Life is a Musical

Wombat crossing

So at this point in the tour, we have all acknowledged that we are all realizing our collective childhood dream: life has literally become a musical. Each of us has gotten into (or simply stopped filtering) the habit of singing about everything we do.  And inevitably, the others join in harmony because, well, we can!  I'm sure this must seem very strange and possibly annoying to those around us.... but you wouldn't believe the hits we've been cranking out, such as "My Hand is in my Armpit", "Country Eggs" (sung to the tune of "Country roads") and "I'm drinking a beer in the back seat" (which, by the way, is one of my best).  Actually, spontaneously bursting into song is great practice and we've also taken to walking the streets singing together before we get to our busking spot for the day.  It gets us warmed up and helps us test out which spots will work best... kind of like dowsing - get it dowSING? YEEEAAAH puns are fun!  Wait... wait don't leave!

Ok so after Nimbin we drove to Maroochydoore to play Sol Bar.  It was a hot one (30+). We checked into a Caravan park and then drove to the bar to drop off our gear.  We arrived at what we thought was on schedule, but after some confusing conversations we realized we had actually arrived in another time zone!  This luckily worked in our favour because we had time for dinner. Sol bar was pretty funky (in a good way) and they were very good to us! 

After our show we got the pleasure of watching Kim Churchil and Carl Wockner (who were also playing Sol Bar). They were super chill Aussie guys and each gave us a CD to listen to on our travels (awww!).  Jaime and I are not-so-secretly stalking Kim's manager for his Austral-Canadian booking skills so it was amazing serendipity that we ended up opening for Kim by chance!  He regularly tours between "Canadia" and Australia - our dream!

Cyborg Possum in Maroochydoore

They also had WiFi, so I got to finish my last blog! Such a luxury. The bartender was also very sweet and gave me a generous free-pour of some top shelf tequila (YUM) which made things extra fabulous.  Tequilla is funny, I know a lot of people hate it, and I used to need lime and salt just to get it down, but man, the good stuff is smooth as silk and tastes like liquid sunshine.  It's also a party in a bottle, until you end up on the floor... so they say... ;)

We stumbled home to our tent that night.  At around 7am I awoke with a frantic feeling I was being burned alive!  Our tent had transformed into an Australian death sauna! Eject eject!!! I launched out of the tent, half naked and completely disoriented... then I crept back inside to try and sleep some more but found it impossible.  I opened my blurry eyes and watched as Marina slothily began to move next to me, one inch at a time. Her sleeping mat was stuck to her like a snail in a shell. Eventually she was completely outside in the shade. Genius!  Jaime remained dead to the world (clearly she's more Australian than we are).  I followed Marina's example but the BEAUTIFUL, GLORIOUS early morning birds... well, they had other plans. 

After that, we continued on to Brisbane where we met another internet friend Alex Edwards (also a muso).  Brisbane was quite hilly and we had "fun" maneuvering the ute, as Alex lived (in the words of Jaime) "on the edge of a cliff". After the tenting experience we were very grateful to have a house to crash at.  We freshened up and went to our next venue, Tall Poppy studios, where we got the full recording treatment!  Alex opened for us and we were blown away - he's so talented!  Great tunes!  Gareth and Sarah (our hosts) were extremely kind as well.

They even made a backdrop of the North-Western hemisphere's constellations to make us feel at home!

 After that we had a few days off so, naturally we went back to Nimbin and Byron, enjoying some special treats and busking to keep our bellies full.

Rainbow marzipan dumpling, Nimbin

Nimbin

We camped near Nimbin the first night and searched for a waterfall (unsuccessfully). We ended up at a campground in Whian Whian State Forest, and discovered a secluded little shady glade to pitch our tent (away from all the families).





At dusk we heard the distinct OOmph OOOmph of  EDM bass pumping and discovered a little rave had begun next door - complete with tables and a full light show!  We had mixed feelings about this; on one hand, the lights were extra trippy that night.... for completely unknown reasons. On the other hand, what a random place to have a dance party! Plus nobody danced.  What a WASTE!  Well, our earplugs came in handy for two reasons: the bloke in the tent next to us also had a snore loud enough to frighten a mama grisley! Yikes!

Mullumbimby "friend"

We would have danced in the forest but we were in the mood for a night hike. Cool and creepy fact: when you shine a flashlight in the Australian bush, the spiders eyes shine like little dew drops all around you! Another thing: When you catch the eye-shine of an animal, it shines RED!
 

Gold Coast "friend"

Speaking of bugs, we also ended up staying in a caravan park on the water (aka mosquito hotel) in a little town called Mullumbimby. This was at the end of one of those days that didn't quite work out the way we planned...  we were all tired and a bit cranky-pants, when we realized we didn't know where we were going to stay!  Wellll mosquito hotel ended up being the cheapest place (I wonder why!?). 

Oh well, we made up for it by drinking delicious piña coladas (ala Jaime) and getting smashed in the tent later that night whilst listening to Justin Timberlake and Brittany Spears... don't judge us!  It was a hard day! ...there may or may not have been a pillow fight. Needless to say, that did a good job of cheering us up... though I did end up with a generous collection of mosquito (mozzie) bites (they love me, what can I say? It's because I'm so sweet).  It was the next morning that I first heard Marina have a very stern conversation with the morning birds, which involved some very strong language.

We then had our final day in Byron Bay and enjoyed some long-awaited Margaritas (I know, we're suckers for Mexican cocktails).  After a long hot day of busking and swimming in the ocean, well it was just the ticket!  Plus we'd been eying these beauties up for a while! Definitely worth it.

That night we decided to look for another caravan park but we left it quite late (once again)!  Ooops. Do not recommend. The wind picked up and, as we were setting up the tent in the dark (trying to brace it against the ute for shelter) the sand whipped our legs and faces like a sand blaster!  Ok... maybe I'm exaggerating a BIT... but it really hurt and I got sand in my eyes and it made me cry!  WHY IS LIFE SO HARD!?


After our adventures in Byron and Nimbin, we continued up the coast.  On our way, driving down a winding country road near Nimbin, Jaime suddenly slowed down the car next to a patch of forest and in an urgent tone whispered "Shhhh, listen!  Bell Miners!".  Marina and I listened intently as a cacophony of shiny tones rang through the trees. It was as if the woods were full of little fairy bells!  What a beautiful sound!  We didn't realize it at the time, but this was a very significant moment.  Bell Miners are certainly magical; they migrate in flocks to random locations, filling a forest with their calls for a short time, then suddenly they've disappeared to a new secret spot.


Next we had a little show booked at a place called The Cave in the Gold Coast.
To be totally honest, this was not one of our most exciting shows. There was barely a soul to speak of! Thankfully they had Wifi and we got a good chance to catch up on some internet time!  Marina got to catch some great waves at the beach as well, which was quite lovely.  We did meet one nice Canadian fellow named Dan, who bought our CD and made a new friend in our waitress Ash!  She offered to put us up for the night - YES!  After our mozzie "fun", well, we were more than grateful.  Ash was major cool but had to work early in the morning and sadly, we forgot to get her picture.  We DID, however, get a picture of her amazing cat Millie!  People's pets offer a special energy on this trip.  Not many things are more comforting than cuddling a friendly animal after a long day. 

After that we had a few more days off, so we decided to do some exploring.  We hit Ash's home town of Lennox Head!  She told us that there was a fantastic lake we should check out.  We decided to try out another busking set after breakfast.  We all have our various morning rituals that make us slightly more sane (relatively): Jaime enjoys a special coffee from a premium local coffee shop (she has an app for this) and I have my matcha green tea!  Matcha is very hard to find in Australia, but luckily Jane was able to find me some (PHEW!) in Newcastle. Marina took a little video of me preparing my morning fix.  

Our busking set was a SUCCESS!  We even got in the local paper! Doug, the local press, happened upon us and got our photo. Now we're famous, no big deal.  As the day wore on, the heat subsided to clouds and a cool wind.  We figured we better get to that lake quickly and figure out where we were staying that night!  The forecast was for stormy weather (and tropical storms are nothing to mess with)!   The lake (Ainsworth) didn't let us down.  WOW. This was a major highlight for me.

At first the water seemed formidable: it was a dark amber-red, similar to the colour of Red Rose tea, and the wind was picking up.  As soon as I dipped my toe in, it was love.  In my perfect world, I would live at the edge of this lake and swim in it every day.  Not only was it right next to the ocean and surrounded by tea an eucalyptus trees, it was also gloriously warm!  The colour was caused by tea tree from the surrounding trees - it was so dark that you couldn't even see your hand after submerging it a few inches.  Still, it felt healing and smooth and the air smelled wonderful. We knew we had to get ahead of the storm, but as the air got cooler, the water became more and more inviting.  We got out several times, only to run back in to warm up!

We finally tore ourselves away and went off into the night to find a bed.  We decided to try and find a hotel that night, as we didn't trust the skies.  We ended up in a small town with a pub that happened to have very cheap rooms!  The town itself had a shady vibe... as we drove through, we got some very strange stares from the thirsty locals.  One dude stuck his tongue out at me from the bar window!  Of course I returned the gesture. When in Rome!

Next we went to a lovely little town called Bellingen and got a great response with our busking set!  People crowded around us an made us feel at home.  We also saw a great national park, called Dorrigo National Park.   It was very rainforest-like,  filled with lush greenery, birds and trees with big vines (just like in Tarzan)!

We enjoyed playing with the local Bush Turkeys (especially Marina).  Jaime kept licking her chops and telling us about her dreams to raise them for game.  "They look so juicy!" she kept saying.  Too bad, they're protected because they're local wildlife.  That night we had to get a roast chicken to appease her craving!

Marina playing with the bush turkeys.

We also saw a Pademelon, which is kind of like a Wallaby crossed with a bunny rabbit. In other words - CUTE!  We were still running from the storm, so we tried out a website called Air BnB to find a cheap room (kind of like couch surfing).  We ended up finding a lovely woman named Iris in the small town of Nambucca Heads.  We had an adventure finding her house because we never actually got her ADDRESS, but the fates prevailed!  Her house was a cool oasis, with delicious fresh drinking water, comfy beds, breakfast and WIFI!  Low and behold, there was even a POWERFUL OWL shrine right on the patio! She said they had  a running joke in her family that her son looks like an owl, so they always get him owl themed gifts. Random. She let us stay for a discount and even bought a CD and came out to watch us busk! 

Iris and the owl standing in front of one of her beautiful mosaics.

The next day we were back on the road heading to Port Macquarie.  It was exciting to have some more shows lined up, I was beginning to miss the feeling of the live stage.  Imagine how it will feel after we're done this tour!!  No, let's not do that ;).   

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!

   

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.