Christmas Day at Creswick

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Benalla, Burrumbeet and Ballarat

For those who are aware of my complete lack of facility with card games, you might be interested to know that I was invited to a bridge party. The photo below perhaps explains this curiosity. My brother Ross and Christine have a tradition of a Christmas get-together with their Emu Bridge Road neighbours.

On our way back from the cousins’ reunion, we stopped in to see my brother John and Joy at their pub at Burrumbeet. Despite a power outage, Joy produced one of her usual famous lunches.

As kids, we used to sail on Lake Burrumbeet on the few occasions that our usual venue of Lake Wendouree in Ballarat was dry. For those who may not recall, this involved a particularly nerve-racking drive along the Avenue of Honour with the Arafura Cadet tied to the roof racks on the EH Premier. It is only recently that both lakes are again full of water after so many years of being quite dry.

Dad suggested that we drop by the Grammar school on our way through Ballarat. I had not been back since I left 40 years ago. A very pleasant lady gave us a comprehensive tour of the facilities, much evolved from my days there. It was interesting to realise how much Dad had contributed to the school during the days of the controversial amalgamation with the sister school. The evidence of my contributions were the several buildings on which I had worked as a brickie’s labourer during school holidays.

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Cousins Reunion

Back in Australia for two weeks to spend Christmas with the family. Following on from the tradition set by Dad and Uncle Jack, a cousins reunion was organised in Bendigo.

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Kings Cup

I was in Phuket in December for the Kings Cup. I have been coming to this event almost since it began in 1987. Initially I was competing on Buzzard and Big Buzzard, but very gradually my role morphed into the organisation side of things. Now I work flat out for three days before the event and then when the racing starts, I do cameo appearances on different boats each day of the six day regatta.

Here we are measuring sails in the air-conditioned ballroom of the Kata Beach Resort, a principal sponsor of the event. They also provide a very comfortable room with a delightful view over the swimming pools out over Kata Bay, which I normally couldn't afford.

At one of the (many) parties, we had an unofficial reunion of the Buzzard crew, with some of us being in the original lineup. Same stories, but the faces were looking a bit older if not necessarily wiser.

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