Last Days in Australia

Australian Sojourn – March 2023 • Part 8

Although I returned to Minnesota two days ago from my month-long visit to Australia, I still have a few photos to share both from my time with family and friends and of the beauty of the Great South Land.

And so today I share the last installment of my series documenting my March 2023 Australian sojourn. (To start at the beginning of this series, click here.)

After the trip that Mum and I made to our hometown of Gunnedah, I spent the last week of my Australian sojourn with Mum in Port Macquarie, her home since 2002. During this time we lunched with her friends, watched movies at night (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Callas Forever), spent a lovely afternoon at Rainbow Beach in nearby Bonny Hills, and visited my brother Tim and sister-in-law in Forster-Tuncurry, a little over an hour south of Port Macquarie. It was, in short, a very special time.

Above: Mum and I enjoying lunch at Port Macquarie’s West Port Club with my cousin Sharon and her husband Ross.


Left: With Mum’s niece and my cousin Sharon.

Above: Mum with friends (from left) Ken, Yvonne, Mary, and Daphne – Friday, March 31, 2023.



Right: With Daphne.

Above: On the rock platform at the south end of Port Macquarie’s Town Beach – Thursday, March 30, 2023.

I experience this rock platform as sacred ground, as I write about here, here and here.

Above: With my brother Tim – Tuesday, March 28, 2023.

Above: More Guruk beauty.



Right: During my last days in Australia I made good use of the rashie that the McGowan family gifted me with when I recently spent time with them in Yamba. I wore it when I went swimming at both Port Macquarie’s Town Beach and Flynns Beach.

Above and below: With Mum at Rainbow Beach in Bonny Hills, a quiet little town just south of Port Macquarie – Saturday, April 1, 2023.

I mentioned that one of the movies Mum and I watched together was Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

The photos I took of Mum on Rainbow Beach remind me of the scene in Wakanda Forever when Queen Ramonda (played by Angela Basset) stands on the beach waiting to meet Namor. Mum embodies that same beauty, dignity and fortitude as the Queen of Wakanda!

Above: With Mum and Tim – Sunday, April 2, 2023.

Above: Tim and I in Forster – April 2, 2023.

Above: Tuncurry, which is immediately adjacent to its twin town of Forster. The Coolongolook River separates the two towns.

Above: My sister-in-law Ros snapped this pic of me in Forster on Sunday, April 2, 2023.

Above: When visiting Tim and Ros in Forster I found out that I’m a direct descendant of King Edward III of England! This came to light thanks to the research of Ros, who is very much into genealogy, the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages.

Above: Catching up with my good friend Garth in Sydney, the night before returning to the U.S. – Monday, April 3, 2023.

Above: Sydney Airport on the morning of my departure from Australia – Tuesday, April 4, 2023.


NEXT: Out and About – Spring 2023


For previous installments in the “Australian Sojourn – March 2023” series, see:
• Central Station
• Goulburn
• Melbourne
• Guruk
• Mooloolaba
• Yamba
• Gunnedah

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Gunnedah

Australian Sojourn – March 2023 • Part 7

Mum and I recently traveled inland from Guruk to the place we were both born, the northwestern New South Wales town of Gunnedah in the heart of Kamilaroi country.

Gunnedah and its surrounding area were originally inhabited by Indigenous Australians who spoke the Kamilaroi (Gamilaraay) language. The area now occupied by the town was settled by Europeans in 1833. Through my maternal grandmother’s family, the Millerds, my family can trace its connection to Gunnedah back to the town’s earliest days. For more about the town’s history and my family’s connection to it, see the previous Wild Reed posts, My “Bone Country” and Journey to Gunnedah.

Above: A memorial to Gambu Ganuurru, “Red Kangaroo,” the Indigenous Australian warrior and leader of the Gunn-e-dar people of the Kamilaroi tribe. After his death in the late 1700s, he was buried in the traditional way inside a carved tree.

Above: Gunnedah’s town hall clock tower and the former Acropolis Cafe (right).

Above: Mum (right) with her sister Ruth and brother Michael – Friday, March 24, 2023.

Above: With Aunty Ruth’s grandson Henry (right) and a mate of his. We’d just finished a game of Snakes and Ladders, a favorite of Henry's and mine.

Above: With my cousin Therese – Friday, March 24, 2023.

Above: Mum and I with longtime friends and former neighbors John and Heather Sills – Friday, March 24, 2023.



Left: With my childhood friend and neighbor Jillian. In the summer of 2018, Jillian and her husband visited me in Minneapolis. For some pics of their time there, click here.

Above: Standing at left with (from left) my aunt Ruth, cousin Alicia, cousin Therese, Mum, and Alicia’s son Alex – March 24, 2023.


Right: A chance encounter with my godmother, Rita Groth, in the main street of Gunnedah – March 25, 2023.

Above: And here I am with Rita in 1965.

Above: At left with childhood/school friends (from left) Therese, Sue, Jo, Louise, and Di – Friday, March 24, 2023.

Above: Mum and I with Mum’s cousin Joan and Joan’s son Matthew – March 25, 2023. We’re at Mum’s sister Ruth’s place enjoying the Australian tradition of afternoon tea. 😄

Above: Mum with our longtime friends Peter and Delores Worthington – Saturday, March 25, 2023.

Above: On our last morning in Gunnedah, our friends Louise and Russ hosted a lovely morning tea for Mum and I and friends Jo and Sue – Sunday, March 26, 2023.

The jacaranda tree behind us is in the backyard of my childhood home. As a child, I loved to climb high up into its branches. It always kept me safe.

Above: Louise’s morning tea included delicious homemade scones with jam, cream, and golden syrup. . . . Thanks, Louise!

Above: Mum – March 23, 2023.


NEXT: Last Days in Australia


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Photo of the Day – March 25, 2023
• Across the Mountains . . . From Guruk to Gunnedah (2019)
• Family Time in Gunnedah (2019)
• A Visit to Gunnedah (2017)
• Australian Sojourn, May 2016 – Gunnedah
• Australian Sojourn, March 2015 – Gunnedah
• A Visit to Gunnedah (2014)
• Journey to Gunnedah (2011)
• This Corner of the Earth (2010)
• An Afternoon at the Gunnedah Convent of Mercy (2010)
• My “Bone Country” (2009)
• The White Rooster
• Remembering Nanna Smith
• One of These Boys is Not Like the Others
• Gunnedah (Part 1)
• Gunnedah (Part 2)
• Gunnedah (Part 3)
• Gunnedah (Part 4)

For previous installments in the “Australian Sojourn – March 2023” series, see:
• Central Station
• Goulburn
• Melbourne
• Guruk
• Mooloolaba
• Yamba

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Photo of the Day

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Somewhere In Between
• On the Rocks . . . But In a Good Way
• Another Time, Another Place
• Sharing a Good Thing
• On Sacred Ground

Image: Michael J. Bayly – Guruk, March 29, 2023.

Yamba

Australian Sojourn – March 2023 • Part 6

I spent most of last Monday, March 20, at Yamba with my friends Mim and Collette. It was a beautiful day to be at the beach, as I’m sure you’ll see by the images I share today.

Yamba is a town on the north coast of New South Wales and is situated at the mouth of the Clarence River.

The Yaegl and Bundjalung people are the traditional custodians of the coastal areas around Yamba, Iluka and Maclean. The ancestors of the present day Yaegl people lived around the mouth of the Clarence River and spoke Yaygirr. There is evidence the Yaegl had permanent settlements and a developed material culture. In 1799, for instance, British navigator and cartographer Matthew Flinders described large bark huts with rounded passageway entrances to protect dwellers from wind and rain. Similarly, Captain Perry in 1839 described canoes of a superior construction.

According to Wikipedia there are two theories as to the meaning of Yamba, one being that it is the local Aboriginal word for “headland.” However, J.S. Ryan, following R.L. Dawson’s early Recollections and Records of the Clarence Aborigines, believes the most likely derivation is an Aboriginal word yumbah meaning a rough edible shellfish the size of a person’s hand that clings to rocks and is similar to an oyster.

At a Yamba surf shop, Mim and Collette helped me find a rashie that is a great fit for me. While I was looking around the store for some shorts, Collette quietly went and paid for the rashie so that it would be a gift from her and her family, all of whom are dear friends of mine. What a sweet and generous thing to do. Thank you!

NEXT: Gunnedah

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• In Northern Rivers Country (2019)
• Rising Waters
• Yaegl Country

For previous installments in the “Australian Sojourn – March 2023” series, see:
• Central Station
• Goulburn
• Melbourne
• Guruk
• Mooloolaba