on March 17, 2022
MORE NEWS….
Back in Yandina once more after a fabulous trip to Yeppoon .Some highlights and low lights once I had left Yeppoon and stopped in Rockhampton in transit I got a chance to visit the Rockhampton Museum of Art which had only just opened a week or so previously The new gallery is a really fabulous new building apparently the second biggest Art gallery in Qld and really nicely set out with an interesting eclectic selection of art mixing up lesser known artists side by side with some really big name well known artists and information about the art works presented in a really accessible modern way .
I was thrilled to see a portrait of my old housemate the lady I shared a house with as a student when I went to teachers college in Rockhampton being none other than Ms Margaret Strelow who served as Lady Mayor for over 16 years .
Margaret and Daryl Strelow around 1977
Here is a photo of Margaret with Daryl Strelow the man she married when he came a courtin. We would have been about 18 when I took this photo .Here is the portrait of Margaret 45 odd years later which was unveiled concurrent with the opening of the new gallery .
New portrait of former Lady Mayor of Rockhampton Margaret Strelow
Actually the new portrait is quite lovely The artist had managed to capture an expression in Margarets eyes I immediately recognised and despite the gray hair and a few more wrinkles she looked just like I remembered her .Not sure about the $100,000 commission fee for the portrait though. It is good but…….😊
Simone owner of Artizan Gluten Free Bakery in Rockhampton
Another high for me was meeting Simone the owner manager of Artisan Gluten Free bakery in Rocky After taking in as much art as I could at the Museum of Art and looking for a bite to eat I happily and gratefully happened unexpectedly on the Artisan Cafe a little high tone cafe atthe quieter end of town . They also served wonderful coffee and I had a gluten free chicken and salad sandwich with fluffy EDIBLE gluten free bread Simone came out of the kitchen and we got to chatting and got on like a house on fire … we had a good long chat and have kept in touch ever since …….
Wendy’s first ever home baked bread ( very impressive )
She encouraged me to have a go at baking some bread and I was chuffed to be able to send her a photo of my first ever bread baking effort Tada Wow perhaps I’ll make some bloke a good wife one day (Hahaha white witches cackle here ,Not sure what my fantasy lover would have to say about that )
The low light was when I booked into the Criterion Hotel liking both the architecture and the location of the place but they forgot to tell me Friday night was live music night and from 8.30 pm the music started pumping up through the floorboards at an unbearable volume set to continue until midnight .The young night manager who seemed a bit green about the niceties and protocols of good hospitality practice (No class) would only give me a quiet room out the back if I paid a higher rate which didnt sit well with me at all given the fact the disturbance was not of my making
In the end I went off my head letting the Criterion hotel manager know in no uncertain terms I was not impressed and Booking.com would be hearing from me and I packed up and left the Criterion as I had to get up at 5.00 the next morning to catch a train and I needed to sleep . A lovely hotel manager called David organized a last minute booking for me over at the Q motel he assured me and did indeed provide me with a lovely quiet peaceful room and the evening proceeded without further incident . I did manage to get a full refund from The Criterion I’m happy to report .
The trip home was different in that we had to leave the train and we went on from Gympie by bus and I had seen the main street of Gympie completely submerged under water only a few days earlier. Now as we drove through all the water seemed to have disappeared but you could see the mudlines indicating where the waters had risen to on the trees One wondered where all that water disappeared to Now they are talking about completely relocating the Gympie main town centre which would make good sense