Geelong Coast Magazine Autumn 2017

European Vehicle Specialists

ISSUE 20

Affair

EUROPE N Have you had a

EUROPEAN AFFAIR? Our passion is servicing your European Car Brakes & Suspension

Pre Purchase Inspection

Vehicle Detailing

Air-Con Servicing

Vehicle Servicing

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EDDY OF THE ANTARCTIC ICE TREKKIN’ ON THE WORLD’S COLDEST HIGHWAY

ACACELLAS’ RIGHT NOTES LOCAL WOMEN SHARING THE GIFT OF MUSIC

NOW AND ZEN THE STUNNING REVIVAL OF A UNIQUE HOME

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SHE’S A WINNER MEET OUR QUEEN OF COMPETITIONS

LOCAL LOVE HOW NICKI AND DANE TIED THE KNOT

AUTUMN 2017 AUS $5.50 (inc GST)

INTRODUCING GEELONG’S TALLEST RESIDENTIAL TOWER

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contents

6-7

18-21

46-47

This season

Hitting the right note

History Repeated

48-49

9

Green Thumbs

We love

24-29 Eddy of the Antarctic

52-55 Home Bodies

30-33 Local Love

10-13

36-37

58-59

In Conversation

Local Sounds

14-17

40-41

62

She’s a winner

Artist in Residence

Calendar

Geelong Coast magazine is a Star News Group/Geelong Independent publication.

What’s Cooking

Geelong Coast Magazine is printed on environmentally friendly paper.

MANAGING EDITOR: Tony Galpin WRITERS: Elissa Friday, Luke Voogt PHOTOGRAPHY: Rebecca Hosking, Louisa Jones CREATIVE: Creative Services Manager: Chris Beale Graphic Designers: Mark Dinnie, Virginia Hester ADVERTISING: Advertising Manager: Steve Clark steve.clark@gcmagazine.com.au Sales Executive: Marianne Valitutti marianne.valitutti@gcmagazine.com.au

Printed using vegetable based inks on FSC ® certified paper under ISO14001.

Environmental Management System framework. FSC ® Chain of Custody certification ensures traceability and verification of paper from well managed forests throughout the manufacturing process to the end user.

COVER PICTURE: Photography, Rebecca Hosking; styling Elissa Friday www.gcmagazine.com.au facebook.com/gcmaggeelongcoast

GEELONG COAST MAGAZINE Level 1, 78 Moorabool Street, Geelong 3220 (03) 5249 6700

@GeelongCoast ISSN: 2200-6605 ABN: 55 006 653 336 ACN: 06 653 336

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All material appearing in Geelong Coast magazine is subject to copyright unless otherwise stated or it may rest with the provider of the supplied material.

Geelong Coast magazine takes all care to ensure information is correct at the time of printing, but the publisher accepts no responsibility or liability for the accuracy of any information contained in the text or advertisements.

Views expressed are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher or editor.

watch THIS

face AT JUST six-years-old Newtown’s Kempton Maloney had already drummed at his first pub gig.

“He certainly drew a crowd that night,” says mum Simone.

Kempton’s drum tutor Brad Dawson invited him and his parents to a packed Saturday night gig with his band Trojan in 2014.

Before he knew it, he was on stage smashing out hits like The Killer’s Mr Brightside and Toto’s Africa.

“He got me up to play,” the eight-year-old recalls. “I think there might have been a Foo Fighters song too.”

A fitting choice, as Kempton dreams of being the next Dave Grohl or Taylor Hawkins.

The dream began at eightmonths-old with pots and pans on the kitchen floor, says Simone.

“He would strategically place them on the ground to get the sounds that he wanted.

“It was quite funny. You could actually see him listen for the different sounds when he hit them.”

His parents bought him a junior drum kit for his first birthday, unable to get drumming lessons for someone so young, “He would play and play every day,” Simone says.

“Finally we were able to tee up some drumming lessons with him.”

Years later his parents gave him another surprise, getting Australia’s Got Talent finalists Sisters Doll to play at his eighth birthday party.

“I didn’t know they were coming,” Kempton says.

“We had a jam and stuff – it was really good.”

Last year Kempton came runner up in a national drumming competition in the under-12 age group, where he met drummers who perform for superstars including Lady Gaga, Madonna and Ringo Starr.

Eight-year-old Kempton in action.

WORDS: LUKE VOOGT

“It’s my first musical,” he says.

“I love pretending to be Jeremy, he’s got some very good lines and he does a lot of singing.”

“The fact he’s found his love so early is fantastic,” Simone says.

Kempton hopes to one day audition for a movie.

But Kempton’s talents don’t end there – already he’s making a name for himself in theatre.

He appears at least to have fine-tuned the art of the acceptance speeches, as he rattles off the names of all who had inspired him so far.

He took to the stage recently as Jeremy Potts in a Geelong production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

“And a big shout out to my family for encouraging me to do this,” he says.

5

THIS SEASON YOU SHOULD Discover the benefits of salt therapy Salts of the Earth offers a natural, non-invasive therapy for a range of conditions.

Clients attend one of the centres three rooms and inhale airborne particles of pharmaceutical-grade salt - a natural anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antihistamine.

Suitable for clients of all ages, salt therapy can help relieve the symptoms of a broad range of respiratory and skin conditions.

Salts of the Earth is at 352 Pakington St, Newtown, phone 5221 7954, or visit saltsoftheearth.com.au.

Restyle your kitchen with a new benchtop Home chefs can give their cooking space an entirely new look and dynamic simply by changing benchtops.

And Breakwater’s Newgrove is the local expert on benchtops, with a variety of styles and surfaces to choose from for simplicity and clean lines.

Newgrove makes all its benchtops on-site in its purpose-built factory.

More information is available at newgrovebenchtops.com or by phoning 5248 7101.

Make a statement with a new hair colour Formerly hairdressing on Shannon Ave, Vicky Polyzos has opened Salon Meraki Colour Specialists at 77 Vines Rd, Hamlyn Heights.

The salon specialises in colour, cutting and styling by Pureology and L’Oreal-certified colouring specialists.

Permanent and semi-permanent colour options are available as well as ammonia free. Blow waves and curling are also available, along with a variety of products including paraben and sulphate-free vegan shampoos and conditioners.

Men, women and children of all ages are welcome, with clients invited to choose from a range of teas and coffees, whilst they consult with friendly Vicky. Appointments are available by phoning 5298 3465 or visit salonmeraki.com.au or facebook.com/salonmerakics

Design the perfect wine tour The Wine Bus Geelong offers customers the option to create their perfect wine tour to experience some of the great wineries, breweries and other venues across the Bellarine Peninsula, Surf Coast and Moorabool Valley.

The Wine Bus Geelong features an extensive range of vehicle tours ideas, which can be viewed on The Murrell Chauffeur Drive website.

The wine bus also provides a pick-up and drop-off service.

More information is available by phoning 0352789699 or emailing murrellgroup@bigpond.com.

6

Go Mexican at Senor Manny’s cantina.

Diners enjoy a lively ambient atmosphere with music and colourful furnishings at Senor Manny’s Mexican Cantina.

With a passion for Mexico, the restaurant’s owners have replicated cantinas they have visited on their numerous and regular Mexican holidays.

Dishes include Mexican ribs, chilli con carne, a variety of soft tacos, nachos and salads.

The restaurant also retails Mexican items and memorabilia.

Senior Manny’s is at shop 2A, 48-50 The Centreway, Lara, phone 5282 8960.

Savour the flavour of fresh herbs Instant Herbs Instant Flavour in Lara, will pick wash and deliver their freshly cut herbs on the same day to the customers door. Their vast stock list includes a variety of basic, asian, micro and exotic herbs. Herbs ranging from parsley, thyme, oregano and mint, to coriander, Pak Choi, basil, fennel, chamomile, lemongrass and more.

Instant Herbs Instant Flavour is constantly on the look-out for herbs to increase everyone’s culinary delights.

For orders and enquiries phone 0448 024 404 or email instantherbs@gmail.com.

Try degustation dining at The Davidson The Gordon Culinary School’s Davidson Restaurant offers exceptional dining experiences.

Four-course degustation dinners begin at an amazing $35 per head.

Customers are welcome to book a table for family and friends to enjoy seasonal plates aligned with current food trends and fresh, local produce.

Not only do diners enjoy sensational meals at great prices, they also support Geelong’s apprentice chefs.

Information on opening days and sessions is available at thegordon.edu.au/ davidson.

The Davidson Restaurant is at The Gordon City Campus, 2 Fenwick St, Geelong, phone 5225 0741.

Enjoy affordable hair and beauty treatments Anyone needing pampering or an affordable pick-me-up should visit The Studio.

Located at The Gordon’s City Campus, The Studio offers hair and beauty treatments at amazing prices Monday to Friday during school terms.

Anyone mentioning reading about The Studio in GC receives a 10 per cent discount.

Women’s cuts are $22, blow-waves $10, manicures $15, 60-minute facials $25 and one-hour massages only $25.

The team also offers eyelash extensions, waxing and tinting.

Gordon students deliver each service under the supervision of qualified teachers.

Book now by phoning 5225 0890 or visit thegordon.edu.au/studio.

7

“We looked everywhere for the best place for Nan. Only one ticked all the boxes.”

Clarice’s granddaughter, Rebecca.

Freedom family

After a lifetime of caring for her own three children, seven grandchildren and her 103 year old mum, 81 year old Clarice finally needed care herself. In her search for a place that provided 24 hour care plus the independence, companionship and lifestyle her Nan so richly deserved, her granddaughter Rebecca visited every nursing home in her region. The only place she found that “ticked all the boxes” was Freedom Aged Care.

24 hr nurse services – immediate response nurse-call technology Low, High, Palliative and Dementia Care Government funding available Full domestic support Your own self-contained home with kitchen, bathroom, laundry and courtyard/garden Couples stay together Family and friends can stay whenever they want Pets are welcome Encouraged to live independently, while you are capable Move-in without ACAT assessment No means-testing or asset-testing required for move-in We have a community right here in Geelong and many more across Australia, feel free to call us on 1800 984 840.

What’s life without freedom?

Freedom Nursing Aged Care Home

12337327-EPJ13-17

COMPARATIVE ITEMS

…

Bor Borgata’s authentic Italian cuisine Lara’s Borgata restaurant specialises in pizza, pasta and risotto with a delicious twist.

Lara For iinstance, the restaurant’s most popular dishes include scallops on bruschetta wrapped in bacon and grilled with a garlic sauce, while diners also love Borgata’s garlic prawns and home-made gnocchi with four cheeses.

The restaurant sources the freshest ingredients and makes food to order for its customers.

Borgata is at 2-4 Waverley Road, Lara, phone 5282 4645.

…

Parkwood’s special offer Parkwood Motel and Apartments is offering GC readers a special offer for visiting family and friends: stay two nights and get 30 per cent off a third night.

Recent upgrades to the motel include new seating areas outside the rooms, overlooking a central outdoor swimming pool. Free continental breakfast is included daily for each guest and all the rooms have complimentary wi-fi and Foxtel.

…

Wathaurong Glass artworks

Guests can also seek prior approval of early check-in and later check-outs.

Parkwood Motel and Apartments is at 8 Lily Street, North Geelong, phone 52785477 or email reservations@parkwoodmotel.com.au.

It’s great to know these exquisite products are all made by Indigenous Australians, creating jobs and opportunities for local Aboriginals.

Patrons of Wathaurong’s glass creations also know they own a special piece of artwork for their home, content in the knowledge it’s the only one of its kind.

Wauthaurong Glass products extend beyond art, with the company also able to make products for applications such as trophies and home decor.

Part of Geelong’s Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative, the business directs any profits straight back to the local Indigneous and broader community.

…

Madrid Upholstery Believing in innovation, quality, originality and creative thinking, the team at Madrid Upholstery specialises in bringing furniture back to life.

Working on everything from antique furniture to retro caravan interiors, Madrid Upholstery’s focus is on complete restoration work to satisfy the most discerning of customer.

The business can also upholster cushions or help customers create their own cushion designs.

Madrid Upholstery is at 7 Edols Plc, North Geelong, phone 0468 674 599 or email anthony@madridupholstery.com.au

9

[in] conversation

PICTURE: SARAH TAYLOR PHOTOGRAPHY

FIONA

lowe

She’s sold 1.3 million romance novels, translated into 16 languages. Now best-selling Geelong author Fiona Lowe tells her own story to ELISSA FRIDAY. WHERE DID YOU GROW UP, FIONA?

I grew up all over the place. I was born in Albury, my father worked for Shell and we lived in Madang in Papua New Guinea.

I started school there and that’s also where the love of reading came from, because there was no television in the late ’60s in Papua New Guinea.

I learnt that a book which is

EASY

TO READ

IS VERY DIFFICULT TO WRITE…

After that we came back to Melbourne when I was about eight and I spent my teenage years there. Now we live in Manifold Heights in Geelong.

WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE VERY FIRST BOOK YOU READ? My parents were big readers and my father used to read to me Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne.

When I was little I remember going to the library with my mum. My biggest memory of my very first book that I actually chose and borrowed when I was about seven or eight, when we were back form Papua New Guinea, was Madeline. It was a picture book from my primary school library.

I’ve read lots and lots of books, but these ones stand out.

When I was 15 years old and we were at the beach, my mother lent me her Methodist Ladies College copy of Pride and Prejudice.

That’s when I fell in love with ‘happily ever after’s. The book

was a prize she had won and it was bound in green leather. I had run out of books, so she suggested that I read it and I may also enjoy it. I didn’t enjoy the first 100 pages, it was boring but mum said, ‘Keep reading’.

Then I went on to read her edition of Gone with the Wind, which was also my first teenage rebellion.

I refused to go on a family bush walk because I was reading that book.

HAVE YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO BE AN AUTHOR AND WHAT DOES WRITING MEAN TO YOU? I sort of fell in to being an author, I’d always kept a journal, diarised and written long letters when we’d travelled overseas, before phone text. I was home with my first baby when I heard an interview on the radio looking for authors who write romance novels and so I thought ‘oh, I’ll give it a go’, and thought ‘that can’t be too hard’.

I learnt that a book which is easy to read is very difficult to write.

So I listened to other authors and didn’t believe that I had a driving urge to write like they do. I do remember I used to have huge conversations and stories in my head. I’d redesign events that had happened in my life to make them the way I would wanted them to have happened. I was already doing it in my head prior to writing.

11

>>>

WHEN DID YOU WRITE YOUR FIRST BOOK AND HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU?

Fiona’s RITA award, the American romance novel industry’s Oscar equivalent.

PICTURES: BARTON LOWE

From the time I decided to begin writing, to being published, there was a time lapse of 10 years.

I wrote four medical romances during that time and had three rejections. It was my fourth book in 2006, Pregnant on Arrival, that sold. It taught me a lot and I learnt to keep going in this field.

WHERE DO YOU LIKE TO WRITE? In my office with earplugs and hopefully a quiet house, which is always challenging in the summer.

It’s really hard to find the right time to start writing – I still haven’t worked it out. I like getting other things out of my head first.

Sometimes I think it’s easier to just get out of bed and start writing and do other things later.

This is the first year I’ve had that luxury because I haven’t had anyone at school.

IT’S NOT A CAREER FOR THE FAINTHEARTED …

You have to be prepared to re-invent yourself over and over again…

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAMILY. I have an older sister, I’m a wife and have two sons. My husband, Norm, is a computer analyst, my eldest son, Sandon, is 22 and is studying medicine and he composes music. My 18-year-old son is on a gap year and heading to Europe soon. Both of my sons’ names are surnames; Sandon, from Sandon Stolle, the former tennis player, and Barton from Sir Edmund Barton, Australia’s first Prime Minister.

About six years ago I searched their names on Google because people often say that their names 12

are unusual, although we didn’t actively choose unusual names.

What’s really weird is I discovered that in England there are two villages called Sandon and Barton just a kilometre or two apart.

How weird’s that?

YOU HAVE TRAVELLED QUITE A BIT AND LIVED ABROAD, YES? When our first child was about eight months my husband had knee surgery and while he was resting in bed and reading the newspaper he said, ‘There’s a job in America’, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah?’ Three weeks later we were in America.

I was a Rotary exchange student in western Canada for a year when I was 15 and when my husband said the job was in Wisconsin I said, ‘Why would you want to go there? It will be so hot in the summer and we’ll be up to our eyeballs in snow in the winter’.

However, we went and it was great. We spent two-and-threequarter years there and we loved it. We were living in the university town of Madison with a population of about 200,000 people.

When we came back to Melbourne, my husband said he didn’t really want to come back to Melbourne because it took longer than 15 minutes to travel anywhere, which was a long way.

Also, I didn’t really want to leave the state because we’d just got back home and we had family in Melbourne, so I suggested Geelong.

I’d just unpacked the last box five months after we had got home

I was unexpectedly pregnant with our youngest, my husband’s mother was very ill at the time and we were just moving his father into a dementia wing, so it was a hard time to move.

We came to Geelong for a year in April 1998. Three months later I had our baby and we are still here. I love that we’re close to the beach, the Surf Coast and the Bellarine Peninsula.

ARE YOU STILL WORKING IN MIDWIFERY, COUNSELLING AND FAMILY SUPPORT WORK? I worked part-time up until about four years ago. I did online counselling with teenage girls for 13 years, so I was able to balance the writing, that job and the family.

I did nursing then midwifery and then my graduate studies in community health and worked in that for five or six years. Then when I had our eldest child and we went to America I couldn’t work, but when I came home the community health centre in Melbourne where I had previously worked asked me if I would like to work there.

I was asked lots of questions by teenage girls via the centre’s website. They saw how their concerns and questions had changed over the years, and the rise in teenage depression.

The work you do with families in public health never leaves you – you learn a lot about people.

DID YOUR JOB IN HEALTH INSPIRE YOUR WRITING? Initially it did because when I turned 30 a friend gave me

a great big basket of Body Shop products, a bottle of champagne and he threw in a novel. The novel was a Mills & Boon medical romance. I read it and loved it.

This book was basically like an ER TV show but had a romance in it as well. That’s probably the reason why I thought I could write one because I had the medical knowledge and I understood it.

HOW DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION? I wrote six medical romances and then wanted to write a different type of book. In 2009 I was sitting on a ski lift on Mount Hotham and I had a vision for a book, of a bride standing in a wedding dress, holding a wedding cake and staring into an empty shop window. The image would not go away and it kept popping back into in my head at different times over the next couple of months.

I kept asking, ‘Why was she standing there’ and ‘What was she doing?’

So on the way back from Melbourne I heard the song Bridal Train, by The Waifs, and from there my first non-medical romance book came along, Boomerang Bride.

I set it in the U.S where we lived because I was trying to break into the American market; it was a much bigger book in size.

Boomerang Bride co-incided with the global financial crisis and the massive fallout for publishing, so it was tricky getting it published.

It was published as an E-book initially but won a RITA award, which is the equivalent of an Oscar in romance writing in America. I then went on to write three other wedding books.

ARE YOUR STORIES FICTION OR NON-FICTION? I haven’t written any non-fiction.

I create fictional characters that experience what everyday people can experience, so I haven’t taken someone’s story and re-told it.

Everything that happens to the characters in the book would have happened to someone out there in the world.

My ideas come from reading the papers, evesdropping and people telling me things they’ve heard.

They are stories that did happen to people but I changed them to

suit my characters. I even created the fictional town Billaware in my new book, Daughter of Mine.

PICTURE: BARTON LOWE

AND THAT’S YOUR 28TH NOVEL, RIGHT? It’s 500 pages – the biggest novel I’ve ever written. It’s my departure, it’s not a romance, its general fiction.

I knew a couple of things that I definitely wanted to do but other ideas just come organically based on what you know about your characters.

Daughter of Mine took me about seven to eight months to write.

After the six books I wrote set in the US I really had a strong need to write a book set at home in Australia.

You could put 10 people in the same situation and they’re all going to react to that situation differently. Families are so fascinating because really they’re just a little cosmos of the general community. We don’t all get raised the same way and we are all of different personalities.

HOW DID IT FEEL WINNING THE RITA AWARD? I entered in 2012 as an unknown Australian. I was at the awards to enjoy myself and I didn’t think that I’d win, so I was stunned when I did. I was also thankful my husband had suggested I write a speech.

The RITA stands on a polished wood block and is quite tall.

I remember being presented with it and literally bent my knees because it was heavy.

Boomerang Bride had 38 agent rejections then I got an agent, then 12 print publishing houses in 2010 rejected it. I said to my husband, ‘This book is too good to languish on my computer,’ so I sent it to Carina Press, which was the brand new digital arm of Harlequin, and they bought it.

WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING AN AUTHOR? It’s not a career for the fainthearted. It’s a rollercoaster and my income goes up and down, up and down. You have to be prepared to re-invent yourself over and over again and it’s very wearing at times. I’ve never worked in a job, where the highs

are so amazing and the lows are so low.

The older I get the more I see how tough life really is. I write so I can escape and so people can escape as well. We all need a bit of space to be entertained and have a breather and that’s why I write books.

WHAT WOULD SURPRISE PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT YOU? People may not know that I used to be involved in amateur theatre.

I also had to learn how to tap-dance for a role in a play, called Dinkum Assorted. I’m chronically unco-ordinated, so I was a disaster because I can’t dance and smile at the same time.

Every single night I practiced a particular dance step and when it came to the second to last dress rehearsal I was called up to the front to dance from being busy dancing at the back.

Then being up at the front I got into trouble for not being able to dance and smile. I shouldn’t have practiced so much to remain at the back.

It’s so funny because my son, Barton, is actually a really good dancer. He didn’t get that from his mother.

I’ve still got the tap shoes in the back of the cupboard.

13

Come on down, Stephanie Bailey.

PICTURE: REBECCA HOSKING

SHE’S

winner A

Theatre tickets, latest fashions, overseas travel – they’re just some of the regular prizes for competition addict Stephanie Bailey.

ELISSA FRIDAY goes into the draw with our empress of entries.

FINDING 25,507 unread emails on her mobile phone is business as usual for Torquay’s Stephanie Bailey.

“Some people say I should have set up another email address for all the newsletters and things I’ve subscribed to,” she giggles.

The full-time chef spends a couple of hours daily on her other enjoyment – entering competitions for “adrenaline rushes”.

Regularly signing up for newsletters as a condition of entry and filling out competition forms has become a breezy past-time for the 30-year-old, who says she wins “at least one competition a week” on average.

Stephanie won her first prize aged just 10 when she entered a competition she spotted on a Wheaties cereal pack. She won a 12-month subscription to an AFL football magazine from a scratch-and-win card.

Stephanie won her next prize - dinner for two and tickets to a local exhibition – at 13 when she entered a colouring competition.

“The competition was run by the Independent and Geelong Doll and Teddy Show and Exhibition,” she recalls.

From then on Stephanie began logging her wins in scrapbooks. She now has an impressive collection of around 10 display folders full to the brim, showcasing all her prizes.

The folders contain congratulation letters and notifications of winnings, chocolate-wrapper entry forms and used tickets from glamorous events.

Her prizes range from electronic equipment, clothes, concert tickets and social events to hotel accommodation, VIP passes and dining experiences, even flights and movie passes.

Stephanie counts as one of her best wins a trip to Los Angeles with five nights accommodation on Rodeo Drive, $1000 spending money and a Napoleon Perdis make-up experience.

Another highlight was a trip to London to see a West-End show, with two tickets, flights, transfers and four nights accommodation.

The London trip reminds Stephanie of why she began entering competitions.

“Mum, I think, started me off. She told me that when she was little she won tickets to the Beatles.

“She won tickets on a radio promotion where she had to call up when you heard a Beatles song play.

“They only played one Beatles song all day, so she sat there all day listening to her little wireless in her room,” Stephanie giggles.

“When I was little and would go grocery shopping with mum, I’d just walk past and grab products off the shelf. Mum would say, ‘What are you doing, we don’t need two packets of that’.

“Then I’d say, ‘But you have to buy two products to enter to win this’.

“Poor mum, I remember one year she had 12 packets of prunes because I wanted to win a car.”

But 1998 was “a big one” for Stephanie, winning AFL grand final tickets to watch her team, Adelaide, play North Melbourne.

She won the coveted prize after answering a trivia question on the ring-pull of a Coca Cola bottle.

“So that was two tickets to the grand final, two nights accommodation, spending money and breakfast with the Adelaide Crows – it was huge,” Stephanie gasps.

15

>>>

She took to Melbourne her mum and sister, also an Adelaide supporter, as guardians because she was under 18.

But Stephanie’s passion for competition is about more than just prizes.

“It’s about winning, the adrenaline and sharing experiences with other people who may not be able to do that,” she says.

Stephanie takes the sharing part literally. She recently won a family pass to Adventure Park but gave it to a friend with young children so they could afford a day out.

Poor mum, I remember one year she had 12 packets of prunes because I wanted to win a car…

“I thought, ‘School holidays, here you go, it’s unlimited rides for the kids and a food voucher, so they get drinks and popcorn while there’.

“She’s really excited and the kids are over the moon, so that’s what I get out of it, too.”

In particular, Stephanie enjoys sharing hospitality packages – drinks and food et cetera – with different people each time.

“I’ll take people ranging from my hairdresser to my sisters’ friends to my brother’s friends and people at my work.

Stephanie showcases her winning keyring and ping-pong ball that won her cash and prizes.

Even just three weeks into January Stephanie had won around 20 competitions, with prizes including passes to various events, lunches, theatre shows, hotel accommodation for New Year’s Eve celebrations, seats at a grand final luncheon and six pairs of expensive ladies’ jeans.

After a win Stephanie moves straight onto the next competition. But she shows her gratitude by posting thank-yous, photos and messages on her social media to the suppliers.

“When I receive a win I then give it to someone else.

“I can remember writing a letter to Coca-Cola and showing them the photos of us at the grand final,” she says.

“The part for me is that I won; the winning, the adrenalin.”

Stephanie once won six competitions in a single week from the same company.

PICTURE: REBECCA HOSKING

“When it came to collecting all these prizes they suggested changing their terms and conditions”, she giggles.

Stephanie’s regards her greatest win as $20,000 from a radio promotion.

To go into the draw, she had to hear a particular song on the radio then head to a display-home venue where she met a lady with a bucket of 50 keys.

Contestants retrieved a key each and whoever opened the door was the winner.

“I took mum there with me at 4am,” Stephanie remembers.

“I was 10th in line and pulled out key-ring number 17. That key, sure enough, opened the door.”

Stephanie put the money to good use with her then-soon-to-be husband.

“It gave us a honeymoon in Bora Bora.

“Even though my marriage didn’t work out, that $20,000 gave us the wedding we wanted and more.

“I literally remember walking into flight centre and saying, ‘I don’t know where this is but I watched it on a TV show – glass bottom overwater bungalows’.”

16

Stephanie was initially “sceptical” that adopting her husband’s surname could affect her winning streak but was relieved to find her luck unchanged.

She went on to win many more prizes including a spa worth $7000 when she picked out the winning ball from a selection of 200 ping-pong balls.

Stephanie acknowledged her luck but says the “skill” is in winning 25-words-or-less competitions. First, she advises, is reading the terms and conditions for “a better idea of what they’re looking for”.

“I think my real secret is that I just spend a lot of time on it, seeing what’s out there and I investigate promotions online.”

Stephanie dedicates a couple of hours every Monday after work to her “hobby”, scanning websites for competitions.

Happily, her time and effort actually enhances her social life.

“This is my social life,” Stephanie explains.

“I go to events because I’ve won something.”

PICTURE: REBECCA HOSKING

HITTING the right

note

Friends who sing together stay together. ELISSA FRIDAY meets the Acabellas, three women bringing the joy of music to Geelong’s masses.

“MUSIC is like the river of life,” declares Belinda McArdle.

“And it’s so powerful singing with other people than on your own.”

That power comes through in the community acapella open-house she founded with fellow working mums and best friends Lisa Singline and Sue Hindle.

The three women have been operating Acabellas for 14 years, extending an open invitation to singers of all levels to join their regular sessions at Geelong West Senior Citizens hall, on the corner of cosmopolitan Pakington Street.

Belinda developed the Acabellas concept after attending a community choir in Melbourne.

The three amigos of Acabellas - always making sweet music together.

“There was nothing quite like it in Geelong,” she remembers.

PICTURES: LOUISA JONES

“I really wanted to start something like it here; where people stand and sing in a circle and it’s all quite informal.”

Belinda “took a leap of faith”, leaving her full-time job in Department of Health management to invest in the business of community singing.

“I didn’t know how I was going to do it all,” she admits.

First the group needed a venue.

Belinda looked out her bedroom window and spotted the senior citizens hall, which she immediately identified as the place to “let your soul sing out”.

The next and final step was to begin singing and throw open the doors, she says.

“So I put an advertisement in the paper and we are still here today, 14 years later.”

The venture’s name took a cue from Belinda’s own, she explains, with the ‘B’ from Belinda replacing the ‘c’ in acapella to produce Acabellas.

She now runs several singing groups, which she considers a form of “team work”.

“When you sing in a group you’re not by yourself,” Belinda explains.

“You don’t have to talk about it, you can sing about it.

“We fully activate our bodies when we sing.”

19

>>>

Sue Hindle, Belinda McArdle and Lisa Singline enjoying coffee time together.

There’s something constant about people singing together;

As such, Acabellas sessions predominantly feature folk songs but the group also produces originals.

YOU CAN EXPRESS YOUR JOY AND PAIN…

But group singing remains the focus, Belinda says.

In the early days of Acabellas formation Lisa suggested helping Belinda with chores like photocopying and printing, which developed their friendship.

“I’ve seen people go through massive highs and lows: cancer, relationship breakdowns, birth of children, loss of children.

“It became natural and I could see she had leadership qualities,” Belinda says.

“I’ve seen people become stronger, more empowered and more connected at times when they might be really lonely.”

Lisa began leading the group with Belinda, later introducing Sue to Acabellas. Lisa and Sue’s children attended the same primary school, with the three women becoming “really close friends” as they continued developing Acabellas.

Now 40, Belinda has been singing since she was four. She counts folk as perhaps her favourite style.

20

“There’s something constant about people singing together; you can express your joy and pain.

Acabellas holds classes in evenings and on Friday and Saturday mornings, with all sorts of participants joining in the fun.

“A variety of people, including kids, the elderly, mums, daughters, husbands and wives, attend and people come along with their families and neighbours,” Belinda explains.

Singing is such a beautiful activity to participate in…

I love the openness of children singing, their inhibition…

We feel pretty blessed to have such a great combination…

“I think that’s what I love about Acabellas so much.”

Lisa has lived in Geelong for 17 years but began attending Acabellas in 2004, just a couple of years after Belinda set up the group.

Singing and playing the guitar from the age of 8, Lisa took to writing songs in her teens.

She expresses her passion for music through her singing and string instruments, particularly the ukulele.

“Singing is such a beautiful activity to participate in,” Lisa observes.

“I think it gives a general sense of well-being and a sense of community.”

Lisa believes singing has numerous advantages, including health benefits and its ability to initiate and nurture friendships and social networks.

It can also be good for a few laughs, she says.

“Lots of people come to us and say, ‘I sang in my school choir and was told to mime the words’.

“They say, ‘I just don’t sing’, but everyone has the right to use their own voice and we really encourage that.

“Some people might not feel that they’re individually a strong singer but within the group it creates strength and support.”

Sue’s been with Acabellas for the past 11 years. As someone who “always wanted to sing”, Sue says her passion is working with kids as a private singing teacher.

“I love the openness of children singing, their inhibition. They’re fully free to express themselves; they express the joy.”

Sue was friends with Lisa before meeting Belinda to set the foundation of Acabellas.

“It felt so amazing, so accepting, and we could express ourselves,” Sue says.

Her main focus with Acabellas is well-being sessions but she also

enjoys the group’s Nurture experience, which uses “soundhealing” to “help people de-stress and feel good”.

“We do singing and chanting, a bit of meditation, and use crystal singing bowls to a metavibration,” Sue explains.

“The meta-vibration creates soundwaves to realign the energetic system and bring harmony to the body and mind – it’s very calming.”

Last year Sue released an album of original songs for children, titled I Can’t Stand Still.

“The album’s playing on the Little Rockers Radio app,” she enthuses.

But apart from the singing, Acabellas is really about partnership. Each of the three women have grown to become the best of friends and are business partners, too.

“We feel pretty blessed to have such a great combination,” Belinda says.

21

Parkwood Motel and Apartments showcases its new colouful retro style seating area.

Parkwood

MOTEL & APARTMENTS GEELONG, VIC 5278 5477

AAA FOR

convenience

Free Breakfast & Free WiFi

Pool & BBQ Area

www.parkwoodmotel.com.au reservations@parkwoodmotel.com.au

(03) 5278 5477

Airport, making it convenient accommodation for travellers and visitors.

The 1970s motel achieved AAA-star rating for the Gold List of Australian Accommodation Award in 2016.

Petrol stations, take-away food outlets, restaurants and supermarkets are just some of the other nearby amenities.

Parkwood was also an AAA rating winner for the Geelong and Bellarine district category and achieved a Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence in 2017.

The motel offers 12 twin-rooms with queen and single beds.

Recent upgrading of the outdoor area showcases new paving and decking, while guests can also relax on the new colourful ’70s-style retro seating.

Rooms overlook private, central and colourful gardens and the outdoor swimming pool and barbecue area.

GPS: Entrance-8 Lily Street

The grounds provide plenty of space for children to play.

12320283-HM39-16

Corner of Shannon Ave & Ballarat Rds North Geelong

PARKWOOD Motel and Apartments offers clean, affordable and comfortable accommodation.

Fully self-contained twobedroom apartments sleeping up to six are also available, along with a three-bedroom house for up to 10 guests.

The range of accommodation is ideal for corporates, group bookings, sports clubs, university games and large family bookings.

Parkwood Motel offers 24/7 friendly customer service, free wi-fi and Foxtel in all rooms, plus a free guest laundry and dryer with clotheslines.

Only three kilometres from central Geelong and Deakin University’s Waterfront campus, Parkwood Motel is in a hub of all sports. The motel is close to various indoor sports centres and a nine-hole golf course .

Parkwood is environmentally friendly, too, using solar power.

Conveniently located nearby is the Sphinx Hotel, offering meals and entertainment.

Parkwood Motel offers a relaxing and enjoyable stay at a budget price.

Parkwood is also close to North Geelong’s Capri Receptions venue as well as McKellar Centre, Bethany and Avalon

Parkwood Motel is at the corner of Shannon Avenue and Ballarat Road, North Geelong, phone 5278 5477.

Free and easy parking is available outside each unit, with ample space for large vehicles, trailers and vans.

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Freemasons Victoria 2017 Grand Installation Ball at The Pier 1

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EDDY of the

antarctic A deadly earthquake was just a precursor to Eddy Kontelj’s 25-day working round trip on Earth’s coldest highway.

The Geelong thrill-seeker recounts his Antarctic adventure to ELISSA FRIDAY. “THIS place is like no other I’ve ever seen – it’s about as close to outer space or the moon that I could imagine,” muses Eddy Kontelj.

“Thousands and thousands of kilometres of just snow and ice; spectacular and spooky all at once – and obviously freezing.”

The former Geelong councillor has just returned from a temporary work placement of a very different kind: eight weeks in the coldest place on Earth, Antarctica.

Eddy travelled to the frozen continent late last year for employer, William Adams Caterpillar.

As managing director, he was asked to help a French Polar Institute team take supplies and equipment along the South Pole Traverse – a 1600km ice highway linking Antarctic stations.

Their destination was a joint French-Italian research station, Concordia Dome C, 3200m above sea level and a round trip of 2300km.

24

Gear on, Eddy’s ready to brave the cold.

25

>>>

Pack ice as seen from L’Astrolabe .

Eddy jumped at the chance to gain a better understanding of how his company’s equipment and colleagues worked in the Antarctic.

With more than 98 per cent of its surface covered in ice, Antarctica contains about 70 per cent of the world’s fresh water. The ice is so thick that it makes the continent the world’s highest and windiest.

Eddy’s 10-man team travelled during summer because severe weather and limited visibility can make travelling to and from Antarctica during winter impossible. Aircraft pilots struggle to see land and sea-ice can prevent ships accessing docks.

Even the 24 hours of daylight during summer months was a challenge for Eddy and his team.

At least he had some prior similar experience. Eddy’s 15 years in the mining industry included three in Chile’s Andes Mountains, where he battled thin oxygen levels and temperatures down to -40C. Alongside a completed diesel mechanic apprenticeship and even world records for static cycling marathons, Eddy thought he was up to the challenge.

26

But he still had to endure extensive physical and medical examinations to determine his suitability for Antarctica.

Test completed, Eddy was ready for the experience he had “dreamt of for decades”.

His role was to operate an MT865 Caterpillar tractor, helping deliver enough food and fuel to keep the Concordia researchers going for nearly a year.

“They hadn’t seen any supplies delivered since very early the previous February,” Eddy says.

The Concordia researchers included glaciologists, meteorologists and scientists studying human behaviour and performance. The findings were invaluable to space programs, Eddy explains.

Eddy’s team was one of four French Polar Institute traverse trips every summer.

But the adventure was almost over before it began when the team encountered a deadly earthquake on a New Zealand stop-over.

The 7.5 magnitude quake in Christchurch hit on the morning

the team was to leave for the Antarctic.

“Having experienced many earthquakes while working in Chile it was somewhat concerning living through this again,” Eddie says.

“We were all OK. It certainly was a shock, and we were saddened to hear people had passed away.

“Our thoughts go out to those who were affected.

The team of six Frenchmen, an Italian and three Australians eventually flew out of New Zealand in a 1957 Hercules.

“Despite some real language barriers, we managed to have some great laughs,” Eddy chuckles.

The flight landed a few hours later on sea-ice at Antarctica’s Terra Nova Base.

“I must admit I was a little nervous,” Eddy admits.

“However, when I stepped off the plane and got my first real view of Antarctica I was really taken aback by its immense beauty – it’s really breath-taking.

“It didn’t feel for real – and this was just the sea-ice runway, so what was yet to come?”

The team settled into its new surroundings for the first night at Italy’s Mario Zucchelli station.

“It was lots of fun,” Eddy says.

“With the best Italian coffee I’ve ever tasted”.

In contrast, the French ended up having the best food, champagne and wine but the worst coffee.

“I certainly missed my coffee.”

But keeping warm was the obvious priority, with the temperature at -30C. “It’s so cold nothing seems to go off there,” Eddy observes.

He ate biscuits and chocolates with best-before dates in 2008.

Fridges still had some uses but wine was put outside for 30 minutes to chill “purely because it’s colder outside than a freezer,” he explains.

The extreme cold also had at least one health benefit.

“There’s no moisture in the atmosphere and it’s too cold for bacteria to grow, so very rarely do people get sick,” Eddy says.

A fitness fanatic, Eddy used his time in the camp and sometimes along the way to resume jogging, which he was allowed on condition that he carried a radio and stayed on the traverse track.

“I did 10 runs for the trip and it made me feel great,” he says.

“Believe it or not, I’ve been for a run in Antarctica – I had to tick that box!”

But the elation at exercising was tempered by “fear” along Eddy’s runs. The sense of isolation, vulnerability in the harsh Antarctic environment and the unpredictable elements were “pretty scary”, he admits.

“The wind would push me off the track and I’d think to myself, ‘Am I pushing it too far this time?’”

The 13-day trek to Concordia station began in an “extremely dangerous environment”, Eddy says, but he “didn’t feel scared” thanks to his confidence in the capabilities of his team-mates.

Blizzards were just one of the dangers. During one he had to go outside to relieve himself, only to be surprised at sensations after returning indoors.

“I couldn’t work out whether I’d been for a pee or not – it was that windy and that cold,” he laughs.

And then there was the incinerator toilets, which burnt waste.

“No urine must enter the toilet because if it did the element that burns the solid waste would be damaged. That’s all good and well, when you can prioritise what you want to do, so you say, ’Right, which one?’

“But when you’ve been driving for five and a half hours sometimes your priorities get mixed up and you’ve got to do everything at once!”

The freezing cold also played havoc with Eddy’s fingers as he refuelled and repaired equipment as high wind speeds caused the usual -35C to feel a further 10 degrees colder.

“Whenever I was fuelling the machines I found it really tough on my fingers, to the point where I had to stop. To get them to work, to pull the lever on the fuel guard, I used my elbow or my wrist.

Below: Eddy takes in the spectacular scenery on the edge of Antarctica.

The team then flew from the Italian station in a 1952 DC3 military plane the next morning for four hours to French base station Dumont d’Urville Station, an island outpost with a dock for unloading cargo ships.

From here it was just a short 5km helicopter ride over sea ice to Cap Prud’homme, the organising point for beginning the traverse journey to Concordia.

“The camp and people who were generally French and Italian were very social. They all sit down every day for a four-course meal including wine and spirits for lunch and dinner,” Eddy explains.

“That’s the same case on the traverse. It’s unbelievable given that we’re absolutely in the middle of nowhere – that’s why the supplies we brought in are so important.”

>>>

Above: Eddy and his team fly Geelong’s coat of arms 600km inland on Antarctica.

“My fingers were in so much pain there was nothing I could do to warm them up. My fingertips split, my thumbs were bleeding and I couldn’t get them to heal.

“We were putting moisturiser on and in the end the doctor on the traverse had to glue the cracks in my hand to get the skin to heal.”

Unlike Eddy’s extremities, some of the machinery fared surprisingly better in the cold weather than he expected.

This place is like no other I’ve ever seen – it’s about as close to outer space or the moon that I could imagine…

A welcoming party greeted the team on arrival.

The tractors also pulled the team’s generator-powered accommodation, including “confined” sleeping and living quarters and a “tiny” communal dining area, Eddie says.

“There were heaps of people lining the traverse track. Some were running up to us excitedly; some were coming out on snowmobiles, too.

Attached to the communal area was another small space with a computer and a first-aid room for the doctor.

Eddy slept in a small container with two bunk beds, sharing the space with another man for the duration of the traverse.

The only essential missing was laundry facilities.

“It’s such a dry environment.

There’s no humidity there, that’s one of the reasons nothing rusts or corrodes.

“You didn’t wash any clothes during the 13 days of the traverse at all but you had enough to get you through,” Eddy says.

“Even paintwork on the equipment that might have been there for seven, eight or nine years still looks relatively new.”

Communications were also so limited that Eddy spoke to wife Maria over the phone just twice in eight weeks. The satellite phone had poor reception and email was only “reasonable” but still spent two days in transit.

Eddy was impressed with the performance of his company’s tractors in the harsh conditions.

“The Cat Challenger 65s and MT865 B and Cs, powered by the Cat C18 engine, are incredibly impressive. They’re excellent machines that work very well in this tough environment.

28

“The Challenger 8 is a beast of a machine with a large blade on the front of it and sophisticated navigational and communications equipment on board. It was developed to break through the snow and ice and clear the path and lead the convoy on traverses such as this.”

“It was also very difficult to talk on the phone and to get the privacy to do so in such a small room.”

The rest of the run to Concordia was “pretty good”, he remembers, apart from a few white-out days.

“We were much-appreciated visitors for the people at the research station,” he says.

“We were bringing important supplies of equipment, fuel, food and things to survive on.

“They were rapt to see us – some of the people there don’t see anyone else for a year.”

But, like the journey to Concordia, the quirks of daily life in the Antarctica kept coming at the station, with the co-dependence of team members continuing to extend way into the personal.

“We were instructed to not urinate in the shower,” Eddy says.

“Because Concordia recycles all of its water, which is initially produced via a snow-melting machine.

“It’s the same water you drink, wash your dishes with and shower in.”

Eddie’s birthday was on the team’s first full day at Concordia station, 7 December 2016.

“You couldn’t have planned this, a boy from Geelong celebrating his 49th birthday there.”

Eddie kept it quiet at first but the team ended up celebrating his birthday on the traverse track the next day after departing Concordia.

“It was very modest but just really special.

“They got French champagne, we had a meal, a prune slice and my dad’s home-made Slovenian schnapps (plum brandy) that we shared around.

“They also sang Happy Birthday to me in French.”

Eddy was also gifted a simple white candle “with a history”.

“The first-ever French station in Antarctica was called Port Martin.

It was built in the 1950s, but burnt down within two years.

“You’ll never believe what remained – a box of white candles, and they gave me one.”

After completing the reverse traverse, the journey back to Australia presented its own difficulties. Not least, an unseasonable build-up of sea-ice that left French research vessel L’Astrolabe, on which Eddy’s team was to sail to Tasmania, unable to dock at Dumont d’Urville Station.

I’m a very fortunate man in so many ways …

AND I KNOW IT…

Instead, the vessel was at the nearest seawater, 70km away, necessitating another journey.

The expanded ice also took its toll on nesting penguins, which battled to walk the 70km between the sea and their usual gathering place.

Eddy watched an endless line of penguins walk toward the ocean to feed as another returned in the opposite direction to nest.

“The sad thing is they now had to walk the 70km,” Eddy says.

“A lot of the Emperor penguins were dying because of that.”

The trip on the L’Astrolabe took nine days of “nothing much to do”, Eddy remembers.

“It was so small and you felt so ill all the time.”

The trip home via Hobart brought a “wild 24 hours of sailing”, Eddy grimaces, with many passengers falling ill as the ship battled four-metre swells.

He saw in the New Year on the third-last voyage of the L’Astrolabe.

“I celebrated my birthday, Christmas and New Year all in

Eddy braving -12C weather on Christmas day.

A Antarctica,” Eddy marvels. “And along the way we also crossed paths with another traverse team, which has never happened before in the 33 years of the French Polar Institute.”

Eddy arrived home in Geelong more than 6kg lighter and wearing an “all-in-one moustache and beard”.

The trip may have had its physical impact but the “unforgiving ... absolutely dangerous” Antarctic also affected his psyche, filling his mind with unique memories and a sharpened perspective on life.

Concordia Scientific Station Dome C living and research quarters.

“I’m a very fortunate man in so many ways,” Eddy muses. “And I know it.”

“It brought to realisation that my biggest success is my family, and the importance of spending time with the ones who are really important in your life and even appreciating all we have here in Geelong.”

Eddy with a Cat MT865C tractor and 55,000 litres of diesel for the traverse.

29

[local] love

A DAY AT THE RACES LEADS TO A WEDDING AT LORNE AND A LIFE TOGETHER IN TORQUAY FOR MELBOURNE GIRL NICKI FILBY AND GEELONG LOCAL DANE BALADOIS. WORDS: ELISSA FRIDAY PICTURES: REBECCA HOSKING PHOTOGRAPHY 30

Nicki & Dane

WHERE THEY GREW UP Nicki grew up in leafy Melbourne suburb of Glen Iris while Dane was raised in Highton. They now reside at Torquay.

HOW THEY MET “We actually met at the races at the Caulfield Cup,” Nicki says.

“Two of our married friends went to Dane’s 30th birthday dinner and they said they’d been thinking about Dane and I having so much

in common, like our love of camping, surfing, the ocean, the outdoors and our same background values.”

Nicki and Dane are also “passionate AFL supporters”, she says.

THE PROPOSAL

laying on the grass, hiding a Murray River retriever puppy.

“There was a note on the puppy’s collar saying marry me,” Nicki remembers “We’d previously been talking about getting a dog but couldn’t decide what breed.”

“Dane proposed to me,” Nicki says.

PLANNING

Dane came home from work and soon after Nicki found him

Nicki and Dane did their own planning for a Lorne wedding.

31

>>>

The theme involved using driftwood to style the tables and shells collected from the beach.

Nicki’s mum and bridesmaids helped with the wedding planning.

“The theme was beachy,” Nicki says.

HENS AND BUCKS Nicki and Dane celebrated with traditional separate parties.

“I had my hens with close friends with about 15 girls and we did soccer zorbing before lunch and then went to wineries in the Yarra Valley,” Nicki says.

THE DRESS Nicki found her dress at Geelong’s Embrace Bridal Boutique.

“The collection was Allure Bridals,” she says Nicki’s mother-in-law suggested she visit the boutique, which stocked exactly what she wanted.

Nicki’s dress was a “light goldivory colour and A-line with a V-neck”.

“The main feature was the patterning and lace detail on the back,” Nicki explains.

BRIDESMAIDS

The hens enjoyed wine tastings accompanied with cheese.

“They’re amazing and I love them,” Nicki declares.

“The girls organised teal-coloured T-shirts and vests they’d designed for the bridal party and the other girls wore similar colours,” Nicki explains.

She had four bridesmaids, with sister Bec as maid of honour.

Dane celebrated his bucks’ party in Melbourne with about 20 friends and family. They enjoyed a poker cruise that departed Docklands, followed by a visit to Melbourne Bavarian restaurant Hofbrauhaus.

“Dane had to dress up in a traditional German costume, lederhosen,” Nicki laughs.

32

“My sister is like my best friend.

We’ve lived together and travelled together,” Nicki says.

Nicki’s other bridesmaids were longtime frineds Katrina Boltman, Claire Greenhill and Jo Vaneslow.

They wore teal-colour, chiffon heart-shaped strapless dresses.

“All the bridesmaids came shopping with me and we ended up ordering the dresses online,” Nicki says.

“They wore sandals and head pieces and carried baby breath bouquets”.

GROOMSMEN Dane had four groomsmen “We wore suits and shirts from MJ Bale, a recommendation from my brother,” Dane says.

Dane had shopped at the store previously, so he knew he liked the range.

He chose suits combining blue and white to complement the beach theme, he explains.

Dane’s best man and best friend since high school, Andrew Buckis, went to university with him and they travelled in Europe and America.

“I worked down there a bit, down the coastline.”

Next to Lorne Surf Life Saving Club, guests watched the ceremony conducted against a beach backdrop, Nicki explains.

“Our celebrant was a family friend and he was also Dane’s headmaster at school, at Geelong College,” she says.

Nicki chose soft, apricot-coloured peachy tones for her flower bouquet.

PHOTOGRAPHY “I’m friends with photographer Rebecca Hosking – we worked together at Anglesea,” Nicki says.

Van Babiolakis, Dane’s other groomsman, has been a friend from school days. They also lived and travelled in Europe together with Andrew.

The couple had their photos taken at Lorne’s pool, its rocky intertidal area, a swing bridge and amid local Moonah trees.

Dane’s younger brother, Steen Balodis, was also a groomsman, along with “first boss” Simon Selves.

ENGAGEMENT

“He actually gave me my first job,” Dane laughs.

“It was my Nan’s ring. She’s unfortunately not with us anymore,” she says.

THE CEREMONY

RECEPTION “We had Mexican-Asian-Latin influence and huge paellas in pans cooked in front of us,” Nicki says.

Cocktail finger food was also on the menu.

“It was quite relaxed,” she says.

“Our guests had a drink on arrival.

“Dane’s friend, Ben Dew, was our musician – he’s from Barwon Heads.”

THE CAKE “My mum made our cake – she’s really talented,” Nicki says.

The result was a three-tiered masterpiece of white and brown chocolate, caramel mudcake and shells made from icing.

The couple used Nicki’s greatgrandfather’s dirk to cut into their wedding cake.

“My parents cut their cake with that dirk, too – it’s a family tradition now.”

Nicki’s ring holds both sentimental and symbolic values.

The wedding featured a “forestmeets-the-ocean ceremony,” Nicki says.

The emerald of the engagement ring symbolises Nicki’s birth month.

“Dane’s grandma and grandpa live in Lorne and Dane spent a lot of time there on holidays.”

“I love it. It’s an emerald with diamonds surrounding it in a halo-style setting.”

33

SALON Meraki Colour Specialists specialises in colour, cutting and styling.

Vicky Polyzos, the owner of the Hamlyn Heights salon, is a L’Oréal Professionel certified colour specialist with over 10 years of experience in the hairdressing industry.

Vicky adds

style with new salon

Previously working in hairdressing all around Geelong, and formerly on Shannon Avenue, Vicky is now at Salon Meraki on Vines Road to offer clients a variety of colour options, blow waves and curling.

The salon uses Purology and L’Oréal’s professionel range, including the Majirel, Richesse and INOA ranges along with L’Oréal’s professionel styling products.

The salon also stocks a variety of ammonia-free colours as well as paraben and sulphate free and vegan shampoos and conditioners.

“As a client you have a consultation and are offered a premium coffee and your hair is always washed prior to any styling or cutting.“ “All ages are welcome in the salon’s modern surroundings,” Vicky says.

Salon Meraki Colour Specialists offer special appointmnents upon request and group bookings, which must be arranged with the salon in advance.

Consultation bookings are available by phoning Salon Meraki on 5298 3465 or visit salonmeraki. com.au

77 Vines Road - Hamlyn Heights | 5298 3465 www.salonmeraki.com.au Monday closed | Tues 9-5.30pm | Wed 9-6pm | Thur 9-8.30pm | Fri 10-6pm | Sat 8-2pm | Sunday closed

12339383-PB13-17

SALT

spices up THERAPY

OPTIONS SALTS of the Earth offers clients a natural therapy within three salt rooms on Geelong’s cosmopolitan Pakington Street.

Salt therapy involves inhaling airborne particles of dry pharmaceutical-grade salt dispersed into one of the rooms.

Salt therapy can help cleanse ther airways, relieving congestion and allergies. It can also help relieve inflammation and skin irritations.

The salt can also help open airways and increase oxygen intake, clearing away irritants such as dust and pollutants.

The anti-inflammatory properties of the salt can even improve sleeping patterns.

Clients enjoy the therapeutic benefits of salt therapy at Salts of the Earth.

Salts of the Earth offers a fun children’s room, relaxing communal adults’ room and private salt room for clients with compromised immune systems.

New clients receive a complimentary consultation, with all ages welcome to enjoy the benefits of the the salt rooms.

Salts of the Earth is at 352 Pakington Street, Newtown, phone 5221 7954 or visit saltsoftheearth.com.au.

Salt therapy is suitable for all ages.

12344044-PB14-17

The natural, non-invasive therapy can help relieve the symptoms of a number of respiratory and skin conditions as clients simply sit inside.

[local] sounds

Finding his MATTHEW Jelley has gone from struggling with confidence to being “a demon” on the mic since becoming the front man for Modern Divide.

The withdrawn 30-year-old from Thompson describes being lead singer as “ironic”.

“It’s something I wouldn’t think I’d be able to do with my confidence,” he says during practice at the band’s recording studio.

“I was a bit freaked out really,” Josh says.

“I wasn’t expecting that many people at all.”

The band is reminiscent of Tool or Perth prog rock Karnivool, according to local fans.

“When we hear people say stuff like that it’s amazing,” Josh says.

The band released its first six-track EP, Beneath the Lies, in May 2016.

The long-time guitarist played with another local band, Oceans Collide, from 2005 and 2010.

“A lot of the lyrics are about personal and mental struggles that I have had or of people in general,” Matt says.

But when they split he decided to put together his own group.

“And sexual innuendo,” adds the band’s drummer Ben Watts.

“There’s a lot of guitarists in Geelong but I couldn’t find a singer,” he says.

Most of the band would love to open for Metallica or Tool. Already they’ve played with prolific Melbourne rockers The Getaway Plan.

“So I thought I’d do it myself.”

In early 2015, after two years of singing lessons, Matt contacted friend and guitarist Josh Dowling – now Modern Divide’s resident “ideas man”.

“We’ve all known each other a long time,” Josh says.

Josh had been working on a new guitar sequence at the time.

“The band started on that riff,” he says.

“I sent it to Matt and it kind of went from there.”

It’s a formula that stuck, says bass guitarist and “perfectionist” Keaton Marin, who met Matt at Geelong High School in 1998.

“Usually Josh will come up with a riff and we’ll all just write a song together,” Keaton says.

But some things have changed – the boys will no longer smash out a multitude of songs in one session.

“We wouldn’t be able to do that now because we are too involved,” Keaton says.

“I think the newer stuff is a lot more next level as we’ve put a lot more time into it,” Josh adds.

Initially the band “was only ever going to be a studio project”.

But Josh’s connections scored them a gig at the Workers Club, which has become the band’s “home ground”.

About 120 people packed the club in just the band’s second show last year.

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But Ben has a more pragmatic plan.

“I’d love to play before the Wiggles – get the younger generation involved,” the 27-year-old says.

“They’re all already all excited for Dorothy the Dinosaur.

“We’re up there playing and rockin’ with Captain Feathersword – f__k yeah! I know my daughter will be in the front row.”

Last year was a big one for Ben who “finished GTA on the highest setting” and played with Modern Divide at his own wedding.

“I became a dad too (in 2015),” he says.

“That’s weird.”

Modern Divide was recently working on Revival, the latest of its two upcoming tracks, which has a dystopian edge. “(I) started (writing it) because I had a really sh_tty day at work,” Matt says. “But if you listen to it you could think it’s about the end of the world.”

Josh says Matt has come out of his shell since taking the lead role.

“You’ve turned into a real demon, a real pain in the a_se,” he jokes to Matt as the band prepares to jam.

Despite being regular performers on the Geelong scene, they’re all juggling music with jobs while looking for their big break.

“If we had the opportunity to just be doing this that’s what we’d all be doing,” Ben says.

WORDS: LUKE VOOGT

demon ' ' VOICE

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GIG GUIDE 5 May Diesel Solo Australian musician Mark Lizotte, traditionally known as Diesel when in solo guise, will visit Geelong to play songs from latest album, Americana.

The former frontman of Johnny Diesel and the Injectors has drawn on music drawn from American country, folk, R&B, blues and bluegrass in a tribute to his American roots.

Gateway Hotel Corio

8 April 4x4 Across Australia Tour Veteran Aussie rock band The Angels will play some of its biggest hits during this special run of shows.

The band will choose four hits from each album and play them back-to-back at each gig.

Gateway Hotel Corio

21 April 100% Kylie Live In Concert World-renowned Kylie Minogue tribute perfomer Lucy Holmes will perform her hero’s greatest hits in a twohour concert spectacular.

The promoters say Minogue herself has endorsed Holmes’ show as the “best Kylie act”.

The show presents a “mix of glitz” with crowd interaction to hits like Spinning Around, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, and Locomotion.

Performing Arts Centre Geelong

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11 May Shannon Noll Australia’s self-proclaimed favourite son, ‘Nollsie’ has earned fans around Australia and overseas with his raw rock voice. Noll rose to fame as the first runner-up of the 2003 Australian Idol series and has built a successful recording career, with a new album presently in the works.

The Gateway Hotel Corio

28 May APIA Good Times Tour 2017 The APIA tour’s returning to Geelong a fifth consecutive year with another traditional line-up of veteran Aussie talent.

This year’s tour features music legends The Black Sorrows with Vika and Linda Bull, Men At Work’s Colin Hay, Mental As Anything and Deborah Conway.

Costa Hall Geelong

6 June The Glorious Male Voice Choir Geelong’s International Harvester Choir has a new female conductor, Jeanette John.

As the first female conductor in the choir’s 73-year history, John will lead the men through a repertoire sure to create an authentic listening experience.

Potato Shed Drysdale

Recomposer DELIVERING

elite BODIES

THERE’S no force-fed cardio, calorie cutting or boring chicken and veg diets at Elite Bodies Training and Nutrition.

Specialist trainer Ji Cottrill combines more than 15 years’ experience with a degree in sports science to help clients achieve optimum results, whether it’s to lose weight, gain muscle or compete at elite levels.

“I treat all my clients like athletes because that is how they train,” Ji says.

Cutting calories isn’t always key to losing weight, he advises.

“A common mistake is limiting caloric intake, which is counter-productive. It’s true that to lose body fat you need fewer calories eaten compared to expended but it’s wrong to slash severely instead of feeding the body and the muscles strategically.

“Just as my clients train like athletes, they also need to eat like athletes too.”

Ji is one of Geelong’s few trainers qualified in Recomposer, a program that can deliver unparalleled body recomposition through strict adherence to a scientific method.

Elite Bodies uses Recomposer to create accurately measured dietary intake and strength training programs to achieve a desired body composition.

“It’s designed and built specifically for each client, using their measurements and results to achieve their specific goals,” Ji explains.

Ji Cottrill at Elite Bodies Training and Nutrition.

More information and consultations are available by contacting Ji at Elite Bodies Training and Nutrition on 0431 372 257 or via its Facebook page.

[artist] in residence

Japanangka (Raymond Walters)

WORDS: ELISSA FRIDAY

Narana

dreaming DREAMTIME stories dating back thousands of years inspire Geelong’s largest collection of Indigenous art, says Narana’s Devinia Wainwright.

of Indigenous art in Geelong, featuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists showcasing their traditional lands, stories and cultures.

As co-ordinator of art and craft activities, Devinia enjoys helping visitors experience the diversity of Indigenous artworks in the Aboriginal cultural centre’s colourful gallery.

“It’s a visual experience and a vital part of our community to showcase our cultures in a positive way. The gallery’s artwork really does showcase how diverse Aboriginal culture is from one language group and area to another”.

“Narana’s really a great place for local and international visitors to thrive on the cultural experience,” she explains.

Tingari Dreaming (Walala Tjapaltjari)

“It’s also important recognition of Australia’s history – some of the artwork’s stories go back 50,000 or 60,000 years.

“We have the biggest collection

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Devinia, who has run Narana’s gallery for the past two years, describes Indigenous arts as her “passion”.

Working in the gallery gives her opportunities to further her cultural knowledge and skills in Aboriginal culture, she says.

through generations, Devinia explains.

The gallery is part of the wider Narana centre at Grovedale.

Now 20 years old, the awardwinning facility continues offering authentic cultural experiences, business manager Craig McGough says.

“It plays an important role in the community in providing a welcoming environment to listen and learn about Aboriginal culture in a relaxed atmosphere,” he says.

“In fact, the word Narana means deep listening and learning.”

Dancing Wind Spirits (Zita Wallace)

The gallery includes a mixture of traditional, contemporary and abstract art, mostly acrylic paint on canvas and some on linen, Devinia explains.

“We have emerging artists right through to collectable pieces, with prices ranging from $100 to $30,000.”

Devinia says Indigenous artists typically use an aerial perspective to convey stories about creation and navigation of the land.

Dots can be used to depict trees, waterholes shrubs or sacred ceremonies, all of which relate to the artists’ spiritual stories.

A not-for-profit commercial enterprise, Narana covers four hectares off the Surf Coast Highway, a quarter of which is native bushland.

Also on site are Narana’s cultural exhibition building, a cafe with an Indigenous-inspired menu, and a retail shop with an abundance of products including painted and carved emu eggs.

Devinia Wainwright in front of Damien and Yilpi Marks’ My Country. PICTURE: LOUISA JONES

The gallery hosts basket-making classes this April and May. More information about Narana and the gallery is available by phoning 5241 5700, emailing reception@narana.com.au or visiting narana.com.au

Dreamtime (Eddie Blitner)

“A technique used for Indigenous art is fine lines called crosshatching, which is found in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory, and here in Victoria,” Devinia says.

“Sometimes artists use it to paint their totem animal, which is passed down through the family”.

All Narana’s art is original and hand-painted. Each piece includes a certificate of authenticity and a biography of the artist.

Narana prides itself on working directly with artists, communities and co-operatives to ensure equitable returns directly to the artists. Support of Indigenous artwork not only helps sustain the careers of the artists but strengthens traditional values crucial to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.

Some of the stories inspiring the artworks have been passed down

Bush Medicine Leaves (Jeanie Petyarre)

41

art

glass of

A UNIQUE Geelong business is expressing Aboriginal culture through surprising mediums.

splashbacks, artistic platters, bowls, corporate gifts, awards, trophies and much more.

Based at North Geelong, Wathaurong Glass and Arts has developed a reputation for products that add a special element to private and commercial premises.

Wathaurong Glass and Art also produces the AFL’s annual ‘Dreamtime at the G’ medal for the best player in the Richmond-versus-Essendon match at the MCG.

The staff use techniques including kiln-forming, sandblasting and other processes as deemed necessary to produce high-quality glass products reflecting local Indigenous culture.

THE COMPANY IS STRUCTURED SO THE WATHAURONG AND BROADER COMMUNITY ARE BENEFICIARIES OF ANY PROFIT. Formed in 1998, the business takes great pride in producing unique Aboriginal artwork with a functional edge.

The products include window and door glass made to Australian standards, kitchen and bathroom 42

Wathaurong Glass and Art’s Mark Edwards with one of the business’s unique products.

The company’s artistic products have also been presented as gifts to the Dalai Lama, South African statesman Nelson Mandela and supermodel Naomi Campbell.

All the staff at Wathaurong Glass and Arts are Aboriginal, working in a not-for-profit business under the auspices of the local Wathaurong co-operative.

The company is structured so the Wathaurong and broader community are beneficiaries of any profit.

The Wathaurong, or wathawurrung or wada warrung, is a recognised tribe comprising 25 groups, or clans.

The Wathaurong’s boundaries stretch from Geelong, north to the Werribee River, north-west to Bacchus Marsh, south-west to Cressy, south-east to Colac, east to Lorne and encompassing the Bellarine Peninsula.

More information about Wathaurong Glass and Art, including its products and online sales, is available at wathaurongglass.com.au or by visiting its premises at Rodney Road.

1225167-HM21-16

Custom design glass panelling for Building - Renovating - Decorating

9am-5pm Monday to Friday 16 Rodney Road, North Geelong. 5272 2881 www.wathaurongglass.com.au

Indigenours owned & operated

12345700-CB13-17

FAMILY’S

pride

MADRID Upholstery specialises in the complete reupholstering and restoration of antiques, fine furniture, caravans, commercial and custom-made cushions.

“I’ve worked in the upholstery industry all my life,” says owner Antonio ’Anthony’ Ramirez.

“From 1986 to 1999 my father had his shop in High Street, Belmont, before we returned back to Madrid.

in

UPHOLSTERY

“In 2012 we relocated back to Geelong. I wanted to continue my father’s legacy and the family business.

“I’m so passionate about my work and place so much pride in every piece of furniture I work on.”

Madrid Upholstery also specialises in hand French polishing.

“We provide services to interior designers and decorators and use only the best-quality fabrics and materials, which will last a lifetime,” Anthony says.

“So if you’re in need of some beautifully upholstered cushions or you want us to restore some of your old, shabby furniture, then please call us today.”

Madrid Upholstery is at 7 Edols Plce, North Geelong.

More information is available by phoning 0468 674 599, visiting madridupholstery.com.au or liking Madrid Upholstery on Facebook.

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Master upholsterers Anthony and Francisco Ramirez.

Antique Fine Furniture - Modern - Commercial - Banquette Seating - French/Lacquer Polishing - All Work Guaranteed!

www.madridupholstery.com.au | Call Anthony 0468 674 599 | 7 Edols Place-North Geelong

[history] repeated

RINGING

bells the

As the world’s best surfers converge on Bells Beach, LUKE VOOGT looks back in time with one the of beach’s “old guard”, Rod Brooks.

ROD Brooks remembers winters at Bells Beach long before full-length wetsuits, when a large communal fire on the sand served as a beacon for hardcore surfers.

“You’d end with no hair on the legs because the fire would singe them off,” the 70-year-old says.

“But you’d be warm enough to go out and have another surf - and that’s why we were all there.

“After a year of doing this you knew pretty much every surfer on the west coast – people would come and go all day around the fire.”

Rod Brooks surfing Bells at a “pioneers” event in 2015.

PICTURE: LIAM ROBERTSON

Rod grew up surfing the storm swells of Port Phillip Bay before joining the Torquay Surf Life Saving Club at age 14.

He would hitch a ride with older boys from Brighton, like Pat Morgan, who would later become a famous board maker.

“We’d wave if we saw another car with surfboards on the roof because that was such a novelty,” Rod says.

He remembers riding the swells with his first board made from plywood.

“It used to leak a lot,” he says.

“It would go twice as fast but it was hard to turn. I was on a bit of a budget.”

Summer was a different story: Bells could get very crowded, and dangerous, before fibreglass boards became popular.

“In those days all the guys had big heavy boards weighing 40 pounds and they didn’t have leg ropes,” he says.

Rod skipped the first ever tournament in Bells in 1962, which had “junky surf” due to it taking place in summer, opting to surf at Phillip Island instead.

But he surfed in the juniors in 1963, when the event moved to April, making the final four.

“It was really good fun,” he says.

“A lot of people came down from Sydney and Queensland for it.

“You’d carry on to the Torquay pub at night and everyone mixed pretty well.”

Rod moved to Torquay at age 18 as a building apprentice, spending five years constructing his “holiday shack” while living there.

Three-time world champion Mick Fanning competing at Bells.

“It was almost never finished until I sold it.”

Later, he bought 10-acres on Bells Beach and joined the Victorian branch of Australian Surfriders Association “I remember surfing Bells Beach pretty much every day.”

Rod was on the committee in 1972 when Ripcurl’s Brian Singer and Doug Warbrick approached it to make the event professional.

“I was one of the ‘progressives’ who thought it should be professional,” he says.

“There was a lot of emotion from the other side of the fence who wanted to keep it amateur and wanted all the visitors to keep coming down from Sydney.

“I think there was only one vote in it. It’s now the oldest, longest running professional surfing event in the world.”

In 1968 Rod went back to his old institute, Prahran Tech, creating the trophy’s frame with classmates from his cabinetmaking apprenticeship years before.

He would go on to found surfing brand Piping Hot and work for Quicksilver for 25 years.

Surfing runs in the Brooks’ blood: Rod’s son Troy was on the World Tour until 2007, while grandchildren Jahli, 12, and Bodhi, 10, are riding the waves too.

Rod moved to Currumbin on the Gold Coast 10 years ago for the warmer ocean.

“I still surf every day but I don’t think I would if I was in Torquay - I’m getting too old for that now,” he says.

“But I miss the big swells at Winkie Pop and Bells coming out of the Southern Ocean. You don’t get them like that up in southern Queensland.”

There are plenty of theories about who came up with the iconic Bells trophy, but Rod insists surfing champion ’Midget’ Farrily was the first to suggest it.

“That was the first time I’d heard it,” he says.

Bells Beach under a brooding winter sky.

47

[green] thumbs

MAKING

mint A

WORDS: ELISSA FRIDAY

PICTURES: LOUSIA JONES

“GARDENING and cooking have always been my passions from the time I left home aged 17,” says Craig Rossington.

“When I was a kid we always had a small vegie patch at home and grew the basics, like tomatoes, cucumbers and things like that.”

Now Craig has a patch of his own but with a specialty focus.

Instant Herbs Instant Flavour produces 80 herb varieties on a one-hectare site at Lara, selling to restaurants and individuals.

“I’m a chef by trade and that’s why I got into herbs,” Craig explains.

“Their flavour is absolutely underestimated when people buy pre-ground or just dry herbs for their cooking.

“You get a much better flavour using fresh herbs.”

The 48-year-old took the business from concept in 2014 to functioning reality the same year.

48

“It was my brother, Shaun, who suggested I bring gardening and cooking, my two loves, together and try to do something commercially.”

Instant Herbs’ stock list includes basic items like parsley, chives, thyme, sage and rosemary through to Asian flavours including coriander, Vietnamese mint, Thai basil and lemon grass.

“I am always on the look-out and sourcing new herbs – there are 3000 varieties of herbs worldwide,” Craig says.

“On this property I reckon I could get close to about 100,000,000 plants in the ground to be cultivated to generate and satisfy the demand.”

Craig grows all his herbs organically, finding natural protections for his crops.

“For example, I’ve got a plant that I call the ant plant. Ants hate it, so I use it to keep ants off my herbs.

“Also, certain types of lavender plants are a deterrent for bugs, mosquitos, butterflies and moths, too.”

Craig also uses natural processes to stimulate pollination, such as placing a rose near a tomato plant to attract bees.

On Craig’s agenda next year is expansion into vegies including, cucumbers, capsicums, onions, carrots and lettuce.

Also in the pipeline is a maxi-tub option for customers interested in growing their own plants.

“Restaurants will be able to choose and harvest their own plants in a 900 tub that will hold 14 varieties of herbs.

Craig Rossington at work among the herbs on his Lara site.

“The maxi-tub will also come with a 12-month service where I’ll check on the plants a couple of times a week and replace them if they’re not doing so well.

Craig’s also planning children’s packs with a small tub, soil, mulch and rocks for kids to grow and maintain herbs and strawberries.

“They’ll get a choice of four herbs to grow in the tub,” he explains.

“It’s all about getting kids into gardening and getting them to use what they grow.”

Children need to know that “not everything comes from out of a packet,” Craig believes.

He has other growing plans of his own, with a five-year business goal that involves moving to a “much bigger property” where he can build his own packing plant to supply supermarkets.

In 10 years Craig hopes to have branched out into supplying the medical, health and wellbeing sectors.

In the meantime, Instant Herbs Instant Flavour is busy enough with its same-day deliveries to the customers’ doors.

“As the old saying goes, fresh is best,” Craig says.

I am always on the look-out and sourcing new herbs –

THERE ARE 3000 VARIETIES OF HERBS WORLDWIDE… 49

[social] network

2017 Geelong Business Excellence Awards launch 1

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5

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1. DI NELSON, ROBERT HUNTER, SIMON JACKSON AND JULIE HUNTER. 2. DAN MENZEL AND CAITLYN MACDONALD. 3. ROXIE BENNETT, JULIE HOPE AND CHRIS AND SUE MACKEY. 4. ELLEN FOX, STEVE CLARK AND NEISHA ANDERSON. 5. ENZO PITARO, ALVARO REVELO AND SARA TAYLOR. 6. KEN BEST, SIMON FLOWERS AND THERESA BEST.

INSTANT HERBS P/L INSTANT HERBS - INSTANT FLAVOURS

044 802 4404 E: instantherbs@gmail.com

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7. ANDY MATHERS AND DAN SIMMONS. 8. BERNADETTE UZELAC AND NICK REES. 9. JOHN ROLLO AND TINA PERFREMENT. 10. SANDY KELLY-BURTON, NICK KLEIN AND MIKE O’BRIEN. 11. KIM UDVARDY, KELLIE FINLAYSON AND ALEX HAMILTON. 12. TONY SPENCE, TAZ KEMP AND GARRY IACONO. PICTURES: BAREFOOT MEDIA

A spectacular weekend getaway in a tranquil, lush rainforest haven on top of Erskine Falls.

A bushwalker’s paradise, this venue offers exclusivity and is ideal for a cosy romantic weekend away, an intimate wedding, a corporate retreat, small groups or simply meditation.

Small Group Occasions, Weddings and extended stays.

Corporate groups, Special Celebrations, Bed and Breakfast, Meditation.

OFFERING

INCLUDES

UÊ{Êë>V ÕÃÊLi`À à UÊ >ÀÊEÊ> vÀiÃV Ê Û } UÊÓÊë ÌÊÃÞÃÌi à UÊ }ÊwÀi

UÊ ÊV « i Ì>ÀÞÊL ÌÌ i of wine on arrival UÊ"À}> VÊLÀi> v>ÃÌÊ > «iÀ UÊ vviiÊEÊÌi>Êv>V Ì iÃ

0414 789 297 Qiihouselorne.com.au

12345064-HM13-17

ECO MEDITATION RETREAT T

[home] bodies

NOW

zen and

Tucked away in native forest at Lorne lies a restored home dedicated to restoring wellbeing. ELISSA FRIDAY visits Qii House.

52

THE quirky yet cutting-edge architecture of a house in the heart of the Otways was “love at first sight” for Heather Kolb.

Heather discovered her “hidden gem” amid a stand of tall blue gums on two hectares at Lorne, purchasing it in 2007.

She then began painstakingly restoring and renovating the property to become Qii House Eco Meditation and Relaxation retreat.

The house already oozed peace and serenity, Heather says, so all it needed was some “tender loving care” to fulfil her vision for a therapeutic accommodation centre.

“It’s a real art house, a contemporary brutalist design built in 1977,” she says.

Heather began restoring Qii House in March 2015 with a team of local artisans.

Some of her favourite work was the landscaping with Japaneseinspired Zen gardens.

“The gardens were my own creation and were inspired by the forest’s integrity alongside the magical work of local stone man Ben Sloane,” Heather explains.

The project used Erskine River bluestone and local volcanic quarry stone, even cannonballs found on site.

Drawing on the insights of the property’s original creators, Heather applied her own passion to bringing the building back to life.

IT’S A REAL ART HOUSE, a contemporary brutalist design…

“The whole process evolved as a kind of bonding between the building, the people and its beautiful wilderness environment,” she explains.

The exterior features a large timber deck in the shape of an oriental fan, floating over the hinterland with splayed metal balustrading and spotted gum railings.

“The underfloor deck lighting and the rainbow waterfall lights ignites the Zen landscape, Heather says.

53

>>>

It’s a perfect viewing place to be at one with Australian native bush life –

SIMPLE LUXURY…

“It’s a perfect viewing place to be at one with Australian native bush life – simple luxury.

During the early stages of the restoration Heather was delighted to find red plastic power points and door handles intact.

But the original yellow custommade fireplace had been removed, so she replaced it with a new canary yellow log-burner.

Discovering the home’s heritage listing as ‘high local significance’, Heather tracked down the names of the people responsible for the design and construction.

“The architect was Edgard Pirrotta, of Melbourne and local builder Warwick Yates,” she says.

“They were really pleased with my plans to restore the house.

“Qii House was originally commissioned and built to specification by Darrell Wardell, a graphic designer from Richmond and a friend of Edgard the architect.

54

“It’s possibly the first house Edgard and Warwick built together during that era in Lorne and the only example left from that time.”

Heather describes Qii House as a “spiritual spa destination”.

“Being at Qii House is about mindfulness wellbeing, engaging with the natural environment, restoring balance, healing, meditation, relaxation, lifestyle space and embracing one’s inner-self.

“It’s about harvesting the natural energy and natures’ wisdom within the Great Otway National Park.

“It’s about getting back to basics, blocking out the noise from business as usual and shifting the focus to the art of living in harmony with nature”.

With the word Qi translating to ‘breath or air’, Heather says the house epitomises “every aspect of feng shui”.

The house comfortably sleeps eight, with facilities including a fully-equipped kitchen, outdoor pizza oven, bar area, log fire, two decks and a garden gazebo with two day beds set in the Zen gardens.

Some guests use the property for environmentally-conscious weddings and receptions, Heather says.

“For me, being there sometimes is for a sharper focus, for greater creative drive and for meditation.

“The natural environment gives great restorative energy and its creation also makes me very happy.

“I’m thrilled with the outcome.”

Qii House Lorne is at 630 Benwerrin-Mount Sabine Road, Lorne, phone 0414 789 297 or book online at quiihouselorne. com.au 55

Owner Sean Blood with his team Brendan Allen, Sheridan Beaton, Rob Vagnoni and Brad Pekin.

ON TOP FOR

benches REFRESHING the aesthetics of a living or workspace can be as simple as replacing a benchtop, says Sean Blood.

Newgrove manufactures its benchtops on site in a purposebuilt factory in Breakwater, Geelong.

“If people want to revitalise their kitchen affordably they should consider a benchtop replacement and create a whole new look,” he advises.

“Within a fortnight the benchtop will be completed and ready,” Sean says.

Sean, the owner of Geelong’s Newgrove Benchtops, has over 34 years’ experience in the joinery industry.

He’s proud of his company’s custom-made benchtops, designed specifically to meet customers’ requirements.

56

“They’re custom-made but there’s only a two-week wait.”

Sean feels strongly about “buying local”, so his company proudly supports ICM (Independent Cabinet Makers), a grouping of local cabinetmakers and related suppliers working in Geelong, the Bellarine Peninsula and Surf Coast.

ICM Geelong was formed to showcase the quality work of the Geelong’s cabinet-making industry, Sean explains.

“Throw away those junk mail kitchen catalogues and find a local cabinetmaker near you,” he says. Newgrove has 20 employees at its Breakwater premises. Some have worked at Newgrove for more than 23 years.

Newgrove’s vibrant showroom features an extensive variety of laminate benchtop options.

On display is a long benchtop with a European rough sawn oak-grain finish, giving “a realistic timber appearance”.

“Newgrove is the only Corian (solid surface) fabricator in Geelong,” Sean says “Corian provides inconspicuous benchtop joins for a seamless look, with the peace of mind of being a stain resistant surface.”

Newgrove’s showroom team is enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

The showroom is at 68 Leather Street, Breakwater.

&

Innovative Superior Quality B E N C H T O P S 5248 7101 Showroom Display 68 Leather St - Breakwater

www.newgrovebenchtops.com.au 12334581-EPJ13-17

what's

cooking?

BORGATA restaurant head-chef Piero Volpe says cooking, hospitality and looking after people are his “priorities”.

Piero opened his first Geelong restaurant in 1971 before 10 years in Melbourne and 15 years in Queensland “educating people on how to eat” through his cooking.

italy comes to

LARA

“I always take my cooking to where I feel that people are missing something,” he says, “to where there may be just fast-food available and there’s a niche there av for authentic Italian cuisine”. fo Living in Geelong for the past Li 20 years, Piero enjoys his work cooking at Lara’s Borgata co restaurant with his team of 12. re Diners are loving Piero’s garlic D prawns and his signature p hand-made four-cheese gnocchi, ha finished under a cooking fin salamander to give the cheeses sa “texture and flavour”, he explains. “t “People also love the fish lava, a mixture of fish and shellfish, and the scallops on bruschetta, wrapped in bacon and grilled with a garlic sauce.

“Our Meat Lovers pizza also has a strong following with its chicken, sausage, beef and salami – they love it.”

Italtoy comes Lara Lunch & Dinner

12340916-LD13-17

Tuesday-Sunday 5pm til late Lunch by Bookings Only Call NOW to make a booking or preorder your meal online!

GOOD FOOD - EXTENSIVE MENU - FRIENDLY STAFF

LARA VILLAGE - COLES COMPLEX Shop 1, 2-4 Waverley Rd - Lara 5282 4565 Email: info@borgatarestaurant.com.au

www.borgatarestaurant.com.au

what's

cooking?

SEÑOR MANNY’S

hot chilli mussels IN SPICY SPANISH SAUCE

SEñOR Manny’s Cantina is Lara’s new Mexican restaurant.

“We’ve tried to replicate the cantinas we’ve visited in Mexico,” says co-owner Anne Last.

Anne has returned to hospitality work after 20 years, with her daughter managing Señor Manny’s.

“We’re not the typical mass-produced type of food – we use authentic spices. Nothing’s processed, everything’s fresh,” Anne explains.

INGREDIENTS 4kg mussels 2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil 4 large garlic cloves, minced 1 medium onion, finely chopped 12 dried red chillis, crumbled, or 1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes 900ml crushed tomatoes or chopped puree tomatoes Pinch of sugar Salt and white pepper to taste 1 cup dry white wine Pinch of saffron (optional) 14 cups of chopped flat-leaf parsley PREPARATION Clean the mussels, discarding any cracked or which have opened unless they close when

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tapped with a finger. Place mussels a large bowl of cold water and rinse several times, swishing them around before pouring out water and refilling.

Clean the shells if necessary with a brush and pull out the beards just before cooking to avoid killing and spoiling the mussels.

METHOD In a large Dutch oven, soup pot or lidded frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the garlic and onion. Cook, stirring often, until it is tender and translucent – about five minutes.

Add salt and the chilli and cook while stirring for another minute until the garlic is translucent.

Add the tomatoes, sugar and white pepper to taste. Bring to boil, reduce the heat, cover and

simmer 20 to 30 minutes stirring often until the mixture has cooled and is very fragrant. Stir the parsley into the tomato sauce.

Taste and adjust seasoning.

In a mussel pot or a separate lidded pan add the wine and saffron and bring to a boil. Add mussels, cover and steam for four to five minutes until they open. Stir the mussels halfway through to make sure they are evenly exposed to the heat.

Discard any that have not opened. Keep warm.

Spoon the sauce over mussels in mussel pot and serve direct to table or distribute mussels evenly into four large wide soup bowls and spoon over sauce. Serve with toasted sour dough bread for sopping up the sauce.

Serves four

“We felt that Lara would enjoy experiencing some fine Mexican culture and cuisine.”

A variety of Mexican Jarritos sodas, Mexican and domestic beer, carefully paired imported Mexican and Spanish wines and a range of organic Raw Vine wines are available. Not to mention their fabulous cocktail and mocktail menu.

Señor Manny’s Cantina caters for private functions, cocktail events and more.

Shop 2A, 48-50 The Centreway Lara info@senormannys.com.au 12340911-EPJ13-17

www.senormannys.com.au

The Geelong region has some of Australia’s finest wineries.

ALL ABOARD

local FOR

WINERIES

60

GEELONG’S Murrell family has been in the transportation business since 1964, expanding from taxis to hire cars and now to buses.

“A huge variety of customers use our transport,” says owner Darryl Murrell.

A recent addition to the business is The Wine Bus Geelong, offering tours of the region’s wineries, breweries and other establishments.

The Wine Bus can be hired to tour the Bellarine Peninsula, Moorabool Valley or Surf Coast throughout the year.

The bus is particularly popular for birthdays and hen’s parties, Darryl says.

Heads,” Darryl says.

“It’s about creating the day – it doesn’t have to be just about the wineries.”

The Wine Bus recently also catered for cruise ship visitors who enjoyed lunch and a winery tour before reboarding the ship in good time for departure.

Darryl loves discussing ideas with customers to help “design their perfect day”.

“I’m extremely proud of the winery regions in our areas. We’re fortunate to have access to so many great ones and also to all the eateries that provide so much variation to the Geelong community.

Groups and couples can also customise their wine tours to include other activities such as picnics.

“The wine bus allows us to exhibit the region that we’re all so proud of.”

“Recently a hen’s party chose to stop for a while and have a picnic, where they enjoyed views over the Great Ocean Road and Barwon

More information is available under the wine bus section on murrell.com.au or by phoning 0425 798 138 or 5278 969.

Murrell Chauffeur Drive Murrell Chauffeur Drive have a wide variety of luxury modern limousines that offer unparalleled comfort and style.

For further information and prices please call (03) 5278 9456 during business hours Monday to Friday or 0425 798 137 Saturday & Sunday.

MURRELL G R O U P

- Airport Transfers - Special Occassion - Restaurant Transfers - Hen's Nights - Weddings - Corporate - Tours of the region

Avalon Airport Shuttle

Charter Bus

Winery Tours

Avalon Airport Shuttle operates a shuttle service from Avalon Airport that meets all Jetstar flights that fly into and out of Avalon Airport.

We offer a variety of 13 and 24 seater air conditioned mini buses and have recently added a brand new 24 seater "Deluxe" mini bus to our fleet.

Experience some of the great wineries, breweries and other establishments that the Bellarine, Surfcoast and Moorabool Valley has to offer.

Our comfortable air-conditioned passenger shuttles provide a simple, inexpensive transfer service direct to your door.

For bookings call (03) 5278 8788 www.avalonairportshuttle.com.au Facebook: Avalon Airport Shuttle Avalon Airport

Shuttle

Offering an affordable charter service throughout the Greater Geelong region and Melbourne.

To find out more, or to get a quote, call 0425 798 138 during office hours, Monday to Friday or 0425 798 137 Saturday & Sunday. www.murrell.com.au

We have the knowledge necessary to help you plan a great day out which you and your friends are sure to love.

For bookings call 0425 798 138 www.thewinebusgeelong.com.au

CHARTER

BUS

murrell chauffeur drive | 11 - 15 Douro St North Geelong | www.murrell.com.au | murrellgroup@bigpond.com.au

CALENDAR of EVENTS 1-30 April

Eat Local Month, Food and Farming Festival This community food and wine festival held across the Surf Coast and Otways offers a variety of culinary events throughout April.

Created by chefs, artisan producers, craft brewers, and winemakers, Eat Local Month activities include farmer markets, cooking demonstrations and workshops. eatlocalmonth.com.au

23 April

Until 7 May y

1-3 June

Abstraction:: Celebrating Australian Women Abstract Artists

Coranderrk

Covering the work of 38 artists, this exhibition reveals a passion for colour, shape, rhythm, experimentation and conceptual innovation. n.

With each artwork selected from the extensive collection of the National Gallery of Australia, the exhibition demonstrates the contribution of Australian women to abstract art.

Geelong Gallery Geelong

5-13 May

This witty rock opera re-telling bursts to life through toe-tapping song and dance hits including Jacob, Sons, Go Go Go Joseph and Any Dream Will Do. The entertaining family show about Joseph’s coat of many colours, it features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice.

Geelong Performing Arts Centre

14 May

6 July Lah-Lah Having Fun

2017 Victorian Karate Championships

62

Musical Mornings’ Great Composers of London’s West-End Australian and West-End musical theatre star Philip Gould will join award-winning performer Michelle Fitzmaurice and compère Philip Wheeldon in this tribute to the many great composers who have starred on London stages.

Organisers say the event promises to be a “feast for musical theatre lovers”.

ThePlayhouse Geelong Performing Arts Centre

Geelong Cross Country Club’s annual half-marathon begins at Belmont Park before following a riverside bike path to Breakwater and Fyansford before returning.

Participants can opt for a 7km run, with all invitied to share in fruit and a free sausage at the end of the event.

Belmont Park Geelong

Held annually, this commemorative tournament honours the late Sosai Mas Oyama, founder of Kyokushin Karate, who passed away 26 April 1994.

The 41st Victorian Kyokushin Karate Association (VKKA) Open Knockdown & No Contact Championships will be the first selection tournament for Kyokushin’s World Championships.

The Arena North Geelong

14-15 June

Joseph & The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat

Geelong Half Marathon

30 April

This special production recreates an 1881 Victorian parliamentary inquiry that pit the indigenous community of Coranderrk reserve against the Aboriginal Protection Board.

Promoted as both great theatre and history, it revives the voices of all the protagonists who fought for “a better pact between the country’s oldest and newest inhabitants”.

Geelong Performing Arts Centre Geelong

Mother’s Day Classic Australia’s largest breast-cancer fundraiser brings together more than 130,000 participants nationally.

Geelong will host one of the 100-plus runnings of the annual classic, with proceeds to benefit cancer victims, their families and reasearch into the disease.

Eastern Beach Reserve Waterfront Geelong

A family concert and interactive children’s show, Lah-Lah’s Having Fun show features a big live band for all ages.

Celebrating the 2017 release of new album Having Fun, Lah-Lah will visit Geelong as part of a national concert tour featuring new tunes like I Love Books and Number Jive along with favourite hits including Brush Your Teeth and Lola Loves To Dance.

Geelong West Town Hall Geelong West

A Significant Cultural Attraction ART GALLERY Showcasing Internationally acclaimed & emerging indigenous artists from across Australia

CAFÉ NARANA Enjoy a menu inspired by native ingredients & Indigenous Flavours

NATIVE GARDENS

NARANA SHOP Exciting range of hand made indigenous items and souvenirs.

Experience Narana...

NARANA ABORIGINAL CULTURAL CENTRE 410 Surfcoast Hwy, Grovedale, Victoria | www.narana.com.au Ph: 5241 5700 Email: reception@narana.com.au Narana Open: Monday - Friday 9am-5pm, Sat 9am-3pm Narana Gallery Open: Tues-Friday 9am-5pm, Sat 10am-3pm (Monday By Appointment) Café Narana: Tues-Sat 9am-3pm | Open Easter Saturday 9am-3pm | (Closed Good Friday & Easter Monday)

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Visit out Native Gardens including resident Emus & Wallabies as well as Kids’ Adventure Playground

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AUTUMN 2017 AUS $5.50 (inc GST)