Stopped for a While Peter H and Remember September

Welcome to Stopped for a While. You’ve had a long drive, and you’ve landed at the peaceful place on the Fraser Coast, just north of Hervey Bay. Once the tent’s up, the caravan’s level, and you’ve got a cold one in your hand, the stories wander down the road. Laughter’s never far off, and the facts sometimes take a detour.

That’s just the way we like it around here. This is the podcast about the folks who roll into the peaceful place and the stories they spin. Did it all happen just like this, or is it another one that just got away? That’s half of the fun, isn’t it?

So that’s where I go, “Hmm, maybe I should be doing something about it.”

So every September they’ve got a thing called Remember September.

Mm-hmm.

And it’s a 78… You gotta do 78Ks in the month of September.

Yeah. And you put it out there to your friends and family and everybody else who wants to donate. Um, in my last two years I’ve raised about 6,000 bucks, so.

So yes, we have another Peter.

Yeah, another one. Peter H. has a sad story and a happy one, and he’ll tell you all about his fundraising for Panc kind Australia. That story soon. We get all sorts staying here at the peaceful place. There are overseas travelers in their little juicy vans, always curious about Australia and our neck of the woods.

Their questions come in all kinds of English, but they’re as keen as. I’m an ex-European. You might have picked that. But when I left Europe, there wasn’t even a European Union. That’s how long ago it was. That’s all changed now, of course, the UK’s out of the Union. But anyway, I got to pick up a few accents on the way.

Gerald introduced himself and said, “Hey, I am Gerald. I am from Germany.” I replied, “Yeah, I picked that.” He laughs, “Oh, cool.” Next thing you know, we’re chatting all about the park. And before you know it, we’re swapping stories about where he’s headed and where he’s been. He’s headed off up to 1770, Agnes Water, and up north, or Rainbow Beach in Noosa.

He really couldn’t quite decide. It’s funny, they always seem to turn up around our winter. Mind you, we had a winter this year. I think it was about a day, a Tuesday, I think. You know, we have these pop-up storyteller gatherings at the peaceful place, down by the washing line, uh, round by the barbecue, and sometimes out the front of our place.

We squeezed eight into the front of our place one day, but that was a while back. Couple of weeks back, these guys set up at the front of a guy from Wodonga. And Peter– Yeah, no, he’s a– It’s another one, and Dean joined in. Then Rob got involved as well. Before you know, there was a good old crowd there, plenty of banter, and probably some BS, too.

The only catch, the mozzies got wind of it, and they showed up as well. Luckily, someone had one of those blue card things that you stick on top of a small gas canister, and the mozzies just stayed away after that.Peter made his way to the peaceful place from Rainbow Beach. When I asked him what had brought him here.

To be close to Lisa.

Okay.

Well-

Um, Lisa is your lady?

At the moment,

yeah. And she is where?

Howard.

Howard, just up the road?

Mm.

Just up the road a piece. Okay.

Mm.

Where did you meet up with her?

At the yacht club at Tin Can Bay.

Oh, right.

I was sitting at a table so, same size as you and I-

Yeah …

are. There was a band on.

Yeah.

Her and her friend, and her friend’s husband was supposedly going to Rainbow Beach for lunch-

Yeah …

but it was getting too late, so they decided to call into Tin Can Bay, and always being a realist and said, “Everything happens for a reason.”

I said, “I’m here on a table all by myself. Sit down.” And I said, “Where are you guys from?” They said, “Leongatha.” I said, “Funny about that, I’ve got very good friends in Leongatha.” Oh, really?

Started talking- Yeah … blah, blah, blah. Lisa sat there saying not much- … chatting to the other two, and we had a… struck up a conversation, and I said, “Where are you from?”

She said, “Oh, they’re staying at my place in Howard.” I said, “And where’s Howard?” Not knowing where it was. No,

of course. Well-

She didn’t know it was near Burrumheads, and I have a friend in Burrumheads who I’d explained- Yeah … one time that- Yeah … I’d met in Woomera.

Yeah.

And just an amazing, amazing thing, and my late wife said, “Things happen for a reason,” and Lisa said, before she left, I said, “Would you like my phone number?”

And she said, “Okay.” So I rang her a couple of days later and said, “What are you up to?” And she came over to Tin Can Bay. We had dinner. And the rest history.

The rest is history.

Yeah. And I, I wouldn’t say that we’re in love or anything like that at this particular stage, but we’re a good fit for each other.

Yeah. And that’s always the way. As, as you get to our age-

Yeah …

you become comfortable with each other, don’t you? That’s right. And it’s just-

Yep …

you sit there for half an hour and not

say a word- Mm …

but you’re comfortable.

Oh, absolutely. And she, she’s quite hilarious with some of the stuff she comes out with that she agrees with me, some of the stuff she doesn’t agree with-

but she’s a lovely girl. Love it.

Love it.

Yeah.

Love it.

Still working.

Yeah? Yeah. She, what she do?

She’s an area manager for Cadbury.

Oh, okay.

Mm. Hello. Into chocolate big time. Ah.

Oh, go- she could be my favorite person.

No, she’s, uh… I said to her, “I’m not a big chocolate eater because I’m a diabetic.”

Okay.

And she goes, “I can change that.”Ah, she’s good. She’s good about it. No, that’s good. And we’ve had, you know, we’ve had quite a few nights that we’ve, you know, I, I, I like cooking.

Yep. Yep.

She likes my cooking.

Mm-hmm.

She says, “Oh, you know, you’re Master Chef.” I said, “No, I’m not Master Chef, I just know how to cook.” I said, “Because I worked away a lot in my career, I had to cook for myself-

Yeah

five nights a week. Come home, my wife was one of the best cooks going, so I learned a lot from her.”

Exactly.

And the last weeks of her dying she said, she said, “I don’t know how you’re gonna survive.” She said, “You can’t cook.”

Oh.

And she still had a sense of humor- Poor soul … even though she was dying,

so. We lost her due, I’m guessing, to cancer.

Pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic. Oh. From- Just …

diagnosis to death was eight weeks.

Really?

Yeah. And most, most pancreatic cancer cases are, they’re not long.

Yeah.

Once you’ve, once you’ve been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, um, you have got a death sentence, and it’s just a matter of when. Oh, so sad. And I didn’t understand this about pan- I knew nothing about pancreatic cancer.

No,

no,

no. I know an awful lot about it now. I bet you

do now.

Yeah. I, I- In that, in that

short period of time it

would’ve- Yep … yeah. I work in conjunction with a, a, a mob called PanKind.

Mm-hmm.

Um, they are 11 volunteers that raise about $4 or $5 million a year. Um, they’re based up in, I don’t know whether in Queensland or in Sydney.

Um, the lady that runs it, her husband was a doctor, and he died of pancreatic cancer, and he was doing the research on it at that particular stage. So yeah, it’s just… So they have a thing called Remember September- Yeah … and that’s what I wanna put out to everybody- Mm-hmm … that I normally try and do through my local newspaper in Mansfield where I live.

Yeah.

Is that there’s 78 people a week in Australia- Died from pancreatic cancer

78

A week

A week

So that’s where I go, “Mm, maybe I should be doing something about it.” So every September they’ve got a thing called Remember September.

Mm-hmm.

And it’s a 78… You gotta do 78 K’s in the month of September.

Yeah.

And you put it out there to your friends and family and everybody else who wants to donate. Um, in my last two years, I’ve raised about 6,000 bucks, so. That’s a

good effort. That’s a good-

Makes me feel a little bit better.

Oh, I bet it does. I bet it does.

Mm.

We’ll, uh, put some details in the podcast, uh, in the description of where you can help.

Yeah. Oh, Pink- Because, uh- … Lines, it’s Australia wide. And it’s- It’d be

nice. Yeah.

Be nice for us and, uh, others. But

it’s all about research. It’s nothing to do with helping the particular patient out or getting nurses like the Glenn, Glenn McGrath Foundation. It’s all about research. That’s research. And they’ve, they’ve come ahead in leaps and bounds since this mob’s been donating money to research.

That’s amazing.

But they can’t get federal funding.

Yeah. That’s amazing.

Mm.

And so sad for… It, I can only… You must feel like to be diagnosed, it’s till eight weeks. Just couldn’t believe it. I

wish I did know eight weeks. No. That’s the time. But-

Yeah …

yeah, look, it was an awful hurry, big adjustment. Been without her for two and a half, nearly three years.

Time to

move

on. Stay o- Look, you don’t move on. You, you seriously… I was in love with my wife from age 16.

Yeah.

Till she died when she was 71. Finest woman God ever put breath into, and unfortunately somebody took her away and that was it. You know, it’s, it’s a sad, but I’m not the only one. There’s thousands and thousands and thousands.

They, they, they can cure this and they can cure that, but they can’t cure cancer.

They call it the C word.

Yes. Very much that.

The

C word. I’m just getting o- I’m just getting over prostate cancer myself, so.

Oh, you’ve had… You’ve been, had

your own struggles.

Yeah, I’m in remission now. Yep. Oh, good, good work. Mm.

That’s good. My, uh, my friend in Bligh Bligh is going through treatment.

Yep.

He’s

74.

So my life story is that born and bred in Sunny Hills in Melbourne.

Mm-hmm.

Moved from there when I got married to inner Melbourne in Glen Iris, then Murrumback, then Launching Place, um, up to Corowa. 35 years in Corowa.

Moved from Corowa. Wife wanted to be closer to the eldest daughter.

Mm-hmm.

The other one lives on the central coast, so we could never be closer.

Yeah.

Um, moved to Mansfield. Here I am holidaying- And you are- … every year in the sunshine up here. It’s nice and windy and cold today.

But we had a pleasant lunch today.

No, it was

beautiful. It, and, and it wasn’t cold. No. Sun was out.

And there was no midgies there. Is

that…

The bane of my life.

Oh, but that’s where you are in that corner. I mean, down where we are, they’re still there, but they ignore me ’cause you’re here.

That’s right. Well, don’t clean the barbecue ’cause you’ll get…

This is, this is probably one of the neatest little caravan parks I’ve ever been in.

You’re like, we call it the peaceful place- It

is …

here on the podcast. Serenity.

We have another one down at Mansfield- Yeah? …

called

Bonnie Doon.

Ah, there you go. I love Bonnie- If

you’ve ever watched The Castle …

I, I love Bonnie Doon.

This is serenity. Such a

lovely place. Yeah.

We’re going to Bonnie Doon. That’s it. Yeah. Take me back to you were born in Melbourne?

Yes.

Well, what did you do for a, a crust?

Well, originally I was a student at a high school in North Balwyn, and back then most of the teachers were from army, navy, whatever, ex-servicemen- Mm-hmm

out of the Korean War, and they were all disciplinarians, which, you know, I didn’t mind, but some were real backsides, so I, I didn’t appreciate that. And in my year 11, I decided that there was three classes I wasn’t going to go to because I didn’t like the, the teachers that were- Ah, okay … giving me the strap every day.

Mm-hmm.

And at the end, or past half year, the end of the year, they turned around and said, “Oh, sorry, Hansen.” You know, they used to call you by your surname. “You failed by half a percent.” And I went, “Really?” I said, “I know that I- Pass, but I’ll take your half a percent. But I said, “I’ll be back next year.” And they said, “No.

Employment’s for you. See you later.” So my mother was very disappointed in me because I didn’t pass.

Mm.

And I had an uncle with the ANZ that got me a job with the National Australia Bank. Okay .

He didn’t want me in the ANZ .

Oh, okay. Of course, handball away to the opposition.

Absolutely . So anyway, I worked for the NAB for six years.

Yeah.

Um, I used to work at the data processing center, and, uh, it was… My boss at the data processing center was an amazing man. He was, um, computer, um… Oh, what, I don’t know what they called them back then. An analyst.

Yeah.

And he actually invented bank card and National Australia Bank.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, so… And he said, “Peter, as true as I sit here…”

Bruce Parks was his name. Magnificent man. He said, “As true as I sit here, we’ll have a cashless society one day,” and we’re heading in that direction. Friday lunches were lovely. We used to knock off at five to 12, go down to Richmond- Yeah … via the tram d- down to McCarney’s Hotel, which is not there anymore.

We’d have lunch, and we’d come back to the office at about quarter to five.

And clock off. No, we’d go… We would. And then we’d go to the, the boss’s boardroom.

Yeah.

And he always had about five bottles of Ballantine’s Scotch, and we all used to have to drink his Scotch. He demanded we drink his Scotch on a Friday night, so-

Oh, there

you go

that was a long day.

That was, uh, the day when you were valued as an employee.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And it

was, look, it was- The

nine number … they were the halcyon times of my life. And I got transferred out of the data processing center to 52 La Trobe Street, and we had a company next door to us that was called Buongiorno & Co.

And they’re Australia-wide accountants. They used to go to the universities of, uh, all round Australia, and they would lecture in the last year of doctors, dentists, and vets about accountancy. And they had, at that stage, 78% of doctors, dentists, and vets in Australia, they were the accountants for.

Oh, wow.

And they said, “We have to have, um, somewhere where we can do leasing.”

And NAB had a, um, subsidiary company called Custom Credit. So I set up with Custom Credit to lend these blokes to buy cars and whatever they wanted to lease, medical equipment, all the rest of it. Yeah. They said, “We wanna further this. We wanna go down the track of we can give them the first mortgage, but got no one to give them the second mortgage.”

All bottom of the harbor stuff back then. Anyway, long story short, I was it. I was lending $10 million a month in second mortgage and leasing. My assistant manager was lending $1 million a month. My boss was lending $20 million a month, and the report was done by, my annual report was done by my assistant manager, who was jealous of me.

Oh, really?

And gave me a crap report, and I said, “That’s it. See you later.” In the meantime, I’d worked with my best mate as a floor and wall tiler.

Mm-hmm.

Since I was 18, just to make extra cash. And all of a sudden I went, “That’s it, I’m going out working for you.” So I’ve been a floor and wall tiler for 45 years.

And that’s where you and I kind of never knew we knew each other, but we did.

That’s right, because I, uh, used to advertise with your company. Yeah.

That’s a lot of years ago now.

Mm.

It’s a lot of years ago, and one of my best mates, I think wrote, wrote your commercials. That’s right. David Lauder. A man- Good mate

could write an ad. Mm. The man could write an ad.

Uh, we had a lot of fun with… Well- Yeah … back then we started with 2AY and then it went to the FM station.

Yeah.

And, um, yeah, but we used to have some crazy ads.

Mm-hmm.

But we had two stores. We had one in Corowa and

one in Yarrawonga. Yep. Yeah.

And then I worked for Joss Constructions in Albury.

That’s it.

Uh-

Ah, Jossy,

yep … for 20 odd years.

Mm-hmm.

I started with Colin when he had six people working for him.

Yeah, he’s, he’s grown that business.

Well, it started off, he had a Christmas party for the subbies and his staff because he’d turned over a million dollars, and now he turns over three quarter of a billion dollars per annum.

Yeah.

That’s it.

That’s, that’s growth in 40 years.

That’s it. And that’s, and that’s not just in that area, that’s all over the place.

Oh, all of New South Wales.

Yeah.

Yeah. And, and still a fabulous man. I can still ring him. I’ve still got him on my-

Yeah? Oh,

good … speed dial. I can still ring him and say, “How you going, Ace?”

His nickname’s Ace.

Yeah.

But he, he contributes back to the community big time with sporting bodies and-

Well, that’s kind of where I sort of saw the big signs and made the marrying of the two when I first, when I first got to Albury was, was the, uh, every, every sports ground, North Albury Footy Club- He was

a member of-

North Albury

footy …

he was a member of every footy club, every rowing club. He was, uh, used to do the Murray River Marathon- Oh,

that’s right … every year. That was… Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mm. Yeah.

He used to do that every year.

Yeah. And

then we’ve moved on from Corowa to

Mansfield. To Mansfield. Mm.

Mansfield’s a different place to Corowa, that’s for sure.

Yeah, one’s hot, one’s cold.

Apart from that.

The towns are about the same size.

Yeah.

But, um, yeah, demographically, um, with socioeconomic stuff, Corowa, um, has a lot of… And I’m not downgrading Corowa at all, ’cause I was president of tourism, president of Chamber of Commerce, president of this, president of that.

Mm-hmm.

Yep, yep.

Um, Corowa was a fantastic place to live and bring the kids up. Um- Most people worked either for Uncle Toby’s or the Piggery

Mm-hmm

Um, and there wasn’t super wealthy people. You drive down the main street of Mansfield, you’ve always got two or three Maseratis, the odd Ferrari, mainly BMWs, Mercedes, and all the rest of it.

And a lot of those are, um, interlopers that come in and out with their houses at Bonnie Doon, Sawmill, up on Buller, you name it. But some very wealthy people around the district.

That’s it.

And some very famous people around. ‘

Cause it’s, it’s a quite a simple drive from- Yeah … the northern suburbs of Melbourne and-

Yeah, two hours max.

That’s it. That’s it.

When I was with tourism, it was always You’ll always get the people if it’s a two-hour drive from Melbourne ‘

Cause it’s not a stressful drive. No. It’s like from Albury you go two hours south, you’re at the top of Falls Creek.

Mm. That’s right.

So the skiers are all around- Yeah … all through there.

Even from, from Mansfield and up, and, and Beechworth, and- Yeah … and, uh- So I spent 35years in Corowa, established a business, and a half.

Mm-hmm.

I used to have nine, nine blokes working for me. Rosie had eight in the two shops, and we had a wages bill every week back in 1990 of 40,000 a

week. Okay. That’s a few people. In 1990. 1990, yeah.

Mm.

Yeah. I can remember the turnover for the radio station at that time, and that was fair- it was just, it was just a good time.Yeah. Oh, it was brilliant. A really good-

Absolutely brilliant … a really good time. Yeah. Uh, ’cause it was at the end of, um, or right in the belly of Tourism Albury

Wodonga. Mm.

So that was always pulling in people- Yeah … to make the place grow.

I remember the fellow, he ended up being mayor of Wodonga, was, uh, head of Tourism Albury

Wodonga.

Mm-hmm.

And I can’t remember his name.

Okay.

But he was the mayor of… And he went on to state politics. But loveliest guy you’d ever meet. Yeah. Lovely. But Albury Wodonga was always a good place for me.

So traveling.

Yep.

You decided to come up this way ’cause, uh, of a lady you met, Lee Gaffer?

No. I go, I go to Tin Can Bay every year.

Okay. Okay.

Yeah. So Tin Can’s- So- … my destination.

Okay. Yeah.

Um, my late wife wanted to sell our, we’ve got a fairly substantial home in Mansfield on five acres, and even before she was diagnosed, she said we should be downsizing. And when she was diagnosed, she actually picked a block that she wants on a, an estate, which I’ll probably, I won’t get that block, but it’ll be a block, ’cause that’s sold.

And it’s time to downsize for me. Build a house there.

Yeah.

What’s left over of the funds, I’ll put a substantial amount into super, and the other part will go to buying a house in Tin Can Bay.

As you should.

As you should. Which is close, which is close enough.

So the part of this podcast is people coming through this place.

We found out about your background. What are you towing? A Jayco

Journey. Mm-hmm. 1866 Outback DX.

Pop top?

Pop top. With a- D-Max

Yep

Hectare rain ‘

Cause it looks very, very schmick. I love the color of it, that orangey color.

It’s

pre- pretty old now.

Yeah?

About six years old, that

car. Nice.

Mm. What’s the, uh, registration?

BMC. It’s

just what they gave me at Wangaratta. Oh, okay. There you go. I won’t, won’t say what my mate called it.

No,

I- It’s big mouth something.

Okay. Well, yeah, I hadn’t thought of that, although possibly several people have said that about me. ‘Cause my a- my name is Barry McCall, and I always just, uh … I’m, I was an apprentice draftsman, and I always used to sign my drawings BMC.

And when I saw that, I’ve gone, oh, okay.

No, it means nothing.

Means nothing.

No, nothing at all. Well,

there you go.

Mm. It’s just what they put on it at Wangaratta. I, I bought it at Wangaratta because the, um … Oh, I won’t let the cat out of the bag. That’s another story.

That’s a completely other story.

Mm. You’re going to leave us tomorrow.

Yes.

Um, safe travels.

Thank you.

And when you come back, please come back to our place-

I will … and say hi. Don’t worry. I will. I’m back up next year.

Lovely.So the details for Pankind Australia, the fundraising group for the research into pancreatic cancer are rememberseptember.org.au. At the time of the release of this, you have a couple of days left in September, but fundraising continues all year round. Even just go have a look at their page. There’s a lot of good people there.

As the travelers move on, peace settles in, at least until the next character swings by, parks up, and can’t resist sharing a tale or two from the road. You know, there’s always room for another yarn around here. Stopped for a While is brought to you by Mac Mouth Media. Music by Ben Clayton, and a tip of the hat to Rob Laffer, Serenity Caravan Park’s very own legend.

If you’ve enjoyed spinning a few yarns with us, hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next one. You’ll find us at stoppedforawhile.com.au, plus Facebook and Instagram. Now it’s time for another cool drink. Thanks for pulling up a chair at Stopped for a While