The last days!

Ok, this is the story of a man named Brian, who went with his girlfriend to the arts town of Montville.  No, there was no Texas T, black gold, or oil but there was some wonderful paintings and sculpture.  And some was priced more than a barrel of oil!!

Montville is an arts town located in the Blackall Range Mountains north of Bribie.  This is the range that have Mt. Mee and the hills of Ballina in them.  The town is quite small with only one main street going up and down through it.  Like most of the towns that we have seen, it’s very pedestrian friendly so we parked the car after the hill climb and walked the town.

Like most arts towns, there were the chintzy shops that had decidedly amateur work, there are some galleries that are “modern” but a couple of galleries had some very nice works from talented local artists.  The subjects were very Australian, featuring Kookaburras, Koalas, and still-lifes of the beaches.  Some of the paintings featured Queenslanders which is the local architectural style.  A Queenslander is a house made out of wood siding, Victorian points and gables and built on stilts even though it is not anywhere near water.  The thought was, in the days before central air-conditioning, the stilts provided air-flow around the house to help keep it cool on the inside.  It’s a nice design for a house, very English.

There were shops with lots of other things, most of which we could live without.  We did manage to get a small print of a painting that we thought was particularly nice.  The painting was done by a self-trained local artist and was of a very high quality.  It was on discount, offered at a mere A$9,500.  A bargain, to be sure, and available to you in time for Christmas.  We have the address of the gallery for those who are interested.

Lunch was had at a local café and, for me, sealed my love of things Australian.  Lunch for many Aussies is in the form of a pie.  Not just any pie; no apple or cherry, but meat pies.  Fresh baked with a flakey crust and curried chicken or beef on the inside and mashed potatoes on the top of the crust.  In the case of the unique Montville pie, it had mashed peas and gravy on the top.  All pies are served warm and are nothing short of delicious.  Every town has a bakery.  No Krispy Kreme, or Kroger.  An honest to goodness bakery.  With all of the warm bread smells to entice you to an ever increasing waist-line.  All of the bakeries have pies of various flavors.  All are fresh baked that day with fresh ingredients.  The crust is flakey and firm but not burned.  The insides are deliciously mingled flavors that run right through the last bite.  A lunch of a pie and a drink is completely filling and wonderfully satisfying.  Especially when the drink is a milkshake.  Not one of the thick, eat with a spoon milkshakes that come from Sonic.  This milkshake is thin and drunk easily through a straw.  The vanilla flavor is good but not overpowering.  It’s a sweet drink without making me thirsty like ice cream makes me.  Other unique delights to the Australian bakery?  Cream buns (sweet bread like Hawaiian King rolls) that have been cut down the middle and filled with a sweet whipped cream and finger buns that are long sweet bread with icing on the top.  Oh, and here is our dining companion, a Chinese Water Dragon.

Again, this was a short trip that had rain on either side of it (trip up and trip down) and that brings me to Christmas Eve.  Right now, it’s raining and we’re calling today a “stay home” day.

Merry Christmas to all, from (mostly) sunny Australia, and I miss everyone there.  I think this will be the last post since we are mounting Sir Richard’s Virgin for the return on the 26^th.  This has been the trip of a lifetime for us and the best part has been meeting Jacq’s family.  Her mother and father have been so open and welcoming to us.  Jan is a delightful hostess, feeding us regularly with Australian delights (due to unforeseen circumstances we did not enjoy chili crab) but her cooking is five star quality.  Not only that, she has kept up with a house that is loaded with 12 people.  Magically, my clothes show up clean and folded every morning.  I’m not exactly sure when she is able to do that.  Jacq’s father is a larger than life figure.  And that is not joking.  He is easily 6 feet 6 inches tall!  Full of good humor and jokes he makes everything entertaining.  Eddie is extremely generous, having hosted us for the last two weeks.  His gift of telling jokes and entertaining is only surpassed by his sailing ability.  He’s very knowledgeable about history, and geography so that any question I had about Australia had an answer.  Jacq’s sisters, what a crew!  Donna and her partner Jason are very outgoing free spirits with kid hearts.  Jason is a volunteer surf-lifesaver at the Woorim beach and was formerly a professional soccer player.  Of course he and I had nothing to talk about  At All.  Nothing! Donna is on Christmas break from her job as a teacher in the local school.  Their kids, Max, Georgia and Tim were a lot of fun and included Sarah in everything that they did.  By the way, Max and Austin absolutely pummeled me in a game of golf.  They are quite the golfers.  Chris and Myles came in later and have been great fun.  Myles and the other guys all went and attempted to catch crabs to make Chili Crab.  Not a single crab was found.  Myles was a good sport and tried hard to lead us to the crab den but, alas, they must have known we were coming.  Their kids, Sydney and Makensey, have been great friends with Sarah, which is remarkable since they never met any of us until they got here.  The whole Edstein clan has been nothing short of a second family while we’ve been here.  I don’t have the words to express my gratitude to them for opening their home to a couple of Yankees on holiday down under.