Lake Argyle Part 1

I arrived at Lake Argyle (which is in WA, just over the NT/WA border) on April 24.
At the moment I play music three nights (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday) and one afternoon (Sunday) a week.
During the day I work at the resort/caravan park. Most of the time I work as a deckhand, cleaning and setting up their boat for the morning and sunset cruises, but I have also done a variety of other stuff around the place as I'm needed.
Initially it was quite strange to be thrust into this manly, manual labour after spending all my working life behind a desk but I've really enjoyed the challenge and change to physical work.
When I first started, I was banging myself on everything and had bruises and cuts here there and everywhere but thankfully I'm becoming more coordinated and I think I'm actually getting physically stronger which can only be a good thing, right?
The landscape and scenery up here in the Kimberly really needs to be seen to be believed - photos do not do it justice.
I do have to pinch myself every day as I drive down to the boat to work thinking "Am I really here, doing this sort of work, in such a beautiful place with such wonderful people around me?"
All the staff here are great and the managers are so welcoming and accommodating that it really feels like a big family (as corny as that sounds).
Apart from 4 gigs a week, I also played at the wedding of the daughter of one of the managers which was really cool.
The day went off so well and the location was spectacular - I felt very privleged to be a part of it.

Nice place for a ....white wedding

Bride and groom = champions

On the Mother's Day weekend I was stoked to have my Mum and her friend Karen come up for a visit.
It was good to show them around the place and meet a few of the friends I have made.
They did a sunset cruise on the Lake and saw a couple of my gigs on Friday and Sunday before leaving on Monday.
One of the managers keeps asking when Mum is coming back so he can give her a job so she must have used that old "Case charm" that works so well for me! haha!
The audiences here have been slowly building since I got here - but each night is different. Some nights it can be a small crowd and I'll get heaps of tips and Cd sales and on other nights the crowds can be big and dancing about and I can end up not making a cent. The ups and downs of being a musician - I don't think I'll ever work it out.
I've been out of the loop since being here but my new CD "Somewhere Where I'm Not" has been sent out to ABC Radio stations and is about to go out to community radio stations throughout Australia. ABC Radio seems to be supporting it well and I have been in Top 10 in the AirIt community radio charts for the past 3 weeks in a row. Bernard Fanning has held the top spot down since my song "Living The Dream" entered the top 10 and I'd love to knock him off but we'll see what happens.
I haven't heard his new song but if it's anything like the songs on his first solo album, it is no doubt a cracker.
Feel free to request my music on the radio or if you're interested in getting a hold if it, just go to my new music website www.stevecasemusic.com
Also, if you see any reviews (good, bad or indifferent) on websites or in the print media (street press and like), please let me know as it's hard to keep a track of such things here.
I was initially meant to leave here after the long weekend next week however I have been asked (bordering on begging) to stay so I have decided to stay on a little longer.
It's such a wonderful place to live and work that my arm didn't take too much twisting and with crowds picking up in June and July, hopefully I can sell a few Cds which is my major goal for this year.
So that's about it for now - I'll write again when or if circumstances warrant it.
Cheers,
Steve

Lake Argyle gets four Wagga thumbs up from Fiona and me

2013 Wagga to Daly Waters

Hi All,

How are you doing?
I'm currently living and working at Lake Argyle in WA but I am uploading this blog from Kununurra.
There is no mobile reception at Lake Argyle and the internet is dodgy at best so I thought I'd add a new blog for 2013 to save me sending out emails essentially saying the same thing and/or making a billion phone calls to friends and family...lazy? Yes. But at least I'm honest about it...
I've lost track of the dates since hitting the road again but I left Wagga in Freda on about April 12. My initial plan was to to drive to Adelaide then put Freda on the Ghan and travel to Darwin before driving across to Lake Argyle. However, I was too late in getting a spot for Freda so I had to drive it.
I had a week's worth of gigs booked at Daly Waters from Tuesday the 21st so that gave me 4 days to drive however long it was to get there.
I severely underestimated the time and distance it would take to get there. Despite google mapping it, I don't think it really computed how far away Lake Argyle is from Wagga Wagga.
So each day I did at least 700kms of driving in the heat and the first few nights that I stopped for the day I started to think "Am I REALLY doing this again? And all by myself??" I was a little bummed out but by the time I got to Daly Waters I was slowly adjusting to life again as a "Grey Nomad In Training".

Looking to the east...

...and the west

Even though the drive was long and at times very boring, I travelled through places which I'd only seen on the weather maps or heard of in songs.
I passed through places like Bourke, Charleville and Longreach before getting to familiar territory at Mt Isa.

In Charleville (In Charleville!) ear worm alert!

Being a seasoned traveller now, I didn't stop to take another pic at the QLD/NT border, though it did freak me out a bit to consider that it had been almost 12 months since I was at the same spot and here I was, doing it all again.
I did however, take a photo of a water tank at Camooweal where my Dad and his mates had a bath in back in the day when they travelled around Australia.

Dad washed his hobbles in this tank back in the day...gross.

I got to Daly Waters on time and spent a week there playing to guests in the evening. The crowds weren't big but they were good listening audiences and I managed to shift a few of my new Cds which was quite rewarding.
I also became a part of the furniture, literally, by stapling my old drivers licence (like many others before me) to the bar.

Now part of the furniture at Daly Waters Pub

A slightly freaky thing happened on my way from Daly Waters to Lake Argyle. I stopped for the day after another long drive and went for a little walk around the rest stop to stretch my legs, only to spin around to hear that Freda had started up again all by herself?!?! What the?!?!
So I ran over to the van as I didn't know what was going on and thinking she might just take off and I turned her "on" then off again.
Thankfully she powered down (and started again in the morning) but I have no idea how she managed to start herself up.
The thing that makes it even more creepy is at the time, I was reading "Christine" by Stephen King which is about a possessed car that goes around killing people at night. Spooky.
I made it to Lake Argyle the day before Anzac Day and started to settle into the next little chapter of my life.

New Ep Now Available!

Hi All!

I'm not sure if I'll continue with this travel blog this year - next week I'm heading to Lake Argyle via Daly Waters and then I'm heading back across Far North Qld to play around the campfire at Undara.

My new CD is now done and dusted and you can purchase a physical copy for $10 at Allison Music in Wagga, or at a gig or for $12 (which includes postage) through my website but if you just want to preview and purchase it as MP3s (you'll miss out on the cool 16 page booklet, just sayin'!), the cheapest place to get it is at CdBaby.

You can click on the little "play" buttons below for a preview of each song and you can also purchase from there too. Cheers!