Yuko in Oz

Yuko, Ayako's good friend from Japan has come to stay with us. It is her first time in Australia. She has been enjoying the pace of life at Cabarita from that of downtown Tokyo. Beach walks, big sky sunsets and no traffic lights. Apparently she hasn't swam in the ocean for 20 years or something, a bit of salt behind the ears will have to do her well along with some sunshine.

Thanks for hanging out with Tia. Hopefully her Nihongo has improved with it being spoken to her a bit more this week, mine hasn't ; )

Slayer

Yep thats right kids, SLAYER! the original masters of metal. These guys half invented the shit. I have been listening to them forever and had never seen them live before. Surprisingly they were to play at the River Stage in the Brisbane botanic gardens... too good to pass up. This venue is really one of the best places to see a band (good weather permitting). Being an open air amphitheatre it is comfortable and spacious but doesn't seem to detract from the sound quality. It was fun to see it packed with die hard metal heads.

Mastodon played first and cranked it. Next Slayer opened with the catchy little tune "God Hates Us All" - funny, you would have been able to clearly hear Araya yelling this from anywhere in the Brisbane CBD. Bloody brilliant ; ) - then into the classic "War Ensemble" so good to hear this live. South of Heaven Dead Skin Mask Angel of Death Manditory Suicide. They ripped through 'em all, clean fast loud and hard. Fucking legends.

Lovebirds

Well today was my birthday and Ayako, Tia and Yuko surprised me with their gift. Two beautiful little Peach Faced Lovebirds which are small parrots (bread in Aust) originating from south west Africa. They are called lovebirds because of the bond they form (with other birds and people) and generally are sold as a pair.
I've given it some thought, and named them Bird1 and Bird2 (aka. shmupples and derik respectively). I'm now training them to be good obedient little birds.
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Sydney Easter

Well we were back in Sydney this Easter to see a few friends.
- Matt and Reve were in town with they're new little baby Tamsin and the rest of the Warren's.
- Desmo and Vicky where back in town from their expat home of London so we enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time with them. (We just went for a leisurely stroll to the MCA and NSWArtGallery. A memorable moment on the way back was being attacked by a flock of frenzied Cockatoo's in the botanic gardens. Serves me right for encouraging them with no food).
- Gavin and Mariko's new baby Victoria.
- Dan White was looking dashing as expected, also back from the mother England.

Our stay was only short and sweet, sorry if we missed you this time.
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House on fire

Ayako looks out the window and says, "what is that smoke?" I say "that looks like a house on fire, quick lets go!"

Two blocks away this house was a full crackling inferno when we got there. A lady owner of the house arrived after us. She was totally hysterical. It was quite intense to be standing next to her as she became overwhelmed with emotion while helplessly watching the fire rip through her house.

The fire brigade had already been called and arrived a couple of minutes later and got straight into action. This was no little fire here. They first looked to save the surrounding houses from catching alight, which they did. Apparently there was no one inside or in immediate danger.

It only took about 20 minutes for the house to go from being on fire, to a full scale internal fireball, to the roof collapsing, to basically an empty smoldering shell. There looked to be nothing left inside at all. No floors or internal walls. The car out the front actually melted. It was amazing to see how quickly the fire annihilated the whole house and somebodies worldly possessions.

Ayako ran back home to turn our oven off. There was no real danger as it was but, "see how easy it can be to forget the stove or something!" It was also sobering to note that if someone was trapped inside the rescue team would have been too late to save them.
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V Festival

We just got back from the Virgin Music Festival (V Festival) Gold Coast. Surprisingly it was held in the beautiful grounds of Avica Weddings Resort (who are a good client of Umaku and kindly threw a couple of tickets our way). Knowing Tia is a bit of a music buff we decided to take her with us. I'm not sure if it is to be proud of or not but she was officially the youngest person at the event, so said the entrance staff and were cool to let her through after clearing her for dangerous weapons and illicit drugs. After we picked up some ear plugs and band aids from the RaveSafe tent and strapped them into Tia's ears we were set. It was a safe and friendly vibe and we all had a nice time. Band lineup was Pet Shop Boys, The Pixies, Beck, Groove Armada, New York Dolls, Jarvis Cocker, Gnarles Barkley, The Rapture etc etc. Tia got a bit of attention from a few of the girls and some very happy party people who were stoked to see her there. Unfortunately it started raining just as the Pet Shop Boys and The Pixies hit their stages so it was time for us hit the road.

All in all a very successful operation and Tia stayed happy and interested the whole time, god love her.
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