Beanied There.... Done (Doing) That

 After 5 years away,I am back in Central Australia ! Where all roads meet, in Alice Springs, for the 17th Beaniefest. 

 This is 'Beanie Central' where shortly masses of volunteers, (chomping at the bit!), will descend on the Araluen Cultural Centre's 'Witchetty's', to begin getting out the first of 6,000 Beanies for sale.

 Yesterday I helped out in the Main Gallery, checking that all the Competition entries, where all accounted for and on display. Giving assistance to Jo's mother-in-law Jonny, as doing it alone would take forever, and maybe not be accurate. Even with the two of us, (one reading out the barcode number, the other marking it off the list, with 4 different fluoro markers), we had quite a few boards or sections of wall needing a double or triple check ! hehe.
I was very lucky,and have had a sneek peek preview of the exhibition ! ....and the calibre of the work just keeps going up.

That's not to say there aren't some that  are quite weird and wonderful (in their own way), they certainly gave us some laughs.

One hat gave very welcome relief to 'cranky' curating/hanging' Mez, after she chatted about her 'beanie reasons' for crankiness; it shows two hands joined in friendship on the front,whilst on the back, is a hand meant to be showing the symbol for peace.

Buuuuut........

the the fingers are showing 'fingernails', meaning the they are facing the wrong way.
I 'awarded' it to Mez (in jest), for her to wear...... forwards, until any 'silly' problem enters her radius, when she can just turn her beanie around, with out saying a word, hehehe..........
Beaniefest Madness begins.....

When I arrived on Tuesday I spotted the front page of the paper on the reception desk

 Monday morning dawned with gentle winter sunshine,in the Northern Rivers, on my departure day. 

I had a moments panic, weighing my heavy case, full of crochet creations (8 wraps and about 20 extra hats, plus some miscellaneous water bottle holders, skirts and a new hand muffller/scarf/thingy. Did a minor shuffle into hand luggage.

Got to 'Check In', nice and early,and had a very nice 'fresh'  staff member let me thru with my hand luggage slightly over 20kg, ...  and offer me a window seat !!

[Gotta run now ..... Jo just rang and asked if'd let the ABC interview me! so will continue later ]

.......and then even let me thru with hand luggage weighing 12.64kg  (Thankyou universe) ...... but what would the next flight check in staff do in Melbourne the next morning ??

So after a lovely afternoon catching up with my beautiful niece, who then cooked a very delicious dinner of veggie 'meat balls' (eggplant and cauliflower),

 I spent quite some time juggling weights between case and hand luggage, and leaving behind a bag of extra yarn and miscellaneous beanie festival useful things.   I needn't have bothered, as my case weighed 19.7kg and then being near the end of check-in she didn't even bother to weigh my back pack and shoulder bag !!

The Melbourne - Alice Springs flight had me in an inner isle seat, chatting to my aisle neighbour, whilst crocheting. Amy, (a japanese or inuit woman from Quebec, was keen to find out free campsites for hitchikers, and the best places to try and visit in their limited time. She took copious notes. The two seats beside me, were occupied by two Japanese girls, who slept the entire trip ! I had to stand,with one knee on my seat, to peer out the windows, when we were flying over Central Australia.

On the flight from Coolongatta to Melbourne, I was blessed with a window seat and even an empty middle seat, to facilitate my crochet work. That is when I wasn't peering out the window, taking photos as the plane flew over Mt Warning !

 Mount Warning and some of the inner ring of mountains within the caldera. It is the largest extinct volcanic caldera in the southern hemisphere.

 The red dot in the top of the following photo is where I live, on the lower heights of the 'long mountain ridge' that continues all the way up to the top of the Macpherson Ranges, and the Queensland border.

 I am currently working on two 3D pieces, (with more planned), of Mt Warning Caldera. One is on a Wrap/Stole, the other is a hat

 So every chance to capture these aerial views, even if thru a plane window's curves and reflections, gives me greater understanding of the hidden valleys etc.

The Pinnacle extends out and down, like a ski jump between Brays Creek, Back Creek and Pumpenbil and Tyalgum, with Limpinwood Valley on the far side of 'long mountain'

 As the Skybus wisked me into Spencer Street station, now called Southern Cross, I snap one of where I used to live beneath the towering silos in Munster Terrace, North Melbourne.

An old warehouse, which we, the Jack Family renovated in the 80's. Living Rainbows Workshop - art studios, rehearsal and underground performance space, pin-pointed by the red dot.

 Then my niece Shantala, picked me up and we caught up with each other all afternoon, on the waterfront of St Kilda.

and drove me to the airport early next morning, thanks Shay !