Xavier Rudd in his own country!

Its safe to say that Xavier Rudd is one of my favorite artists of all time. I've been to many of his shows in Toronto, in Madrid Spain, in Glasgow Scotland. This was my first in Australia, his home country. The show was in Ballina, a little inland town about 40 mins away from Byron, claiming its fame by being home to the giant prawn. We didn't see the prawn, couldn't find it actually, some giant. 

So back to the show. Concerts are expensive in Australia, you are looking at min $45 to see anyone. Its a tough transition coming from Toronto home of the wicked cheap shows.

Xavier was hurting the wallet at $56 dollars, (compared to his $25 ticket price in Toronto) but it was a must to see him. The venue was the Ballina RSL club, it was a small venue with an equally small stage close to the ground. Great I thought! an intimate Xavier show much like the time I saw him in Madrid. His Toronto shows are now exclusively at larger venues sold out for several night runs.

Little did I know this small venue would mean that Xaviers music would be completely drowned out by the drunken chatter coming from most of the crowd. At one point Xavier ssshusshed the crowd but to no avail. He looked pissed. The most mellow peace loving hippy looked pissed. I mean who pays $56 to talk through a concert? Anyways here are some photos from the happier moments.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Hope everyone has had a good Christmas! We did it up well decorating our stockings, sugar cookies and consuming far to much baked goods thanks to Elizabeth. We all agreed it felt a little weird sort of like it was July and we were having some sort of pretend half-christmas celebration. But hey, the weather was hot, the beach was filled with santa hats and what better way to work off some of those cookies then with a mid-day surf (sadly, or maybe happily in ankle deep waves).

So much to say...

So I've fallen behind with the old blog, but I've also been busy! Out and about in town, up the coast, concerts, Elliot came to visit and then I went to visit him in Perth, its been happy times all round. I've decided to start tossing up random pictures and stories in no particular order to keep those interested informed. 

Like this.

During my first weeks in the Green House I got bit by a bug in my sleep. Right on the back of my thigh. The bit puffed up to monster proportions and after consulting with a few lifts I hitched into town with I went to the doctor. He didn't know what it was but looked at it very thoughtfully with a microscope and answered my 'am I going to die' with a definite 'no, you would have already if that were the case'. I was sent home to ice it and rub it with lavender oil (a magic itch remedy). This monster bite had gotten so hot by this point that the ice pack didn't even make my leg feel cold, it just melted on the spot for the first day of treatment. I was worried but persisted and eventually the swell went down, the heat receded and I managed to keep my leg.

.. the bite, notice the outer and inner circles. yowza. bugs love me.