WEEK SEVEN

I will get this up to date…

On Monday I decided to do some baking for the BBQ which Will and Toni had organised for Tuesday, and chose to avoid the idea of frangipane tarts which were still not perfected and went a good old default of cherry flapjacks and chocolate and berry brownies – something I had tried to make for mum before, which hadn’t turned out fantastic, but I put that down to the vegan ingredients, so fully loaded with dairy products, I set to work. Once again, the flapjacks turned out great – but you can’t really mess them up at all. The brownies on the other hand, had the perfect consistency (as before) but still a rather strange taste. Don’t think I’ll try them anymore – I have plenty other brownie recipes and one of them must turn out nice! So, I fixed them up by smothering them with white chocolate, and it seemed to do the trick – kind of!

The whole reason for the BBQ was because it was Melbourne Cup day – a horse race, which means that everyone gets the day off work – it is mad! I can’t imagine everyone getting the day off for the Grand National, but hey – no ones complaining. So, everyone just has big parties and have a great day off work, but it is still weird having a public holiday on a Tuesday!

So, the day of the BBQ – Will and Toni set to work making a huge range of dishes, and I was trusted with the potato salad. Simple. And it turned out great – even though I say so myself. I invited Phil and Rowan (mainly cos they are the only people I know here, but there were a few fringey types too, which was nice. We all chose a horse to back for the race, but didn’t put money on it (which is a good thing because my one didn’t win!) and for 2 minutes stood round the telly shouting for our horse! And then it was over, and it was back to eating and drinking – sadly the weather was a bit crappy, so Will lit a fire in the garden and once we had enough of real food, we moved onto toasting marshmallows on sticks found in the garden, being slightly too eager I just picked up the nearest knife and used it – surprisingly I actually didn’t burn myself – everyone was expecting it though! So, as the day got a bit colder and rainier people started leaving and we were left with the biggest table of food! There were so many different types of salad it was great – welcome to a veggie bar-be-que! Even all my dodgy brownies were eaten, as were the flapjacks, so they couldn’t have been so bad in the end, people went back for seconds - still it would have been nice if they had turned out better!

The next couple of days were spent trying to sort out my computer in everyway possible, which was harder than it sounds – stupid computer. I don’t think I have ever spent so long intensively organizing, installing and backing up in my life, and hopefully never will again, it was just so frustrating and time consuming! We also ate a lot of leftover salads, not really venturing into the hot food department for a good 72 hours! Me and Will also went for another hunt into the City to try and find some new shoes, and we trawled Smith Street – apparently great for discount shoes. Shame the pair I fell in love with were in the only non-discount shop we went into. A beautiful pair of red doc martens which would replace my others perfectly, but at $150 I chose not to, and left, comparing all other shoes to those ones – and for the rest of the day nothing was as good as them. I did try on a very cool pair of Dr Suess Converse which were great, but sadly didn’t come in my size, so they were left too. So close, and yet so far. Maybe I’ll go back and get the red ones one day…in the afternoon I spent the time wandering about Northcote with the dogs as Will and Toni went to the dentist – something I really should do as my tooth is still sore – 3 weeks later!! Oooops, maybe I’ll go soon if it is still sore, or, if I put it off long enough it’ll either get better or fall out. Not the best idea in the grand scheme of things. We had the dogs with us so decided to take them for walk in the park, and when we came across the playground it was too much for Will to cope with, and resulted in getting Joey to go down the spiral slide, strangely enough she actually enjoyed it. Turnip didn’t. We had dinner at Wesley Anne which is a great pub, with a lovely beer garden – there is a caravan in the middle of it all, and supposedly one of the owners lives in it. Not sure if convenience is worth living in the middle of a beer garden. Had a great baked Eggplant thing – weird because before I came here I thought I hated aubergines – apparently not if they are cooked nicely. Still can’t stand the skin though – eugh! And so we made our way home, well walked and well fed.

On Saturday I had arranged to meet with a lady from a dairy, who we had dubbed the ‘goat lady’. She doesn’t in fact have goats, but does make bloody good cheese, and I had phoned them up to see if I could go and stay with them for a fortnight – partly to learn how to make cheese, but most importantly, start racking up the days for my second year visa. 88 days in rural Australia doing farming is my target, so I thought I may as well try and get some out of the way before Christmas – whilst eating cheese. So off I went to St. Kilda Market to meet her, with the idea of buying a cake each from one of the fancy shops – who can say no to someone to turns up with a cake? Apparently not her, and it was decided that she would collect me on Monday and take me to her farm. As we had some of their cheese before I thought I should buy some more, so just before leaving I decided which one and went to pay – she said I could have it for free. I like this lady! I gave her a cupcake, and she gave me cheese. A fair exchange I would say. I was going to spend the day in St. Kilda, but as it was getting hot and I had cheese in my bag, I ate my cake on the beach and jumped on the tram back to the City to meet Will, who had been shoe shopping. And I do not say this lightly - $700 lighter, but with 4 pairs of shoes, we left the shop in direction of the discount Levis store. On the way there we walked past a shop with more Dr Suess Converse – so diverted in there only to find some in my size – brilliant. Done and dusted – both of us had managed to get shoes in one day. That night we went to the launch of ‘Revolt’ which is a new venue in Edinburgh, and I was not expecting what I saw when I walked in. It was a huge dark space, with a couple of stages, a huge mural and a lot of people dressed up, in what I later learnt was ‘Steam Punk’ clothes. And my god they were fantastic outfits! Toni had managed to get us on the guest list under the guise that we were working with Snuff Puppets, and so didn’t have to pay the rather expensive ticket price, in exchange for 30 minutes work. We both had to watch the ‘skellies’ and make sure no one jumped on them, and if they fell over we had to help them up. So, after a mischief making 30 minutes, which included me being dragged to the floor by one of them and dragged about a bit, that was our ‘work’ over and we had another couple of drinks. The guys in the puppets must have so much fun in there – they just get the chance to do whatever they wanted, and no one really seemed to mind at all!! I don’t know how they think of some of the stuff they get up to! The last band who played were called Volgograd, whose main singer is the guy from Moulin Rouge who sings ‘Roxanne’ (not Ewan McGregor!) and they are absolute fantastic! They fitted the night so well, and if I ever get another chance to see them I will go! Great music, great puppets, great night!

On one of my many internet searches of Sea Shepherd I found out that the ‘Bob Barker’ was in Melbourne Docks and giving tours at the weekend, so on Sunday we headed off to find the crazy eco-pirates, and I couldn’t quite believe I was going to see it. Not quite sure if it is incredibly sad to be so excited about such a thing, but I was, well and truly. And, after turning a corner there was the big black imposing ship of Sea Shepherd. Amazing. When we got up there we had a little wait until the next tour went round, so, looking at their shopping list they had written outside went to the closest supermarket to pick up some supplies for them, boring vegan foods (of course) but they did request vegemite too, which makes me feel slightly better that they are humans under it all! So, laden with goodies we set off in their direction again, and went on the tour. It is such a great boat, and it is really inspiring that they are willing to give up so much for something they believe in. And, although it all seems quite ramshakled on ‘Whale Wars’ it is a very well run, very well equipped boat. I even went on the bridge – where it all happens! It did nothing to quash my feelings of wanting to go on one of their campaigns, but, I think it is a bit of a tricky process – funnily enough they don’t just let any lefty-liberal on there, you have to prove you’ll be useful! Dammit! So, anyway, after being thoroughly blown away but it all (and taking a few photos!) we went to see their small stand of stuff for sale, and I bought a patch for my rucksack. Something I have seen on their website, but vowed I wouldn’t buy until I have been on the ship – well, this visitor day may be the closest I ever get, and so I bought one.

The next stop on our day-out was ‘The Village’ something in Edinburgh Gardens that Will wanted to go and see, so not really having any clue what it was I went along too! It was a lovely tiny little festival , with music, and stalls and sideshows – not much of any of them, but it really gave me the feel of Strawberry Fayre in Cambridge, lots of people of all ages out for a nice day. We did however arrive right at the very end of it all and although some people were packing up we still got a chance to have a look about and get a couple of drink. We also ran into one of Will and Toni’s friends who was doing a couple of acts in the ‘Miracles’ tent! So, after doing a bit of Front of House work (Front of Tent?!) I went to see him do his escape routine, which was great. Love a bit of freaky circus tricks on a Sunday afternoon! So, as the day wrapped up we headed back home in time for Toni to get ready for her trip to Taiwan and eat adequate amounts of lovely lovely cheese.

All in all it was a great week, despite the numerous hours spent in front of the computer trying to fix it, but it is now all done and I don’t need to worry about boring things like that anymore. Also, hopefully, sorted out some farm work which’ll mean I can get out of the city and see some more of the countryside – I can’t wait!

Again photos being rubbish so they will come soon!