In Canberra

Well what a night. I met up with Bern and Dave, two of their kids Pat and John (plus the dog Paul), a more welcoming bunch of people you could not hope to meet. Before long I was ensconced in their kitchen sipping tea (which quickly turned to white wine, then red wine - well you know the story from here). The house has stunning views over Canberra but most impressively to me was the truly amazing sound system. I'm not talking about some Cbus thing with all the bells and whistles, I'm talking about absolute musical purity.

Canberra View

Now these speakers are seriously good. Dave is one dedicated audiophile and had these speakers hand made by an audio savant in Gunning of all places. They have twin woofers, twin drivers and a single tweeter powered by two separate valve amplifiers that don't power each channel but one handles the drivers and tweeters while the other does the woofers. It puts out a mighty sound. I would consider these the finest speakers I have ever had the pleasure to hear. Dave is a serious classical music buff and he cranked them up with a Tallis piece for 30 voices, some baroque string arrangements, then the piece de resistance a mighty Bach organ recording of the incomparable Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. He almost had me in tears.

Audio Heaven

2 May - The Damage

So come about 1.00am it really was time for bed. I had promised to take Claire for breakfast and drop her at school. 

Its Not Cold Claire

Then, because I was in such a rotten hungover state, Bern kindly offered me another nights accommodation. I spent the day exploring our nations capital before heading out early the next morning on a totally unexpected route.