Our Top Two Favourite Quotes From On The Jellicoe Road

‘My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die.
I counted.
It happened on the Jellicoe Road. The prettiest road I’d ever seen, where trees made breezy canopies like a tunnel to Shangri-La. We were going to the ocean, hundreds of kilometres away, because I wanted to see the ocean and my father said that it was about time the four of us made that journey. I remember asking, “What’s the difference between a trip and a journey?” and my father said, “Narnie, my love, when we get there, you’ll understand,” and that was the last thing he ever said.’ – Narnie, pg 1

‘I fall in love with these kids over and over again and my heart aches for their tragedies and marvels at their friendship.’ – Taylor, pg 252

On The Jellicoe Road – The Playlist

Crystal – New Order

The Twist – Chubby Checker

The Time Warp – The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Zorba – Mikis Theodorakis

The Whole Of The Moon – The Waterboys

Without You – Badfinger

Not Pretty Enough – Kasey Chambers

Don’t Leave Me This Way – Thelma Houston

I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself – Dusty Springfield

Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison

It’s Raining Men – The Weather Girls

Coward Of The County – Kenny Rogers

The Gambler – Kenny Rogers

Islands In The Stream – Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton

Khe Sanh – Cold Chisel

Paradise City – Guns ‘N Roses

Flame Trees – Cold Chisel

 

(Also posted on our playlists page).

On The Jellicoe Road – The Places We Couldn’t Go

As with Looking For Alibrandi, there were locations in OTJR that we were unable to visit.  The most obvious ones are Jellicoe Road, the school and all the locations in the town because, sadly, they don’t exist.  Other locations include the youth hostel that Jonah and Taylor stay in while they are in Sydney, the hospice they visit and the 7/11 that Taylor is left at. OTJR film locations will most definitely be visited, we’re just waiting to hear more news on that front. At this point, we are planning to venture to the Never Never river near Bellingen in NSW within the next 6 months, so stay tuned for road trip number 2!

32. The Court House Hotel – OTJR

‘”Do you know where Oxford Street is?” he asks after a moment.
I look at Griggs and he nods.
“Meet me there tonight at about ten-thirty. At the lights outside the Court House Hotel.'” – pg 234

I have never been a fan of parallel parking, nor have I been very good at it.  But alas, Sydney made me learn.  The Courthouse Hotel was one of the last locations that we visited, so by this stage I was pretty good at it. Which is lucky, because the roads around the Courthouse Hotel were pretty busy.  So you can imagine my frustration when I line myself up, indicate and wait for the opportune moment to start reversing.  All is well until the car behind me got impatient, decided to go around me, realised it couldn’t fit without hurtling into oncoming traffic  and decided to toot me.  Seriously?

I may have over reacted slightly to this somewhat standard display of driving idiocy, but I was tired and annoyed that my show of impressive skills was being ruined.  Anyways, we got the photo and all was right in the universe once again.

– Annette

31. The El Alamein Fountain – OTJR

‘We stand by the fountain on Darlinghurst Road’ – pg 227

It was cold. We parked illegally. Workers were getting in the way of the photo. The End.

(Also, probably the best photo Rachel took all week. Well done Rachel, well done).

– Annette

Rachel’s Tattoo

I wasn’t sure whether or not to include a post about my tattoo on here because I actually didn’t get these lyrics tattooed on me because they were included in OTJR… But I love this tattoo and I love showing it off so I decided to anyway.

So this is my fourth tattoo I got in May and July of 2012. It’s the biggest one I have and probably my favourite, as it was the first one I got that has a special meaning to me behind it.

Two distinct ideas for two separate tattoos had been floating around in my head for a while before I decided I definitely wanted to get them: a bird (my second tattoo) and Flame Trees lyrics. So even though it ended up being my fourth tattoo, it was one of two that I’d wanted the longest. And for a long time, I only wanted the lyrics. It was when I went to actually book it in with the tattooist that the tiny bit of creativity I possess unleashed itself in my brain and I came up with the idea to include a flame tree in the tattoo so it linked in with the name of the song.

Flame Trees by Cold Chisel is one of my all-time favourite songs. It was written by organist Don Walker, who has said the inspiration for the lyrics came from his memories of his childhood growing up in Grafton, NSW.

To me, ‘Do you remember, nothing stopped us on the field in our day’ has always meant ‘nothing held them back’ – from doing what they wanted and being who they wanted to be. I don’t know why I like that concept so much, but if I had to self-analyse, I think it stems from a longing I have to be more fearless. I struggle a lot with stepping out of my comfort zone. So I guess you could say having these lyrics tattooed on me was like getting a permanent reminder that I need to try more. Really try, even with little things. I want to get better at taking chances and putting myself out there.

Anyway, when I saw the lyrics quoted in On The Jellicoe Road the first time I read it, I can’t describe how happy it made me. I love feeling connected with my favourite characters and I like to think that Webb and Taylor identify with the lyrics in the same way I do.

– Rachel

30. The McDonald’s Across From Time Zone – OTJR

‘We go to a Time Zone… I ask the guy at the register if he knows Simon and he shrugs and carries on reading his magazine…

“If he comes in, can you tell him that Taylor Markham is looking for him? That I’ll be at McDonald’s across the road at six-thirty tonight”‘ – pg 225

30. The Time Zone Across From McDonald’s – OTJR

‘We go to a Time Zone… I ask the guy at the register if he knows Simon and he shrugs and carries on reading his magazine…

“If he comes in, can you tell him that Taylor Markham is looking for him? That I’ll be at McDonald’s across the road at six-thirty tonight”‘ – pg 225

So I can’t actually remember whether we found the Time Zone and McDonald’s via internet research or whether we accidentally stumbled across them. And I’ll be honest, it’s driving me INSANE. As it turns out, they’re located diagonally opposite each other on George Street, with Time Zone being right beside Event Cinemas, which is I think how we found it in the end… Maybe. Anyway, I do remember WHEN we visited them. T’was a memorable night. An epic night. A night that we drove around the CBD looking for a park for quite literally an hour and a half. A night we voluntarily watched a movie that included Lincoln Lewis as a cast member. Yep, you guessed it… It was the night Annette told you all about in the previous post! After we managed to stop laughing and actually left the cinema, it was quite late, but Time Zone was still open. I would’ve gone in and played that one game I like, (where you get to bash the crocodiles with a mallet) but we were tired, so instead I scooted outside and quickly took a photo of the McDonald’s. Then we sped back to the bat-cave in the bat-mobile.

– Rachel

29. Kings Cross – OTJR

‘It’s the longest day of my life. The lack of familiarity gets worse. The main drag of Kings Cross gives me snippets of memory, but not enough.’ – pg 224

Ok. By looking at the quality of the previous photos we’ve posted, I know it’s not believable that I took this photo. I mean, seriously, I’m a pretty bad photographer. The photo I took is horrendous so we decided, just this once, that we would steal one from the internet.

As we’ve all learnt from watching Underbelly, Kings Cross used to be quite the seedy area. These days, and in the daytime especially, it’s not that bad. After parking, we strolled up and down the main drag, but really only stayed long enough to take my substandard photo and then we got the hell out of Dodge.

– Rachel

28. Waterloo – OTJR

‘I’m impressed with Griggs’ ability to drive in the city…  We drive around for ages, trying to work out where to park the car… He decides that we need to park in a quieter street just outside the city.

‘Do you know where?’ I ask.

He shrugs. ‘I don’t want to be seen too close to home. Everyone knows everyone.’

‘Where’s home?’

‘Waterloo. About five minutes from here.’ – pg 220

Unfortunately, I don’t share Jonah’s ability to drive in the city, although we did drive around for ages, trying to work out where to park the car (actually sums up the week perfectly) … And find a sign that said Waterloo. As you can see, we weren’t very successful so we had to get creative. Notice that the word ‘Waterloo’ is not positioned in the middle of the sign. I know that, what with Rachel’s impeccable photography skills, there would be no way you would notice this minor sleight of hand if we hadn’t pointed it out. The sign actually said ‘Waterloo Oval’ but we’ll just ignore that.  The point is, we were in Waterloo. Where Jonah Griggs lives. Fictional or not, it was a pretty big deal.

– Annette