Advertisement
Published: February 13th 2010
Gourmet Bangers Crew
Despite the exhausted looks, I had some of the best times in OZ so far with this crewAfter a sleepless night and food that is easily worse than most any airline’s I was very happy to be picked up in Melbourne by Maris and quickly introduced to her boyfriend Alex and mate Kyran. Before I sat down, we loaded up two cars with a trailer and headed for Lorne, with over 3500 sausages in tow. We set up shop at the Falls Festival and then escaped to relax at Rough ‘n Tumble before the three days of sausage mania began.
Because when more than 15,000 drinking, smoking and whatever-else-ing party goers congregate around two stages to watch the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wolfmother, Grizzly Bear, Moby, Liam Finn, Seasick Steve and some thirty others for three days, they eventually get hungry. Enter the Gourmet Bangers stand, where we hussled to make the most extravagent sausages that surpassed the tasteiness of a Trolly Stop hot dogs long into the night. While covering ourselves in a colorful array of condiments we each sampled plenty of music, enjoyed a few hard earned beers and made some much needed cash. Two hours before the New Years ball dropped we ventured deep into the woods to find ‘The Village,’ which would be useless
Falls Festival, New Years Eve
Muff, Elaina and I getting in the mood for New Years. to describe as it can only be experienced (and no, I wasn’t ‘on anything,’ though the place made you feel like it).
Back in Melbourne, I spent the better part of three hours learning the ins n outs of cricket, luckily it lasts longer than a handful of wars, so I had plenty of time. The appearance is odd, like baseball on mushrooms with an even slower pace, but somehow it's addicting; maybe because all eleven members of the defensive team celebrate in a huddle of overexcitement and 'I just cured cancer' happiness with each out. It may also be just watching the batter waddle back and forth from the wickets to score runs. Almost everything about cricket says it should be a science experiment; each Test, as the matches are called, takes an infinite amount of time that exceeds most persons' patience albeit a mind-numbing amount of money has been invested in the optimistic outcome. Each batsman wears gloves that only nuclear physicists actually require for protection. At any given moment only one member of each team actually participates while the other ten are signing autographs, adjusting their sweaters or chatting with the birds in the field. What
a game!
Jacob flew over to visit and we all headed west to Lorne for some R-n-R. Surf was minimal but we managed to find a few waste high rides at Fairhaven after we saw the famous Bells Beach was essentially flat. We rounded up some horses to ride between the hearty feeds at Alex's parents’ beach cottage nested in the edge of the Victorian bush outside Lorne. Up the Great Ocean Road to a local restaurant looking out to the Bass Straight, we gazed south hoping for swell. But it was not meant to be, not this time anyway.
Worldwide people give Americans credit for large portions and overeating but the last month has fattened my tape worm more than ever before (though not entirely obvious to the through-traveler, Aussies are the second fattest nation, after us of course). Maris and Alex took Jacob and I around to show us the Melbourne they know, with all the food and pints, pots, jugs and stubbies in two quick days. We indulged in delicious dumplings, mounds of Malaysian food, heavy meat pies, relaxing park picnic beers, wild rooftop bars and eccentric alleyway watering-holes for 2 days that left our
The Village
Quite a odd place, a few miles into the bush(woods) behind the Falls Festival. dancing shoes worn and our ears full of laughter. Jacob had to go back to school and I went back to work a few days later. But first, the Australia Open.
It started at 11am with one (drunk) fan getting arrested before even one tennis ball had been served. I stuffed myself with fried food and played musical chairs to get as much tennis from every angle in as I could. A fair portion of the fans were unaccompanied minors not embarrassed to say (‘f***in' suck mate!’), do (spit and fart in one confined seating section) or wear (as cross dressed Wimbledon contenders - I counted seven of them) anything. Unable to convince Maris and Alex to join me I wondered the courts solo, running into a few old friends and making a few new ones. One arguably noteworthy incident was when a ballboy shat himself during Donald Young's first round match, even though the News and players sensored it a bit. -> (http://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/brazilian-player-gets-physical-with-spectators-at-australian-open-20100120-mje4.html). I fell asleep in the park grass for an hour and awoke to explore in a dazed state. The Aussie Open is nuts; a much younger n livelier (rowdier) crowd than the US Open with
Rough n Tumble
Alex's Beach/Bush cottage in Lorne all the action. Maybe because they don't hold care as they don't have any real Aussies to root for (nobody likes the arrogant Lleyton Hewitt), but everyone I met rooting for an American was a Kiwi or Aussie. Watching Andy Roddick smash a few serves from the front row of Hisense Arena was quite humbling to my tennis game. Rain made all the outside court contenders frustrated as it chilled them and caused a plethora of delays. At 11am I'm in the sun sweating, four hours a button-up, a windbreaker and a mocha later I'm shivering in the rain...welcome to Melbourne, where you get four seasons in one day. American Wayne Odesnik was almost as popular in his outdoor match as A-Rod as he also won his first round match. What a fun tournament.
Next up, more wwoofing while trying to set up an interview with Quintiles. Wwoofing isn't something I could do forever, but traveling with an open mind, a tight budget and a desire to extend my travels, it's perfect. Off to a beautiful estate in Woodend, an hour north of Melbourne. I was the only bloke execpt for Hilary(the Dad of the estate), as the home
owners had two daughters and four German female Wwoofers(five upon departure) at the time I arrived. Estrogen overload for sure, but quite entertaining. A few Days of hearty portions of delicious vegatarian organic food with two desserts for every meal or morning tea (my kind of routine) and it was my turn to cook. Baked Lentil casserole and heaps of Mint Chocolate Chip cookies didn't last long, albeit both were double batches-thanks for the recipes Mum! My tastes have changed in the last few months. I miss eating meat centered meals (most Wwoofing establishments serve vegetarian cuisine) but not that much. Not enough to make up for twenty five years without but I've eating heaps more onion, eggplant, fish, shellfish and a variety of others than I thought I'd ever poke a fork at. Here on the Jim Jim farm in Woodend, an hour outside Melbourne I've been constricting fences, painting the oversized house's inner eves, planting while desperately trying to convince somebody to play me in tennis on the hillside court, but to no avail.
I escaped to the city in hopes of meeting Kyran, Maris and Alex at the Open, partly to see Ladyhwake perform and partly
for tennis. But instead Kyran and I drove out to Phillip Island to camp cliffside and awake early to celebrate Australia Day, Jan 26th. Maris, Willem and Addel met us for beachfront brekkie and morning beers. Good conversations, cold Boag's and perfect weather distracted me to the point that I forgot to apply to any SPF, so I spent the next two days in a tender, tank-top-shaped lobster costume.
Next up I went for a Melbourne Victory game, which if there name is anything of a giveaway, was quite a lopsided 2-0 match. Superbowl Monday here was entertaining, as I watched four Aussie commentators fumble with the rules and statistics of American Football.
In a world so far away it’s all still the same, the same goofy tee shirts saying something to the accord of 'Do not disturb, I'm already disturbed', the same Chinatown that is the most densely populated daytime destination(as if the simulate the streets of Beijing), the same 24 hour drive-thru ‘Mackers’ that's despised by many but somehow always full of hungry patrons and the same annual excuse to be overly intoxicated, out of control in public and somehow feel patriotic about it.
But
as I settled in and saw the real Melbourne with a variety of locals, I dsicover it really is an amazing world away too. It's where you get in the left most lane to make a right turn in your automobile, order a milkshake n get flavored milk, order an iced coffee n get a ice cream float and blokes wear more daisy dukes than sheilas, possums are kinda cute and Obama is a celebrity. A cheap meal outside McDonalds is AU$10 and almost every sport in the world(and a few they invented here such as footie) is played and almost perfected. It's snowing in Wilmington like it hasn't since '89 and I am sweating in the antipodean sun while pointlessly searching for an Outback Steak House for a cold one. And that was only what I noted as an unobservant tourist. No news on the job yet, but it sure would be a treat to live Down Under long enough to appreciate the differences I have yet to discover.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 7; qc: 53; dbt: 0.0282s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Alex
non-member comment
Melbourne
"and blokes wear more daisy dukes than sheilas" If you have a problem with seeing my legs Spicer, then just let me know.