Australia Blog

Woodstock Festival Australia

If you're looking to spend a big day out listening to a wide selection of Aussie bands, check out the Woodstock Festival. Here's their website pitch:

Our festival incorporates a two (2) day musical extravaganza delivering a diverse range of musical styles, whilst enjoying the camping experience that Landcruiser Park has to offer. Music styles include rock, pop and blues. Gates open on Friday at 8am for camping, and bands kick off at 9.30am Saturday until 2am Sunday. The entertainment reignites again at 9.30am Sunday and concludes 2am Monday. See you all there for an experience that will take you 12 months to recover.

Where: Land Cruiser Park, Kilcoy
When: June 11 - 14, 2004
Cost: Adults: $99.00
Children 13-16: $49.00
Children Under 12: Free

Touch Footy Champs

Last night was the grand final of the mixed touch footy competition I've been playing in to keep myself fit. My team, "Touch Us If You Can", is a team loosely held together by people who know people who know people. The only person I knew is my brother.

For those unfamiliar with touch football, it's like rugby league except you don't tackle anyone, just touch them. It's like flag football is to American football. It's usually 7-a-side, very fast and a lot of fun.

I'll spare the details of the season, but we've had a mixed roster throughout, including the imported services of US athlete Sean Keener. Our team manager quit partway through when she moved to some small islands off the northern QLD coast. We finished next to last, but thanks to a small field (6 teams), we made the finals. In our semi final we beat a team that had been undefeated all season (they were filthy about it too). Not resting on our laurels we backed up for the grand final last night at a new ground.

Perhaps it was because we hadn't expected to win the week before, but everyone was very relaxed about it all and we looked good in all areas of the park. The scores were level at 2-2 at halftime, but I think we felt in control. The opposition scored a try in the opening set of 6 touches of the second half which gave us the wobbles a little bit, but we turned things around to eventually come out winners 5-4.

After the game, we found out where our team fees had gone when winners and runners-up were presented with these trophies.

We also received a cup as champions, but no one really knew what to do with it and no one wanted to claim it since we didn't really know each other that well. I would have suggested we go to the bar to drink victory champagne from it, but two of our team members were under-age.

The Belgian Beer Café ~ Brussels

Belgium is famous for a few things, chocolate and strong beer being the two most relevant to me. My parents had told me about this Belgian beer cafe in downtown Brisbane and I'd been meaning to get down there and sample their wares.

My brother's birthday was as good an excuse....oops, occasion, as any. We made reservations for the evening, although on a Monday we though that probably wasn't necessary. It's located on the corner of Edward and Mary Streets in one of those former government buildings that are all becoming heritage listed these days.

Inside, it's very nicely done out. Lots of wood, plenty of booths, knicks-knacks and old crap on the walls, and a very nice (undercover) beer garden out the back. That night it looked to be very popular with blokes in suits, sucking down a few beers while talking shop.

The beer menu came on a separate chart and each one had a photo and a descriptioon of its qualities. There was a decent range of beers to try, but limited varieties on tap and although the website says they offer 30 beers, I don't think I saw that many on the menu. And 30 isn't that many when you consider the more than 1500 on this page. Bring a designated driver though, the minimum alcohol content was about 5.5%.

The Food
The food menu offered enough choices, but not enough to overwhelm. I don't recall many Veggie options, but since I'm not, I don't care. My brother (and brother-in-law) had the gourmet sausages and they looked and tasted great. Dad had the pork eye fillet and no one could get a taste out of him so it must have been good too. My dish was the chicken and it was a dud - tasteless, bland, boring.

The ladies shared two pots of mussels between them and these are definitely the go. Heaps of mussels for about $20 and you can choose from a variety of sauces for them to be steamed in. The Congo sauce was the pick of the two we had.

The Beer
We tried a small selection of the beers (school night, after all). The ladies started off with the standard Stella Artois while I kicked off with a Hoegaarden. Later on, my bro-in-law tried a Duval and Dad had a beer called Kwak which was drunk from a very curious glass. Wouldn't want to try putting it back in the rack after a 6-pack of Kwak. My second beer was a dud, just like my food. It was a cherry Framboise beer which I didn't realise, even after reading the description and then seeing the cherries on the label.

The Service
The beer café has only been open for a few weeks so I can understand that things will not be perfect. It was also busier than expected for a Monday night. The staff were friendly enough, but we waited a long time for our second beer orders to arrive, one of our meals was incorrect and they charged us for a beer we didn't order (which they happily took off the bill once we'd noticed). We also arrived in two separate groups and, after checking our reservation, the host asked us if we'd like to wait in the bar for the rest of our party to arrive. As we walked towards the bar, we saw they had already arrived and we already waiting for us at a table. The host wasn't too switched on and he readily admitted he'd made that mistake in the past which had caused two people to miss each other completely!

Overall, it was a good experience and would recommend it if you're interested in trying some different beers. It's pricey though, with beer starting at around $5 a glass, up to $26 for a 750ml bottle.

Another 'credit' to Brisbane's al fresco lifestyle

Movies on a boat on the Brisbane River!

There's some good lookin' films on the menu too!

Cine Ging

D'liddle Mairn's Party

I got in trouble for not blogging much of late, but hey, I've been busy... What with doggit parties to host an' all... Yes, that's right, d'liddle mairn in d'brown seventies trackie turned 1 [or 7 in doggit years] yesterday and of course I HAD to throw him a party - or, as some people suggested, we aussies will take any excuse we can to throw back some beers. Perhaps. And, I've also moved [yes, again, but thankfully, this one's potentially a long-termer], so it was a good excuse to have some people round to check out the new gaff and test the fabulous back deck.

So, his day started with 'Happy Birthday' greetings from my flatmate and I, a yummy bone, but nothing too different from the norm... In the afternoon, I scooted home from work and baked him a chocolate [of course] cake and he'd even received some emails/and one phonecall! On his 0410 WOOF mobile!!!

I fed him his dinner and put a party hat on him, which at first, he was a bit bothered by, but soon became used to it and left it on unphased for the whole night!!! [I commented halfway through the evening, 'I'm turning into one of those really weird 'dog people' - I mean, I have always been 'a dog person', but didn't think I'd be putting hats on him and getting all, 'oh, look at my boy, he's so clever!', which of course he is by the way - so intelligent and so adorable! ha!]

Anyway, although most people had various commitments, that didn't stop them from taking some time out to wish the wee man a happy birthday, AND, get him a present! Chris, who had his touch footy final that night [and won - congrats!] kicked off [boom boom] the proceedings with an early appearance, presenting the little man with his OWN pair of thongs to chew - v. nice! Now if he starts eating my shoes, Chris will be in big trouble! Soon after, Janita turned up, wielding beer, not only for herself, but for the wee man - a squeaky dog beer toy, which was THE hit of the party! Oh yes. While it seemed innocent enough, the SOUND it makes is hysterical! Worse than a child's scream I tell ya! Moddy liked that one, but jeez, I don't think our neighbours [or my flatmate, who said, 'don't be surprised if that gets 'accidentally' destroyed!'] will! We all had a few beers, then John turned up with a bottle of red for me, but poor Moddy dipped out there! Not that he was phased as he had his dog beer afterall. I also gave him a smidgen of beer in his bowl! 'Twas then time for 'my' present, which was a stuffed dog wrapped up with LOTS of treats [schmackos, chicken & rice bites, meaty bites, crunchy bones, beef & liver treats, chocolate buds and a raw hide bone!] that he excitedly sniffed through the paper to get to. And, like the hoover he his, downed ALL of them in one go - with onlookers in shock, and with some digust! ha! Then, Alia appeared with, oh my, TWO packets of Schmackos - doggit heaven! Moddy NEVER gets Schmackos - he gets 'the cheaper equivalent'! Not long after that, Nolan and Rowan appeared and the back deck was getting a thorough workout [esp. seeing as we have no outdoor furniture yet!] and it was quite a hoot for the wee man, who was LOVING the attention!

While some people thought it a bit strange, I think the little man was quite chuffed with the result!! Everyone left with 'doggy bags' [he he he] of chocky cake and Nolan/Rowan even left wearing party hats! ha!

Who said canine birthdays couldn't be fun! In fact, my two neices who live up the coast were disappointed they couldn't make it!

My dog rocks.

Proud Dog Person Ging

Backpackers Airlines

BRISBANE-based international low-cost carrier Backpackers Xpress is on the hunt for aircraft to fly to a number of international budget traveller destinations by the end of 2004.

BPX, chaired by former Sunstate Airlines owner Bevan Whittaker, is aiming to run flights from the UK city of Manchester, via New Delhi and Bangkok, to Melbourne.

A company spokeswoman said the group was halfway through negotiations for an air operator certificate and hoped to begin flights during the last quarter of 2004.

The planned 473-seat all-economy layout will include karaoke, dance competitions, pizza and a personal DVD service with more than 300 titles to
choose from.

Read the full article

submitted by joe e

Brisbane Weather

Two weeks ago, it was the hottest day in February ever. Today, we're getting a Severe Weather Warning with a chance of a cyclone developing. I can already hear the wind picking up outside and the rain has just started to come down as well. As the weather lady on the news last night said, be sure to tie down the outdoor furniture.

Oi, oi, oi!!!

Well, I got a bit nostalgic today when I read this article.

You crazy Aussies....what are you going to try to patent next? :)

Cuddly Koalas?

Along with the kangaroo they're one of the most recognizeable Australian marsupials and folks line up at zoos for the chance to hold one in their arms and get their photos taken.

For an animal that sleeps 20 hours a day, that's not a bad gig.

But one thing they leave out of the popular information brochures is that koala babies grow up eating shit. I was rather taken aback by this news, discovered last night on a Wild Australasia program on telly.

The reason behind it is because koalas mainly eat eucalyptus leaves, and these leaves are quite tough and toxic to most animals. Koalas have teeth and stomachs of iron. Of course, you don't crawl out of mama's pouch with all these attributes, so you need to take things in stages, kind of like a vaccination. That's where the shit comes in. The baby eats poo to ingest some of the squiggly things that help break down gum leaves so when it gets older it'll be able to handle its diet.

It all makes perfect natural sense when it gets explained to you, but it's difficult to get rid of the image of a scrawny baby koala shoving his face into its mum's bum and looking up with crap all over his face.

Still wanna hold one?