Kins Residency

Following a catch up dinner with Chantal after work I headed to the Builders Arms Hotel in Fitzroy to see the third date of Kins' March residency.  The first act of the evening was The Removalists, which consisted of Liam Halliwell (The Ocean Party/Van Morrissey) playing guitar with a friend on bass along to backing music and samples from their computer. Their set was decent and the bass player told a funny story in between songs about his Oxford educated housemate who is trying to find himself.  For the last couple songs they were joined by Jordan Thompson (also from the above mentioned bands) on vocals.

Next up was Seagull, who I haven't seen live in a while.  Chris and his band played an all too short but excellent set of songs, mostly from his latest album Council Tree. Highlights included "Water," "Company" and "Grand Mother."

Kins is the new band of Thomas Savage (ex-Oh Mercy).  The room was pretty full as they started the evening with "Fade Bird, Fade."  The songs in the set were taken from their previously released singles and the upcoming LP Dancing Back & Forth, Covered in Whipped Cream.  Thom's guitar playing was both impressive and gorgeous, especially on my favorite song "United Fate."  Current single "Lake Troposphere" was another highlight, and they finished the night with the title track of the LP, which is due out in May.  It appears that Kins is building some buzz around Melbourne, and I look forward to seeing how they progress.


Lake Troposphere from Kins on Vimeo.

Tim Minchin vs. the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Tonight I met up with Tash, her sister Jessie and Jessie's boyfriend Heath for dinner at Republica in the St Kilda Sea Baths before walking over to the Palais Theatre to see Tim Minchin versus the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.  Tim is traveling around the country and battling the local symphony orchestra in each city he plays (okay, it's not really a battle but they are playing along with him).

Tim started the evening with a big rock number about being in a cage (which he was), complete with an industrial strength fan and guitar solo.  The show itself featured both old and new material as well as funny stories and intros in between songs.  It was really good to hear old favorites such as "Rock 'n' Roll Nerd," "If I Didn't Have You" and "Prejudice."  He covered the topic of religion with "The Pope Song" and a song about God curing Sam's mom's cataracts.  Of the new stuff, "Content" was quite amusing as he clarified the half covered up lyrics he sang in the first go around, and "Lullaby" was a twisted take on getting your baby to sleep.  The final song of the main set was a big production of the ever popular "Dark Side," and then Tim came back on to do an encore of my favorite song of his "Not Perfect."  It's so exciting to see how successful Tim has become over the past few years and all the recognition he is receiving both in Australia and the UK.

Here is Tim performing "Lullaby" with the MSO on Ben Elton's recently cancelled show.

Up in the Air

We left the hotel bright and early on Friday morning and watched the sunrise on our way to the airport. The first of my three flights was from Maui to Oahu, and thankfully Hawaiian Airlines checked my bags through to Sydney.  In Honolulu, my flight was the first one to leave so my parents waited with me at the gate until it was time to go into the boarding area.  It was so nice to be able to spend time with them this week.  We said our goodbyes and they headed to their gate for the flight back to San Francisco.

Thankfully on my flight to Sydney I had no one sitting next to me so I was able to stretch out.  After landing I got through customs pretty quickly and in fact spent longer waiting for the bus to get to the domestic terminal.  I checked in at the Virgin Blue counter and then headed to the gate, but not before getting swabbed for explosives once again.  This time I actually had a false positive, but they let me through after a second swabbing.  The flight to Melbourne was non-eventful and after picking up my bag at baggage claim I was in a taxi and heading for home.  It's been a very long day of flying, but at least I have tomorrow to recover before heading back to work on Monday.

Finally a Sunset

Today was our last full day in Maui.  We drove down to Kihei to wander around, and in order to satisfy my ongoing desire for decent Mexican food had lunch at Fred's Mexican Cafe, which was quite yummy and filling.  We also stopped briefly at Maalaea Harbor before driving back to the resort.

Mom and I went to down to Ka'anapali Beach and finally got to watch a sunset, which has been impossible up until now because of the clouds at night the whole trip.  The waves were strong along the beach and surfers were out in the water.  Once the sun set I went for a quick swim in the pool before we headed back to our suite with dinner.  All that's left to do is pack our bags as we will be off early in the morning for the airport.

Birthday Luau

Happy birthday to me!  Mom and I left Dad behind to relax at the resort while we went to Whalers Village to do some shopping.  Mom wanted to pick up some souvenirs and gifts for family back home, and I finally found something to buy- a retro Pan Am Honolulu t-shirt from Malibu Shirts.  We also checked out the whaling museum, which was quite informative about the whaling industry in the 1800s and the very hard life sailors faced on the ships.

In the evening we headed down to Lahaina to attend the Feast at Lele luau. We got a lei and mai tai cocktail as we entered the venue and had sit down table service by the beach for the entire night.  Unfortunately it was cloudy once again, so we didn't get the sunset we were hoping for.  There was Polynesian dancing from four islands to go along with each of the themed courses from Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti and Samoa. The food was really good and since drinks were included in the price I took advantage and sampled various cocktails including a pina colada and blue Hawaii.  For the dessert course they wrote happy birthday in chocolate on my plate and had a lit candle in one of the tarts.  It was a great way to spend my birthday evening and we were very full by the end of it.

Chillaxing and Burning

Today was finally a day of relaxation- our first since arriving in Hawaii.  We headed down to the beach at midday and after a half hour came back up and found some lounge chairs and a bit of shade around one of the many pools on the grounds.  I really like the design of the resort and the pool we were at flowed around in a bit of a circle and even had a little waterfall.  We took turns going into the water and I also had a couple of stints in the hot tub.  Although I did slather myself in sunblock and had a hat on I still got a bit sunburned.  Around mid-afternoon we started to get hungry so we bought some lunch at the gourmet market and headed back to the suite to eat.  I took a shower and moisturized my skin like crazy to hopefully prevent it from peeling in a few days.

We had dinner reservations at Duke's Beach House, which is the only restaurant located at the resort. The place was packed and we ended up with a waiter originally from the Bay Area.  I ordered the ocean mile cocktail, which may have been the strongest drink I've ever had in my life (lots of rum and vodka).  The food was good but not great and I found some of the dishes to be a bit heavy and fried.  We were so full from dinner that we didn't even attempt dessert.  The walk back to the suite was nice with the pathways being illuminated by flaming tiki torches.

Maui

Today we were up bright and early to get to the airport for our flight to Maui.  Since the flight was only 30 minutes long we were up in the air and then heading in for a landing soon after.  It has been a bit of a driving day as we went from the airport in Kahului across the island and up the West Coast through towns along the Honoapiilani Highway.

Since we couldn't check in until later in the afternoon we had lunch in Lahaina and then drove along Front Street to check it out. We also headed further up the coast and stopped at lookout over Honolua Bay to see the view and watch the surfers in the water.

We are staying at the Honua Kai Resort and Spa at Kaanapali Beach in a one bedroom suite that's probably bigger than my apartment.  I thought I would be on the sofa bed in the living room, but there is a second sofa bed in a little alcove area.  My mom and I took a walk around the grounds at sunset before stopping at the gourmet market to pick up some dinner (and a couple organic cupcakes which were yummy).  Tomorrow we plan to relax and lounge around poolside.

Pearl Harbor and the Krishnas

This morning we drove out to Pearl Harbor to visit the USS Arizona Memorial.  First we walked around grounds of the museum and visitor center, which had exhibits, outdoor displays and reflection areas about the lead up to the war and bombing at Pearl Harbor. When it was our time for the tour we went into the theater to watch a film on the history of the Pearl Harbor attack before taking the boat ride out to the memorial.  The memorial is built over the remains of the sunken battleship USS Arizona, which is the final resting place for many of the 1,177 crewmen killed on December 7, 1941 when their ship was bombed by Japanese Naval Forces.  The memorial is very well done and quite peaceful.

After coming back to shore we made a quick stop at the gift shop before heading back to Honolulu.  Mom and I dropped Dad off at the hotel and then went shopping for a couple hours at the Ala Moana Center.  Surprisingly I didn't find anything to buy, although I did take advantage of the free wi-fi at the Apple Store. 

For dinner we drove out to the Hare Krishna Temple to visit my aunt.  She gave us a tour of the grounds while others were at Sunday service and then we joined everyone for the vegetarian feast dinner.  It was nice to catch up with her and she gave us each beautiful leis that had been on the deities during the service (which smelled amazing).  Here's a video of the Ratha Yatra they did in Honolulu a few weeks ago.

The Longest Day Ever

After having no real breaks over the past year I decided to take my birthday week off and head to Hawaii for a vacation.  I picked Hawaii because I've never been there before and it would allow people from home to potentially join me, which in this case was my parents.  I spent Saturday finishing up my packing and then headed to the airport mid-afternoon for my flights to Sydney and then Honolulu.  After flying all night I landed in Honolulu around 10 am on Saturday.  My day had just begun (again).  A couple hours later my parents' flight arrived and I met them in baggage claim.  It was really nice to see them again as it had been over a year since my last visit home.

We picked up the rental car and then drove into Honolulu.  We are staying at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort and Spa, which is pretty nice.  After taking a shower I headed out for a walk along Kalakaua Avenue to have a look at Kuhio Beach and Waikiki Beach as well as all the shops along the strip.  I didn't really find anything to buy, but did have a peppermint bark ice cream cone from Haagen-Dazs, which was amazing.

I returned to the hotel to get dressed for our dinner at a the very upscale French restaurant Michel's at the Colony Surf.  We met up with a friend of my parents who had chosen this place as it's one of his favorites.  We had a table overlooking the beach as well as a view of downtown.  The food and service were excellent and they had a special menu since it was Valentine's Day weekend.  It was a very enjoyable evening and a great finish to our first day in Honolulu.

Flash Flooding Fun

Australia has really been getting hit by the natural disasters lately- flooding in Queensland and other states and Far North Queensland getting hit by Cyclone Yasi earlier in the week.  Today Melbourne was once again hot and very humid throughout the day.  Chantal and I headed out to dinner and grabbed a table outside under an umbrella.  I had a feeling it would rain and boy was I right.  What started as a downpour turned into a complete deluge as it just bucketed down and everyone ran for cover.  There were huge flows of water down Bourke Street as the CBD got 17mm/0.7 inches of rain in 20 minutes from the remnants of Cyclones Anthony and Yasi.  Of course this resulted in flash flooding throughout the city.  What's scary is that this weather is scheduled to continue and could be worse tomorrow.

Icecream Hands Reunion

Last night Ruth, Danny and I headed to Northcote for the evening.  We started with dinner at Otsumami on High Street, which is sort of like a Japanese tapas place.  We shared a few dishes and it was very good.  After a wander around High Street we had dessert at Delphi Continental Cakes and then headed to a bar where one of Ruth's friends was having an engagement party (and we got to watch the second half of the Australian Open women's final). 

The next stop was the Northcote Social Club where Icecream Hands were reuniting for one night to play their entire 1999 album Sweeter Than The Radio from start to finish.  This is probably my favorite album of theirs, and it was especially fantastic to hear "Spiritlevel Windowsill," "Dodgy," "Yellow & Blue," and "Giving It All Away."  There was a big crowd sing-along for their hit single "Nipple."  You would never know that they haven't played together in a few years as they sounded great.  The encore consisted of two covers and then it was all over.  Hopefully we will be lucky enough to get some more shows like this in the future.

Here's a clip of Icecream Hands on Hey Hey, It's Saturday back in the day playing "Spiritlevel Windowsill"

Happy Australia Day

Today is my first Australia Day as an Australian citizen.  Ruth and Danny were kind enough to invite me over this afternoon for a BBQ, which is a very traditional way of celebrating.  It was also an excuse for them to christen their new barbecue.  We had a lovely spread of food, including some kangaroo while listening to the Triple J Hottest 100 countdown.

In the evening I headed down to the Vibe Hotel Carlton to help out Clinton with the 22 Chinese Language Assistants he had picked up from the airport.  Okay, I really went because I got a free dinner.  In any case, the funniest thing was that as we sat down to dinner, Clinton introduced me and the Language Assistants broke out into applause.  A chatted to a few of them during dinner, and one girl said the 12 hour flight from Beijing was her first time on an airplane.  They will have two days of orientation and then go off to their respective school placements and home stays around the state.

Gotye- The National Theatre

After work I met up with Tash and Mary in the city and then we drove down to St. Kilda to see Gotye (aka Wally De Backer) play a sold out show at The National Theatre.  Opening the evening was Tash Parker, who played a solo set on both acoustic and electric guitar with the occasional pre-recorded loop thrown in.  She has a great voice and Wally joined her for a couple of songs, including a duet that they wrote together.

Gotye took the stage to large cheers and began his hour long set with the new single "Eyes Wide Open."  For this show Wally had two other musicians accompanying him while he played drums and his sampling keyboard.  Most of the songs during the evening were from the album Like Drawing Blood, including "Coming Back," "Hearts A Mess," and "Thanks For Your Time" which had a brilliant bit in the middle about being on hold to Vodafone.  We got three new songs that sounded fantastic, a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" with just Wally on the piano, and "The Only Thing I Know" from his first album Boardface.  Wally finished his set with "Learnalilgivinanlovin" and received a standing ovation from the crowd.  It's good to have Gotye back on the Melbourne music scene and I look forward to the release of his new album (whenever that may be).

Happy New Year!

After a half day at work and a brief respite from the 40/104 degree heat I headed into the city to meet up with Chantal and her cousin and friends for a lovely New Year's Eve dinner at Seamstress on Lonsdale Street.  They had a 7 course degustation menu with the option of wine matching with each course.  Here is what we ate:

• Peking duck consomme with shaved green lip abalone and quad of poached Chinese mushrooms
• Pan seared wild harvest scallop stuffed with tailor made XO on poached iceberg lettuce
• Swallowed clouds... poached won tons of snake bean and golden sweet kaukau with green pea puree, coriander foam and flying fish roe
• Terrine of pork hock and oolong tea smoked duck with pickled watermelon
• Hiramasa kingfish carpaccio with young coconut, lime and pomegranate dressed in snow pea tendrils
• Cleansing parsley and lemon sorbet
• Crisp fried five spice quail, salad of fresh garden herbs, cucumber julienne and pink ginger
• Ponzu marinated wagyu and twice cooked pork belly served with drunken potatoes and gai larn
• Petit fours and coffee

The food was amazing and just the perfect amount over the few hours we were there.  My favorite courses were the won tons and the quail.  After we finished eating it was very close to midnight so we rushed outside just in time to see bits of the fireworks show that were happening along the Yarra River.  We wandered for a bit around the city and down to Federation Square before heading home.  Happy New Year to you all and may 2011 live up to and exceed your expectations.

Presents Everywhere

Christmas may have come and gone, but due to the post office my Christmas keeps continuing.  The box of presents from my parents finally arrived on Wednesday, chock full of little surprises including lots of excellent kitchen gadgets, See's Candies, local calendars, and a personalised Christmas stocking and ornament.  Then today I picked up a box from the post office from my aunt, which included a festive blouse and a hand sewn apron from my cousin Leilani.  The apron may be my favorite gift ever- it's so cute!  I can't wait to wear it while baking, but that will be well after all the See's Candies is gone from my cupboard.

Happy Holidays

Since I was not going to fly home for the holidays, Clinton invited me to join his family's celebrations this weekend in Rosebud, which is about an hour and half south-east of Melbourne.  The boys picked me up and we drove down around noon on Christmas Day.  His family were very welcoming and even had little Christmas presents for me (which was nice because my presents from home are currently MIA and likely stuck in customs).  I brought some snowball cookies to contribute to the meal and a bottle of wine, which turned out to a favorite of Clinton's father.

The weather was warm but not too hot and the backyard tables were festively decorated.  Various family members stopped in and joined the celebrations throughout the afternoon.  We had so much food to eat starting with chips, dip, cheese and crackers.  We then had prawns, barbecue steak, sausage, shish kebabs, coleslaw and potato salad.  On top of all this food Clinton's brother, who is a bartender, was mixing drinks and made sangria as well as various fruit daiquiris.  After digesting the late afternoon lunch we ate Clinton's pavlova and my cookies for dessert.  There were lots of funny stories about growing up in Rosebud and we played a few games.  It was a nice evening.

Today we woke up to some rain, but it managed to clear by early afternoon.  Since I haven't ever explored the Mornington Peninsula before, Clinton's parents took us for a bit of a drive around the area.  We started with a walk in Arthurs Seat State Park with its great views of Port Phillip Bay and the Seawinds Garden, which contains several sculptures by William Ricketts.  The chairlift to the summit isn't working, but Clinton, Kevin and I took a picture on "Arthurs Seat."  We next drove down to Point Nepean Road and through the various seaside towns on the way to Sorrento to visit Clinton's brother, who was working.  We took a walk along the front beach and out onto one of the piers.  After some fish and chips at the restaurant we headed back to Rosebud and then packed up the car for the drive back to Melbourne.  It was such a lovely weekend and a great way to spend the Christmas holiday.

Oprah-mania

Oprah Winfrey and 300 of her lucky audience members are currently in Australia as part of Oprah's Ultimate Australian Adventure.  The media countdown to her arrival in Melbourne has been intense, and this afternoon she appeared at Federation Square along with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu to greet the thousands of fans who turned out to see her.  I was going to go down there but I had my work Christmas lunch on at the same time and didn't make it.  Clinton and Kevin were there and they said it was amazing.  You can watch Oprah's speech here.  The next stop on the trip is Sydney, where she will be taping her shows at the Sydney Opera House early next week.

Locusts!

Victoria's worst locust plague in 70 years has reached Melbourne in the past couple days due to the warm weather.  I spotted my first one walking to the train station this morning.  Thankfully they are not swarming in the city like they are in other parts of the state.  We had a lot of rain today, so I am hoping that has washed many of them away.

Melbourne Victory vs. Brisbane Roar

After drinks to celebrate surviving the first week of the new government, Chantal, Amrita, Justin and I headed into Chinatown for dinner at Ants Bistro.  Justin goes there frequently enough that they were pouring him his beer by the time we sat down at the table.  It was a good and filling meal and I'll probably go there again.

Justin and I then left and headed to AAMI Park to watch Melbourne Victory take on top of the table A-League team the Brisbane Roar.  This was my first time attending a professional soccer match, and the atmosphere was quite entertaining.  On the north and south ends of the grounds behind the goals are the hard core fans who chant and sing (and sometimes throw flares) during the match.  Justin is a mad soccer (or football) fan and was explaining the nuances of the game to me throughout the evening.

The first half was a bit of a disappointment as Brisbane ended up scoring two goals.  However, Melbourne fought back in the second half, scoring three straight goals and had the lead going into stoppage time.  In the last minute of the match Brisbane's goal keeper appeared to pick up the ball outside of the box, which wasn't called by the officials.  The ball then made it's way down the field and Brisbane ended up scoring a goal off a rebound from the Melbourne goal keeper in the dying seconds to bring the match to a 3-3 draw.  The crowd was not impressed and the officials were booed off the ground.  Even though it was a heartbreaking draw, the match was very exciting, especially in the second half.

The New Premier

Yesterday afternoon John Brumby conceded the election to the Coalition, which means Ted Baillieu is now the 46th Premier of Victoria.  It will be interesting to see how much things change in government, especially since Labor has been in power for the past 11 years.  We are still awaiting confirmation on who the Ministers will be, as well as the appointment of a new Secretary for our Department.  I do hope though that we don't have to endure daily photos of Baillieu out for his morning swim.