Thursday 27th September

Today I received an email from a friend who lost his son to a 17 month long illness last week. Such a sad loss of a wonderful person. It again focuses me on making the most of every day and appreciating the life I have been fortunate enough to have. I sincerely hope you are making the most of every day and every opportunity to be fulfilled.

New House Design

Yesterday Rene and I met with the designer of our new home. The plans look wonderful, but I'm a bit biased since it is essentially what I planned already. Two storeys, three bedrooms plus study, three bathrooms, large deck at the front on the top floor, kitchen and living room at the front on top. It has over 80 sqm of gallery space on the ground floor plus a workroom and a double garage. Exterior will be weatherboard, the roof Colourbond metal roofing, integrated ducted air conditioning, solar hot water....the list goes on. Very exciting. Approval should be through before Christmas and the builder can start in January, but the finish time is around June. At the moment it is well below our budget but we have yet to add stone benchtops and a two pack kitchen etc etc. Still, it is quoted with timber floors upstairs for the living areas plus study, carpet in the bedrooms and tiles on the ground floor. The whole house has 9ft ceilings on both levels, and the living area's ceiling rises along with the scissor framed roof. I think it'll look brilliant.

Moved!

Yes, the first part of the move from our lovely town house is completed. We moved last Wednesday with our temporary residence being Upper Mount Gravatt on the south side of Brisbane. Our friend Kay has left for Turkey, Italy and Eastern Europe for two months, so whilst she is away we are invading her home. It is now Sunday afternoon and we are now almost completely settled in, even to the point of having the net up and running. My American friend Kit lives at Kay's house and has graciously accepted the 'invasion', and his liver has already been given a serious workout. When his partner Polly returns from her long trip to the US there'll be four of us at Stanhope Street. It's really lovely to have such nice friends.

On Thursday night, after cleaning the house and doing a myriad of last minute things, we met four friends at a restaurant in Albion called 'Bespoke'. We were running late, tired, and above all not brilliantly dressed for such a smart restaurant, but other than last minute ironing and a traffic jam, we arrived at the place ready to be thoroughly spoiled, and we certainly were. The food was outstanding (three courses times six people, enough opportunities to get something wrong). Everyone enjoyed each course, we loved the service and above all the balance between smartness and informality (when Aussies get it right, they get it SOOO right!). From my entree of yellow fin tuna plate with the fish prepared three ways, through to the bouillabaisse served in an interestingly new way (seafood piled upon a caviar blini) and to top it off a dessert combining rhubarb and strawberry - well, this very tired bloke went to bed that night extremely satisfied. Recently we entertained a couple of visiting Dutch friends to a dinner at a fabulous restaurant only to find a series of highs and lows during the evening (food-wise). Bespoke got everything right, and I mean everything. We'll be back. http://restaurantbespoke.com.au/

Back at Last

This post has been tidied up a little since the weekend but is still a little less than perfect. Only a couple of the first set of photos enlarge when you click on them, but should you wish a high quality enlargement, just send a note and it will be done. This dry river bed below is the Todd River in Alice Springs. Last January it was in flood. It must be an awesome sight in a land of countless awesome sites.

G'day everyone. After a lapse due to travelling and packing and preparing to move house, another post is upon you from Owen. Rene got back from Alice Springs last Tuesday, I had returned 8 days prior.

It was a stunning trip - one I was dreading because the roads we were travelling over were some of the worst in the country. We successfully drove the Nissan Patrol over 2000 km in one week, travelling down from Darwin to Katherine, then west towards the W.A. border, then down towards Lajamanu, a truly remote Aboriginal community. The Nissan had a 3L turbo diesel engine with a 96L tank plus a sub tank holding 48L therefore the range was quite good on a tank (and a half). The most expensive diesel was A$2.10/L (in Brisbane today it was $1.18).

We continued on after buying art towards Tanami driving on the western side of the Tanami Desert. We turned east towards Alice Springs (still 655km to go) and camped the night in our car. Rabbit Flat is Australia's most remote road house and only has bush camping facilities. A couple from Victoria befriended us and we shared hot tea and light and lots of conversation. To say the full moon and the stars were stunning would be an understatement. The word 'awesome' is a trifle overused these days, but this Central Australian sky was all of that.

After an early morning start we arrived at Yuendemu (more Warlpiri people) and visited the art centre. The drive to Alice Springs allowed us to travel beside the McDonnell Ranges for some 170km or so. The landscape and colour in the Centre is astounding, and I hope Rene's pictures capture a little of it.

Once in Alice Springs I had a couple of nights before flying back to Brisbane (and work) but Rene stayed on for the Desert Mob art show and also to drive to a couple more communities to buy art.

Now we are moving out this Wednesday and living in Mt Gravatt (Brisbane) until our apartment is finished on the Sunshine Coast towards the middle of November. We have met today with a designer/builder who has come up with exactly the concept we're looking for to build ASAP on our land in Nundah (Brisbane). More details later, but for now I must finish this post and get to bed. One whole day of packing left for me, but Rene has three. Exciting, exhausting and exhilarating life may be, but a bit of calm over the vacation period in a week's time will be eagerly anticipated.

The pictures are in no particular order as of yet. I'll tidy up this later when I have time. Click on them to see them larger, especially the landscapes.

I'm Back...

Yes, I survived the Outback. We drove some 1800km of which nearly 1000 was on dirt, some of it extremely rough. The country is absolutely stunning and I promise to tell more soon, but not tonight. I've been back at work just two days but I'm really very tired. Last week was incredibly exciting and fascinating, but it requires some considerable time to do it justice, and that's just not what I have at present. What with the trip plus planning on leaving the house and packing up within 16 days, I've enough on my plate right now. Just spoke to Rene back in Alice Springs who had just returned from his fourth remote community and he said everything was very successful - bought lots of art - he's now returned the 4WD with some 2500km added to the odometer. This is a mighty big country.

Examples of Contemporary Aboriginal Art

Today I thought I'd feature just a couple of examples of modern Aboriginal art, but remember these are just two examples of the many varied and interesting styles coming out of 21st century Australia. Elements remain from traditional art but they are modified in keeping with the ability to use more colour and acrylic paint instead of natural paint and colours. 100 pieces of contemporary Aboriginal art from 100 different artists will produce 100 different styles, which makes the whole scene very exciting indeed. More to come when Rene's website is up and running.

Saturday August 25

Yesterday Rene and I attended the wedding of my nephew Simon and Tracey. It was a delightful event that had to be held indoors because of the unseasonal but wonderful rain we've been receiving here in Brisbane over the last week. There are floods on the Sunshine Coast where they've received upwards of 700mm in the past 24 hours. We've had much less than that, but more importantly some of the rainfall is actually in our dams catchment areas so we are breathing a collective sigh of relief at the present. Far from being enough, it is at least SOMETHING.

Back to the wedding...it was very nice indeed and the bride looked stunning and everyone looked happy. My parents would have been so proud to see their grandson extending the reach of the 'Langdale' name in this country.

I may have a little too much to drink because at one stage (quite early on if I remember correctly) my niece asked me the name of this blog and I said "Eternal Blow" instead of Beau - well, you can imagine how much reaction that received.

This morning we went to a little chat session lead by the guy who had the workshop a couple of months ago on Aboriginal reconciliation. It was tough to back up at 8am following a wedding and reception last night, but the three hours went by quickly. No easy solutions, but it provided food for thought regarding the communities we'll visit next week in Central Australia.

We leave Monday night for Darwin. On Tuesday we pick up a 4WD and drive through Katherine towards Lajamanu, a very remote desert community. Rene is visiting the art centre there to buy art wholesale. We continue on towards Alice Springs with one night at Rabbit Flat Roadhouse (Australia's most remote) camped by the road (there's no accommodation). This year it is operating 7 days a week, whereas last year it only operated Friday to Monday.

I found some ads on the net the other day and I'd like to share them with you. They appear quite clever to me, I hope you like them too.

PS With the issue of building uppermost in my mind these days - well, along with work, the new business and a trip to the Territory - this picture tickled my funnybone. I'm loathe to say 'Only in America' but, well, I think this is applicable: