Armed with gold and silver pieces of metal (also called band instruments), piles of thick, fluffy clothing to combat the myths of freezing cold winds and chilly nights, sleeping bags and a bus full of buzzing excitement, it was clear (note the pathetic fallacy) that the weekend was going to be cool. (and cool...temperature wise).
The bus ride was...long, to say the least. Roughly 9 hours? Plus stop-overs? Who knows how long it really took. We were just crossing our fingers, hoping our cute little school bus wouldn't break down going up those steep hills, carrying our obese trailer stuffed with heavy things. As the sun went down, the windows went foggy (the first Tess reference of the weekend) and we drew pictures...including of Alec and Tess, on the windows. Two stopovers and hours later, we arrived at our long-awaited destination...
As you can see, the first day we spent at the parade (kicking myself for leaving my camera on the bus) down the main street, following that we went for a little drive to some pretty sites, saw about a jillion (ok, that's an exaggeration) kangaroos, to the beach for a windy walk (alliteration). The first performance was possibly the most exciting, the first time I had ever played for a live audience...pretty awesome.
The next morning, one hour and some thrifty purchases later (note the nommy dutch pancakes with lemon and sugar!!) we headed off for performance number 2, at the infamous "Magic Mountain". I chickened out from the rollercoaster, but the toboggan ride made up for it :))
It was an amazing experience (sounds cheezy, but what can I say?). I had never heard so much amazing music, particularly Jazz, was inspired by a group called "Monday's Gypsy", discovered there existed a mysterious 'Gus Wong' in the band that no one had heard of, dnmmed on the last night till 2 am, listened to more jazz and got to know a whole lot more people. The weather never let us down, and the bus miraculously stayed intact the whole journey back (with the occasional scare - some almost-breakdowns). I couldn't believe Mr Barnwell drove the whole way there and back...O_O
Thanks especially to Charlotte, Elise and Alice for making it so much fun! (although you probs won't be reading this...yeah, it's out there.)
My most precious item, treasure for life. Pricked me once on the finger...
Carrie
