Terang

A hopping mouse, the house in which we were billeted and back garden. The last photo is the beautiful garden of one of the locals.

Terang

Yours truly with wife in the lovelly garden created by one of the locals.

Terang

Our Local church choir last weekend journeyed to the small country town of Terang which is about 3 hours drive south west of Melbourne to enjoy the tremendous hospitality of the local community. We were all billeted and treated to dinners and a sightseeing excursion of the region along the nearby Great Ocean Road which I have only partially captured in the above photos.

We provided the music for the weekend masses. As everyone enjoyed themselves it seems likely this will become an annual event.

The first photo at Timboon is the old railway station which has been converted to a store selling delicious ice-cream from local produce and whisky.

The second photo is of the Loch Ard Gorge which shows the narrow opening which fortuitously only two survivors were swept through from the Loch Ard wreck on Mutton Bird Island reefs near Port Campbell in 1878. The cabin boy Tom clung to a lifeboat which was washed into the deep gorge now called Loch Ard Gorge. Eva, like most people of that time could not swim but was able to stay afloat useing a chicken coop and spar. Tom dragged her to safety after an hour-long struggle fighting the elements. They rested in a cave at the end of the gorge where she collapsed from exhaustion having spent 5 hours in the water. Tom, after consuming half a bottle of brandy that had been washed ashore, went for help, running into a party from nearby Glenample Station. They returned in time to rescue Eva already turning blue from the cold. Eva and Tom never saw each other after they recovered at Glenample. Eva soon became homesick and returned to Ireland to later marry. Tom became a ship's captain.
The last photo is of an underpass for cattle. Dairy farms in the area have expanded and frequently a property will be both sides of the road.

Debra Byrne

Occasionally a singer ‘owns’ a song as it seems no one else can bring that unique powerful vocal interpretation into play; an emotional strength aptly befitting the words. I think this is true of Debra Byrne but you can judge that for yourself by listening to her version.

Debra in my view is streets ahead of her contemporaries whose qualities and vocalizations may be superior at times but are no match to her telent evident in this recording.