July 2, 2021
Imaginations take flight
(Louisa Jones) 242226_14
Nine-year-old Jaida Bapaume was among 25 local children getting lost with the fairies in their native habitat, Geelong Botanic Gardens, on Tuesday. “They really get into it,” said the garden’s Jenny Possingham, who has run the magical fairies and dragons workshops for several years. The children used flowers, sticks, bark and coloured rocks to make mini gardens for the pixies or their fire-breathing foes. “And a bit of glitter, because there’s no small child that doesn’t like glitter, apparently,” Jenny said. “We have a tree called the dragon’s blood tree and many years ago, well before my time, someone wrote a story about that tree and the last dragon ‘Draco’. “So it’s a way of celebrating one of our significant trees.” The workshops were fully-booked this week, with a few spots remaining for next week. The activity is one of many in Love Central Geelong’s school holiday program. Details: centralgeelong.com.au Luke Voogt
Interstate holiday chaos By Luke Voogt Scores of Geelong locals currently interstate face lockdown, quarantine and uncertainty amid worsening COVID-19 outbreaks in New South Wales and Queensland. Aspiring singer-songwriter Ruby Shirreff was in Tamworth this week with her mother for the Junior Academy of Country Music. “It got cancelled last year due to COVID,” said the 18-year-old, who graduated Geelong’s Matthew Flinders Secondary College last year. “We got into Tamworth late last Friday night. Then we joined the bubble and we haven’t left
since. No one can have any contact with the outside world.” Ms Shirreff and her mother underwent precautionary COVID-19 testing before travelling as a requirement of the academy. But the Victorian government has declared regional New South Wales an orange zone, meaning they will have to get tested within 72 hours of arriving in Victoria and self-quarantine until they receive a negative test result. “We’re just taking it day-by-day at the moment,” Ms Shirreff said. Hamlyn Heights resident Robert Saunders
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was on vacation with his young family in Noosa Heads in southeast Queensland, which is in a three-day lockdown due to end today. The area is a red zone, meaning Mr Saunders and his family would have to quarantine for 14 days after returning home if the lockdown does not end before their scheduled return on July 9. Brian Edward had to isolate in NSW for 14 days before crossing into Queensland with his caravan after leaving Geelong on May 27. Mr Edward and his wife are in Burleigh Heads, near the Gold Coast, to visit their daughter. “Another daughter and her son, who live in
Tasmania, have had to cancel their plans to fly up here,” the 81-year-old said. “This is the second time they’ve cancelled – we were meant to do it for my 80th birthday. So I still like to think of myself as 79.” Leopold retiree Ian Norton, 67, and wife Jenny, coincidentally camped next to Mr Edward, also travelled to visit a daughter in Burleigh Heads. Mr Norton had planned to join a reunion with old navy comrades on the trip. “It’s 50 years since I joined the navy as an apprentice fitter,” he said. “We put that off last year and now it’s been cancelled again.”
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