Week 11-2009
Tony Delroy, Ron Radford,me and Arnie at the exhibition
A very busy week! Momi is coming to stay again with the girls from Shibuya High School. It was delightful to be able to host her again. She arrived on Wednesday.
On Thursday morning we had to be up very early because we were off to Canberra for the Degas exhibition! I knew that the exhibition was on at the National Gallery in Canberra. I had thought of various options to go, including driving up for a couple of days or flying up for a day. But, after some consideration I had decided that as we were going overseas , that I could not justify the cost etc. But then one afternoon on Local Radio 774 they announced a competition where you could win a trip to Canberra to see the exhibition. You had to choose one of four Degas paintings and write 100 words about it. I thought that I could have a go at it, so I did! And I won!!! A trip for two to Canberra, staying at the Hilton, a Cocktail party and tour of the exhibition with Tony Delroy hosting the occasion. We were then offered an extra night in Canberra and lunch with two senators, Trish Crossin from the Northern Territory and Gavin Marshall from Victoria. What to wear to the Cocktail Party was a little worrying. I eventually decided on a pink silk shirt and I made a new black silk skirt from a Sandra Betzina pattern. I had bought the silk in Bangkok. After organising Momi, we drove to the airport, flew to Canberra, got a taxi to the hotel – lovely- and then walked up to Parliament House. We met up with the winning couple from Darwin, Simon Elliott from the National Gallery and the two senators for lunch.
We had a delightful lunch, went to Question Time and then walked back to the hotel. The Canberra Hilton was wonderful! Built in 1927 so that visitors had somewhere to stay, it has all been restored in the 1920’s style. The next day we went to the War Memorial in the morning and then came back and were ready to go to the Cocktail Party at 5pm.
We met up with the other competition winners, four couples from NSW, one couple from South Australia, one from Queensland and one from Tasmania. We loaded onto the bus and went up to the Gallery. We gathered with people from the ABC and the National Gallery. Simon, who we had met at lunch, took us under his wing. Ron Radford, Director of the Gallery and Tony Delroy introduced the exhibition and then we went for a tour. It was wonderful! Prints, drawings, a beautiful pastel from the Mildura Gallery and some other great paintings. The painting that I wrote about, ”Dancer with Bouquets ” was in pride of place with the Little Dancer. The painting was suprisingly large. Our guide was great, but it is not the way that I usually look at an exhibition, I usually like to take my time. But, it was great to be there with only 50 other people.
After our viewing, we had a Cocktail Party in the Members’ Lounge. We had a chance to chat to Tony Delroy, which was great. Tony hosts the Nighttime show on Local Radio across Australia from 10pm to 2am Eastern Standard TIme. From 12 Midnight he runs the 25 Question Quiz. He told us thast he had someone phone in from the oil fields off the coast of Scotland complaining about one of the answers. We usually listen to Tony as we are going to sleep.
After the drinks, we were then taken back to the Hilton where some of us had a little more to eat. The next morning we flew back to Melbourne and then came back to Ballarat and picked up Momi from Rosemary’s place. The Canberra trip was wonderful. Eleanor Kirkham had done all the organising for us, so thanks to her.
Momi
Tags: Canberra, Dancer with Bouquets, Degas exhibition, Momi, National War Memorial, Tony Delroy