Australias

This blog's been a little dead lately (weekly "this artist keeps me sane" will resume next Friday), and that's due not only to school starting up again but also a recent trip to Australia. I spent my days from February 14th to 21st feeling hot, sweaty and tired. It wasn't much like the last time I visited a few years ago - humidity levels were through the roof and Brisbane saw the worst rain it's had in 8 years. Despite the weather it was an enjoyable holiday.

The theme parks were great. Mom had broken her arm not long before the trip, and we were worried that she may not be able to go on anything. Movie/Sea World/Wet 'n' Wild were pretty strict, and as a result not much was on offer. Despite this, her & I both thoroughly enjoyed the antics of the polar bear at Seaworld, a favourite animal of mine since childhood. Dreamworld were more kind and we were all able to ride everything, including the Claw as pictured. We also were joined for lunch by some neighborhood Iguana-like lizards and bumped into Paramore at the zoo enclosure.

Soundwave 2010 in Brisbane was a definite highlight. The weather was kind and only showered briefly. It was a sticky, humid day but heck, I didn't care. I started the day with a bang at This Is Hell, followed by the end of Rolo Tomassi and lunch. I moved onto Set Your Goals who had me bopping along to all their songs, then joined the metal-heads and stoners for a 40-minute barrage of mind-numbing atmospheric, sludgy metal courtesy of Isis. Alexisonfire and Paramore followed in tow, both delivering reasonably well. I moved onwards to catch the end of Architects and then sing my lungs out along to A Wilhelm Scream (best act of the day). I returned to main stage to catch some of AFI and met back with the family for Jimmy Eat World and Faith No More. I finished the day surrounded by bimbos and scene-kids at A Day To Remember. A slightly disappointing set, but at least they played plenty of FTWHH material, including a couple of personal favourites of mine "Show 'Em the Ropes" and "Fast Forward to 2012".

Overall, a good holiday with plenty of great music, great food (I had loads of pizza and Mc Flurries), and great memories.