Quick update from the feild

Came out to the festival site two days ago. I'm working here to help get the area ready in exchange for room and board. I could also go to the festi free, but my flight home is before the event so I probably won't be here when it goes on, unless unseen events decide I should stay...

The area is beautiful, lush wooded area, the House I'm staying in is the property owners guest house, it has 6 bedrooms full of bunk beds, 2 bathrooms a decent kitchen and a large living room area. There have been 5 of us here the whole time and a few that come and go from Sydney. We're mosly clearing brush and trees out, making room for the 1500 people who are expected for the event to camp and party. It's about a 35acre piece of land with a river running along one edge.

My companions are a German named Timor, a New Zealander - Charolette, and the Aussies - Matt, Tim, and Dane. The owner of the land is an Aboriginal Australian named Cole. Another Aussie, Dylan just came in today.

Theres a few dogs, goats, ponies and a turkey.

In the last few days I have: milked a goat, driven on the opposite side of the road than im used to, taken a chainsaw blade to the face, seen wild kangaroo, had a wild bearded dragon climb on me, just to get started...

Unfortunatley the Internet is too slow to u/l pics but I'll be sure to do that before too long. Notsure what my plans are from here. I'll be sure to keep you posted

first night

Met more of the warehouse folks. all good people. learned about the herb in australia, they're into spliffs and I'm not much for tobacco, but when in rome...

caught a nap, slept for about an hour before i heard my name called.

Matt was asking if i wanted to go out to the party.

I dragged myself up through the jetlag and put on some shoes and a hoodie... it's fairly cold here as it is the middle of winter. Came out and met yet more warehouse mates(for some unknown but wonderful reason, all the girls here are beautiful), they were having a communal dinner. we debated getting a cab or riding bikes to the party, as we were all planning on getting shitfaced. We finally decided to take the one car that they own to the party, then get a cab home.

We drove through the city some, Matt - my Aussie host, another couchsurfer named Timor from Germany, and I. We got to the club, the Roxbury Hotel and found quick parking. As we came in the place was full of the fledgling activists who had been at the Sydney Opera House earlier in the day. Most of them were new college students - a bit younger than the crowd I was hanging out with.

The free piles of beer had already been consumed, but there was a lot of wine left, so we grabbed a bottle and 3 glasses and headed to a table. Timor and I sat and drank for a bit, then I decided to walk around. Met some cuties here and there. They were all nice to get to know, then we made our way upstairs. A bunch of people from our the warehouse were all hanging out on the smoking lounge, so the three of us joined them. It was the same seen I'd be in anywhere... a bunch of creative, intelligent drunkards discussing the plight of the world, the problems our generation has been left, the ineptitude of the masses, and our love of sex and drugs.

The free booze ran out at the party, and we realized we had isolated ourselves from everyone else, so we broke up into two groups and drove home (not enough free booze to be too drunk to drive) one group stopped for beers on the way back.

I realized that the main drink here is Lager... I hate Lager. they were totally unfamiliar with Porter and said the country has one Stout. shit.. looks like i'll be spending less money than I had thought.

We came back to the spot, and hung out in the 'Mud room' - a room with turntables, piles of hip hop and drum n' bass records, and a few couches. It's known as the mud room because it gets trashed and they dont mind... the rest of the place is pretty clean. Spliffs and Beers, good people, DnB... perfect.

Finally, I was getting worn out and made my way to my makeshift bed: three cushions on the floor in the corner of the costume room. A great night's sleep, and now I'm up to do it all again.

I miss my friends back home, but am having a wonderful time so far.

Today I plan to make use of my unlimited train/bus pass to see the city, then tomorrow we head out into the woods to work on the land where the festival will be held.

everything's looking pretty promising.

getting set up

Got in this morning at 6:45. an hour to get bags and go through 2 customs checkpoints. another hour walking around the airport trying to find internet access or somewhere (anywhere) to go. I finally found 3 free internet computers and dropped a line to each of my contacts in OZ. Then I decided to head towards the suburb where the artist space I was hoping to stay at was located. I knew the name of the town, just not the address.

I was told the train was better than the bus for getting there, so I headed to the train terminal at the airport. It was going to be $20 for a train ticket to the city, or, i could spend $45 and get an unlimited 1 week train/bus pass, to take me wherever I wanted to go in Sydney, so I shelled out the 45. I got on the train and figured out my transfers to get me where I wanted to be. My first real view of Sydney was from this subway car... and i was fucking impressed.

The City has great old architecture, and a very multi cultural feel. Impressive, artful graffiti everywhere. The walls are alive with free expression and rebellion. The train dropped me off in Merrickville and I started wandering the streets, trying to find a free WiFi signal.. no such luck

after 45 minutes of wandering, I found and internet cafe, $5 for 1 hour... paid. got online and had a message from my contact at the artist warehouse that I was hoping to stay at. The owner of the cafe let me use his phone, I made the call and touched base with Matt who said he'd be by to pick me up in 10 minutes... I finished a quick post and went out to the street corner.

He drove up and I jumped in. My first time in a right-side-driving car, cruising on the left hand side of the street: truly one of the most terrifying experiences of my life... I was constantly expecting to get in an accident because we were driving the wrong way, but everyone seemed pretty accustomed to it and we arrived safely at the warehouse.

The place is huge, 2 floors... these people really have their shit together, they have tons of music/light gear, a huge room for costumes, 15 bedrooms, 2 offices, kitchen... the whole deal, a collection of classic Ford Mustangs (all right-hand-drive) and rent out a small part of their space to the largest underground hiphop label in OZ - sweet. They just got done throwing an event last weekend and had a bunch of gear to return. I helped them load it in the truck, then followed my new friend Matt to a video gig he was doing at the Sydney Opera House.

2000 young people were converging for a Flash Dance Mob to bring awareness to global warming. They danced for 2 minutes on the steps of the Opera House as people filmed for the internet.



I met a few of the warehouse-mates at the opera house and we all came back to the space together. Matt and I went out for burgers and came just came back.

I think I'm gonna grab a quick nap before we head out to party tonight.

I'm really liking it here already.

Wednesday we head 2 hours north to the festival spot to start getting that ready.

I'm in australia

15 hour flight on Qantas...

best airline i've ever flown.


personal tv with: games, current movies, tv shows (simpsons episodes) and NUDIE MOVIES!!!

watched notorious and a few shows about strippers on the flight.

also: Free beer and whiskey on the flight.

ate poached salmon with ginger butter sauce for dinner, spinach fritata for breakfast..

rode next to a guy who translated the bible into the native language in papau new guinea, he was returning for a dedication ceremony.

slow days

I've been lounging around for a few days now, not doing too much. Video Games, Hulu, and cooking (including incredibly strong ganja cookies) have been occupying most of my time. I've started working out a bit again... started with 100 full body crunches and moving up a few every day plus additional stretching (which i think of as 'fat-guy yoga') that I made up as I went. I'm going to get my weights today so I can get back to lifting.

I'm getting stuff in order for my trip to Australia. Getting a bit panicked about how little money I'll have when I'm there. I'm trying to save as much as possible now, but I want one decent road trip before I leave... I want to go to SF Pride, Mutant Fest, the Babbs's 4th party and some time in Eugene before I go down under... I'm looking at a 10 day whirlwind tour of Cali and Oregon to make it all happen. But, we'll see how it goes.

I need to start finding ways to pick up a bit of extra cash before I go.

$690 spent.

i filled out the online form from the airline, but i didn't click anything, i just stared at the page. i stared and smoked a bowl. the button was red, rectangular with rounded edges and said confirm in white letters. my cursor was right on top of it. to the left was a larger box with a mathmatical equation in it. the final line read "Total: $689.21".

i'm poor, i dont make much money at all, well under the poverty line... $700 is a lot of money to me, i dont have too many bills, but i did think of everything i could get with $689.21: tattoos, a gun; i just saw a nice motorcycle on craigslist for $700. I could live well for a month, maybe two, on this much money... and i was debating on spending it on purchasing 30 hours trapped in a little tin tube breathing recirculated air and eating rehydrated space food while sitting next to an obnoxious bore.

i told anna my dilemma. she is level headed and wise. probably more sane than i am, and i trust her judgment on things like this... i know she's much more conservative than i am when it comes to adventure and danger. she encouraged me to go. said she wished she had the opportunity. just the support i needed to make a tough decision.

i clicked the button.

the fucking webpage had timed out.

so i filled out the 5 page form again and clicked the ominous red button.

payment confirmed.

i did it

i bought the fuckers; i'm going to australia.

the idea came to me 5 days ago. my doctor told me i should hike much for the next few weeks, which blew my plans to go to arizona and help herd sheep for the navajo. a friend had told me the day before about a special sale on tickets to australia that was ending on june 2nd. so i looked at the options... and wound up here now.

i dont really know anyone or anything to do there. i can't afford motel rooms or bus fare. maybe not even food or beer, but we'll see. i looked up some stuff online. and am trying to put together a rough plan.

i've wanted to go for years, and have put off a lot of possibilities to go, waiting on having a travelling partner, or a little more money, or whatever... but this time i decided not to put it off any more, i can make it happen... i can make my dreams come true.