Manly Q Station opening and Curl Curl

We were in Sydney for the opening of Tania's sculpture installations at Manly on Tuesday this week.

We'd already seen the work in situ before Christmas - soon after it was installed - the inaugural pieces for the much bigger sculpture park planned for this amazing space over the coming years. 

There was quite a buzz around "Terrible Beauty" when we arrived at Manly Wharf about 3.00pm Tuesday.

 There were speeches setting the context.....

And deeply moving words from Tania about her work - especially now after the terrible summer of bushfires and destruction across Australia - another layer of meaning for her burnt timber (from Bilpin) work, evoking the trauma of a childhood spent during the Troubles in Belfast.

 The teaching and technical support team from the National Art School Sculpture School were there for Tania in a show of support ......

 and dear friends .......

 and of course the family support team......

 There was the smaller work of shale pieces and blackened timber to "open" too .....

 Its an insanely busy time for Tania - with another exhibition opening at Harvey Galleries in Mosman - so many heavy but fragile works to transport safely around awkward spaces - in such little time..... but on the other hand she wouldn't be so busy if she hadn't had such a successful graduation from her Masters study at the National Art School!!

We had a relaxing day yesterday at Curl Curl - a beautiful long uncrowded beach just a bit north of crazy busy Manly Beach. We were looking forward to a day away from dry, hot, smoky, fire scary Canberra and Curl Curl really fitted the bill.

We started with a long coffee break at Gusto on the Beach at South Curl Curl and then walked north to the far end of the beach ......

 past the lagoon and this amazing outcrop of weathered sandstone ....

 to the beautiful 25metre ocean pool on the headland.

 

 We took care scrambling around the rocks on this headland - thinking of poor old Syd - only 25 years old in 1941....

 Rob, with North Head and Manly Beach in the background ......

Birthday lunch

We really enjoyed our celebratory birthday lunch (for the January birthday boys) at the Contentious Character vineyard in Womboin last year, so we headed there again today for a repeat performance.

Abi was looking forward to getting in touch with some wildlife there - but it's so hot and SO DRY at the moment there wasn't a sign of a grasshopper or a lizard anywhere in the whole of Womboin(?).

 The vines are stressed - and no doubt a bit smoke affected.

 Those grapes are ripening but they're so small - and they'll have very little juice this year!

 But our lunch - in air conditioned comfort - was as good as we remembered - and in great company too. I think everyone is feeling pretty good about school starting (in a week's time) and getting the new year underway.

 The girls put a lot of effort into spoiling Joshy with treats for his birthday last Friday and Abi made him some rocky road which she was happy for me to photograph.

The girls had been playing with some make up that afternoon - I couldn't believe how adept Abi was applying eyeliner to her beautiful blue eyes - with minimal direction from a mirror! There's nothing much she can't turn her hands to these days.

Not the date to celebrate!

Today is Australia day. 

Australia Day only became a public holiday for all states and territories 24 years ago, in 1994. I never remember it being a big thing throughout my childhood - indeed, not until after the 1990s when people (mostly white people) started "celebrating" Australia Day with flag waving, wild drinking and partying or eating sausages, lamingtons  and pavlova (duh???). 

The 26 January 1788 is when the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove to establish a penal colony under British rule - I cannot work out why on earth such a painful date is the one we choose to celebrate our national day???

So Rob and I chose to support the wonderful Ngunnawal/Ngambri Youth Council members who organised a Survival Day march here in Canberra today - to mark a day "celebrating" the resilience and survival of people and culture despite the terrible impact of colonisation over the past 230 odd years. 

 It was so good to see the numbers, and range of people supporting the march today (at least a thousand?)

 We took it in turns to help a young woman hold her banner high: Sovereignty never Ceded - Always Was Always Will Be Aboriginal land. Just like in the Climate Action demonstrations the leadership is being taken on by the young ones - bless them! There was lots of chanting (all good humoured - but passionate too!) which we found quite an effort as that is a good walk from Veteran's Park in Civic, over Commonwealth Avenue Bridge up to Parliament House - in 35oC heat!!

This pic was taken by Canberra Times photographer Jamila Toderas. You can see my arm holding up the other side of the banner.

 The pic below was from Nova Peris's (former Olympic athlete and Senator) Insta Post - she was there today too showing her support

 C'mon Australia listen and learn and RESPECT the stories and history you share with your Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander fellow Australians - and bloody well change the date! (and then start tackling all the other issues we need to start work on as a country of "grown ups").



Postscript
We walked 10klms today, in the middle of the day - in 35oC conditions. We were feeling our age and dying for a beer by the time we got back to Campbell, and our local "The Pedlar".

Birthday week

Rob's birthday on the 11th gave us a great excuse to celebrate the Campbell lifestyle with our dear friends Irene and David.

Irene and David moved into their apartment - Iskia on Constitution Avenue - in late November last year. We were having a lot of dramas at that time - and so were they - and then there was Christmas and all the bushfires and hazardous air quality issues in Canberra. So we haven't had a lot of opportunities to enjoy the Campbell lifestyle as neighbours up until now!

 We were off to dinner at Les Bistronomes at the Campbell shops on Tuesday night .... our suburb's very own upmarket French bistro ... in walking distance of our apartments!

 Duck a l'orange at Les Bistronomes was impressive - as was the Beef Wellington (Boeuf en Croute) ....

 Irene was happy with her favourite Creme Brulee

 In fact all desserts were superb ......

 Our time with David and Irene is really precious so our night together for Rob's birthday was extra sweet. You would never know when you are with her but Irene's health is really fragile now. However this amazing woman is squeezing as much as she can out of life at the moment so we were so glad she was well this night and it was such a happy night together.

And it's great to finish off the night walking by the large steel and glass sculpture by Matthew Curtis at the front of the Iskia apartment building. When the lights are in the red phase it really evokes the fields of poppies that have apparently inspired the work. We think it's a great asset to our neighbourhood!

 Our regular Thursday afternoon with Jody, Ella and Abi last week turned into an incredibly exciting sound and light and WATER show as their end of Tuggeranong was hit with a wild thunderstorm: thunder, torrential rain, hail, overflowing gutters and big puddles of water flowing through their outdoor area.

 Ella stayed focussed on her hair makeover treatment (begun before the storm hit) but Abi and the rest of us felt like excited rabbits - seeing, feeling, experiencing proper RAIN - for the first time in months!!!

 We hoped that the storm and the accompanying rain depression would bring relief to the firefighting efforts in the region - and it has - but unfortunately the storms and heavy rain were not widespread. We even had bad air quality (from smoke) in Canberra on Friday - the day after this storm - but this weekend has brought better conditions. We all need this drought to be over!!