October saw the jacarandas come into bloom and the renowned Jacaranda Festival . Across our back paddock, on the edge of the showground 3 trees flowered. Purple time  on the Clarence.  I have HIlls Hoists as well. My niece, Cassandra Pomroy envies me the Hills Hoists.

Out in the back paddock, is the herd of Friesian Cattle. The RTA  had planned to build the Ulmarra bypass through that paddock as well as these houses and the paddock over the way. Seems, according to neighbours, that the RTA then discovered that these are swamps and wetlands into which their probes disappeared.

John Peppercorn from Tucabia Heights, joined the musical nights at the Emporium and the Wide River Sundays. Izzy calls him THE REAL THING and he is one nice man as well.

The Dust then came over.  I don’t know what to say about that either. Dust !

http://clarenceandulmarra.wordpress.com/

Yamba Golf and Country Club asked Iz to write a jungle and we went for a lunch visit. There were kangaroos on the Course.

The sheep took their chance in the dust to leave their own backyard and come visiting. I closed the gate again to make some use of their munching before the master came to take them home.

The posters for the Friday nights at the South Grafton  Emporium looked good !

Just at the moment. I am in no mood for any music gigs. Just for the moment.

I shall most likely be out and about again – chatting and taking photos and carrying odds and ends – but – just for the moment, I have had enough.

Except for tomorrow’s carols that is.

Iz did some gigs with Karl Mullan. The people are all new to us. I get to know people very cautiously – slowly. I don’t need a lot of people and need very few in depth.

I like music. I don’t know about ‘Music’. Haven’t made my mind up. My preference is usually for classicfm on the ABC.

The dust came and went and came again. It didn’t seem to bother the black cattle but it bothered NSW and  it troubled people’s breathing.

As it did. Sundays in October are very much to my taste. Sunshine and fresh air and new people. The Wide River Cafe scene picked up and became a Sunday treat. I was also, through this phase, planning and practising  for my 60th celebrations. Carefully and with dedication. A LAZY WEEKEND IN ULMARRA is what I called it.

Before that weekend reached us, the HAIL came. I began to suspect not long after moving in that there was more to Ulmarra skies than I had supposed. Google supplied me with that hint. Ulmarra appeared frequently on stormchasers’ sites.

For 4 years I had been living in the caldera where the storms swirled in quite a tight circle and Mt Warning and volcanic  influences were at work.

Down South in Urunga and  Bellingen they do different things again and here – well they loom. And often they HIT. This one in mid October HIT.

Bikers come through the Village to eat at the Ulmarra Pub. Highway Villages interest me. Tumbulgum had a similar pattern. Of a night and early in the morning, only the residents are about and perhaps a fisherman or two, maybe a paddler of some variety. Then, as the day comes alive, the Travellers arrive and the Tourists. A false populating takes place and then towards mid afternoon leaves. Ulmarra is a little worried that when the highway diverts, the Village will perish like Mooball seems to have done but Tumbulgum BOOMED when the Motorway swept away from it. Visitors came more slowly and stayed longer. Spent more and were more respectful of the Village itself.

And out at Tucabia, about 8kms East of here, is SQUATTERS’ REST. A private village and museum . Once a month its open for markets and about every 6 weeks has a jam night on a Friday. John Peppercorn handles the music and sound and Izzy does the MC.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2945443

Andrew had his nose to the grindstone and the pavers were cut and shaped and laid.

After fighting a noble battle to stay with my Vodafone Mobile Broadband, I finally admitted defeat and transferred to the basic Telstra Broadband. SHAME ON YOU VODAFONE ! There was NOTHING good that came out of the experience. Telstra is working smoothly and efficiently. That has allowed me an internet active year which has been a true pleasure for me.

Plenty of facebook as well  and it was through Facebook that I learned that in the USA – home of the brave – there is only white loo paper. No colours ! No patterns ! I have MARINE PRINT. Bravo Australia.

Living in GCountry also led me to the ceramic works of the Taylor and Hegedus women. 

http://www.gcountry.com.au/

As an Indigenous Australian owned business enterprise, G Country initial online products include glazed hand painted ceramic homeware and giftware products and decaled coffee mugs. These products are manufactured by Girrwaawa Designs Pty Ltd, an Aboriginal owned business enterprise based in Grafton North Coast NSW Australia. Local Indigenous ceramic designers include Debby Taylor, Elizabeth Hegedus, Leanne Hegedus, and Jenni Williams.

I thought you would like a picture of the pavers. Good foundations perhaps. I am grasping at symbols of 2009.

Overall, we have had some very good experiences with businesses here. One exception and that was a little frightening.

December 2009 sees me in the 6 month slump – another ‘ process’’ with which I am familiar but which becomes more difficult rather than easier. Head knowledge is availing me very little and I am seeing the hurdles and tumbles more clearly than the thrills and leaps and joys. We ventured into a Friday Night gig at the Emporium but a few weeks in and Annie and Peter pulled the Plug on it.

Pete did have a fine menu and it lasted long enough to be the opening celebration of my 60th birthday weekend.

Tonight , Discouragement is with me. The Conservatorium hasn’t called. I haven’t enrolled in Uni. The Kids are not coming for Xmas and I don’t know where to swim on these hot afternoons. Nor do I have a boat. Also I didn’t get to go to Coffs Harbour today.

With the WIDE RIVER CAFE BREEZEWAY paved, all was set to begin SUNDAYSLIVE@WIDE RIVER.  Ulmarra Entertainment Centre is what the Lads call it. Each Sunday from 10-2 – there is Music in Ulmarra.  And coffee and sandwiches and Lizzy and Maxine’s  wonderful cooking.

The musos love this one and so do the guests and as for me – These are my friends. This is the place I like to sit in and chat. We talk of this and that and I take photos and videos . I am learning a lot about the Clarence area and the aboriginal history. We laugh on Sundays.

In South Grafton is the Emporium. Once a month, they hold a MUSIC CAFE which hosts local talent and donates the $3 entry fee to charities. A different one each month. Sometimes there are 80-100 people booked in for dinner and music.  Its a funny one for me. I have never been a Going Outer and now I live with a Performer, I Go Out quite a lot.

At times I enjoy it. I have a camera and watch the world through a lens as I did when I was a young woman. I am also very fond of the 5 minute friendship. Once I read a snippet from a book which I know nothing about inc the author. It said something to the effect of – “ I met my best friend on a train for 5 minutes. We never met again. “

Down here , a couple of hundred kilometres south of the Tweed, I am still amongst sugar cane which suits me. I like Sugar Cane. i like sugar, fire and water. The can is perhaps not so high as it is a little further north and the cane fires no longer burn as they did when I first came to Cane Country, but I am amongst the sugar cane and there IS a big river even though the mouth of the river is a little farther away than I like. Estuarine, I am.

Seems to me to be a goodly bit of mourning in this season for me and I cannot yet determine whether it needs relocation or not.

One thing which I wish had been part of my story is ‘a big old family home’. I didn’t achieve that. At some stage as the year wraps itself up, I shall acknowledge the things I have achieved. For now – I mourn a little. Here in Ulmarra, I have a kind of Nana’s House where dogs and kids come to visit. On occasion. That’s Charlie there in black and white. I have a preference for Staffordshires but Charlie is Charlie.

Ulmarra is flat country. Pastoral. Out the back, a herd of friesians graze where the Brolgas danced. Attuning myself to subtle country is a conscious exercise.

Some days, I watch the cows out the back and wonder what determines the blackness and the whiteness on them. I have had a lot of pied creatures in my world this last year. Birds, dogs and cows. Turning down the volume on life doesn’t come easily to me but often benefits me. A tight disciplining. When I was studying my 10 month Ignatian Retreat online in Everyday life – I came to a finer understanding of the meaning  of Passion.  I have intentionally succumbed quite a lot since then and refused to turn to Action to the relieve the Emotional Twists.

Cows help a lot with that.

For years I have kept my home very private and often lived in an Eremitic way. Opening up has let in MUSICIANS. I have resisted the concept of people being intrinsically different but I begin now to suspect that Musicians ARE ‘different’. I won’t indulge greatly in that idea as yet. However, some of them at least seem to be unusual beasts.

The Lady here is SNEZ.

I, myself, am an addict, and as it says in our recovery literature. WE KNOW WE ARE DIFFERENT.

Had a friend once working for some rather well known Australian Actors. She encountered some difficulties understanding them until a male companion reminded her – THEY ARE ACTORS.

I don’t know what conclusions I am coming to here. This is not how I expected it to be. IT IS DIFFERENT.

I travel a good bit to Bellingen from here. That’s about an 80km run into Coffs Harbour and then another half hour into Bello. We meet up with Kati B and then take lunch in Bellingen. 7-8 years on the culturally impoverished Tweed and Gold Coast – and in one small town, I have a choice of more than a dozen good eateries.

Transitional Regression really has me this time. I am familiar with relocating. This time I came to a place where none of my family is, where most of my support groups are flimsy, with a partner – whereas I usually am on my own and to an area which is not so dramatically different from other places in which I have lived, that novelty eases the transition.

It feels as though the jigsaw pieces aren’t quite clicking into place. Almost – but not quite.

THEN – from time to time – from time to time – frequently in fact – the true Clarence tickles me and I am startled into an awareness of  Otherness. Uniqueness.

On the left is Grafton Airport.  Yep. That is the main and only terminal – miles from town out in the bush. I found myself unable to remain sorrowful when I saw Grafton  Airport.

I also enjoy the parade of Dogs on Utes. I am on the Road from Ulmarra to Wooli.  That’s 47 kms of winding narrow roads with plenty of farms en route as well as Pilar Valley, Lake Hiawatha and Tucabia.

We have flocks of galahs and we also have Dogs on Utes. Lots of them.

I have been to my first circus since Maroubra in 1993 and I have been to Crazy Day in Prince Street. Walked out of the new Shoppingworld mall and straight into Line dancers.

When delight and/or amusement don’t improve my attitudes, then sheer survival kicks in. Floods, fires, hail, dust.

Mid 1800s this area was heavily forested but that was stripped away leaving this strange flatness.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12938721

There are some good Ulmarra Stories in the NLA newspapers.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13190885

The  Shops of Ulmarra have provided the company and kindness that make a relocation easier. We have ahd some fun down there are the Wide River Cafe so we have. With the Vision of the ULMARRA ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE on us, work began on the Breezeway. Nowadays, we have music there every Sunday as well as Xmas Party tomorrow evening.

http://wideriver.ning.com/

One of the means of my reaching Bellingen is to take the 6.30 am train from Grafton, be met by Kati B and then dropped back for the 3.17 pm train in the afternoon. I have breakfast on the way down and then lunch with my girl in Bello.

On one visit , we were passing the HAMMOND and WHEATLEY EMPORIUM and out the front was this pair of shoes – just standing there empty-footed. Identical to my own shoes.

What did happen to that witch in Wizard of Oz?

In 2009, I have also had cause to attend meetings in the Grafton CWA Rooms.  They are in the park at Market Square and retain more of  the elements of continuity and tradition which the Clarence provides – abundantly.

Painting of the Queen. Hand embroidered wall hangings. Paintings of roses. Very nice indeed.

(http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8833110 ) : an interesting story about a carpet snake in the 1890s. 

I have also picked up the transcription of my father’s war letters, journals and battalion roll. Now there’s a job. In the late 90s before cd roms and internet I typed us his letters on floppy disk and I think I have them pretty much online. Now for the Roll which was his last work – handwritten and painfully photocopied in his wee office at home in Urunga before Mum’s death and his strokes gradually took it away from him. My father, Bruce Sanders, is the gentleman on our left.

http://brucesanders.wordpress.com/ 

The skies here have the Big Sky effect of the New England. Plenty of post and rail fences and rarely a need to double back on one’s tracks. This image is out at Carr’s Creek , one of the locales on the edge of town.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13063591
Out the back is a shed. A very old shed. With horseshoes and an empty mint julep bottle.

I have a mill just up the road past the tennis courts. A small mill.

Despite the promised variety and excitement of the Glittering Coast, I have stumbled upon far more interesting things here in 6 months than I did there in 7 years.

The brolgas flew over each evening and each morning, near touching the roof of the house.

http://www.clarencetourism.com/pdffiles/tph.pdf

TOUR PLANNERS’ HANDBOOK.

It was June before we were able to begin exploring the new Community into which we had moved . We hadn’t even been in the house. Took it on an outside look and internet images.

Ulmarra has one hotel. It had more than that years ago as did many Australian villages and towns. Now it has one. With a very good eaterie – THE CAFE CLARENCE. The beer garden is on the banks of the river and with smoking all ousted from buildings – the Ulmarra Pub has provided the wooden seats to sit with some dignity, leisure and pleasure.

Not that I smoke nowadays, but when the banning first came in I was one of the lepers who was condemned to strange corners of strange places where I tried to look Confident and non leprous. You can do that at Ulmarra Pub.

A few kilometres down the road from here, along what I think is the Coldstream, now apparently flowing frontwards, is ULMARRA CEMETERY. Iz and I ‘do’ a lot of cemeteries and this is a dandy. Fully divided into two with a virtual paddock separating the Catholics and Us. I’m a Methodist – lapsed – although I think ‘once a Methodist always a Methodist’ is a possible.

The floods had been through on the first of our visits and that was a little uncanny. Iz and I went to the Tumbulgum Historical Cemetery on our first ‘ date’, thereby recognising   the common madness in each other.  It was before I discovered that the early Scottish side of my family was buried there. The McLeods and their connections. I had gone there following my mother’s passing in 2001 and sat on the bench at the top of the hill with wee bush creatures and one tiny shiny black bird.

We has taken the Poppy to Armidale cemetery and out to Uralla to see the grave of Thunderbolt. She shows an inclination towards graveyards as well. She says she saw a scarecrow in one of the graves. Could be skeleton and suggests to her aunt that a walk througha graveyard would be a good place to find names for the new baby.

Ulmarra Cemetery – take a look. MUCH better cared for than TOOWONG.

Back on the Western Side of the Pacific Highway, where the CBD is situated – all 10 or so shops – is the playground and the swimming pool . I didn’t know whether or not  it would be enough to sustain me in a new life.  It does when my kids are here. It does – most days.  It is GENTLE.

I also found the WIDE RIVER CAFE which now is a second home to us.

http://wideriver.ning.com/

I remain in a non-writing mood with no glimpses of intelligence in these fingertips so I am simply putting some links up and waiting.

http://www.gcountry.com.au/

A strange malodorous flavour came to the area and blue skies with puffed white clouds became the norm once more.

Brolgas again. I thought they would be here forever. 4ft tall.

The Brolgas went and the black cattle came – together with the Egrets. There are ‘issues’ with ‘farming’ . I have no intention of even thinking about them let alone commenting – but I do enjoy being away from the tourism and development of the Tweed. I prefer to see a street of cottages being restored under heritage listing to seeing the top of a hill lopped off as they did on Scenic Drive, Bilambil and lego houses squished and squashed on top behind a sign saying “ The View “.

Readjusting – adjusting – whatever – involved driving about . getting to know the towns and the river. Garage Sales became a successful method of coming to know the streets and areas and culture of the town. Grafton is THE BEST town for garage sales that I have lived in. We came from the tiny Cottage to a large old house which Iz calls FOREALTY TOWERS with a goo deal of accuracy and the Garage Sales have provided much of the furnishings.

The image on the left shows CORCORAN PARK – with boat ramps and picnic areas. It was still trashed when  I first went there from the usual Villain – the Flood but is coming good now.

With a new fridge and washing machine courtesy the Department of Community Services, and the acquired furniture we began befriending this neglected house.

2009 is the year that my daughter became pregnant. So, Celebration begins to emerge as one of the themes of the year. The move had brought me within 1 1/2 hours of her home and 2 1/2 hours of the MOB.  That’s a big improvement over 5-7 hours or more.

One other them is The Village. Andrew from Wide River Cafe says – VISIT ULMARRA – IT WON’T TAKE YOU LONG.

It takes me quite a long time. Just to go round the Village. The bookshop with Russell and Pam – a favourite. 

http://www.dailyexaminer.com.au/story/2009/08/10/second-hand-bookshop-at-ulmarra-features-classics/

STANDING just in front of the children’s section, overlooking the classics, you’ll find the guardian of the newest second-hand bookshop in the Valley.

Russell Brownlee has opened Ulmarra’s latest shop of treasures, Ulmarra Books and Collectables.

The self-confessed bookworm has been working in books since 1972.

Until recently Russell ran a small bookshop on the highway at Broadwater.

“I knew Ulmarra would be a better place for the business because people are used to stopping here,” he said.

Unlike most book stores, Russell keeps his computer at home.

“I have to rely on my memory and other people’s patience,” he said.

But it’s all part of Russell’s desire to start a dialogue with his customers.

He enjoys it when customers come in asking for a book and describes the search as a quest.

Thousands of books line the shelves upstairs and down, covering every genre imaginable.

From the obscure to the collectable, the popular to the specific, Russell has quite an assortment for sale.

“The core of the collection is stuff I’ve been collecting for over 30 years,” he said.

West of Grafton is COPMANHURST. So far we have only done once overs on the little towns and locales. Copmanhurst featured this table and benches as well as an hotel with a fine view of the river and a general store with a very helfpul young man who filled us in on some of the history.

It has been a time evocative of the 1970s and  if I am honest – of most of my life. I was going to say it was a flashback  because that sounds more appealing than owning to a lifetime in which I have never materially gone beyond the bed being delivered on the back of a ute from the secondhand shop in town. I find Grafton to be a comfortable place in which to be not materially successful.  A few weeks of sleeping on a mattress on the floor was enough for me and so the bed arrived  on the back of the ute.

Down the end of the street, a small flock of sheep keep a backyard neat and tidy. They also , on occasion, take off to greener paddocks.  I snaffled them in here one day when they were on the move and closed the gate behind them in the hope that they would do some serious munching before their owner came looking.

Izzy had concerns about his musical life when we moved South. Following a 2 1/2 year contract at the University of Queensland Campus at St Lucia for the Australian Literature database AUSTLIT, he had found academic doors very narrow and it was the music of his youth which began to thrive.

It wasn’t long on the Clarence before opportunities came his way including some MC roles which was a new thing for him.

He also encountered North Coast hardwoods and the stories with which I have been familiar for years but which are new to him with a Sydney and Illawarra background.

Coming back down to the Mid North Coast combined many factors for me most of which I have written about during the year and won’t re-hash now. I did know that if I were to handle being back on the mid north coast, I would need to develop some HOW – Honesty, OpenMindedness and Willingness.  At times I feel as if I have walked back into a trap and at other times I am glad to be almost Home. Some things are familiar and others are different – usually subtly so I truly need to be seeing in pastels which is not a forte of mine.

Ulmarra is a place of mists. Low lying foggy mists.

We bought a silver bell from JACK A DANDY. Jack a Dandy is in Coldstream Street. I bought a gift from there today. Strange and exotic gifts. Paul tells me that he and his wife, Jill, have been there for 4 1/2 years. Its the place to go for a Fez – or  Moroccan cookwear and silver bells of course. Paul has a little set up out the front – small table, 2 wooden chairs and he sits there and reads and engages in conversations with passers-by.

Jack A Dandy
8 Coldstream Street, Ulmarra 2462
Phone: (02) 6644 5881
Email: jackadandy8@bigpond.com
Introducing a cultural infusion of quality giftware, clothing, jewellery
and homewares. If its something exotic and different you’re seeking,
a wander through Jack A Dandy is sure to delight the senses.
Standard Hours: Wed. to Sun. 10am to 5pm (or by
appointment)

Behind the Coldstream Art Gallery is the OPSHOP. I LOVE opshops and the Rathgar Lodge one is a ripper.  This bassinet was only $20. Today we went in and they offered us the Santa Hat for free. The monies go to the Old Person’s Village just a bit along the street to the South. Lynhaven Crescent.

We bought our lounge there. Its a strange one of a kind ( probably) click-clack day n night.

One of the visions I had in the relocation and in taking this big house – was HOUSE GUESTS. Sure enough, that’s been working. We have a Guest Register and Kati B is just one of the family members who has been to visit. That meant Yahtzee and shopping and the excitement of a new baby coming.

Down the Highway at Moonee is a shopping mall.  Moonee was just a seaside village when I was living here in the 1990s and now it has a shopping mall. Rather a nice little shopping mall but curiously unnerving to me. 

When we took Kati B back down to meet her IMM, we arranged to meet at Moonee and out front was a Car Boot Sale. I like car boot sales. I have only known what they were for a few years but having found that out, I rather like them.

I did end up with such things as a pair of gumboots with mud on and 2 sizes too big for me but that’s how Car Boot Sales affect me.

I have been out to the Clarence  Coast only twice. As a Urunga native, I am accustomed to the sea being within easy reach and a 40km drive along narrow roads has intimidated me. I didn’t fancy Wooli or Digger’s Camp when I went there. Wasn’t crazy on Minnie Water either. Now that time is passing and the weather is warming, I am prepared to look once more and maybe even twice more. The Family from Wide River spend Sundays out there with Nippers. Long Sundays at Minnie Water with the Shade tent and friends. My friends from Lismore have a cottage at Diggers Camp.

There is a chance that my attitude might have been a little negative.  Influenced by other places and other times.

Rain clouds are a familiar sight this year. Here on the North Coast they are. Bilambil Valley, so I am told, has more species of snakes in one valley than anywhere else in the world.  I was told that by Don  down at the Bilambil Club one night.  Could be true.

That’s the snake which  was ‘ just passing through’. We had a few funny encounters, that snake and me, whenever he passed through. Loved the palm tree outside the Cottage so he did.

Bilambil was also home to CANE TOADS. So was the Starwagon on occasion. People used all manner of distressing means of destroying them. Over 4 years they just naturally dwindled away round the Cottage and at no time did I suffer from Cane Toad Madness or Delirium through touching or tasting anything they had been on. The local wildlife seemed to remain intact. I did on one occasion see a rhinoceros beetle and a cane toad fight one another to the death.  What I didn’t see were many other Frogs.

Down here in Ulmarra ,  we have a good network of the Frog.

I first went to the Tweed in 2001 on a Train. Trains run in my family. My grandmother’s father was a steam tram driver in the 1800s. My Grandfather, Mick Bell, was a tram man. My former husband was a fettler. I like trains. I like trams. I like them better than semi trailers and better than coaches.

For many years , the Sydney Murwillumbah train had a carriage for cars so people could travel in the overnight sleeping car and offload at the Queensland border, into their cars and holidays – here we come !

Sometime in the early 2000s – the railway line was closed from Casino to Murwillumbah. Sheer lunacy then took over and coaches take weary train travellers from Casino Station , roar along the narrow country roads through the dark and drop them at all manner of small towns.

The railway station  sits there alone. For a time, the Countrylink Coach didn’t even make use of its amenities and dropped passengers across the road in an unlit area without any facilities at all. Now it stops briefly before taking the Tweed Head Passengers  and depositing them outside the Pub – in the dark and again without Loos or any other amenities.  Holidays – here we come ! Welcome to the Gold Coast !

Murbah Railway station does operate the Countrylink Booking Office with an assistant who is just excellent. Helpful. Efficient. Knows his Job and does it well.

Living on the Queensland Border, meant expeditions into this ‘other’ state. Out the back of the Gold Coast, is BEECHMONT. The HILLBILLY BLUES BANDITS were performing at the hall there and I met a dairy farmer who was no longer even trying to sell his milk due to the low prices. Generations on and he had a wee blackmarket at the dairy – but as for the rest of it – he had given up. Could see a long way up there back of Beechmont.

Bilambil Cottage hung on the edge of a paddock on a hill. Down below was Bilambil Road, then a farm with 300 mango trees. Not that I ever saw a mango ripen on that farm. A herd of alpacas lived there as well and just round the corner, I once saw a camel. I don’t know what that was doing there.

My own driveway was the one on the left here. The Charade was never troubled by it but the Starwagon could be a little flighty in the damp and once had to be towed out for $70 or more.

I was also ‘ apprehended ‘ by the Ecilops earlier this year – out on Kennedy Drive. Charged with ‘flashing my headlights at oncoming traffic to warn them of police presence.’ I received quite a lecture from the young police officer and was videoed in the  act.

April 2009, Izzy turned 60. That started 6 months of celebrations between his 60 and mine in October.

Izzy’s we celebrated at Bilambil with family member coming and friends. The mother ship turned up on the morning of partying.

Izzy has a newly acquired but long ago lost son and family.

The Cottage was tiny and immaculate and we all fitted into it. One way and another. Reconciliation and Returns.

Looking back over 2009 is leaving me a little flummoxed as to how to describe it.

On the left is MARK QUINN, SMALL WINEMAKER, of ILNAM ESTATE WINERY up in Carool . Carool is up in the hills above Bilambil and not far inland from Tweed Heads.  We took lunch there frequently and some Sundays Izzy played to the guests.

From Ilnam, there are views out to the Pacific Ocean.  Its a good place is Ilnam. Mark and Co are topiaring a wine bottle out the front from a lily pilly tree.

Round about May,  we seriously began the relocation process. The house that had been advertised for rent in February remained vacant and the rent dropped by $65 per week.

Simon and Robyn who had offered us accommodation in their bunkhouse kept that invite open while we looked about the Clarence and the South Grafton Emporium began its MUSIC CAFE NIGHTS.

On our drives down from Tweed to Clarence, we stopped in at New Italy.

My children are partially Italian and the museum at NEW ITALY is unlike any other I have seen. Good food. Good Coffee.

http://www.new-italy.com/

Leaving the Tweed meant leaving the Friday Night gig at Luffley Cafe. Izzy was fond of that one but I wasn’t. Music on the footpath in Murwillumbah.

That’s Scrubby, Kel and Izzy as the Jazz Canaries.

For Izzy, 60 marked his decision to stop dyeing his hair. The prospect was intimidating back then but as 2009 has gone on, the most popular hair styling of the year has become streaked with colours very similar to what is emerging on his head. I don’t know how he jagged that one.

May 2009 saw the property at Bilambil go up for auction, just as we began the move to the house in Ulmarra. Those pine trees were planted by the Bulpitts back in 1987, just when I was getting clean and for 4 years they lined my drive up over our personal speed humps and Home.

I trotted South in the Charade, fully laden and Iz took the Alpha Hire Truck, heavily laden and we both relocated ourselves. To ULMARRA. On the banks of the mighty Clarence. THE BIG RIVER.

Before settling , I took  an Armidale Mob Trip for the Poppy’s 5th and on return to Ulmarra – the rains really kicked in.  The view from the office windows began to dampen. Klaxons sounded on the ABC radio and an unease slowly rose like the Clarence itself.

The bins started to float. The locals began to look concerned.

Floods ! It wasn’t an easy transition from the luxury and elegance of the Bilambil Cottage to the Inundation. The echoes of ‘ the Coldstream is flowing backwards’ haunt me till this very day.

Two days into it, we seemed to have escaped lightly. Minor flooding. Letterbox blown off the fence post. Nothing too severe at all.

Next day, the street began to disappear and boats to appear.  Fortunately, on the advice of the neighbours we had re-located our vehicles to what we hoped were safer places. As indeed they were.

I had wanted to live right on the River and this week in May, once the Panic had passed was eerily beautiful.

One of the things which came from the Flood , was getting to know people more quickly than might otherwise have happened. Helping hands were there and lots of laughs. 

Out the back, with all the water, the Brolgas came. I had never seen a Brolga live before and we had eight every day. Dancing  and calling.

That’s two of the brolgas. Very poor shot with my little camera. Do look them up on BROLGA sites.  They deserve a good look.

A week under inundation wasn’t a bad way to start in a new home. It drove me to unpacking and tidying which I very likely would have avoided if I had been able to leave the House.

Seems a long way back does January 2009. I spent a good deal of my time outdoors when I lived in Bilambil Cottage. I have ‘moved on’ for most of my adult life and had stripped possession back to a Charade load.

After 3-4 years, restlessness was upon me and a desire to move closer to children. I used to think that if I didn’t have ONE good clear reason for making a decision , then it was not going to be a good decision. Nowadays, I am inclined to think that if there is only ONE reason to change things, then that is NOT enough.

I had many reasons for deciding to move on from Bilambil Cottage and combined it with a slow farewelling. 

In the Murwillumbah Cemetery, just opposite the Printmakers Studio, I came across this odd little grave. Not sure what its story is.

I had also become accustomed in the 21st Century to being free to make my own decisions about my own lifestyle. Prior to that I was a single mother for years and I made the decisions for a family. To be making my choices, in cooperation with a partner is the new thing for me. Considering the wellbeing of each of us and BOTH of us. I hadn’t planned for this!

Izzy is a musician and much of his work. All of his work was based in the Northern Rivers.  He also was newer to the Tweed than I was and less ready to move on and he didn’t know the Mid North Coast that I was looking towards.

The floods began early this year and there’s been a good few . The first one I struck was on a drive to Wooyung. I had planned to show Wooyung to Izzy but when we turned from the Pacific Highway to take the road to the Coast, ROAD FLOODED.

Little warning. None on the radio. No evidence of water. Juts ROAD FLOODED.

Last Christmas, we, as a family,  were to meet in  Kalang on Boxing Day for Kati B’s 30th birthday and Christmas Day, Izzy and I were to spend alone at Bilambil Cottage where we were living.

We were out and about in the morning and received an impromptu invite to Lorraine’s for lunch with a dozen or so guests. Plenty of good foods and good company. A sober affair so it was and I enjoyed it up behind Scenic Drive in Tweed Heads  West.

Spent the rest of the day at home with our swimming pool and tennis court. 

The next home for us was already starting to be listed on realestate.com.au.  I didn’t realise then that it would become a place of rather deep emotional and mental impact. 2009 is the last year of my 50s and time seems to have wrapped itself around me and curled into the core of me. Memories of 20 years of Addiction and 20 years of Recovery were waiting for in this 100 year old house as well as the history of my family and my childhood.  I intended entering my 60s  consciously and cautiously, knowing this – IT WILL BE DIFFERENT. And it has been a gentle, explorative time with a good deal of ‘ thinking’ going on.

THE TWEED RIVER NEAR TUMBULGUM 

1949-1950 – CANTERBURY ROAD HURSLTONE PARK SYDNEY. SANDERS FAMILY HOME.
1950-1970 -  27 PAXTON AVENUE, BELMORE. SYDNEY. HOUSE BUILT BY DAD.  
1970 – TUMBARUMBA . TEACHING AT ROSEWOOD.  
1971 – QUEANBEYAN SOUTH. TEACHING.
1972 – PAXTON AVE.  TEACHING IN LAKEMBA.
1973 – DRUMMOYNE, BALMAIN , CHISWICK, PORT DOUGLAS – CAMPING ON 4 MILE BEACH – YAHT UTIEKAH III- URUNGA.
1974-1977 – URUNGA IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS, INC WHITE ROSE TRADING COMPANY.
1977 – SYDNEY – GLEBE AND TAYLOR SQUARE.
1978 – 1987 – BELLINGEN AND  URUNGA – MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN.
1987 –1994 – SYDNEY. DRUG REHAB. BONDI. SOUTH COOGEE AND BACK TO TEACHING.
1994 – 2001 – URUNGA AND BELLINGEN.
2001-2009 – TWEED RIVER INC TUMBULGUN, BILAMBIL WITH SHORT TIMES IN TUGUN AND BRISBANE.
2009 – ULMARRA.

In January of 2009, the Armidale Mob came to Bilambil Cottage for a Summer Holiday. That was a ‘ classic’ summer holiday. I must have had some sweet stars shining on me this year because, despite the transitional turmoil and my own inclination to distress, I have had a goodly share of Sweet Moments, Classically Good Experiences and of events turning out just as I had planned and hoped for.

The Summer holiday was one of them as was the 30th birthday of Kati B.

We took the Poppy to the beach at Pottsville. They have been living in Armidale for years now and she hasn’t been beaching since she was a baby. We also continued our cafe experience which is rather extensive . The EATZ CAFE at Pottsville featured real Beach Food. None of which I can now recall but they had tropical names and strange drinks – a 60s flashback which I enjoyed after one too many trendoid, generic eateries such as the infamous Blue Frog in Toowong, Brisbane.

I lived in Bilambil Cottage for 4 years and in deciding to leave, we took our time in choosing where we wanted to go and when and why and how etc. The Cottage was tiny but exquisite with a view over the Bilambil Valley and out to the Coral Sea, During the Mob’s Holiday, we sat outside of an evening and watched the bats fly over and the long nose come out to feed from the long grasses.  The Poppy learned to swim and discovered the wonder of being a Mermaid.

We also visited the beach at Kingscliff. The Mob had lived at Kingscliff before going up the mountain. I thought that when we moved south we might miss the exotic birds and plants of the Tweed. Tweed is on the NSW/ QUEENSLAND border.

Are these baobab trees ? I like the word and haven’t checked to see whether these are baobabs or not.

One thing I knew I wouldn’t miss was the BILAMBIL SPORTS CLUB.

I enjoyed it for a goodly length of time but things went amiss and the decor was never a good look. The Club is set in the Valley. A lovely setting with a creek beside it and playing fields, paddocks with horses and the hills rising on either side.

The Bilambil Village is tiny and part of a loop drive enjoyed by Many. However, the Club doesn’t open till  3pm, serves food only a couple of nights a week, doesnt cater for vegetarians AT ALL and is decorated as you can see on the left. The music scene which thrived there has shrivelled to nothing. Lots of potential going unused.

VIDEOS. SLIDESHOWS AND MUSIC FROM  GCOUNTRY.

CONTINUED ON CLARENCE AND ULMARRA – JUST ANOTHER LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE BIG RIVER

Took a walk down Coldstream to the boat ramp this morning, lamenting the brownness of the water which is deterring me  a little from swimming in the Clarence at Ulmarra.  Took some shots of the yachts moored on the far bank.

Yesterday at Wide River Music, two of the yachties who had sailed up from Tasmania, were telling us that they had come up the river because they had heard it on the grapevine that the Harwood Bridge was to be permanently prevented from opening and allowing tall masted vessels through. Get a grip, Councils etc!

I have become reclusive again and haven’t been to the River for a while. I would prefer to live right on the river. Once, I lived in a boathouse in Urunga right on the Bellinger River and later in the Pilot House at the mouth of the Twin Rivers of Kalang and Bellingen but now I am 0.6km from any river at all. Saw two pedallers coming along from upriver and as they came in close recognised Edwina in a Hobie Cat. I have never seen one of these. They can be pedalled or paddled or sailed. Then, on alighting, just attach the wheels and they can be wheeled. Most impressed I am.

That’s the Levee which holds back the Floods.  They build it back when Vision was operating. Its a fine , solid levee that one.  I might once have thought it aesthetically unpleasing but 2009 means that anything which holds back the water looks ‘ beautiful.’

There is a Big  Boat moored up near the Norco factory. I don’t know her story but she was here when we came in May. There are more stories  up at the Norco Factory where a lot of revamping seems to be going on. I like to take new communities in small morsels and let the Stories tell themselves.

I think I might have met the owner in  SLUGGO’S antique shop up along the Pacific Highway, just after the floods. The man I met was sitting in  the front of Sluggo’s chatting with him. A lot of slow chatting goes on in Ulmarra and thereabouts. If that was indeed the Owner of the Big Boat, then his anchor chain snagged on the Ulmarra Southgate Ferry Cable during the Floods.

CONTINUED ON CLARENCE AND ULMARRA – JUST ANOTHER LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE BIG RIVER