I'm currently sat in Melbourne Airport, waiting for the long flight that will bring me home.
This tour has been long !! . . . Sometimes it's just "how it works out" but towards the end I have to admit to feeling a bit jaded.
Australia is quite a wonderful place and the folks who live there seem to be proud of their country and all that it has to offer.
Our tour started in Albany WA, where we were greeted by typical English weather, but a sold out enthusiastic crowd gave us a great welcome and a great start to what was a great tour in OZ.
We drive ourselves around in OZ and I enjoyed being the chauffeur for my collegues for the whole month of November, although myself and our new sat-nav didn't axactly agree on the route that we should be taking.
Once again I enjoyed Perth, it's a great "New City" and I have a feeling that it will continue to grow into something bigger and better in the future.
We left WA to fly to Cairns in Queensland for another sell out show. On our travels we changed planes in Alice Springs . . . Temprature wise? . . . think of being in an oven, I'd decided to take a break in Alice Springs after the tour, so at least I knew what I was letting myself in for !!
I really enjoyed driving on the east coast until I got myself 4 demerit points and a $467 fine for speeding, luckily tha band agreed to pay the fine !!
By the time we got to Sydney, we really did deserve a few days off and we were lucky enough to have the same hotel for five nights in Coogee Bay, a place we all really enjoy, band and crew alike.
I was dissapointed that the Band OZ BBQ never materialised, but I think everyone was just wanting to spend time on their own and enjoy the days off that we did have, maybe next time?
After we played Bendigo our travels took us to another sold out show in Tasmania.
Launceston is the large town in the north of the island, although it's more typical of a small UK market town.
On the drive to Hobart the capital of TAS I could only describe the place as having a look of Scotland about it, with sheep to match. There is little between Launceston and Hobart, not even a gas station !!!
Hobart is rather cool !! . . . once again a totally sold out show.
Anothet flight yet again took us from TAS to Adalaide. It's a long time since I was in Adelaide in South Australia, but I was pleasantly surprised to what a wonderful city it was. Australia is full of sporting facilities and enjoyed having a walk round the Adalide Oval, where it was highly likely that the England cricket team would probab;y lose the 2nd Ashes Test !
After flying back yo Melbourne and playing our last gig in Geelong, it was time to say goodbye to my band mates and go to Alice Springs. Ayers Rock is a place I have always wanted to go, it has since changed it's name to "Ullaru" a place sacred to the indigenous people of Australia.
It was magical and something I will remember forever, yes it's just a rock in the middle of nowhere, but it felt like the most wonderful place to me in the world . . . on the day I visited.
This tour has been long !! . . . Sometimes it's just "how it works out" but towards the end I have to admit to feeling a bit jaded.
Australia is quite a wonderful place and the folks who live there seem to be proud of their country and all that it has to offer.
Our tour started in Albany WA, where we were greeted by typical English weather, but a sold out enthusiastic crowd gave us a great welcome and a great start to what was a great tour in OZ.
We drive ourselves around in OZ and I enjoyed being the chauffeur for my collegues for the whole month of November, although myself and our new sat-nav didn't axactly agree on the route that we should be taking.
Once again I enjoyed Perth, it's a great "New City" and I have a feeling that it will continue to grow into something bigger and better in the future.
We left WA to fly to Cairns in Queensland for another sell out show. On our travels we changed planes in Alice Springs . . . Temprature wise? . . . think of being in an oven, I'd decided to take a break in Alice Springs after the tour, so at least I knew what I was letting myself in for !!
I really enjoyed driving on the east coast until I got myself 4 demerit points and a $467 fine for speeding, luckily tha band agreed to pay the fine !!
By the time we got to Sydney, we really did deserve a few days off and we were lucky enough to have the same hotel for five nights in Coogee Bay, a place we all really enjoy, band and crew alike.
I was dissapointed that the Band OZ BBQ never materialised, but I think everyone was just wanting to spend time on their own and enjoy the days off that we did have, maybe next time?
After we played Bendigo our travels took us to another sold out show in Tasmania.
Launceston is the large town in the north of the island, although it's more typical of a small UK market town.
On the drive to Hobart the capital of TAS I could only describe the place as having a look of Scotland about it, with sheep to match. There is little between Launceston and Hobart, not even a gas station !!!
Hobart is rather cool !! . . . once again a totally sold out show.
Anothet flight yet again took us from TAS to Adalaide. It's a long time since I was in Adelaide in South Australia, but I was pleasantly surprised to what a wonderful city it was. Australia is full of sporting facilities and enjoyed having a walk round the Adalide Oval, where it was highly likely that the England cricket team would probab;y lose the 2nd Ashes Test !
After flying back yo Melbourne and playing our last gig in Geelong, it was time to say goodbye to my band mates and go to Alice Springs. Ayers Rock is a place I have always wanted to go, it has since changed it's name to "Ullaru" a place sacred to the indigenous people of Australia.
It was magical and something I will remember forever, yes it's just a rock in the middle of nowhere, but it felt like the most wonderful place to me in the world . . . on the day I visited.