For some strange reason whenever we’ve been to Melbourne recently, we ended up in Perth.
When we moved from Sydney to Tasmania, we drove to Melbourne, flew to Perth for my mother’s 90th birthday then back to Melbourne to continue on to Devonport.
Last week Danita and I attended two weddings.
Unlike the atrocious (I didn’t say that – did I?) 1994 movie, Four Weddings and a Funeral, they didn’t include a funeral (although I did visit my father’s grave, but that’s drawing too long a bow).
The first wedding was in Melbourne.
It was my daughter’s husband’s sister who was the bride, marrying a boy from Montreal and Danita and I were very honoured to be included.
Like every religious Jewish wedding it was a mix of solemnity and exuberant joy.
At religious wedding receptions men and women are separate.
That means the boys can let their hair down and be seriously boisterous.
I once heard of a wedding where the then Premier of Victoria attended.
This was the first one like this that he’d ever been to.
He was heard to say: “This is the best function I’ve ever been to. My wife is is a separate room. I can eat what I like, I can drink what I like, I love this.”
Be that as it may, dancing at a Jewish wedding is a highly energetic affair and should not be undertaken unless one is in a great state of fitness.
While it involves a lot of physical activity, I’ve never heard of anyone collapsing and dying at one of these, unlike gyms which are other places of extreme physical activity.
On their wedding night the bride and groom are considered to be a king and queen and one is obligated to entertain them.
As you can see from the photos that’s certainly what happens.
(BTW, these photos are from the web and are not from the wedding we attended, but they give you the idea.)
I suspect that crowd surfing actually came from Jewish weddings, not Iggy Pop or Joe “King” Carrasco as Wikipedia claims (guess it can’t be right all the time).
Here’s the response from Wikipedia to the question “How was crowd surfing invented?”
Iggy Pop may have invented crowd surfing during the Cincinnati Summer Pop Festival (Midsummer Rock Festival) of 1970. Joe “King” Carrasco appears in the first documented video of crowd surfing in the 1981 Rock Video “Party Weekend”.
(As an aside, Iggy Pop’s father had been adopted by two Jewish spinsters. While Iggy wasn’t Jewish he may well have grown up attending Jewish weddings.)
So,after a very hectic Wednesday (Jewish religious weddings are usually held during the week, not on weekends) we had a “quiet” day visiting my daughter and grandsons.
Then it was off to Perth.
While we were there, Melbourne was cold and often wet.
Perth was very hot and dry.
Consequently we had to have clothes suitable for two very different climates.
Luckily, we travelled on the Spirit of Tasmania – the vehicle ferry which runs between Devonport and Melbourne.
The car was loaded up with multiple sets of clothes and served as a holding wardrobe for our winter clothes while we travelled into a hot summer.
The second wedding was a very different experience.
My eldest nephew was the groom and he was marrying the girl he’s been living with for some time.
While the ceremony was very moving, being held at a public park next to the reception center meant there were some interesting distractions; boats, dogs, children, even people playing cards right next to the ceremony,
This one was a civil ceremony and it was beautifully run by the celebrant.
We knew we were in a different cultural environment when the celebrant asked people to refrain from posting pictures on social media until after the bride and groom had posted theirs.
The reception was relatively low key, with “normal” dancing and socialising – very pleasant.
That was Sunday, and Monday morning we were off to Melbourne again.
Next day was spent shopping for food products which aren’t available in Devonport, specifically a range of kosher items.
We were a bit concerned when reboarding the Spirit of Tasmania for the return trip and were asked by the customs inspector if we had any alcohol.
As we had two cases and a few loose bottles of wine we dutifully answered “yes” expecting there may be an issue, otherwise why would he be asking?
We were greatly relieved when his response was “Please don’t drink it on the ship”.
Clearly, they want to make sure that the only alcohol consumed is that which has been purchased on-board.
We arrived home Wednesday morning to settle straight back into work.
With the benefit of the internet we had been able to do SOME work while travelling but it’s still highly disruptive.
After a few very early nights with lots of sleep Danita and I are gradually getting back to normal after a week and a half of celebrations.
Maybe I’m getting old (no comments thank you) but I really don’t get it how corporate types can spend large amounts of time travelling and still be functional – then again maybe they aren’t really but have simply developed strategies to trick people into thinking they know what they’re doing or talking about.
Anyway, we had a lovely time and are grateful that we have family across the country who honoured us by inviting us to their wonderful events.