Why a blog on Australia, such a large country and a blog is a very small item.
It is not just the physical size of Australia that I find interesting, the country is matched in size by the character and vitality of its relatively small population.
Where to begin to describe what Australia is and what it has meant to me over nearly five decades.
Let's go way back to my frst landfall, January 1970.
As a young film technician working for a newly formed but large TV production company in the UK, I, along with other members of the crew were advised to always carry our passports with us ..just in case. So it was on a wintry January morning I was informed that two days later I would be off to Canada, for a three month trip with a famous reporter of that time.. Alan Whicker.
Just after lunch I was informed that Canada was cancelled, we were going to Australia instead.
To say I was diasappointed would be an understatement.I really wanted to go across the Atlantic to the mainland of the Americas, I did not want to go to a dustbowl at the bottom of the world..
What a fool.
We landed late at night in Western Australia, in Perth.The approach to the airport should have given me an inkling of what to expect as we turned in from the ocean to see the twinkling lights of that city and the dark line of the ocean but instead it was with a heavy heart and a little jet lag, that we trudged through the arricvals hall and took our short drive to our hotel wher we had a couple of drinks at the bar and then went to bed.
My induction ws to begin very early the following morning, a ring on the door "Room Service Sir, the breakfast you ordered"
The breakfast I had ordered was delivered by a six foot tall blonde haired well tanned beauty wearing the shortest black leather mini skirt I had ever seen outside of Carnaby St London and she was carrying that great OZ discovery, a proper breakfast, a massive ribeye steak covered with two fried eggs , plus all the trimmings..I instantly fell in love.
Perth was fantastic, I went flying with Lang Hancock, quite an experience, he was looking for white flowers among the hillside rock, an indication of some sort of ore, and I was wetting myself looking at the rapidly approaching walls of rock. He was an able pilot.
His daughter threw a gret party at their riverside home and we went out to Wittenoom for a barby, Wittenoom was a deserted boom mining town, streets of deserted houses, no one lived there, but the traffic lights on the only crossroads were still working, just blnking away all day.Surreal.
I adored Sydney and still do, out first hotel was the Sebel Town House, with wonderful views over Rushcutters Bay, on a recent vist we stayed at the ANA. hotel. What a delight.
Pull back the curtains and to your left is Darling Harbour, straight ahead is the famous bridge and below that the Rocks, great food area, to the immediate right is the fantastic Sydney Oprera House and beyond that the spread of Sydney Harbour with Manly in the distance.
Sydney should be a mandatory visit every year'
Adelaide, we were locked in our hotel because there were hordes of screaming females outside the front door. they weren't there for us,Dire Straits were in residence. It was considered dangerous for young English lads to go outside.Pity.
Brisbane, a delight, soi st he run up to Noosa, great resorts there and of cousrse a bit further north is the entrancing Heron Island, a nayure reserve and well worth a visit to a perfect coral atoll.
Darwin and the Northern territories..so much happened up there it will keep for another blog if requested..but an amazing area.
Western Australia..Superb, I love deserts and spent a lot of time there ..we were made Ambassadors to the court of Prince Leonard and hs wife in the Hutt River Province, listened to some Californian cattle men who told us they had contributed to Kennedy's assasination fund,, that was scary, and been attacked by wild Emu's at forty miles an hour as we drove across the desert, they were running alongside pecking at our faces.
I have a mountain of stories about OZ but one of the more interesting ones is about Norfolk Island'
This former penal colony sticks up out of the Pacific ocean like a broken tooth about a thousand miles from Sydney. It was where the really bad lads were sent, they never returned..
Originally, I am informed, the Island was discovered by Captain Cook, he was carrying a hold full of sapling Norfolk pine and wanted somewhere to plant them, this semi barren island seemed a likely place.Why Norfolk pines?.. It seems these tall straight, strong trees were favourite for the masts of the Royal Navy and the Brits ,with some forethought sought to plant a continuing supply in faraway places for use of generations of ships..Clever.
So now this once grim place is smothered in these rather magnificent trees, there is a sound that comes from them as the continuous wind from the wide Pacific blows through their branches, it could have been the only sound that the prisoners in their underground open topped cells must have heard.
One other aspect to the planting of the trees, during world war 2 the Japanese ,in their insane sweep across the Pacific wanted to use the Island as a forward air base in order to bomb Sydney, no one told them about Cooks tree planting mission and they were thwarted. The Americans with more machinery later knocked down a few teees and built a very short runway.
The inhabitants seemed to be of the hippy variety, but they had a very pleasant lifestyle doing what they darn well wantetd. There may have been changes in recent years but as one of Australias well hidden jewels in its jewel encrusted crown it is well worth a visit ..just to go down to the remote prison area at night and listen to the wind in the trees.
It is also worth looking at the Islands waste disposal units, sharks, big ones, hundreds of them, at the bottom of the rubbish tip cliff, nothing is refused.
Which nicely brings me to The Stack, a novel written with deep affection for this faraway country, which my partner and I have visited many times, we hope to have captured the essence of the place and its great people, I supppose only Autralians can really give a comment on that but we are ready to come back and have another go if anyone has a complaint..
The Stack is on Amazon
RJ DODD.
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