Grace Kelly and Me

Grace Kelly in my dress

   I met up with Grace Kelly recently just outside of Melbourne.  Yes, THE Grace Kelly.  As we got to know each other I discovered just how much we have in common.  Beauty, grace, regal bearing....not exactly.  We have very similar tastes in clothing.  The "shirtwaist" style of dress, in particular.

   But let's start at where I met Grace.  At the Bendigo Art Gallery.   In an exhibition that was all about her: Grace Kelly , Style Icon.  I'm not big on blondes --either  bleached, cutsie-poo or vamp -- but there is a cool beauty radiating from this Pennsylvania native turned Princess.  

Grace Kelly movie costumes

   This exhibition started with  costumes from some of her movies-gifts from the studio to their star. We saw them in the movies and now we get to ogle them up close.  Rather slender our gal was. And the detailing in some of the costumes is admirable.  One dress has a zipper from the end of a cap sleeve to mid-rib with gussets in the armpits.  Grace would have needed a dresser to help with that zipper. 

   The stories and histories that came with some of the costumes practically  made them come alive. The dress she wore the day she first met Prince Rainier of Monaco for a movie publicity event is notable.  Her hotel had a power outage that morning. Grace had to pick the only dress that didn't require ironing to wear for the event. It was the dress she modeled for McCalls for their upcoming pattern book!  Moral of this story: if you didn't catch a handsome prince it is because you don't sew.  I like the way Grace frequently wore dresses more than once, including some of the very famous movie costumes. She referred to favorite dresses as "old friends" which needed visiting every so often.  I told you we were similar. 

Grace's wedding dress

   Everyone ooohs and aaaahs over her wedding dress. I think it looks rather constricting and itchy with all that lace against bare skin.  But walking around the entire dress,  I was rather amused to find that the back style of the dress  little related to the front and is entirely more to my liking.  

   I'm afraid the back half of the exhibition seems to creep downhill a bit.  The 70's were not happy years for fashion and our Grace preferred to cover her now more matronly figure with the caftans favored at the time. Ugh.  Monaco is famous for  its costumed charity balls. Grace's costumes to some of them live on in infamy.

1929-82

   But to each his own. If you find yourself in Melbourne between now and June 17th, head north to Bendigo.  My friend Grace Kelly is waiting to meet you.

Escaping the City

    Sometimes the open road just calls your name.  Maybe it is just a whisper, but....

An Autumn walk in Hepburn

    On a recent trip to Melbourne, we decided to flee the City and drove north.  It is autumn, rainy, uncrowded and the road is inviting.  First stop is Daylesford, a town of natural mineral spas, wombat and former mining that on this autumn day could easily be a movie location for somewhere in Connecticut. There are deciduous trees in these parts and the colors are vivid.  The only thing missing were carved jack o'lanterns on porches. There were moments when it felt less an escape and more of a return.   

Mineral spring water pump

    This area  has a lot of natural mineral springs. Public water pumps push out water from its own spring with its own taste.  Fortunately, few have the sulfur (or rotten egg) tinge that many people associate with  such springs. Most of these have a pleasant bicarbonate tingle to them.  Indeed, since 'once upon a time' the town of Kyneton has made a mint bottling their spring water for the souls in need of refreshment.  Kev and I did a water tour of the area.  Not quite the same as winery hopping , but hey, we're flexible.

Hepburn  Spa private tub

    I  wanted to bathe in the natural spring, so we went to Hepburn Springs ["Australia's Spa Town"] and to Hepburn Spa.   More rainy, bright leafed, October type of weather with a breadcrumb trail of yellow leaves leading us to the door.  We skipped the public pool with its chlorine mixed water and went right to the pricier private bath tubs that are exclusively  mineral water.  The mineral deposits crusting on the end of the spigot will tell you there is truth in their advertising.  The mineral constitution of the water is etched onto the side of the bathtub. Special luxury bath salts and moisturizers are part of the grand, one-hour experience.  Expensive as all get-out but I fairly coasted through the remainder of the day.

Chestnuts on e-grill

   Now, regular readers of this blog know that I rarely pass up a chance to ogle roadside produce stands.  Chestnuts were coming into season and we bought some from the back of the farmer's truck.  Where to roast them?  On the ubiquitous free electric barbeque grills found in every community park.  I started to hum "Chestnuts roasting on a 'lectric bbq, oh that misty rain it blows" while the roasting chestnuts started to burst at the X we cut into a side.   Quite the fun snack.

The Mall in Bendigo

   Eventually  we came to a public strip called Pall Mall complete with statue of Queen Victoria, a few mid-19th century domed buildings, shaped topiary and an idyllic air. London, England? Nope, Bendigo.  Bendigo must be Australian for El Dorado.  As with nearby Ballarat, gold was discovered here.  No longer lying by a tiny streambed but mined quite deep in the earth. Great depths and experience require a greater admission charge and cheapskates like us have already read the placards elsewhere, so we felt no need to pull out our wallets even for the chance to get dirty. Only Bendigo Bank is still mining at sea level.  There is a branch on every street corner...in addition to their three-block long national headquarters building.

Bendigo Pottery

     The Bendigo Pottery is quite famous and nearby.  Perfect to spend  a rainy morning here looking at the pottery being made, strolling through their top grade  collectibles (all kinds of curios) shop and, of course, purchase an item or two of the famous pottery.  Picked up a two-cup teapot for all the guests I have coming in the next two months.

     And then there is  the  Beechworth Bakery.  It's Australia's Greatest Bakery--it says so right on their sign.  The best item to pick up to test this claim is their signature BeeSting.  It looks like a cream puff with a touch of apricot jam to set it above the rest.  My mother-in-law, laid low in the hospital, seemed to make a quick recovery and quick work of the lemon torte and beesting  we brought to her on our way to the airport to go home.

    Did I mention that I met Grace Kelly on this trip? No?  That will have to wait for the next postcard.

A Western Australian Tourist

At The Pinnacles

Roo on road

   Recently a Canadian friend, Mike, came to visit us.  He had been hobnobbing around SouthEast Asia and made the detour to Perth before flying back to Alberta.  Mike did the usual touristy things: visit some natural phenomena, take photos of exotic road kill, check out what the foreign grocery stores have, buy some souvenirs and taste the local cuisine.  Standard recipe for a short stay in a foreign place. And we were happy to be his hosts.
    Where all this became unhappily memorable is the experience he has doubtless  shared with many tourists to the state of Western Australia.  It can be wickedly expensive.  For his greater comfort, Mike had opted to stay at a hotel shortly after his arrival. The few rooms listed at $100 a night had booked out weeks ago. Many, MANY phone calls later, we found a hotel at the fringes of downtown that actually had openings for several days... at any price.  Sunday's bed at The Melbourne came with a price tag of $160. O.K. but there is no such thing as a 'weekly rate' and the final bill for four nights came to over $1000.  The staff was friendly enough but not really knowledgeable about what was beyond their doors. And the serious skewer came when Mike needed a few pairs of socks and underwear laundered to get him through the end of the trip. The Hilary & Kev Laundry Service is free but the laundry service at the hotel was more immediate and potentially less embarrassing.  And it was considerably  more expensive.

Comparing prices

    To the tune of $5 PER SOCK. 

    Hotels always charge a premium but this boggled the mind. They insisted that they receive not a single cent from the outside service that picks up the laundry orders.  Mike's irate calls to the Tourism WA office, Better Business Bureau, Mayor's Ombudsman and anybody else who would pick up their phone came up with the same answer.  "It's a 'boom' economy. It's what the traffic will bear."   And it is complete and utter nonsense.  The 'boom' isn't that big and there is no fine line between what the traffic will bear and wanton greed.

    Tourism WA is trying desperately to get Sandgropers (residents of WA) to vacation in the state.  Who are they kidding?  One can fly to Bali with five nights in a hotel for the price of two nights in a Perth hotel.  It is trying with all the energy and lack of circumspection of a 13 year-old to court moneyed Chinese tourists to come here as well.   The Chinese, with their fabled business acumen,  won't need too long before they figure out that making money by doing the same for less here is a better plan than endlessly dropping dollars at overpriced establishments.  Once a destination gets a reputation for "shaving the heads" of  its tourists ( a very popular sport in Vietnam) it can be hard to shake.  Word of mouth and tour books  can do damage to a place's image for years beyond the actual fact.  Tourism WA needs to work more on the experience tourists will have once here.  The Australian attitude of  "if you don't like it, lump it" has no place in the hospitality industry--especially in this state.

   It turns out that Mike was charged $5 per pair of socks.  And if you are a guest of ours, count on free laundry (Kev will do it if guys are sensitive about their unmentionables)  and a far greater sense of hospitality. Everyone else...well, do come to see some of WA's natural wonders but with a little more money than you might think.