We might have been witness to the last Wolfmother gig

For all of you huge Wolfmother fan out there, I am sure you have heard the news that the band broke up this week. Crazy considering we just saw them perform at Splendour this past Sunday. It's not exactly like seeing The Beatles last show, but nonetheless still pretty cool. RIP Mother of Wolf!

In other news, I am sick. Guess the huge weekend has finally struck back on my body after all the punishment I bestowed upon it.

Additionally, I want to apologize for how crappy the end of the last post ended up being. Just got tired and I wanted to post the thing already. But in my haste I missed one really crucial facet of our trip. I forgot to give credit where credit was most certainly due, to the White Chariot. That little beast did almost 2,000 kilometers without breaking a sweat. All Hail to The White Chariot, the best free car ever!

The Best Weekend Ever in Oz?

The title is a rather bold claim I realize, but this past weekend was absolutely EPIC!

We left Sydney around 4 pm on Thursday and drove a little over 5 hours North to Crescent Head. Since we were caravanning up to Byron with Morgan, Andy and Jamie, we had 3 vehicles for sleeping accommodations. The views were nice, since we were parked right there at the beach park looking out over the ocean. What wasn't nice was sleeping in the back of the White Chariot since it was cramped, hard and not too spacious. Believe me when I tell you that it was one of the worst nights of sleep I have had since leaving Micronesia. But the terrible night of sleep had one advantage; I was up at the crack of dawn watching the waves and taking photos. After 20 minutes the guys finally woke and we debated whether to surf there since the winds were whipping incredibly hard offshore. I finally convinced them we should go out, and it was a good thing because we surfed the place alone. Had a great wave, but it was a tough place to surf with all the wind. However, the highlight of my session had to be when a pod of dolphins cruised by on there way up the point. Veronica can attest that the dolphins were literally 5 feet away from us as she was hanging out on top of the headland. It was pretty incredible. Veronica then went for a run along the beach, we caught some more waves, and then the pod of dolphins swam back by us.

After scarfing some pies and chocolate milk we continued the road journey North. The drive was much more enjoyable in the daylight. Arrived at Lennox Head around 4'ish to some ugly waves. Jamie, Veronica and myself parted ways from Andy and Morgan and headed 5 minutes South to Ballina where we were staying. Our cabin in the caravan park was quite nice, and after taking a nice shower we headed into Byron for dinner. Had dinner at Orgasmics, the falafal place we loved last time. While it was good, it just didn't seem as good this time around. After a few beers at a pub where we were supposed to meet up with everyone, we left. Got back to the car to discover an $81 parking ticket, for not reversing into the parking space. DOH!

Woke up quasi early after a nice sleep to go for a surf before the festival started. Got to Lennox Head, and it was SO good. Like a dummy I decided to drive to Broken Head to see if it might be better, it wasn't, and drove back to Lennox Head for a session. Besides falling on the rocks trying to get out, the session was absolutely perfect. Flawless 3 to 4 foot lines rolled around the big headland, where they would shelf up and zip down the boulder strewn point. And the icing on the cake, there were only 3 other guys out with us. To score such an iconic wave doing it's thing, with no one out is like finding Nirvana. I had two of the best backside waves of my life and I damn near cried when we paddled in so we wouldn't be late for the concert.

The glorious surf was followed by an awesome day at Splendour in the Grass. Got picked up at the caravan park by a charter bus and driven right to the gates. Started the day at the burrito tent for some fuel, and then we got down to business. First band we saw was Operator Please, followed by The Fratelli's. Took a bit of a break, and then we went to watch Cold War Kids. Frigging awesome set, 'Hospital Beds' was greatness, and they ended with 'Saint John'. We practically ran to one of the other stages to catch Band of Horses midset. Arrived just as they started playing 'Ode to LRC' and it was a sensational set. Just bummed that those two sets were overlapping, but that is the downside to huge festivals. After Band of Horses, Dallas band The Polyphonic Spree followed. Tim DeLaughter brought down the house with an awesome set. Devo followed at the main stage, and by that point it had gotten REAL cold in the fields of Byron. Luckily there were huge bonfires around the grounds, and massive amounts of people were huddled around trying to get warm. Our bus picked us up at 12:20, and we were exhausted.

Woke up Sunday morning spent. Way too tired for a surf, we opted to get a cab into Byron to have a good cup of coffee and breakfast. Our driver pointed us to a great cafe with a killer cappuccino, and a magnificent bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado on toasted Turkish bread. The sandwich was heavenly, and Veronica and I contemplated moving North just for this cafe (of whom I have forgotten the name!). Met up with Morgan and Charlotte and headed into the concert. Got to the main stage just as Vampire Weekend was coming onto the stage. These kids were the highlight of the festival for V and I. 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa' and 'A-Punk' were outstandingly good, but when they closed the set with 'Walcott', my favorite song from their album it was ethereal! Had to take a break after that as I was still shaking with adrenaline. Had some chips and guacamole, wandered around to the main stage to see The Grates, an Australian band with a female lead singer who was rocking a Batgirl outfit. Super cool duds, and some great tunes. Then we went to another stage to see Lyrics Born and met up with our friends. We took a break at the Guzman y Gomez tent where Veronica found a ticket band. Subsequently Andy was called since he did not have a ticket, and he made his way to the concert. We made our way back to the main tent to see Sigur Ros. There set was sweet, but not quite as cool as they were when V & I saw them at the Hawaii State Theatre. However, I think the indoor venue was better suited to their music. But I digress, Andy made it to the concert in time for Wolfmother. Such a great performance, and it was insane getting to see them from such a close spot in the tent. That closed the show, and an epic weekend.

Monday was spent on the road. Utterly exhausted, yet still glowing from a kick ass weekend of music and uncrowded waves. Not gonna lie, it's been real tough being back at work. Tougher still, Veronica got sent out in the field today, so she will be gone the rest of the week. Bummer.

A Cold, Sunny Wednesday with a Wave

Finally, a post with a photo. But don't let this nice looking wave fool you, South Narrabeen was closing out, rendering it practically unsurfable. So after scouring the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Andy and I decided to paddle out at Dee Why. It didn't look that great because a lot of water was moving around, but we refused to give up without getting our hair wet.

The paddle out was vicious. It took me about 25 to 30 minutes to make it out the back. Quite frustrating, especially as I had almost made it to safety, only to get nailed on the head by a four wave set, pushing me back almost to the beach. But I persevered, and made it to the lineup, huffing and puffing. The waves were actually good, had a few fun ones, got axed on the head by a few, but it felt great to be in the water.

Tomorrow we are driving up to Byron Bay for the Splendour in the Grass festival. We had been planning on sleeping in the car since every flea bag motel and hotel for miles had been booked solid for the past 3 months. But today, Jamie decides to call up a place, and by some miracle they just received a cancellation. So instead of being filthy people who sleep in their car, we are now staying at a campground with cabins. Stoked!

Winter

I didn't feel like writing anything on here last week. Veronica was gone the entire week up in Dubbo, and frankly I was pretty depressed about it. Didn't help that I was eating leftovers all week. No joke, I ate the same reheated meal 7 times in one week. My mood was pretty dark, Dark Knight style. Speaking of which, we saw it the previous weekend, pretty stellar popcorn movie.

Having my wife back home made me feel like a new man. The sun came out, we enjoyed having a flat white from Barefoot, surfed both days, Veronica went for runs, and we relaxed. Saturday night we went to dinner with Gavin and Martina at The Oaks to watch the rugby. The Wallabies (AUS) played the All Blacks (NZ). The game was well played, but let me tell you, my steak at The Oaks was a disappointment. Big time. Not only was it way more expensive than other pub steaks, but at this place you cook your own. I could almost enjoy the novelty of going to a restaurant to cook my own food, except these morons didn't even give you a steak sauce like every other stinking pub does. Yeah, if it sounds like I am bitter about this meal, it's cause I am. Oh well, it wouldn't be Australia if we didn't pay a fair bit of money for a crap meal.

I finished reading "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger this weekend. Extremely impressive book. I actually cried. Don't tell anyone. If you haven't read it, Veronica and I would highly recommend it.

Not much else to report. I've been enjoying Beck's 'Vampire Voltage', a b-side to one of his single's. You can get a free download at stereogum.com. We are headed to Byron Bay this weekend for a huge concert festival, Splendour in the Grass. Pretty excited about it, as well as the 10 hour roadtrip. Can't wait to get out of Sydney for a little break.

Blah

I blame the monotony of day to day life for the extended absence of updates to this blog. Sometimes I am inclined to think, does anyone want to hear about where we ate a meal, and with who? Frankly, I am bored by that. I have visions of family and friends yawning while reading the blog, and I am saddened at the thought. But enough of my silly insecurities, here is the lowdown for the past week and half.

Veronica continues her training for the City to Surf. Her devotion to training is inspiring, although I can’t claim that she has me out running, I have been shamed into making every effort to surf even on small days. Speaking of the surf, it has been just that, small. Ridiculously small. The conditions would be epic, if you were midget. But the days have been gorgeous; sunny, brisk, hardly a cloud in the sky. This Tuesday while surfing in Manly with Jay and Andy a pod of dolphins cruised by. I don’t care who you are or how jaded your heart is, when you see dolphins your spirits are instantly brightened. As if to illustrate the yin and the yang of Sydney, I was harassed by an old, senile man while parking the car afterwards. To make a long story short, this cantankerous old man informed that I should back the White Chariot up so that 4 cars could fit on the stretch of road. Harmless, except for the fact there was plenty of room for 4 cars. I would love to tell you all that I handled his rantings gracefully, but after the 4th minute when he told he was going to call the cops I told him to go ahead, and in the process to get a hobby. Old balls kept on, and that’s I when I uttered, ‘Why don’t you cork it you pathetic bread thief descendant.’ I know, it’s pretty terrible, and it’s something that I have felt bad about for the past 3 days. This isn’t even the first time I’ve had a run in with a retired person either. Perhaps my 3rd or 4th month here in Sydney I had a 60 year old man want to fight me in Glebe for walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk! Geez, no wonder Sydneysiders are gigantic a**holes, they learned their crappy behavior from their elders.

This past weekend we had a free dinner at the Bavarian Bier Café. Oh yeah, that is one of the perks of having a foreign license, and your boss having a lead foot. I will say no more for fear of incriminating myself to the authorities. J We continue to watch ‘Flight of the Conchords’, a stellar show with some delightfully goofy humor. Sunday night we went and saw ‘Mongol’, part one of a three part epic about Ghengis Khan. Pretty good film, perhaps a little high -handed with Ghengis’s being such a noble man, but that’s entertainment for you.

Veronica has been in Dubbo for a job most of the week. I’ve stayed out of trouble, diverting myself by playing ping-pong over at Andy’s Wednesday night. Last night Jamie and I went and had $10 steaks at the Ivanhoe. They lost our order, which ended up being awesome since they refunded our money and we enjoyed delicious free steaks. If there is anything that warms my chintzy heart it is a free meal. Veronica gets back today, STOKED, and we plan on seeing ‘The Dark Knight’ this weekend. Doubly stoked. Only other news is that the great one, Kelly Slater won J-Bay yesterday in South Africa. For non-surfers, Slater is the Michael Jordan of surfing. He has won 4 out of 5 contests this year, and he is on pace to win his 9th World Title. Amazing stuff.

Weekends are way too short

Is it just V and I, or do weekends most seem way too short? It’s already Monday morning, and since we were not fortunate enough to have July 4th off, this past weekend seems like a hazy dream. Which is a real bummer.

Besides the brevity of the weekend, good times were had. Friday night we went and had pizza at La Casa, then rented a movie. ‘This is England’ was pretty dark, but a sweet movie about skinheads in 1983 England. Great soundtrack and a good film, but quite dark. Go figure, a skinhead movie that is dark.

Had a nice sleep in on Saturday, and ambled to Barefoot a little before noon. With our caffeine fix satiated, Veronica went for a run and I went for a surf out at Curl Curl. Some decent wind affected waves, but I had one of those sessions where you never miss a wave and are always in the right spot. These sessions don’t happen often, so you have to appreciate it when you get it, even if the waves are by no means epic. Late afternoon we headed over to Andy’s flat for a house warming party to watch ruby. The party ended up being fun, maybe a little too much fun as I awoke Sunday feeling quite average.

Sunday morning we caught the ferry with Martina and Gavin and headed to The Rocks for the Aroma Festival. The chocolate and coffee festival had a huge turn out due to the gorgeous day. I am sure the cheap-ish coffee and chocolate had something to do with it as well, and it was a fun time. However, I absolutely HATE big events because people inevitably cut in line. Not only do they cut in line, but for some inexplicable reason, they get right in front of me. So I asked this middle aged hag with terrible sunglasses how she could have ended up in front of me, when I got behind the lady in front of her. She starts muttering about she has been running back and forth getting prices, and this is her place in line. Of course I was blown away by her articulate defense of cutting in line, so I just muttered under my breath how pathetic she was. I now realize I should not have wasted my time by muttering underneath my breath, but sometimes I honestly forgot how worthless the majority of Sydneysiders truly are. These pompous paraquats will never be labeled as considerate human beings. Sorry for the tirade, but I am genuinely in awe. Sydney is such a cool place to live, but the people who grew up here suck. Sydney = Suck People. How else do you explain that out of all of our friends, we only have one friend who actually grew up here in Sydney? However, I don’t want you to think I let a minor incident tarnish a very enjoyable weekend. It’s just been a while since I’ve gone off on a tangent and I needed to vent about this latest douche bag encounter. Forgive me for this guilty pleasure.

Before I end this thing, please check out this great blog, Stereogum, http://stereogum.com/ These nice people actually offer free MP3’s. Brilliant stuff I tell you. Page 5 of the downloads has Bon Iver’s song ‘Skinny Love’. It is the money, trust me on this. Also on there is The Black Keys covering a Captain Beefheart song. Very nice.

Wallabies

I don’t know why the postings have become so infrequent. While work has been busy, it hasn’t been so consuming where our blog should have suffered so badly.

So, last weekend was pretty cruisy. Friday night we saw Zohan, and while it is no Billy Madison, it was still pretty funny. Saturday, after our morning ritual of Barefoot, we met up with Jay, Ria, Jamie and Morgan and strolled around Manly. At noon I went for a surf with Mike, and then that night we headed to Olympic Park to the see the Wallabies (national Australian rugby team) play against France. The game was a blowout, but it was good times nonetheless. Unlike a football game, the rugby was over quite quickly in only 2 hours. Took a photo of the empty looking Olympic Stadium. Only 48,000 showed up to the game, and the stadium can hold almost 80,000.

The weather has been beautiful for the past 10 days. Out surfing on Friday I saw a penguin as well as a pod of dolphins. Cool stuff. Sunday Veronica went for a run, I went for a surf, and that night we went and had dinner at Martina and Gavin’s house. The weekend was over way too quick.

Went for another surf on Monday morning with Andy out at Curl Curl. While we were checking the surf we were treated to a show of four whales breaching and cruising around about 200 meters from the beach. Very cool.