It’s been a while…

Well it has been awhile since my last post which was made shortly after I commenced treatment for stage 4 melanoma in February this year. The good news is things are going well and after 9 months I am in remission, which several years ago was unheard of in relation to this disease. A huge thank you to my oncologist and her staff and to my special family.

I wont go into details, and there has been some ups and downs along the way particularly in relation to the negative side effects of the treatment, but the trial drugs I have been administered are doing the job, at the moment anyway. I have no idea what the medium on long term holds for me but despite the difficulties along the way so far there has been some great moments over the past 9 months. I will make some separate posts in relation to each but here are some photographs……….:

• a quick trip to Queenstown in New Zealand.

Queenstown

• a trip with Cricket Australia to the Ashes tests in Lords and Edgbaston with Spain in between.

Warms ups…day 1

Father Time…Lords where else

Lords test underway!!

Smithy’s ton!

• and  our daughter, Emma’s, recent wedding. 🙂
  

  Ready to go!!

  

  

  Love the hair!

  

  Our beautiful daughter

Things are Changing

After knowing that I had Stage 4 melanoma for almost 5 months, my treatment has now started. This has not been a problem as although growing, the tumours are still relatively small. It involves tri-weekly infusions of two drugs, over a two hour period, designed to turn off the parts of the melanoma cancer that stop the immune system attacking the cancer cells. The first of the two drugs has been around for a few years and has a moderate success rate. The 2nd is relatively new and has a better success rate.

I guess I am fortunate in that if this had happened to me say 5 years ago I wouldn’t be around now. But now there is a reasonable chance of controlling this disease.

Only recently a US drug company commenced what is known as a stage 1 trial of combining the two drugs, and the results are very promising. Recently two trials of this nature have commenced in Australia at North Sydney and Westmead melanoma centres. I am the first to commence the trial at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse opposite the RPA in Sydney. The people who are co-ordinating  the treatment are so good so I am very lucky. Only another three people will be part of this trial. In fact there are only about 30 on the trial world wide. So I guess I am at the cutting edge of melanoma treatment.

It was an involved process getting approval to be part of the trial but I am glad it is underway. There can be some significant side effects so hopefully I am lucky in that regard. As I write this, my first treatment was only 3 days ago. I was so pleased that all my family and Emma’s fiance Eric where there. I guess it some ways it is tougher on them and I am so sorry that they have to go through this, but hopefully the treatment will have the desired results. Physically I still feel fine so lets hope it stays that way!

 

Nice view of Sydney Uni Colleges from my treatment room

 

 

Anyway Sue and I had a lovely lunch on Valentines Day at Flemish Flavours, just up the hill from Leura rail station. It is a reasonably new Belgium restaurant serving some very flavoursome food and offering 14 different Belgium beers! Unfortunately at the moment, because of starting the treatment, I can not drink alcohol. Ah well, the greater good!

http://www.flemishflavours.com.au/

We will go back .

 

Flemish Flavours

View from our table

Roquefort Croquette

Simple but tasty rib eye and the best chips!

Today we had lunch in our courtyard and were both struck by the beauty of a white fluffy cloud passing by.

Also I have a copy of photos of our recent say at Emma’s and Eric’s at Drummoyne with their direct access to the harbour. They are the proud owners of a kayak in which everyone except me paddled!

The girls

Tim and Eric

A Weekend in Canberra followed by the Tall Ships

As part of the strategy of keeping me busy, Sue and I headed to Canberra last weekend to utilise a “Luxury Escape” voucher we has purchased some time ago. Our weekend involved a two night stay at the Park Hyatt located in the “parliamentary” area of Canberra.

We had a great afternoon tea at the Hyatt a short time after our arrival. Not too long after we enjoyed canapes and drinks which was part of our package. The quality and quantity of the food and drink was of such a standard we gave dinner a miss that evening!

Saturday morning started with a visit to old Parliament house. It is quite remarkable that that this functioned in its role until almost 1990! It did a great job seeing it was designed and built in the 1920’s. Although the old Prime Minister’s office reminded me of my office at Mudgee Council in the 1990s!

We spent some time attempting to locate a painting of Sue’s great, great grandfather Sir Frederick Holder who was the 1st Speaker of the Australian Parliament. Unfortunately it has been moved to the National Library as his time as Speaker was spent in the first Parliament which was located in Melbourne.

Park Hyatt

View from the visitors bathroom

The PMs office

Our next stop was the War Memorial.

In the past I haven’t been drawn to visit the War Memorial but I don’t know whether it is a reflection of my current situation but I felt a strong desire to have a good look around as both my grandfathers had been soldiers in WW1. Also Sue’s dad, Brian, had been a spitfire pilot and later a trainer for  pilots in WW2.

It is quite remarkable what our family members had to endure. Fortunately, unlike many others, they did return to start their families. If not we and our family would not be here today.

What is even more difficult to comprehend is the fact the three men involved were gentle, caring men. But due to circumstances they were involved in such horrific conflicts. The photograph of the Spitfire and one of the actual landing boats at Gallipoli were  strong reminders of their experiences.

A relaxing later afternoon and more canapes and drinks was followed by watching the Charity Shield:)

Before heading home on Sunday we visited the old bus depot markets at Kingston. Quality goods, crafts and food! The waterfront development at Kingston which is  adjacent to the markets, looks like a nice place to live.

Overall Canberra is a great place to visit. It is a pity it is a three and half hour drive from our home.

On Monday we caught an early train to Sydney for a harbour cruise on a tall ship including lunch and a visit to Goat Island, which in the 1830s was largely inhabited by convicts and used as sandstone quarry for Sydney. Despite the dreary weather we had a great time. Thanks Ann and Rob for the Christmas present.

Two of the photographs below show an interesting interpretation of mobile accommodation. 24 convicts were locked in these each night for 12 hours!!

The day finished up with a catch up with Emma near her offices in Circular Quay. The last photograph shows the building, with her office 5 floors from the top!

The old “Water Rats” Tv set

Emma’s bulding

A Visit to the Central Coast

I spent the first 17 years of my life on the Central Coast of NSW. I lived with my parents in the village of Gorokan. I don’t tend to get back there much so it was great to spend four days staying at Bells at Killcare. 

http://bellsatkillcare1-px.rtrk.com.au/?utm_source=Reachlocal&utm_medium=Retreat%20PPC&utm_campaign=Home%20Page

Although it is south of my original local area it nevertheless brought back a lot of pleasant memories.

The break was a substitute for a planned Pacific cruise with our good friends the Robsons which we couldn’t make due to my pending commencement of  treatment for stage 4 melanoma.

 

 

Although the weather wasn’t ideal, it rained for 2 days, it didn’t spoil our time there. We spent time visiting some places I hadn’t been to for years such as Umina, Kincumber and Ettalong Beach. I came across a number of cricket ovals where I played some senior cricket with Wyong as a youngster.

One of the real surprises was the small village of Pearl Beach. Below are some photographs of view over the village, and the village itself, including the superb Pearls on the Beach restaurant.

http://www.pearlsonthebeach.com.au/

After a stroll along the beach we came across this place with an unbelievable view and even better food.

 

 

We like Peal beach so much we are planning to book a full week there in the near future.

Our next trip is this weekend in Canberra. Then my treatment commences.

 

 

 

A celebration of Italy and Christmas

In early December the family got together to reminisce and celebrate our trip to Italy in October.

It gave me the opportunity to use our new pizza oven (gas not wood fired unfortunately) and of course eat and drink all things Italian.

The weekend also involved a visit to nearby Mini Haha Falls where Emma, Eric and Tim braved the freezing cold water.

Many hands make light work

 

3 Wise men

Nutella Pizza

 

Wine bought in Italy

Christmas in Leura

Later in December we celebrated Christmas. Sue cooked fantastic traditional style lunch with some fine wines, which we all enjoyed…possibly a little too much! It was a great day

The Kiddies

     

A tragic loss

I am compelled to write this post as I have been affected enormously by the tragic loss of Phil Hughes.

I was involved in cricket as a player, administrator and coach for over 40 years. I am without doubt what can be described as a cricket tragic. At the moment I am facing my own personal battles having recently being diagnosed as in the early stages of stage 4 melanoma so the future is somewhat unknown. The only reason I am providing this information to set the context as with the help of family and doctors I am coping quite well. But this tragic loss has shaken me and upset me more than anything else in my life apart from the loss of my parents.

I was never fortunate enough to speak with Phil but I first came across him at Sawtell in northern NSW when my son was selected in a northern NSW under 17’s team. Despite not playing in the carnival there was this little guy there with a broken hand who was also selected in the side. Strange I thought, until other parents there told me about this boys amazing record of scoring tons. His name was Phillip Hughes. The next time I saw him was when the selected side played at Bradman oval. He was run out in the first selection trial for not many but nevertheless made the NSW country side. The next day I saw for the first time his enormous talent as he carted the City attack to all parts of the oval and was selected for the NSW under 17s side. Not long after this I was at a regional CHS carnival where he scored a few hundreds, and was named player of the carnival. He had done the same at the carnival the previous year! I recall saying to my cricket club members and son that he would play for Australia by the time he was 21. A truly prodigious talent.

For some reason, and not just based on his talent, and despite not having personally met him, he made an impact on me more than any other young cricketer I have ever come across. My son is very proud to have played with and against him on a few occasions.

So I have followed his career closely and have felt his low points but mostly rejoiced at his success. In fact I was watching the Cricket Australia life streaming of the SA v NSW game and he was about 60 not out when I ventured out to the garden for a few hours. I remember thinking at the time at last he would be back where he belonged in the baggy green. But from then it all went horribly wrong. I feel for his family as I can not comprehend what it would’ve be like to lose a child, his SA team mates, in particular Tom Cooper who was also a North Coast of NSW junior and was batting with him at the time and who I understand is his flatmate in Adelaide, the NSW team which contained many of his mates, and of course Sean Abbott who was simply playing the game we all love.

I will hopefully watch many more games of cricket but I doubt it will ever feel the same.

Some cricket

Well seeing the word cricket is prominent in the name of this blog, and the season is underway, maybe a few observations are necessary.

While we in Orvieto the Australian team played the first test against Pakistan in Dubai. I managed to check a few scores whenever I could access wi-fi. It all seemed to start so well with Johnson picking up a couple of early wickets but after that pretty much turned into a disaster. Then I get home and the selectors made the inspired decision to drop Doolan and O’Keefe and bring in a talented but under prepared Mitch Starc and the Big No Show with the latter to bat 3!! Is it just me, but at this point of his career, what does Maxwell offer at Test cricket level??

Funny, about 4-5 years ago when I was working at Hurstville, NSW and Victorian 2nd 11s played at Hurstville Oval. I managed to watch a fair bit of the game (don’t ask) as I was interested in a few of the guys Tim had played with at junior level, namely Scott Henry and Joe Mennie. And as it turned out there were a few future stars on show, Jackson Bird and Trent Copeland bowled well for NSW, Scott got a few and looked good, but the best bat on show by a fair  way in my opinion was Rob Quiney from Victoria. Maxwell played and I don’t remember him doing much with bat or ball…Confidence is great in a cricketer but so is responsibility.

Turning to local cricket, it was  good to see Uni of Newcastle having a good outright win over City last game followed by a win in 20/20! And as I type this on a Saturday afternoon NSW are playing Victoria and the top 3 for NSW are all Sydney Uni players, Carters, Nick Larkin and Henry. Nick is 60 odd not out,  his first 50 for NSW in his second  game and Scott 40 odd. Hope the older brother Ben Larkin gets amongst them for Newcastle Uni this year! Unfortunately Sydney Uni are struggling a little bit without their big three although Mark Faraday did get a 20 odd.

….…I forgot to publish this post…Nick Larkin ended up with 140 and Scott Henry 130 odd in the second innings as NSW won outright. And UNCC are second place in the NDCA competition. Go Unis

Melbourne Cup

Some time ago Sue organised a trip to Canberra for the Melbourne Cup. Yes Canberra!

Last Christmas Sue’s sister, Ann, gifted us a membership of the National Gallery in Canberra.  One of their offers to members was a Melbourne Cup lunch. So Sue took up the offer.

We drove down on the Monday and stayed at the Crown Plaza which was nice and central. On Tuesday morning we viewed the Arthur Boyd exhibition at the Gallery which was….well Sue liked it. He was obviously talented but maybe not my favourite artist.

Lunch and the cup followed. We had a great afternoon and we were close to the last to leave….on invitation of the hosts. There were 14 tables of 8 and we were fortunate to sit with three couples from Canberra. They were interesting people, all retired, including past advisers to a PM,  a couple who seemed to have worked in some sort of  high level security roles..?? and an ex-airforce officer who now volunteers at the War Memorial. The latter was particularly interested in some letters Sue has from her dad from when he was in the airforce in WWII. He suggested that the Memorial would welcome copies of the letters which Sue will follow up.

The food and wine, along with the company, was excellent and in significant quantities. There were also a number of prizes on offer which included 5 lucky number prizes,  the best female hat, the best dressed male and one major prize of a nights accommodation and a variety of accompanying goodies, at hotel -hotel the leading boutique hotel in Canberra.

Well out of the 8 prizes our table collected 4, with each couple winning one, including the two main prizes! So what did we win? Despite Sue claiming I was odds-on to win the best dressed male, which seemed just to me, our friend in the linen suit and straw hat won….not badly attired but he should have run second! Sue’s hat was cool, but not cool enough. But…… I won the main prize so we are back to Canberra again! Could it be that we were chosen as we were non-Canberrians?? Perhaps, but we will enjoy our next stay.

Oh yes, the Cup was run and won, but no sweep winners on our table.

Regardless of the sad ending to the race, which I won’t comment upon, we had a fantastic day.

Back to normal …sort of

 

The first thing we noticed after our return to Leura, apart from the effects of jet-lag, was how in less than a month Leura’s  gardens had  transformed as a result of the warmer weather (although it did snow while we were away!). No wonder the garden festival is held in October. Here are some photographs all taken within 200 metres of our front door. Given my circumstances it makes me wonder why we didn’t move here years ago!

After being back home for four days, on my dear mother’s birthday, we headed to Sydney for my first visit to the oncologist. Interesting…despite some small lesions apparently showing on my lung, they couldn’t actually see them as they are so small. So…after hearing all the potential options it was agreed that as I couldn’t start on one of their treatment “trials” as they are so small, I would have another PET scan in a months time and then we would re-evaluate the next step/s. Very much wait and see.

That night we stayed at Emma and Eric’s, as they were in Melbourne, and had an Italian meal at home with Tim and Cassie!

As Cassie worked on Sunday, Tim came up for the day, and we drove to Blackheath where we visited the Rhododendron gardens (it was the Rhododendron Festival weekend) which my grandfather, Les Northey, helped develop many years ago. He would be so proud of what they have become.

 

 

In the afternoon we headed to Wentworth Falls and  “weeping rock” for a walk and photographs!

Last Day and Back Home

Our last day in Italy. It has been a great three plus weeks but it is time to get back to the routine of life at home. The  morning involved walk around the lovely town of Orvieto. We stopped for a coffee at Caffe Clan Destino on the Corso Cavour, which seems like the cool place to be. Friendly place, good coffee in the morning and aperol spritz in the afternoon.

We also visited the Orvieto Teatro (theatre). A magnificent building which hosts regular  concerts and productions.

The Stage with the Orvieto town crest

The Orvieto town crest high above the stage

Reception hall

We then headed to the station via the funicular for our train trip to Rome and flight home

It was 40 hours from the time we left Orvieto to our arrival home! But what a trip. An engagement, a 21st and the best company. But it wouldn’t have been the same anywhere else in the world. Why is difficult to answer. Italy is just a magical place. I doubt now whether I will get the opportunity to live there for an extended period which was one of my dreams, but I know our children now understand my fascination and love of this place and from their comments now have a similar infatuation!