2019 AU-NZ: Condolences March 15

The people of Christchurch, the population of New Zealand and so many from so many countries of the world are suffering greatly. We fly to Christchurch March 19 to tour New Zealand for a month. We hope to have an opportunity during our two days in Christchurch to pay our respects to the devastation in the Muslim community in Christchurch and beyond, in some way, as a result of the March 15 atrocities.

2019 AU-NZ: Fraser Island to Port Fairy Mar 9-15

After washing the previous five weeks' of red dirt off the car, we were zipping south from Fraser Island March 09 and realized we had left our cooler & lunch kit in our Fraser Island Resort room bar fridge. Fruits, vegetables, half a salami and some good quality cheese included! We were wishing to Op Shop the coolers after New Zealand, or bring them home. After a moment of disappointment, all was okay, as now the decision about bringing them or donating them is made for us - neither. Bob called and told the resort staff that they can keep the cooler and lunch kit, as we had no way of getting back to collect them.

We had walked on and off the Fraser Island ferry, as the Island's roads are dirt and our car hire only allows for a 500m poke-in on unsealed roads. We took the 7:50am ferry off, so were en route south by 8:40am, but lost an hour and a half to internet communication needs at mid-day. We tried our best to get to our much-anticipated 2-night Boundary Falls camp, but ended up driving in the dark an hour with on-coming road train and car traffic on narrow roads. We called it "quits" an hour shy of the Boundary Falls camp destination and stayed in a motel in Grafton (this is the second time we've needed to motel rather than camp due to how the travel day unfolded). Normally we would look for a caravan park if we couldn't get to camp, but the ones near tiny Grafton were trailer parks, with long-term tenants and no place for tents, or muddy driveway pullouts spots, with poor-to-scary in the dark TripAdvisor reviews.

As much as we'd rather have been tenting and to go to sleep with the stars, and wake up to the birds, the $5 half roast chicken and $3 salads from the local grocery were especially delicious at 9:30pm in our tiny Grafton motel room.

After a tough time getting started, we drove the final 100Kms on March 10 to the Boundary Falls area. Bob had plotted three bird walks in the area. We first had lunch at Dandahra picnic area and then attempted the three bird stops.

The first went well, and Bob photographed another black parrot (this one with a yellow head and red tail feathers). However it was also a frustrating stop, as he missed the Red-browed Finch. The next stop was too dark for photography, and the third was dense with undergrowth and trees and the birds quickly hid away while Bob was trying to focus.

Yolanda had not been sleeping well due to unusual headaches so we called the day short, dashed past Brisbane and drove towards Waves camp area south of Brisbane. The office was closed when we arrived, but the sign said take a spot and pay in the morning. Bob chose a high ground spot as there were huge puddles around. As we sat eating dinner in the dim ambient light, a dingo sauntered up to Yolanda's side. The dog was gorgeous. He stared at us a while and then left when Bob shushed him away. Bob commented on the healthy look of the dog, his gentle temperament and "wish I had a human" stare. "Strong fingers for scratching, long arms for hugging, yummy smelling food - these humans would be just right." Woof.

In the morning March 11, we realized Waves was a surf shop camp.

It was similar to Tofino of 40 years ago. Naturally, the staff were vocal regarding their concern about plans for development, and the subsequent gentrification process.

In a town we passed along the way at mid-day, we had a Fibonacci lunch and picked up groceries for the next five camp days (which are the last five camp days until New Zealand).

We were thrilled to drive into the Blue Mountains through a forest of gorgeous eucalyptus. We were even more thrilled to arrive at Cathedral Reserve rustic camp at Mt. Wilson and find only two other tents and not the squished-in 50 we were told would be there.  Bob had pinpointed another camp 50Kms further if it had been full. We arrived in time for Bob to go birding while Yolanda pitched the tent and contemplatively made dinner. We were so early that we did dishes in daylight! That was a first! It was 23C when arrived and due to drop overnight to finally be cold enough for our sleeping bags, in addition to the silk/cotton sleep sacks we have been using.

Overnight the clouds were so low they drifted into our tent. At 2am, Yolanda woke to find the sleeping bag surfaces wet so whispered, "Is that a mist?" to Bob, who whispered back, "it's clouds". "Oh, well, that's neat, goodnight, we'll need to dry the sleeping bags tomorrow." The next night the fly kept the clouds out.

March 12, 2019

      I think that I shall never see

      a poem as lovely as a tree.

Joyce Kilmer starts his February 1913 poem "Trees" with these lines. In Yolanda's mother Anne's mothering years she frequently quoted nifty sayings and lines of poetry, including the opening line from Trees, and she constantly marveled at the beauty of nature through her senses, and Yolanda remembers Kilmer's poem's theme from her. The poem's first line has come to mind many times in the past two months, as there has rarely been a day in our Australia travels without seeing one or more of a species of the lovely eucalyptus.

On our big drive in Australia, we've seen thousands of kilometers of parched red earth against blue sky. We have also seen marvelous examples of some of the approximately 700 species of "gum trees", as eucalyptus are often referred to in Australia. Many are on lists of superlative trees of the world. We have seen the giant Karri trees and Tingle trees near Walpool in Australia's Great Western Forests. Some Karri eucalyptus can be 20m in diameter and others, such as the Mountain Ash variety, are among the tallest trees in the world. And now we've experienced the Blue Mountain species. We'd been seeing an aura above some trees early on when we arrived, but thought we were seeing a mirage. We then learned from Hazel and Alan on a birding outing that we are seeing oil released from the leaves in the heat. We then understood the haze we were seeing, and also why the forests smell so wonderful. In the heat, the vast forests of blue leaf eucalyptus in the Blue Mountains release a haze of oil and dusts that refract light so, from Sydney, the mountains look blue.

In the town of Denmark, West Australia, near Walpool, the main boulevards are a gauntlet of some of the most beautiful specimens, with white, red, yellow, green, silver and rainbow exposed under-bark. Where we live, we have a tree species, the madrona ("arbutus"), whose growing habit and annual under-bark exposure is similar to that of a eucalyptus. Our first eucalyptus tree experience was near home at the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific. We had been walking around the Centre for a few hours, so took a break under a lovely, tall tree, whose leaves rustling in the breeze sounded like a gentle rain. It was a eucalyptus, and we noted its similarity to a madrona. Then, in 1997, when we moved to our Oak Bay house, we saw our neighbour had planted a eucalyptus, and learned how quickly they grow.  Our neighbour would bring us the scented leaf clusters in exchange for boughs from our golden cedar. The grandeur of those two Victoria area eucalyptus is breathtaking. We never imagined we would be in an endless forest of those trees. We feel extremely fortunate.

We stopped at three sights for walks March 12 (Bridal Veil Falls / "Grand Canyon" / Three sisters).

We eventually found Fairy Bower for birding and stopped at Sydney Harbour to marvel at the Opera House shell.

Back at Cathedral Reserve camp at Mt. Wilson we photographed deciduous trees in their on-coming fall colours in the Blue Mountains and put the fly over our tent to keep the overnight clouds outside.

"Sleep <that> knits up the raveled sleeve of care" (another one of Yolanda's mother's lines, minus the word "that"; from Shakespeare Anne said) on a lovely, rainy morning March 13 at Cathedral Reserve rustic camp grounds at Mt. Wilson, and we were dry and cozy in our tent. Our bike-camp-in-the-rain trick enabled us to pack away our sleep sacks and thermarests and take down the tent and ground sheet under the fly without the tent or ground sheet getting wet. We backed the car up to the cook shelter, hung the fly to dry and made breakfast while we reflected on the goodness and wonderment around us at home and abroad.

We love to go again to places. [For instance, the Bowron Lakes Chain in central BC, which we are talking about paddling at ice break up in late May to early June this year.] So, today, March 13, we made time to stop again at spots we had visited March 12. Our first stop was Fairy Bower to see Fairy Wrens and other bush species. We also revisited the area of Bridal Veil and Horseshoe Falls and did an extensive, meandering walk in the drizzle. We then drove to Capital Country Park just north of the Australian Federal Capital, Canberra and set up camp for the night.

A large school group was around the decorative fire pits for a program with parents and leaders. A small boy commented on the kangaroos and koala running from the people fires; mom affirmed that there was a koala and kangaroo and pointed out that he had missed seeing the emu in the design.

We showered in the evening, as we were to leave by 6am the next morning to arrive early enough after sunrise to hopefully see platypus at Bombala River.

Up at 5:00am, en route by 5:45am and arrival at 8:45am rewarded us with platypus diving to feed on tiny organisms, and rise to float on the surface of large, clear pools on Bombala River in the Snowy Mountains on March 14.

We felt fortunate to see them, and Bob suggested we have a gingersnap (Bob), and pepper water cracker (Yolanda) to celebrate the moment (more so, because he was hungry from our early start)! Platypus live in fresh water mud banks, with grass long enough to hide their den opening. Before the  platypus swim up after a feed, a substantial disk of bubbles rise up, so it is easy to be ready to photograph or video them.

On the surface,  they swim in a flight pattern, lifting and dipping their bill, their body and tail flowing after. Platypus and echidna, which we saw in Tasmania in early February, are the only two mammals that lay eggs. Called "monotremes", they have a mammary area that is flat instead of clustered, so the baby licks off the milk instead of suckling. If staying in the area again, we'd choose Bombala Caravan Park on the Bombala River. The Park has a nice grassy area to tent, is on the river and is 15min from the big pools.

At mid-day, we enjoyed lunch and the sights at Mingling Waters, then chose and drove on to our final camp night in Australia at Willows Park on the edge of the town of Rosedale. We chose it as it is a 2hr drive from Melbourne and  the Australian Tapestry Worksop (ATW), where there are two exciting new tapestry shows to see. After the ATW visit, we drive on to Port Fairy, 3hrs west of Melbourne, for Bob's March 17 curious pelagic tour and the surprises in store for him at sea.

Out March 14 in the evening, we learned to say this really fast: "If ya caughnt be'h gooud, be"h gooud a' it". We heard it from an Aussie publican. It's an outlook that brings on a smile. We'll miss the land and light-hearted people we've met in Australia, of course, and realize we need to see parts again, and spend more time with the peoples, at various times in the year, for varying durations. For instance, Exmouth, which was super for turtle lay and hatch watching in January-February, is best in April-June for a swim with whale sharks. Also, connecting again with the Exmouth art group and learning more with the turtle conservation group would be super. We've started a set of loose ideas for future of our Australia itineraries.

Our first of two stops March 15 en route to Port Fairy from Rosedale was a return visit to the Australian Tapestry Workshop (ATW), which had two new shows to view (see BLog post January 21, 2019 regarding first visit). One of the two shows presented the outcomes of the ATW's 2018 Artist in Residence program (AIR18). The other was from the Piece for Sale program (Treasure Hunt, 2018).

The AIR18 show presented a range of explorations by contemporary artists from a diversity of disciplines (read about the program and show on-line at https://www.austapestry.com.au). Of note for Yolanda, as she enjoys the depth of direct discussion achievable through performance works, was Dénouement, by Chloe Bensahel. The outcome of the performance piece hung on a wall in the gallery: a partially un-knit sweater, tethered to a weaving of a punch-card. An abstract of the performance was presented on an adjacent video screen with an alternating sound-track of silence and a pattern of keyboard tapping and a beater packing in weft: silence, keyboard tapping, silence, beater packing in weft, repeat. The artist was methodically unraveling the sweater from the neck, down to create weft, and then moving her body with unraveled sweater strands following her through the open and closed sheds to weave the punch card on a plain cloth. The performance backdrop was a line of  colourful tapestry samplers and small-format works.

For those who are familiar with the history of tapestry and cloth weaving, the theme would be compelling. Regardless, the overarching theme of undisclosed non visible acts and process comes through, whether about immigrants, community or art disciplines. The artist says it is "an ode to all surfaces coded with labor that remains unseen, even when a signed contract, a resolution, a 'knot untied' has been declared."

Other of the AIR18 artists used their disciplines to explore and experience tapestry weaving at the ATW through clay (thread extrusion sculptures, with cloth mono-print in indigo); quilting (an ATW table cloth biography); installation (jelly-fish morph from up-cycled waste); pattern weaving (with anomalies); audio response marks and sketches ("a weave to be sung"); 3-D tapestry (life-cycle of a mother's love using an ATW pallet of colour); machine-knitting (an ATW event portrait scarf); and mixed-media story assemblages (doll parts and built textiles; the weavers' body parts on the bench; and others). In short, fantastic!

Treasure Hunt, 2018, was designed by Guan Wei and woven by Chris Cochius, Pamela Joyce, Jennifer Sharpe and Cheryl Thornton.

The double-warp sett allowed the weavers to create detail for the exploited treasures on the "map". Double-warp also allows a large-scale tapestry to weave up quickly and still have lozenges of detail to give moments of greater clarity, as in story telling, when moving from situational generality to detail. The base of the design is a line of Explorer-treasure-hunter ships moving in distant clouds. The tapestry design was adapted from a 2006 mural by the designer for an Other Histories project. Again, a fantastic work! Having enjoyed the project boards at her January 21 visit, Yolanda took a photo of the Treasure Hunt, 2018 project board.

The ATW main studio floor was busy with several new pieces on looms. What an amazing, vibrant and inspiring enterprise!

Our second stop was at the southern shore of Australia' southeastern mainland state, Victoria. The 12 Apostles rock stacks are off-shore and seen from Great Ocean Road pull-outs. They are the result of water and wind micro-abrasive erosion of the adjacent limestone cliffs of tens of millions of years ago. Beginning as in-cut caves, they eventually opened to arches that collapsed leaving the stacks isolated from the shore. We were told by an Aussie local that there used to be twelve, but now there are fewer. We read that there were eight stacks when they were named the 12 Apostles, but one collapsed in 2005 and so there are now a series of six, with a seventh a short distance away.

We saw two a distance from a cluster of six others, and a few being currently carved. A didactic panel showed one that is now inclined. "Going, going, gone', says the panel.

We are in Port Fairy two nights to facilitate the sorting, selecting/deselecting and packing of gear for our flight to New Zealand and for Bob's "curious pelagic tour." We'll then be in Melbourne a day to donate some deselected camp items to an Op Shop and prepare the rental car for return to Europcar (with about 18,500 kilometers added).

During our Jan 18 - Apr 16 AU and NZ tour, we hoped to find great camp sites for 43 nights of camping and so far we've found 31. Staying in city or town hotels/motels has been for travel transitions, Valentines, Bob's birthday, and two end-of-day-too-far-from-camp nights. We are not sure how conducive New Zealand will be for camping. We're hoping to find camping in or nearby wilderness and we're thinking of getting a vehicle or insurance for off-road driving on NZ, as not having dirt road access limited our choice of camps and park visits in Australia.

2019 AU-NZ: Australian Tapestry Workshop return visit March 15

ATW Return Visit: Two wonderful shows!
~ Yolanda Olivotto, yo.olivotto@gmail.com

I was pleased to be able to view two new shows at the ATW on my return visit March 15, 2019 (see BLog post January 21, 2019 regarding first visit).

One of the two shows presented the outcomes of the ATW's 2018 Artist in Residence program (AIR18). The other was from the Piece for Sale program (Treasure Hunt, 2018).

The AIR18 show presented a range of explorations by contemporary artists from a diversity of disciplines (read about the program and show on-line at https://www.austapestry.com.au). Of note for me, as I enjoy the depth of direct discussion achievable through performance works, was Dénouement, by Chloe Bensahel. The outcome of the performance piece hung on a wall in the gallery: a partially un-knit sweater, tethered to a weaving of a punch-card. An abstract of the performance was presented on an adjacent video screen with an alternating sound-track of silence and a pattern of keyboard tapping and a beater packing in weft: silence, keyboard tapping, silence, beater packing in weft, repeat. The artist was methodically unraveling the sweater from the neck, down to create weft, and then moving her body with unraveled sweater strands following her through the open and closed sheds to weave the punch card on a plain cloth. The performance backdrop was a line of  colourful tapestry samplers and small-format works.

For those who are familiar with the history of tapestry and cloth weaving, the theme would be compelling. Regardless, the overarching theme of undisclosed non visible acts and process comes through, whether about immigrants, community or art disciplines. The artist says it is "an ode to all surfaces coded with labor that remains unseen, even when a signed contract, a resolution, a 'knot untied' has been declared."

Other of the AIR18 artists used their disciplines to explore and experience tapestry weaving at the ATW through clay (thread extrusion sculptures, with cloth mono-print in indigo); quilting (an ATW table cloth biography); installation (jelly-fish morph from up-cycled waste); pattern weaving (with anomalies); audio response marks and sketches ("a weave to be sung"); 3-D tapestry (life-cycle of a mother's love using an ATW pallet of colour); machine-knitting (an ATW event portrait scarf); and mixed-media story assemblages (doll parts and built textiles; the weavers' body parts on the bench; and others). In short, fantastic!

Treasure Hunt, 2018, was designed by Guan Wei and woven by Chris Cochius, Pamela Joyce, Jennifer Sharpe and Cheryl Thornton.

The double-warp sett allowed the weavers to create detail for the exploited treasures on the "map". Double-warp also allows a large-scale tapestry to weave up quickly and still have lozenges of detail to give moments of greater clarity, as in story telling, when moving from situational generality to detail. The base of the design is a line of Explorer-treasure-hunter ships moving in distant clouds. The tapestry design was adapted from a 2006 mural by the designer for an Other Histories project. Again, a fantastic work! 

Having enjoyed the project boards at my January 21 visit, I took a photo of the Treasure Hunt, 2018 project board to share.

The ATW main studio floor was busy with several new pieces on looms. What an amazing, vibrant and inspiring enterprise!