My Trip to the House of Iona!
The highlight of my trip to Sydney was visiting the House of Iona, the headquarters of the Bazmark Inq. creative team and occasional home to Baz Luhrmann himself! Luhrmann had been sighted in Sydney only the week before my journey. He and CM were spotted attending a Rolling Stones concert and dining with Mick Jagger at Bondi, and so the prospect of them still being in Sydney increased my anticipation as I planned my trip! Alas, I did not see Baz, CM or anyone I recognised from his creative team, but it was great to finally see the House of Iona up close!
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On Tuesday, 25 February 2003 at around 8:30am, I walked to Circular Quay to catch a 380 bus to Oxford Street. It was time to visit... the House of Iona! I had found the address of Iona online, and couldn't wait to get to make my way down the side streets towards the home of Bazmark Inq. I got off the bus and made my way up Darlinghurst Road. It only took a few minutes to reach Darley Street, and I stopped at the end of the street to get my photo taken below the street sign. As I made my way down the street, I suddenly felt extremely nervous as I neared the gates of Iona. The day before my trip, I'd repeatedly watched the tour of the House of Iona featured on the Behind the Red Curtain DVD, and I had images from this amusing clip running through my mind. For some odd reason, I also had the Something For Everybody tune of Happy Feet running through my head! I recognised the gates of Iona from afar and slowly approached it. The following photos depict what I saw as I got closer and closer to the house! :-)
When I arrived at the gates, I realised the fence was longer than I'd previously thought. The grounds of Iona were also a lot greener than I'd imagined, with green leafy vines covering the fences. As I approached the mansion, I headed straight to the double gate and posed beside them. My brother had kindly accompanied me on my little journey to take photographs of me at the gates of Iona, and he clicked away on the two cameras I had bought with me (just in case!) I then grabbed the cameras and started taking pictures of the gates and the mansion from along the fence.
As I stood there gazing up at the mansion, I realised Iona was much closer to the gates than I'd imagined. I also couldn't help noticing that several windows on the second floor had the curtains drawn back, and so I peered up at them, trying to recognise rooms from the House of Iona DVD tour. My heart skipped a beat when I recognised the balcony on which Baz had stood while doing some narrating on the tour. I also heard the sound of a fountain on the right hand side of the gate, but couldn't get a clear view of it. Behind the fountain on a verandah was an old couch, which for some reason I thought I recognised.
As I studied the gates and mansion, I suddenly heard the sound of laughter. I stepped back from the gates as I realised it was coming from inside the house, and I hurriedly looked around at the windows realising there was people inside. I went forward again and took a few more photos, only to hear the sound of laughter yet again. It took me a few minutes to actually realise that people working in reception could clearly see me thought the gate, and I suddenly realised that it was probably them who were laughing at me! Reception is located in a front room on ground level with a huge glass window facing the main gate. I could tell it was reception because a little paper sign stuck to the window told me so! I suddenly felt rather embarrassed, and couldn't help wondering what these people were thinking. I stood back from the wall for a while, leaning against a wall on one side of the road. As I stood there talking with my brother, I saw a man come out to check the letterbox. He didn't look at me or say anything, so I actually felt bit of relief!
As I stood there, I saw several cars approach the gates and drive into the grounds, and every time I couldn't help looking at the people in the cars, trying to recognise members of the Bazmark team! Unfortunately, I didn't see anyone I could recognise, and just stood back watching the gates automatically open and close as the cars were let in. There was a little buzzer on the right hand side of the gate, and I watched as a delivery person spoke to the reception staff through it. My brother urged me to go up and use the buzzer myself, but I was far too nervous. The sound of reception staff laughing at me had actually made me feel quite embarrassed by what I was doing! Besides, I didn't want to intrude. I had instead prepared a letter to personally put in the Iona letterbox. It basically contained the title and address of this site, a short description of what it's all about, and my e-mail address. I also put at the bottom the Bazmark motto - "A life lived in fear is a life half lived." And I put on the front of the envelope, "Hand delivered by an Adelaide fan!"
When the coast was clear, I went up to the gate, opened the top of the letter box, and placed my letter inside. I then took one final look at the mansion before walking away up Darley Street. It had certainly been wonderful to see the House of Iona for myself and, who knows, maybe I'll have the opportunity to return some day! :-)
