Back to the beginning

The next day we headed to Ballarat to play Babushka bar! The owner/soundman, Garth, was a really cool dude.  He named the bar after a Kate Bush song (WIN!) one of my faves.  The sound was excellent and our bartender, Steve, was a sweetheart.  At first we didn't think anybody was coming, but then the place filled up with awesome people.  We had an excellent show, one if our best, and he even recorded us!    It was our first live recording of The Belle Miners.  Special!  We even got a review in the local paper! Thanks Daniel!

That night a lovely woman named Jude (who Marina found through couchsurfer.com) put us up for the night.

Jude and her cute old deaf doggie

Giddyup!

 Yay for beds! The next day we were on a mission! It was the gay pride parade in Melbourne! Marina hadn't been to gay pride for 6 years because she's always in her tower, so we got pretty excited about it.  Jude told us her first husband (of 20 years) who was the father of her children, was gay.  She said she always knew, because they always ended up liking the same guys!  She told him he needed to go explore himself and be free.  The way she told the story was humorous and compassionate bringing Marina to tears!  She's so happy to be openly gay and feel the support of her family and friends. 
Sadly we actually missed the parade!  It was a long, very hot drive.  We had big dreams of being painted in rainbows and dancing in the streets but REALLY, it WAS 40c... so we ended up making the end of parade beach party.  Our friend Nicolette Forte was playing a set with her band. We enjoyed that and then went and sat in the shade.  Later I went and got my dance on in the sun to the DJ set with some lovely gay men.  We made up some great dance moves!  Of course, after that I was literally MELTING.  So I needed an ice cream.


After that we only had time for a quick shower and freshen up before our gig at Graceland, a local artist showcase.  We got there and, sadly there was NO AIR CONDITIONING.  It was held in a funky building right next to the cop shop and they fed us dumplings, beer, cider and "magic tea" (which was basically kombucha).  The heat was intense but the talent was a marked step up and it was a full house of very attentive music lovers.  One of our faves was a local band called Indian Red.  There was also a full choir!  Really, everybody was fantastic. Loved it.
 I think I was mildly heat-stroked after that experience but after some Advil and Nepalese food I was good to go.

Our last show in Melbs was the next night just a block away at a place called The Retreat.  It was put on by Rhea (the same person who booked us Graceland) so it was another great event!  Afterwards we went back to Michael's place and decided to finally do some songwriting.  We did get most of the way through a song (and a delicious bottle of red that Jane and Michael's parents generously donated).  It was our last night in Melbourne!  Things got a bit rowdy... there may or may not have been a whipped cream fight...;)

The whipped cream ninja strikes again!

Goodbye Melbourne! We will never understand this strange glowing Kewpie doll... but you're still pretty cool.

Our next destination was back to Berry mountain.  We decided that rather than break the trip up into two days of driving (and risk camping in Parrot country) we would do it in one 9 hour chunk.  We wanted to have a good night's sleep and be rested for our next show!

The drive was definitely very long, but we did get to find out how slurpees get transported! 

Just put it in my face please

We rolled into Berry late that night and wove back up the winding mountain (dodging many a wombat) to our home away from home at Carla and Jacko's!  It was so COLD!  We'd gotten used to the overwhelming heat in the city.  Well, best to begin our acclimatization early... back home it's -2c!
Coming back to this place felt VERY strange... like going back in time.  Wow, a lot can happen in six weeks! It was so hard to believe that we would be going home in 5 days... and saying goodbye to Jaime for another year! Heartbreak!

The next night we went back to Woolongong to play the Howlin' Wolf Whiskey bar!  Also such a trip!  It felt like it was ages since we'd been there. The staff were lovely and welcoming - they even offered us another show for Friday night - score!

Soaking in the sun in Berry

The next night we were booked at The Sourdough Bakery, where Jaime used to work.. They had organized a community dinner of wholesome vegan food and the place was PACKED!

Featuring such delicious items as Massaman pumpkin curry, marinated pesto mushroom salad and the most delicious moist polenta I have ever had... I wasn't surprised!  Not to mention delicious  fresh sourdough bread spread with garlic butter and fresh basil, mmmmm.  Dessert was a decadent array of goodies such as chocolate chia pudding, gluten free mousse cake (yay for Marina) and fresh fig crumble!   We were so full we could barely sing but, well, we made it through.  Here's some amazing footage of the evening featuring us: Berry Community Dinner 2014








Yum!

Adam, Jaime, Marina and Jelle at the Sourdough

Feeling full and fulfilled, we went "home" to Carla and Jacko's to have a nice sleep.


The next day when I woke up, I felt the need to go for a jog to get some much needed exercise.   As I set off the gravel road in the warm morning light, I saw something in the distance... could it be!? IT WAS! The elusive male Lyrebird, in all his glory, was standing right in front of me!  His feather spread was glorious and his song was just as beautiful.  What a good omen!

After my jog, shower and breakfast, we packed up the ute to hit the road one last time!  It was sad saying goodbye to Carla and Jacko but at least we'll get to see them next year at Jaime's wedding - she's getting married at their house!  Can't imagine a more perfect spot.  After that we went to a beautiful tea tree river, soaking in the beautiful serenity.  We had the place to ourselves!  We may or may not have been naked as the day we were born, and swimming like mermaids with the tadpoles and fishes, cleansing ourselves from head to toe with the crisp fresh water in the golden light...  hey, you (may or may not) only live once! ;)  Powflowl.

That night we played another show at the Howling Wolf Whiskey Bar! Now, how can I put this... we love them, and they seem to love us,  but we're pretty sure nobody can actually hear us at that place... oh well!  Paid the petrol to Sydney!  We rolled in at around 2am to an Air Bnb that Marina had found us, we were quite exhausted. It sounded like a real deal (accoms in Sydney are priced astronomically  and many were booked)!  She had been messaging a guy named "Tony" who had told her that the space was "unfinished" and he hadn't moved in yet.  A very slender young woman met us at at the front door.  People seemed to be moving in at 2am!  It had a very strange vibe. 

The entire space (which was a total of 7 rooms and 2 kitchens) was empty.  The floors were slanted and some of the doors didn't actually close. We sat on the bed and it collapsed! This place was hilarious.  THEN we realised why it was so cheap!  Let me put it this way: when you're looking for a place to stay in a big city and you actually want to SLEEP... google the location and make sure it's not RIGHT BETWEEN TWO HIGHWAYS. It was so warm, we had to keep the noisy windows open!  Well, there's always caffeine.

Jaime's various fancy coffee fixes

That's ok, we wrote a song about it... because that's what we do!  There WERE little owl statues in the living room!  I guess we needed to learn that lesson.  Could be worse!!  Some Spanish people were crashing in the room next to us... when the two left they seemed very confused. The next night we came home to find that she had put all of their stuff on the front porch.  She told us they would soon be leaving. When they came home they were very weirded out.  We let them in (how could we NOT!?) and the next morning, they (and their their belongings) has disappeared. SKETCHYYY... We later put together that this strange, slender woman, actually WAS Tony.  She was likely running this place as an unofficial hostel (perhaps one of many) under the radar.

Aside form this strangeness, we really had a wonderful time in Sydney.  We saw the opera house, went to (yet another) pride festival and explored some great markets.  We found little PowerfulOwl stopwatches! We decided to set them all to eachother's time zones so that we'd always know what time it is for each other when we want to Skype. Jaime's is on BC time and ours are set to Perth time.

Marina has been on a search for Blundstones, she even started a Blundstone fund that people could donate to if they liked her music!  She found a great pair in Sydney.  Now she's a happy camper! I forgot to get a picture of them, but they are just right for her summers in the tower.

Marina met a new rainbow faced friend on pride day!  They were glorious.

Our last day of shows was epic. We played a lovely market for FIVE hours and they treated us so well! Donating delicious food and even freshly pressed fruit and veggie juice!  A much needed pick-me-up.  As the time grew nearer, it began to sink in that our amazing adventure in Australia was truly coming to an end! 

After that, we went to yet another gig at a fun little venue called Sappho books in the district of Glebe (a grand total of seven hours of music in one day!).  This place was really cute!  The front half was a cozy old fashioned bookstore with two floors and and a coffee shop that turned into a beautiful little open air restaurant and bar at the back. The trees were FULL of parrots (who I had more than a few stong words with - what a racket!!) and they had TWO KITTENS.  KITTENS!!! Oh. My. God. Kittens. The bartender kept coming by the table holding either kittens or drinks. It was heaven.

The waitress (Ally) was so sweet to us and brought us a bottle of champagne on the house!  As soon as the bubbles started flowing, so did a few tears... what an amazing experience.  Well, you wouldn't believe all the sappy love messages spilling gushily into the mic as we tried to keep it together during that one!  We made lots of great friends and the food and drink were fantastic at this place.

Some friends we met in Port Maquarie even showed up and bought us a fine whiskey toast... which definitely didn't help us become less emotional.   Jaime was having an especially hard time, we have to leave her behind for a whole year!  Lucky us she's asked us both to be part of her wedding party... shucks, I'm even the maid of honour!  What lucky souls we are.

We went back to the highway apartment and much celebrating ensued. We definitely shared many a hug and of course, the waterworks were spectacular.  Jaime was the first to break down... this has been an intense process for her, booking her first tour! A lot of work and responsibility!   I was fine until she took me in her arms and said "I'm sorry I didn't spend more time with you when I had the chance".  I felt a small piece of me that had become hardened inside, release.  I'd spent so many years trying to fill her shoes after she left me in Canada 5 years back, but of course, it was impossible.  Love you Jaime!

Well nothing like a good cry! Really, you should try it. One of those deep cleansing, soul soaring cries;  it's just part of your body's natural maintenance - kind of like going to the dentist! ...Which reminds me... I have a hole to fill. 

Until next time Australia!!

PS BIG thanks to all of those who have helped us so much this year - we couldn't have done this without you!  Special thanks to Todd Hooge and HoogeStudios for recording, mixing and mastering our live album!   You helped make our dreams come true! 

Belle Miners

Port Macquarie was a great spot! We rolled in and dropped off our gear at The Pier, a pub near the seaside. We were greeted enthusiastically by Adam, the bar manager, and instantly knew it would be a good night.  This place had great vibes with a wall made of VHS tapes and drums hanging from the ceiling as light fixtures!

Marina heard these drums calling her name

 Before the gig we had time to head to our caravan park, where we were staying in a cabin!  Yay bunk beds!  We got to reunite with our lovely friend Jane and she had surprises for us!First of all, there was A POWFUL OWL CAKE!!   Jane actually made up this design, baked it and decorated it herself!  Then, GET THIS..... POWFUL OWL SHIRTS!  We were beyond words.  What a great friend!

Marina in heaven.

We proceeded to have a Jagermeister toast in her honour... and then it was off to the gig! The bartender, Austin, started things off with free drinks for all of us (Jane included). Then, after we played our cover of "Whiskey Bar" by the Doors (and talked about our partiality for the drink) and he gave us more of that top shelf Tasmanian whiskey!  It was a great night. Jane ("the Dolphin whisperer") lead us to Dolphins at the harbour, and we shared a lot of laughs.

Note the shirt!

So hard to see a powerful owl caged!

We walked home singing in the streets, at this point the three part harmonies were becoming an addiction. Around this time, one of us (I can't tell us apart anymore) said "we should form a super group!" and another chimed in "let's call ourselves the Bell Miners! Like the birds!".  This suggestion was greeted with great enthusiasm. Marina piped up: "Oh man, can we spell it with an 'e'!?  Then we can be mining for beauty!". We all agreed this was a worthy name for our new band.  So the Belle Miners were born!  "We should really make this an annual thing" said one of us. The others assented,  two summers a year is FAR better than one.  And seeing as we'll be coming back over for Jaime's wedding next year, well, it just might happen!  We got back to the cabin and dug into the powful owl cake with much gusto.  The next day was all like this:

We spent the day lounging around and eating more cake. Then we went to the Koala hospital!

We saw so many cute koalas, it was ridiculous.  Koalas are funny, they spend most of their time asleep because they're all high off of eucalyptus leaves (which are quite toxic, but also their main food source). Their eyes are all bloodshot and they don't do much, but Jaime says their poop smells GREAT.  Hey here's a video! 
That night we got to play another venue right next to the pier called the Fig!  We also got treated very well there, with delicious food and drinks!  I ate barramundi fish for the first time, which is a type of bass.  It was very yummy! Marina opened the night and it turned into a little kid's dance party.  Awww

Next day was Australia day!  There were lots of BBQs and markets going on. We played a market (Cassegrains artist market) in the morning and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Playing outdoors with clear sound mingling with the swelling cacophony of cicadas, we felt a profound sense of well being.  Nothing better than singing out into the forest!  We got a great crowd too.  Such a good time. 

After our market gig, we had another one at the Fig that afternoon. We set up and got going but there was a stage with music, speeches and a dance competition going on right outside at the same time!  We had to laugh as our soft folky music melded with pounding bass and drums, to make a dissonant and unintentional remix.  Oh well, at least they gave us a jug of Pimm's cup full of fresh fruit! That helped a lot.

Then we packed up our ute (which we have become very efficient with) and were on the road.  We have become very proficient at this.  We drove back to Newcastle and got to see Jane's family again!  FUN!  Jane took us to her favourite beach (where the powerful waves threw us around like the puny mortals we are) and cafe and we had "cafe frios" (espresso drizzled over vanilla ice cream).  Saying goodbye to Jane was hard - we hope she'll come to Canada!

After we left Newcastle we were on route to Melbourne.  We had a lot of ground to cover! Two long days of hot driving.  Lucky us, Jane sent us off with some beer and cider for the road.  I always get stuck in the back bench seat because I'm the smallest and don't get car sick or claustrophobic. Thankfully in Australia it's legal to drink in a car as long as you're not driving. That came in verrrrry handy! One beer and it was 90s music remixed Felicia style time.  Weeeeeelll I tellyawhatIwannntwhatIreallyreallywant... We got as far as we could the first day and ended up tenting in a little town called Yass... which became the butt of many jokes ;). We thought of maybe driving into a little wildlife reserve on the side of the road and stealth camping... but after driving in and getting distinct Blair-witch forest vibes, we decided against it.

We found a caravan park and set up camp in the dark (classic) passing out to the sound of a pounding drum somewhere in the distance.  I've gotten in the habit of going to sleep with my trusty ear plugs and eye-mask. Very little can disturb me once I'm asleep and I don't tend to have much trouble, this has always been one of my skills.  Some of us are not so lucky!  At around 6am I got woken by a sudden loud shout - Marina was exchanging some sharp words with the morning birds (as has become customary). Apparently some baby Galah parrots had been left alone in the nest and were getting hungry!  I was told later that this conversation also involved Jaime but I was blissfully asleep after the first battle-cry.  "Terrible parents!" Marina exclaimed "that experience made me re-think having children" she muttered.  To add insult to injury, turns out we were parked over an ants nest (most ants bite in Oz) so packing up was a bit frantic.

The next day we drove across the great dividing range and the landscape (and weather) changed dramatically.  Suddenly things became distinctly desert-like.  This is how I had imagined Australia to be. We drove for 5 hours and every time we stopped for a break, hot air blasted at us like a blow dryer! Thank god for AC!  We couldn't even get it cold enough in the ute. We arrived in Melbourne in the late afternoon and we conceded it was the hottest day we'd experienced so far (at 40)!  Marina likened it to standing in front of a bonfire but you couldn't step away.  We were very grateful to arrive at Michael's (Jane's Brother) and all went straight for the shower: heaven!

We had a gig that night at a The Prince of Wales.  Our host, Nicolette Forte, was exuberant and welcomed us warmly.  We were very well received and lucky for us (or rather, for Marina) our bartender Justin, was a Canadian!  He said he cried during our set! That was pretty sweet to hear, poor guy misses home! We were fast friends.  We slept very well that night and the next day we got to explore Melbourne!  Marina went to go meet her friend Jen and left Jaime and I alone for 31 hours...  It was a sad and confusing time.  We have become Siamese triplets.

Saying goodbye for 31 hours!  So hard!

Did you know that raw chocolate is an aphrodisiac?  Now you know!

Jaime and I tried out some busking spots and checked out Brunswick st.  Most people we've met have told us Melbourne is their favourite place and we were not disappointed.  There were lots of great cafes and op shops (opportunity shops, aka thrift stores).  We also found our favourite raw chocolate (pana) at a great price! If you can find this stuff, buy it. Pay the money, it is DIVINE. Plus it's mentally stimulating and has tons of health benefits. It's basically health food. VITALITY!
Plus we found Matcha!  Needless to say, I was jazzed. We also experimented with night busking and BAM - success! It was hilarious and lucrative. We got as much of a show (or more) than we gave and we got good money AND gifts. Like one guy gave me a pink guitar pick (his "last plectrum"!) which was very nice because I really needed one. Some hippies danced by and gave us more gifts. We all fell in love instantly with Melbs. It feels like home!  The weather is also like home: extremely bi-polar and windy.  One day it might be 40 and you can't get naked enough... the next day it might be cold and raining and you're in jeans and a jumper.

We reunited the next eve and played the Elwood lounge (which was not particularly note worthy, though I did try my first Aussie burger!  Egg, pickled beets and pineapple being the standout features.  It was HUGE.

We tried for a night busk in the busier entertainment district but things did NOT go as planned. There was a night festival going on, which was pretty cool!  Fie dancers, drum circles, droves of people... We tried busking outside of it but the drums were too loud, and everywhere we went it seemed we were either competing with music from bars or unruly crowds. We did run into our Canadian friend Justin and his girlfriend, it was nice to talk to them! After that I got the mother of all painful specks of death (aka sand) in my eye and we decided to call it a night.  We went back to Michael's and were thinking about trying to write a song but we just ended up drinking the rest of our Jagermeister.  I've developed a toothache, as I lost a filling back in Berry, so I was alternating clove oil (which is quite spicy but numbing) and Jager to wash it down.  This was a good method... the toothache DID go away.  However, I quickly lost the ability to walk in a straight line ;)  BEDTIME!
 

Next morning we were off to Callista to visit Nigel's friend (and fellow wildlife biologist) Simon and his wife Fiona.  They were awesome and their two kids, Charlie and Sadie, were talented little musicians! Sadie sings and plays ukelele and Charlie plays a little drum called bodhrán. They had friendly little bearded dragon's for us to play with!

My new headdress

Billy on the Barbie

It was lots of fun and we had a delicious BBQ dinner to get us ready for the next round!

That night we set off to play a house concert at their friends Ray and Jenny's place.  It was a really nice, rustic open concept house and they had a little potluck going on.  The whole family is musical and they had a great PA set up with the sound dialed in perfectly.  What a great crowd! 

Sadie (9) opened for us with her friend  Hanna, a stripped down version of their band The Patch Tags.  They're great songwriters!  I told them they need to come to Canada and become famous.Love those harmonies.

 

The house concert really rejuvenated us - everybody was so supportive and even the children were quiet and listened with full attention (except for the ONE little guy, who shouted "I need to go toilet!" during Sadie's set). Wellll, if you gotta go... 
Simon wrote us a great review on his website Wild Diaries!  He is an awesome filmmaker and you should really check out his stuff. Amazing shorts about Australian Wildlife! He also filmed a new Belle Miners song!

Cockatoo

Tree hugging

The next day we got to sleep in and then we went off to see some local wildlife!  There were some beautiful big trees and LOTS of beautiful parrots for us to feast our eyes on.  We enjoyed playing with the exotic birds!  Got some much needed nature rejuvenation which helped us recharge our batteries. 






                                                                 















There were so many Cockatoos and Crimson Rosellas!  We also got to see a very special King Parrot, which is more rare.

There it was nice and cool in the forest and we left feeling quite refreshed!  I can't believe it's already this point in the tour! It's been a month! We still have many adventures ahead of us before we are through.  The end of the tour we have a show (or two!) nearly every day!

Can't wait to go back to Melbourne and visit Sydney!