Hello, and welcome to a brand-new series of
Julia Zemiro's Home Delivery.
(ENGINE REVS) Oh, hello!
Joining me this year is an eclectic bunch of comedians...
Where the hell are we, Bill? (LAUGHS)
..thinkers, writers, gardeners, chefs and legends...
And I just go hell for leather.
..all keen to revisit the places that formed them.
My room was like my little safe haven.
♪ Where the high and... ♪
And we might even let them show off their secret skills.
Yep, yours.
For some, the memories come rushing back.
ADAM LIAW: She was amazing. She taught me how to cook.
For others... Yes.
..it feels just like yesterday.
(DOOR SQUEAKS) Hi, Mrs D.
I can't wait.
I want to be your friend. I know, I know!
I'm in Bondi in Sydney to meet the Beyonce of the rosebush,
the Madonna of the Wollemi pine,
the Prince of the kerbside garden.
He is so adored, he only needs one name.
It's Costa.
Yassou!
Your best Greek, saved for me.
Julia Zemiro in my street out the front of my garden.
What a pleasure! Now, look, this is incredible.
This is your kerbside garden you've created outside your own home.
Yeah, the triffids have taken over...
I know!
..at this time of the season, which is really nice.
The amaranth, I just let it go.
And people were walking through this morning, they said,
"I love your little forest."
And this is such a part of you, isn't it?
This is so much of what you do. You've reused your...
Oh, my worms... Oh, shit, they're there!
Oh, I thought it was a working bench space.
It'll be full of surprises, I reckon, today,
with our good friend, who speaks five languages.
How magnificent. I'll be trying them all, obviously.
Now, I have to say, this is a very rare thing,
because we have not had many guests
who still live in the house that they grew up in.
You know how rare that is? Yeah, yeah.
Well, look, it's been an interesting excursion of life, you know?
Like, I mean, I grew up here,
and I can't wait to walk you down the street.
I know! There's just stories everywhere.
I can't wait.
And, then, you know, I lived in Europe for a long time,
and I lived in Melbourne, and then I came back and was living with Dad.
Yep. And, you know...
..it's kind of like a new chapter.
Mm. Should we go into your...? Cup of tea?
Ah! He said the magic word! Come in. Cup of tea.
I've got some cake. Have you?!
Yeah! Jeez!
It's more than most people organise, I'll tell you that for free.
♪ Jump in my car
♪ I wanna take you home
♪ Mm, jump in my car
♪ It's too far to walk on your own. ♪
Costa Georgiadis bounced onto the telly
as host of Costa's Garden Odyssey,
passionately promoting sustainability and the spirituality of gardening.
In 2011, he took over as host of Gardening Australia,
continuing his mission with his infectious enthusiasm
for plants and people.
Come in.
(GASPS)
This is it. Oh, how beautiful!
When was this built?
So, in the early '30s.
This used to be my bedroom. No!
Yeah. But then...
And then there was a window here, and this was a balcony.
And then in the '80s, we turned this into a living room
and we put my bedroom upstairs.
So, you lived here with your mum, your dad.
And my two sisters. With Stan, Anne, Julie and Elisa.
Yeah. Now, you're the youngest.
Were you the prince of the family?
Let's say that, you know, my sisters sort of were in charge.
Were they? But I had certain advantages.
'Cause my sister Julie, she had to cut the way.
Yes. And so she had it tough.
Yes.
Lisa got to travel a little bit in the wake and do her thing.
Mm. And then by the time it got to me,
it was like, "Well, whatever. I'm going this way."
Well, what about being a boy? Did being a boy make a difference?
Yeah, yeah.
Because I got a few more leniencies...
Sure. ..than my sisters did.
No question. Mm.
But then, you know, when I was little,
they just used to...
They used to have a lot of fun with me.
Did they? Yeah.
You know, just walk me around like a puppy dog.
Give me milk in a saucer and have all sorts of... (LAUGHS)
Oh, my God!
You know, maybe that's created who I am today.
Maybe! But, no, we had... we had a ball.
Look at these amazing pictures! Oh, yeah!
(GASPS)
Now, is this your grandad, Costa? Yeah, so that's...
No, that's my dad... That's your dad?!
My mum'...my mum's dad. Wow!
And then this is Mum and Dad. Aww!
Isn't that unreal? It is unreal.
That's my sister Lisa at the wedding. See, there I am.
Sans beard. Sans beard.
Yeah! (LAUGHS) Look at him there!
You look really intense. (LAUGHS)
That was actually Mum's favourite cup.
(GASPS) And I got it? Yeah. Yeah.
Thank you. Aw! I brought it out, especially.
And who made this beautiful tablecloth?
Mum's mum. My yia-yia.
And she used to live just down the street.
Mm. You know, these...
I'm not one to worry about possessions,
but I think there's a difference between a possession
and something of real value. Mm.
And, you know, these things, to look at this each morning...
Mm. ..she's there.
When it has that history, you know, I think it's kind of nice.
Because those people sit at the table with us.
Mm. You know?
I like to put certain flowers on the table at Easter,
which were the flowers of my grandparents -
the orchids and things like that.
You know, so they're kind of with us.
Mm. It's like the...
..you're still in touch.
Mm, that's beautiful. Yeah.
Tell me about your grandmother on your dad's side.
She was bought out on a... This is Julia.
You've got a Julia in your family.
Yeah, you see, we've got a Julia. Isn't that great?
So... you know, ka-ching! She came out...
She came out here to get married? Yes.
On a proxenia, as we say in Greek.
And that's arranged marriage?
Arranged marriage. Yeah, right.
But she got to Circular Quay and they showed him the picture,
and they said, "Well, who's the pappou there?"
"Who's the old bloke?" "Who's the grandpa?" Yeah.
And she was like, "Well..."
So she was meant to marry this old guy.
And she said no. She walked away.
OK, now, that's pretty... Which... Phew!
Did she know anybody else where she could stay?
Well, the relatives that sort of arranged it from this end,
she went and lived with them in Queanbeyan.
Right.
And that was in the same building where my grandfather...
Hello! ..was living.
And so that's how I met. Amazing.
And so they moved to a house
down at Randwick near Centennial Park,
and it had a big backyard for him to grow stuff.
I just remember going to visit, whenever we'd go to visit,
and you'd get to the top of the back steps,
and you'd just look, you'd go, "Where... where is he?"
And then you'd see a bit of movement...
There he is. ..and there he was.
What traits do you think you get from your grandparents?
So, from this grandmother, I think unconditional love.
Like, she just loved us. Mm.
Like, if I went down there...
She'd just say, "Come down and have dinner."
Like, she'd set up a little side table
and cook a roast chicken and potatoes.
Oh, no-one does roast chicken and potatoes like her.
And she'd set it up and she'd put a napkin
and you'd sit in a single chair
and she'd sit and watch you eat. (LAUGHS)
And you'd go, "No, no, no. Just have some with me."
And she'd go, "No, no, no. I'll eat later," or whatever.
Just watch you... (LAUGHS) Oh, my. She just loved us, you know?
And you realise what unconditional is...
Mm. ..with someone like that.
And that unconditional love that you speak of,
do you think you love in the same way?
Yeah. I suppose there's a simplicity about life
even with all its complications and doing what I do and whatever,
you realise that the stuff that really fuels you...
Mm. ..is the simple stuff.
I find that's even more of a reason just to connect with people
the way my grandparents did. Mm.
Like, 'cause they just...
Like, they were just with you. Yeah.
Like, she wasn't...
She wasn't tweeting... No, she wasn't.
..while I was eating. No.
She was actually present with you. Yeah.
I'd love to take a little walk down the street
to your grandmother's house.
So, that's your house here. Yeah.
You'd be able to just come down this far to your grandmother's.
That's right.
So, as a little kid, like, if I was staying the night at my granny's
until Mum and Dad got home, she'd stand here,
and then Mum'd be up at the top, and I'd have to...
And I'd run, but as, you know, a three- or four-year-old,
but that's a long run.
And particularly, when you got to this point,
where you couldn't see the light and it was kind of dark
and it would be like, "Quick, quick, quick."
And then you'd get to the corner and go around the corner
and Mum would be waiting at the front door.
And you'd go... (PANTS)
I love that you remember that fear...
Oh! ..that fear of running up.
It was, and I was a long way as a... Yeah, yeah, of course.
..as a little one.
So, this was Yia-Yia's house. Aww.
And it's changed now, like, 'cause they've built it right across.
But the driveway went down this side.
And she had a triantafyllia here, beautiful rosebush,
that smelt so nice, and she loved that.
She loved that.
Like, whenever it opened, she'd just be proud.
And then my uncle... Well, before, my uncle lived in that house.
So, your uncle lived in the same street as well?
He lived next door to my grandmother for a while.
You've taken over the whole street, I love it.
Yeah, you know, the Greeks subdivide and conquer.
You know, but this... this was where we used to play footy.
Is that what you did in your street? Yeah.
And so all the kids would come from everywhere.
Yes! So, we had Rodney and Grant.
We had Trent and Adam. Their grandparents...
Oh, not Trent and Adam!
Trent and Adam, Trent and Adam.
And they'd come and stay at Vic and Marge's.
So, to score a try... Oh!
See, there only used to be one driveway.
One here and one right up there.
And they were the in-goal.
So to score a try...
..you'd just dive to score the try - over you'd go onto the in-goal.
That's a commitment.
And if you were charging down here
and someone crash-tackled you into the...
Well, they were low fences back then.
So, we only had one fence, one high fence,
and that was the one at that driveway
where the black car is, beyond that tree.
So, there were no trees here. We had a clear run.
But then that first high fence went up,
then a second, then a third.
And what it meant was you didn't know who was behind there.
Whereas when we... when we walked down the street,
you'd say hello to people.
You'd say, "Hello. G'day, Vic. G'day, Marge. How are you?"
They'd say... They'd greet you, but now, you know,
people want community... Mm.
..but kind of the architecture of community is a wall.
Mm. A sort of, "Welcome."
Yeah. "Don't come in."
So, apparently this car means something to you.
This means more than you would ever know.
This was... like, my first car. No.
A Gemini TE wagon.
I picked this because I wanted something
that I could do landscaping from.
Mine was poo-brown. This is a nice metallic.
Poo-brown. I miss that colour in cars.
But this was like...
Because that seat could go down... Yes.
..and I got through my studies by being able to put my lawnmower,
my brush cutter,
and I mowed my way through university.
Wow! (LAUGHS) With this.
I could fit - seriously - 25 rolls of turf in the back of that.
Well, I invite you to drive us to your school.
Let's start her up. (CAR STARTS)
Hello! Hello! First go.
Off to school. Off to school.
Now we're going... Off to Rose Bay Primary.
We're going back even further. Oh!
You know, I had friends that lived up here.
We used to ride our bikes everywhere.
Mm. Like...
And that was a joy. We would ride everywhere.
This street on the right is really steep,
and we used to ride our billy carts down here.
Billy carts! Yeah.
And I remember one time I came screaming down here...
(GASPS) ..got to the bottom,
and the wheel got caught in the rut,
rolled the billy cart and I slid down.
And all these scars are from the gravel rash...
Wow. ..on the knees and things.
But my friends were laughing. They just were like...
Of course. .. "Toughen up."
Yeah. That's how you learn.
Live and learn. That's basic engineering.
You know, the Wright brothers, they... (LAUGHS)
You don't see them complaining. No.
They would've come a cropper and hit the ground a few times.
You know, all this coastline, it was just our sort of playground.
Yeah.
I can't say I ever drove into the primary school.
Ah, I love it! (LAUGHS)
I wasn't quite of the age... Of the age.
..to drive into school, but I kind of like the idea.
This is a magnificent school.
This is how it was when you were here?
Yeah, pretty much.
I love the fact that the buildings
haven't changed a lot. Yes.
The only thing that's changed is really the scale.
Mm. Like, it just seemed a lot further
to get to the top playground, you know?
And, hello, what's this?
Oh, the bell. This is rare.
For me, that was a great source of pride,
because in sixth grade, I was the bell boy.
And it gave you this incredible authority
that in the middle of a class, you could just get up and walk out,
and the teacher would be like, "Um..."
And then you'd go, "Oh..."
And off you went. "I got a job!"
It was like... "I've got a job, miss."
.. "Don't you know who I am?"
Far out. (LAUGHS)
So, you need to get it...
You need to get it to there.
And then... (BELL RINGS)
Isn't that a resonance? Oh!
Let's go inside.
It's exactly how it was when... when I came here to school.
I mean, these hooks, they haven't changed.
The timber ceilings. Look at this little room!
Isn't it great? (LAUGHS)
Look at... Oh!
This...
From a childhood point of view, I mean, I loved primary school.
Did you? Yeah.
And even as an adult coming in, I can look at any of these drawings
and just get a wonderful feeling of...
..you know, this little... You know, this is her family.
Well, this is a beautiful school.
You're actually quite involved in this school.
I was fortunate 'cause my niece and nephew
came up to Sydney to live.
And, you know, of course, I said,
"Well, we've got to take them down to Rose Bay."
You know, this is a school... close walking distance,
and all those things that were so valuable for me at school.
They were here for almost two years.
But I got involved with the P&C
and then got involved with the school council.
And I've been involved ever since. But why?
I mean, there's a lot of people would run screaming
from extra responsibility in their day.
I'm here because this is my community.
So, why should it just end or not exist
because I don't have children?
There's an opportunity for us to contribute to our schools.
If we want to then stand there and say, "What's the future?"
or, "How do you contribute to the future?" well, grow it.
So, you helped raise your nephew and niece, in a way.
Yeah. Yeah. Look, it's...
You got to step in when you need to,
and in a lot of cases, godfatherly roles are kind of just...
..kind of figurative. Mm.
But then when something happens... you get called up.
So, they lost their mum? Yeah.
And so do you feel that made you grow up quickly, in a way,
because you were in that position?
Or was it just natural?
It was natural to be the uncle or be that godfather-figure
that's just going to be there?
I don't want to get to a point down the road where you say
"would've, could've, should've",
because they need you then.
They don't need you now.
And they're those kind of critical decision points in life
where you say, "Well, putting my hand up and being present now
"is more important than lavishing whatever down the track."
Because "whatever down the track" won't have the gravity,
it won't have that real connection.
And, you know, we're... we're as close as,
and that, to me, is more valuable than... than anything else.
Yeah. It's a beautiful thing.
Now, your dad, Stan, what did he do? What was his job?
So, Dad was a sparky, and started a partnership
with his business partner back in the early '50s,
and they worked through right until the time
that Dad had to retire.
And he did it with this rigour.
And, I mean, Dad was fastidious,
and anyone working with me will know that I've got those same traits.
Like, if you're gonna do it, do it properly.
And what about your mum, Anne, what did she do?
I think probably one of the things that I love about Mum
was she had an incredible memory to tie everyone's worlds
into what was going on.
She just had this incredible capacity
to be like a metronome of love.
She sounds like your grandmother... Yeah.
..a little bit, in that way. Yeah.
What high school did you go to? So, I went to Waverley.
Did you know what you wanted to be when you were at high school?
God, no! Were you thinking,
"Jeez, Year 12 is nearly done," and...?
I was a shocker in that department. I had no idea.
I just gave up and just said,
"Alright, I'll go to uni and do arts."
And that's what I did.
Midway through the first year,
a good friend of mine showed me this thing
that he was wanting to transfer, landscape architecture.
I read it, thought, "Wow, that's really interesting,"
"and that's kind of stuff that I enjoy."
Boom!
And that was like one of those serious,
end-of-freeway turning points.
And then I didn't look back.
It was like once I was in there, it was like, "This is my world."
Let's go to Lyne Park. Yes!
So, this is Lyne Park. Yeah.
Now, can you give me some references?
Your primary school's up there. Primary school there.
And then home is sort of about there.
There. Across... across the golf course.
And you used to come here to do what?
So, in primary school,
this was where we did athletics. Yes.
This is where we played rugby league.
Yes!
So, I played rugby league at primary school.
Then when I was at high school, I played rugby union.
Wow.
And then I refereed rugby union in high school.
Now, yes! Now, tell me about... You really love refereeing.
And you still do it now. Yeah.
For me, it's like meditation, it's fitness,
because you switch off.
All I think about during that time is what's going on.
For that 80 minutes - bang! My mind's there.
What sort of a week I've had,
issues, hassles, frustrations - gone.
So, why not play as well? Why don't you play?
I've played touch footy since school.
Mm. I enjoy touch footy.
I suppose I wasn't the biggest tool in the shed.
'Tool' being the key word. Aw.
No, I wasn't big. I played up until university.
I played a couple of games,
but I just enjoy reffing
because you can see the game, you can see the big hits,
you can be a part of it, but you don't...
..you don't walk off, you know, injured.
It's a lovely new side to you I didn't know existed.
I love that there's that and gardening.
It's been a part of my life. Clearly.
Yeah. Here we go.
Ooh!
You had a big change last year.
Your dad died.
What's that like now?
Yeah.
That's...
It's recent, you know?
And when you've sort of been such a team for so long...
Mm.
..and adjusting to him not being around,
it's not... it's not something that you go,
"Oh, yeah, well, you know, he had a good innings," and all of that.
When you're caring for someone and you've got a trajectory
that you think is going well and then all of a sudden, they're gone.
Mm. Um...
It doesn't make it any easier, even though you know that at least
it was smooth... Mm.
..and he... he lived at home on his terms...
With you. Yeah.
..right until, you know, his last moment.
And so I take...
..I take comfort out of that, but...
..I'm not comfortable about him not being here.
Mm. What's his legacy, do you think?
'Cause family's so important to you, I can see that.
(SNIFFS) Hmm.
It's a good question.
He...
He didn't...
He didn't fuss and bother.
He saw through to the core of things.
He had an incredible work ethic.
He didn't require...
..lots of stuff.
And he just did things properly. Mm.
And he did them...
He did them with an ethic, and, I suppose, a... a standard.
And even though, growing up... (LAUGHS)
..growing up, that would frustrate me no end...
Yeah. ..because I couldn't do it right.
Yeah. And I couldn't do it good enough.
And, you know, sometimes you'd be frustrated,
because you'd be tense. Oh, my God.
Yeah, couldn't even put a screw in because you'd go...
"You're doing it wrong!" (CHUCKLES) Yeah.
But in the parallel context, if I go and do it,
I will do it with his level of... of perfection.
He taught me to...
..do things properly. Mm.
And I have a... that fastidious...
..current, you know. (LAUGHS)
And if I go to do a short cut...
..I know that there's... He's... he's there.
..he's just going...
"What are you doing with the short cut?"
.. "You know what's going to happen," and... and...
You know, that's still... (CLEARS THROAT)
..that... that's still raw. Mm.
But... as time...
..rolls, that rawness remains,
you know, also a bit humorous too... Mm.
..because I know he's there.
Do you have a life philosophy, do you think?
The more I engage and the more I meet people
and the more I see what really matters,
I realise that it's the little things.
You know, just...
..making time.
If... if... if you don't make time, it's not going to happen.
Mm.
I mean, I've always been a people-person.
Mm.
But when you put people and moments together...
Mm.
..that's life. Mm.
Well, we're going to head to Bondi Beach.
Another little chat, and a surprise,
I'm told... (LAUGHS)
..which I'm really looking forward to
at the North Bondi RSL.
Has it changed much?
'Cause you're a surfer. You know this water, you know this place.
Look, has it changed?
I think Bondi will always be Bondi.
I mean, that beach holds its own. Mm.
And whatever happens on this side, people come and go,
trends come and go, hipsters come and go,
but Bondi remains Bondi. And...
Well, as long as we look after it too.
Yeah, well, that's right.
And you don't want too much meddling with it.
It doesn't need to be upgraded.
It doesn't need to be tszujed up like a new brasserie.
No. Like, that's it.
That's it. You can't...
You can't make that better. I know.
Except you could bring in a rainbow. Yeah, well, I like the fact...
Do you think they knew you were coming?
No, that's your work, Julia. Yes, it is.
Julia's says, "Oh, we're filming something today."
"Can I have...?
Dropdown screen, push, rainbow - boom!
So, why are we here, Costa?
Well, for reasons that you'll find out a little later.
Yes.
Let's just say that this is...
..this is a place that's special to me.
Yes.
I've been coming here for more than 25 years.
Jeez!
Participating in a particular event. Right.
Thank you. And this is where we've done it.
Wow! In this stunning location.
Wow!
You know, with the sun coming down. I mean, that is gorgeous.
It just doesn't get any better than this.
No, it does it.
Did you always want to be a TV presenter?
Because you had all these amazing skills, landscaping.
No, I hadn't sort of put that in the crosshairs, let's say.
But...
..my good friend Sean, who's..
Behind us doing something. ..behind us here,
as a documentary maker, he sort of said,
"Oh, we should have a crack at doing something one day."
But he was busy making documentaries,
I was busy doing my thing and looking after kids
and doing landscaping.
It never sort of really pursued anything further until,
you know, there was a bit of contact made
about a possible thing on SBS, and blah-blah-blah.
And to cut a long story short, that's where it was incubated.
And then, Costa's Garden Odyssey was backed,
and then the rest is history. Did you...?
Did you have to change much?
Did you feel you were yourself from the beginning?
Yeah. Mm.
Yeah. Yeah. Now having spent the day with you...
(LAUGHS) ..it's the real deal.
Did you find presenting easy?
I suppose...
..to me, it was more just talking. Mm.
You know, I mean, there was a few little technical details
that I needed in terms of if I got excited,
I'd tend to go, "Oh, really? Well, that's fantastic.
"Tell me a bit more about it."
And they'd go, "Costa, the camera's there."
The camera's there. And so I'd have to sort of ease off.
And because I love the content, I don't have to go,
"Oh, this person's talking about that. Oh, yeah.
"How long have you been doing it?" Totally.
"Tell me a bit more."
Yeah. It's like...
..I'm genuinely excited for everyone 'cause... I just reckon
there's a story in everyone. Mm.
(BAND WARMS UP)
What advice would you give a 12-year-old Costa?
(LAUGHS) My advice to 12-year-old Costa would be...
..turn up... Turn up.
..be patient... Yes!
..put in... Yes!
..work hard... Yes.
..be open.
That's so many things.
Be open. Be open.
Talk to people and look them in the eye.
Look them in the eye. I love it.
That's for everybody at home now too. (LAUGHS)
Um, well, may I say, I think it's time for you to go and prepare.
'Cause I can feel it's warming up behind us.
(APPLAUSE) MAN: ♪ Dial L for love
(WORD UP! BY CAMEO PLAYS)
♪ Yo! ♪
What?!
♪ Wave your hands in the air like you don't care
♪ Glide by the people as they start to look and stare
♪ Do your dance, do your dance Do your dance, quick mamma
♪ Come on, baby Tell me what's the word
♪ Word up! ♪
Yeah! (CHEERING)
Costa, that's not what I was expecting at the end of the episode,
I must confess.
But thank you so much for doing this show today.
You've been an absolute pleasure all day.
We've had such a gorgeous time and this is a revelation.
Thank you. Can I have some More Please Orchestra?
(APPLAUSE)
Julia. Yes.
It's been an incredible day,
and all I can say after a day like that is...
♪ I feel
♪ Good! ♪