Wow, more than one month ago since I posted. Why this? Probably just no words for what happened, too much to tell, too much other new things happening, too much on my mind.
But if I look at the number of complaints I got for the not-writing, it really doesn't matter.
Well then,one more time, let's reminisce about
Short and sweet, the three and a half weeks that I spent in Woodfordia were the best time of my life so far.
Because
I admit, at first I was a bit huffish about getting put into FENCING, among all those things, but now I reckon fencing is the best crew, I had the most possible fun and I want to do it again.
We set up these 10+ km of hessian fence all over the festival site, a labour intensive but so very appreaciated job with a crew of lovely people from all over the place. The work gives purpose; we are part of this festival we love, strangers at first but hard work, camping, eating and socializing together in our own classy communal area made us into a group of happy hard working friends very soon. Working in the violent Queensland summer heat with days so hot that the sweat would just wash off your layers of sunscreen... Longing for the knock-off time to pile up in some old special bus and refresh ourselves in the nearby creek... before tasty free dinner, open-mics, jam sessions...
We set up our playground and then we get to play in it for free!
Next to the new people I reunited with Ela!
Ela the Polish-Canadian girl who by unbelievable chance appeared again and again in my life in late 2013 when we were in Melbourne, when it peaked in us spontaneously going to see Bon Jovi in the Etihad Stadium together...
Other people I saw again were Jade, Maryline&Anthony, Ian McKee, Joe...
Furthermore I had Dom my best mate to go on all the little adventures with
Seeing all those stunning artists and musicians,
Mama Kin,
We Two Thieves,
Sue-Anne Stewart
Kate Miller-Heidke,
Del Barber,
the Cat Empire,
the Violent Femmes,
the Mae Trio
the Welcome Ceremony
the Fire Event
above all our favourite band Nahko & Medicine for the People who we saw playing three times and spent New years eve with them
I even bumped into Nahko in the streets, gave him a very happy hug and talked a bit of nervous nonsense to him...
With Ela and Dom I danced through the night after the Nahko concert on New Years Eve just to make it up the Woodfordia hilltop to see the sun rise over the Glasshouse Mountains for the first time in the new year...
Not to be forgotten all the terribly good food that there is in Woodford... Organic Byron Bay Doughnuts! Govinda's Hare Krishna, Kofta Balls and Halava, gozleme, potato swirls, the Chai Tent chai tea...
When it was all over it was not really all over for me and the fencing pack down crew, people who were just as awesome as the setup people... a new team of raincoat warriors fighting against floodrain and wet hessian, the Last Supper Party...
This year I thought I have to go and take one of those typical photos of Europeans in bikini and santa hats and sunnys on a beach! :D
That's what St. Nikolaus put in my shoe...
Kitty is still sweet
And in Woodford! The Fencing crew I am in and that is by far the grooviest crew and family... hard work brings us together, all right
The "Game" castle
And look what Paddy and Eva, my lovely German friends, did for me!
Freezing their pretty bums off <3
IIIIII'm going back to Woodfordia now where there's hardly Internet (or rather time for internet...)
I'm going to have a ball, and you?
See you next year!
Big old Ponyhugs and Whiskerkisses and lots of Love for you all
Tomorrow me and Laurie the car move to Woodfordia, our festival home for the rest of the year where we will undoubtedly have the most bombastic time eveeeeeeerrr.....
!!!!
Ian McKee, Ela from Canada with whom I went to see Bon Jovi in Melbourne last December, Maryline and Anthony, Dom and his son Jarome, and sooooo many more friends will be there too!
And, of course, all these musicians and artists... Nahko!!!
Just in case you really still don't know from all my praising what the Woodford Folk Festival is like:
Before I go on about Woodford, I have to write about something I wanted to write about since Bali and never got around to it. I was told about some crazy sounding traditional medicine in Bali and Asian culture -
- Gendarussa - a plant that grows in West Papua and has been used by the local population since centuries as a reversible male contraception that works! For about 3 months it disables enzymes on the sperm cells so they are not able to penetrate the ovules anymore http://www.newmalecontraception.org/indonesian-pill-gandarusa/
- tuak - a slightly alcoholic drink made of fermented palm tree sap that it not only popular because of the alcohol and the taste, but about which is also said that it "cures diabetes" or probably rather keeps the blood sugar balanced. Unfortunately I could not find a good website about this in English, there seems to be a lot about this subject written in Bahasa Indonesia though...
So I can only repeat what my friend Tin told me, a young German-Indonesian man who studied renewable energies in Australia and is interested in the ancient local household remedies.
Can it really be completely nonsense? More likely there is quite a bit of truth in it and it only takes some years of research until it becomes public to the non Asian part of the population.
Well I rolled on the floor when I discovered this. Kate Miller-Heidke, the Queen of Woodford with the opera voice and the kooky way of being, covered a song from "The Beards"!
Even the Beards- leadsinger Johann Beardraven joined her for this gig. And even the tambourine's got a beard!
This is the way bearded people and beardless people can unite <3
This won't happen this year at Woodford, unfortunately -Europe, you're having the Beards over there right now!
The Mae Trio - sweet!
Sue-Anne Stewart, a local surfergirl with funky music which I really like.
After I played her CD for the 10th time on the living room stereo, Dom said: "Is that Sue-Anne Stewart? Ahhh I asked her for a date once but she said No. " :D :D
Too late now as you see she's happy with hubby and daughter now, good on her!
And there! She's my new music addiction, Mama Kin is her name and the more I listen to her, the more I love what she's doing and how it sounds!
She happens to be John Butler's wife
(come on you know John Butler hopefully everyone?! It's this badass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdYJf_ybyVo)
But their music is quite different. Not as guitar-y but I don't know, she's got something about her...
And, she's really a Mama, this is so charming :D
I will watch these kids of two amazing talents grow up and listen to every bit of music that they will (hopefully, almost no doubt) produce one day.
On our last day in Bali, we just strolled around Kuta and met up with Asonk (remember? The groovy Couchsurfing guy!) the the beach.
Dom got himself a special birthday present that day. Growing up on the East Coast of Australia, had never ever seen a sunset over the ocean in his life. Sounds pretty crazy, hm? But if you think about it, it's logical...
So on his 50. birthday he saw the sun set on Kuta beach, with a cold beer in his hand. Could be worse!
In a mix of shock and delight, we discovered a couple of orphan monkey babies tied to a cage standing on the sand. They belonged to a man who got them from tourists who had saved them from ending up as satay. We couldn't believe it, they were so scared and cute and just like frightened little babies... As soon as Dom got on his knees beside the cage, they leaped onto his lap and snuggled up tightly, looking for warmth and protection.
It was great to see Asonk again, he even organized us a cheap taxi to the airport.. a helpful friend until the last minute ;)
We had an almost sleepless night on the plane to Brisbane (Dom had an upset stomach :/ )
Shuffled out of the airport sleep deprived, and got welcomed Maryline and LAURIE! I was so happy to see them again.
I know, he's just a car, but .... He's that one steady thing that I got in this country, my home, my artwork and my ticket to freedom.
We dropped Maryline off and made our way south direction Byron Bay.
And then...
The Nahko and Medicine for the People concert!!!
Uuuuuhhh I was sooooo excited
Dustin Thomas, the bands' bassist and super talented singer songwriter (and beatboxer) himself, did the opening of the show - WOW! Check him out, think I might become a fan ;)
Nahko Bear. :)
"Dooooom! It's Nahko!! It's NAAAHKOOO!!"
Chase Makai, frickin' AWESOME lead guitarist shredding the 12 string
Justin Chittams
Dustin "Little Buffalo" Thomas with the fuzzy head and the big smile
Unforntunately, Hope Medford, the amazing lady on the cajon was not part of the crew. Being a bit older than the other band members, I bet she took a break from all this crazy jet setting and driving and travelling around the globe, from town to town and gig to gig. But for me she's a part and highlight of the band and I hope, I will see Hope in Woodford! :)
That chick! Is the most WICKED dancer EVER!
Nahko said her name but I can't remember, I searched the Internet for ages to find out her name and start feeling like a real stalker, but I can't find out who she is :(
Anyway, she came on stange during "Warrior People" and started dancing like I have never seen anyone dancing before, it was mindblowing. I even stopped looking at Nahko singing because I looked at her with an open mouth, she was dancing so stunningly. No idea how you would call that sorta dance, she stomped and waved and wiggled and bent and flowed, then she was like a robot, then she was like a hip hopper, then like someone on drugs jumping around, but very gracefully...
During "Wash it away", which is partly about Australia and its aboriginal culture, a traditionally dressed Aborinigal danced...
Photos by Kurt Petersen from www.thedwarf.com.au
Of course Nahko and his friends are also determined enemies of the fracking that's going on in this beautiful country with the irresponsible money grabbing government. To learn more, Lock the Gate!
www.lockthegate.org.au
We danced the ghost dance in two seperate countries To this old song, so familiar to memory The road will teach you how to love and let go it can be lonely but it's the only way that we've ever known Our mommas told us, Let go of jealousy and for vagabonds and vagrants that won't come so easy we've come from nothing, nothing I traveled halfway across the country and back Only to find love defined and I'm ok with that 'cause I'm gonna be a guardian be a man among men or be a woman among women be a guardian, be my friend Teach me to love you in a different way same cuts, same guts, same crazy It'll wash away Lift 'em up.
On the following day, we found a beautiful empty, white and bright and VERY windswept beach to chill out and catch up on some sleep, before we made our way inland to a place near Lismore - Bodhi Tree Forest Monastery. www.buddhanet.net/bodhi-tree/schedule.html
This place was not only well worth a visit because of its remoteness, spiritual peacefulness and undisturbed beautiful nature - it is also the home of Mal, an old mate of Dom's. They've been close friends and work mates for years, until they both ended up stuck in places/lives/committments/circumstances or whatever - they hadn't seen each other for 10 years!
At my age, I can't even imagine how it would be like to reunite with a close friend from such a long time ago, but it must have been awesome and very happy for them.
Mal is cook and gardener and caretaker for the Monastery, and visiting him was the reason why I bought tickets for the Nahko concert in Byron and not at home on the Sunny Coast (where they also played). So Dom would finally have a good reason to travel all the way down to Lismore and catch up with him.
They talked and laughed talked and played guitar and showed photos and reminisced and talked... :D
Happy Birthday Dooooom!
In the meantime I enjoyed the beautiful place, tried to meditate, and got a terrible hay fever attack -_-
I don't wanna complain, but I'm so fed up with the hay fever and all the snotting and sniffing and snorting, the itch, the tissue party, the gasps for air while eating, throbbing head, the sleepless nights and the general feeling like a big ugly piece of crap. I had it before Bali, it took me 3 weeks in Bali to recover, and now I have it again, aaaaarrr!!!
All you pitiful-amused readers, be happy if you don't have such a messed up immune system, hey.
Sunday. Next stop was the Gold Coast where we visited Dom's oldest daughter Honi who provided us with a delicious lunch...
Afterwards Dom picked up his car parked in Brisbane and went home, because he had work the next day.
I steered Laurie on familiar roads and went to catch up with Ian in Mt. Mee :)
Again, I was provided with a tasty meal, and a bunch of happy kids, fresh mountain air, a place to park and sleep in the clear night, and a splendid conversational companion :)
The next day, I visited Wendy's horse valley to see how my racehorses were going and how much the babies had grown! That felt like coming home already ... of course the foals have grown a lot, some horses I knew are gone, some new ones came and some familiar ones even seemed to recognize me :3 Tango and Diva and Pixie and Ember and Star and ....
After that, it was finally time to return to Buddina and see if my Kitty would still remember me...
She grew up! Kitty is no kitten anymore... as big as Mow Mow, the older cat now. Beating her up over the food and becoming fat herself!
And not as sweet and cuddly anymore... rather a bit bity-clawy-cranky.... maybe she is sulking :D
It's Christmas time!!!
I love Christmas, did I mention?
And I get almost a bit homesick this time of the year...
Compared to all those Aussies who don't even know how a real traditional Christmas is like...
And I desperately try to explain who St. Nikolaus is and what an "Adventskranz" is and why I want one... and that I want an Advents calendar! And candles! And I'll bake Christmas cookies and play "Weihnachten mit Boney M" and "Rolf Zuckowski"....
And maybe I will, for heaven's sake, stop mocking that plastic thing they have as a Christmas tree...
Can be quite fun, I "stick together" my tree, this year!
At least I have a tree this year, and a Christmassy home, not like last year, when we were on the road and didn't even really have time to get into a Christmassy mood.
And, come on, decorating a Christmas tree in shorts and bikini - that's pretty good!
