Tag: art

Montsalvat


I have just returned last night from a holiday in suburban Melbourne. I stayed with my daughter for a week. I totally enjoyed her company and had a look around the area she is now living. I took her to Monsalvat one day. I used to go there when I lived in the burbs and wanted to feel like I didn’t. It has changed in some ways and become more developed. There is a restaurant and you pay to enter. I enjoyed the visit although it was different to the solo trips I once treasured.

There was some great landscapes in the Long Gallery. If you haven’t ever been to Montsalvat, you should check out the link. It is Australia’s Oldest Artist Community.

There were peacocks there. It seemed the Easter thing to do since I had just been contemplating that.

Great Comic Story

Just a brief post to say that now that I have began noticing comics, I am seeing more, everywhere. This story on Articulate on the ABC website is about a comic artist who has created a community project to tell the stories of a community. It’s a lovely story and a great use of art. Collaborative Auto-Biography is what Sydney artist Mathew Huynh has created to tell the stories of his community.

Wollongong – Returning along the Coast

We spent 8 days travelling down the coast to return home. The beaches were all great and the names have blurred in my memory as it was one after another. We ran out of time to stop at every beach, I think you could take 6 months to make that trip. The coast was also much busier than I expected. The cost of real estate was much higher. There were no sleepy little places. I was longing for one at times as the traffic and crowds distract a bit from the natural beauty of these great places. I am a part of the traffic and the crowd though, so I guess I can’t complain.

We spent time in Kiama and checked out the blowhole, and the lookout. We spent our first night there. The next day Andy bought a boogie board and we began looking for appropriate surf for him to ‘boogie’. There were so many places I liked and the names I can remember were Mollymook, Jervis Bay, Ulladulla, Husskisson and Stony Beach. There were some great National Parks in among those places also.

I never take as many photo’s or clips in the last week. I suppose I get a bit tired of being away from home. We camped a lot also and so didn’t always set up the laptop and ‘do the photo thing’, so it all becomes a blur.

We joined the YHA in Merimbula and stayed there for an enjoyable night. It was awesome to have a massive and well equiped kitchen to cook in. We camped at Narooma and Mallacoota.  I couldn’t believe this caravan park, almost every boat owner seemed to have an old tractor to tow it to the boat ramp. Caravan Parks are like little settlements. People are there for the duration and set up these homes away from home. Some of them looked more permanent and well organised than my home. They each have their own cultures. I personally preferred the ones that didn’t have signs telling you what to do and had spacious showers with enough hooks. It’s funny the little things that make a difference when you are away from home.

I liked the murals on the side of the public toilet and was impressed that they were so clean and the place they were I can’t recall the name of, so if you know it I would appreciate you letting me know, because it was my favourite place. The vegetarian cafe there also had this awesome picture for sale and I would have loved it. It was a collage made from sea urchins and star shaped shells. The other thing I really liked about this place was at the beach there were a lot of older people surfing. It was great to see these fit, happy people pull up in the work ute and indulge in a spot of surfing.

I didn’t really interact with people, but I did notice how polite and happy people were in the general public. Whilst walking around these places, very few people passed without a cheery ‘gidday’ paired with a wide open smile. I guess that is what holidays do for us.