Blue

Bundstock 08 - Blues n Roots Festival

Looking back over our year and a half at Bundock Lane, one of the key highlights would have to have been our house warming party - Bundstock - a rock themed affair.

Knowing that to try and re-create a party that was successful mainly for its spontenaeity would be a failure, we had to work out how we could draw out a sequel and not tread to much on the toes of the last gig. So it was that the Bundstock Blue n Roots party came about. The option of going as Blues music, or even an interpretation of something Blue or root-like was there for all.

An Awesome Mr Bump, Bananaman and his girl; BananaGirl, Sonic the hedgehog and his 60's madame hosted the party. We all took a walk into town to buy some ice and show off the costumes in public, to which we recieved shouts, car toots and passers by asking for photo's.

The night went on a long time... much drink was drunk, including a very tasty blue home made punch, and then so it was, Bundock Lane was just about done.

The morning after was a little hazy, I do remember Azz cracking through most of a bottle of Jim Beam by himself, winding up pretty smashed, again, by about 1pm.

Thanks for the memories guys, and good luck in your future escapades.

It's a War

A bit of a break was required in the usual 'pack-it-all-in' weekend regime. For our tenure at Bundock Lane is nearly over and I must find a new home to live in. After Lauren and I hit up a bunch of properties, we were left hoping - a couple of places that really appealed to us had come up and we had lodged applications.

We headed out West, for I had a wedding shoot to do the following weekend and I needed to check out the venue for potential shots. During this visit, we got a call from a real estate agent advising us that we were firm favourites to get one of the places we'd applied for on Maroubra Beach. We were over the moon with the prospect of spending the Summer months, living at the beach.

The following day, it was time for some relaxation - the previous and upcoming weeks business was sign to let loose for a bit. I went for an exploration session around the South end of Maroubra beach and sucked up the fresh sea air before some crazy busy times ahead.

Oren Leaving/Supergrass

It seems like every few months, someone else from the Sydney circle heads off overseas. This time is the turn of Oren. So for a Friday night, we headed out for dinner and drinks in Coogee. After we all ate more than we should've I had a gig to make that I'd double booked - Supergrass, from the UK.

So off I went with my camera, hoping to capure some good shots of Gaz and Co. However where the last few gigs I'd been to, I'd been able to smuggle in my camera under a jacket, the warmth of the Spring months meant I had just my T shirt on, and as such, a bouncer required me to check in my camera for the performance. I was to say the least, bummed.

However, every action has a reaction, and this was no exception. For without the shackles of a weighty camera, I was free to drink several more drinks, and then go a little crazy and believe I was 10yrs younger, for half an hour at least.

Flashbacks to several years ago, they started playing one of my favourite all time songs - "Movin' " - and as the chorus chords and drums came crashing in, I found my feet bounding me off the floor - several inches at a time... then I noticed the usual British suspects that liven up the front 'pit' area in a usually well behaved Sydney crowd - they were going nuts. My feet followed and pretty soon I was in there too. Just like I was 18 again, the fun and adrenaline pumping... just one thing wrong, I'm not as fit as I used to be, so I had to retreat promptish to get my breath and allow the springs in my legs to recover!

And so I walked away from that gig, with a massive smile on my face - nostalgia running through my veins and ready to head back to Orens leaving party at the Coogee Bay Palace - with just a handful of pitiful shots taken with my phone - still, stoked.

The night wound its self to a halt as the Palace opened its front doors only to sweep out the party goers onto the beach promenade.

Sick

Adelaide, South Australia - Part 2.
Sundays Sun rose behind a layer of thick grey cloud - we tried our best to ignore it, and went to Rundle Mall and found cupcakes to eat with our coffees. The ground was still dry so we headed off towards the cities hospital and academic area to see what we could see. The rains spat down, and so it was that we decided to go run for Budget Rent a car, to pick up a little Toyota + GPS to help us out with the remainder of the long weekend.So off to a little place called Hahndorf - a town first colonised by the Germans way back when. It shows with the main drag in town keenly modelled around European origins. Lots of sweet-shops and faux-schnitzel hauses, lunctime passed and it was time to move on.

I typed in Glenelg to the computer interface of our in-car guidance system, and the rest was childs play. We breezed down to Adelaides sought after real estate area; by the coast of course, where a fancy modern marina is surrounded by modern ristorante. The beach here was quite different from those I'm used to in Sydney, a high speed Norterly wind made it pretty chilly too! By this point the skies had cleared and it was time to take some time out to relax. It was time to splurge a little after spending 2 nights in a pretty average backpackers. So we stayed in an Oaks service apartment at that same marine, overlooking part of it, and also the parks. The sun was not far from the horizon and so, I put on my hoody, slung camera over my shoulder and went about getting some shots down at the pier.

A cruisy evening where I can recommend you not going to "Wok-in-a-box" in Glenelg, and it provided us first with a meal, and second some bad stomachs and nasty after effects the following day.

Our final day, and it was time to get the value from the already cheap $32 per day Toyota Yaris. After I cooked breakfast, we headed south, across some lovely rolling hills to Goolwa. The town is pretty small, and was built around the need to ship stuff from the ocean up to Adelaide. Then of course came train links and other advances and it became a little sleepy. I revelled in some Fish n Chips for $5 - which is about $6 less than the cheapest fish n chips I ever found in Sydney and ate in front of a large paddle steamer sharing the same name as the town.

From here we drove up to Port Elliott thanks to a recommendation from one of our Adelaidian (?) friends in Sydney (thanks Anna). I went for a wander around the tiny coves and beaches there where I shared time with brightly coloured rocks and small hermit crabs, and of course my 40D.

Our last stop was to be Victor Harbour where we saw the horse drawn tram plying its trade before jumping back into the Yaris and heading blindly back to Adelaide with full trust in a GPS system that royally failed its way back. We wound up in some suburban street before scrambling in some alternate co-ordinates.

We hit up the Botanic Gardens for 20minutes and sucked up the last South Australian Sunset we might ever see before gunning it back to the airport. Again, with seconds to spare, we checked in to our flights which gave minimal time to refresh ourselves before jumping back on to an aeroplane back to Sydney, New South Wales.