Logging back in at Sydney airport three and a half hours later to learn 49 people had been killed and many more injured. We didn’t know what to say. And what could you possibly say that could make any sense of such a sickening act of cruel violence – perpetrated against people in the peaceful act of prayer in a country where they should have felt safe.
Our old friend Terry and his partner Tim are based in Sydney – our first chosen stop. I have worked with and had a close friendship with Terry for around fifteen years. We tackled energy efficiency in New Zealand for the first few years before Terry moved off and focused more on Appreciative Inquiry – a concept which basically forces you to confront what you are good at and do more of it. Anyway, after several invitations to just come on over to Sydney for a visit we finally said yes. Funny isn’t it – how things just seem to get in the way of spending time with friends. Why is that?
Terry and Tim live in Elizabeth Bay with an awesome view of Sydney harbour. The apartment building dates back to the 1950s – and so it’s full of character. Walk out of the main door and you are on MacLeay Street in Potts Point (more on Mr McLeay later), full of trendy restaurants, bars and shops. It’s an affluent area and beautiful, but I wonder how much of a community the place engenders. Hardly any families to be seen – it’s not a place for kids I suspect.
I decided to adopt an attitude of just saying “yes” to stuff when Jo and I travelled for most of 2017. And so, when Tim and Terry suggested a day’s trip to a place we had never heard of, Dangar Island on the Hawkesbury River, of course it was an affirmative. Just do it. For those who don’t know (including us of course), Dangar island is about an hour’s commute north of Sydney’s CBD with a population of around 300 and zero cars. Yes, you read that right – not one car on the island (oh except for a ute which belongs to the council and an electric buggy which is communal and carries heavier loads from the ferry).
Walking around the island (all 29 hectares of it) we passed communal vegetable gardens, chatted with the locals, walked along the beach and passed various art installations. Terry has had an idea of buying a place on the Island and so we rocked up to a property for sale – nobody there which of course was an open invitation to go and take a look. It was awesome, right in the bush with views through the trees of the water. The place is on several levels – bedroom wing with its own deck, main living area plus another two decks. And then last but not least a separate studio at the very top. Beautifully simple, cosy and unpretentious at a price you would never see in Sydney. I can’t think of a better place for a weekender to escape Sydney’s bustle, join an alternative community of people and luxuriate in the stillness of nature . . .
The house was built and first owned by Alexander McLeay, who held the position of New South Wales Colonial Secretary. As could only happen in early colonial days, in 1826 McLeay was granted 22 hectares (almost as big as Danga Island) in Elizabeth Bay. If you still owned that and wanted to sell it today, you would be probably be a multi trillionaire. The house he built was probably impressive for the time, but to be honest I felt it was sort of ho-hum. Terry wanted to paint it purple.
And so that was Sydney. A sobering start in terms of the horrors in Christchurch but awesome on a personal level to connect with such great friends – talk, drink, laugh, plot Dangar Island Presidential campaigns (you don’t want to know . . .)
