Back in Brisbane and Wintersun (Gold Coast)

Tuesday, June 5th ‘07

3:20am That’s so early! Can’t believe I actually got my butt out of bed. This is one of the rare times in this trip that everything went well, I didn’t forget anything or run after a bus or something. Well, I’m back in Bris Vegas. I’m glad to be here, I just feel the same way I did when I came back to Montreal after Poland. It’s like I miss being in Croydon and things were getting interesting in the last week. I just can’t stop thinking about the mustering I did on Sunday and how I want to do it again. Neil was really nice, I liked him, was just a bit unusual for me to see a 23 year old being the boss, owning his own house and making a good living. I texted Helen and Stephanie, spoke to my mom and let a message on David’s restaurant answering machine.

I called this woman who spoke to me about a job as I was leaving for Croydon. I have an interview tomorrow morning. As I walked thru South Bank, I thought about it and if I get a job here now for 6 months, my contract would end in December. There’s no mustering from December to March and my visa ends in March. I so want to muster for a month and learn to ride a horse properly. I’d have to either leave before the end of the contract or go back and have waited all the money it took t get here. This sucks! I guess I can stay four months and go muster for 1 or 2 months then work in bars in the outback to save some money. Time goes by faster than it seems at lease it does when I travel, in 2 days it’ll be 3 months I’m in Australia.

Walked around the city and south bank, went for an ice-cream at cold rocks, then went back to the hostel. I’ll be taking a nap and go on the net.

Wednesday, June 6th ‘07

My nap ended up lasting 17hrs, went to bed at 3pm woke up this morning at 8. Had an interview today at 10:30 for a recruitment company. They don’t have anything at the moment but in July they do. I had a message on my mobile that is now erased, I think it was from Drake, I’ll call them up maybe they have something for me. It is raining like hell! Haven’t seen much rain since I had left Montreal. It’s cold! I went to the city to take a walk as well as south bank, my usual “trail”.

Went to the Fringe bar. Not many have showed up, too scared of the rain I guess! I saw Mark and Amanda. They left early as Mark had injured himself. I thought I would leave just after but then I was asked to dance and this guy from the us marines showed up. He had corresponded with me thru myspace asking for places to dance. I gave him the info and told him I wouldn’t be there so he was surprised to see me there. He was actually good and fun to dance with.

Thursday, June 7th ‘07

Went on the net and when I got back to the hostel, I rang James. I caught him right on time as he was leaving for Coolangatta on the gold coast for the Wintersun. He invited me, 30mins later I had packed and was on my way south. Wintersun is a 10 day rockabilly/swing (mostly rockabilly) festival with shows, cars, dance workshop, clothing and accessory stores, dancing, hair styling, etc. James was going to this rockabilly evening that was sold out so he left me at the swing evening. I thought I would spend the night on my own in a corner but then I saw a dancer from Brisbane. This thing is really big and people don’t know each other. It’s like going to the jazzfest or something. Lots of them are atdressed up in 40’s and 50’s atire. Most people here are over 40. I got to dance quite a bit. Dex and Alice are here for the weekend. I was asked to dance by Dex without knowing who he was, I also asked Alice to dance without recognizing her. I only realized it was them when I asked Alice her name. I was a really good night with 2 bands and a DJ. Bands also where 40’s and 50’s attire. It was a nice evening.

James came to meet me at the dance later on and we went to his friend’s place I went to with Jen in April.

Friday, June 8th ‘07

We’ll be spending the day at the Wintersun. I can’t wait to see what it looks like. Paulette and Gary, James friend’s cooked breakfast for us. They are really nice and have a lovely house on the country side with a beautiful view. Coolangatta is right in the middle of the border between New South Whales and Queensland. There’s a street where one side is in NSW and the other in QLD. James brought me there to show me as well as the beach lookout where there’s a line that defines the border between each states.

Afterwards, we went to the Wintersun. There’s lots of vintage cars driving around, it’s great. People are walking down the streets in 40’s and 50’s attire, lots of greasers as well. We got to a huge market full of clothing and accessory stores. It totally got me excited. It was like paradise and hell at the same time; paradise ‘cause this is all I love, clothes and accessories I always wanted; hell ‘cause my budget won’t allow me to get everything I’d want to have. I called my mom to tell her about it, it was just too cool! I really wanted everything. James was looking for a Hawaiian shirt but couldn’t find one he liked and since we had some time before we where going back to Tweed Valley, NSW (where Paulette and Gary lives), we shopped for me.

I always wanted a pair of sailor pants so we went to every shop that had them to try them out. I love shopping with him, it’s like shopping with my mom, he’ll look at all the details I don’t see. We finally went back to the first shop I went to as it was the best looking pants and the top that went with it just looked great on me. Everywhere, the pants were 89$ at this shop it was no different but it was 140$ for the entire sailor suit. They didn’t accept Eftpos (Interact) or credit cards and since we had to leave, I asked if they would keep it for me as I would return tomorrow for it.

We are now back at Paulette and Gary’s place. James went for a nap as Paulette is cooking diner. I try to help out but they seem to not have much for me to do. Being in the country, they work on tank water so they do all they can to save it and not use much of it. They got accustom to this way of living and it seems to be working well. They are so nice and seem so happy it’s great to be around them. As the sun set, the temperature went down fast, it got really cold. Paulette is a great cook, the food is really good. I was not going to the show tonight as I decided to keep my money for the outfit I had chosen but James bought me a ticket so we went to one of the evening shows. This time it was a Rockabilly show in a bar, the first band sucked but the second was good. James knows so many people, it’s incredible. All day he’s been stopping to talk to people. It was a good day!

Saturday, June 9th ‘07

It was so cold last night, I had a hard time sleeping. I got up much earlier than James. James haven’t been able to get much sleep since he got back from the UK, so he took a sleeping pill. He really needed the sleep, he didn’t get up before 12:30pm. I was a bit anxious as for the sailor suit hopping the woman wouldn’t put it back on the rack, she said she would keep it for me but I had a feeling. We got there and looked at the cars, there are so many it’s crazy! I just kept on thinking about Cynthia and all the greasers back home that would love this. Today, the streets are closed and there are small stages on the streets with bands playing all day. It’s so cold, I’m wearing pants and a jacket.

I’m so pissed off there’s no way I’m gonna have fun today. By the time we were at the Wintersun it was about 2pm. I wanted to rush to the store to get the outfit as I had a feeling she wouldn’t keep it this late (thought it’s not late to me, not even 24hrs after I had choose it). As we walked towards the festival area, I pointed out where my bank was to take out money for the outfit but James wanted to look at the cars first, since I’m somekind of his guess, who am I to say anything so we took our time looking at cars, stopping ofthen as he meet people he knows in the streets. We got to the store by 2:37pm.

When I got there, I saw the lady handing the navy blue top I had reserved to a woman in a stall, as I recalled there was only one my size. I asked the woman for my clothes and just as I suspected, she put it back on the rack and the woman in the stall had my top. The store woman went looking for my pants but didn’t have an other top. I was to buy the entire outfit or nothing. The pieces where too expensive on their own. The store woman told me she’d take the top the moment the woman trying it would take it off as she was in there for hours. When the woman finally got out, she decided to take the top and the store woman sold it to her. I was so mad, I left 2 mins later I went back giving my piece of mind to the woman as she told me she would keep it for me. She didn’t even try to repair by taking it back for me. All she suggested was to send one to me. Yah sure! (sarcastic) At what address? I was so pissed off!

James was a smartass jerk as he tried to see their point of view, saying people often don’t show up to buy the items and that we got there late. Lets recall that I only got there that late because of him and I had verbalized my worries at the house before we left. Does it mean I should be mad at him since he knew all these facts and wanted to look at the cars before we went there. But I’m not allowed to be mad at him as I wouldn’t be here at the first place if it wasn’t for him. It’s so annoying as I really wanted that outfit, it’s been a long time since I’ve wanted one of these and this one looked really good on me. All the others I tried on yesterday were noting compared to that one and I’m too mad at the store woman to buy anything there.

My weekend is now spoiled and I’m not enjoying myself anymore. I don’t want to shop today as I’m gonna buy anything and most likely regret it or just never or rarely wear it. Now I just want to be on my own, don’t want to be with anyone or speak to anybody but I’m stuck with James and there’s noting I can do about it. I don’t want to go out tonight just stay in write, watch stuff on my laptop and sleep but I can’t ‘cause James bought me a ticket for tonight. We went to see his friends that had a hotel room in the middle of the festival where there’s a great view of it. They had some nibbles and drinks. We stayed a bit and left for diner.

Paulette and Gary are such a cute little couple. Gary is funny and Paulette is just great to talk with, she has so many things to say, she traveled a lot and went to very interesting places. Ate some Thai food tonight.

The band is really good, actually the best I’ve heard since I left Montreal. It sucks as I’m so pissed and depressed from today’s events, I’m not enjoying it. There’s lots of dancers and circular dresses, they dance Jive, Rockabilly, some lindy and surprisingly balboa as well. The second band wasn’t as good but James really liked them.

Sunday, June 10th ‘07

I feel a bit better today. Leaving the house, we saw a kite (a reptile bird a bit like a hawk or falcon) attacking this bird but the other bird saw it on time so he missed. It was quite interesting to see. When we got to the Wintersun, I let James watch the bands and went shopping on my own. I just didn’t seem to find anything I liked anymore. Still a bit bummed about the sailor suit. I tried other sailor pants here and there but noting was good enough. I tried reaching James on his mobile but he didn’t hear the phone when I rang him, so I kept on walking around the market. All of a sudden, I saw a dress that looked nice and wasn’t too expensive for my blood so I tried it. It looked good on me! I saw another dress next to it tried it as well and looked just as good, now I was stuck with the choice. It was hard to decide not only the model but the color. The second dress was better suited for a nice evening so I choose that one. Then, I was caught with choosing the color, red or blue. Seemed like the red one looked better so red it is! I just got myself a nice 40’s style red dress. Now I feel better and I really like it.

Finally reached James, we met up and went back for diner. I tried the dress as well as my poca dot dress and seemed like the new one had all the votes. Paulette had heated rollers, she lent to me and I was able to do my hair, I also had the perfect red lipstick to go with the dress. I felt good! We went out to the swing evening and it was really very nice and elegant. I was happy to wear a dress especially a 40’s style dress. Almost everyone was dressed up. The woman that bought the top I wanted was there with it and it really didn’t look as good as it did on my, she didn’t have enough cleavage to fill it. I also saw an obese older woman (50’s – 60’s) with the same dress as I had on by all her “love” handles where showing so I didn’t feel bad knowing I very most likely look better than her in it. The 2nd band was better tonight. The evening was great but it ended way too early, 11pm. James and I went to another (rockabilly) venue for a bit but the band wasn’t good.

Monday, June 11th ‘07

This is it! It’s a holiday today as it’s the queen’s B-Day. I’m so very grateful to Paulette and Gary for letting me stay all weekend at their house as well as feeding me great food. They are so nice and such a cute couple! Also thanks to James for bringing me down here and letting me tag along throughout the festival. It was a great enjoyable weekend! Thank you so very much! Well, it’s time to go back to Brisbane. I’ll go see my cousin in Maroochydore, spend a little time on the sunshine coast maybe go to the dance on the gold coast and leave again.