I'm going to Foreshore!

YAY! MUSIC FESTS!

Armin Van Buuren

After many days in the canola factories I thought it was aboot time to have a little fun here in Auss. Apparently I came a good time of year to scratch my musical itch. Summer starts.... right about.... Now. December 1st. One of the first festivals of the year in the area is Foreshore in Canberra (Can-bra). The city is only about 3 hrs train ride away from Wagga and I was definitely ready to dance.

LMFAO

Friday afternoon I set off to Canberra for the weekend, hopefully gonna meet up with some newfound friends. The forecasted weather was supposed to be rainy all weekend but, the clouds held off and the sun was shining! All things went to plan and before I knew it we were at the gate of my first big music fest ever. Started the day off in the hightop tent in the middle of the crowd waiting to see LMFAO! I was pretty damn excited! I must say they absolutely party rocked my socks off. The whole crowd was going nuts and of course they played all their hits. Unlike most Top 40 artists they actually sounded really good live. I was impressed. From there we wandered to Salt and Peppa, a little bit of 90's hip hop to get the crowd dancing early in the day. We got to the stage a bit late so we had our own dance party at the back. After spending a few hours in the heat it was time to checkout some other stages and of course refill my hands with beers. After waiting in line for what seemed like forever, I made my way toward the throbbing bass of Armin van Buuren. That was definitely the tent I had been searching for. The whole place was full of fists in the air and sweaty bodys jumping into each other. Personally I danced my face off and when he finished I need a break. I found some familiar faces and we all took a break in the shade.

Gotye

After a nice break we basically parked ourself at one stage for the rest of the evening. Thats where all the good tunes were going to be. I saw some great afternoon acts like Boy and Bear and Gypsy & the Cat. Both contributed to a feel-good afternoon. Ladyhawke was supposed to follow and we waited around to watch but for some reason at the last minute she cancelled. Kinda a downer because I would have liked to see another great band on a different stage - Jinja Safari. But I couldn't complain because that meant Gotye got to play sooner. Personally I was very excited to see them. And their live set blew me away. A 11 piece band with so many strange and complex instruments on stage. Check them out here. At this point the clouds had rolled in and the skys opened up on us. Luckily I had a poncho and was cozy warm regardless of what the weather did. The last band Pnau went on at about 9pm and I was getting exhausted. They closed the fest like champions and I left quite satisfied. Hordes of people left the grounds and somehow I had to figure out a way to get to my accommodation. The taxi took forever because thousands of people all had the same idea I did. But I did make it home. And slept like a baby.

The next morning I took the train back to Wagga for another week of work. The days progressively seem to get hotter, which brings amazing thunderstorms. We had one last night which shook the house. I think 80mm in one evening? Is that alot? Im still trying to figure out the true metric system. Not like our half-ass Canadian metric system. Pffft. Im safe. Im well. And I am happy.

CP

Pnau

Week One

G'day! How ya goin?

Week one is over and let me tell you what... travelling alone is hard!Constantly making sure you know where your going and how long it takes to get there. I left Saskatoon at 3:33pm on Nov 8 taking a total of 23h 17m to finally arrive in Sydney on Nov 10 at 7:50am. I think the total travel distance was around 14,814km? When I got there, it was pouring and was about 30 degrees outside.A nice change from the frigid Canadian tundra. I was happy as could be until I found out the airline lost my bag... A little hiccup I had to deal with but nothing major. So without anything more than my laptop and my sweaty clothes I set off for Sydney.

I needed to get to Wagga Wagga (about 5 hrs away) so I could start my job for Pioneer Hi-Bred the following Monday. I couldn't get a train there until the next day so I set off to the big city to find a place to sleep because I was exhausted. I went to maybe 15 different hostels and hotels trying to find a place to rest but every single place was booked. I hadn't had a good sleep in long time and the heat was killing me. Luckily I found a place a long ways from downtown and paid way more than I should have just to have a shower and a sleep. Next morning I rode the train and got a see a bit of the Ozzie countryside. Finally got to Wagga on Friday around 2pm and got to see the Pioneer station... or should I say shed. I stayed in a motel for the weekend because the co-worker I'm staying with (John) was away at a wedding for the weekend. Still bagless, I wandered the streets in search of clean clothes and a toothbrush. My stuff arrived the next day and I couldn't have been happier. Started work on Monday and met the 3 man crew that is Pioneer Aus. We spent the week in the feild doing plant counts and notes. My body wasn't used to +30 temp in Nov so it was a tiring week. Luckily Friday is here and I'm hoping to see a bit more of the Wagga and hopefully meet a few friends. But I'm still alive and happier than a pig in plop.

CP