My previous week in Australia began by attending The Moth Grandslam, the final event that served as the culmination of the last year’s worth of ‘Storyslams’. As I described in my previous post, these events feature a series of contestants sharing short, 5-minute stories from their lives centered around the evening’s particular theme. The theme of the grandslam was, “Tell us about a time when you knew things would never be the same.” Stories told that evening ranged from fantastic stories of failing to roll start an old Volkswagen bug to pre-safety regulation metal working to crossing the Pacific ocean in a boat as a child. The evening was an emotional roller-coaster as people as diverse as their stories shared with us glimpses of their lives. Serving as a musical guest providing interludes and other atmospheres was a talented pipa player that simply went by the pseudonym, Flower Boy. For those unaware of what a pipa is, a pipa is a finger plucked, four string Chinese lute, and its playing certainly provided an air of elegance to the emotional evening.
A fair amount of my week was rather uneventful as I was finishing up some final assignments for my Australian Film, Theatre and Learning class. So there were a few days mostly spent typing away on essays and assignments. Finally though, after remaining cloistered away working on classwork, it was time for some relaxation. Especially so with me celebrating my 22nd birthday while in Australia. Anecdotally, this wasn’t my first birthday abroad, I had my 13th birthday travelling in Germany with my family. So, I felt that an appropriate call back to this occasion would be to go out to a German pub and enjoy some good quality Deutsches bier with some friends. In commemorating the evening my friends were kind enough to surprise me with a birthday ‘cake’. They made some waffles with ice cream, there were even candles. The whole thing was really sweet of them.
The day wasn’t just beers with friends though. Earlier in the day I took a ferry to Watson’s Bay to enjoy another scenic walk along the coastal cliffs on the south side of the mouth of Sydney’s Harbour. This walk yielded plenty of spectacular views both across the harbour and out to the open ocean. The path took my classmates and I past a light house up on the cliff and passed several old bunkers and turret positions used in the 19th century for defense against naval threats. . After the walk we had a lunch of some freshly caught fish on a bay-side restaurant.
Over the weekend I also traveled to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. I went there as part of a guided tour put on by Urbanest, the student housing accommodation that we are all staying through. It was exciting going out there and getting out of the big city for a little bit, but the group was pretty big and since it was guided it was difficult to explore much beyond what we were allotted. The views were amazing and the sheer magnitude of the landscape lying before me was awe inspiring. Many of the trails there are several kilometers long up and down through the mountains, one I read about was even a multiple day commitment coming in at a distance over 45 kilometers. Camping on this trail was obviously necessary.
Exploring the small town of Katoomba adjacent the Blue Mountains was also pleasant. After walking through the mountain trails, I was able to get away from the group and check things out in town on my own. Using the train system in Australia is fairly basic so our guides were comfortable letting me go off by myself. In my walk through town I stumbled across a vintage collectibles and book store, which if you know anything about me, is a flame for my inner moth. Going in and looking around revealed many interesting trinkets and pieces of history. Old military patches, buttons, matchbooks, stamps, and a myriad of other oddments. Something completely surprising to see in one of the display cases though was a Borneo Funeral Effigy of a monkey, some spooky stuff indeed.
The ending of my week was especially enjoyable. My friend Alex and I walked to a near by music store that we have been frequenting during our stay here to see if we could book a rehearsal room. Our new local friend working there, Matt, told us that there was a room open and was more than happy to let us have it for the a while that afternoon. So Alex and I were able to finally sit down and play some music together for the first time in a month and it was incredibly cathartic. Together we ran through all of the songs we have written in our band (minus our bassist back home, we miss you Robert <3) and even got some writing done. Matt loved our stuff too, he was casually listening in on us and he was excited to hear us play after knowing us and hearing about our band for weeks now. Alex and I were quite flattered about the whole ordeal. We want to go back and rehearse again soon, and Matt even asked to join us in a jam. He’s also helping us try to find a gig while we’re here! Hopefully within the next week or two Alex and I can make this happen. We’re going to go out and perform a little reconnaissance on some local venues and bars with open mics, and with a little luck we’ll find a place that’ll let us make some rambunctious noise on the premise.
I'm in Australia, Everything is Upside Down, and I'm Scared 