Good Vibrations

Last weekend we gathered a solid crew - Kevin, Katie, Kirsty, Julie, Sharon and yours truly - and headed to the Good Vibrations Festival on the Gold Coast, featuring headliners Faithless, Phoenix and Ludacris.

Some of my favorite memories of the day:

- Seeing Aloe Blacc and, more specifically, a guy at the Aloe Blacc show who was wearing a shirt that read 'Go to Bunnings, buy some timber, build a bridge and get over it.' Not only was it creative, but it appeared to be homemade and was a tank top. For some reason, men here love tank tops. Also, when Aloe Blacc asked the audience to shout out the name of the person they wish was there with them, Kevin shouted without hesitation - 'STEVE MANOLAS!'

Kevin and Katie

Glistening in the afternoon heat

Crowd loving Aloe Blacc

- Checking out Fat Freddy's Drop and their trombone player who stripped down to his undies and danced around the stage

Trombone guy ruled!

Just checking to make sure the camera's working

- Watching a bit of the Ting Tings while sipping a delicious frozen cocktail

Cheers!

- Nas and Damien Marley, with their flag waver who NEVER stopped waving the Rasta flag...hardest working man in show biz I think

- Catching the end of Miike Snow and the beginning of Faithless from a relaxed spot on the hill

- Phoenix giving us a high energy performance with an amazing light show. Then seeing the lead singer come down into the crowd and lean over the fans, while being anchored by a security guy with one hand firmly in the back of his pants so he didn't fall. Necessary, but awkward.

- Ludacris singing 'All I Do Is Win' while people danced like crazy under the tent

The lowlight of my day was losing my new watch in the first couple of hours we were there. I made the mistake of trying to be responsible and re-applying sunscreen between shows, and I forgot to put my watch back on when I was done. It was gone within minutes of leaving that spot, and I hope whoever is wearing it now feels like a bad person!

Even that bit of bad luck didn't put a damper on a really great day; can't wait to do it again!

All By Myself...

Until this past weekend, I thought Celine Dion was the most annoying French Canadian woman on earth. Well, turns out I was wrong. I sat in close proximity to a woman on my tour of Kangaroo Island who definitely gave her a run for her money, and that's without even belting out 'My Heart Will Go On.' This lady was just a small part of a cast of rather odd foreigners on my one day tour of the island, that while beautiful and informative, left me feeling like the world's biggest tourist. I was definitely a snap happy tourist, but only got up the courage to ask for someone else to take my photo once. At least I can prove I was there?!

For a bit of background, Kangaroo Island is the third largest island off the coast of Australia, and if you sail due West of KI, the first country you will land on is Argentina. Kangaroo Island is known for its beautiful scenery and wildlife, along with being the home to the only pure strain of Ligurian bees left in the world. So no trying to sneak any bees over with you if you ever go for a visit! Our tour consisted of visiting the following highlights - Seal Bay, the Remarkable Rocks and Admiral's Arch. We also got to see a bird of prey show, where I got to show off my Australian bird of prey prowess by correctly identifying the Wedge-tailed Eagle for the group. When did I become such a teacher's pet? Or maybe I'm an Australian bird groupie? Sadly, because I was one of the few English speakers on the tour, my smarty pants knowledge was lost on the masses..

Did you know that sea lions were closely related to dogs?

Laughing kookaburras

The mighty Wedgie

The Remarkables

Admiral's Arch

In order to outdo my own touristy self, I followed the Kangaroo Island tour up with a trip to the Adelaide Zoo the next day. I was rather impressed by the place, actually. Not only did they have two REAL Chinese pandas (Wang Wang and Funi), but they had a nice assortment of other animals in a clean and well laid out setting. As in other zoo-related posts on this blog, I felt like a bit of a creep cruising through the zoo with no children in tow, but I didn't have time to kidnap one before I went. Biggest disappointment of the day - not seeing the elusive bilby. Next time!

Pretty sure I wasn't supposed to be using my flash here. Sorry, Wang Wang.

This is a Tasmanian Devil. He was doing laps when I snapped this, which entertained me and the other 5 yr olds nearby.

Had to include this guy

Escaped from Meerkat Manor

King Julian! (for Jaime)

Don't think this Mandrill appreciated having his photo taken

Long necks

This is a wombat. I have no idea what they do...

Four Down, Two to Go

I've decided recently to make it my goal to visit all six of the Australian states, and hopefully the two territories, during the year that I live here. May sound a bit lofty, but I'm only a month in, and as of this past weekend, I've already crossed four states* off of my list.

The latest state I paid a visit to was South Australia, specifically its capital city, Adelaide. It should be noted that South Australia was the only state in this country settled by free people rather than displaced convicts. More importantly, as I learned at the end of my trip, it is Austin's sister city!

Anyway, upon arrival in Adelaide, we were greeted by Adam, who was raised in this lovely city. He took us down to the beach suburb of Glenelg, where we enjoyed Mexican food, talk of chocolate bilbies and a lovely sunset.

Arriba!

Adam schooling us on his hometown

Sunset over Glenelg

Adam then dropped us at our hotel, and I use that word a bit loosely. It was actually part of a backpackers resort, and what it lacked in number of beds per room (yes, if possible, our accommodations were even cozier than on the trip to Melbourne), it made up for with its staff. The front desk worker was quite obviously German, and every time he spoke, all I could think of was Mike Myers and his Sprockets skit on SNL. I would be hopeless if I actually visited Germany!

Would you like to touch my monkey?

'Dieter' was kind enough to give us some guidance on where to venture that evening, and his suggestion was a festival called The Garden of Unearthly Delights. Adam had also mentioned this as worthy of checking out, so we decided it was a must. After a bit of a walk that included a few wrong turns and time spent on the street corners reading the map like good little tourists, we arrived at the festival!

And being that this is Austin's sister city, it stands to reason that they would have a Crown & Anchor pub. And yes, we did stop for a drink in honor of all of our friends back in ATX...

*the four states I have visited to this point are Queensland (where I live), Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. NSW is a bit of a stretch, as you have to drive through it to get to the airport on the Gold Coast but I have not made an official visit there yet this trip. I have no doubt that I will soon though, as I foresee myself going back to Sydney and, even closer to home, Byron Bay before all is said and done.

Welcome, Farewell and Photog FAIL

Though I have no formal photography training, not even a photography course back in school, once in a while I manage to stumble upon and capture a decent shot. Such is the beauty of the modern digital camera (and basic photo editing software). Sadly, the following photos do NOT fall into that category...

At the tail end of January, my flatmate Kevin/Filo as you know by now, was thoughtful enough to put together a Sunday bar-b-q in honor of my arrival and the departure of our friend, Steve, who was headed to Thailand for a month. I appointed myself photographer, which was a mistake, as I ended up with a miserable assortment of photos, none of which even captured Steve or myself! Mostly got people's backs as they sat and ate. What a terrible representation of the day and the fun that we all had! But I'll still include them here so we can all have a giggle at my expense.

Evidence that people were there at least?

Our friends have lovely backs...

A shot of smiling faces, gasp!

Just to make myself feel better, I'll also include a couple of nice shots I got a few days later as I was walking from Surfer's Paradise back to Main Beach. Maybe I should focus on scenery and leave candids to someone else!

Australia Day

The first three weeks of my life in Australia have been filled with one exciting event/celebration/holiday after another. I really arrived at the right time (as long as you aren't counting the natural disasters that also coincided with my arrival, but for the record, I'm safe and well)! From Magic Millions to the Australian Open to Australia Day, there have been plenty of opportunities to enjoy life so far.

Australia Day, celebrated on January 26, is the official national day of Australia, commemorating the arrival of the first fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788 (thanks Wikipedia!). Much like our Fourth of July, it is a day for Australians to show their national pride by eating, drinking, setting off fireworks, hanging out with friends and enjoying the sunshine. One tradition that I loved, and it seemed that the whole country was tuned in for, was the radio station Triple J's countdown of the hottest 100 songs of the previous year. I couldn't believe how talked about this was, both leading up to and after the countdown. Really unique and really cool in my opinion!

#1 spot went to Angus and Julia Stone's 'Big Jet Plane.' Check it out, it's quality!

I was fortunate to be invited to two Australia Day parties this year, and the one I ended up at was a great time. Interestingly enough, half of the pictures I have documenting the day are of just me and Filo, neither of us being Australian. But, good for us for using this day as an excuse to have fun anyway!

Imposters

The crew enjoying a break from the heat

'Australia' cheese complete with Tasmania, complements of Julie. I challenge anyone in the US to make this for July 4th this year. And don't leave off Hawaii and Alaska!

Sun down, countdown over, Americans still smiling