I may not be able to sing one, but I have seen some of the most spectacular rainbows since I’ve been back here

For some reason, the sight of them always fills my heart with hope..the sight of a double rainbow is even more inspiring to me…perhaps they are a harbinger of good things to come for me. And given that I saw these not long after I arrived back in Australia, and given the incredible upturn my life has taken, perhaps they are indeed my carriage of kismet, my pot of gold….

But I digress……

Some of the rainbow pictures came about because my friends, Sue & Gary, threw me into their car one day and announced I was being taken for a bit of a Sunday drive…Destination, New Norcia. This is an amazing little town about 90Ks north of Perth that was settled by Spanish monks a very long time ago. The buildings are spectacular and the Monastery is still in operation. The entire town belongs to the monks, which is probably the reason why developers have never been able to get in there and wreck the place, as developers do.

Anyway, the year after my dad died, 1969, my mother decided to take my sister Jillian and I on a bit of a trip up north of Western Australia. We stopped at New Norcia and spent the night at the hotel. When Sue And Gary said we were going there, I was quite excited and commented that the hotel had a beautiful staircase and that somewhere there is a photo of a 14 year old me standing on the stairs of the hotel.

When we arrived I wandered around to the front stairs, having a bit of a look around and seeing if I recognised anything. I certainly did and also realised that the name of the publican was the same as the name of a guy I used to work for back in the 80s, a fella called Rick Ryan. Rick was always very good to me and I was very fond of both him and his girlfriend, and later, wife, Jo. Could it be the same guy ?? My bloody oath it could. ! I went wandering through the hotel looking for someone to ask the question ‘ is this the same Rick Ryan that used to own the Premier hotel in Albany’ when I saw a very familiar visage coming towards me……not a lot different than 20 years ago, except he used to have dark hair…but then again, didn’t we all.

It was so good to see him after all those years. He called Jo down and we had a lovely afternoon having lunch and chatting to them and catching up on 20 years.

They are living in a very special place and it’s exactly where they deserve to be. They’ve worked so hard for many years and certainly had their good times and their bad. I was so happy to see them living in this wonderful environment running this fabulous hotel

The only thing I didn’t do was get pictures of some of the other buildings, which is a shame because some of them are very beautiful, but I don’t mind ‘cos I got distracted by something that’s very important to me….friends. And I can always get back to New Norcia for a day/weekend and get all the pictures I want. I do know from talking to other friends and family that a weekend in the New Norcia hotel is well worth doing….

And while on the subject of friends that I haven’t seen for a while, the last time I saw these two was in Scotland…

I got invited around to another friends place for a BBQ and Nige and Anna were over for Anna’s school reunion…perfect chance for a catch up…and we did.

Nige is a vet and he was over there helping through the foot and mouth epidemic and Anna joined him later and worked in the UK for about a year (I think). I had visits from them when I was Edinburgh, but then they returned to Australia, moved to the Clare Valley in South Australia, got married and had a family.

This is a lovely couple that I knew from Albany, saw in Scotland and then mostly lost touch with when I headed for Bulgaria and they headed for their new life in South Oz. I was so please to catch up with them …and one of their beautiful children

isn’t he just adorable

Just briefly on the subject of BBQs…why can’t I get one like this is Bulgaria. That’s not a BBQ, it’s an entire kitchen !! .
…the one thing we have got right in Australia !!

We had a fabulous night catching up on the last few years…good food, good wine and great company and I think young Ned and his dad summed up how we were all feeling by the end of the evening

Can’t think of a better way to finish this entry than with that beautiful face…..

caio, caio

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