The Guardian has a section on ‘A new start after 60’ which I read with interest, but at the same time wonder about all the stories that have been lived but not necessarily published. I would love to hear yours! Here’s mine…
I always had a romantic idea about being on the road, not exactly like a gypsy, but Juliette Binoche’s role in ‘Chocolat’ comes close. Of course it wasn’t all cocoa and Johnny Depp. At 63 I found myself stranded by covid in Eastern Europe, unable to return to my native Australia or wanting to go back to my adopted NYC. Money from the film I went to Hungary to make was dwindling, as was the likelihood of ever going into production. Then Russia invaded Ukraine and all hell broke loose. It was time for a new start.
From a small farm in rural South Australia, my mother and a boarding school education taught me independence and to pack light. I studied literature, and took my Keatsian dreams off to Paris and London, where I carried plates for a few years, before returning home to the booming restaurant scene in Sydney. Every food market and taste sensation I had savoured on my travels nourished my appetite to manage and then own restaurants. It could have been a life’s work, but the opportunity to swop menus for Manhattan was too tempting. It was a serious plot development I couldn’t resist.
With my photographer husband, Sean, we pitched for and created marketing campaigns for high end brands. Being Australian and always shooting on location with an authentic cinematic style gave us an edge. And the travel-with-purpose was exciting – tango dancers in Argentina, Holland Casinos, snowed-in Montana for Harley Davidson, the Faroe Islands, Vegas, the morgue in Miami… Every job was different, so I always felt like I had the wind in my face. Best of all, the productions fed a decade of my broadcasting live on overnight radio from where ever we were, sharing stories from the trenches with Australia.
Fifteen years later the digital revolution changed everything, devaluing advertising photography but making motion more accessible. For Sean, tech was finally catching up with his cinematic ambitions, so with me as writer/producer we set off for film-friendly Hungary to make a show. I thought Budapest would be my third act. That after restauranteur and producer I could take the next step with story-telling, all my experiences being as yeast in a doughy drama. But between the Weinstein outing and covid, the industry crashed and our investors signed out. My optimism languished and my body aged, I felt increasingly old and woolly, landlocked and stuck, like everyone, in lockdown. Time was ticking away. Finally, one day in front of the pickled cabbage stall at the markets, I realised there was enough grey going on with my hair without eating grey food under grey skies.
The relief of being in your sixties is the cobwebs spun by guilt or regret from the past give way to the practical reality of living without a parachute. I had to find a way to continue going forward, to find a new unknown destination with as yet unknown opportunities to jump. An open door that would welcome our experience and modern approach. Work-for-accomodation platforms are relatively new, facilitating the travels of mainly young people in what are generously called ‘cultural exchanges’. In exchange for, say, harvesting olives for 4/5 hours a day, you get to stay for free in a room/caravan/cottage, depending on your luck with the honesty of the glowing profiles of potential hosts. In our case bad luck was good luck.
Within the first two months of arriving in South Tyrol I felt 10 years younger. Long hours weeding, building stone walls and pushing a wheelbarrow up and down olive terraces transformed my body and my mind. The transformation was complete by the isolated bubble our hosts, Fritz and Freida*(not their real names!) enveloped us in. They were hard masters, ‘masters’ being the operative word. We were taken back more than a century to the culture they perpetuate now by living in defiance of (or perhaps because of) historical, geographical and social change. South Tyrol when it was part of German speaking Austria/Hungary, when there were servants. Weirdly and ironically Fritz & Freida provided the spark of an original story about entitlement that in turn inspired a script, and now the production of a pilot. But in another place thankfully.
My third act is up and running. We currently house-sit overlooking the Mediterranean on the edge of a small generous-hearted community, surrounded by spectacular Tuscany. It is the kind of place you dream about at 16, not expecting to be living there 50 years later, or that the picture-perfect location would be central to the making of a TV pilot that we are creating together. The whole town is on board – harmonica players, tattoo artists, ship builders, bakers & gymnasts. There is still a long way to go, but the proof is in the pudding, and there will be magic in the second slice. This isn’t just a new start, it’s a whole new adventure. Questo posto è magico!
TheFitzyreport 
It’s so great to have this update about you and Sean, missed you the last 3-4 years. Good luck with your new adventure. Lynda
Get Outlook for iOShttps://aka.ms/o0ukef ________________________________
Thank you Lynda – how lovely of you to write. Our adventure continues and here is 2024, a blank canvas! Let’s see what we can do with it…
So many years and adventures since Shakespeare parties and nights at the Aldgate pub or following jug bands! Despite your disappearing act, I knew you could not be hidden from the world for too long. I really hope you have time to visit an old friend in the south of France now that you are so close! I’d be happy to share some of my own unpublished stories. Love Margie
Hello newly found old friend! Can’t wait to hear your stories, I know they will be amazing. So let’s plan a glass or wine or 6…. know any good pubs/wine bars between here and there?
So wonderful to hear all your news Geraldine. You and Sean have led very interesting lives, makes mine seem rather bland! I used to love listening to your overnight chats with Rod all those years ago from New York. Will wait with interest to hear what happens next.
Wishing you both good luck and good health in 2024 and the years to come.
It is very heartwarming to hear from you Robin, thank you. New York – what a time and what a place…. But also what a privilege to have lived that life, and now to have this one in Italy. It is certainly more luck and happenstance than good management! Here’s to all the best for you in 2024 with the hope of good things and unexpected surprises.
I loved this- made me very happy and feeling positive! Thanks!
Steve Liska Liska + Associates
610 N. Fairbanks Studio 2 East Chicago Illinois 60611 USA
312 867 1111 x1 liska.com http://liska.com/
Great to hear Steve – being happy and feeling positive is our number one priority for 2024!
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How lovely to see your report in my in box today. I have often wondered what had happened during your stint in Berlin and how your project was going.
Sounds like you have landed in a fabulous place to work on your new TV pilot.
Life brings us many twists and turns and sounds like this is a good one for you. I wish both yourself and Sean the best of luck and happy times in Tuscany.
And I’ll look forward hopefully to some more Fitzy reports. Would be nice to hear you on radio again here in Australia as that’s where I first met you on overnights.
Best wishes and thanks again.
Bernadette 🙏☀️😍
Thank you for your warm message Bernadette – and yes, life has many twists and turns! If only I’d pondered on this possibility before I gave up studying Italian in my youth… Ah, but how lucky to be here now. All the best to you for 2024 and I certainly hope to bring you more reports from this magical place. Grazie mille!
Wow how amazing to hear all these memories and all the adventures I was only thinking of you both recently and wondering where your travels had taken you xxx
Bronnie! How fabulous to hear from you! You were very much a part of the adventure – we still quote your wisdom about giving up on looking for apples at the markets once you’ve bought a box… Love to all the Thompsons!
Such a wonderful surprise to open your Fitzyreport and read the update on what has been happening in your life over the past years ! Have often wondered what has happened to Geraldine !! Thank you for sharing and wish you and Sean the best of luck with your latest venture..any chance of sharing the progress with the ABC as you did before??? Louise from Coffs Harbour nsw 😊
Hello Louise in beautiful Coffs Harbour. Lovely to hear from you! We have big plans for 2024 so let’s see what we can do with sharing progress as we go…. Grazie Mille!
This was such a lovely start to my day here in South Oz. I love that you are in one my favourite places in the world and continuing with your adventures. We wish you and Sean the best of luck with this new venture and look forward to hearing more. It seems a lifetime ago since we caught up in New York – what an amazing place that was and how great to get to spend time with my cousin! Love from Chris and Steve xx
Hello Chris! Yes, it does feel like a lifetime since we met at the amazing Eataly, and funny thing about that fabulous food, it all comes from here. 😋 No wonder this is one of your favourite places. Hmmm – maybe time for a trip to Tuscany….?
Wonderful to hear all is thriving in your 6 decade around the sun.
I hope your pilot gets picked up.
But more than that I hope to read and hear more of your bohemian lifestyle.
Do you still speak to Overnights on the ABC, haven’t heard you for ages?
Continued happy adventures 😊
Thank you Jill – life is certainly a whole new experience. I think getting older is highly underrated – and living not totally ‘off the grid’ but with a different mindset is a very freeing experience. (My 7th decade might be different but we’ll see when we get there!) And no, I’ve not been talking on the ABC, but I will certainly be making more reports here. Happy 2024 to you, Buon Anno and salute!
SO wonderful to hear from you after such a long time. I often wondered what had happen to you. Looking forward to more Fitzyreports. ________________________________
Thank you Lyn, I appreciate you being in contact – stand by for more reports!
Such a wonderful 2024 Happy New Year surprise Gabrielle and Sean to read your exciting news and learn that you have survived Covid and the difficulties of the film world scuppering “Threaded”. Since visiting beautiful Budapest in 2017 and seeing your excitement and all that hard work I have googled many times vainly looking for you ! Enjoy lovely Tuscany and the new project. I even asked Rod if he had any news. And our mutual friends in Stuyvesant Town. Please keep us in touch with your comings and goings. I haven’t given up travelling yet – at 82 – and will be in the Northern Hemisphere again for a few months this year escaping Melbourne winter.
Good luck from Linley.
Linley! Lovely to hear from you and that your perpetual energy might bring you north this year. Thank you for your pursuing interest – ‘Threaded’ may have come undone, but our Italian show is a whole new adventure. I will let you now how we go, and maybe see you for a coffee in summery Rome…?!?
Woman, you string words together like Mikimoto pearls on a throat choker. It has been a while since I feasted on the rich vocabulary of your lives well-worked. Now, go reap the harvest of all your endeavours. Blessings to you both
Thank you for your thoughtful message Robin – it has been quite the journey for sure, but how sweet the harvest!
Hi fitzyreport,
l was only thinking about you a few days ago, this is amazing getting your email, l was wondering what you have been up to, now l know. The last l heard from you, you were going to make a film/doco in Hungry. I miss your reports from NY when you came on Rod Quinn”s (f l remember rightly) show. Your life is so filled with great stories, mine on the other hand is boring, so you used to brighten up my life. All the best for your new endeavour.
Marie Spicer
Annangrove. NSW. Australia.
Thank you so much for your thoughts Marie. Reporting from New York was a feast because there was such an energy, a bounty of stories. Italy is very laid back by comparison – ‘va bene’ or ‘everything is OK’ is a local mantra – but hey, that gives me time to work on my Italian and stories about la dolce vita…!
Hi Gabrielle,
I was thinking of you few weeks ago, I used to wait for The Fitzsy Report on the Overnight Show with Rod Queen. I am so glad that your report landed in my inbox after so long.
Please don’t be a stranger, keep us entertained and dreaming of faraway lands, food, drinks and laughs.
Thanks!
Salad !
Feliz 2024
Regards
Lili
Kinglake VIC
Hola! Thank you for this vibrant message Lili – your enthusiasm inspires me. Feliz 2024 to you too!
How wonderful to finally have an update
Wishing you and Sean every success in your latest venture in that beautiful area of Tuscany
Warm wishes for an amazing 2024
Kerry
Sydney NSW
Grazie mille Kerry – e tu!
Welcome back. My wife Pat and I have missed you on ABC radio and often wondered how you and Sean were getting on with your movie in Budapest. Glad to hear things are going well for you again, Neil in Canberra.
Many thanks Neil, it is heartwarming to have been missed – as I missed sharing stories & hearing from you. So here’s to you and Pat and to all good things for this brand new year.
loved your 3rd act. I must be into my fourth act by now. haven’t heard from you for ages, so really appreciate the update. Unfortunately, due to health problems, cannot travel anymore , but live in the beautiful village of Bellingen,NSW with my 4 pussy cats. please continue updating me on your adventures
XX ZIGGY
Good for you Ziggy – please make notes on your 4th act, I may need some advice! Hello to beautiful Bellingen & hope the river hasn’t risen after the last downpour. I have fond memories of breakfast with the irrepressible Pia & Ray at the Old Butter Factory cafe. Look after yourself!
loved your reports from New York, seems like a lifetime ago! I used to travel extensively, both overseas & Australia wide, now retired, also diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 12 years ago, and after 4 botched hip surgeries, unfortunately totally disabled and wheelchair bound! used to work as Advertising Manager on SMH, The Australian Newspaper & many glossy magazines for 45 years. Born in Munich, Bavaria, emigrated to Australia 1956.
Wow Ziggy – what a life! No wonder you said you felt you were on your 4th act…. Bravo!
I second every good thing all your other fans have said. I so enjoyed the Reports from NYC. And look forward to the next ones. Janet. X
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Grazie mille Janet – your message has put a spring in my step on this crispy Monday morning…!
Congratulations . Someone on ABC overnights was wondering what had happened
to you, as I did. Last heard of in Hungary and before that talking to Rod from USA.
Your life sounds great.
Best of luck.
Anne Kelley
Thank you Anne – and thanks for being in touch. I feel incredibly lucky to be here, and to have the chance of a third act – albeit a while in the making! Wishing you all the best for 2024.
Hello Gabrielle – I heard you over the past tow nights on ABC Radio Australia with Rod Quinn. How exciting, you and Sean seem to be making great inroads into the next chapter of your incredible life. Work Away is not something I am familiar with but have, since listening over the past two nights, followed up on Google. Would really appreciate being kept up to date with how your plans are unfolding for the TV Pilot film – so exciting.
Italy is on our drawing board, have a magnificent itinerary which we put together in 2020 but Covid prevented us from travelling so hopefully later this year. Tuscany is our dream and to learn about Work Away maybe there will be some opportunity – we are hospitality folk, having owned and operated our own businesses from 1990 to 2003 in Canberra ACT – now living on the Mornington Peninsula and still working in Hospitality and Aged Care. Hope this correspondence finds you both in fine spirits.
Arrivederci – Paul & Derek
Sunday 18 Feb 2024 – 1805 hrs
Thank you so much for listening Paul (and Derek), and for your comments – it would be a pleasure to share the next chapter with you. Your enthusiasm for Tuscany will be well met – especially coming from hospitality. The food & produce alone is worth the trip, but of course there is so much else. I would love to hear more about your itinerary and will organise some links to send you that may be helpful. In the meanwhile start cutting back on your meals – and wine – so that when you arrive you will have a worthy appetite! Grazie Mille! Gabrielle.
loved reading your latest venture, have missed your adventures since you left NY snd your overnight chats on ABC radio
Great to hear from you Dorothy and yes, it has been too long! But there are new adventures to report, so stand by…. Grazie Mille!