The Australian Tour
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One of the highlights of Elinor's Adjudicating career took place over the Easter weekend of 1998. She, along with 3 other overseas adjudicators, was invited to adjudicate at the Australian Champion of Champions competition held in the city of Newcastle, New South Wales. While Elinor's expenses were paid for, we had a "small challenge" in raising enough hard earned funds to allow me to accompany her - AND - take the opportunity to visit my sister who married a Kiwi and lives in New Zealand. You need to be aware that 18 months prior to the competition was when Elinor was approached to adjudicate - thus our "fund raising project" had an 18 month lead time. So, for the 18 months, Elinor spent every bit of spare time HAND KNITTING tartan hose (socks) for many, many dancers around the country. She also made kilts and along with her mom, made blouses and velvet jackets for the dancers. I contributed by scraping off our household budget wherever possible.
Finally the day arrived and we commenced our 3 week "working holiday". We departed from Johannesburg International at 6pm Saturday evening (28th March) and flew to Perth - 2 hours in Perth and then a 5 hour flight to Sydney. Another 2 hour stop in Sydney before changing planes (all Quantas - and here is a trivia question for you - QUANTAS is the acronym for what ?) and a 3 hour hop to Auckland. We landed in Auckland at midnight of Sunday - believe me it's a long flight. Our body clocks were out of kilter and after eventually getting to bed at 1:30 am Monday - both of us woke up 2 hours later and were ready to face the new day. Well Monday the 30th was Elinor's birthday as well as our wedding anniversary so after breakfast we caught a bus and "did Auckland". We moseyed around various shopping malls (to satisfy Elinor's shopping virus) and looked around the city - and RIVERDANCE was playing at one of the theatres - silly us, we did not go. We did a sightseeing boat trip around the HUUUUGE waterways around Auckland - I enjoyed it (as an ex navy man, I love boats/ships) - Elinor, on the other hand has a TOTAL phobia about anything that floats and little did she know at the time that this would be the first of many "boat" trips she would have to endure on this trip. That evening our hosts (Pete Van Dyke - ex South African and DP manager for McDonalds in NZL) lent us his car and we went to a very nice Chinese restaurant to celebrate Elinor's birthday and our wedding anniversary - by this time our bodies rebelled and we struggled to keep our eyes open during the meal - we skipped pudding, slugged off the rest of the wine (Cloudy Bay Chardonnay - not bad at all) and got our selves home - the Van Dyke family were most surprised to see us back so early - but then they did not have to endure 20 hours of Quantas and Australian airports as well as a hectic day exploring Auckland. We crashed, big time.
Downtown Auckland
The Old Quay: Just prior to boarding a "boat" for the 'Coffee Cruise' around the bay
The "Coffee Cruise": 3 hours of sightseeing
The next morning (by this time we had almost got the bods into NZL time zone) we bade farewell to the Van Dykes (I had stocked up with a NUMBER of bottles of VERY GOOD South African red wines as gifts for the people we stayed with and these ex South African's eyes lit up with nostalgia - NZL wines, in my HUMBLE opinion, are not as good as ours and three times the price) and grabbed our hire car (Avis - more about this later) and headed down south on "Highway" 1 - next stop Palmerston North via Lake Taupo. I say "highway" - NZL has a total of about 120 Kms of what we understand as a highway and there is very little straight road in NZL so a 500 Km trip to Palmerston took us (with stops) 11 hours - the speed limit in NZL is 100 Km/h and 50 Km/h in the cities/towns/villages. We did lunch at Taupo - and what a lake that is, HUGE is an understatement, and very beautiful.
Lake Taupo: Tongario National Park in background
Huka "Falls": Taupo, there is a hydro electric turbine above the 'falls'. The water comes from Lake Taupo and
the flow is controlled. The "blueness" of the water is a result of light refracting through the water.
Next stop Palmerston North where we over nighted with Rob and Judy - friends of my sister and my "heavy" ("heavy" translates to brother-in-law. How ? Well, B-I-L in Afrikaans is "swaer". The Afrikaans word for "heavy" is "swaar" - pronounced the same as "swaer" - so "he ain't HEAVY he's my brother (in-law)"). By the way, his name is John - and he HATES the Springboks with about the same passion as I HATE the All Blacks (and Wallabies). We had a super meal that evening with Judy - Rob was working late and was doing a stock take - he owns a WINE SHOP - I immediately volunteered to assist but was turned down - these Kiwi's have no sense of responsibility ! I left Rob a wonderful bottle of Alto, just to show him that South African wines are better than Kiwi wines, but then I'm biased ! That evening we were watching the 8pm news on TV and one of the items making headline news was footage of a Boeing 737 coming to land at Wellington (that afternoon) in a howling gale and was caught by a cross wind as it was about to execute the touchdown. The main gear (wheels) were just about to make contact with the runway when this cross wind hit and how the pilot managed to avoid a cartwheel was astonishing. The gust of wind caused the 737 to yaw (roll on it's horizontal axis) and the wing missed the ground by the proverbial "short hair". The footage showed the passengers disembarking and to say they were "stressed" was the understatement of the year - the pilot (as they all do) sort of passed it off as "well we train for such emergencies" and they do - wonderful stuff. Why this bit of news - well Wellington was experiencing it's "usual" hurricane and we were due to sail from Wellington to Picton (on South Island) on a ferry the next day - and you do know about Elinor's "love" of boats (SHIPS - darn it all).
Country side just outside of Palmerston North en route to Wellington. As mentioned, the weather
was 'stormy' to say the least.
Next morning, with ominous and low storm clouds over Palmerston North we motored on to Wellington and the wind in Wellington was "FIERCE" to say the least - gusting to +- 120 Km/h. We took the opportunity to drive around Wellington and surrounding area but as the weather was so miz - we decided to visit the new museum recently opened in Wellington - it was FANTASTIC and well worth a tour if ever you get to "Windy Wellington" (no wonder their Super 12 team is called the 'Hurricanes' - us South African rugby fans believe the 'Hurricanes' bit refers to 'them' as being 'full of wind'). Well, the "fast ferry" to Picton was cancelled due to 'adverse weather conditions' - no problem as we had tickets for the 'slow' ferry. No matter how I tried to convince Elinor that a 20 thousand tonne SHIP in the 'protected' waters between North and South island was 'a breeze' (pun intended) - it took a hell of a lot for her to scurry on board and 'hide' in one of the saloons. I (wearing T-shirt, shorts and 'slops') mustered on the quarter deck (stern -or the back of) of the SHIP and videoed this 'hurricane' - the wind was still gusting at a rate of knots, I assure you. Anyway, we slipped our warps at 2 bells into the first dog watch (5pm, you landlubbers) and commenced our 3 hour 'voyage' to Picton where we were met by my sister (Sally).
Wellington: On top of Mt Crawford (163 m) overlooking Kio Bay - gale force winds gusting up to 120 Km/h
Wellington Harbor: taken from inside the museum. "Looking forward to our ferry ride, Elinor" ??
Wellington at it's "windy" best: Upper Watako and Johnston Hill in the background.
After the hugs and kisses bit, Sally asked me what I had done with my credit card - darn obscure question at this time of the night. To cut a long story short, I had left my credit card at the Avis desk in Auckland after paying for our hire car. The only information they had was that I was South African, and worked for IBM (I get IBM/Avis rates for car hire) - no problemo, a phone call to IBM in SA, who gave them my dad's (him being an IBM pensioner) phone number, who gave Avis Sally's phone number in Blenheim and my card arrived at the Avis desk in Blenheim before we got there - jolly well done Avis. We spent 6 nights with Sally, John and her kids and used Blenheim as a base to do day trips which included visits to the various wine farms that surround Blenheim. A bottle of Cloudy Bay Chardonnay was NZ$ 30,00 (Rand 82,50) - so who says our wine is expensive (well in 1998, that is). One of the highlights was a day trip to Kaikoura and we did a dolphin swim (ANOTHER boat trip for Elinor) which was AWESOME - forget that the water was only 10 degrees C - the wetsuits were very necessary.
Picton: A "boaties" paradise and very picturesque as well.
Queen Charlotte Sound: Picton, as mentioned, a wonderful place to sail a yacht
"Captain Nemo": Elinor kited up for the dolphin swim at Kaikoura
Dolphin swim: Dusky dolphins amongst the swimmers. While you could get VERY close, they avoided being
touched. The sea bed was 2000 meter's down !
After Blenheim, we motored on to Hanmer Springs, driving through very beautiful countryside. While the distance is about 250 Kms - we took almost the whole day - as stated, there are no straight roads in NZL and we found ourselves behind 3 huge motor car carriers in convoy going in our direction - so we slowed down and enjoyed the scenery, when I eventually was able to pass the car carriers, we only had 10 Kms left to get to Hanmer Springs - life is hell! We stayed in a super motel and once we had unpacked, we took ourselves off to the thermal springs and basked in 40 degrees C of bubbly water - "lekker". We found a super little restaurant that evening and increased the calorie count accordingly.
En route to Hanmer Springs: Lake Rofoiti
Buller River: below Lake Rotorou
Water Falls; I don't remember the name of these "falls", they were formed as a result of an earthquake.
En route to Hanmer: Scenery along Highway 65
The next morning we drove to Christchurch where we stayed with an "ex girlfriend" of mine (we went to school together). Ker took us sightseeing around Christchurch and we also spent some hours at the Antarctic center and museum - VERY interesting. Well, that wound up our NZL holiday and we boarded a 747 for Sydney - no hurricanes to worry about this time. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in NZL and had tremendous fun. We both thank all the folk who accommodated us and looked after us - when ever you find yourselves in Johannesburg, our doors are open.
Scott of the Antarctic impression: It's real snow and ice. The 'mountains' in the background are a mural painted on
the back wall of this exhibit inside the Antarctic Center in Christchurch. This exhibit is basically a huge 'fridge' filled
with snow/ice from Antarctica in which one can sample the experience of being in Antarctica.
Lyttleton Harbor: Christchurch
The "working" part of our trip commenced as we landed in Sydney - we were met at the airport and whisked away to a hotel at Bondi Beach - we unpacked and walked to "the beach" for a stroll in the sand - the sun had just about set and it was fun. We had dinner and hit the hay. The next morning it was hosing down with rain, so my plans of the previous evening to photograph Bondi Beach in daylight came to naught. We were picked up at 11 am and taken back to the airport in order to collect the rest of the adjudicators who were flying in that morning. Once we were all aboard and introduced, we motored up to Newcastle - about 120 Kms north of Sydney. We checked into the hotel in Newcastle and Elinor then caught up with Dianne Harrisson (nee Carrick). Elinor and Dianne danced together at the 1983 Worlds at Cowal - Dianne was placed 5th overall in the Adult Championships to Elinor's 6th. Now you know how come Elinor (and I) got to this gig. That evening we attended a super cocktail party held for all the adjudicators (both dancing and piping) and event organizers and the various sponsors - it was wonderful for Elinor to catch up with "old" acquaintances and meet new friends. For the record, the "overseas adjudicators" were Elinor, Bill Troock from Canada, Sharon Farrar from the US (she was accompanied by her husband, Harry IV) and Shendle Russell from Scotland.
The International Adjudicators: Shendle Russell (Scotland), Sharon Farrar (USA), Elinor (SA) and Bill Troock (Canada)
Saturday dawned, and the first day of the dancing championships began. The venue at the Newcastle show grounds was an indoor basketball hall - 8 platforms were marked out and everyonne got busy. I, as a "worker" and "organizer" at many South African competitions, was very interested in how Highland Dancing competitions were ran in Australia and I had some wonderful chats to the local organizers. For the rest of the time, I watched the pipe bands and took in the various stalls around the arenas - I also took in a number of Fosters Light Ice and XXXX - it was a hot day, I tell you. It was rather "after sunset" that the girls finished their judging stint and they were exhausted - a hot meal and beer(s) were most welcome. Nobody stayed up late and we hit the pillows.
Adjudicators and "workers" pose for a photo
Sunday - as with Saturday was no different - dancing, dancing and then some. Once again, the adjudicators earned their pay and the Championship was a great success. It was almost 9pm when the 'gang' was allowed to call it quits and we then went for dinner and got down to some serious partying - this time it was 2:30 am before we wound our way back to the hotel.
The line up of winners - Gregor Bowman from Scotland is "No 1"
Monday morning after breakfast, we bade farewell to all and Dianne (and her hubby, Ian - a "regular bloke"), Harry IV and Sharon Farrar and the Boyes' took ourselves into the Hunter Valley for a WINE TOUR. We had great fun touring various wineries and tasting their products. Ian also gave us a crash course in boomerang throwing - I can do this, I promise. Harry IV may be a nuclear physicist and a boffin of note, but I'm afraid he just could not throw a boomer - we were in stitches. He claimed that he needed a left handed boomerang !! After all the fun and games, we bade farewell to the Farrar's and they journeyed north into Queensland while we headed back to the home of Dianne and Ian - North Rocks in Sydney. Ian did a BBQ (braai) "Oz style" - I must educate him on this form of cooking one day ! Food for thought - we were watching the 9pm news on TV (remember it's now Easter Monday - the long w/end is over) and the headline news was that THIRTEEN people were killed over the Easter Weekend in motor car accidents. Thirteen people in the whole of Oz - I then told Ian about how "good" us South Africans are and he was shocked, and rightly so. The speed limit in Oz is 60 Km/h in built up areas and 110 Km/h on the open roads - and all their vehicles are ROAD WORTHY - makes you think.
Wine Tour group photo: Dianne, Ian, Sharon, Harry IV, Elinor and yours truly
Boomerang team: Harry IV "volunteered" to take the photo
Sharon, Ian, Dianne, Elinor, Rob
Tuesday, Ian and I were up before the sparrows. I had a 7 am flight to Melbourne to catch. IBM in Melbourne flew me down for the day to do a presentation on various systems they were about to install which we in South Africa had been using for a number of years. Thus my busy (and it was fun) day of presentations was punctuated by a super Chinese lunch. The afternoon session was for "the troops" - I.E.; non managers after which I hookedd up the 5 p.m. flight back to Sydney airport where Ian picked me up.
Darling Harbor - Sydney: The IBM building is on the right
As for the girls - Dianne (and her 3 boys) and Elinor went sightseeing in downtown Sydney. I got to hear about it that evening and we decided to do it all again the following day. We did - a ferry from Parramatter (again, Elinor) to Sydney's Darling Harbor where we visited the aquarium (great for the lads and I - the ladies sort of followed us around). We also walked around Sydney, went to the top of the AMP Tower and then ANOTHER FERRY RIDE to Manley for the rest of the day. Home, supper and bed - in that order rounded off a wonderful day.
Thursday - Elinor and I hit Sydney - again - Elinor's shopping virus was plaguing her - again - and she wanted to spend her adjudicating fees. We took in Darling Harbor again, did the mono rail trip around the harbor, visited the maritime museum (for my benefit) which included a tour around an ex Oz Navy destroyer and a Russian submarine moored alongside the museum's quay - by now Elinor had a jug full of boats and ships - I reminded her of the Portsmouth dockyard tour we did in 1995 while in England - not a subject that I was supposed to introduce. Anyway, all of this ensured that the shopping virus became more and more agitated and we eventually found a jeweler in downtown Sydney where Elinor bought a beautiful gold watch as a momento of our wonderful trip to Oz.
Friday - Ian took the day off work and he, the 3 boys, Elinor and I went up to the Blue Mountains for the day. We walked and then some. Imagine God's Window in the Eastern Transvaal and then multiply the size of the area by 10 and you'll get an idea of just how big an area the Blue Mountains cover - the scenery is just the same as well - stunning. We took a very scenic (and long) walk around the "Three Sisters" (yes, the Aussies also have one as well) and ended up at the "scenic railway" - a funicular type of contraption that descends (and later ascends) a 54 degree slope to a view point overlooking the valleys and crags. Breathtaking. After some more browsing through the various curio shops, we wound our weary way home, back to North Rocks. Dianne had a super meal waiting for us and the XXXX's went down like a dream as well.
That was our stay in Australia as on the following morning we said our fond farewells to the Harrison's and it was the long flight home for us. The trip was wonderful, and an experience we will both remember with fondness and excitement. The people we met both in NZL and Oz were WONDERFUL and this was a "holiday" that will forever remain with us. Our sincere thanks go to all of the wonderful people who accommodated us as well as all the new acquaintances we made. Thank you one and all. Oh yes, the dancing was great as well - I'm sure if Elinor wrote this article, her parting shot would have been "Oh yes, the sights and touring bits were great as well". We returned home to South Africa to a huge welcome from our parents and Genevieve and Caitlin. For the record, Caitlin only took 3 minutes to pop the vital question - "what did you get us" ? And finally - QUANTAS - QUeensland And Northern Territories Air Service.
Photos from Australia
Adjudicators Line Up: Molly Windred, Sharine Nicholson, Sharon Farrar (USA), Cheryl Roach, Elinor (South Africa),
Marna Tredrea, Maree Allen, Shendle Russell (Scotland), Libby Gilfillan, Margret Walter and Bill Troock (Canada)
The Work Crew: Some of the organizers who put on such a wonderful competition.
Winners lineup: Winner - Gregor Bowman (Scotland): Runner up - Grace Watson (Victoria):
Third place - Carmel McEhiery (Queensland): Sarah Cox (Tasmania): Kathy Ferguson (New South Wales):
Donna Lutwyche (Tasmania)
Elinor and Andrew McGowan: Andrew (from Scotland) piped for the Championships. He has since piped at the
South African Championships on a few occasions.
The end of a very hectic, but enjoyable weekend of dancing
"Home, James": Well, back to the hotel. Libby, Elinor and Sharon give the back seat of the car a workout !
The rowdy bunch: The after party, Cheryl, Elinor, Libby, Sheilah (original Aussie name) and Fiona Meikle.
"The Nun's Scrum" - better known as the Sydney Opera House
Sydney: From the top of the AMP Tower
"G'day, mate": Local talent, downtown Sydney
Sydney Harbor: The "Coathanger" in the background
Darling Harbor: Sydney's answer to the Cape Town V & A Waterfront
Maritime Museum Darling Harbor: HMAS Vampire (known as "the Bat") and a Russian Submarine moored alongside.
We toured both ships - I enjoyed it ! Light Ship "Carpentaria" in the foreground.
On the way to Manley: Sydney skyline, opera house and bridge
Blue Mountains: Elinor and I take in the breathtaking scenery
Blue Mountains: View from Govett's Leap. The scenery is almost identical to the views around the Eastern Transvaal.
Blue Mountains: Wentworth Falls
Blue Mountains: Convenient resting place for me, Leura "shopping mall". Elinor's shopping virus playing up again !
Jason (Harrisson) was not impressed with my Aussie impression
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