On our Easter family gatherings, before the splinter, a small group of us, usually led by Mum, would get up before sunrise and head down to the beach to go Iceberging.
Sometimes Lil would wake too, and I’d rug her up and bundle her into a stroller. She’d sit, snuggled in, on the shore with my phone. He he, she took some fun pictures and videos!
We’d take stale bread with us to feed the fish, I think we stopped doing that in the end because it was attracting young sharks? Or maybe I’m remembering incorrectly. It did attract little fish, I can’t say I liked that feeling of them brushing up against my legs.
Home for hot showers.
By now, the rest of the family would be awake, and with the verandah in full sunlight, we’d blissfully soak up the warm rays with our milky tea and museli.
Iceberging (at Sunrise in Woolgoolga)
Acrylic on canvas 30.5cm x 30.5cm (12×12 inches) by Arwen Munro, June 2024. Painted at The Music Box, Ambleside, West Vancouver, Canada.
When I lived in Sydney in my younger years, I’d drive up to Woolgoolga (and then, more often than not, on to Green Pigeon). My favourite was when the wattle was blooming along the Pacific Highway. Isn’t it incredible how memories can make you feel! Memories of cruising up the Pacific Highway, with wattle blooming and gum trees zipping by, make me feel peaceful.
Kurnell is a Sydney suburb on the southern headland of Botany Bay.
Botany Bay used to be synonymous with transportation/convicts/early colony. As generations pass, I’m not sure if it is any more.
Before Governor Phillip and the first fleet arrived, Botany Bay and Port Jackson were pristine, touched only gently by Australia’s indigenous peoples. Back then, you might be hard-pressed to find evidence of human inhabitance, maybe a small shell midden, remnants of a fire, small bark huts, or canoes.
Today, Botany Bay’s suburbs are full of humanity, a hub of industry, sea and air traffic, and home to thousands.
There are parts of Australia that remain relatively pristine. Sharyn Munro, my cousin and fellow blogger, frequently finds these places and takes us there. If you aren’t already, I highly recommend subscribing! https://sharynmunro.com/
From my earlier years living in Sydney, Kurnell was known to me as having a waste plant, not really a place for a Sunday drive.
But in 2020, I read that the best place to see the whales migrating north for winter was Kurnell!
Lil and I bundled up and went exploring!
We found Kurnell; I mostly remember a quiet place with a mix of industry, suburban houses, and hardy, bushy coastal trees. We drove past the waste plant and the desalination plant, but they haven’t made an impression on my memory.
Beyond Kurnell, we arrived at the great sandstone cliffs of Botany Bay’s south headland in Kamay Botany National Park. COVID was new and scary, so there weren’t many folks around. We found a single food truck and a few folks milling around. Everyone keeping their distance from each other.
There was an old two-railing wooden fence to stop folks from going out onto the cliff tops, but everyone was ignoring it. Being good lemmings, we did too.
We found comfy seats on the ancient, eroded sandstone, perfectly curved for our bottoms, and settled in to be entertained by the migrating whales.
Not a fin or a fluke was to be seen, and no manner of patience brought them forth.
Before heading home, we took some photos. The creamy, soft pink sunset made everything a bit dreamy, a little Picnic at Hanging Rock feeling.
Today’s painting is from this spot looking north up the coast toward Port Jackson/Sydney.
Kurnell Sunset
Acrylic on canvas 30.5cm x 30.5cm (12×12 inches) by Arwen Munro, May 2024. Painted at The Music Box, Ambleside, West Vancouver, Canada.
It’s full Autumn here in Vancouver now. I wish you could all see what I’m seeing out my window: the deciduous trees from up here are mostly golden with splashes of red, pink & orange, vibrant against the dark green conifers and cedars they live amongst.
In 2018, after more than 14 years in New Zealand, when Lil was 10, we packed the contents of our house into a container and headed back to Australia, to Adelaide.
Being a New South Welsh girl, I knew of Adelaide, but it didn’t feature as a place to visit or live.
And true story, when I was in my last senior management meeting at Weta Digital, one of the execs laughingly said, ‘Arwen is moving to the Palmerston North of Australia.’ Google will fill you in more on Palmerston North; the exec’s comment is mostly in reference to John Cleese’s remarks about the city.
Imagine our surprise upon arrival to find an incredible city, with graceful tree-lined streets chock-full of gorgeous stone houses! An amazing, generous green belt surrounding the town centre. The Adelaide Hills with beauty and history galore on one side of the city and stunning beaches on the other!
From the moment we landed, we loved Adelaide.
Kerrie & Josh came to help us settle in! Thank you, Kerrie & Josh! ❤️❤️
We found a lovely little half-house in Dulwich (they call them semi’s in Sydney), just half a block from the green belt.
We enrolled Lil into Norwood Primary. Once she was settled, off to work I went, walking from Norwood to the city, it’s quite a distance! I would love to be able to say I kept that up.
It was my first VFX producing role, and I loved it. I still do; it’s the best job in the world. To me, it’s the perfect mix of creativity, people, and numbers.
Some memories:
❖ The Adelaide Hills in Autumn.
❖ The Beaches and the great, brilliant blue expansive windswept skies!
❖ Roaming Rundle Mall with the ballet girls every Saturday between their classes.
❖ The ballet girls fitting for their first pointe shoes!
❖ The Fringe Festival, it gets HOT in Adelaide!
❖ I ruptured a disc in my spine! Thorin came down to look after Lil while I was in hospital for surgery. I’m grateful beyond words for my brother.
❖ The Barossa Valley, a gentle restorative road trip after recovering from surgery. I remember a little cafe where we found a little sunny corner, and settled in with our coffees and books, my little daughter and I, two peas.
❖ The French Crepe place, yum!
❖ Anthony got a job at The Mill! He’s moving to Adelaide!
❖ Football with Anthony, Lillian is still an avid Port Power fan!
❖ The heat! Luckily, it’s a dry heat, but even so, holy moly!!
❖Cats! That one goes into the infamous bucket along with The Island of Dr Moreau.
❖ Anthony saved Lil, with a dead phone, she was stuck downstairs after ballet, unable to get hold of me/access up the lift. He brought her up to me, and a couple of days later gave her a portable phone charger. We miss you Anthony!
And then, just like that, our time in Adelaide ended.
Next stop Sydney, off to the big smoke!
Beach Dancing (10 year old Lillian)
Acrylic on canvas 30.5cm x 30.5cm (12×12 inches) by Arwen Munro, April 2024. Painted at The Music Box, Ambleside, West Vancouver, Canada.
Beach dancing with Lillian, we both felt lighter in Adelaide. In this painting, she is stepping into a front flip.
To get to the vantage of today’s painting, after dropping Lil at dancing class in Darlinghurst, I would walk past the Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf and Marina, where rich people live and play. It was here, at one of the restaurants, that I had my first taste of Dom Pérignon.
I was working on a film and the American lead and his wife took me to dinner to thank me and also to offer me a job. I really liked this duo, but I couldn’t see a career path from being an assistant to an actor. They were gracious and kind, and the champagne was delicious! I forget which year they chose; I do remember them talking about their favourite vintage, imagine that! And I didn’t see the price tag, but no matter what vintage, I feel certain it would have made my eyes water!
The point of view of today’s painting is similar to yesterday’s, but from the other side of the Domain/Royal Botanic Garden Sydney peninsula, looking toward Garden Island.
Garden Island is home to a major Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base, and on this day, the great grey ship gleamed like silver, and the water was blindingly bright.
My Uncle Doug was in the Navy. He was only about five years older than my eldest brother, so he felt like a big brother to us all. I remember exploring the rock pools at Mullaway with him when we were little; the best fun!
My cousin Joe was in the Navy, too. Joe was the youngest cousin for a long time. Our young cousins were all so cute, gorgeous little sun-kissed beach angels. Those are treasured Woolgoolga memories, when we still had Nan. All of those memories, in my mind’s eye, are bright, golden, overexposed. Filled with laughter, I can hear Nan’s laugh; she would laugh with her tummy, her whole body. We are the luckiest people on earth to have her. This memory lane is a well-trodden favourite: sitting on the sunbathed verandah with her. Uncle Horrie is there, too. And Dog. The warmth of the sun, the scent of salt air, sunscreen, and hot chips! Beyond a doubt, we are the luckiest.
We have a song in our choir’s Christmas concert this year called I Wonder as I Wander. I do, and boy, I love wondering as I wander!
Sparkling like Dom
Acrylic on canvas 30.5cm x 30.5cm (12×12 inches) by Arwen Munro, April 2024. Painted at The Music Box, Ambleside, West Vancouver, Canada.
I can’t say I love this painting, I do like parts of it, but the memories are precious, which makes the painting precious to me.
Lady Macquarie’s Chair sits regally at the point of the Domain/Royal Botanic Garden Sydney peninsula. I love that Governor Lachlan Macquarie celebrated his wife this way, naming the road they’d built after her and inscribing as such on the back of her sandstone-hewn chair.
Some treasured memories from this corner of Sydney:
❖ My daughter danced at a studio in Darlinghurst. I’d drop her off at class and walk. Sometimes I’d walk toward the harbour, other times I’d wander around Darlinghurst, one of the oldest parts of Sydney. I can’t get enough of Sydney’s old buildings, especially anything from the early convict era. Those sandstone bricks the convicts made for the Darlinghurst Gaol, with their marks to track quota and to earn privileges. I stared at them for hours, and filled my camera! My imagination had a field day time traveling.
❖ Walking toward the harbour is a bit more dreamy, with crystal-clear, sun-soaked water lapping the sandstone, ribboned white and caramel next to you. That is, until you get to the west side of the peninsula, and a cold wind wakes you up, making you zip your jumper to the top!
❖ The OpenAir Cinema with Lil on a beautiful Autumn day. Though a gentle reminder to oneself, it’s a good idea to pack a jumper if you’re heading harbourside for the evening in Autumn, no matter how lovely it feels at home!
❖ A rainy evening at the Phantom of the Opera at the open-air theatre with the Munros & Chloe. This evening has put a smile on my face as I think about it!
❖ Christmas Eve picnic by the harbour with work friends and then up to St Mary’s Cathedral in the hope of getting into an evening service. Upon arriving, we found the cathedral grounds packed and buzzing, with a huge, mesmerisingly beautiful and colourful animated projection of a Bible story filling the face of the cathedral, along with food stalls and music. It felt a bit like Disneyland. The queue was too long to get into a service, so no stories and carols in church for us this Christmas Eve. Even so, we traveled home with full hearts.
Sydney’s Crown Jewels
Acrylic on canvas 30.5cm x 30.5cm (12×12 inches) by Arwen Munro, March 2024. Painted at The Music Box, Ambleside, West Vancouver, Canada.
Beautiful Sydney Harbour and its crown jewels, the Sydney Harbour Bridge & the Sydney Opera House.
From our apartment, we are spoilt with an incredible view of the Lions Gate Bridge (and Stanley Park, Burrard Inlet, Vancouver City, and Mount Baker!).
Pink and golden sunrises and sunsets glint off the city’s glassy skyscrapers, sometimes so bright you have to squint, and in squinting, the whole city looks to be made of gold!
The sun and water swing between chattering animatedly to smoothly reflecting each other throughout the day, delighting my eyes.
Gracie’s Pearls light up the Lions Gate Bridge from dusk til dawn.
At night, Gracie’s Pearls steal the show!
It was another painter at one of my painting classes who told me the lights on the bridge had the nickname Gracie’s Pearls. I loved learning that! (Gracie was Grace McCarthy, a Canadian Politician who was instrumental in getting us our lights. It sounds like it might have been a bit of a battle! Imagine having to battle to add something so beautiful and heartwarming to the bridge!!).
Gracie’s Pearls
Acrylic on canvas 30.5cm x 30.5cm (12×12 inches) by Arwen Munro, March 2024. Upstairs Music Box, Ambleside, West Vancouver, Canada.
This painting is a snowy day at dusk, Gracie’s Pearls have just been illuminated and the Stanley Park flag is at half mast as an expression of collective sorrow of the death of the former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney.
Over the years, I’ve sought out snow. In Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada…
But, how much joy is it when snow finds you!
Being cosy inside, with the fire roaring and snow floating, drifting, past the window of your home.
There is a quietness, a stillness, a change in the air as your world is slowly covered lovingly with a rumpled soft pristine blanket of white. It’s magic.
The joy and excitement in my daughter’s voice and eyes.
Especially when a Snow Day is announced!
And, the fun trick for the kids to magic up a Snow Day!
Love!
Home on a Snowy Day
Acrylic on canvas 30.5cm x 30.5cm (12×12 inches) by Arwen Munro, February 2024. Upstairs Music Box, Ambleside, West Vancouver, Canada.
This is another painting I thought I would ‘finish’ but I never revisited it. I sit with my paintings, and, I know this is going to sound strange, they tell me if something needs to be fixed/adjusted. This one was quiet, like a peaceful snowy day.
We ventured to Paris for our 2024 birthdays, my daughter’s sweet sixteenth!
We filled our trip to the brim.
❖ Walking the streets of the 1st & 4th Arrondissement in the rain. There is a painting from this day, coming up soon.
❖ Soaked and cold, snuggling into our cosy parisian accommodation.
❖ Sunset cruise on the Seine.
❖ Awed by the golden lights of the Eiffel tower.
❖ Gorgeous Île Saint-Louis, taking me right back to my first trip to Paris in 2001. When, with a freshly broken heart, I found a gorgeous little church on the island with a Handel concert scheduled for that night. I braved the Paris Underground to get back there that evening. The music filled my heart, tenderly seeking the hurt, and dissolved it through my tear ducts. Thank you, Île Saint-Louis.
❖ The nasty train office person who scammed us!
❖ Our train tickets we bought to cover our whole stay that didn’t work.
❖ Piggybacking!
❖ The Catacombs and the croissants from the patisserie across the street. The best!
❖ The scammer at the Disneyland train station. Je ne comprends pas! Thank you, high school French!
❖ Sweet mandarins from the little store down a lane near our accommodation, bought late on our way home from our day’s adventures, the rain-soaked streets glistening under the street lights.
❖ Lillian taking photos of me dancing along the streets of Montmartre, tipsy after our food tour to celebrate my birthday.
❖ Having our charcoal portrait drawn at Montmartre.
❖ Disneyland Paris in the rain and cold! Ratatouille was my favourite.
❖ Our birthday gifts from our sweet little French-royalty-inspired boutique hotel!
❖ Climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower late on our last night. The sleeping city twinkling. Bye, Paris, ’til next time!
Paris Sunset: Eiffel Tower & Lillian (days before her 16th birthday)
Acrylic on canvas 30.5cm x 30.5cm (12×12 inches) by Arwen Munro, January 2024. Upstairs Music Box, Ambleside, West Vancouver, Canada.
My brother and a beloved friend both referenced The Scream by Edvard Munch when I shared this painting with them. I quickly googled and saw what they meant! It was definitely not the feeling I was going for; still much to learn.
No other city has so fully captured my heart like New York City.
First it captured me through the magic of film.
Then in person, for the first time, in 1999.
On my return home to Australia, I found pockets in both Sydney and Melbourne that reminded me of New York. Especially the Art Deco buildings. So beautiful.
So many memories…
❖ Wedding dress shopping with my sister.
❖ The fortune teller!
❖ Screenwriting courses at The New School. How I love being in a classroom. How I love to learn. Yes, I was that kid in the classroom. Leaning forward, scribbling everything down, asking questions. Though I do recall a time when I managed to upset a teacher by talking, and he threw a piece of chalk at the blackboard. The sound of it hitting the board & splintering was shockingly loud; it made all of us jump! It shut me right up! (I like to think I wasn’t the only one talking!!)
❖ The train from Connecticut to the city. All the folks going to work, in their dapper suits & tailored dresses, and reading their large newspapers.
❖ Grand Central Station, stepping out onto the platform, immediately enveloped by the musty old underground train station smell, then scooped up by the wave of humanity, up the platform, to the grand Main Concourse, and then out onto the streets of New York City!
❖ The, to die for, salad bar at the station!
❖ Walking the streets as the seasons changed. Just like in the movies!!
❖ A winter evening, off to see a broadway musical, all the way from Connecticut. None of us really dressed warmly enough.
❖ Inside the Norwalk train station early one morning, finding a large African American man sitting with his legs blocking the stairs. I freeze. Heart pounding. He looked down at me with kind, sad eyes, and tentatively started to sing the ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ song, then moved his legs to let me pass. As my fear dissipated and a smile crept across my face, his voice grew and swelled with joy, filling the enclosed stairwell. I’m sure my smile stayed on my face for most of the train trip to the city; thinking about it now still brings a smile to my face.
❖ And Central Park!
2023 – Central Park: Gapstow Bridge & The Plaza
Acrylic on canvas 30.5cm x 30.5cm (12×12 inches) by Arwen Munro, December 2023. Upstairs Music Box, Ambleside, West Vancouver, Canada.
I’ve been back to the city twice since then, in January 2018 with my 10-year-old daughter and again in January 2025 with my almost 17-year-old daughter and almost 19-year-old nephew. So many amazing memories from both of those trips, too!
