.....Don't let the b.........s get you down, to which Peter replied with great conviction.......... We won't!

This is such a different community to ours in Canberra, where politicians are never relaxed, Grandmas hardly ever go off, there is no Randwick Ritz and there are no minnows or nippers buzzing around the beaches. It was such a treat to dip into our community in Sydney.