Into the great wide open

Well we're officially on the road after a week in the "wildlife sanctuary" that was the Jackett's.  After the house concert we enjoyed lots of nature time and finally hit the beach!   Jervis bay was our first Australian beach experience.  It was spectacular!  The sand was really white and powdery and when you walk on it it actually squeaks! It was a bit windy and cool (though the water was fine) so that helped Marina have a great time body boarding.







I found a blue bottle jellyfish (yes they're, apparently, very poisonous) and lots of other fun sea life.

We got our first up close and personal encounter with a Kangaroo!  Later Carla said, "Well you shouldn't get too close because you know, they can disembowel you with their powerful hind legs".  YIKES, wellllll too late. Anyway at least I got a close up! 

Evil eyed Roo will disembowel you

The night before our beach adventure, we had our first public show in Wollangong at "The Howlin' Wolf Whiskey Bar"! It was Jaime's birthday and she (and I) love our whiskey so we were looking forward to the $50 bar tab ;) We loaded up the Ute and it was only about an hour drive to the venue.  The room was a bit boomy but we got a great crowd!  Much fun (and whiskey consumption) ensued.  One of the managers even bought Jaime a special premium whiskey from Tasmania (one of his favourites)!  Lucky!  Even better, he liked us so much he's asked us back to Wollongong for February 5th or 7th! Awesome. 

Leech battle scar

On our last day at the Jackett's we made sure to absorb as much nature as we could.  We went for a hike through the rainforest searching for the elusive LyreBird; it's fascinating because it mimics everything it hears (most commonly an assortment of local bird calls) kind of like a real-life Mocking Jay (for all you Hunger Games fans).  Sadly we didn't get to see one (though we did hear it).  We DID, however, find a lot of LEECHES... two of which made it into my sock and got a tasty meal of type 0+.  Little jerks.  Leech bites are very dramatic; they bleed a lot because the leeches inject anti-coagulant into your bloodstream. But they don't hurt because they also numb the area. Actually I'm just trying to gross you out/get cool points; the bites never hurt or itched. Yay for Canadian resilience! hehe





We'd had a few days of cool weather but the heat returned to send us off! We packed the Ute full of camping gear and music gear and we hit the road!  It was a bit sad saying goodbye to our little Australian home and surrogate Australian parents, but we will see them again at the end of the trip and we were quite excited to really take off into the great wide open! 

 



 Our next gig was in Newcastle.  When we got to town we rolled up to our new friend Jane Sullivan's parent's place.  We met her online through some interesting circumstances; a few months back, Marina and I were playing a little show up in Courtenay BC (where her mom lives) and we played to a VERY intimate crowd. Among them was a fellow from Cortez island.  He said my singing reminded him of his friend Jane, who lives in Australia and he felt strongly that we should connect.  Fast forward to this tour, Jane has gone over and above to support us.  Apparently the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Her parents Glen and Evelyn made us an amazing authentic Aussie barbie and put us up for the night.  Evelyn even made and packed us lunch for the gig the next day and sent us off with a special tincture to help with heat exhaustion (just in case).


 Jane surprised us with a special home made (gluten free) chocolate cake (VERY decadent and delicious) as a belated birthday and "happy tour" cake!  Pinch me!  Our hearts grew three sizes that day.

After dinner we met Jane's friend Gabby and we went for a night swim in the beautiful ocean bath, which was a man-made swimming pool, fed by the ocean, right on the coast.  Swimming in the dark in salt water under the moon and stars was really magical. 






 
The next day we played The Lass O'Gowrie and Jane invited all her friends and family - it was a great turn out!  We sold lots of CDs and had a great time.   Blackie the cat greeted us, he's lived at the bar for 20 years!

Just in case you weren't sure

Marina's more like "hey ladies.."

All too soon we were back on the road leaving all of our new friends behind. 
Jane said she'd meet us again down the line and she's contacted friends and family along the way to help us out as well! What a gal. Thanks Jane! That night we figured we'd get a head start on our big 8 hour drive to Byron Bay.  So armed with a fantastic 4 person tent and sleeping mats (generously leant by Jane's parents) we drove for about 2 hours to a little trailor park in Tarree.  We set up in the dark and made a yummy stir-fry (mmmmmm veggies). Cracked into our crackin rum and made a prayer of thanks to our totem, Powerful owl.  Marina has begun saying "powerful owl" in an Australian accent to represent anything awe inspiring (ie "ahhh wow, that sunset.... powerful owl!").

Late night head-lamp tent set up in fancy dresses, that's how we roll

  It's starting to catch on. All I can say is, roosters have nothing on Australian birds.  goooodmorning 6am! 

The drive the next day was VERY long and hot!  We couldn't help ourselves and had to stop at a beach in a little town with the very charming name of Woolagoogla.  Marina, our little water baby, ran straight to the ocean and had an amazing time in body boarding.  I just ran down the wake pretending I was on Baywatch while Jaime took a nap.  We also saw the big Banana. No big deal.

It's true, we may have enjoyed ourselves a BIT too much and had a SLIGHTLY tense last leg... rolling up to the Railway friendly club JUST in time to throw our gear onstage and get Marina set up with about 10 minutes to spare... but it was worth it!  Marina made good use of the tincture from Evylin as she got a bit of a sunburn/heat exhaustion - a good warning: the Australian sun is very intense as the ozone layer is very thin above us and the UV ratings are often extreme.. not like our wimpy little Canadian sun! 

She pulled through though, she's a powerful owl ;)  It was a wonderful show and during our last song the sky erupted with a thunderous tropical downpour!  It was loud!  The crowd was convinced we had supernatural powers.... Powerful owl!

That was last night, and the venue put us up in a hostel in downtown Byron Bay. Man, this town is bumping! Music was everywhere and late into the night on a Monday (wellll who needs sleep, really)!  It warmed our West Coast hippie hearts with lots of healthy food and wholesome wares.  We had a great day off, busking, swimming and eating delicious food (topped off with some unreal Mexican burritos). 





We had the good fortune of staying with two gracious strangers Mike and Naomi (friends of Jane).  They opened their home to us for two nights!  They fed us unpasteurized milk and local gluten free sourdough bread with local cheese - win!  They also wrote us a cute welcome note and have a cute dog (Chip).

We had a day off so we decided to hit up Nimbin (which is kind of like Australia's Amsterdam).

The magical rainbow region

What can I say?  It was "magical".  ;) Instead of Starbucks there was "Starbuds"! hehe
Marina talked to a very friendly gentleman and explained that we had just driven in from Lismore.  He said, "ah yes, welcome to Nimbin!  The drive out of town always takes longer than the drive in"... it took us a few minutes to figure out what he meant... but we figured it out.
Next up we hit Sol Bar in Maroochydore! Party on!