Miriam

October 29, 2024

Miriam and I used to catch the 8:05 train from Brighton Beach station to Melbourne City, as we both worked in the CBD. At that point we didn't know each other. I noticed her wonderful mop of hazel-red hair. And her freckles.  I love freckles.  One day we chatted. She was working as a microbiologist at the Peter Mac Cancer Institute. 

Then we didn't see each other for a few weeks. Maybe we were catching different trains. The next time I saw her I said hello: "I think you work at the Peter Mac". Thank goodness I remembered! We didn't know it then, but Miriam was to colour my life over years to come...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We both love apple pudding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We both love animals.

 

 

 

 

 

His name was Monty

 

 

 

We both love the ocean

 

 

and wild places

 

 

 

 

 

the wilder, the better

 

 

 

On the track to Lion Rock, Southeast Tasmania

 

 

 

East coast Tasmania

 

orange lichen is characteristic of this granite coastline.

 

 

 

A beach shelter, Far East Gippsland

 

 

 

 

We both love snorkelling

 

 

 

The Great Dividing Range, Victoria

In summer

 

 

The Great Dividing Range, Victoria

In winter

 

 

 

 

The Great Dividing Range, Victoria

In autumn

 

 

 

 

 

I bought the Holden at a government auction. 

A standard foam double mattress could fit neatly in the back

I fitted a Borg-Warner limited-slip differential.

 

The kit to recondition the 3-speed manual gearbox cost only $50, and the maintenance book could be bought from any newsagency for just a few dollars.  Reconditioning the clutch and gearbox required no special tools.

I converted the car to dual fuel: petrol and propane.

The Hella driving lights would light the road at night for a mile ahead.

 

I kept that car for 33 years. I loved the adventures which came with that vehicle.

 

 

 

We both like blue.

My favourite blue is the deep blue-green of the open ocean.

 

 

We had two kayaks

 

 

 

We found many wonderful, isolated, remote lunch spots.

 

We usually took our time for lunch, especially when we had good weather and a comfortable rug...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were always good places to camp, with no-one else around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited New Zealand

Our Toyota HiAce van ran on compressed natural gas (CNG)

 

 

 

Crater Lake, Mount Ruapehu

 

 

 

Mount Tongariro, foreground

Mount Ruapehu, background

 

Winter

 

 

Mount Tongariro

Summer

New Zealand's most popular tourist one-day walk is "the Tongariro Crossing". It's busy, but all the walkers are travelling in the same direction, so it usually does not seem crowded.

The traverse covers a spectacular volcanic landscape.

 

 

 

 

Lake Miriam, South Island NZ

The lake was incorrectly marked on our tourist map as "Lake Marion"

When we were there, there was no-one else around.

 

 

 

 

Fed by snowmelt, the lake was formed by an avalanche creating a dam, centuries ago. It lies in a typical U-shaped glacial valley, surrounded by many waterfalls.

An extraordinary place.

 

 

 

Kaikora coast, NZ South Island. 

We swam with inquisitive fur seals.

To my surprise and disappointment, on my last visit (much later, in 2016) the local fur seals showed interest in us at all.

 

 

 

Waikoropupu (Pupu) Springs

Fed by a huge limestone aquifer underlying parts of the north of the South Island, crystal clear water bubbles up from the pond floor. We could see the other side of the pool, a hundred metres away. Water temperature is 11 Celsius, year-round.

The water has been in that aquifer for a long time, perhaps many hundreds of years.

The pool contains colourful aquatic vegetation.

 

 

 

The Mount Cook Glacier

Note our sophisticated wet-weather gear.

As time has passed, and tourist numbers have increased, some of the freedoms we had are no longer available.

Today, for example, it's not permitted to climb Mount Tongariro, or swim in Pupu Springs.

 

 

Miriam trying to correct the lean on a New Zealand power pole
 

 

 

 

For a while we settled in at my house in Coolabah Road, Sandy Bay, Tasmania
 

 

 

I loved her red dress....
 

 

 

 

But my favourite dress was the one with 15 buttons down the front....
 

 

 

Now....

... she seems so far away....

 

 

 

 

Miriam...

 

 

 

Home