Aussie arrival

The next leg of our saga began with a nearly ten hour flight from Honolulu to Sydney Australia.  Luckily this time we got to sit next to each other (no farting children, though there were some screamers) and the chairs reclined quite nicely.  There were no good movies or programming, as this was a budget flight, but we all needed to sleep more than anything and in between we made sure to eat lots of chocolate to keep our riboflavin counts up ;)

We arrived in Sydney at 3:30pm local time, which was one day in the future and 5 hours behind of Vancouver time.  The closest thing to time-travel I've ever experienced; we teleported!

What our faces looked like

Stepping off the plane, we were greeted by warm, humid air with a faint but distinct hint of eucalyptus.  After that was customs, which were VERY lax compared to American customs and consisted of "g'day", a smile (Marina even got a WINK!) and a nod in the direction of FREEDOMEEE.  Marina and I then proceeded to the over-sized baggage claim and waited nervously for about 30min until we finally saw our precious guitars emerge - phew!  We all practically ran in the direction of our train as we only had a few minutes to spare. It was neat hearing all the overhead announcements with an Australian accent.  We've all tried (and failed) to imitate it; Marina's the funnest - she sounds like an angry old British wench out of Monty Python!  Jaime's pretty good, but she's had lots of practice.

When the train pulled up, it was a double-decker and very full.  Reminded me of the trains in Germany combined with the sky train in Vancouver and a double-decker bus from Victoria - cool! 

The train ride was roughly 3 hours with a few stop-overs and one major delay in Wollongong.  The temperature was pleasant but not hot, in fact it was quite overcast.  We shared a spicy felafel wrap while listening to the cacophony of rainbow lorikeets in a nearby bush, then jumped our last train, which let us off in Kiama.  Nigel's Dad picked us up in his Ute (which we'll be borrowing for our tour) and drove us up to Ballawongarah, where we are staying. His name is Ian but everybody calls him "Jacko", the Australian short form for "Jackett", his last name.  Australian's really like to shorten all words as much as possible; musician becomes "muso" for instance, and "bottle shop" (liquor store) becomes "bottle-o".. On the way up the winding hill, we went "wombat dodging" (as the wombats have a tendency to jump out in front of cars when it gets dark out)!  

This wombat saw us and ran face-first into a bush!

We only saw 2 actual wombats, but they were SO CUTE.  We arrived at the house and were greeted by Nigel's mom Carla and his sister Jenny.  Carla made us a delicious Lamb curry!   We ate hungrily and then it was straight to bed for these weary travelers.  Jaime stayed in the house and Marina and I got to stay in the beautiful guest house next door.

The guest house.

All of the drinking water here is rainwater!  We crashed gratefully and slept pretty darn well, only to be awoken by the cacophony of cicadas and various exotic bird songs.  The funniest call was from the famous cackling kookaburra, which you may notice from such classic movie soundtracks as Tarzan and well... anything that takes place in a jungle. 

Wearing borrowed Blundstones.

The next day was quite warm but not too hot (about 25c, perfect). 
We spent most of the day hiking through the local grounds, playing with cicadas and skinks
and singing our hearts out.  "If you get bitten by a snake, take off the leggings and use them as a pressure bandage!" shouted Carla, as we disappeared into the bush.  There isn't actually much of a threat. The poisonous critters tend to mind their own business around here.  Carla knows all about snakes, birds and wildlife; this whole family is all into wildlife conservation, rescue and rehabilitation.  When Nigel was a kid, he shared his room with seven orphaned joeys that Carla had rescued from the side of the road! They hung them in backpacks to simulate their mother's pouch.

The Cicadas are so loud!  They're also very cute and friendly bugs.

Nigel arrived and Carla and the family made burgers and a delicious traditional Australian dessert called "pavlova" which was mostly made of meringue and topped off with fresh strawberries from the garden, whipping cream and raspberry coulis.  It melted in your mouth!  So nice and light for a warm summer's night.

 

Saturday we got to go to town (Nowra) and printed some posters for the upcoming gigs and go grocery shopping. 

We saw some funny items.

Jaime made her famous Kangaroo curry! Yum, tastes like venison.

We then proceeded to Berry to try out our first busking experiment! We found a nice spot to set up and Marina joined us for some three part harmony!  It was really nice and people were generous; someone even threw a belated Christmas gift into our guitar case... ok it was from Nigel (classic) - a bottle of Jagermeister, our favourite! That'll be great on the road! We still have a lot of practicing to do before we'll feel like a competent trio ;)  STILL hearing the vocal blend between us three was very encouraging.  We can't wait until we have a full polished set, and at this rate (with plans to busk and/or gig nearly every day) we'll be there in no time!  On the way home we saw our first wallaby! Then we played croquet!

                                       The next day we played with Nigel's pet Python, "Pythony"!

                                             She was very soft, elegant and easy to handle.

                                                                  Marina opted out ;)
Then we experimented with busking again and found a really good spot.  It was about 30c though so even after an hour in the shade, we were all pretty sweaty and ready for a break!  That's ok though, people were very sweet and we made more than we expected!  Then Jaime and I tried the traditional Aussie meat pies for lunch (strange food for such a balmy day... but somehow it worked). 

After another short (and very successful) busking go, we grabbed Nige and went swimming in a local water hole ("flat rock") while the cicadas pulsed their rhythmic song.  You could see tea tree oil forming rainbow slicks over the various little pot holes; we grabbed some eucalyptus leaves and crushed them in our hands to inhale the sweet menthol. 

Next Nigel took us to some special spots to watch the Kangaroos and we even saw a few little Platypi in a local river (standing right where David Attenborough himself stood in The Life of Mammals)! 
It was magical!

Last night we played our first show in Australia - a big outdoor house concert here at the Jackett's!  They invited over 40 people and had a huge feast prepared. Carla made and array of amazing treats including gluten free brownies for Marina!  BUT she wouldn't let us have any until the party and she HID them (fair enough, we have no restraint around chocolate) ... until Marina convinced her to let us do some quality control.  They were delicious! So delicious that unbeknownst to Carla, Marina sneakily took a couple and hid them in the guest house for later ;) hehehe THE SECRET'S OUT! Too late Carla - by the time you read this, they will be LONNG GONE ;) Muahaha (Marina's revenge).

Anyway, it was very surreal playing outside in January! It was amazing to hear the sound of our voices echoing through the trees, accompanied by the (already beautiful) bird, bat, and bug songs.  When Marina was just finishing the last song of her opening set the gorgeous call of the Eastern Spinebill rang out with a happy sigh.  Nigel said he saw a powerful owl (the largest owl on the continent) fly overhead while we were singing - a rare and special omen!  We've decided the Eastern Spinebill and Powerful Owl are going to be our tour Totems.  The stars are so bright up here and these forests are so alive!  They remind me of the enchanted forests in Princess Mononoke (my favourite anime film). 

 Today we went for a nature walk with Carla and that was awesome, she's a great guide. She's especially  into birding and was able to point out lots of rare birds and tell us all about them; she's kind of like the crocodile hunter... except female ... and with birds. We got back just in time because there was a massive downpour; seems logical, we're surrounded by rainforest! Our first public show in Australia is this Thursday in Wollongong at "The Howlin' Wolf Whiskey Bar" for Jaime's birthday!  Good thing she loves whiskey and Marina can drive standard (and backwards)!  After that we leave this beautiful place and delve into the city where it will be much hotter.