17/04/12 - 25/04/12

The next few days just involved catch-ups and what not with the good friends I had made during my time in Brisbane which was exciting for me but maybe not so much for you, dear reader, so I won't go into it in great detail.
I caught up with Aurel On Wednesday night and he was stoked to play some tunes for the Music Kafe crowd. His version of "Blue Suede Shoes" in his Swiss/French accent brought the house down.
Thursday night I had a few too many jugs of beer with John at the RE which reminded me of why I don't drink all that much any more.
I caught up with James from The Common Trees and we worked on some new material which is starting to come together really well.
Saturday night, Bill kindly shouted a lovely dinner at a nearby Italian Restaurant as thanks for helping him with some yard work earlier that day - what a champ!

Claudia, Bill (Joe) and Me (Steve/Neil)

Sunday I caught up with my old workmate Amy over chi tea at West End then it was off to the Sherwood RSL Club for catch ups with Michelle, Majella and Teresa.

Amy and Steve catching up at Three Monkeys

Majella and Michelle go for a ride in Freda (Are you happy now girls? You have  now made it into my world famous blog!)

Michelle also took some pics of me and her beautiful puppy dog, Fletcher.

Fletcher and I - what a gorgeous little pup

That night, John invited me around for some of his phenomenal curry which didn't disappoint. Afterwards we got a bit inspired and John put together a video for new Grove Street housemate David (pronounced "Darvid") who is from the Czech Republic and wants to get married so he can stay here.
John interviewed him and I provided the backing music for the video piece. It was pretty much a parody of "Farmer wants a wife" but instead we called it "David wants a wife".  We can't post the video publicly until David goes back home as it may compromise his visa if it gets out while he's still here. As soon as he's gone though, I'll post the video for you to see - it's well worth a watch.

John interviews David for "David wants a wife"

The rest of my time in Brisbane was spent catching up with friends which was fun.
On Anzac day I caught up with a good mate of mine, Cain at the Story Bridge Hotel and I tried in vain to do a "selfy" of the both of us. Laughing at the fact I don't have a phone with a decent camera, Cain whipped out his new smart phone and attempted to take a photo of the both of us which was equally as fruitless.
Seems like we're a couple of old timers now - I'm stuck in the past, and Cain can't get a handle on the new technology.
Ah well, catching up with Cain was a good way to end my Brisbane visit.
Time to hit the road again tomorrow. Destination: further north.

Take 1: Steve and Cain

Take 2: At least it is focused but I still need more practice aye

16/04/12

Time to leave Byron today.
I said my goodbyes to my Swiss mate Aurel and said I'd see him in Brisbane where I'd organise for him to play a few songs at The Music Kafe on Wednesday.
It was a bit strange, driving back to the city which I left late last year.
It was even stranger driving straight to my old share house, just like old times.
I caught up with my mate John who ended up taking my old room then later that afternoon I went around to Joe (or Bill)'s place which would be my home for the next few nights.
I probably should clear up the "Joe/Bill" thing. Joe's real name is Bill but when I met him he was Joe and he is only just becoming Bill to me. On the other hand, Bill calls me "Neil" after I did a Neil Young song at an open mic night when we first met.
It all got a bit confusing for a while there but it all works out in the end.
Anyways, Bill's mate Langers (real name Dave) came around a bit later and we had a bit of a catch up over beers and acoustic guitars then headed into the Jubilee Hotel for the Monday night jam.
I got up and played a few tunes with Bill on bass, Langers on lead and Biggie P (real name Paul) on drums. It was a fun night and good intro back to old Brissie Town.

15/04/12

Well Sunday is meant to be a day of rest, so I rested.
Jane and I went for a walk to Tallow Beach. The weather was shite with this drizzly rain but it didn't stop me from going for a "Hasselhoff" along the beach.
After lunch, the weather had improved and we went to the Beach Hotel for a Sunday arvo beer.

Contender for the most boring picture taken on tour yet: The Beach Hotel, Byron Bay

Jane decided to head off in the afternoon so I hung about the hostel for a while then went back to the Beach Hotel to catch up with Sarah, who sings on my cd and her partner Peter.
For those who don't know who Sarah is, here she is in the video for my song "The Runner".

It was good to catch up with Sarah and Peter again over a couple of drinks.
I'm planning to reluctantly leave Byron Bay tomorrow, but what a wonderful couple of weeks it's been with music, beers, sunshine, beaches and friends old & new, what more could you want?

14/04/12

As the weather was again reasonably good this morning, we decided to drive up to the Lighthouse to get the obligatory pictures at the most eastern point of Australia.

Hangin' on the east siiiiide

What a nice smile... :)

Byron Bay Lighthouse

The day was again spent just hanging out, reading, sleeping, chatting, eating - pretty tough life huh?
Jane went for a walk to Tallow Beach in the afternoon and snapped this cool shot:

Tallow Beach (photo by Jane)

Jane was battling a cold so after dinner she decided to have an early night while Ariel and I decided to go to a Backpackers down the road where Laura, an easy-on-the-eye English lass was playing a few tunes.
We got there and watched Laura play and the guy organising the night asked me if I wanted to get up and play a few tunes, so I did, which was fun and pretty random. The Danish backpackers really dug my version of Michael Jackson's "The way you make me feel" which was good.
On the way back, we stopped in at The Rails where Jimi Beavis from Brisbane was playing.
And so ends another day in Byron. With beach runs, cute girls, playing and listening to music, why would anyone want to leave?

13/04/12

Woke up to sunshine this morning so it was time to go for a decent run today after the lazy day yesterday.
Today we went back to the Main Beach but went left instead of right this time.

Byron Bay main beach....bliss

After the run I went for a swim and it was absolutely beautiful in the water...not so pleasant on the getting out, but you get that in the middle of April!
The rest of the afternoon was just spent chilling out then we got a carton of cider and got stuck into it as the night closed in.
Later that night, we went to The Beach Hotel to check out Snackadactyl.

The Snackadactyl kids.....literally, they're kids...

Aurell tagged along too but left early as it was a bit too loud for his tastes.

Dude, Aurel, Jane at The Beach Hotel

12/04/12

This morning Jane and I went for a run to the lighthouse.
I've only been to Byron Bay a couple times before and had never made it to the lighthouse so it was good to finally get there.
The weather again was very unpredictable with rain one second and brilliant sunshine the next.
Got back to the hostel and chilled out while the weather was pretty ordinary. Got chatting to Aurel again and it turns out he is also a muso so in the afternoon we spent a few hours playing songs to each other and jamming on a few blues songs - great fun.

Steve from Wagga, Aurel from Switzerland

Before we knew it was time to go in search of some food. We decided on the Aquarius Backpackers for dinner which was really nice and affordable.
After dinner we went pub hopping again. There was hip hop at the Beach Hotel, a solo acoustic guy at The Great Northern and a band we saw together when I was last in Brisbane, The Stillsons at The Rails.

11/04/12

Had a good sleep at the rest stop and headed into Byron Bay by about mid-morning.
I met up with Jane, a good friend from Brisbane at about midday and we're staying at the Youth Hostel for the rest of the week.
I've never had an extended stay in Byron Bay so I'm really looking forward to just hanging out and chilling out doing whatever.
We went to the main beach for a little while and both managed to get crapped on by a cockatoo so if the theory holds true, we should both be in for some good luck over the next few days!
We checked into the hostel where I found out I was on the top bunk in a two bunk room - yay!
I met one of my room mates Aurel (not sure of the spelling) - it kinda sounds like a biscuit (Orio) mixed with the Little Mermaid (Ariel). Anyways, he's from Switzerland and it's his first time to Australia - seems like a nice dude. Only speaks French and Swiss fluently though so there is a bit of a language barrier but we got there eventually.
The good Byron weather was not meant to last so today has been great in parts, but at other times, and without much warning, it has also pissed down.
Jane and I went for a walk along the main beach late in the afternoon and the weather was not all that pleasant with the wind having a nasty little Canberra chill on it.

Byron Bay main beach at sunset...check out those colours

For dinner we went to the Brunswick Heads Bowling Club for Italian night - mamma mia! We both had pretty good meals then headed back to Byron and pub hopped around checking out the music at the various venues. We eventually settled at The Beach Hotel where a reggae band was playing.
Good day.

10/04/12 Post Bluesfest Blues

Time to leave Bluesfest behind today and get back to the real world, whatever that is.
I said my goodbyes to the camping crew and went to make my way into Byron Bay to spend the day.
As I was driving out of the festival site, I had this really awful sense of loss as it was a great five days and now it was all over. Oh well.
However, the road into Byron was jam packed with cars so I decided to turn around and spend the day in the not so busy Brunswick Heads.
I got back to Byron Bay at about dinner time and ordered a pizza then went for a walk while I waited for it to be cooked.
On my way back this old hippy dude, said "Steve, your pizza's ready" and I said thanks but was a little perplexed as to how he knew my name and also that my pizza was ready given no one was around when I ordered it. Weird.
Later that night I went to The Rails Hotel where it turns out Matt Southon was playing so I said a quick g'day and took a seat next to a girl called Amanda, here in Byron for Bluesfest from Dubbo.
We had a good chat for a few hours while Matt played and she even bought me a couple of beers, which was nice.
I've booked accommodation at a Hostel for the rest of the week apart from tonight so I headed back out on the highway and camped at the Tyagarah rest stop for the night.

9/04/12 Bluesfest Day 5

I woke up and had a breakfast beer with Will who kindly offered me a VB to celebrate the last day of Bluesfest.
We were on the early volunteer shift today which worked out well as we could get it out of the way then enjoy the rest of the afternoon and night.
So it was back to the kitchens for a couple of hours but then a couple of us were put on the Mojo stage, where again there wasn't much to do besides hang out back stage and watch the bands - tough life huh?
I saw Blitzen Trapper from the side of stage and then again we were let off early to enjoy the rest of the fest.
I said goodbye to my volunteer pals then went into the festival to soak up what was left.
There was no one in particular that I wanted to see so I just stage hopped and ended up seeing bits and pieces of Claude Hay, Ray Beedle, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Dawes and Mason Rack.
Then it was back to the camp site for a shower, dinner and a couple of beers, again kindly provided by Will - what a champion.
Back at the festival I did some more stage hopping but closed the night out with sets by Zappa plays Zappa and Yes. Both were very weird but in a good way, I think.
Some random dude gave me a drink voucher that he wasn't gonna use so that was icing on a particularly tasty Bluesfest cake.
So that was a Bluesfest - my first one and I had a great time.
I saw some great music, met some wonderful people and the organisation, weather and general atmosphere could not have been better.
I will definitely be back and if you've never been, I'd recommend you go.

8/04/12 - Bluesfest Day 4

Day four of Bluesfest today and probably the best day.
At the end of John Fogerty last night, my camera was playing up so I gave it a rest and hoped it would be ok in the morning.
Unfortunately it wasn't so no more pics until I get it fixed or until I get another one (boo hoo!).

This is what happens when your camera craps itself...or you find yourself stuck in an Aphex Twin video

Today I had a late volunteer shift so I caught some bands in the afternoon before heading off to Vollie HQ.
As I had done a lot of dishwashing over the past few days my supervisor kindly put me and another lady on backstage duty for the start of our shift - and what a buzz!
Just hanging out backstage is cool enough but hanging out while Seasick Steve was playing was REALLY cool.
But it gets better. Also backstage were the guys from Wolfmother.
So here's me, backstage, standing next to Wolfmother, watching Seasick Steve with John Paul Jones from Led Zepplin playing bass. What a thrill!!
It's a pity my camera shit itself the night before otherwise I would have taken a few sneaky snaps but either way, I won't forget that experience for a while.
We were also backstage for the Weddings Parties Anything set but after that they had to lock down the backstage for The Pogues so I had to go back to the kitchen but after what I had experienced tonight - I didn't care!
We got let out early from the kitchen, so I was able to catch the last hour of John Butler Trio's set. They were great and the crowd was going off. His new bass player and drummer have revitalised their stage show and the crowd loved it.
If I was ever questioning the value of volunteering, tonight certainly made it all worth it. Great day/night.

7/04/12 - Bluesfest Day 3

Volunteering started at 2pm today.
There wasn't a lot to do so we were merged with another team and sent out into the festival grounds to pick up litter.
This suited me fine as I was able to wander around the stages where the people I wanted to see were playing.
I caught Seasick Steve for the first time and a few others.

Picking up rubbish at Bluesfest

Today was a particularaly social day today - everyone I've met has been so friendly and chatty from paid workers, fellow volunteers, to the general punters.
After I finished my shift and had some dinner I ran into Matt Southon whom I met at the Goulburn Blues Festival years ago but hadn't seen since. We had a bit of a chat and he said he'd let me know of a few contacts for gigs in north Queensland which may prove handy.
After dinner I snapped a pic of Steve Earle who was signing autographs then went and caught the first 20 minutes of Donovan's set which I didn't think much of so left.

Donovan - Didn't do much for me...

I then went over to the main stage and saw the end of Brian Setzer's set which had the crowd going off, then I positioned my way a few rows back for John Fogerty.
The last time I saw Fogerty in Australia was at a winery in Victoria and I didn't enjoy it that much because I spent the whole time trying to keep warm.
This wasn't a problem tonight as the tent was warm with everyone packed in to see him.
He played the album "Cosmo's Factory" from start to finish then finished the night off with some more favourites.
Another great day of music.

John Fogerty

6/04/12 - Bluesfest Day 2

Early start today as my volunteer shift began at 9am.
I met some more of my fellow volunteers including Kaye and Anna from Newcastle who were both nice girls.
As I was in the kitchens last night, for the first half of the shift today, me and three others were posted back stage at The Crossroads main stage in case there was any help needed by the stage manager. There wasn't much to be done so I was able to wander around backstage while Crosby Stills and Nash's road crew did their soundcheck. It was such a great experience to be backstage and see what goes on, as well as to look out from the stage and try to put yourself in the shoes of the performers - fantastic!
As volunteers, we aren't allowed to take any photos but I snapped a quick one off while nobody was looking - just to prove I was there.

Backstage at the Crossroads main stage...cool huh?

When they realised there wasn't any work for us to do and we were only really getting on the way, we were posted back in the kitchens for the duration of the shift.
In the afternoon I managed to see Steve Earle, G3 and a few others play.
Insert pic of Satriani
This poor little bloke was playing on one of the small stages and was being blown away sonically by Joe Satriani and co.

Joe Satriani

I couldn't tell you what this guy sounded like cos all I could hear was G3!

I then went back to Freda for some dinner and Scott and Renae thought it would be really funny to put a fake snake in the grass right behind my van.

AGGGGGH! Fake Snake!

When I got back to the Festival, there was a parade of these cool characters, moving through the festival site.

Weird night time Bluesfest puppet thing

I then saw an intimate performance of the Backsliders with Ian Collard on guest harmonica.

The Backsliders

But a minor highlight for me was taking a pic of the bass player in the next band who looked just like a mate of mine from Wagga, Shultzy!

Shultzy in the house ya'll!

It was then time to go to one of the big stages again to catch the arse end of Buddy Guy's set then move in to a good pozzie a few rows back for Keb Mo (the coolest dude who ever lived) and Crosby Stills & Nash (CSN).

Keb Mo - what I'd give for an ounce of his cool.

CSN were pretty good though being a massive Neil Young fan, I still say they are not as good as they could be without him.
I purposely wore my Neil Young shirt and a woman came up to me and said if Stills saw me wearing that shirt he'd punch me in the face - and we both laughed (haha!).
Nash took charge of most of the show, Stills looked a little worse for wear but his guitar skills are still (haha) great and Crosby is such a cool character and his voice is still very powerful - I think he's my favourite of the three. He said, in the group, each member has a job: Stills writes great rock n roll, Nash writes anthems that everyone wants to sing and he writes the weird shit. haha

Stills, Nash & Crosby

I've seen so much music already and can't believe there are three more days to go!

5/04/12 - Bluesfest Day 1

First day of Bluesfest today - yay!
Gates open at 2pm so I spent most of the day just hanging out with Freda, reading, playing some tunes and chatting to my neighbours.
We are camped in what I would consider a perfect spot - close to the ammenities but not TOO close as well as being close to the entry gate so it is only a 30 second walk from Freda to the festival - schweet!
I walked over to the Festival at about 3pm and had a bit of a look around to orient myself with where everything is located. There are two main stages, 2 smaller stages, a buskers stage and a small bar/lounge stage.
The first act I saw was Dallas Frasca. I don't think I had seen her play since a band I was in years ago, Rusty Shake, supported her when she travelled through Wagga. Back then it was just her and guitarist Jeff Curran but now she has a drummer which really serves to fill the sound out more and make it more of a rock-fest than blues-fest, which is fine by me.

Dallas Frasca doing her thang...

I then went over to one of the main stages to check out "Trombone Shorty". I had never heard of him but Will has seen him at a previous Bluesfest and said I should do myself a favour and check him out and I'm glad I did.
It was an excellent show, Shorty can certainly play that trombone but the bloke can also sing too! He was a very good showman without being TOO cocky and really had the crowd going.
At the end, all the band swapped instruments (ie the drummer jumped on guitar, percussionist on trombone, Shorty on drums, sax guy on bass etc etc) and they continued to finish the song and it sounded exactly like it did when they were on their original instruments!! Phenomenal!

Trombone Shorty - one of many highlights from Day 1 of Bluesfest

It was then time for some dinner and I was stoked to discover there was a Govinda's here. Govinda's is real simple, wholesome but tasty vegetarian tucker - there are two restaurants in Brisbane and for $11 you get a whole heap of food plus dessert. Tucking into it took me straight back to my Brisbane days.
After dinner it was time to go to the volunteer headquaters or "Vollie HQ" to find out what I'd be doing on my first volunteer shift.
Myself and four other girls were put in the catering section where all the food is made for the performers and crew.
The girls were put on the sinks washing dishes while I was helping more in the kitchen, chopping chillis, cleaning stuff and just being a general "gofa". After watching a few restaurant shows over the xmas break, I was expecting the chefs to be arseholes but they were all really nice and appreciative of our help.
After the bulk of the work was done, we were basically told to just hang out and "look busy" so I grabbed a broome and took it out front, hoping to spot a celebrity or two but nothing was doing.
We got let off early by our team leader Siobohan so I was able to catch the second half of Cold Chisel's set as well as Lucinda Williams.

Mossy!

Barnesy!

Lucinda(y!) - Lucinda Williams.

I got back to Freda at midnight knackered but pretty happy.

3/04/12 - 4/04/12

It was onward and northward again today as I edged closer to Byron Bay and Bluesfest.
In the morning I dropped in at Belligen as Pete had said it was a pretty cool and arty little village and he was right.
The town is surrounded by nice green hills and creeks and it does have a nice arty vibe to it without being too wanky.

My finger...and Belligen's main street 

View from the Belligen lookout - pretty, ain't it?

I had a bit of a stroll through one of the parks and there were a couple of monuments dedicated to famous residents; piano player David Helfgott and cricketer Adam Gilchrist.

Gilly!

Tribute to Belligen resident David Helfgott

I noticed a sign pointing to a Radio Station so, forever the opportunist, I popped in and said g'day to the 2BBB crew and gave them a copy of my cd.
I stopped for lunch at Coffs Harbour and had a bit of a look around. Went to a park for lunch and was about to sit down when I noticed a dead parrot at my feet - scared the bejesus outta me!

Parrot: Prettier when in the air rather than mashed on the ground

Before leaving Coffs I did the mandatory tourist stop at The Big Banana. I remember it being so much cooler as a kid - but what isn't cooler when you're a kid?
I set up the tripod to take a snap of me and the big banana but unfortunately the camera toppled over before taking a snap of me.
This is the photo that was taken during mid flight, weird:

WTF?

So I had to set the camera up again and this time it was all good.

The Big Banana - so much cooler as a kid

Continuing north, I drove through Woolgoolga which has a large Indian population. I tried to get a snap shot of one of the temples from the highway but it was a bit of a failure.

Spot the temple

The resting spot for the night, thanks to my "Camps 6" book was the New Italy rest stop.
It was a strange stop, with picnic tables and parking bays near the road but to get to the toilets you actually had to walk through the New Italy museum, shops and tourist complex (the word "complex" makes it sound modern, but it wasn't, I just can't think of another word for it at the moment).
It was kinda weird and a little bit creepy, walking through there to get to the toilets and kinda had that feel like in "Spirited Away" when it's just on dusk and the time when the humans go home and the sprits come out to play. There goes my over active imagination again.
Another good day of travel and sight seeing.
The next day I travelled a further 40kms up the highway to Ballina to hang out and kill some time before heading to the Bluesfest camping site.
Ballina seems like a pretty beige sorta place - would not be my ultimate retirement destination that's for sure.
I stopped in at the RTA with the aim of renewing my drivers licence while I'm still in NSW and after expecting to have to jump through hoops given its not due for renewal for another 3 months, I managed to get a new licence with no dramas - win!
It was then time to drive to the Bluesfest campsite which was at Tygarah, a little north of Byron Bay.
After taking a couple of wrong turns I finally made it there by late afternoon.
And the beauty of being in Freda is that there was no tent to set up.

Driving in to my Bluesfest camp site - bring it on!

I met Will, who was camping beside me and gave him a hand putting up the tarp over his tent, he has to work tomorrow but came in today to set up his tent so he doesn't have to muck around with it tomorrow after work and just get straight into the music - smart move.
I also met Scott and Renae and Dave who are camping behind me - they were very friendly and laid back. After a couple of days of lone-wolf travelling it was good to be amongst some nice people again. Bring on Bluesfest tomorrow!!
I'm volunteering at the Festival so for putting in 5 hours for the 5 days I get a free ticket. I find out what my roster is tomorrow night at my first shift - hopefully I won't be working during Crosby, Stills and Nash.

2/04/12

Today involved a fair bit of driving, stopping at a few little places along the way.
Before I left Port Macquarie, I had a look around for some gumboots as Bluesfest is notorious for its wet weather but came up empty handed.
I found a lot of designer gumboots for chicks but nothing for big tough blokes like myself. Oh well.
I had a brief rest stop at Kempsey which seemed like a pretty scummy sort of place then continued on to South West Rocks via the tourist drive which involved some pretty narrow road through agricultural country.
South West Rocks seems like a pretty groovy little place with nice beaches and a cool little bay.

Beach at South West Rocks

.I think this is called Horseshoe Bay but don't quote me...

I was hoping to catch up with Brett again as he lives here but ran out of time as I wanted to be further north by nightfall.
Kept driving along the highway and stopped in at Nambucca Heads before finally stopping for the night at Urunga.

1/04/12

Well, April Fool's Day today and I flirted with the idea of playing a prank by making up a blog post with an outrageous story but decided against it as it would have caused unnecessary stress for friends and family (but would have been funny).
This morning we went for a walk to the park to check out the bat colony - fortunately we didn't get crapped on in the process.
I've never been crapped on by a bat but I imagine it can't be pleasant and far from boring.

Batastic!

Bunch of bats

We then took a drive to Rainbow Beach for lunch, the weather gods again were shining down with a lovely sunny day.

Lunch at the Phat Fish, Rainbow Beach

After doing such a good job cooking dinner last night, I put Dea to work again, this time cleaning Freda.

Quit smiling at the camera and get back to work! :)

That sounded very chauvinistic, didn't it? Well, if it makes any difference, I helped out a bit too in the cleaning of Freda though Dea did the bulk of it as I was apparently useless at it.
I really appreciated Dea's hospitality and it was good catching up with her and spending a few days in Port Macquarie.
Tomorrow I hit the road again, continuing my journey north. Destination Byron Bay for Bluesfest 2012.