A New Year Post

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Over the years, I’ve often used my year-end or New Year post to reflect on my music listening of the year, but this year, I’ve decided not to.

Instead, I’ve reflected on what I could do in 2025.

I was taken by Maddy Kearns’s post in  The Free Press to cold-call friends and family. That’s going to be my New Year’s Resolution.

As Maddy reminds us, it’s easy to do but also easy not to.

Just how many of those I’ll call you or be in touch have just gone by?

It matters, as one of my dear friends died a few years ago, and I didn’t realise it. I saw an obituary a year or so after and realised I just hadn’t been aware. I could have reached out so easily, but life got in the way. It shouldn’t have.

I recall checking in with an acquaintance mid-COVID, someone I  hadn’t spoken to in years. He lived interstate, so it was easy to lose touch. It spawned a regular Zoom chat over a glass of wine and a great day with him in Sydney mid-last year. I want more of that this year. I’m looking forward to seeing him in Adelaide when he visits.

One of my bike-riding friends is I’ll. I try to catch up with him regularly for coffee. He struggles to communicate easily, so the onus is on me. I look forward to catching up with him soon.

I posted about being ghosted by a friend a while ago. Well, I reached out again, and it’s led to a few emails. Yes, it’s been me driving it, but so what?

Thanks, Maddy, for your suggestion. It’s a resolution I want to hold to this year.

 

 

 

 

 

A Must Read – A Knock at the Door, Rob Parsons

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A Knock at the Door, by Rob Parsons is a quite remarkable story.

My attention to the book was drawn to it via a review in The UK Telegraph.

It is a remarkable story of a couple taking an almost stranger into their house a day or so before Christmas and his never leaving.

It is a story of faith, charity, kindness and selflessness. As I read (listened to) the book, there were occasions where I wanted to cry and laugh, sometimes in the same sentence!

I listened to the book as an audiobook, via Sotify,, while walking through town, at the gym, driving the car or just sitting listening to it. The book is narrated by the author Robert Parsons which significantly adds to its enjoyment.

While the book commences shortly after Rob and Dianne’s wedding, the book covers Rob’s early life, his connection with the church,  education, and mentors that led him to his professional career. However, the main focus is on this family’s  selfless decision of taking a man they hardly knew into their home a couple days before Christmas and having him live with them for 45 years. Yes, 45 years;through the early stages of their marriage, the birth of their 2 children, and how Ronnie  Lockwood fitted in and contributed to their family and their community. It’s a relationship of love and caring. For the Parsons family to have been so generous is a true act of selflessness, kindness and Christian charity.

It is a story of success not just of Rob Parsons but also Ronnie. Continue reading →

Crocodiles – a day in the Daintree

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Our week in Port Douglas was very much about relaxing and taking it easy, So rather than hiring a car, we selected a couple of tours. One of those was a small group tour to the Daintree Rainforest. Initially I’d planned to hire a car and do a self dive tour, I’m glad we abandoned that idea as this way I got to see everything and our tour guide was in charge of deciding where we should go – I’d have had no real idea!

The downside was that it was an early start, with a 7.20am pick up. As we have found with this type of tour, the other tour guests are usually pleasant, and across the day there is a chance to strike up conversations, usually about where people are from and what experiences they have had while they’ve been travelling. We picked up a couple,of restaurant recommendations and a some tour hints that we can store away for subsequent visits. Continue reading →

Cooktown, Far North Queensland

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  I have  wanted to visit Cooktown for as long as I can remember. I’m not a Captain Cook oficionado, but I have read a lot about him and his travels. His journey to Australia was epic and his ships stranding on the reef off Cooktown is a central part of his and the Australian story.

As well as my interest in Captain Cook, a trip to Cooktown provides a reason to travel through  the Daintree which is a stunning part of Australia’s landscape. To get to Cooktown from Port Douglas also took as over the Bloomfield Track which in a our previous visit to the Daintree we hadn’t taken.

Cooktown in a day makes for a long day, but we found a small tour that fitted the bill. Run by Dale Forsyth, his Air s to Cooktown 4WD Tours is his personally curated way to see the region. Our pick up at 7.45am, seemed early to us, but for those on the tour from Cairns, their trip had started an hour or so earlier.

The Daintree is north of Port Douglas and covers the area from the Daintree River to Cooktown. Bounded in one side by the sea and the other the Great Dividing Range. It is dense rainforest said to be amongst the oldest in the world.

We’d seen the Daintree on a previous visit  and had taken the opportunity on that occasion to visit the Mossman Gorge, so we were not disappointed that our first stop was the vehicle ferry across the Daintree River. To do the journey in a day a visit to the stunning Mosman Gorge is really a step too far. The ferry is the only connection to the small population that lives in the region. Without it there is a very long and difficult drive that was effectively the route of the remainder of our tour.

Thornton Beach

Thornton Peak

Our first stop was the delightful Thornton Beach. Continue reading →

Angel of My Dreams – How to find new music

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I was reading an article on a UK newspaper website, ‘How Spotify silenced rock bands’  (The Telegraph, 11 August 2024), about the small number of new bands who made it to number one, and with it the challenge of finding new music via streaming services. The article indicated the music we listen to is selected using algorithms that are driven by our listening habits and those of your cohort. 

It was something my own experience completely bore out. Overwhelmingly my listening habits are centred around the 70s and a decade either side. I have posted before about 1975 as the greatest year in music. This apart from my other passion country, an occasional dabble with Christian/Gospel and classical, pretty much reflect my preferred listening. Continue reading →