Brisbane and Our Journey North

Hello all, and welcome to my long delayed blog post.
On Friday 18th January 2008, Leanne and I finished packing our shit, and headed north to our new city of residence, Brisbane.
As is our style, we understimated just how long t would take to pack, and we didn't leave until after midday. It didn't really matter though, as we were going to stop off at my Uncle Bruce's place in Fernleigh (in between Byron Bay and Ballina) and spend the next day there.
The drive was good. Neither of us grew too weary, and the driver reviver stops helped us on our way. We had dinner at Coffs Harbour. A delicious fish burger each. Holy cow, it was *exactly* what I wanted. In fact, I want one now. Damn. So tasty.
We arrived at Bruces around 10pm, and talked for a little while before going to bed.
The next day we heard that the Mullumbimby makets were on, and thought it would be a great place to go. Unfortuntely, after driving out there we saw a sign informing us that they had been cancelled due to all the recent rain. Shame.
Well, not so much, because Leanne and I went for a beautiful drive through to Main Arm. Wow, so pretty. I'd love to live there for a few years. We followed the winding roads across fords and up into the mountains, and eventually turned around when it became a national park. We then took a different path back to the Pacific Hwy, but not before stopping off at a pie shop for some pies, peas, mash and gravy. Once again, yum yum.
We had a BBQ for dinner that night, and afterwards went down to Lennox Head pub as a band that Kate (Bruce's girlfriend) wanted to see were playing. A whole heap of Kate's friends and their families were down there, too.
So we went along. Not a bad band, but a cover band so they held no real interest for me.
Funnily enough though Casey Rickets (from primary and high school) was working there. Strange world. What's even a little stranger is that he has married a girl from Louisville, Kentucky. What's strange about that is that that's where Megan went to College. Funny how two boys from Turramurra end up going with two girls from Louisville.
The night went well. Leanne and I spent most of the time talking with Bruce, who's rather entertaining.
Strangely, during the night a man walking past reached out and stroked my sideburns, smiling. He then left, silently. Strange man.
After the pub we went back to Bruce's and lit a spliff. He had some hash, so we had some of that, and Kate rolled two fat joints. Holy cow. I went to another planet.
It was great talking with them through the night, but Leanne and I had to be up the next morning to meet Alex before he went to Gold Coast Big Day Out (which is about an hour and a half from Bruce's place).
Leanne and I woke up around 9am. We promised Alex we'd meet him by about 10am, which wasn't terrible when you consider the fact that Qld doesn't observe daylight savings. So we weren't doing too badly.
Of course, this "not doing too badly" quickly turned into "late" because we had a lazy breakfast, a lazy packing session, and then had to wait for Dad to stop by.
On top of this, the traffic was terrible so Alex ended up missing some of the bands he wanted to see. Of course, I was doing him a favour (playing mule), so he couldn't be too upset. Also, in the heat and the traffic, the car started to over heat.
We ended up getting into Brisbane some time around lunch, and to save the $$$ we ate pasta that we cooked that morning. The night's activities began to take their toll, so we bought some V, which helped us get by and made us excited about moving to Brisbane.
Rather than heading straight to Leanne's cousin's house, we thought we'd take a tour of the city.
It's small.
Very small.
Like about as big as Parramatta or maybe Chatswood. A teeny, tiny CBD. And then it's Central Coast-esque suburbia. And maybe 90% of the houses look the same. I unerstand now why they call them "Queenslanders." Every fucking house in Queensland is a fucking Queenslander. It's strange. If it's a nice house, it's a renovated Queenslander, if it's a shit house, it's a run down Queenslander. Rent varies dramatically between the run down and the renovated, but they're all fucking Queenslanders!
Of course, I'm exaggerating a little.
So Leanne and I are staying with her cousin, her husband and their two kids. They're all nice, so at least it's not terrible staying with them, but I'm keen for my own space - as is Leanne.
But the search for housing isn't going as well as it could. We viewed 5 or 6 houses yesterday, and only one of them was what we wanted, and one other was worth considering. So that sucks. Today we didn't see any good houses. Tomorrow is a big day though. 9-5 drivng around Brisbane kinda day. It's gonna be tiring. But, hopefully, we will come out with some houses having been applied for - and maybe even a house to call our own - although I'm feeling that could be a somewhat optimistic viewpoint at this juncture.
Either way, wish us luck.

Thoughts on Brisbane:
Hot & muggy.
Small but quaint.
More obviously bohemian.
A strange older brother of the Central Coast.
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No tickets?

Looks like BDO decided not to charge me for the tickets... So I don't know if I actually have tickets.
Fuck.
So here's a copy of the email I sent them (as it gives a better outline of what happened)
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Hi there!
Early this morning I purchased 3x tickets to the Sydney Big Day Out, and was a little concerned that I had not been charged for them (but as the website said that it could take some time, I thought I'd leave it in your hands).
However, a few moments ago, my brother asked if I could also purchase him a ticket to the Gold Coast Big Day Out, so I did so. Contrary to the previous time, my credit card was charged immediately.
Also, last night, after hitting the confirm button, I was taken to a page listing the Big Day Out shows (no confirmation), while when I purchased the Gold Coast one just then, I was directed to a confirmation page teling me that I had been succesfully charged. I checked my balance online, and indeed, I had been (but only for 1x ticket to the Gold Coast show).
So did you guys ever receive my order for 3x tickets to the Sydney Big Day Out at approx 00:25 this morning (13th Oct 2006)? (I sent a text message to my friend when I bought them telling him that he got a ticket, so I have an approximate time stamp on when I finished the order. I also MSN'ed two friends at that time).
I hope everything is alright (I've already missed out on tickets to the Tool sideshow)
Thank you for your time (I understand you a very busy right now),
Kindest regards,
--
I don't want to hop on over to ticketmaster, as I don't want to not go through the BDO website after contacting them (and on the chance that it's just a delayed order).
So I'm going to just sit tight and hope for the best.
I might also add that only 1/2 an hour before I found out that they charged instantly, the BDO website sold out of tickets. The only way to get Sydney tickets at the moment is through Ticketmaster and Red Eye Records. Cross your fingers people.

Big Day Out

As you may or may not know (what other possibilities are there?), Big Day Out tickets went on sale at www.bigdayout.com last night at midnight. So, of course, I stayed up late so I could get some. I'm pretty fekkin tired right now, but I'M GOING TO BIG DAY OUT! Yay! Bought tickets for Alex, Ross and I. Alex wanted me to get him a ticket for Gold Coast Big Day Out too, but I didn't have enough money on my credit card. I'll see what I can do for him today. They said on the website that it could take a few hours to get a confirmation email, and up to 21 days for payment to be confirmed, as it's all a manual process. But that still doesn't make me a little paranoid about it not going through...
I also met some lovely (albeit young) randoms in JB last night. One in particular that has just turned her back against religion. Props to her for thinking for herself. I probably could have guessed that she was one of the Born Again up until recently; she had that sickening level of enthusiasm that is so common with those types. Give me Agnosticism any day; spiritual apathy.
I also met up with Tu (I don't know how to spell her name...) for lunch. It was one of those odd "is it a date?" meetings. I hope to see her again, and that seemed to be reciprocated, so let's see what happens.
I'm heading up to the Hunter this weekend for Mum's birthday (and it looks as if Mum's present will still be in the post for it), and of course next weekend for Pubfest.
Oh, and Fat Freddys Drop is this Sunday, and The Presidents is the one after that. Fucken A man.
And that's it.

Listening to: Strapping Young Lad - The New Black (I might add that these guys also rock my hairy nutsack)
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Big Day Out

Hey people!
At home right now typing this on a proper keyboard (yay!), so it may have some detail.
Sooooooo shortly after writing my last post (well, not that shortly) Agata messaged me saying that she was in the movies the day before (so couldn't answer her phone) and was at work that day (once again unable to answer her phone), and asked for me to meet her at 10:45am outside the BDO, allowing enough time to catch Wolf & Cub at 11am. Yay!
So that night I had dinner with Linden and Jess, and stayed the night at Linden's. Jess and Monique went out to the city that night with the Canadians that we met in NZ. Linden didn't want to go out (and nor I) so we stayed at home... anyway, that was a dull tangent.
So I checked all the timetables to find out when I would have to leave to get to BDO by 10:45am, but of course we didn't even make the first train. Linden and Monique were dawdling (sp?) around that morning, and even when we were leaving with enough time to just make the train, Tom (Linden's younger brother - who was coming with us) realised he had left the tickets at home. So no chance of making that train.
So we caught the next. And it stopped at North Sydney because of a train broken down on the Harbour Bridge (the train we missed?). The conductor said that there were "indefinite" delays. So we decided to walk across the bridge to Wynyard and catch the train from there... of course when we were half way across the bridge the trains started up again. 3 passed us by the time we were at the other side... yeesh. I let Agata know that I would be late, and it turned out she would be too.
So we hop on at Wynyard (after a 10-15 minute wait) to go to Lidcombe. Of course by now I've missed the entire Wolf & Cub set. Maybe I could catch some of The Presets (who started at midday).
Arriving at Lidcombe we miss the Olympic Park train by less than 1 minute (no real drama).
Upon arrival to Olympic Park, we were greeted with the longest queue I have ever seen for anything (including BDO). Holy cow. This is infuriating. I've now missed The Presets, and am about to miss Gerling (who started at 1pm). We eventually get in (I ran into James Giddins from High School in the massive queue), and I ruch over to the main stage to line up for entry into the D-Pit (the mosh section at the front), and Gerling start when I'm in that line, but when they do the line starts moving, and I get in!
So I groove over toward Gerling to finally let my Big Day Out begin. Agata appears from behind to greet me, and I get a picture message from Ross showing that he is enjoying Gerling from the D-Pit too. I greet Agata and tell her of my adventures in, and we watch Gerling. We ended up spending the next few hours together, and in that time Linden, Monique, Tom and Ross all come meet us, and later in the arvo, Agata's friends too.
So, in the D-pit I saw
Gerling
Magic Dirt
Mudvayne
Wolfmother
Hilltop Hoods
and Kings of Leon
I wasn't originally going to see Kings of Leon (Henry Rollins was doing a spoken word on another stage at that time), but after Jason, Linden, Tom and Agata all recommended them, how could I resist? They were totally cool! But, alas, I had to leave when they were done. There were other acts to see elsewhere, and I also hadn't eaten all day. So this meant goodbye to Agata, as she was staying in the d-pit for the rest of the day. I feel really bad about the goodbye though. There was only a quick goodbye because I thought she was going to walk up to the exit (of the d-pit) with me (to get some water - as the hose was right next to the exit). She grabbed my hand, and I kept walking, thinking she would follow me, I walk through the crowd, turn around, and she's gone. Ah shit. There were things I wanted to say... shit. I hate goodbyes like that. So I SMS'ed an apology and a sort-of goodbye, and left for some lunch.
I had just bought a grilled chicken burger when Alex called me, so I met up with him. We then left to catch The Herd (totally mad). Ross then messaged me to meet him, and my phone battery died. Luckily he knew I was at The Herd, so we were able to meet up.
We then headed over to Cut Copy, and Linden, Monique and Tom met us there.
Man, Cut Copy were funky as shit! Loved 'em. Gotta check more of their stuff out.
Next up were the band I'd been waiting to see since they were first announced: The Mars Volta. I'd heard alot about their live shows, and wasn't disappointed. Maybe a little too much improv, but overall they were great. Alas, my experience was marred by trying to locate Alex during the performance. Eventually we gave up and I started concentrating on the show again. Yeah, they totally rawked!
So after that, I was pretty buggered. Gave up on watching Cog, and waited to meet up with Linden and co.
I might add that in seeing The Mars Volta, I had to miss seeing Iggy & The Stooges as well as The White Stripes. Oh well, The Mars Volta, didn't disappoint.
The next day at Linden's I watched Batman Begins (I hadn't actually seen it yet), and Skeleton Key. I liked em both. I also watched a shit load of Robot Chicken. I like that show alot. So stupid, so funny.
I then went to Linden's local (The Greengate) with Linden, Monique, Jess, Mel (Linden's cousin), Dave (Mel's friend), Ross, Jon, Boggle, Brendan and Leanne. Not a bad night. I owe Boggle a beer.
I came home the next day, in order to find my NZ assignment for Agata, write a letter to Helen, and write emails to Amanda and Megan. Let's hope I get it done.
Oh, and Rockbox (for my mp3 player) now mas BMP support, so the While Playing Screen looks funk-ass! Stoked!
So yeah. There you go, my Big Day Out.
Until next time!

Listening to: Jacknife Lee - Muy Rico! (Album)

Back

Hey there!
I arrived home from NZ on Sunday. The trip was great. The only awkward moments were brought on by the differences between the girls and us boys, but toward the end of the trip everything was dandy.
I'm actually typing this from my phone in Sydney, so I'm keeping it brief. I'm in Sydney because it's the Big Day Out tomorrow so I'm staying in Sydney tonight in order to get there at a reasonable hour; I'll be staying at Linden's.
I would have liked to meet up with Agata, but she didn't answer her phone, and hasn't replied to my sms. Not sure that's a good sign... But I will be heading in with Lil and Mon, and will be meeting up with Ross. There may also be others to meet; maybe Evelyn. Who knows?
So yeah... Can't be bothered typing any more.
Blog later.

Listening to: Mum talking on the phone.