A LOVE STORY To my dear Julie Ann (16/3/45 – 16/8/24)

Julie’s passing is a very sad time but I’d like to share some of the many many joyous times we had together over more than 40yrs.

Julie and I met on Norfolk over 40 yrs ago and at a barbeque one evening at Emily Bay we wandered away to do some stargazing and I think a little magic passed between us. We both loved Norfolk: We often swam in Emily Bay (once at midnight in the moonlight), snorkelled amongst the fishes, surfed at Anson Bay, explored the forests of Mt Pitt, played a lot of tennis and squash, sang in her choir at St Barnabas to Tim Lloyd’s excellent accompaniment, listened to the Boobok owls and danced at The Bounty Ball in Rawson Hall. Then one night, from the top of Mt Pitt, under a full moon we watched a spectacular lightning storm over Philip Island. Such a magical moment was too good to miss and there we shared our very first tender kiss! Bless her heart Julie then said something about a knight in shining armour sweeping her away on his white horse! Thunderstorms and full moons were always very special to us after that!

After Norfolk I went to Canberra and Julie flew over to join me in her school holidays. We rode round the lakes on bikes, admired the magnificent frescos in The Serbian church, played a lot more tennis, had romantic dinners in the revolving restaurant on Black Mt overlooking the city lights and visited museums and the Tidbindilla Space tracking station.

Because of … my obligations, I eventually moved to Queensland and sadly Julie and I lost touch for over 25 yrs. Then, about 10 years ago, I was single and on holiday in New Zealand and happened to pass near Julie’s hometown so on the spur of the moment I sent her a postcard to show I hadn’t forgotten her. Of course, I didn’t know if Julie even still lived on Norfolk but just on spec I addressed it to Julie South, Norfolk Island, thinking, “if she does still live there EVERYBODY will know her”! But then I heard nothing. Ok, I thought sadly, she’s moved or very likely been snapped up by some lucky bloke and remarried or my card never even reached her. Then months and months later I suddenly got a call out of the blue.

“Who’s speaking please?” I asked, thinking the voice sounded a little bit familiar.

“It’s Julie, Julie South. Do you remember me?”

“OMG! OMG! No, Julie is that really you? You must have got my card! How ARE you? Where are you? OMG it’s so nice to hear you again!”

Well, it turned out Julie was transiting through Brisbane on family business and would we like to meet up again? Would we what! Is the Pope catholic? Yes, yes, yes Julie I’d love to, when are you arriving etc etc.

And so, a few days later, I waited excitedly at the airport with some flowers and Julie walked through the arrivals door and gave me her lovely smile and there we were – 25 or more years later and Julie and Davie were together again! Well, I took her to the beautiful Roma St Parklands, showed off the city lights from the Kangaroo Point cliffs and romanced her at a nice restaurant where we danced and held hands across the table again after so many lost years. Next morning I saw her off at the airport, but we promised to meet up again soon. And so, a few weeks later we met up in Auckland and sat and held hands and watched a beautiful full moon rise over Mt Rangitoto. Then it was Julie’s turn to show off New Zealand! Although it was not at all her thing, the first place she took me was to the MOTAT museum where I was in 7^th heaven seeing their amazing aircraft collection and bless her heart she came with me to many aeroplane museums and airshows over the years after that. At my model aircraft flying club in Hervey Bay the guys used to call her Mrs David!

She was very proud to show off the beautiful Hamilton gardens in NZ which have Chinese, Italian or Indian themed gardens and so on and they became one of our favourite places which we visited many times. In Taupo we stood on the bridge over the mighty Huka Falls thundering beneath us, admired the beautiful rose gardens as we often did in her home town of Te Awamutu, (“The Rose Capital of the world” Julie would proudly tell me!), went to a delightful “Operatunity” concert, played a lot more tennis, drove down to the wild Tongariro Crossing, visited the “Craters of the Moon” and swam in a hot lake near Rotorua.

And so, happily, we got together again. For reasons I needn’t go into here, I wasn’t able to visit Julie on Norfolk but we began a pattern of seeing each other in NZ or Qld and we got to know Brisbane very well. Julie was always very kind and helpful to others and on TWO separate occasions she spent a week or more in Brisbane as a carer/companion for her friend and prominent businesswoman (who requested she not be named) and I drove them around the city to the various appointments as well as viewing the Christmas lights, seeing the city sights and lights, visiting The Ginger Factory in Nambour and dining out etc. Julie and I often cruised up and down the river on the fast cats, visited art galleries, sculpture parks, museums and the planetarium or botanic gardens and sometimes we stayed high above the city in the luxurious Meriton towers. Julie loved the sculptures of the apostles at St John’s Cathedral, and we once went to evensong there.

Sometimes we stayed at the Gold Coast where we played in the surf, danced at The Italian Club, gawped at the millionaire’s mansions on Hope Island or explored the lakes, mountains and waterfalls of the hinterland. When I took Julie to the so called “Best of all lookouts” the cloud was so thick we could hardly see each other let alone any view!

Julie also loved the country around Boonah and Stanthorpe where we watched “Team Penning” and inspected the quilting section at a country show, gawped at the extraordinary granite pyramid, climbed Bald rock (and got lost in the bush!) and swam at the spectacular Boonoo Boonoo falls.

We also got to know The Sunshine Coast where we once met up with her best friend Noelle in Noosa at the time of a family wedding and we often visited Julie’s cousins Tony and Mary (and then 99yr old Rhean who JUST made her 100!) in Nambour. One special time we shared at Noosa was a romantic evening cruise on the river watching an eclipse of the moon or later watching glowworms in the rainforest. And of course, we shared my home in Hervey Bay where Julie often came to stay.

But perhaps our most favourite time was just before Covid when I was in the UK visiting my brothers and on a whim I bought a nice little open top sports car. But what was the use of a sports car without a nice chick to show it off to so I emailed Julie, “Would she like to join me?” and bless her heart she was on the next available plane all the way across the world!

Well, we had the time of our lives! From the airport I took her to “The Devil’s Punchbowl” where we could see London far to the North and the fields of France across the channel. In London we cruised the river, saw the sights and went to the musical, “Wicked” (which we HAD planned to see again in Brisbane). We went to an airshow of course, stayed at the delightful village of Bourton on the Water, which Julie adored, and where my very first car is in a museum, met up and stayed with my brothers in Wales, listened to a Welsh male voice choir singing “The Maori Farewell” in Caerphilly Castle which brought Julie to tears, stayed in a friend’s mansion in the beautiful Lake District where we visited the 2000yr old Roman fort at Hardknott Pass, watched a storm over “The Gates of Borrowdale” and took a steamboat on Ullswater where we passed another Norfolk Island! We went to York where Julie absolutely LOVED the magnificent York Minster cathedral and especially the beautifully quilted alter-cloth, and we stood on the deck of the replica of Captain Cook’s ship, The Endeavour, in Whitby.

And so, although we had a rather unusual relationship of only seeing each other now and again, it actually worked very well because we never spent so long together that we got on each other’s nerves but each time we met up again it was like another honeymoon! And maybe it showed too because on two different occasions, once in Hamilton gardens and once at the Kangaroo Point cliffs, complete strangers came up and asked us if we were just married and when we checked into a fancy hotel in Wales they put us straight into the Bridal Suite no questions asked!

Julie was very talented. She was an excellent teacher and I was so touched when one of her last visitors in hospital leaned over her and whispered, “Thanks for being such a good teacher”.

She loved her tennis and she frequently played with me in Hervey Bay where of course she immediately made friends and one lady, Eva, visited Julie on Norfolk recently.

But apart from her beautiful singing Julie was famous for her marvellous quilting. Whenever she stayed at my place she made soft furnishings like cushion or car seat covers for me but my absolute favourite is the beautiful quilt she spent days and weeks and long nights making for me, to reflect my upbringing in Africa. And here it is, showing lions and elephants and giraffes etc but also Mt Kilimanjaro which I climbed when I was a lad. It was very special for us to snuggle up and sleep together under her beautiful creation. Thank you so much for that Julie, it’s one of my most precious possessions.

Sadly, Julie’s big heart began to give out 2 yrs ago and she had to spend 3 months in Hamilton hospital in ’23. I flew over to be with her and one morning we were delighted to hear The Salvation Army band playing right under her window and on another occasion she was visited by a very friendly waggy-tail therapy dog!

She seemed to recover a bit and came over to stay with me in Hervey Bay before Christmas and that’s when she slaved away and made me that beautiful African themed bed quilt. Then in March of this year I flew over to celebrate her birthday in NZ where we had another of our lovely honeymoons! I then went over to the UK for a 20 yr family reunion with my 5 brothers and sisters. Sadly, we knew it was too risky for Julie to come and indeed while I was away she had to be airlifted off the Island to Brisbane. I flew back to be with her and thankfully we were able to spend her last weeks, days and hours together. Sadly, after TWO major heart operations failed there was no more they could do for Julie and she began to slip away. In her last days I sat with her and read her poems (She loved, “The Puddock” - The frog - and laughed at my Scottish accent and we both loved the mystery of, “The Listeners” and enjoyed many others like “Night Mail” and “Said Hanrahan”). I read her favourite passages from The Bible (Like St Paul’s sea voyage in Acts, Psalm 23 or the beautiful, Song of Songs – “I am black but comely O ye daughters of Jerusalem”) and we played her favourite music from Opera to ABBA to Welsh choirs. And we talked fondly of all the lovely times we’d had together. Julie was always very romantic and loved remembering our full moons and thunderstorms!

Finally Julie began to lose consciousness and I held her hand and stroked her hair to show her she wasn’t alone and I think she knew because once or twice she gently squeezed my hand. Somewhere near midnight dear Julie quietly passed away.

Julie was a delightful companion, a loving partner and a faithful friend and confidant. She was always kind and thoughtful, very generous to her sisters and others, cheerful and optimistic and had a lovely sense of humour. She would laugh when her sister Sue and I called her, “Unruly Julie” and when she found several of her wardies in hospital were named David she said she’d been surrounded by Davids all her life! I was #3!

Julie darling, you gave me your love, companionship and friendship. But in the words of your favourite Bible passage, “The greatest of these is love.”

Thankyou so much Julie my darling, I hope I gave you joy.

Your David