EUMUNDI CRAFT MARKET

Saturday August 12, 2012. Another late wake up and lazy breakfast – still covering events of the past decades – what phenomenal memories some people have, especially the ladies!

Then packing as we were off to the Dunns for a couple of nights and then the two of us headed off in Wayne’s loan four wheel drive for the market at Eumundi, about 50 km from Noosa. The market was highly regarded by all and sundry – possibly the best market in the world, or at least Australia, or maybe Queensland.  I feel qualified to make some judgements about markets of this nature – mainly ‘craft markets’ because I have wandered through dozens in many parts of the world. Rab is fascinated by them, doing what Matt calls ‘mastodon shopping’. Strolling through the maze of stalls, stopping here and there, picking up an item for closer examination, putting it back and wandering on. Very rarely buying anything because, well…..there is very rarely anything we’d want to buy – apart from food and drink, where local items can be well worth the time spent standing by with my darling mastodon. One big exception was the markets in Italy which had shoe, handbags and leatherwork which converted her to an acquisitive hunter, more lupine perhaps or even vulpine than elephantine.

Eumundi Market met my expectations without too much effort. There really was nothing that we wanted, needed or liked. The only item we spotted that was for sale was an ingenious wooden device for holding ceramic or plastic pots with a rim.  There were large signs up all over the stall forbidding photographs and emphasising that these items were subject to copyright and patent and other intellectual rights. I had my doubts about these claims – after all it wouldn’t be too hard to cut a similar pattern with a jig saw.

But, as is also often the case, there were some very strange sights for those of us who sit and watch the passing throng while our partner sifts through the clothing shop selling inappropriate items. So I rested at one stage with a tasty  German sausage und sauerkraut on a good rye roll sipping an excellent homemade ginger beer which had the kick that commercial product lack, in case their customers complain.  There is a good deal of ginger grown in Queensland and there are many ingenious uses  that have been developed for the root. As I sat there in the chilly sun – the wind was still blowing and keeping everything cool – I tried to establish if there was any local style or fashion in clothing. It seemed that many of the younger females were wearing bright and flimsy cotton tops with pussy pelmet short skirts teamed with black tights and clumpy shoes. I guess that somewhere there is a pop singer dressed like this – Lady Gaga maybe – but I also have to say it is not the most elegant look I have ever seen, especially if the wearer is on the stout  side, as so many country folk were.  There were some pretty large men too, although their outfit tended to be limited to jeans and a singlet with a dirty cap on their mop of hair some still in untidy mullet style. Quite a lot of beards around too.

Sated with our exciting tour of the market – who does buy those garish paintings in primary colours? Or anything else for that matter. I can’t say that I saw any actual purchases taking place, apart from food and drink. It seems an awful lot of effort to schlep the goods, counters, tents etc out every week and then pack them up and take them home.

Eumindi looked like a nice little village, but we didn’t spend any time wandering around as it was full of people and we’d seen enough in the market. So we headed for the Dunns, using our faithful Tom Tom GPS because they lived about 25 km the other side of Noosa and we had to be careful about what road we took. We had firm instructions NOT to take the Cootharaba Road, but the Cootharaba Downs Road (the latter about 15 km away from the former). And we battled to pronounce Cootharaba bearing in mind the Coo being equal to Ka! On the way we popped in to  Cooroy/Karoi because the sun had come out brightly and I wanted to get a pair of sunglasses at  Gelignite Jack’s Emporium.

Gelegnite Jack's across the road

I usually wear lensed glasses for distance work which are photosensitive, but I have been finding for the last few months that I can see better without my glasses than when I wear them – at least for distance work. I went for an eye test the morning I broke my arm and the lass at the optician said there seemed to be an improvement in my vision – and it is so. We found a suitable pair of glasses for all of $6.95 picked up a couple of beers and soft drinks and headed for  Kathabarara aka Cootharaba. The pavement (or sidewalk) in Cooroy has some interesting panels inset, which we saw in other small towns.

GPS systems tend to have a bit of a warped sense of humour at times and at first it seemed, according to the map in my iPad that Tom was leading us a merry dance, especially when we found that we had to cross the Bruce Highway – a National Road  with two lanes of high speed traffic each way and a bend no too far up the hill. Thank goodness there wasn’t much traffic around, it being Saturday afternoon, otherwise the thought of an uncontrolled crossing with traffic moving at 100 kph would have been more daunting. Wayne confirmed later that there had been a number of very bad accidents there – hardly surprising – and certainly not Tom’s fault.

The area where the Dunn’s live is genuine countryside. The roads in to the area are lined with enormous gums and there are some small villages on the way. For some reason Google has decided that their position should be delineated by their northern boundary, which means you overshoot the entrance to the property by about 195meters. But we soon realised our mistake and were driving up the sweeping driveway of Kaizen Bed & Breakfast and Health Retreat, Kamo Park – the Dunns having decided to use part of their very large house and property for this purpose.

The house is striking – think Southfork in Queensland. Set in 79 acres, Wayne and Dal have built an enormous house with a fine finish and an enormous attention to detail. Shedding our shoes at the door because of the fine polished floors (and wishing we’d brought our warm slippers as the temperature dropped) we were welcomed with open arms and some very nice snacks. The main entertainment area is enormous – over 100 foot long and more than 50 foot wide. It Is broken into zones but the use of furniture and furnishings and glass walls on each side looking out on the one side on very large swimming pool with the grazing lands beyond and a neatly trimmed lawn on the other with interesting bushes and shrubs. Son Adrian is a landscape gardener by trade. Wayne and Dal sleep at one end of the house, beyond the kitchen and guest suite – at the other end of the house is a large wing containing four or five bedrooms, a bar and TV room and a room with a full sized snooker table. Their children and grandchildren drift in and out, staying for a night here or there – or maybe longer. All very casual and loving.

Exterior and Interior views of Kamo Park

 Dal had cooked up a very attractive meal of Moroccan Chicken – all nuts and prunes and exotic spices – served on cous cous. We talked until late in the night and so to bed after an interesting day in a rather cold room – difficult to warm that house.