The Hepburn Springs Swiss Italian Festa is COMING

The decorations are up, the masks are being made and the artists are dusting off their studios. The full program is on the website but here are our recommendations
Friday 9 October
Landscape Art Prize and Exhibition at the Hepburn Pavilion Cafe - winner announced at the official opening 6.30pm
Saturday 10
The annual Grande Parade kicking off in Main Road Hepburn Springs at 10.30am followed by Festa Per La Famiglia and Primary Schools in Concert at the Hepburn Mineral Springs Sound Shell
Heritage Walk to Hepburn Mineral Springs and Gold Diggings

Masked Venetian Ball, 8pm at The Palais

Heritage Centre at Cricket Willow Noon-4pm
Sunday 11 October
Fabulous Feast of Choirs at the Daylesford Town Hall featuring Jonathon Welch and THECHOIR (formerly The Choir Of Hard Knocks) and more choirs on Sunday 18
Swiss Italian Themed Mass at St Peters Church
Also
Heritage Centre at Cricket Willow Noon-4pm
Convivio and dinners at local Wineries on both weekends

See www.swissitalianfesta.com for details
Old Macaroni Factory 150th Anniversary Photographic Exhibition at Daylesford Museum
Saturday 17
Giovani Calcisti in Torneo - Primary Schools Soccer Tournament at Cricket Willow
Heritage Walk to La Franchi's Hut
Heritage Centre at Cricket Willow Noon-4pm
Winery Wanderers Bus Tour
Cucina Nostrana - Community Feast featuring band Ricketty Bridge at the historic Daylesford Town Hall
Sunday 18
Ciclismo: Giro Del Distretto - Cycle Road Race start/finish at Old Hepburn Hotel
Family Bocce Tournament at Cricket Willow
Heritage Walk around Hepburn Springs Village
Heritage Centre at Cricket Willow Noon-4pm
Ensemble Gombert at the Convent Gallery
Trick Circus straight from the Melbourne Fringe Festival
Lavandula La Primavera: a tribute to Ticino
Pasta Sauce Competition at the Palais followed by pasta meal
Traditional Lantern Parade and Grande Finale Fireworks to close the 2009 Festa
Also
Artists' Open Studios, Galleries and Landscape Art Prize Exhibition throughout the ten days
Glenlyon Annual Sculpture Show Glenlyon Hall
Italian and Swiss themed Dinners at various restaurants and Cafes
Convivio and dinners at local Wineries on both weekends
Open Gardens featuring the historic Glenlyon Church (Sunday only), Villa Parma, Stafford Garden and Forget-Me-Not Garden (Saturday and Sunday)

The Channel Islands

Guernsey is only one of several islands but does have roads and cars. We also visited Sark and Herm which do not. On Herm you could walk everywhere, and on Sark there are horse and carts, bikes and tractors. Mostly they are holiday destinations with hotels, tents and self catering accommodation. They all have good beaches, with lots of boating too.

Guernsey's main town is St Peter Port , where Katrina and Charlie live. It is very steep with lots of steps and stairs up from the port, has a large smart shopping area, a very busy harbour with cruise ships coming and going, a castle, and a thriving financial sector. There is really no government except some sort of cross between heriditary and nominated officials, and no taxes are paid to Britian, although they are still British Territory and defended by the British military. They run their own schools and health services but go to England for anything major. There are many very good restaurants , all serving crab in many varies forms, but best in crab sandwiches. Lots of fish as well, including sea bass and sole.

The Occupation is still their main tourist focus, with lots of stories from the children who were evacuated and those that were left behind under German rule. They all ran out of food by the end of 1944 but Churchill wouldnt allow supplies to be sent because that would benefit the Germans, but a Red Cross boat did come in December and they were finally liberated in May 1945.

We saw some lovely gardens with great perennial borders in the traditional English style, although we went to a garden walk on Herm, and the young gardener was taking great pride in being waterwise and was growing many Australian and African plants, such as callistemon and many echiums

This is the view of Sark as we flew over with a very dramatic road which links Little Sark with Sark. The road is on a narrow strip with cliffs falling away on either side. We went to a lovely garden here at the home of the Seignor (the hereditary boss).

We went for 3 days to St Malo in France and 2 hours on the ferry. We all enjoyed this very much , and you realise that living on an island can be quite limiting, also the food was great in France. We went to Mont Saint Michel which was really spectacular, even without being cut off from the land, just a huge structure started in the Middle Ages built on to solid rock.

SEE YOU ALL SOON HOME VERY SOON

THE WEDDING

The wedding has been now going for about 4 days but the partying is winding down, mainly because the party girls and boys are going home today. It has been great fun, and as some had been to Mooltan for Christmas we had quite a lot of connections.and Jan (Maytone) is here.

We woke to a lovely sunny day on Friday, the first for the week, which made it just perfect by 3o'clock when we all gathered around the pool, then the wedding ceremony was at 4pm . It was very short and just the official bit. Then we had drinks and canapes on the lawn and photos. This is the view from the bottom of the garden. We couild see the lights of France when it got dark.

Dinner was served in the marquee and the dancing began. Some of us sat in the summerhouse enjoying a lively discussion. Katrina made a great speech and Edwin made a very good one too.

Then the end of the night and Charlie is wondering how he can get Katrinato give up the idea of going on clubbing with the rest of the crowd.

Public Transport

The weather took a turn for the better and so did Eddie's cough, although I have a fresh cold. We have had some great experiences, with Rick Stein the highlight. His session was generous, self-effacing, and entertaining. We were close to the action and they kept filling our glasses up with good wine and Chalky's Bite, his new beer. The food was also generous with three dishes from his new book, which is based on his trip through Asia. He has a real empire in Padstow, sometimes called Padstein, with a deli, a patisserie where we bought a Cornish pasty (very good), a cafe ( where we had a lovely lunch served by a very outgoing young woman from Zimbawe who had just been to Australia), a Roof terrace( where we had oysters and beer), we couldn't fit in Fish and Chips from his fish n'chip shop, or his pub which is a couple of km away from the town. The food was not expensive and the emphasis was on simple, straight forward local product. He is about to start a restaurant in Sydney where he lives for part of the year. Padstow is at the mouth of a river which rises very quickly when the tide comes in so we went on a boat up to Wadebridge one evening. We also went for a long walk -about 8 km on a coastal path then back along the beach. Padstow has very white wide sandy beaches just like home. It is very pretty but still a working fishing port.

We came across to Polperro using every kind of public transport there is. There is a great website which gives you all the options although a bit of local knowledge helps. First we got the big bus, with the driver egged on by most of the passengers, intimidateing all the other drivers into backing off in the narrow little lanes, then we got the train, then we got a smaller bus to Fowey to the ferry to Polruan. We didnt know where to find the ferry so that was a problem, dragging our luggage up and down hills, and the ferry was a very small boat. Then we got the smallest bus to Polperro. Politicians (and friends of) reading this please note- people with concession cards ride free in off peak, so there are always lots of people, sometomes just getting a ride up the hill. They all seem to know each other too.

At Polperro we had 3 days to settle in which was good. The first day we went for a 9km walk along the Coastal path, going around to Looe in a small boat, then walking back. It is only a narrow path and we were pretty tired by the time we finished, very glad to come around the corner and see Polperro which is behind a very narrow opening in the coastline. There are modern smuggler stories as well as old stories. Yesterday we went to a National Trust property which was very grand with lovely gardens as well. Today we are back to the other side to Newquay the surfing capital to go to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen and tomorrow back to London to meet up with June, Edwin and Frances,

Sunny England

Here we are in Plymouth, Cornwall which hasn't changed in 30 years. Last time it was Bank Holiday in August and it rained and rained. Since we got here it has been misty, grey and wet. We gave in and bought waterproof gear, but still came back damp. NB June - dont depend just on an umbrella. Tell Edwin & Frances you need serious wet weather gear, unless the weather takes a dramatic turn for the better.But somehow the greyness is part of the charm. In the background the gulls are making that special cry you hear in every English film about the sea. Everything is such a lush green. the roads are overhung with vegetation. The sides of the railway lines are covered in buddelia and evening primrose.

Plymouth has lots of connection to Australia, although I suppose that applies to all the places England was colonising . Drake sailed around the world nearly 200 years from Plymouth before Captain Cook sailed from here. Yesterday we battled up the Hoe, where Frances Drake played his game of bowls before his Amada defeated the Spanish and made England King of The Waves, the umbrellas were blowing inside out and really the only thing to do was retreat into a pub., appropriately named of course, the Admiral McBride just opposite the Mayflower Steps where the Pilgrim Fathers left for America.

We went up the Tamar Valley on a train ride today, to a small village that had pubs and not much else, so guess what we did? This train ride is famous for passing over the Tamar River on a very long viaduct, but from the train it didnt seem nearly as dramatic.

We also went over another famous bridge -the Royal Albert which is the subject of a really interesting exhibition at the City Museum and Art Gallery. We spent quite a bit of time there because it was warm and dry. The exhibition was also about the Eddystone Light as well, which was a remarkable engineering feat, when built in the 1700's about 14 miles off shore. The rock it was built on started to crack, and they dismantled it and brought it back to Plymouth (and became Smeaton Tower), after the replacement had been built nearby. I hope the Gabo Lighthouse is on solid foundations. This Museum had the best kids' program I have ever seen. There were stacks of kids playing with lego and train sets making things, and they even had wooden blocks showing how the lighthouse was fitted together, so kids could build up a lighthouse.

On our way back to our B&B, we walked through a very new shopping centre which wasn't a patch on the one we were staying near in Kuala Lumpur. I think the English might be the last to notice. Eddie still has a shocking cough, and had a very miserable plane trip. Our plan to get the train straight to Plymouth worked fine, although the train was so crowded we couldn't sit together for part of the way, but I knew where he was sitting because of his cough. Conversations invariably swing to swine flu whenever he is in the vicinity. Katrina's friend Jan who used to fill in at Maytone was on our flight from Mebourne with another friend of Katrina's on their way to Bali before they go on to Guernsey for the wedding. Also Kate White and Peter Dunne from Hepburn Springs were going through to London . Kate was planning to have a significant birthday in Paris.

Clare in Africa

Here is an email from Clare Beacham in Africa
Hi all,How is the silly season going? Hope you are all ready for Christmas next week. Its hard to believe Christmas is only a days away, it hasn't felt like it over here, even though there are decorations in the streets and mall but its not the same as when you are buying Christmas presents and getting ready to finish work. I have just returned from 2 weeks volunteering at Na'an ku se Wildlife Sanctury about 45min west of Windhoek. I said in my last email I was going to Hanas, however that wasnt quite true. Naankuse was founded only a couple of years ago by a lady Marlice whose mother runs Hanas Wildlife Foundation, further north-west of Windhoek. Marlice grew up at Hanas, but apparently has differing views to her mother on how animals should be released and along with some other family issues it led to her starting her own sanctuary. Only being a couple of years old it is smaller than Hanas and there is a lot of work being done building facilities and enclosures. Naan ku se was until a few months ago trading under the Hanas name, but is now operating fully independently. They do still have ties with Hanas in that some animals come from there and some animals will also go from Naan ku se to Hanas. It was an amazing experience working there. They currently have 4 Caracals, 3 tame Cheetahs, 3 semi-tame Cheetahs, a number of wild Cheetahs, 5 lions, 2 wild dogs, 4 leopards (plus 3 wild leopards awaiting release), 15 teenage baboons, a mother and baby baboon and 2 baby baboons which the volunteers are hand raising, along with a number of farm animals including sheep, chickens, ducks etc. There were about 12 other volunteers and we lived in 3 bed rooms with shared kitchen area and bathrooms. The first week I was there I worked with the wildlife team. We were in groups of 4 and rotated jobs included food prep, which involved cutting up vegetables and fruit for the herbivors (baboons, pigs, rabbits, chickens ducks and other farm yard animals), then cutting up meat for the carnivors (lions, cheetahs, wild dogs and leopards). Cutting up the meat was probably the worst job. We had to cut up bits of horse or donkey which are stored in the freezer with an electric saw, this may be cutting a leg into slices or even cutting a donkey head in half for the lions! It was messy and quite hard work which I dont think anyone enjoyed doing. Probably the best job, apart from spending time with the Cheetahs, was feeding all the animals. The baboons were hard to feed as you had to take the bucket into their enclosure and some got quite nasty around feeding time and would bite. The bruises some people had from the baboons were incredible. Feeding the bigger animals like the lions was great, we had to throw the meat over the fence to them (which could be challenging when its a leg or half a donkey's head!). Other duties included cleaning enclosures by cleaning out the water holes and picking up old bones. We went into the wild dogs enclosure with sticks as they get a bit agressive towards you, but it was actually quite fun, especially when they stole one of the girls thongs as she was standing barefoot in the water hole cleaning it out! We also had had to help build a new baboon enclosure which meant digging trenches which was hot dirty work in 30 degree heat. The other job was enclosure and border patrol which was checking the fences for holes or digging under the fences. One of the easier more cruisy jobs. Walking the Baboons was an amazing experience. Anyone game enough to come on the walk could and we all started walking down the road and then the release the 15 baboons and they run after you and jump up on your shoulder for a ride or run along beside you. It was actually quite fun when I did it, but there have been problems in the past with some of them going a bit nuts and biting people. The second week I joined the research team which was great fun. We helped footprinting the Cheetahs for a new program they are trying to develop which would be like fingerprinting humans. They have done it for other animals like Lions and if it works for Cheetahs they should be able to tell by the tracks in the area if it is a Cheetah they know or a new one, which would make tracking them easier. We also got to go out on the the neighbouring farm and count game and count cheetah and leopard tracks. We were working with a Bushman tracker to do this who is amazing. Looking for tracks is done sitting on the bonnet of a ute while driving along the farm tracks, with the tracker next to you. We struggle to spot the cheetah tracks but Horhar spotted them with ease and when we stop to look at them knew if it was a male, female and if it was young old, large or small. The last night I stayed at the Lodge which was fantastic and some welcome luxury after the volunteer house. Volunteers got a discounted rate to stay at the lodge. Normal guests pay about 120 US while we only had to pay 35 US. A 35 dollars well spent. We had a great last night with the other volunteers having dinner and drinks at the lodge so it was a good way to say goodbye to everyone. I am starting to put some photos on facebook and will put some more up when I can. You can also check out the Na'an ku se website at www.ecoturism-namibia.co.na which shows some photos of the place and some of the animals they have had over the last couple of years. Hope you all have a great Christmas! I start my tour through Botswana on Sunday which Im looking forward to. Love Clare

Blue Skies in Beijing

Blue Skies In Beijing Done the big one- climbed a very small section of the Great Wall- had to almost crawl up, but a member of our group is 85 and he climbed up to the same point. It was very steep with uneven steps, but then we sat in an empty temple and watched people like ants crawling along a large section. We also had our best coffee for the holiday.It was a very big day as we had to leave at 7am to get to the Great Wall early, and then after lunch we drove by the Olympic venues. The Bird's Nest really is stunning and dwarfs the Water Cube close by. They are much better in reality than on TV. Then we went to the Summer Palace which is almost 300 acres and only 20 km from centre of Beijing but has no sign of urban encroachment. It has a huge lake, an island, a marble boat and the longest outdoor corridor in the world. All along the coridor there are thousands of paintingThe weather was sunny with bright blue skies, so much for Beijing smog. I wish we were doing what they are doing, which is building a new subway line every year until 2015. One fifth of private cars are banned on each day of theweek, according to number plate. Beijing is unlike any of the other cities, very open , a height level on buildings so no obvious skyscrapers, very wide roads (because they knocked down the old city wall!!)but with the moat still running beside the road.The day finished with a fantastic Acrobat Show, like the shows they used to bring to Australia with bike tricks and juggling and great effects.We came on the overnight train from Xian to Beijing. Xian is another intersting city with an intact city wall from when the SIlk road started here in the 1500's, it also has a large active Muslim section with a mosque where the men were streaming in to prayers,and the only English television was Al JazerraBeijing is different from all the other cities, more like Melbourne perhaps in the Melbourne /Sydney divide in Australia. Lots of young people and geared to young people but parks full of all ages exercising, playing Mahjong, badminton, table tennis, on exercise machines which are spread everywhere, ballroom dancing, walking very precious dogs,and of course grandparents with a grandchild, in fact some babies have 3 or 4 elderly people in tow, consequence of one child policy I suppose, but now the first generation of one child families are starting to marry and they are allowed to have 2 children if they are both only children. The impact of this policy is the most obvious feature of cultural/social policy I have ever seen. There are lots of stories from the young guides about the consequences, especially the demanding nature of girlfriends, who are, of course, in short supply and their capcity to demand fully furnished apartments as part of the wedding dealThe group breaks up now and goes their separate ways but we still have Guangzhou and Hong Kong
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