'Citing Stuff mk II

Sorry I hadn't posted this earlier, I've come down with a filthy cold and I could only get time to do it today.

Anyway...

Thursday

We got up and cruised off from our very comfy Margaret River apartment and went down to Augusta, where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. We cruised to the lighthouse on the southwestern tip, but we were stuffed if we were going to pay to get in as we'd already done out lighthouse bit, so we took photos of it from a distance.

They don't encourage cross species mating at this lighthouse

This was the Shaguar being creative

This was me being creative (and slightly off centre)

After this we had a pleasant drive through the southwest to Albany, stopping off on the way at a little old logging town called Pemberton to explore their visitor centre. After that we headed off to do some nature exploration.

We got to the treetop walk near Albany in the Valley of the Giants, which was a 40m raised walkway. It was awesome stuff and heres some pics to prove it.

A view from 40m up

A tree with a burnt out centre and me for scale

Another burnt out tree with me inside it

A fat arsed wombat coming out of its burrow

These huge trees are estimated to be up to four hundred years old.

We got into Albany around 6pm, checked into our hotel, unpacked, relaxed then went to KFC for dinner. The Shaguar got a couple of bits of chicken and two small tubs of gravy to eat my large chips with and I got a meal deal thingy. They duly arrived and they'd given her literally a bucketful of gravy.

And she ate it all with relish admittedly over two days. We had a lovely quiet night in and slept like logs.

Friday

Got up and explored the town. The Shaguar was most interested in the op shops (surprise!!) while I wandered off and looked at Dog Rock.

Yes, in fact I travelled back in time to take this photo (nothing to do with the batteries in the camera being flat). We drove to the top of a local mountain and war memorial thingy and checked out the view and wandered down a local beach where there was no surf. Despite this, there was a class of people being instructed on how to surf, mostly by standing on their boards on the beach.

We headed back to the hotel in the late afternoon and sat relaxing in the spa before having a quiet night in.

Saturday

We cruised back to Perth around ten in the morning and got in around 2pm and checked into the pub we were staying at in the heart of Fremantle. But the room wasn't ready, so we dropped off out bags, got a drink on the house and ordered a meal. It arrived, the Shaguar got Nachos and I got a Parma, and we munched down.

We wandered upstairs and our room still wasn't ready. We were given a meal ticket as compensation and went and explored the main drag of Freo. The Shaguar looked at rock shops, book shops and other discount stores.

After this and around midafternoon we wandered back to the hotel, where our room was finally ready and had a nanna nap.

That night we strolled the main drag, bought a stack of books, got some extremely scrummy gelati and enjoyed the life of Fremantle. We then went to bed but didn't get to sleep until late and unfortunately the Shaguar was kept awake a while longer by off tone belltower clock across the street that chimed every quarter of an hour (and a chainsaw lying in the bed next to her).

Sunday

Up and off to Guildford to stay at the historic (or hysterical) Rose and Crown Hotel in rather modern rooms which were quite comfy. We checked in after midday, unpacked our bags and rested, the Shaguar went for a quick swim then we headed to the Belvoir Amphitheatre to the Good Vibrations festival.

We explored where all four stages were in the venue and settled on going to the secondary stage, which was the Amphitheatre itself, to catch some acts. The amphitheatre was a beautiful place, with trees scattered through it and decent sized steps so that everyone got a good view of the stage no matter where you were.

There were masses of people packed into this particular section of the festival and we enjoyed the progression of acts. We saw Nightmares on Wax, who was a dub/dance act that had a few songs I knew, but none that really grabbed me. Following this, and throughout the day, as they dismantled the stage and set up for the next act they had DJs playing, who were actually pretty good.

Up next was DJ JS-1, who played a set of rock/hip-hop/dance and mixed it in an insane way. It was brilliant as he'd cut between AC/DC to ABBA to Herbie Hancock to Rage Against the Machine in the space of a minute. Then he was cutting the same section of a song back and forth between two turntables at insane speed before doing the same thing on one turntable using his foot. Once he'd gotten the crowd warmed up, he called "The Undisputed Beatbox Champion of the World TM" Rhazel onto stage.

Rhazel, using a microphone, can imitate the drum beat, sound effects and rappers or singers on a great number of songs. And he is seriously good at it. He had JS-1 play songs, then he'd imitate them perfectly using nothing but a mic. Despite a few problems getting the sound right he put on a great show and really got the crowd into it.

Following this was the reason why I bought tickets to this concert. The Jurassic 5 were up and let me tell you, they were well worth seeing. The crowd went nuts as they put in a high energy show, playing a great mix of their old and their new songs. The group are four MC's and a DJ and the amazing thing about them is, apart from being intelligent, literate rappers that put across a positive message (which is a rarity in the music industry nowdays), they have four different toned voices (from low to high) that fit together really well. And they can sing as well.

From the moment they came on stage they had the crowd in the palm of their hand, kept them entertained, made jokes and were obviously having fun together out there. They also distanced themselves as far as they possibly could from the direction the USA is currently headed, which also went down well with the crowd. The only complaint I had was the DJ was set too far back in the mix, so you couldn't easily hear what the backing track was or what he was doing unless he was solo, but other than that, I loved it. There's a rumour going around they could be breaking up soon, and if this is true I'm damn glad I got to see them before they did because they were seriously good in concert.

After this we extricated ourselves from the amphitheatre and wandered out and waited for an hour at the main stage for the Beastie Boys to come on. We claimed our spot, back and on one side of the stage and waited.

As we waited we were accosted by a drunk guy who happily chatted to us about the lack of coverage from his mobile in the local area (which is literally just on the outskirts of Perth- so pretty sucky). The Shaguar is with the same company and had being suffering the same problems throughout the holiday so she vehemently agreed with him. He continued his rant before being distracted and his mind wandering off back to the stage being set up. Then his brother came over, so the guy introduced us to him (although he didn't know our names). I was Tony and the Shaguar was Danza.

Then the B-Boys came on and did a best-of set list. It was great, they were fun but you could tell they were at the end of a tour. The keyboardist (I'm not sure if it was Money Mark or not) went nuts and at one stage even played the keyboard with his head while doing a handstand on it. They drank a bottle of Dom Perignon to the crowds health and even gave a shoutout to Fremantle and Rottnest Island. They played No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn, Brass Monkey, Shake Your Rump, Root Down, Three MCs and One DJ, pretty much all of their big hits along with several of their instrumental songs off In Sound From Way Out, and finished with Sabotage (which was also dedicated to George Bush). A heck of a gig and a mighty fun day.

We raced off to the car after Sabotage and beat the rush of traffic and was back at the hotel around 11pm to shower and collapse before leisurely heading back home the next day.

'Citing stuff

And then there was life once more in moistie blogland.

Howdy all, I'm back at work having had a very pleasant eleven days off work. So what happened?

Prelude

Well, the Shaguar arrived on the Wednesday night, having driven the 4,000 odd km to Gero from Melbourne in three days. The third day she drove about 1,700km, departing around 5.30-6am and getting in at past 9pm that night. Needless to say she was knackered and proceeded to fall in a heap in my huge and incredibly comfy King sized bed.

I got up at seven and went to work the next day, but from all reports the Shaguar didn't surface again until 11.30am. Even then she was delerious.

I got home that night, packed my big and small backpack, then wielded the big stick over the Shaguar on just exactly how much we could fit into the car to go on holidays. That meant about two small boxes got left behind, with Sharons two suitcases, small backpack and multiple bags of shampoo/conditioner/other femaley type stuff coming along for a ride.

Friday

We left around 11am got in mid afternoon, checked in to our hotel, showered, got dressed and went to the Sparrow restaurant in Northbridge for some phenomenally cheap Indonesian food. We both had vegie spring rolls for entree, a nasi goreng (not the Chinese Emperor) between us, Sharon had a marinated steak doohickey and I had a chicken curry and we both had a can of drink. We were stuffed an it cost us $30 all up.

Following that we went and saw Roger Waters in concert. Let me just say it was absolutely 'effin brilliant. My personal favourite of the night would have been Time, in particular the drum solo at the start. Not far behind was Great Gig in the Sky, which was the Shaguars' favourite of the night. The woman who did it was just perfect.

Other highlights for me were Have a Cigar, Wish You Were Here and Comfortably Numb.

And just to rub it in, here's the set list.

FIRST HALF: In The Flesh, Mother, Set The Controls For the Heart Of The Sun, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Have A Cigar, Wish You Were Here, Southampton Dock, The Fletcher Memorial Home, Perfect Sense parts 1 and 2, Leaving Beirut, Sheep.

SECOND HALF: Dark Side of the Moon.

ENCORE: The Happiest Days Of Our Lives, Another Brick In The Wall (Pt 2), Vera, Bring the Boys back Home, Comfortably Numb.

Saturday

The Shaguar and I caught up with my cousin Dave, his wife Tracy and their two month old daughter Kate for Yum Cha at the Golden Retriever (Century). They were in great form, in particular at starting to have a social life once more now that Kate was becoming more portable. Bub didn't even make a squeak the whole time we ate, and DID WE EAT! Ooooh, stomach dragging along the ground territory, it was.

After that we drove to Busselton, checked into our hotel then went to the Busselton Underwater Observatory. It involved a one mile walk to the end of what was in places a rather rickety pier. Once there it was a walk downstairs eight metres to the bottom of the ocean.

Lots of fun, and as a picture is worth 1,000 words and I want you to not be bored to death reading my blog, heres some photos to give you an idea of what we saw.

On the way down.

At sea level

One of the support pylons half way down.

At the sea floor.

Blurry Angel Fish

School of blurry Fish

Sunday

We did a gentle cruise towards Margaret River, stopping off on the way at Cape Naturaliste and we checked out the lighthouse. On the way up we saw the worlds first media tart Splendid Blue Wren. It loved having it's picture taken, giving us poses in many positions.

Then we climbed the relatively short 19m high light tower (built in 1904) which I suprisingly forgot to take a photo of and took photos.

A view over Bunker Bay

A view of Sugar Loaf

Then we cruised off to Sugar Loaf and had a look.

Mmmmmm, polydeformed rock. Just with the naked eye I could see at least two cleavage planes.

After this we cruised to the Ngigli Caves and had a look at some Stalagmites, Stalactites, Coralloids, Shields and Trays. It was quite a good cave with an upper and lower section. So here's some random photos from in the cave.




It was quite hard going in the lower levels of the cave due to the high CO2 content, but it was brilliantly set out with walkways and lighting displays that could be activiated by the viewer.

After this we went to Margaret River and settled in.

Monday

We did SFA. It's a holiday, so sue us.

The day consisted of a sleep in, wandering around Margaret River, with me buying another stubbie holder to add to my collection and the Shaguar exploring the local op-shops. We bought some really edible gourmet food, which included steak, coffee (for the Shaguar of course), chocolate and fudge. And let me tell you that the meat we bought was Japanese export quality ('effen $$$, but sooo worth it), so I'm telling you it was seriously good.

Then we siesta'ed and settled in to watch Foxtel and Top Gear.

Tuesday

We explored, going to a local olive oil production place that was marked on our tourist map. We cruised down a dirt track onto a thinner corrugated dirt track, despite the distinct lack of signage. We then cruised on thinking we'd missed it before it materialised with a big CLOSED sign on the gate. Sod 'em, I thought.

So we went to a small town antiques/second hand shop where the Shaguar happily perused while I checked out their collection of Harry Secombe, Kahmahl and Oompah band records.

After this we went to a local brewery where I sunk a beer and had a stare through an upper story viewing platform window at a dreadlocked worker poking at something in a vat with a stick. It's amazing how the merest association with beer can make even the most mundane tasks seem interesting. I wasn't really in the mood to drink to excess so we cruised home and relaxed once more.

Wednesday

A big day for "serious gourmet shit" as they say in the classics.

Despite to the previous days disappointing olive oil experience we cruised to another place and this time it came up with the goods. We had a most enjoyable tasting before settling on a big assed bottle of Big Nev. I can't remember the reason why it was called that other than it had something to do with the Spanish olives used in it which gave it a real olive taste. They also had parmesan and chili flavoured oils as well as four other types of extra virgin olive oil, which we tasted multiple times.

The Shaguar went nuts and bought an olive pitter, some bagged nuts, olive shaving cream for me along with the Big Nev.

After this we cruised to a winery which, in it's advertising blurb, had a "make your own wine and label" package. It was also the local coffee wholesaler, so the Shaguar was in seventh heaven and following a coffee and the purchase of a bag of white chocolate coated coffee beans, we wandered into to the winery shop to ask about making a wine.

They told us we should normally book, but they'd ask if we could be squeezed in. After a short break the serving girl came out and said the guy could squeeze us in. He came out (it turned out he was the owners son) looking pissed or stoned. Actually, from experience I'd say it was likely that it was both.

Gotta love the afro, and although you can't see it he also had the wispy porn mustache. He was also a funny bugger who was quite happy to show us around the production facilities and give us the tour. This was mostly because he told us with gusto that there was a bus tour due that he was avoiding because he was taking care of us.

The Shaguar chose a sparkling Shiraz (not Champagne TM- no, most certainly not!) from the fridge. It had it's tip which had the slug of added sugar frozen then sucked out in a funky machine, for which the Shaguar had to get kitted out (blurrily) in safety gear.




After that it was mixed with other wines.

Then our guide told the Shaguar to continue to top it up, top it up, top it up... then said "Whoa, dude! You've over filled the bottle. You'll have to knock the top off it."

So she did.

The guy who helped make up the wine told us he was also responsible for their spirit line. So we then had a tasting of limoncello, coffee and chocolate were all quite tasty. Given the Shaguar had already have several wine tastings previously she was bouncing off the ceiling. She then went nuts and along with her bottle of sparkling shiraz bought a bottle of Coffee liqueur and a bottle of Limoncello for me Mum.

After this we drove to a self serve organic vegie farm and picked the Shaguar a punnet of strawberries before retiring home for another relaxing night in.

Christ, this is taking a long time. I'll finish off part two tomorrow.