You find the peace of the Australian country in the early morning of Gumly Gumly. Day 3 was a stay outside of Wagga Wagga at the Australian Homestead Motor Lodge. Partly rested and partly designing another, and more effective, explanation of my philosophy and history. The paper is published here.
Motel owners or managers are wonderful person to converse with. They usually care for local studies. After my conversation I departed on the easy road and rolling hills for Canberra. There is one stop along the way which has a particularly archetypal Australian flavour: Gundagai, derive from “Gundagair”, an 1838 pastoral run in the name of William Hutchinson and indigenous word that came to be understood, as “place of birds”. It is part of the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri people. I have previously blogged on the Statue of the Dog on the Tuckerbox at Snake Gully, “five miles from Gundagai”. It is the statue unveiled by the then Prime Minister Joseph Lyons in 1932 as a tribute to pioneers, and conveniently hiding the previous history of bushranger terrorism and Aboriginal disposition. Bushrangers were romanticised as persons, and Aboriginal persons were museum pieces. There is little doubt that the ‘pioneer’ narrative was whitewashing for the aims of modernisation of road transportation from Melbourne to Canberra. Still today the wider Australian population has a poverty-stricken understanding of the Colonisation project, philosophically as a concept, and historiography as history-crafting.
Usually, I have a wonderful story (‘stay’) at the Canberra Ibis Styles. An ‘Ibis’ is a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. In the end I was served well on this tour but it was a difficult start when I arrived in the Australian capital. I feel like I am staying at Fawlty Towers. First when I arrived the door-opening card would not open Room 117. Twice. First time I had to walk back to reception. Second time I rang on my mobile in front of the door and was on hold for five minutes. Then I had to wait another five minutes for the door to be opened.
Image 1: Room 117, Faulty Towers, Canberra
The heating from the air conditioning was not working and I froze; and I still waited a day for it to be attended to. On Day 5 the internet was not working, anywhere in the complex. Apparently, when it rains in Canberra the internet goes down. At dinner that evening there were no onion rings available. And they thought there were no eggs, for the fried egg add on. But the egg did arrive with the meal and they are not charging me. What is wrong with the egg? And to top it off, I had asked for the house red, and the white was delivered instead. I found out later that all the red wine had been drunk at the motel resort over Easter, and they had no time to restock.
Image 2: Fawlty Towers…
1) Hotel guest: “When I pay for a view, I expect something more interesting than that.”
Basil: “Well may I ask what you expected to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically…”
2) Basil: “Right, well I’ll go and have a lie down then. No I won’t; I’ll go and hit some guests.”
3) American: “Is this a Hotel or isn’t it?”
Basil: “Well, within reason.”
The upside was that, after dinner, the Manager was so embarrassed by the ‘faulty towers’ events that she transferred me to the deluxe Norman Lindsay Suite. Well, it was a nice turn of events, really. And my stay became very enjoyable. Thanks to the staff to the Ibis Styles for doing the best in the situation of British classic comedy.
Image 3: Norman Lindsay Suite, Canberra Ibis Style
Neville Buch