First quarter 2012

Rosie and Sophie and I arrived back in Melbourne on January 5th in time to celebrate Rosie’s 17th birthday on the 6th with Kasi and Raymond, our loyal Christmas house-sitters and pet-carers, and Peter who had come back earlier. Jessye was already away at rowing camp. Rosie wanted a tin of Trampoline icecream instead of a cake.

On January 11, I escorted Rosie and 5 of her friends to Sydney for an overnight stay. They are all Harry Potter fans, having grown up with Harry and being the same age as Harry is in the movies, and they were all mad keen to see the Harry Potter exhibition whose only Australian stop was Sydney. It was a terrific exhibition which we spent several hours examining in detail. There was time for some other tourist activity in the city (we stayed at the high-rise Meriton apartments in the photo taken from the Centrepoint Tower, at Tooranga Zoo and at Bondi Beach where Rosie and Annie were the only two brave enough to get in the water on a not so warm day.

We had a farewell group meal out with Kasi and Raymond at a Camberwell Italian icon which serves portions large enough to feed about four people, a fact we were not privy to so we ended up with mountains of food, most of which we took home.

I left on January 14 for a week at Mt Buller, about 3 hours or so from Melbourne, where I was directing the annual chamber music school with a wonderful group of tutors and some beautiful scenery, not to mention a fabulous bunch of participants/students of all ages. It was my third time tutoring and performing at the school which is always inspirational and great fun.

The day I got back from Mt Buller, Sophie had left a few hours earlier for her rowing camp so we didn’t see each other for nearly two weeks. Regattas on the Barwon River soon started in earnest for our newest rower. Several Saturdays this term have involved a trek down to Geelong, a familiar scene now for us after all our years of following Jessye down there.

My first MSO concerts for the year were with Tim Minchin, Perth’s famous son, a brilliant satirist, pianist, song-writer and singer able to fill the Albert Hall and large stadiums. Jessye came with a friend to the last show and were rather pleased to be able to come to the drinkies afterwards with Tim, chat with him and have their picture taken with him. He’s a very nice man as well as super-cool and the girls made the most of their brush with celebrity.

Then it was Peter’s turn to take off. He’s discovered that one of his favourite past-times is to get in a vehicle and drive for several days by himself, checking out the countryside, and that this can be relatively cheaply done by returning a motorhome from A to B.  Last year he drove to Perth then flew home. This time he flew to Cairns then drove home, having to detour because of floods closing some of his proposed route.

Jessye’s rowing season has seen a new development for her with her first serious pair partner, Addy. They’ve only been a pair for a month or so and are still quite young in the under-23 category but they seem to enjoy rowing together and show some promise. They rowed well at Nationals in Perth this week earlier just missing the semifinals by one place but feeling good about their performance and the progress they’re making.

At the State Championships three weeks ago, Jessye and Addy also rowed in the Mercantile (their club) youth coxed four and youth eight. Unlike her school days when she rowed almost exclusively in a four, the pair and eight are now dominating and it was the Mercantile eight that gave us the most exciting race when they stretched out their lead over the last 500 metres to win gold. They looked quietly pleased as they rowed back up the course. By the way, Jessye’s been selected for the Victorian Women’s Youth Eight for the Interstate race at Nationals which I’ll be watching in Perth this weekend!

The Mercantile girls also won the Australian Henley on the Yarra a couple of weeks ago and got nice individual silver cups with the Henley logo on them.

In the midst of all this rowing, Rosie had some calf-lengthening surgery on her right calf to help improve her walk. All went well and her cast came off yesterday after 3 weeks. She is now in a new leg brace for the next while and will resume physio to work on strengthening the front-of-leg muscles that control the foot lift and of course in the process retraining her brain to do the job required.

Off to Perth to 39+ temperatures and a spot of exciting rowing!