Happy New Year!

(don’t mind the German introduction — the video is in English)

 

T
here are myriad New Year’s Eve customs worldwide. In Japan, toshikoshi soba noodles are eaten to bring in the coming year. In Anglo-Saxon countries, finding someone to share a New Year’s Eve kiss with as the clock winds down has become a boon to the romantically-challenged. In Germany, however, a different tradition has taken form: every year on December 31st, TV networks broadcast an 18-minute-long black and white two-hander comedy skit.

In 1963, Germany’s Norddeutscher Rundfunk television station recorded a sketch entitled Dinner For One, performed by the British comics Freddie Frinton and May Warden. The duo depicted an aging butler serving his aristocratic mistress, Miss Sophie, dinner on the occasion of her 90th birthday. Although four additional spots have been set at the table, the nonagenarian’s friends have long since passed away, and the butler is forced to take their places in drinking copious amounts of alcohol while toasting Miss Sophie’s health. Hilarity, as it is wont to do in such cases, ensues.

Since its initial recording, the clip has become a New Year’s Eve staple in Germany. Although Dinner For One has never been broadcast in the U. S. or Canada, the clip has spread throughout Europe to Norway, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Austria, Switzerland, and beyond the continent’s shores, to South Africa and Australia. In Sweden, a bowdlerized 11-minute version of the clip has been produced, where, for decency’s sake, much of the butler’s boozing was excised alongside its attendant comedic effect. In Denmark, after the national television network failed to broadcast the sketch in 1985, an avalanche of viewer complaints has guaranteed its subsequent yearly appearance. Although the category is now defunct, the clip held the Guinness World Record for Most Frequently Repeated TV Program.

Above, you can view the original 18-minute comedic opus and celebrate New Year’s day in the same way that much of Europe will ring in 2015.

All of us at Riverbend Cottage wish you a happy new year! Rest assured, it'll be the same procedure as last year.

A very Merry Christmas from all of us at Riverbend Cottage!

 

It's all Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer at K-Mart and Woolies already, so we don't want to be caught out late, do we?

Although we've outsourced this year's greetings to keep costs down, Padma & Peter and the two K9s Malty & Rover wish you a very

Merry Christmas  !

We are a little hard to find and even harder to leave

Spot the red dot for your dose of peace and tranquillity. Lorraine and Bernard from Melbourne did and have just left again, reluctantly, but not without leaving this entry in our guestbook:

"Dear Peter, Padma and all the furry friends, residents of Paradise!

As we sit here, being mesmerised by the fluttering leaves and rippling river, we reflect on how lucky we are to have shared this total experience of beauty, peacefulness, generosity and relaxation.

Padma and Peter, we thank you for all of this and all those extras like playing with the dogs, indulgent pancakes for breakfast, wantons for dinner, friendship, the braying donkey, and the experience of watching a movie in the pond house, enjoying the cacophony of birds and insects playing amongst the lily pads in the pond as background to the Oyster Farmer movie.

Noticed the Christmas flag this morning! Reminds me that I have some serious shopping to do before Christmas Day!

Merry, merry Christmas and thank you!
Lorraine and Bernard"

And a Merry Christmas to you, Lorraine and Bernard, and we hope to see you again next year!

 

He was a brave man who first ate an oyster

 

The practice of casting votes to send someone into exile in ancient Greece was done by writing the name of the person on the flat shell of an ostreon which is Greek for oyster. I hope I won't be ostracised for having never eaten an oyster.

I mean, it doesn't just arrive at the table on a plate of ice fait accompli but is in fact a living and breathing animal which is also hermaphrodite - changing throughout its lifetime from male to female and female to male. Some have even been observed, though rarely, to be both male and female at the same time (which would make it a hermaphrodite, one of those fortunate creatures able to deal to itself by itself, thereby obviating the need for single red roses, expensive dinners, taxis, hours of exhausting foreplay and having to answer tiresome questions like, 'Will you respect me in the morning?')

Not everyone shares my aversion to these strange animals. Oysters were always a staple food of coastal Aboriginals, as can be seen by the number of 'middens', or mounds of shells, which look to an untrained eye like hills or natural cliff ledges since they are often covered with vegetation which have been carbon-dated to at least 6000 BC.

These middens were quickly exploited by the white man because lime, made from the ashes of oyster shells, was an important ingredient used for mortar in the buildings of the new and burgeoning colony. When it was discovered that the lime provided by live oysters was far superior (giving the lime more 'body') to that manufactured from empty shells, the natural oyster beds in Australia were soon depleted.

Today the Clyde River is one of Australia's major oyster-growing areas and I am literally surrounded by oysters. To paraphrase Shakespeare's 'Merry Wives of Windsor', the oyster is my world which, however, has never tempted me to gorge myself on this hapless mollusc. I leave this to our guests who regularly feast on the fattest growing on our jetty.

The calm during the storm

 

We all have our moments of anxiety, when the bustle of the crowds and the roar of the traffic gets a little too much. In the build-up to Christmas these worries can become more acute, with travel arrangements to make and presents to buy alongside those contradictory work and family commitments.

If the seasonal pressure is getting to you, bring a little perspective back to our needlessly tense and preciously brief lives by watching this short clip. Better still, book yourself some quiet time at Riverbend Cottage.

 

Just follow the sign

 

Riverbend Cottage is very easy to find; leaving it again is the hard part!

We are just 1½ hours by car from Canberra and 3½ hours from Sydney. Turn off the Kings Highway on the Batemans Bay side of Nelligen Bridge at one of the two turn-offs (marked # 1). At the junction (marked # 2), turn down Bridge View Road and follow it all the way down to the end of Sproxton Lane, at the bottom of which you see a blue sign that reads "RIVERBEND COTTAGE".

Drive through the open gate and along the pond and turn right before the horseshed. Welcome to Paradise!

 

1. Caravan Park   2.Steampacket Hotel   3. Cemetery   4. Fire Station   5. Catholic Church   6. Mineral Display   7. Anglican Church   8. Old School   9. Picnic Ground   10. Old Post Office   11. Nelligen Cafe   12. Community Hall   13. General Store   14. Old Steampacket   15. Tennis Court   16. Sunlit Waters   17. "Riverbend"

 

To print the map, click here

 

Riverbend's "Pizza Hut"

 

We're all set for a long hot summer! And there's no better way to spend it than by sitting in the shade of the newly-built "Pizza Hut" while enjoying the views and the cooling winds off the river.

 

 

And, yes, a pizza and a cold drink is part of the service!  ☺

 

Under reduced management

 

Padma's mum is seriously ill and Padma will need to fly back home to Surabaya to look after her during which time Riverbend Cottage will be under reduced management.

I have already donned my new uniform, so don't expect any tiramisu or baked cheese cake or other culinary treats while I am in charge.

 

Happy Anniversary, Michelle & James!

 

Michelle and James have chosen Riverbend Cottage to celebrate their tenth Wedding Anniversary.

Padma baked them a cake, put a bottle of bubblies on ice, and also ask our Balinese masseuse Lanny to come and give them both a relaxing massage in the peaceful setting of the "Clubhouse" by the pond.

Happy Anniversary, Michelle & James!

And thanks for the kind words you left in our guestbook:

They say first impressions last and what a fabulous first impression we had. Greeted with such open hospitality as soon as we'd driven thru the gate. Thank you for your generosity. Absolutely nothing has been missed, from your beautiful Black Forest cake (Padma, it was yum!) to the freshly made dumplings to the champagne and anniversary card, down to the kitchen provisions you supplied. We would have wanted for nothing more. Our expectations have certainly been exceeded. We feel so fortunate to have discovered this gorgeous piece of Paradise on the Clyde River that you so luckily get to call your home. The tranquility is priceless. I said to James yesterday afternoon that it doesn't matter what words we use to try to describe this place to our friends and family. They simply won't understand its beauty until they've experienced it. We were blessed with the weather and feel that it made our break absolutely perfect. We already can't wait for our next trip back to Riverbend. Michelle & James Dapto, Wollongong

 

Can you pick the REAL Chinaman?

 

Li Lin, his charming wife Li Yin, and their son and keen angler Jacob were with us for what have been the warmest three days so far this spring.

If you can spot the REAL Chinaman in the above photograph, we are happy to give you a dozen dim sims next time you stay at Riverbend Cottage ☺

 

The Lin Family from Sydney

 

They must've enjoyed their stay because they wrote in the guestbook:
"Peter and Padma, our family had a wonderful time staying at Riverbend, from the quiet nature of the area to the easy access to the river. Thank you for being very generous and understanding, catering to our needs. It is a shame we could not stay longer!!"

 

(in case you wondered: the Chinese characters mean "Thank you!!!")

 

A bird fancier's view of Riverbend

 

Anthea and John from Canberra spent three sunfilled days at Riverbend with John, an amateur ornithologist, hunting down the birdlife with his camera.

As he wrote, "These are the birds I saw on or from your property: Pelican, black cormorant, little pied cormorant, silver gull, eastern great egret, royal spoonbill, grey teal, chestnut teal, wood duck, black duck, Australasian coot, purple swamphen, sulphur-crested cockatoo, galah, King parrot, rainbow lorikeet, masked lapwing, grey fantail, brown thornbill, superb fairy wren, and a small water bird that I saw only once, and then not clearly. I think it was an Australasian grebe (also known as “little grebe”). They dive and stay under water for quite a while."

 

Last breakfast

 

On their last morning, most guests linger for as long as possible to delay their departure from "Riverbend". However, if you have a long return trip ahead of you and need to leave early, we will serve you a sumptuous breakfast on the morning of your departure to help you on your way.

 

If you don't want to cook ...

 

Your Cottage has everything you need to cook up a storm but if you feel like a break, you can just walk across the bridge to the village and buy a take-away from one of the two shops, Benny's General Store and Rick's Café.

Things to do

 

So you've done plenty of NOTHING at "Riverbend" and wonder what else is there?

Well, a trip up and down the Clyde River with Merinda River Cruises should be on everyone's list of things to do (we'll wave as you pass "Riverbend" :-)

Afterwards, you've earned yourselves a bit of retail therapy at the Village Centre and Bridge Plaza Batemans Bay.

Then learn about the local history at The Old Courthouse Museum or visit the Birdland Animal Park, followed by lunch (or dinner) at the Catalina Country Club or Batemans Bay Soldiers Club.

A few clicks down the highway is Mogo Village with its many touristy shops, Mogo Zoo, and the historic Gold Rush Colony (if you happen to be here on Sunday, 17 November, join us at the old Gold Rush Town for an evening with the Old Gold Folk Club).

If it's a Saturday, don't miss the Moruya Country Market and afterwards treat yourselves to lunch at the Moruya Bowling Club (also in Moruya from October 17 - 19 is the Jazz Festival). On the way back take the leisurely drive along the coast and pull in at the Tomakin Club.

As you come back into Batemans Bay along Beach Road, stop at the Olive Tree Café for a cuppa while watching the boats in the Bay.

But wait! There's more:

Batemans Bay Mini Golf

Dave Wood Fine Calligraphy Art Gallery

Clyde River Berry Farm

Ulladulla Leisure Centre

Ulladulla Harbour Markets

Tenpin Bowling Alley in Ulladulla

 

Why Nelligen? Why not?

Some guests ask why we live at Nelligen. The short answer is, "Why not?" Here's a slightly longer one:

It all started in Canberra while I was still running my small computer consultancy Canberra Computer Accounting Systems and dabbling in tax and accounting work on the side. After I had solved a tax problem for a German friend, Tony Finsterer, for which I refused payment, he insisted that I stay at his weekend cottage at Nelligen.

For several months, I didn't find the time to drive to the coast. When I eventually did I had almost forgotten Tony's offer. Luckily, I didn't blink as I drove across the Nelligen bridge on the way to Batemans Bay and so spotted this tiny village nestled alongside the Clyde River.

I asked for directions to Tony's cottage at the General Store and was shown to # 21 Sproxton Lane across the river. (Tony has since died and his cottage has changed hands twice.)

The cottage was locked and Tony in Canberra. I phoned him and was told to look for the keys under the watertank and to make myself at home. Which I did and which set me on my own quest to find a little place in Nelligen.

At the time, Nelligen was a place forgotten even by real estate agents and nothing was for sale except a few empty building blocks. One such block overlooked the Clyde River from its location in Nelligen Place. I could imagine sitting there on the verandah and taking in the views. Which is exactly what a chap was doing just two blocks away. I walked up and asked if I could join him.

Soon we were not only sharing the same views but also memories of people and places we both had known as "Sandy" Sandilands and his wife Betty had also lived and worked on Thursday Island and in Rabaul in New Guinea. I felt at home at once! A few weeks later I was the proud owner of a block of land in Nelligen Place!

I wanted to build a beautiful little Classic Country Cottage. However, a retired public servant who occupied a small log cabin next to me objected to my building plans - TWICE! - on some obscure grounds. This delayed me long enough to find a much better place across the river. And that's how I came to buy "Riverbend"!

"Riverbend" had been auctioned in August 1992. I went to the auction as a spectator knowing that the reserve price was outside my range. It must have been outside everybody else's as well because it didn't sell. More than a year later, in November 1993, the owners accepted my much-reduced offer. The rest, as they say, is history!

(Oh, and I did go back to thank the public servant for objecting to my plans so that I could buy this much better and bigger and waterfront property. Last time I looked his mouth was still open!)

 

Life doesn't get much better than this!

Sitting on board the LADY ANNE at anchor on the Clyde River in a peaceful cove, with a glass of Jacob's Creek Merlot in hand and the radio tuned to FM Classical Music - life doesn't get much better than this!

 

"City for wealth, country for health"

 

If you have been concentrating too much on the former and not enough on the latter, a week - or two or three - at Riverbend Cottage full of healthy food and healthy exercise will add years to your life.

 

Getting ready for the new boating season

 

Spring is only days away and here at "Riverbend" we are getting ready to spend more time on the water.

 

Riverbend Cottage is available for summer rental

 

A word of warning: summer rental at Riverbend is nothing like the movie of the same name. Here at Riverbend you are far away from noisy crowds (although the owner used to be one of them - spelled K-R-A-U-T-S).

Here at Riverbend Cottage it is quiet and very peaceful and you're the only guest. Instead of having to listen to somebody else's snoring or be "entertained" by some ablution noise in the room next door, you may hear the occasional possum wander over your roof at night or be surprised by a little green frog looking at you from under the bathroom door.

All this sensory deprivation may come as a shock to you and we suggest that, as a rough guide, if your chronological (or mental) age is less than 30, you will probably lack the appreciation of being miles away from McDonald's and the sounds of an infernal combustion engine.

To all you others and to those who want to recover their energy and rediscover themselves, please come and stay and stay long, sit quietly, breathe deeply, and listen to the river, to the birds, to YOURSELF!

And if, while you are here and doing lots and lots of absolutely nothing, you still find the time to watch a movie, you may choose from several hundred DVDs, including a copy of Summer Rental!

 

"The Brits are coming!"

 

We've just received a booking from Britain. Thank you, Elaine and Mike, and we look forward to welcoming you to Riverbend Cottage.

Not wanting them to think that there's no culture in the "Colonies", we shall add a tub of yoghurt to their breakfast hamper and and a copy of "The Adventures of Barry McKenzie", the first English language 'fillum' with English language sub-titles, to the Cottage's DVD collection.

Breakfast without the hamper

 

Your breakfast supplies are already in the fridge when you arrive: a loaf of bread, margarine (or butter), jam, bacon and eggs, baked beans, milk, a carafe of fruit juice, and some fruit in season.

And a bottomless jar each of corn flakes and rolled oats (for real porridge!), tea and coffee, and, of course, all the condiments. For anything extra, come and raid our kitchen.

Which reminds us of the French guests we had during the year. They knocked on the door to ask for some pepper.

"Black pepper, or white pepper?", we asked.

"Toilette pepper, please!"

There is plenty of that in the bathroom, too, but if you need more, simply ask. However, it comes in only one colour.

 

It's always five o'clock at Riverbend Cottage

 

It's always your favourite time at "Riverbend" and you wished it would never end. So come on down and have some fun. We don't care --- it's always five o'clock at "Riverbend"!

 

Have you ever bought someone a house?

 

Neither have we but I bet we can make a difference for Boni, Titi & Ho, the three gifted, charismatic street musicians in this feature-length documentary called JALANAN which is a drama/comedy/romance/musical all rolled into one. Although they're living on the streets of Jakarta, struggling to hack out a basic living in the margins of society, they don't act like victims or grow bitter but retain their cheeky personalities, their hopeful spirit and their good hearts. They laugh more than most wealthy people I know. They celebrate life. They are an inspiration to us all!

The producer of the movie tried to think how he could improve their lives through this film. To be sure, the awareness that it generates will benefit – at least in a small way – their immediate community, and perhaps even marginalized people in other places too. A film doesn’t fix lives, but it can bring acknowledgement, which for many of these people is really all they ask.

But he still wanted to find a way of leaving them with a better life after the film than they had before it. While they will always be responsible for their fate and need to continue working hard and acting responsibly, he wanted to do his part in helping them move forward in life.

Assisting them financially seems logical, but he had learned through years of experimentation that handing them money – as in cash – never works. No matter how much you give, it’s gone two weeks later. And it’s not even their fault: as soon as they come into any sort of money, they're under intense pressure from family members, friends and neighbors to help them out. Indeed, in Indonesian culture it would be unthinkable not to.

So any money he gives them inevitably ends up helping a cousin make payments on his motorbike, a neighbor fix her roof, or a sibling buy new clothing. None of this is bad, of course, but it meant that just days after a modest financial windfall, those buskers were no better off than they were before. He found this frustrating and wanted to find some form of assistance that would be for them, and wouldn’t just disappear.

So he decided to try to buy them each a house. Something that will be theirs to keep. A place they can live or rent out or raise kids in. It won’t be large or fancy or even in a good neighborhood, because he won’t realistically be able to raise that kind of money. But Boni, Titi & Ho are humble individuals accustomed to living simply (Boni lived in a sewage tunnel for 10 years) so just owning a home, no matter how modest, will be a dream come true.

A house with a legitimate land certificate is also a much harder thing to take away from them. The certificates will be deposited with a third party so that the buskers cannot be pushed into pawning off their property no matter how intense the pressure may be from those around them. With lives that are constantly in flux, their houses should be the one non-negotiable asset that stays with them forever.

A simple one-bedroom house in a low-income neighborhood in Jakarta will cost at least $15,000 and so the overall fundraising target will be $50,000. If a thousand people each put up $50, Boni, Titi and Ho's lives will be turned around forever!

We at "Riverbend" Cottage want to be part of this transformation and decided that for every booking we receive from now on, we will donate $50 in our guests' names to Boni, Titi and Ho's Housing Fund.

So next time you book yourself a holiday at "Riverbend" Cottage, you won't just have a wonderful time but also leave feeling proud and warm and fuzzy inside for having made a difference to three young people's lives. And since the donation is in your name, you will also receive a copy of the movie JALANAN when it is released on DVD in late 2014.

 

Donated so far: US$50 on behalf of Michelle & James Thompson US$50 on behalf of Elaine & Mike Maffei US$50 on YOUR behalf?

 

P.S. Of course, you don't have to stay at "Riverbend" Cottage to make a donation. You can also directly DONATE HERE. And if you have been touched by Boni, Titi and Ho's story, please tell your friends!

 

Silence ...

 

Have you ever heard the sound of silence? Not the Simon and Garfunkel song, which in many ways is the antithesis of what we are talking about here, but the sound of REAL silence, a natural resource that is all too rare in our world today.

Thanks to radio, TV, ipods etc., combined with the unrelenting noise of modern life, technical tinnitus ... the rumble of traffic, the muffled roar of aircraft all around, the hum of electricity, the whirr of computer and aircon fans ... silence is a rare commodity but there's still some left if you look for it.

Ssshh ... see you at "Riverbend".

 

Cinema Paradiso

 

If you love movies, then Riverbend Cottage is just the place for you! Apart from the dozens and dozens of DVDs in the cottage, we have a collection of many hundreds of the best movies ever made and we invite you to a night in front of the big screen inside our 'Bibliothèque', complete with a bottle of wine and some nibblies.

"Casablance", "Out of Africa", "The African Queen", "The Snows of Kilimanjaro", "The Painted Veil", "Il Postino", and many, many, many more. And every good Aussie movie ever made (remember "The Castle"?); even some 'foreign muck' in German, French and Indonesian. And, of course, "Cinema Paradiso", the beautiful, enchanting story of a young boy’s lifelong love affair with the movies.

 

Starting with a clean Slate 21 Android

 

Of course, "Riverbend" Cottage has a WiFi Router which allows you to surf the net with your own laptop or smartphone.

And if you haven't got a laptop or smartphone, or you forgot to bring it along, or you simply want to use a decent-sized keyboard that does not require you to have fingers as pointy as knitting-needles, just step up to Riverbend's very own "Internet Café" on the sunlit veranda overlooking the river to use this really smart-looking HP Slate 21 Android.

It's all part of the "Riverbend" service!

 

The Nelligen Golf Club is open for business!

 

We decided to call it the "Nelligen GOLF Club" because all the other 4-letter words were already taken. With a lagoon and pond on one side and the river on the other, our golfing guests just can't get enough of it.

Only the other week one of them, getting ready to hit his tee shot, called out, "Look at those idiots fishing in the rain!"

The problem with most golf courses is that the slow groups are always in front of you and the fast groups are always behind you. Not so at the "Nelligen Golf Club" where you have it all to yourself!

Life at Riverbend

 

 

June the 30th and we're already half-way through another year! Where does each day go? Well, here's a quick summary:

The kookaburras' mad cackling wakes us in the morning. I roll out of bed and go to the kitchen to switch on the kettle. I then sit in the sun and enjoy my first cup of tea of the day. Going back into the bedroom I find that Rover who sleeps between the pillows, has rolled himself into my warm spot and refuses to be moved. So I go back outside taking a carrot from the fridge to feed the possum in his possum penthouse. The almost-tame kookaburra has been following me around and it's his turn to be fed some of Malty & Rover's dog-food. All that effort calls for a second cup of tea!

Cup in hand, I wander down my "Meditation Lane" to the bottom of the property where I can look far downriver and possibly spot some early-morning fishermen trying their luck. The track is full of life. I surprise three dilatory rabbits breakfasting in the grass. The resident kangaroo watches me from a safe distance. A butterfly procession is in full swing. I sit down on a sawn-off treetrunk and, sipping my cup, ponder: 'Does a butterfly know that it used to be a caterpillar and does a caterpillar know when it goes to sleep that it will be a butterfly when it wakes up?' Life flows. Life ebbs. Knowledge has not solved its mystery. We have learned how to blow up the world and walk on the moon, but we still do not know why we are here.

If it is a weekday, I go back inside at around 10 o'clock to switch on the computer to watch the gyrations of the stock-market. As my old mate Noel Butler used to say when I questioned him once why he bought and sold some of those "penny-dreadful" shares, "What else is there?" Some days the market is good to me, on others it isn't, and on some it turns downright ugly but, as Noel put it so succinctly, what else IS there? In between watching stock quotations and listening to the news on the radio, I answer some emails and walk up to the gate to await the mailman. And so, almost without realising it, lunchtime comes around.

"Happy Hour" is when I take my afternoon nap on the sofa in the lounge when Malty & Rover join me. Waking up refreshed, I take a book outside and read for a while, sitting in the sun. Again, almost without noticing it, dinner rolls around after which it is only a couple of hours before I head off to bed to listen to Philip Adams' "Late Night Live" at 10 past 10 on ABC Radio.

And that's it! Multiply this by 365 and you have a fair summary of the whole year. May there be many more years like it!

Stop and smell the roses

 

What time does your alarm clock go off each morning? Five-thirty, six o'clock? Chances are it's earlier than you care for. Then, after a hurried breakfast - if you have time for breakfast at all - you head for your car or the nearest train or bus and spend the next 40 minutes or more lost in an angry herd of fellow commuters.

When you finally arrive at your office you find it pretty much the same as when you left it yesterday. There's your small desk in a nondescript workstation; there's your computer bulging with unanswered emails that arrived overnight. A small pile of faxes also demanding your attention sits beside a phone that will start ringing even before the workday officially begins at 9 a.m.

After a cup of bad coffee, it's down to work. You probably have a meeting to attend, a project to wrap up or a deadline to meet. You're always busy, always feeling the pressure to perform, to hit the mark, to compete with all those others beavering away behind the office partitions. For the next eight hours you work, pausing only for the occasional coffee refill or to chat briefly with another employee. Lunch is a cling-wrapped sandwich eaten at your desk, on quieter days a hot takeaway from the shopping centre across the road. At six you turn off the computer and head for home. It's usually dark by the time you arrive. Between dinner and sleep you try to make time for the important people in your life - your kids, your partner, your friends. There's rarely any time left to spend on you.

As you head off to bed you realise two things. The first is that another day has passed you by in a blur of paperwork and telephone calls, traffic queues and office politics. The second is that tomorrow that alarm will ring out in the early morning gloom and you will get up and do it all over again.

STOP!!! YOU NEED A HOLIDAY!

Not a holiday with long airport check-in queues, jetting from place to place, but a quiet, peaceful, refreshing country holiday with long, sunfilled days full of idleness and starry nights when you can almost hear the silence, if you know what I mean. You may even find the time to read Cindy Dowling's wonderful book "Sea Change - Australians in pursuit of the good life" ☺

At "Riverbend" you don't get woken up; instead, you wake up when you're good and ready because the only noise you hear is the one you make. At "Riverbend" idle time is not wasted time but the time you need to get back in touch with yourself and your partner.

Shrug off your big-city hang-ups and embrace a simpler life at "Riverbend" - for a week, for a month, or perhaps forever because "Riverbend" is also for sale - click here - as we're heading for an even simpler life in the wilds of Borneo.

 

At the end of the rainbow is Riverbend Cottage

 

Legend has it that at the end of every rainbow sits a leprechaun, hammering on a shoe, who will reveal the whereabouts of a crock of gold.

While many of us have seen a rainbow, few have been lucky enough to witness where it actually ends.

Now you know where it ends: at Riverbend Cottage.

 

Their last night at the Best Exotic Riverbend Cottage

Laurie and Carmel

 

Everything will be all right in the end; if it's not all right, it's not yet the end.

Everything has been all right for Carmel and Laurie during their second two-week stay at Riverbend Cottage, the weather, the fishing, and our get-togethers with a glass (or three) of a good Pinot Noir and some nibblies, so this must be the end.

Last night was our last 'Movie Night' when we watched 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' with Judi Dench and Bill Nighy.

There will be a sequel when The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2 is released in March 2015.

We hope there will also be a sequel to your visit to Riverbend Cottage, Carmel & Laurie, and that we will see you again, perhaps even before March 2015.

Keep well and your happy memories of Riverbend Cottage until then!

 

Old Gold Folk Club

 

We took our guests Carmel and Laurie to the Old Gold Folk Club sing- and play-along in the old Gold Rush Colony at Mogo.

Forget about the rain! (as welcome as it is in our watertanks ☺ ) Two huge blazing fireplaces in the Diggers Rest Tavern, with tables set with tiny candle lantern, created a cozy atmosphere for a great afternoon and evening.

left-to-right: Padma, Carmel, Laurie

After bit of a slow start, the place soon filled and warmed up.

Star of the evening was "The Man with the Concertina", Steve Wilson from Bombala, who had the place feet-tapping and hand-clapping in no time.

So what's the difference between an onion and a concertina?

Nobody cries when you chop up a concertina! ☺

Stay with us for the first Sunday of the month and we'll introduce you, too, to the delights of the Old Gold Folk Club!

 

The Fish Whisperer is back!

 

The Clyde River had twelve months to recover from the Fish Whisperer's last onslaught and so, right on cue, on their first day back on the river, the "Whisperer" and trusty helper Carmel returned with a whopper of a jewfish and two smaller flatheads.

Well, Laurie and Carmel, you sure won't go hungry while staying at "Riverbend" Cottage.

And thanks for showing me how to drop the cutting deck on my ride-on mower, Laurie! Remove just five cotter pins, do a bit of rockin'n'rollin', and it is off! Why did I pay all those mechanics?

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to remove the cutting deck from his ride-on and he'll do all his mower repairs for the rest of his life ☺

 

Hit the snooze button in the "Clubhouse"

 

There is no better way to spend a lazy afternoon than to hit the snooze button on the day-bed in the "Clubhouse".

Read a book, read the writing on the wall ...

... or just close your eyes and dream of staying at "Riverbend" Cottage forever!

 

Next time you speed across Nelligen Bridge, don't!

 

Instead, give us a friendly wave! We are where the yellow "x" is placed on the photograph (click on image to enlarge). If you see us waving back, call in for a cuppa and check out "Riverbend" Cottage for your next holiday at the coast.

 

Riverbend's COFFEE CLUB

 

Riverbend's COFFEE CLUB is al fresco, DIY, and completely FREE, so step inside for a bottomless cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate and a bikkie or two.

 

 

If you're lucky, Padma will bring you some of her rightly famous bread-and-butter pudding (see below) or, if you're luckier still, a piece of her even more famous baked German cheese cake.

 

 

If you really get her started, she'll make you a 'pick me up' cake - or tiramisu, if you speak Italian - but for her to stand in the kitchen a whole day to make it, it would have to be a very special occasion such as your birthday or your wedding anniversary.

 

We've made your (massage) bed ...

 

So you can lie on it to get the best Balinese massage this side of Sydney.

Lanny is Indonesian and lives in the Bay and can come out to "Riverbend" to give you a truly invigorating massage, complete with aromatic oils and calming music, in the peaceful and private setting of our "Clubhouse" by the pond.

All our guests rave on about how wonderful her massage is and so will you! It's the best $60 an hour you'll ever spend!