We Ain't From Round Here... Update #1

So Sydney sexies The Mischief, Mildura men Jackson Firebird, and Radelaidian rockers (HA!) Cookie Baker (and her collective) got together and thought it would be a good idea to do a bit of a tour with each other. Why? Mainly because we just want to see each other play. But in order to sound a bit more profesh, all thought the cross-genre idea would work amazingly well. And so far it has.



We left on a 40 degree day, the first we've had this summer I think, but luckily we had Cookie's dad's twin cab Holden Rodeo. How I love that car... First stop - Mildura. We didn't want to overdo ourselves on the first day of driving, so we did the 4 hour drive to Mildy quite late in the afternoon and made sure to have a good night's sleep. The following day, we knew we needed to sample the fine baked cuisine, so we stopped at Hudak's Bakery for lunch. We didn't end up leaving Mildy till after 2, so instead of seeing how far we could drive, we made it to Wagga Wagga (about 7 hours out of Sydney) and decided it was a good place to stay. Luckily as well because Cookie seemed to have a bit of a bout of heat stroke. Not much fun. Next morning, bright and early, and none feeling the ill affects of the day before, we headed north towards the Central Coast. Bloody lovely drive that is... and once you start hitting the forests, it really is amazing.



So first stop of the tour was a place called Wyong. Since none of the bands were from the area, we really didn't expect to pull a big crowd. We were right in doing so. However, it became almost a rehearsal to see how the gigs would go, and a chance for all of us to refreshen our live experiences of each other. It turned out to be an amazing gig. Sound was great, everyone played really well, and we all got to hang, chat and do Ross faces at each other (for explanation of what 'Ross faces' are, ask me in person - really can't be bothered writing it all down).

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We spent a couple of nights at the wonderful Miss Sarah Humphreys lovely abode. What a getaway that place is... Surrounded by forests, birds, and the sound of nature. I almost forgot what we were doing there in the first place. But was then reminded when we had to make the drive to Wollongong (which I will now refer to as the Gong).





Pulling into the Gong, we were all taken aback by it's apparent chilled nature. Picture this - half 5 in the afternoon, lovely sunny day, the town is all quiet, a few people strolling casually down the road, really quite a picturesque place. Come 9pm, the locals start coming out, and it turns into one of the most hilarious, bogany, rough-around-the-edges places I've been to in quite a while. That being said, Jackson Firebird certainly won over the locals with their brand of dirty blues/rock, and we all had a good time. After we all finished playing, I was peckish so I went and bought a kebab from across the road. It was amazing. We then drove back to Sydney that night, and spent a VERY comfortable night at bass player for The Mischief's Lochie's house. Beds to die for.







The next couple of days were spent enjoying Sydney. We went to Bondi, which was awesome! I know it's prob not the best beach in the area and it's such a touristy thing to do, but you know what? I AM a tourist, so I will go there thank you very much. Also, coming from Rads where the metropolitan beaches are flat as a tack and have great white sharks nibbling at your toes, this was heaven. We went out for coffee's, dinners, lunches and the like. And then we had the Sydney show - The Mischief boys took the cake that night. Being their home show, in front of their home crowd, and being able to go home at the end of it, they pulled out all the stops. Beer chugging, audience members being tangled in leads, it had it all. When it had all finished, we tried to find a pub that we could all have one last drink in as the Jackson Firebird guys were heading back home the following morning, but not much was open, so we got New York Pizza, scoffed that down, and said our goodbyes.



The drive back didn't seem nearly as bad as the drive there. We made the 11 hour journey from Sydney to Mildura in one day, spent the night there, and did the rest the following afternoon. But before we left, we made sure to sample some more local Mildura cuisine, this time in the form of gelati. It was good. :)

So we've been back home for a few days and head off again tomorrow back to the land of Hudak's Bakery and 48 Flavour Gelati, Mildura. This time though to actually play a show there. Then we are stopping through the lovely town of Loxton before ending this leg back in Rads at the lovable Grace Emily. So all those Radelaidians who aren't going to be wimping it by sitting under an air conditioner or going to the beach, come down to the Grace on Sat the 31st for some amazing times. I promise. Amazing. Fact.