Thursday, September 10, 2015

Coupla Days In The Sunshine State!

Kenny and I fly into Coolangatta from Melbourne. We’re a few seats apart, both hunched over novels. I’m reading the Book Club’s next choice, 'The Queen’s Gambit' by Walter Tevis and Kenny is ploughing through some sort of foodie/waitress/ angry chef tell-all he received for Father’s Day. Good dad. We organise the hire car and wait for Julia who arrives half an hour later from Sydney. We haven’t seen each other since the Bluesfest shows at Byron at Easter. She’s been to Europe for Eurovision, ‘Home Delivery’ and an appearance on QI. Kenny has been to Italy and Edinburgh for a variety of family reunions and celebrations and I’ve been to The Dandenongs for the Olinda/Ferny Creek Football and Netball Club annual trivia night. Big smiles and hugs all round, then we head up the road to Jupiter’s where we are performing our Gold Coast show on October 22. 

We try to check out the room where we’re playing, but it’s all shut up, so we settle for a club sandwich and floppy fries and the continuing Tour Merchandise discussion. Intel from Merch HQ suggest that Chet Faker’s big seller is a line of comfy sox with his album cover art on the ankle. It’s come to this.

Julia and I do a breakfast radio interview at Hot Tomato FM and a longer chat with the very enthusiastic Nicole Dyer at Gold Coast FM. I say I can’t come to the Gold Coast and not have a quick dip in the ocean, but I don’t have a towel. It’s 23 degrees and the sun is sparkling on the gentle swells we glimpse through the high rise. 

My dad taught me to body surf on these beaches, his safe hands pushing me onto smooth walls of water that carried me to the shallows. Nicole races out to her car during the 9.30 news and comes back with a spare towel and we’re away! A quick dip at Surfers near where the Eldorado Motel (or was it Tiki Village?) used to be and we’re back on the road to Toowoomba for a couple of interviews and a photo shoot at the historic Empire Theatre. 

Julia puts “quality organic cafe between the Gold Coast and Toowoomba” into Professor Google and we are directed to ‘Beans and Greens' Organic cafe in downtown Ipswich. It’s the real deal and we share a table with a couple from Melbourne who are heading to the hinterland to meditate and realign with an Indian guru and, fingers crossed, Ross Hannaford. We discuss matters of the soul, the pros and cons of cooked lettuce and The Stones at Kooyong in ’73. How often the conversations turn to first concerts! We drive to Toowoomba, home of the Lamington and one of our favourite theatres, with my ‘On The Road’ playlist … Day TripperJump In My CarHit The Road JackL.A. Woman and the Flying Burritos singing Six Days On The Road.  



1 comment:

  1. This place was very comfortable. Restrooms were decent. Coming here with my friends was an amazing experience. This is my favorite event space New York now, because of its excellent food, perfect lighting, vibrant atmosphere and great ventilation.

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