Straya in a week

It's getting close to the time where I pack it in from Australia for a fairly extended period. A while ago, I got a Jetstar credit card, which entitled me to a free one way flight within Australia. I connected some deals, and had myself a bit of a tour around Australia, a whirlwind one at that but the basic plan was:

Canberra>Sydney>Hobart>Melbourne>Canberra>Sydney>Hamilton Island>Airlie Beach>Brisbane>Sydney>Canberra.

I think it was maybe 9 days in total I took off for that, but it was a pretty good time all around. Pretty well everywhere I had been before, but they were just places I had a good time in, but wanted to visit again.

My trip kicked off with a bus trip, then I met my friend Kelly for beers in Sydney. I had an early flight so I couldn't have a real rager.

I was up pretty early, I decided to cut down on costs and walk to the airport. I was already staying in the city, and it's only 6km to the airport, a distance I regularly walk. Though my 6km track normally takes me along the bottom of Mt Ainslie, my main companions being kangaroos...this trip took me through the highlights of Redfern...

No troubles though, and I got to the airport and straight on the plane. It wasn't too long and I was contemplating walking to the airport in Hobart. There was a big ad saying YHA members got half price on the bus, so I jumped on that opportunity.

I went in to the YHA. It is a very quiet season, so there was actually nobody there when I went. I headed down the road and got some lunch, then wandered a bit more, and end up playing footbag for about an hour down by the wharf. Once I came back there was someone to check me in, and I pretty well had the entire place to myself.

I was doing Sticky's Target 168 Challenge and that day was the last day to do it. At that stage I hadn't started, so I got a wriggle on, printed off some pictures and headed for Officeworks. Except I walked about 3km in the wrong direction...

The cutting, pasting, folding, sending process took a bit longer than I expected, and entries need to be at the Post Office by 5pm. At 4:59pm I had my postmark, I was in business, I had the night to explore.

The first thing I wanted to check if the TV worked. This is not really something I would normally do, I don't even have a working TV at home. However, the Raiders had a rare channel nine appearance, which was being shown on delay at midnight.

After checking that I headed down to the wharf where I had been kicking earlier. I was meeting with Jeremy, another Footbag player as well as his girlfriend. I first met Jeremy back in 2002, when we had a "NSW Championships" at Homebake. Radio Birdman played that too, it was a pretty awesome day actually.

Anyway, I met him for a beer. We started at a trendy bar which was not really our scene at all, so we quickly moved on from there. For dinner we stopped by a fish and chips place, which was not really better or worse than most other fish and chip places, nothing to write home about.

We headed to another bar a few blocks back from the wharf, where another friend of his was having a farewell do. They also sold pints of Bluetongue for $5. I was sold on that.

I got talking to a guy in a Lagwagon shirt who was pretty excited about the Propagandhi show that night. I admitted that I had kinda come to Hobart for that, but I didn't buy a ticket. Maaaaatttttteee was his original reaction, he was some kind of tradie, I think a plumber. We got talking about punk rock and adventures and after a few more Bluetongues we walked up to the show together. I didn't really have a plan, but he told me there was a front bar and I guessed I would be at least able to hear from there, and I was going to see them in Canberra a few days later anyway.

So we wandered up to this bar, The Brisbane Hotel in Hobart. It was a pretty good pub actually, I liked it, if I was back in Hobart I'd probably pop in there for a few pints, maybe a few less than I had that night.

When it came time for Propagandhi to take the stage, I had myself a nice perch, just outside the band room, but in direct line of sight and hearing of the band. I had no troubles in watching, and midway through the set they just opened up the doors. So that all worked itself out very well.

The show finished just before midnight, so I dashed back to the hostel to catch the Raiders match, where they finally won a game. That was great to see, I was yelling and screaming as if I was at the match, but from the comfort of a nice bed.

The next day I woke up with a fairly severe hangover. I had agreed to have a kick with Jeremy and Lotus, another veteran of Australian footbag. The play and busk at Salamanca Markets every Saturday.

We played for a few hours, and had some people interested in the kicking but the guys said they usually do better. I hit some good tricks, but struggled to keep up the fitness levels. This can be heavily attributed to the large number of pints of Cascade Pale Ale the evening before.

We had a quick beer after the kick, but I definitely wasn't in the mood for anymore, or even so much for the first one. By the water the day before I had seen something about riding a bike to MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. So I decided to do that. The guy gave me a bit of a weird look and told me I would be only able to go one way.

It was about a 15km ride, mainly flat, though I did take a ride over the Tasman Bridge (oops). This was a good opportunity to see a little bit more of Hobart, as the ride to the gallery in itself is not really all that interesting (mainly flat through industrial areas and suburbia).

I got to MONA about an hour and a half before closing time. Obviously this wasn't going to be enough time to see everything, but even the setup there is impressive. The basic concept is that it a super rich guy's own private museum, so he can show anything he wants. There are some things that are a bit, I guess you might say eye-opening, but the big thing is the variety, and the quality of the content.

There are no displays on the walls, so you use an IPhone like device to navigate your way around, and there are a few different options about what you want to read. To go into the museum you actually descend into a giant staircase, the building is actually carved into the cliff.

To come back, I jumped on the ferry. I only had a t-shirt on, but I really wasn't too cold. I had another early flight, so it was time to take it easy. I just grabbed a pizza for dinner, then had an early night.

Next stop was Melbourne, I was there by about 10am the next day. After my feats of walking in Sydney, I was thinking about a repeat. After consulting Google maps I realised I wouldn't have to walk down the motorway, so there must be a chance for me to get into the city.

I could see the city a long way off in the distance, but the weather was not looking up. After walking for a fair while, I had reached Airport West, and the clouds opened up. Time to seek an alternative, a tram came by soon after and it was definitely the right move to get on that.

I stayed with my friend Chris, who I went to school with. Since my first visit back in 2005 when I came down for Nationals, I have stayed with him a huge number of times. So many that his pet bird actually treats me as if I live there.

I didn't really have too much planned for my stay in Melbourne, it was more of just a transition to get me to the next place. The first night I think we played a whole heap of NBA Jam on the PS3, that was a lot of fun, we were both right into it and improved a lot over the course of the night.

The next day I got to catch up with a few friends, but it was all pretty low key, and I was home by midnight. It wouldn't be too long til I would be visiting Melbourne again, so it wasn't a big deal. Thinking of it now, we spent a lot of the night playing darts. Old men...

Tuesday was my day to leave and I left the apartment with my bag packed, thinking there was a good chance I was going to walk to the airport. My first stop was the Vic Markets to get myself a couple of bargain Borek, then I had a walk through Carlton and Fitzroy, checking out some bookstores. I didn't really want to carry anything more, so I didn't but any books. I continued along my way up through North Fitzroy, then I decided to follow the Merri Creek trail for a while. This trail starts at Dights Falls, where I actually used to spend a bit of time when I lived in Melbourne, that was some moons ago now too.

Once I got to Coburg I got off the trail and started making my across. And across, and across. All up I think I walked for about 30km, but I got to the airport, and my flight hadn't left yet, and I hadn't paid any money to get there.

I saw a couple of friends in the queue at the airport which got things going a bit faster. The Tiger flight was changed to a 6:15 takeoff instead of 5:45. I think when they're not running too late, they just change the time, rather than admitting they are late. The rest of the boards flashed up "cancelled", "delayed" so it was good to get on the plane.

It was just after the last bus, so I took a taxi into the city. Met my dear wife for some dinner, left my bag at work and wandered over to the Propagandhi show.

I Exist were on first and I hadn't seen them for ages, they were in great form, with their new album just about to come out. The long walk was taking its toll on me though, I spent a lot of the night having a strong desire to sit down somewhere. Propagandhi were great again, funnily enough I was probably further away from the action than I was at the Hobart show!

The next day we were up early, more travels were on the way. By the end of the day we would be kicking back in Airlie Beach, but there was a lot to do before getting there. First we had to drive to Sydney. We parked at Kelly's place then took a taxi to the airport, ate some food and jumped on the plane to Hamilton Island. I was glad to notice that things were running smoothly with the flights, booking a whole heap of cheap ones can lead to disaster when things go wrong. There were a number of crying babies and annoying kids on the flight, but it wasn't too big a deal.

Once we got to Hamilton Island, we just had to wait a short while, then we were on a ferry into the town of Airlie Beach itself. I spent about 6 weeks working up there over Christmas/New Year at the end of 09, so it was good to go back there in a non-work capacity.

The Origin was on that night. I was first looking for a place to watch it, but after having a good time watching the game by myself on the previous occasion, I thought that sounded pretty good, so we got some beer and I turned it on in the room. The Blues went down, but only just, a typical Queensland late minute Billy Slater try sealing the deal.

The next day we were off on Ocean Rafting. We had done this before when we were both up there, so we knew what to expect, but it was still a lot of fun.

Hill Inlet Lookout, with Whitehaven Beach in the background. Below is a picture of us on a previous visit...

On Ocean Rafting you get to snorkel, have a good feed, take a bushwalk on Whitsunday Island, then hang out on the beach for a while. We took the south trip, though I think the north trip is better, as you get a second snorkel instead of staying at the beach longer.

It was a fairly quiet night that night we returned to the Down Under Bar, who had a good deal involving a pint of beer and a steak for $10, can barely go past that, then we just hung around the hostel. Before dinner I did play some footbag, and had some good runs. I had returned to my little spot by the lagoon where I put in a lot of hours, and an incredible amount of sweat over those six weeks I was staying in Airlie Beach.

From Airlie we took a bus to Proserpine, and we were accompanied by these most annoying of American girls. Just shut up, hey. It was a pleasure to get off the bus and not hear them anymore.

We had a while to wait for the flight, so I was going through my routine a bit, it was starting to come together a bit more. The Proserpine airport is one of the worst, and it was actually under renovation, so only half the things there were available.

I had a window seat for a great view over the coastline. Last time I flew, the guy sitting in the window seat was snoring away instead of admiring the view.

Brisbane was the next stop, we took a fairly long walk around the city, and we came across a freestyle football player in the Gardens near QUT. Francisca noticed him, and she said to me "I saw that guy taking his pants off, he must be a footbag player or something". Luckily he was not some kind of weird pervert, and we had a kick of the ball. I have a lot to learn in freestyle football, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve.

That night we went and saw Fires Of Waco, who were playing a free show at Fat Louie's. I also got to meet Crispy, who made the Rock'n'Raider zine, one of my favourites ever. We've been talking online for about 4 years so it was good to meet him. The worst thing about that venue though, was these crazy queues for beer. I was pretty keen to have a bit of a loose night, but the idea of the queue just really put a dampener on that one.

The trip was coming to a close, with just a couple more days remaining. The next day my friend Josh cooked up a storm, we went over to his new place, it's pretty awesome, but a bit close to the train line. They invited us to a party later on, and I have been to Brisbane so many times, that I knew most of the people at the party too.

The next day we finally had a flight delay, it had to be on the last one didn't it....but we got back to Sydney, then from there it was a long drive home back to Canberra, then back to work the next day.

Travels.

I guess I should finish what I started in regards to my recent trip. Better get it done before I fly away again. This time last year, I had never been overseas. Come August, I will be off on my fourth overseas trip. That's a good stat. I have well and truly "caught the bug" and have a lot more planned as well.

My last day in England was warm, but it was more humid than sunny. It was still brilliant that it was wasn't raining. I went into the city and wandered around, I got to the British Museum. I would say if you had a detailed look at every exhibit there, you would know the entire history of the world. The British Empire's centuries of raiding other countries has paid off for their museum, it is a huge place.

The British Library I was not so impressed by, I was expecting another grand old building, but was faced with an ugly modern structure. The British Library is only a recent addition, around ten years old. They had an exhibition there called Magnificent Maps, I was keen to check it out, but I've got to say I was fairly underwhelmed by the exhibition, it just really didn't interest me that much.

From there I went back to Dan's, packed up my bags and made my way to Heathrow. Heathrow is probably the only airport that I've seen that has a great outside area. I played footbag in the courtyard there for quite some time. A little kid watched me for a while, I started chatting with him, he was moving to Brisbane.

I checked into my flight so I could get rid of my pack and spent the last of my pounds on beer and dinner. I boarded my flight with Qantas. Flights aren't really exciting, so why bother talking about it. I'd just like to say, I probably had a more pleasant experience flying with Air Asia than with Qantas.

We stopped in Singapore a short while and I got in 30 minutes of footbag. Once again, it was just good to get the legs moving, get some blood flowing after sitting down for so long. After a slow start I actually started playing reasonably well. Next stop was Melbourne.

I arrived into Melbourne at about 5am, I had booked a trip to Brisbane to see Evergreen Terrace that night, but I wasn't so sure I wanted to go anymore. Shai Hulud were also playing with I Exist in Melbourne that night, but that would mean waiting around for the whole day. I wanted to go home, that's where I wanted to go and I didn't want to spend anymore time in airporrts. I thought maybe I could go by train, so I went into the city and asked about that. Train was booked out.

I went onto the internet, and decided it was going to cost the same if I went home that day, or if I flew home from Brisbane the next day. After a wander round the city, I was back on the Skybus. I played some more footbag in the airport in Melbourne, then I had to wait a couple of hours in Brisbane for my friend Josh to pick me up.

I got some more uni work and some other writing done, so it was a productive time sitting down in the Brisbane airport. Josh cooked a steak, which tasted great. I went off to the Evergreen Terrace show. The tickets were more expensive than I expected, but at least it wasn't sold out. I walked in midway through Dropsaw, their new stuff sounds even heavier, if that were possible. No one was really into though, just a few people headbanging at the front.

More people were into Casey Jones. All their songs sound exactly the same. People looked like they were having fun though. I stood about halfway up the back, hanging out for Evergreen Terrace to play. I moved over to sit on a small ledge once Casey Jones finished to make sure I got a decent spot. While I was sitting there, there were some fisticuffs around the merch desk, I have no idea what happened, but there were punches thrown. I filmed the opening song from Evergreen Terrace, “Enemy Sex”. Then I just watched the rest. It was a lot of fun, Evergreen Terrace are on of my favourite bands, especially in the live setting. I think this was the sixth time I've seen them, every time has been a really enjoyable experience. To top things off, they played Dear Livejournal, a song I don't think I have seen them play before.

I got the last bus back to Josh's place, got a good rest, finally in a bed, then he dropped me off at the airport the next morning. I got back into Canberra, I called Caroline to see if she wanted to kick that day, she come up with a better offer, a lift home. Sounded good to me.

To The North

I did this interview with To The North up in Brisbane at the start of the year. All parties involved were horrendously drunk, so I haven't bothered to type it up. I'm not even sure how I got into this interview at all. To tell you the truth I know very little about the band.

I actually did an interview with the singer from The Gifthorse. Unfortunately some kind of technical error meant that interview didn't work. He introduced me to a few guys from the Brisbane scene, these two characters being some of them. We shared a taxi to go check out the Jungle Fever show, after Polar Bear Club had played. After the show we went across the road to McDonalds.

The interview took place sitting outside McDonalds, around 3am. After the interview, I went back to the hostel, went to the airport and flew to Canberra. On arrival in Canberra, I spewed on the road.

Ok, To The North. What did you guys just order from McDonalds?

Two Angus- Grand...and a coke. Now we feel sick. Might throw up soon.

So, you're not vegan then?

No, definitely not. Seriously carnivorous.

What are your thoughts on Condorcet?

Really good dudes. Petey has a great moustache. Once he made Ohana and To The North sleep in a cold room, while him and his beautiful girlfriend slept in a warm queen bed. He was warm, we were on the tiles. No pillow. Good luck in Sweden pal, we still love him though.

Do you guys have any recordings out any time soon?

We have a 12 inch that just came out, we'll be releasing a full length soon, we have a split seven inch with Ohana and we have an EP. All of which will be released in the USA on a collection tape by Streetwalker Collective. (Background: urgh, I'm going to throw up)

So you guys are good pals with Ohana?

Yeah., best band to come out of Australia.

Are you also pals with Hospital The Musical?

Yeah, we haven't played with them so much. We really like Drew, he has a big beard. All those Sydney people they're very lovely, they're very friendly. It's very different to Melbourne.

What would you say To The North is all about?

Grand Angus Burgers. No, not that. Probably, just about playing without distortion. Touring with no money, reading too many comics, friends and doing really bad artwork. Then there's the fact you can be in a band with other dudes that like the same music as you. We've all been fired because of this band, more than once.

You guys have played in Canberra...at least once?

Twice I think. We love Canberra. Moments are the best band in Canberra. We played with them in 2007. *The conversation here goes kind of crazy, it doesn't really make a lot of sense.

What's Brisbane got going for it right now?

Quiet Steps. In Sepia, they're going to do a split with a band from Japan. And the secret band, Droptank, worst name in history. Good band though. Valley Maccas. Actually, Brisbane has Orlacs Hande, they're the best band from Australia, ever. They're one band that no one will ever hear about. They recorded the most amazing EP, then broke up. People need to hear it.

What's on in To The North in the next month?

We're going to America. We're going to play with Jerkstore beforehand too I think. Julian, he's a great guy, in heaps of good bands. He was very supportive of the original Yellow Ghost thing. *There is more and more yelling in the background, maybe a fight was going to break out nearby.

Do you have anything left to say?

I think I'm going to throw up. Don't eat the Grand Angus burger. Polar Bear Club were pretty good tonight. I did see Hot Water Music one time though, I liked that more.

JUNGLE FEVER

When I went up to Brisbane recently I did a whole bunch of interviews. I got to see Polar Bear Club twice, and after the PBC show, a bunch of people went over to catch Jungle Fever's set at some terrible Destroy All Lines club.

I saw about four seconds of JF, and did an interview with Joel (bass) after the show. The whole trip was quite an adventure, I flew back to Canberra at 5am and spewed soon after arrival. What a start to a day.

The picture at the top I blatantly stole from JHat without any permission. It's from the show JF played in Sydney the next day. He takes really good photos and then writes about them. You can read an interview with him that I did in one of last year's zines. It's in this blog somewhere.

Jungle Fever are a band I saw a lot over a lot of years. I think the first time I saw them was at the old Civic Youth Centre, just before it got knocked down. I have a feeling this was Hard Luck's first ever show.

From then on I saw them sporadically, generally every 6 months or so. I never knew much of their stuff, and didn't really care about them, but as time went on, and it got towards when they breaking up, I was starting to realise I knew heaps of the songs, and they were actually one of the most fun bands in Australia to watch.

A couple of favourite shows- when they played Bar Broadway with 4 Dead, the night before Every Time I Die's first tour. There were heaps of Canberra kids out that night, it was a bit of a rager. When I lived in Melbourne I saw them play at some sort of community centre. It was the first show I'd been to in ages, and I was hanging out with some people, it was the first time I'd really talked at length to someone I met at a show. Those guys are now in Rort, who seem to be doing well for themselves. The show had a great variety in the lineup, it was cheap as and I had a great time. There were even a couple of bands from NZ playing, I think it cost $6 or something. It was not the sort of place you really expect a hardcore show, I think the next day's activity was going to be playgroup or something.

Anyhow, here's the questions I asked Joel. As the interview went on, my words were more and more slurred, some of the questions I asked were difficult to comprehend on the recording, even for myself. It was however, probably the most raging night I've had this year.




So Jungle Fever- You played your proclaimed last show like, a year ago?


Mid '08

What brings you back?


For the hell of it. Just for the hell of it. We got asked to play with Mindsnare in Melbourne. Why wouldn't play with Mindsnare, at the Arthouse? You can't argue with that. We did that, and we thought, let's go to Brisbane, we haven't been there in a long time. Fuck, I was in the band for two years, and the only time we came to Brisbane in those two years was when we toured with Sick of It All and Comeback Kid. They hadn't been to Brisbane for ages before that either. So we thought we'd come up here and then we're going to Sydney tomorrow.

Do you guys still all live in Sydney, or everyone lived in Sydney for a while or something?


Everyone lived in Adelaide. One by one they moved to Sydney, apart from their bass player. When they wanted to go a bit further, they got me to join the band. I was in the band for two years. Then one by one everybody moved back to Adelaide. Eventually it was too hard to keep it going.

How did you get involved in Jungle Fever in the first place?


I used to play in another band called Taking Sides. I played guitar in that, but I normally play bass. I was always keeping in touch with everyone from the band, then one night Gabe hit me up and asked me if I wanted to play in the band. One week later we recorded a song for one of the Hardcore compilations, maybe it was 06, I don't really know.

What's your favourite Jungle Fever show you've played?


The Arthouse with Mindsnare in December was the fucking best night ever. We played a show a few years back at Sike Your Mind or some shit, in some club. We played Bro Hymn, punx went crazy. It was awesome.

Will Jungle Fever break up for good after these shows?

I sent a message out to the guys, asking if there are any more shows booked, just out of curiosity. They said no, but with this band never say never. Tomorrow will definitely by the last show for a long time. Half the band lives in Sydney, half in Adelaide. Half the guys play in Sex Wizard, they've got their own thing going on.

What are you going to do now?

I play in a covers band. A mid 90s punk rock cover band. We're called Old Music For Old People. We mainly play music from CDs which have a “Don't pay more thant $10 for this CD” by Fat Wreck. Sometimes we play some from the under $20 section as well. Wherever we go we get a whole bunch of friends to get up and sing.

You guys are playing in Sydney soon- what are you expecting from that?

Fun. Heaps of drinking. Just a party really.

What's your beer of choice?

I like James Squires- Golden Ale. Fat Yak's pretty good too. I don't know if that's the real name. I think it's called something else. Fat Yak will do for now.

What bands were you in prior to Jungle Fever?

I was in Taking Sides. We had that early 2000s kinda Bridge 9 sound- Carry On, Hope Con, that sort of thing. Before that I played in a little punk rock band. It sounded like Propaghandi, just fast stuff.

Never played in any sketchy nu-metal bands in your youth?

No way! Never, ever did I tune my guitar to Drop D, never, never, ever played sketchy metal. Never!

We're in Brisbane now. What three places would you recommend to a tourist?

Kim's (?) guitars, the best guitar shop in the country. New York Slice, they do a good pizza. There was a place we bad dinner, some Thai vegetarian place, I dunno what it's called, I'd send them there. Brisbane and I don't really see eye to eye.

Have you been in a fight with anyone in Brisbane?

I've never been in a fight in my life. I can't be bothered.

Do you think Jungle Fever will ever become a regular touring band again?

No way. Everyone in the band owns a house. It's very hard to be a regular touring band with a mortgage.

Maybe a once a year thing?

With this band never say never. It's not a priority though. Playing shows is not on the radar at all.

What's everyone else in the band doing?

Right now, they're probably drinking in the bar outside. Gabe's probably dancing to bad electro, he's pretty keen on that. Musically Tom, Jiggzy and Gabe are doing Sex Wizard, they're pretty cool. No one really cares about them now, but in a few years people will buy their stuff at overinflated Ebay prices and say how great they were.

What are you going to do in the next year or so?

Musically, just keep doing Old Music For Old People- as a joke, as a laugh. I've always loved punk as well as hardcore. When I wake up I listen to Good Riddance, when I go to bed I listen to NOFX.


At this point the recording cut out. There wasn't too much left to the conversation. Thanks a lot to Joel for the interview.

Today I arrived back in Brisbane. My flight left at 5.10am, let´s just say I was not in good condition upon arrival. I have just had two great nights seeing Polar Bear Club, Break Even, The Gifthorse and about four seconds of Jungle Fever.

I did a whole bunch of interviews last night, I was very impressed with my efforts actually, hopefully they all came out ok. So soon enough you can expect interviews with Jungle Fever, The Gifthorse, Kel who runs The Fort, that was the venue for the first night and To The North.

I had a pretty incredible trip really. I stayed at the Brisbane YHA, it has recently been rebuilt, the rooftop terrace there is incredible. Although it does not have the view of the Opera House a la Sydney Harbour YHA, however it has a bunch of seating areas, a great pool with lounges and beanbags to sit on, and it´s quite well used.

Tonight I am heading to Narooma, south coast NSW for the third Narooma Footbag Jam. This is an event I have been a big part, it's always a really fun trip and this year should not be any different.

Next weekend I'll spend in Sydney and from there 10 days on a boat, surfing off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

Current status: living the dream.