back to uni

what did it take to get me back to uni? Though half a year of not studying has led me to a state of intellectual starvation, it was not my desire for knowledge and wisdom that made me find my way through the confusing array of buildings that constitute Melbourne Uni. What lured me there was another gig by Martin Martini and the Bone Palace Orchestra

funny thing in this small world, a pretty grotesque picture of the artist who does the band`s artwork actually is actually hanging in the office of the gallery I work in! I take it as a good sign, only wonder were Elvis comes in...

wie? - V!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yippieh, I am going to the V Festival next saturday!

yay!

one thing about working early....

you get to see stuff you would normally never see, like sunrise over the CBD

surf pix

here are some more pictures of me surfing the contest

so I think I can surf

if anyone wondered where I was last week, I was on a surfcamp! On monday I flew out to Sydney to meet Anne and pick up the rest of my stuff that was still at their place (and finally Ullis birthday and chrismas presents - thank you! Love the purse!). It was probably the last time meeting her in her natural environment (=Sydney), since she has to go back to Germany in July.
After a night out and way too little sleep in a hostel in Kings Cross, we set out to master the art of surfing. The bus took Marinke and me and 6 other absolute begnners to our first destination: the Waves Surfcamp in the middle of a national park (=nowhere), on a farmlike estate in the beautiful and to me so well known NSW countryside. In our first lesson in the afternoon we encountered the force of the waves, and struggled with them, the boards and the coordination of our limbs.
A good party and a short night later, our surf instructors took us to a beach with tamer waves which made it so much easier to get on the bloody board.
Early the next day, the bus took a sleepy and partly hungover group of surfwilling travellers further up the coast to another beach, then to another and then to a pub in a small country town whose name I forgot.
Friday, the last day, saw us surfing at brooms head. We actually did a little contest, and I cam 3rd in the first round, but it was more for the fun and sabotage than surfing skills. Heavy rain caught in the lunch break and we had to wait for the finals untill it cleared up, but then the waves were almost unridable and we kinda blew the contest off.
completely soaked we went back on the bus that took us to our final destination: Byron Bay. Our poor surf instructors took us to one of those sleazy backpacker bars, where food and drinks are cheap and by 10pm some usually british girls dance topless on the tables. I did not like the place very much and am not so much into body painting, so I left for the only other place that was still open: The Beach Hotel. They had a band playing, and somehow they did not seem to be local...they were actually from Melbourne and played a fantastic gig, check out Martin Martini and the Bone Palace Orchestra.










PS. I am still waiting for the others to upload their photos, so you will see a bit more of me on a board!

Autumn has come

There is a saying about the weather in Melbourne that goes as follows, if you don't like the weather in Melbourne, wait ten minutes. Well, I have been waiting for a couple of days now, but it really seems autumn has hit Victoria, since it has been raining and storming a lot recently. Today I woke to the sound of heavy wind howling raound the corner of the building. It really reminded me of the weather back home in Europe, and to clear my head (and my sinuses), I went for a walk in the nearby Fitzroy Gardens.




The afternoon I spent at the Gallery, and actually sold 4 pictures! It was the separate opening for a show with pictures done by an autistic artist. On the way back there was a bunch of naked people on bikes riding down Brunswick ST, but I could not figure out why they were naked...weird Melbs

Warehouse party in Brunswick

a really bad cold started blocking my nose and sinuses when I woke up Saturday morning, so I slept through the rain outside. I had to get eventually though and thought it fit to take this picture outside my apartment.
In Melourne, as I have been told, warehouse parties were once very popular, and sometimes you can still find them nowadays. Yesterday was one of those days and Emilie, a german girl from work and me went to faraway Brunswick to attend one. A lot of bands were playing, some better than the others and although it got really cold at night, it was a cool party.

Chicks on Speed @ Craft Victoria

Tonight Chicks on Speed presented their new song and video to the Melbourne audience, which came in masses. So many, that I missed the gig while waiting in the cue. But anyway, a bunch of cool people, free champagne, a cool location and many interesting projects

Marinke in Parliament

Having never been in a Parliament building, Marinke had the fabulous idea to pay the Victorian Parliament a visit. Since it is on the way to the city, we soon found ourselves walking up the impressive stairs to the meeting place of Victorias Legislature.

Melbourne from above

Marinke had the awesome idea to see Melbourne from above and so we went up the Rialto Tower after she came back from her Uluru trip...

free flights to Australia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

check out The Age
"INTERNATIONAL tourists could be offered free flights to Australia in a bid to counteract the downturn in tourism due to the global financial crisis.

Under the plan, labelled the "Mayday Project" and due to be put to the Federal Government this week, visitors who take up the offer will be required to spend a specified amount of money, say $5000, within Australia, which would bolster local shops, hotels and restaurants.

The airfares, which would be offered at a discounted rate by participating airlines, would be paid for by the Government. Airlines have suffered a massive decline in passengers, particularly in the international market."


who's comming?

A Relative Distance and They Shoot Horses

With Marinke off to Alice Springs on her Uluru-Tour, I was free to go this weeks openings. The Lamington Drive Gallery around the corner of my place opened a new show last night, entitled "A Relative Distance" which saw the small gallery space bursting with people and the free drinks gone quite soon.



a short walk down George ST took me along fabulous old cars...


.. to the opening of a new artspace, Wardlow, with the show "The shoot horses, don't they" of Beglian-Berlin artist, Stefan Balleux.

Philipp Island Road Trip

spontaneously, we decided to go a Road Trip to Phillip Island, a beautiful island right off teh Mornington Peninsula, that is home to lots of Koalas and the smallest Penguins in the world. Unfortunately, the weather did not what it usually does here in Melbourne: change. It actually got worse and stormed and rained the whole day through, so we were quite happy to stay in the car. After picking up our rented car, we drove all teh way along the Bay to Sorrento to pick Bill and Gerorgia, a couple from Perth we met the other night out on Brunswick ST. They spent the night in Queenscliff and took the ferry over

After a quick lunch in the picturescque town of Sorrento we headed on to Phillip Island adn got there eventually at 4 in the afternoon. Although it is famous for its PEnguins that come in from the sea to sleep on the island every night at sunset, we first went to a Koala sancutary (after stopping at a choclate factory - yummy!). We actually saw many koalas really close up and personal








After the Koalas we went on to the Penguins, but because of the weather, the 20$ entrance fee and teh fact that they would come in only at 8.30pm and we still had a 2 and a half hour drive back to the city we decided to skip th parade and go to have dinner. stopping by the tip of the island, Marinke and Bill did discover some penguins that were hiding from the cold just as Georgia and I did in the car.