Library Leaves - 24
Published on 21 October 2020
Wibayu
Library Leaves is brought to you by the words ‘Nabiac’, ‘Octoberfest’ and the number 1894.
Feature Library: Nabiac. Did you know that Nabiac was first established as a small river port for ferrying cedar? And that the first post office was named Cape Hawke back in 1870? Ten years later the area was named Clarkson’s Crossing, and fourteen years later again, in 1894, Nabiac became Nabiac. The origin of the name is Aboriginal and relates to being a place where wild fig grew. It has at least two claims to fame. The poet Les Murray was born here and it has an awesome library on the historically appropriate Clarkson Street. Do take the time to visit it. It has been recently renovated and looks a peach (or possibly wild fig).
Travel tip: beware of Navman in foreign countries, combined with traveller ignorance. In 2018 we visited Eastern Europe and had two notable Navman encounters. The first was when we drove from Prague to Ljubljana via the ‘fastest’ route. Navman had decided going the long way via the autobahns of Germany was the best path and added hours to our trip. Navman hadn’t taken into account major road works or Octoberfest! Second adventure. Own fault really. We were aiming to catch a ferry from Brestova in Croatia out to the island of Cres. We plugged Brestova into Navman and it gave us Brestova Draga. Off we headed. The thing about seas is that they should involve a large body of water and not, as Navman took us, to hills, fir trees and the sort of villages where they played the local equivalent of a banjo. Draga could well have meant boondocks (though curiously it translates as dear). It ended well enough. We found a different ferry from a different location and can now count ourselves as one of the few Australian tourists to ever visit that part of Croatia.
Have you ever had a Navman moment? Check out the top most unusual places in the USA.
Rhetoric word: procatalepsis: raising an objection to one’s own argument and then immediately rebutting it.
Portuguese phrase: ‘Professor, você acredita que o cachorro comeu minha tarefa? (‘Professor, would you believe the dog ate my assignment?’)
French phrase: ‘Ai-je l’air d’être né hier? Non, je ne l’étais pas!’ (‘Do I look like I was born yesterday? No I wasn’t!’)
Djurumi gapu.