Back from Oz

[houseisland]

I am a jet lag zombie at present.

NSW: Sydney, Newcastle, Hunter Valley, Port Stephens, Forster

Very nice country.

Very friendly people.

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It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

[slgrieb]

Oh, this is so not right, House. You live in a vital exciting city, I live in an area where a nuclear weapons plant was built so there wasn't any risk of damaging the Mojave Desert or some other piece of more valuable real estate.

You went to Australia for fun, I went to Stinnett to watch the funnels spin and see baseball-sized hail pound the daylights out of the city. No fair.

[houseisland]

Oh, this is so not right, House. ....

You went to Australia for fun, ... No fair.

Well.... there was an element of family obligation to the trip. Spousal relatives residing in Oz.


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It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

[houseisland]

Interesting things from trip part 1:

John Butler Trio: http://www.myspace.com/johnbutlertrio

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...tler+trio&aq=f

Never heard of the them before.

The April Uprising album is quite cool. It is not folk music, but folk music is at its core: Wikipedia lists them as a Roots Rock/Jam Band; there are echoes (either conscious or unconscious) of Blues, Reggae, Ska, The Police, Midnight Oil, U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc. They are kind of like a younger and hipper version of the Vancouver area group, Spirit of the West.

I note from their My Space page that they are playing in Vancouver on the 28th and 29th of this month. I also note that they are sold out. It must be all the young Aussies working in Vancouver on work exchange visas.


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It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

[slgrieb]

Well.... there was an element of family obligation to the trip. Spousal relatives residing in Oz.

Verily, that is balm for my envious soul.

[houseisland]

Best beer encountered:

Blue Tongue

http://www.bluetongue.com.au/Product...6/Default.aspx



The brewery is partially owned by Coca Cola, which leads me to believe that we might see distribution beyond NSW.

The Ginger Beer and the Pilsner were spectacular. The Lager is was very good.

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It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

[slgrieb]

Wow! Beer is always a subject that gets my attention! I've consumed many a liter of Tooheys and Coopers, but Bluetongue is new to me. I'm always in favor of diversity in hooch, but the sad reality is that in the U.S. Miller and Anheuser-Busch have bought up or otherwise destroyed so many small breweries, and since AB in turn has been acquired by InBev I'm pessimistic about the prospects for national distribution for any newcomers.

BTW: Didja see any platypi on the trip?

[slgrieb]

Interesting things from trip part 1:

John Butler Trio: http://www.myspace.com/johnbutlertrio

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...tler+trio&aq=f

Never heard of the them before.

The April Uprising album is quite cool. It is not folk music, but folk music is at its core: Wikipedia lists them as a Roots Rock/Jam Band; there are echoes (either conscious or unconscious) of Blues, Reggae, Ska, The Police, Midnight Oil, U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc. They are kind of like a younger and hipper version of the Vancouver area group, Spirit of the West.

Well, I haven't quite made up my mind about JB3. I listened to a little of their music and heard some things I liked and some I didn't care for. Anyway, I had to do it all in short snippets. I have some credit on Lala.com, and there's some JB3 available, so maybe I'll listen to more of them before the pinche culos at Apple shut down the service at the end of the month.

[houseisland]

Verily, that is balm for my envious soul.

And there were rains of biblical proportions for the last two days or so of my stay.


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It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

[Platypus]

Didja see any platypi on the trip?

We're elusive...

Glad you enjoyed your stay house - the Hunter is nice. The only time I went to Forster it rained a lot of the time.

[houseisland]

BTW: Didja see any platypi on the trip?

No. The Toronga zoo in Sydney was expensive, disorganized and depressing. Very old school, although remediation work is underway. I saw saw some rock wallabies and red kangaroos in the zoo, but the Woodland zoo in Seattle has a better display of Aussie fauna.

As for Mr. P, my impression from his fire stories from last summer is that he does not live in NSW, and my stay was of a highly limited duration and it involved visiting with spousal family. Australia is larger than continental US and travel, therefore, is not a trivial matter. Had I been there longer, I might have offered to buy him a pint. But.... there is always next time.

I saw variety of exotict parrots, cockatoos, magpies etc, which Aussies seemed to view collectively as noisy flying rats. I saw a grey roo from the train one day. I went to Hawksnest, where the guide book said there were urban koalas, but none were to be seen. I also saw a tiny lizard sunning itself on a garden fence one afternoon. And that is about it.


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It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

[houseisland]

Glad you enjoyed your stay house.

Thanks.

Lovely country. Lovely people. I will have to return sometime.

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It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!