This simple cache is dedicated to the memory of my father, who lived the last 6 years of his life in the apartment above…second balcony up. After Mum and Dad divorced (a good move by them and for the benefit of the whole family) we came from Epping every weekend to this place. It was very different in the 1970s, just these new white-bricked apartments surrounded by a mysterious collection of warehouses with padlocked gates and metal doors. We could hear guard dogs roaming around inside some of them. Things down on the water were even more interesting with the old house on the bay a shattered ruin, and a yacht called Batavia, forever moored it seemed. I never knew it to not be there!
Dad had simple dreams for the area - to turn the bays into places where people could sit and enjoy the water. Alas, the council did not see his vision, and all he could do, with the help of some others in the unit blocks, make the “beach” at the bottom of this driveway. Something the locals could enjoy and be proud of. The grassed area was shared with a collection of large barges, which seemed as permanent as the foreshore…and the Batavia.
Dad was a classical music fan, and he also loved the Marx Brothers. Weekend visits had the soundtrack of operas, concertos, symphonies and on the TV on a Friday night was Pot Black, Dave Allen and The Two Ronnies. As for the Marx Brothers, he would take me up to the Footbridge Theatre for them, as well as Charlie Chaplin, and my first Woody Allen film, Manhattan…I know most of Woody’s movies by heart.
So, to go with Duck Soup at Rozelle Bay, I offer the geocaching community A Night at the Opera – another classic from The Marx Bros. I never got the chance to play him Queen’s musical offering of the same name, but I’m sure he would not have approved…he could barely stand me bringing my Beatles records each weekend!