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Published: September 25th 2010
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We were disappointed when Sunday morning dawned wet and miserable but it didn’t change our plans much. Instead of walking down into town we drove down. Leslie Park was where we were headed to see what would be the culmination of the last three weeks of hard work at the Sculpting Symposium. In spite of the rain many stallholders had set up, and on the stage a lone singer/guitarist was battling away. Later in the morning the unveiling of three large sculptures, which were to be donated to local communities, was to take place and the remaining ones would then be auctioned off. Interested parties had gathered to view but, in order to bid during the auction, you had to register and obtain a number. We’d had this silly thought about how wonderful it would be if we could get David a sculpture for his garden so we took the opportunity to register. Many smaller sculptures were also put out on show so now there were plenty to look at - about 26 in all plus the 3 already allocated. We were getting wet and cold so we nipped into our favourite café, which luckily is just across the road from
the park, for warming cups of coffee, raisin toast and cake.
We got back just in time to hear the mayor introducing the sculptors and then the auction began. Sadly the rain was worse if anything so the area around the sculptures was a muddy mess by this time. It was quite an experience just listening to the auctioneer’s patter - he was brilliant. We liked lot no. 2, ‘Dancing Brolgas’, and thought we might place a bid - silly us. The bidding started way above what we had in mind. The only other sculpture we were interested in was lot no.18. Although the rain was still belting down, it was great fun watching the auctioning of the different sculptures. Some of them were just fabulous and if you wanted a unique garden centre piece this was definitely the place to be. There were a couple of really strange looking sculptures by Emil Adamec who has left his mark round the world with his series called 'Acupuncture of Earth. Eventually it was Lot 18’s turn so we gathered around excitedly. Lot 18 was a small hippopotamus that had recently won an award at an exhibition in Brisbane so it
Strange but somehow attractive!
Sculpture by Emil Adamec: Acupuncture of Earth was not one that we had followed the making of but with David’s African connection we thought it would look perfect next to the pond in the back garden. Someone put in a fairly low bid so I bid slightly higher but a third person bid higher again. I bid again but that was instantly beaten. Each time I bid it was immediately beaten again and again so common sense eventually prevailed. Clearly someone else was determined to get it at any price so I left it to those two people to fight it out between them. So, sadly, the hippo went to an unknown home but, at least, who ever bought it really wanted it as it cost them about $1000! We watched the remaining items being sold - if we had wanted some polar bears or a giant egg we might have been in luck but for us it was the brolgas or the hippo or nothing! Although, as a last resort, I put in a cheeky bid for a frog but even that went for a small fortune. We trudged off feeling slightly downcast and nipped into the only supermarket that opens in Warwick on Sundays and
got a few veggies for tonight’s dinner. In the afternoon it actually stopped raining for a while so we went for a brief walk by the river.
Before he went away, David had made a spanikopita, amongst other things, and had left it in the freezer. So it came in very handy now and we all enjoyed a great dinner that evening.
The weather on Monday was only slightly better - it was just drizzling instead of pouring with rain. A couple of weeks ago Daphne had made arrangements for us all to visit her friends in Manly, a lovely coastal Sydney suburb, so we had planned to leave Warwick today. Unfortunately a problem arose at the Manly end and we had to make alternative arrangements. Manly’s a great place so, if another opportunity arises, we’ll try to get there later in our trip. Of course, with this changeable weather, it wouldn’t have been too good at the seaside! It brightened up in the afternoon so we drove off on the hunt for a few more sculptures (are we becoming obsessed?). In the tiny village of Tannymorel there is an interesting sculpture of a miner that we had
missed when we had been that way before. But now we knew that it was in Mt Colliery Road - presumably in the past there had been a mine in the area. It’s another brilliant sculpture and was well worth the search.
We went on along the country road, first on the ‘Settlers Route’ and then on the ‘Cedar Route’, to Allora in search of three more sculptures. On the entrance to Allora we just saw a ‘Mary Poppins’ sculpture as we sailed past but we went on into town and stopped for a quick tea break. By the time we came out of the tea shop it was raining again and, when Graham tried to start the car, nothing happened. Our first reaction was “not again”! But Graham checked under the bonnet and spotted the problem straightaway - it was a loose connection to the battery. He fiddled with it and lo and behold the car started. Although we were a little wary, we still had sculptures to find so we drove slowly through the main street until we found the ‘Allora Seat’ - another masterpiece. Unfortunately it was in the middle of very long and very wet
grass and the “pretty” side was facing away from the road. So I waded through the grass and could feel the wet seeping through my trainers and through my trousers up to my knees. I was soaked but I got the photo! We couldn’t find the famous wooden trough (it’s always good to leave something for another time!). However, we did find one of the only two memorials to the Boer War in Queensland! We went back past the Mary Poppins sculpture - which was also in the middle of long grass - but as I was already soaked it didn’t matter and I got my photo. The sculpture is there because the author of the book, Pamela Lyndon Travers (her pen name), lived in Allora for two years when she was a child and her father was the bank manager.
It was getting dark by then so we called it a day and drove back to Warwick.
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