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Published: August 5th 2011
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Doug and I with the comedy writers
l-r: Benjamin Law, Charlie Pickering, Fiona Scott Norman We have had a great couple of days here at Byron Bay. Yesterday we did our usual stop at our favourite little town of Bangalow before driving here and setting up.
It was such a lovely day, we spent most of our time in the sun watching the waves and .. a whale not too far out breaching and coming quite a way out of the water. We walked around the shops and had another 'sit and gaze to sea' time .. this time on the verandah of the Byron Bay Hotel, once owned by Paul Hogan's sidekick, Strop .. just the place to enjoy a g&t and soak up the atmosphere.
Today was fabulous. We were up and out of the caravan park early and headed to the Arts and Industrial Estate, to the end of the road, at North Beach, where the Festival was held, in the grounds of what was once the Byron Bay Beach Resort. Having the motor home there proved useful as, after hearing the first lot of speakers, we decided our shorts and top didn't suit the cool breeze from the ocean so we were able to go 'home' and change.
The
The Cookbook Writers
l-r: Victoria Alexander, Belinda Jeffrey, Adam Liaw first talk we attended was by cookbook writers .. Belinda Jeffries, well known from her days on Better Homes and Gardens, Victoria Alexander (the Bather's Pavilion, and a new and beautiful non-cookbook .. One) and Adam Liaw, winner of Masterchef. Their 'chair' was Janelle Purcell (Good Chef, Bad Chef). They were interesting and passionate about cooking and food and each had at least one book I would have loved to have bought!
Art was our next choice, as the main speaker here was Betty Churcher, former director of the Australian National Gallery. She was very entertaining - her book, Notebook, was full of her sketches of famous paintings, I think most from the National Gallery in London who gave her free time when the public had left each day to roam amongst, and sketch, favourites. Betty has lost the sight in one eye and the other was in danger of also losing sight, hence her haste to sketch and remember the paintings. Fortunately, she has been told her vision won't get any worse so has avoided total blindness.
Our favourites were three comedians speaking about their books .. Benjamin Hall, Fiona Scott-Norman and the delightful and very funny
Louis de Bernieres
Author of Red Dog, with Red Dog at this feet, and the dog's trainer Charlie Pickering. Together they bounced off each other and had us all in stitches .. I had to buy Charlie's book. Louis de Bernieres, who wrote Red Dog which opens tonight at Byron Bay (tickets sold out) was another entertaining writer and he was joined by Koko, the red kelpie who played Red Dog in the movie. We saw Paul Kelly speaking about his autobiography, for just a short while. James Redfield of the Celestine Prophecy was to be there too but was bitten by a spider in the US and was unable to travel out here.
It was a 'spot the celebrity' kind of day, quite a few mingling with the crowd. I wished I could have gone to all three days of the festival, Wendy Harmer, Richard Glover, Bob Carr, David Williamson, John Pilger, Gillian Armstrong among those who will be speaking. Tonight there is the Great Debate between some of the well known writers and tomorrow night, the Comedy Festival. Maybe next year we'll come again and be better organised to see more of what's there.
One more day here at Byron before we head for Surfers.
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