I’m lying in bed with my ears still ringing from Big Day Out yesterday. It was an awesome day as always despite all the recent controversy (in case you didn’t hear they tried to ban people taking the flag for fears of racial violence, and every politician and his dog cried out about how awful/ridiculous/un-australian(a popular term right now) it was)
I got there at mid day, and headed straight to the line for alcohol wrist bands – first things first! I then saw the Spazzys on one of the main stages with Rachael and Tania (the main stages are the orange and blue stages which are in the baseball stadium). After the Spazzy’s, it was time for a few beers en-route to the boiler room, which is a large indoor dance area (kind of like a warehouse with big screens, lasers etc and a stage at the front – very cool. The Herd, an Aussie Hip-Hop act were on and were actually really good. I hadn’t heard much of their stuff before.
After The Herd, it was back over to the main stage (after queueing for more beer) to see Evermore, Scribe, My Chemical Romance and Eskimo Joe. They were all really good, although I really enjoyed Scribe and My Chemical Romance since I was right up the front of the ‘D’ (the area in front of the stage), in the mosh pit with Pat. It got kind of crazy in My Chemical Romance – I’m glad I’m not a little girl It was then time to head over to the LilyWorld, a small, outdoor dance area, for Sneaky Sound System. I was really looking forward to Sneaky, and they certainly DID NOT deliver. They played 1 song, (We are your friends, You’ll never be alone again) and stopped due to ‘Safety Concerns’ cause of the crowd. It was certainly a lot safer than the mosh pit at the main stage, let me tell you that! Oh well, such is life.
Pat and I instead headed to get more drinks, a bite to eat, and then go back to the Orange stage for The Killers. We got there just in time to get into the D before it filled up, and it was worth it The Killers put on a good show! After The Killers, you guessed it, a few more drinks, a bit of food, and then a bit of a rest. I finally managed to meet Rory and Jules. Muse was our next stop, although we watched them from further back so I could relax a bit. It was 8 by this stage, and I needed my energy for Lupe Fiasco. Not many people here seem to know Lupe, so he was in the Hot House, a smaller stage. It was an awesome show and very energetic.
After Lupe, I headed back to the Boiler Room where I caught the end of The Presets and then finished the night with a one and a half hour Crystal Method set. Rory, Jules and I were at the front dancing the whole time, shirts off (not Jules though ), sweating like crazy.
Afterwards we headed to the train to make the long journey home. We were all buggered – my feet were sore, my ears were ringing, my white shirt was brown, and even had someone’s blood on the back, but it had been well worth it!
What a Day!!
Today it is Australia Day, so I’m heading round to Kylie’s for a bbq, dressed in a wife beater (singlet), to relax by the pool and recover from yesterday, and perhaps even commemorate the landing of the first fleet!
It’s been a busy few days since my last post. Jackie and I have been to Melbourne for 2 nights where we spent 1 night in a hotel downtown and 1 night with the Fedele’s. It was great fun catching up with Sheila, Frank, Wendy and Pasquale as well as other friends of mine. We caught up with Stuart and Andrew who I knew in Singapore, and Alex who I know from Sydney. Despite Jackie being the one who hadn’t been before, I ended up doing most of the shopping, buying new jeans and 2 t shirts!
Back in Sydney we’ve been on the bridge climb which was exciting, and have also been up wakeboarding on the Hawkesbury with Pat and Alex. It was a great day on the river – not too many boats around, the sun came out, and the water was calm. I thought I’d post a little clip of Jackie and I wakeboarding. Enjoy!
Yesterday morning we got back after a wonderful 10 days in Bali. We spent the first 2 days staying in Seminyak with Tabetha, doing some shopping and enjoying the traditional Balinese cuisine at La Lucciola’s (well actually it’s Italian but nevermind ) Tabetha threw a party for us which was great fun, especially with all the drinks. While in Seminyak, we also discovered our new favourite cocktail location called Ku De Ta which is right on the beach and has great music. We visited it no less than 3 times during our stay in Bali!
After the hustle and bustle of the Kuta/Legian/Seminyak area, we headed off to Pemuteran in the north west for some diving and relaxing (we had a 1 hour massage every afternoon). It was Jackie’s first diving after her PADI course, but we wasted no time and had her night diving on her second dive! While in Pemuteran we headed over to Menjangan island for some dives one day, which is in a marine national park as has some great wall drift dives. At Menjangan we spent some time with a cuttlefish, and I got some good photos (the dive photos will be up tomorrow, since they are being digitized now – our underwater camera uses a novel technology called film). Christmas dinner we had traditional betutu duck and chicken which was delicous, with Pak Prana who owns Taman Sari, where our place is.
After Pemuteran we spent our last night in Ubud staying in Nyuh Kuning by the monkey forest, and once again Keiren was ‘mugged by the organised monkey mobsters’ and lost his sarong We had some good shopping time in Ubud and had crispy duck at Bebek Bengil (dirty duck) with Jane. It’s one of my favourite meals so I was very happy. Our final night we headed back down to Seminyak for a final dinner at Ku De Ta with Caroline and Paul, old friends of mum and dad. Unfortunately that brought our trip to a close, and we flew back to Sydney overnight to be back for New Years Eve.
Last night we headed to a party for New Years Eve with Pete (my cousin who is staying) and his girlfriend Rachel at Will’s house in Bellevue Hill. It was a really fun night and we went down to Point Piper for the fireworks so had an awesome view of the ‘coathanger’ (Harbour Bridge). Today has been a quiet day at the beach recovering from last night. The day has flown by since jackie and I only got up at 1! It was a nice sunny day though, so a quick surf at freshie sorted me out (even thought the surf was small) Jackie had a go too and we took my new waterproof digital camera in to the surf which was fun.
Mum is at the airport now picking up Ooma Carla so the house is really filling up! We’re going to have a quiet dinner down at Bather’s Pavillion – yum yum (I really do seem to talk about food alot!)
Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year, and if you made any resolutions then good luck with keeping them
Enjoy all the photos!
Selamat Tahun Baru – Happy New Year
It was then time to head over to the LilyWorld, a small, outdoor dance area, for Sneaky Sound System. I was really looking forward to Sneaky, and they certainly DID NOT deliver. They played 1 song, (We are your friends, You’ll never be alone again) and stopped due to ‘Safety Concerns’ cause of the crowd. It was certainly a lot safer than the mosh pit at the main stage, let me tell you that! Oh well, such is life. 
), sweating like crazy.
Jackie had a go too and we took my new waterproof digital camera in to the surf which was fun.