Home County

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Here's some photos from the Home County Folk Music and Arts Festival in July of 2007. This is a yearly event held in Victoria Park, London, Ontario.

My sister Ellen, brother Larry with his daughter Natalie, husband Peter with daughter Evelyn and son Cameron were there this year.

Budapest

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In June Kate's annual KBS conference was held in Budapest Hungary. We stayed at the hotel attached to the Gellert Thermal Bath on the west side of the river. The pictures in the album are an odd bunch and not well sorted... there's a reason for that.

The camera I was using at the time was a Minolta DiMage A1 which I had been using since our long trip to Australia/New Zealand in 2004. It was an excellent travel camera which worked very well — a long fast zoom, image stablization, reasonable film speed, it worked well. The Compact Flash memory cards at that time were quite small which meant that every day after shooting I'd strip the cards onto Kate's laptop. Unfortunately, on this trip the camera and the laptop both failed! We were able to resort some deleted photos off my memory cards but lost quite a few. Many of the pictures in this collection are from friends who shared them with me.

The picture above is from just before the camera failed. As I recall that's taken at the one end of the Erzsébet Bridge.

This note composed 2023/08/09 ... much more work required. I'll come back to this another day.

Burgundy

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In May of 2007 Kate had a meeting in Geneva Switzerland and asked if I'd like to come along. We've had some cool weather in the spring before, and we were to be in Budapest later, so I was not too keen on another trip to the area ... but then Kate mentioned that the Burgundy wine region of France is right next door. Well then, Ok, count me in!

We met our niece Paula at the Geneva airport and she travelled with us for the duration of her stay. She had been travelling in England with Gordon, her dad, and Eva, her sister and it's a short flight over to Geneva.

Geneva is on Lake Geneva (of course) but is a very short distance from France (it's not clear to me why Geneva isn't in France!). It's in the French canton of Switzerland. We rented a car for our trip at the airport and found our way to Annecy France which is due south but not that far. We had reservations for a place in town but it was one of those "You can't get there from here" problems. Paula, who is reasonably fluent in French, was some help and we stopped for directions several times. We ultimately found the hotel and squeezed our car into an impossibly small parking spot in an under ground parking lot beneath the hotel.

We found navigating the Burgundy region much easier. We found our way to the city of Beaune in the heart of the Burgundy region. We had a lovely two story suite for the three of us in a converted building (perhaps it was an animal or wine barn at one time) called the Hotel Belle Epoque which was just a short walk from the walled city. Our room was on a warm sunny courtyard and every morning we dined on fresh bread and croissants with fresh butter and jams, strong coffee. Every night we dined out and always had escargot (snails: it was the season for fresh snails). Escargot in garlic butter, escargot in pastry, escargot in lots of things. Each morning Kate swore she'd had enough snails and garlic but each night we were back for more.

On our first day we visited around the city. There's a city shuttle train that takes you around the city and out into some of the vineyards. There's even some vineyards right in the city. And there are wine caves to explore and lots of wine to taste.

Burgundy wines are some of my favorites. There's the major region Cote de Beaune with Beaune at the north end, then the Cote de Nuits region to the north with lots of minor regions nearby. We visited several wineries to the south of Beaune and enjoyed them all. At one we could have bought a 1980 Burgundy (from the year we were married) for only 100 euros. They have an extensive library in their underground caves and would open, taste and recork a bottle for us -- they might have to open quite a few bottles to find one that hadn't gone bad. We travelled as far as Mount de Sene where there's a scenic overlook of the valley.

After Burgundy a friend (a sommelier) back home had recommended we explore the Jura Region. This is a recommendation I'd not pass on. It's an interesting area to explore but the wines are oxidized and tast awful. That's apparently how they're supposed to taste.

In Geneva for Kate's meetings we stayed at Le MontBrillant which is right in the CBD and beside the train station. Paula was a great help with shlepping our luggage from the closest parking spot (several blocks away). It was great to have her there, it would have been very difficult without her. I took the car back to the airport and then returned by the city metro system. We had dinner at our hotel that evening. Everything was very expensive and we ended up having "Raclette" -- boiled potatoes, pickles and melted raclette cheese. Well, it was the only thing that made any sense!

While Kate was at her meetings Paula and I explored the city, which is quite scenic and very historic. There's a very old well maintained cathedral that we explored with great views from on high of the city. There's the waterfront of course and lots of lanes and alleyways to explore.

Another day Paula figured out that we could take a train (from our hotel door step) along the north shore of Lake Geneva through Lausanne and just a little past Montreux to find the Chillon Castle -- a medieval fortress on the shore of Lake Geneva which was used as a choke point on the trade route through the Alps. We spent the day there, it's authentic and fun to explore (e.g. a prisoner in the dungeon of the castle was made famous by Byron in a poem "The Prisoner of Chillon") and walked back to Montreux where we caught the train to return to Geneva. It was a good day.

Here's some photos from our visit for those who are interested.

Cuba

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We spent a week at the Breezes Jibacoa, Cuba with Paul and Judy this winter. This smallish resort is on the north coast between Havanna and Varadero -- you fly in and out of the Varadero Airport.

Becky Castillo, our travel agent has arranged all four Sunwing vacations. We're meeting up with my brother and his wife who live in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Becky has recommended this resort is as a good place for snorkeling -- Varadero is a sand spit suitable for sun bathing and frolicing in the surf. We are more interested in snorkeling. And the snorkeling from the beach at this resort is very good. There's a sandy beach, then some shallow coral and just past that there's a nice deep good sized tank to explore with lots of fish and coral encrusted walls to the tank. From there you could go out to deeper waters but we never ventured. Check out my picture from the bluff above -- you can see the coral and the tank.

There were days when the beach was flagged -- too windy, rough surf or wind blown Portugese Man o'War jelly fish. You don't want to get entangled with that jelly fish. It will hurt like hell and leave lasting damage. Anyways, it was good snorkeling. I'd recommend the resort for that.

The resort is well appointed, solid construction, quite comfortable and well maintained. Grounds are lush with lots of Royal Palms (that's the national tree of Cuba) and exotic plants. There are 18 buildings with 260 guest rooms. These buildings are two stories with 8 rooms below and 8 above. We pay a little extra to get a room on the ground floor on the beach. There's one large swimming pool, tennis courts, and so on. For dining there's a large buffet hall and two restaurants (where you need to make reservations).

There are several bars, of course, but we spend most of our time at the beach bar. Every day there seems to be some event at the beach -- e.g. one day they roasted a whole pig. There are big show events every night with dancers and tom foolery. We attend a couple of them.

One morning we went on a short nature hike with "Mini Mike" through the woods to the bluff overlooking the resort. From there we visited a local farm and walked back along the roadway.

For such a small resort they do put out a big effort to keep guests entertained.

Our big event was a day trip into Havana. We stopped along the way to have a drink (apparently the "best" Pina Colada) at a sea side bar. This must have been a very nice spot years ago but it's sadly in decay. In Havana we stopped to see Fidel's tank -- Viva la Revolucion! On to the Capitol building -- very impressive. The Hemingway bar -- it's just a bar. The Bacardi building -- seized by the state when industries were nationalized. We went to a bar on the top floor of a very tall hotel for the views -- there's the American Embassy (closed since the revolution). And we wandered the streets of the old city. Havana is an impressive collection of Colonial Buildings and many are in good repair. I understand there's UNESCO money here. There is a decrepit oil industry in evidence -- a oil flare within the city and polluted waters in the bay.

That evening in Havana we went to the Tropicana show. There's another similar Tropicana show closer to Varadero. The one in Havana is the "original". It's a Las Vegas styled show with lots of flash, lots of pretty girls in skimpy outfits. The venue is open air with several stages, several tiers on each stage. When you enter all the men get a cigar, the women get a carnation and couples get a can of coke and a half bottle of Havana Club -- the rum of Cuba (which used to belong to Bacardi?). It was quite the show and we got thoroughly pie-eyed in the process. But we had fun and made friends.

We enjoyed this resort and hope to return some day. It was a good time with brother Paul and his wife Judy.

Brisbane

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Kate and I spent some time in Brisbane -- Kate was working with Ross on their book. We had a short stay on our way through to Perth at the start of the trip. Catching our breath with much needed rest after the long flight over from LA. After Perth we had some holiday time on Magnetic Island and from there we came back to Brisbane.

Some of the adventures in Brisbane are blogged elsewhere -- like the trip to Tangalooma and our lunch with the local Beefsteak and Burgundy Club at the Brisbane USC. This blog fills in some gaps.

We flew on Quantas airlines this time and had a deal which allowed us some in country flights. That helped a lot.

Ross and Bev have a lovely home in Indooroopilly (try saying that fast) one of many burbs in the city. Their home is built into the hillside in a forested part of the city with the usual, odd to us, Australian flora and fauna. They have a small pool you can jump into to cool off (the temperature was over 80F -- a hot spring by our standards). Ross was complaining about the wild turkeys we saw that root around in their yard making it hard to grow anything. They're pests but protected.

Queensland, and much of Austrlia, was in the middle of a drought which made growing things especially hard. Ross and Bev, like many others, were installing a water tank to catch rainfall and supplement the scarce city water.

Ross took his son Tim and us out to a very expensive dinner one evening in the CBD. We took one of the Brisbane public transit CityCats down the Brisbane River from Indooroopilly (try saying that again) to the Southbank and walked across the pedestrian bridge to our dinner. I ordered something that sounded interesting but turned out to be lamb brains. I ate them but shudder to think of it.

Surfer's Paradise and the Gold Coast is beach area south of Brisbane that we decided to check out. Ross had discouraged us -- it's sort of a Las Vegas meets Fort Lauderdale kind of place with odd things like meter maids dressed in bikinis. The picture above is from Surfer's Paradise. This places takes the name "Surfer's Paradise" in a marketing coup -- many beaches up and down the Queensland coast have equally good surfing.

Kate thought that Surfer's Paradise smelled too much of fried fast food so we headed further south to Burleigh Heads for a swim, the beach and a bit of lunch. It's all part of the Gold Coast but here it's a little less hectic. The headlands here is the Burleigh Heads National Park and a favorite hiking spot for Ross and Bev. We had a lovely lunch at a fancy beachside restaurant -- other times we've eaten at the nearby Life Savers Club. There's some pictures of a wedding couple taken on the beach. Apparently it's a favorite spot.

There's some pictures of our apartment when we returned from Maggie. We rented a one bedroom flat at the City Park Aparments on Gregory Terrace; walking distance from Fortitude Valley and the CBD. We've stayed before and really like the location. It's a walk up apartment with lots of balconies and good airflow -- Brisbane can be hot but we usually had good breezes to cool the apartment. We had a small car to roam the city and countryside. We had rented a car but then Ross's mom had a car that wasn't being used so they loaned us that.

There's some pictures of a market and music on Brunswick Street in Fortitude Valley and another musical event we went to nearby on Claxton Street at the Calypso Bar & Lounge (all I can say is Ani DiFranco has a lot to answer for). There's also a picture of Kate at the "Bad Girls Platinum Club" -- you might guess what that club is about.

There's some photos from a visit to Noosa Heads which is two hours north of Brisbane on what they call the Sunshine Coast. This is another hiking and swimming spot recommended by Ross with another, but much larger, headlands national park. We've done a bit of a walk in these headland parks but not as much as Ross and Bev do. Instead we enjoyed the beach (Kate loves to swim, I float around a bit) and had a pigout on fried seafood at the Life Savers Club. It was a lovely warm spring day and that had brought out the crowds.

The Brisbane Powerhouse is an event space in New Farm down river from the CBD in what used to be a powerhouse. We caught some music there. There's some pictures of Jacaranda trees in bloom in our neighborhood and at the university campus. They're quite lovely and, while not unique to Brisbane (I think they came from Brazil), a sight to see when in bloom.

We had lunch at the Oxley on the river with Beefsteak and Burgundy friends. There's a picture of the nearby Regatta Hotel on Coronation Drive which runs along the Brisbane River in Toowong (say that twice while on your way to Indooroopilly) not too far from where we stayed. This three story hotel is subject to flooding as sometimes happens. I've seen old photos with people stranded on the second balcony (late 1800's) and first balcony (1960's) with flood waters filling the lower floors. With the current drought there's not much danger of flooding.

We took a drive up to Mount Glorious for a lunch one day. The mountain range is inland only a bit. It's a nice drive to see some forests and get some views back towards the city. Back in the city we saw Noel Coward's "Private Lives" at the Queensland Performing Arts Center on the Southbank with Ross and Bev. It's a very funny play if only a little outrageous.

Byron Bay is about 2 hours south of Brisbane, past Burleigh Heads and just across the state line in New South Wales. It has the most easterly point in mainland Australia. There's also another lovely long sand beach with more good surfing. At the light house on the point you can sometimes see whales migrating in the distance. Or at least the occassional splashing and blowing. We met some whale watchers from Melbourne who come here every year just so they can spot the whales.

Redcliffe is a nearby suburb to the north of Brisbane with some passable swimming. Much of the water front around Brisbane proper is either the industrial river or mangrove swamps. At Redcliffe there's a good bike path along the shore (we were travelling with our fold up bikes) and an enclosed swimming area something like the swimming area at the Southbank (but not as grande).

On our final day in Brisbane we took our car to be washed and detailed before returning it -- we got in trouble with Ross. "Don't you know there's a drought!"

Tangalooma

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While Kate was working with Ross on their book in Brisbane we did have some holiday time together. We spent a weekend at the Tangalooma Island Resort in mid October. The picture has Kate gearing up to go snorkeling on the ship wrecks.

We had been before on a short day cruise to the resort back in 2004 and wanted to return for a couple of reasons: 1) there's an artificial reef of sunken ships nearby that's supposed to be really good for snorkeling and 2) there's a dolphin feeding where wild ones come near shore. Both are adventures we had missed on our previous trip.

First some context. Moreton Island is the largest sand island (Bribie to the north and North Stradbroke to the south are the next two largest) on Morteon Bay, at the mouth of the Brisbane River (Brisbane the city is several miles inland), in the south east corner of Queensland. The island is mostly protected forest but there's a small resort, Tangalooma Island Resort, on the Moreton Bay side. There is nothing else other than forest and sand on the island (there used to be "brumbies", ie. wild horses, but they're long gone). There are ferries that will take you to the island. We took a fast passenger ferry from Brisbane to the resort, stayed overnight and had some adventures.

The snorkeling is really quite good. They've sunken some ships a short, but substantial, walk north of the resort. They were sunk by the Queensland Government between 1963 and 1984 and form what is now known as the Tangalooma Wrecks. The idea was to provide a safe anchorage for pleasure craft on the bay. The wrecks are rusting away and coral has grown on them. It's not the colorful coral of the Great Barrier Reef; it's more drab like the fringing reefs of  Magnetic Island. They're just a few stones throw from the shore so it's easy enough to swim out to them. There's some deep water to cross but when you get out to the wrecks there's lots of fishies swimming about. Probably the best snorkeling experience we've ever had.

I find it a bit creepy swimming in deep water, over darkened caverns and rusted hulks. But it was great fun to swim with the many schools of fish. But if there's fish, there's fish to prey on those fish. After swimming around for a while Kate thought she saw a shark swimming by in the deeper water. It scared her, I'm not too keen on the idea either, so we came out to shore. We asked a ranger at the resort about sharks and they said it was extremely unlikely. When we got back to Brisbane we were telling Ross and Bev about this and they said, "Oh yes, there are sharks out in Moreton Bay. But you'd have to be extremely unlucky to be taken by one. ...[pregnant pause] ... Mind you there was a fellow taken by a shark off North Stradbroke recently."

Huh? "Taken" as in taken our on a date? It sounds so pleasant, but what an odd expression. He wasn't killed by a shark, he was just taken away .... and never to be seen again.

The idea that you'd have to be "extremely unlucky" to be "taken" by a shark, or bitten by a poisonous snake, or stung by some deadly jelly fish -- they often say that in Australia. Oh yes, they admit, there is a risk but you'd have to be extremely unlucky. It really doesn't inspire confidence.

You'll note in the pictures that there are "utes" on the beach. In Queensland there are many beaches which count as legitimate road ways. Some people bring their vehicles across on ferries and drive around the island camping where they see fit. There aren't any proper roads across or on the island. Just the beach around the island.

Ah, and there's pictures of people playing cricket on the beach. Cricket is a big deal in Australia but we've never figured it out.

I mentioned the park rangers. A couple of times the rangers gave an informal talk while they fed the wild Kookaburras. The Kookaburra is a largeish bird, unique to Australia, with a distinctive call, almost a laugh. You'll recognize it the first time you ever hear one. They're carnivores preying on lizards, snakes and other land animals. They look like large and dangerous king fishers like we have in Canada but, apparently, don't or only rarely catch any fish. The ranger fed them bits of raw meat and a regular bunch arrives for the feeding. Interesting birds. You can sing along to them: Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry little king of the bush is he, laugh kookaburra, laugh.

On the second day Kate persuaded me that it would be a fun adventure to try Parasailing at Tangalooma. This looks very scary. They lash you into a parachute tethered to a speed boat and race around the bay with you dangling far above the water. I was not keen on the idea and had sent Kate up first (hey, it was her idea!). She survived so I tried it as well. It was fun, even exciting, but not dangerous at all. You simply cannot descend quickly when you're in a parachute. You get some views of the island and resort from a good altitude.

On our final night we were able to catch the dolphin feeding. Dolphins come in from the bay every night at sunset for a feeding. Some guests like us are invited out of the audience to get in the water and feed them. We were called upon and even have the photo to prove it! It's interesting to see these large mammals (they're not fish) up close and near the wild.

Well, that's about it. Another series of fun adventurea at Tangalooma near Brisbane.

Brisbane BS&B

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Kate and I attended a Beefsteak and Burgundy (BS&B) Wine Club lunch while in Brisbane. The event was held in the United Service Club (USC) which is an easy walk just down the hill towards the CBD from our place on Gregory Terrace.

BS&B is an international wine club and I'm a member of the local club back home in St Marys, Ontario. When travelling I often take time to discover if there's a local club where I'm visiting.

We had attended a similar event here back in 2004 and made friends with several members including Baggins and Murray pictured at left. We met Murray and his wife Joan earlier during this stay at a dinner on the Oxley (a floating restaurant on the river). They're a fine couple and it's a pleasure to know them both.

This BS&B club is a mens' club, many are men only, that meets once a month here at the USC. The dress code has relaxed somewhat in the intervening years (the last time we had arrived in summer beach wear when full dress was expected). So to have the rules about guests -- many wives were present today. At our last event Kate and another lady visiting from South Africa were the only women present. Today it's a full house. The joke they told us before was that wives were allowed at dinner events but lunches were reserved for mistresses and girl friends.

We had a "gourmet" lunch -- toad in the hole! And lots of wines, and after dinner drinks, and discussions about food and wine. And lots of laughs too! We had fun, renewed old friendships and look forward to seeing some of these guys at our next visit. Or perhaps on their travels should they ever come to Canada (Murray and Joan have a connection to Canada having studied here).