Southern Cross! Kalbarri! Dongara!

So my plan to write after every gig died pretty quickly right?  Well, I'm still going to catch up and everything will be right between Scorpio and Cancer.  ...I dunno it sounded good in my head.

Our Kalgoorlie gigs didn't come off (I can't believe I couldn't find a last minute gig in KAL!) so our trip to Southern Cross was a single Thursday night gig... and what a long way to drive for a one-off pub gig in Southern Cross.  Ah, who cares... it was the boys on the road again, and we were rumbling for a good show.

We played at The Club hotel on the main drag and it was as if time had frozen since I left back in 1985.  Everything looked the same.  The room we played in was a groovy little carpeted room that gave us such a good sound.  Though the hardest part about it, was trying to set-up without being too distracted by the skimpy.  That's right, we were in the country kids... there was a skimpy.  he he...

I won't lie to you, the gig was hard work.  a very small group of people listened and enjoyed... we even sold a few cds.  MOST of the people were really wonderful, but I can't help but say I was left with a slightly bitter taste about some things.  If we say we can't play a song... don't harp on, we're not a fucking DJ.  There's a jukebox in the corner... go to town.  Phew... I apologise, but I needed to air that.

A week later, we were back on the road; this time without Haans... and WITH Kieran.  I had such a good time with my mate Haansy, the guy is crazier than a cut snake... but for me, there is nothing like having my brother keeping score on the skins.  It's like a security blanket; nothing to fear... Kieran is here.

We drove up to Kalbarri after Kieran finished work on Thursday, and rocked into Kalbarri around 1:30am.  It was a long drive.  We had to literally stop the car a couple of times to shoo some Kangaroos from the road.  Hairy scary moments...  After we'd chilled out a bit and I'd introduced Ryan and Tim to the delights of the game Skip-Bo, we went to bed.  The next day, we were treated to brunch at 'Angie's Cafe'; how incredibly generous it was; Angie put on the greatest spread for us.  If you're going to Kalbarri, make sure you drop by Angie's Cafe, the food is so damn good; and I know a little bit about food.

After lunch Shaun and I walked to the school while the other boys went to the venue to set up.  Ray (our trusty local and gig setterupperah) asked if I could come and sing the national anthem at the kids' sports carnival.  I had planned on declining on account of a nasty chest cold and my instinct of preserving my voice for the gig that night; but the Principal Cathy worked some of her assertive magic, and there I was warbling away with the rest of the school through our patriotic jaunt.  I then stuck around to hand out trophies and ribbons to the most athletic kids.

The gig was great; smallest stage EVER but that didn't matter, the people that came down seemed to have a ball.  The room took Ryan by surprise and it took him until the second set to nail the sound... once Kieran swapped his sticks for hotrods... it was a crazy boomy room.  We sold heaps of cds and t-shirts and stubby holders and before I knew it, we had time for one more song.  As my throat was starting to pack it in, I was avoiding any hard songs to sing, like 'Oh Sherrie' and 'Crazy' but I decided I would give it one last crack for the final song... and see if I could belt out 'Long Train Runnin'....  and I would have been fine if young Timmy boy had have played it in F like we always do...  but no... he started the riff... in G.  A whole fucking tone up.  Needless to say I didn't let him live that one down terribly quickly.  A pack down, a few pizzas, and a few more games of skipbo then it was all over and I was waking up to an empty apartment... ...

...the boys had gone quad-biking.  That's right; I decided not to go in a desperate measure of trying to retain any semblance of voice... by resting.

From all accounts, I heard they had a great time... roaring around the beautiful country-side on quads through gravel tracks, stopping only to take in the views and drink tea with bikkies; we know how to rock.  Poor young Ryan made the mistake of testing the build quality of his quad by riding it into a tree.  Of course the tree won and the quad came off a CV joint poorer.  Eek.

Once the boys had gotten back to the room (around 1:30pm) we took off for the bright lights of Dongara... he he.. bright lights... he he...

Nothing had changed at the Priory when we rocked into town around 5ish.  The truck bed was sidled up to the beer garden waiting for us to load our gear onto...  ...  and then... we got the same reception as the last time we played there.  But apparently the local grand final was on, and Davo was having a 21st down the road...  If I had decent income for every time I heard that...  I'd be...  happy...thanks.  We played to about 30 people but had a great time doing so.  My throat had basically given up by this point so Kieran sang a lot of stuff, and I kept to the songs well within my grasp.. making sure I didn't go near 'Long Train Runnin'' again.

The choice was majority; we were to drive back that night.  We didn't want to be away from home another night so we packed super quick off the truck bed, then started the long journey back through the night,  until rocking back into perth around 5:30am.

I learned one thing... I LOVE Kalbarri.

What a roadtrip.

Love Court.