“WHO ARE YOU”

March has gone out with a ROAR of the engines and a ROAR of the crowd.

Before I get to that, a brief dialogue about a small and fairly unknown national park I recently visited. My friend, Dean, and I took a day trip to the Brisbane Ranges National Park. No plane was needed to reach this park as it wasn’t anywhere near Brisbane but was located just west of Melbourne about 90km (56m) outside of town. It was a warm, sunny Sunday morning when we jumped in his car and drove to the hilly patch out in the middle of the Victorian plains.

The hike was a 10km (6.2m) loop trail that starts at the bottom of Anakie Gorge, then climbing to the top of the ridge and continued along the parameter of the park before descending back down to follow the creek again.

When they say gorge here its nothing like the magnificent Columbia River Gorge I know and love from the Pacific Northwest. Here the hills climb about 100m (330’) above the creek bed. I use the term “creek bed” loosely too. It would barely register as even a waterway in most parts of the states. There are pools of water here in there that might constitute a stream in the rainy season but not in March at the end of summer.
My national park book listed this area as having one of the densest populations of Koalas in Victoria. Once we arrived we soon found out that wasn’t the case. In January 2006 there had been a bush fire in the area and the vegetation was just starting to recover the land. The trees trunks, mostly burned, black, soot covered stalks of once beautiful gum and eucalyptus trees were in the early stages of sending out new branches. There was no way any of them could support even a small population of Koalas. It was interesting to see how in just 3 short years Mother Nature was starting to bring back the lush forest greenery that she has cleared out.


Many of the plants in Australia depend on the bush fires to cull foliage and help with germination. One plant in particular the, Grass Tree, will only produce its seed pods after a bush fire. Once a fire has moved through the area, this remarkable plant with a crumbling black trunk and grass blades growing like a fungus out of the top sends up a large phallic like pod into the air. Upon reaching its full height the pores on what sort of resembles a big cat’s tail opens its little chambers and lets hundreds of seeds drop out. Some start to grow right there others are carried away by bird life to begin the germination process else where.


Dean and I had our snacks at a little bench over looking the rolling hills onto the valley before continuing on our loop journey. We saw very little wildlife mainly because the fires had wiped out most of the creatures. We did happen to see tad poles in the of the stream pools, a small lizard here and there and of course the ever present birds of Australia. Nearing the end of our trek in a area densely covered with new growth ground cover we caught a wallaby. They are bigger and leaner than the pademelons of Tasmania, with longer tails. Their coat is a more grayish brown colour. (I can here Phyllis now) What do I know about colours!

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. After changing out of my dusty hiking clothes and into some shorts we took a different drive back to town. Going through the apple and produce farms of Bacchus Marsh. A town my group at work is hoping to do a road widening project through. Then it’s freeway back into town and back to work for another week.

This brings us to the ROAR of the engines part of the blog. Some of you may know that Melbourne has a Formula 1 Grand Prix Race. The trials start on Friday afternoon and take place in Albert Park (See September 12th blog entry “The apartment search goes on”) The noise echoes off the high rise buildings and are not only heard but felt throughout the city as the cars zing around the track. There has been a lot of news reports leading up to this event. The Crown Casino erected special platforms to sell merchandise and have a place to view your favorite driver. There are 2 days of time trails and the big race day on Sunday afternoon. All with a festivities ending with a classic rock band concert. The headliner being that famous British rock band from the 60’s (Yes, I said the 60’s.), THE WHO!

On Saturday afternoon I had some time to kill and walked the 2km from my house to the race area. All I had to do was follow the helicopters and noise of the race cars. I found myself at the southern end of the park near gate 10. It was here I also found that the entire park was fenced off and there was no way to get even a glimpse of the souped up roadsters zooming around in a strangely shaped circle. I purchased my ticket and retreated home to save my energies for the next day.

The race itself started at 5pm. I arrive within the park about 4:00 and wandered around trying to see what I could see. This was my first Formula 1 race and the last time I saw the WHO was in the summer 1989 at Sullivan Stadium outside of Boston. I think the name has changed by now, but it was where the New England Patriots played way back then.





As I made my way around the grounds I found myself at the starting line just about 10 minutes before the race began. I worked my way into the crowd to get as close as possible to the fence line. It was here where I captured the first video of the day. I managed to snap a few more pictures of the grand stands and the massive crowds the came out for this spectacle. Most of the people were dressed in their favourite teams highly sponsored gear. Just before the race started an Australian F-16 made a few laps above the track and then a Qantas plane flew over head. Both of these magnificent machine flying much closer to the ground than I had seen before. It was at this point I decided I’d better put in the ear plugs I picked up on my way in.

Once the race was under way I wandered the pedestrian pathways, people watching and looking at the vintage race cars on display. There were very few places for a late arrival, like myself, to sit. So I just kept walking. Mom and Bill will be disappointed to know that I only caught short glimpses of the race itself. At several points along my wanders I found myself near the track and did catch the cars zip by but then it was 2 or 3 minutes before they made their way back and, as I often do, I got bored and wandered off snapping pictures at opportune moments. At some point along the way the race finished. The big clue for me was all the people starting to move around and then it dawned on me things had gone quiet. There was no more need for the ear plugs. As I started to make my way toward the concert venue I noticed hundreds of people walking out on to the race track. I followed the masses and realized we were all headed to the winners circle. Once there the crowds thickened to fill in every gap between the safety barriers. People climbed the fencing to get a better view of who ever it was that won the race. I‘ve been told it was Jenson Button a Brit that took the checker flag. I have to admit that was kind of cool to stand on the race track along with the cheering fans and TV cameras. Someone near me found a piece of tire rubber and was all excited about the little memento. It didn’t take me long to wander off again and I made my way to the convert venue.

When I first entered the park I found my way to the concert ticket booth and obtained my wrist band. This allowed me to just walk into the fenced area for the concert without having to wait in line later. I’m not sure who the opening band was, a co-worker just mentioned she thought they we “Jet”. I didn’t really care for them. They we’re very punk/heavy metal like in sound and I’m a much more classic rock, smooth jazz kind of person these days.

Just after sunset, right on schedule at 8pm THE WHO came out on stage, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend first. They are the only 2 of the original 4 band members still alive. Keith Moon and John Entwistle passed away some years ago now. This band started performing in 1964. 4 years before I was even born and have played off and on for more than 4 decades now. While they have aged and were not the energetic guitar smashing band of the 60’s they did not disappoint. The opening number was “My Generation” and they did all the classics like Baba O’Reilly, Behind Blue Eyes and the now famous CSI theme song WHO ARE YOU! WHO WHO.

The crowd was made up of many types of people. Just in front of me were 3 generations of one family. Grandpa being in his 60’s, Dad near my age and 2 teenage boys. All seem to know the words but Dad and Grandpa seemed to be reliving days gone by, much like myself. I stood in a crowd of maybe 10,000 people, maybe more. it was hard to tell. My space directly in front of the stage was good. I was able to see the band clearly and the music kept us all singing and dancing along through out the evening. I've attached several videos of the concert for your enjoyment. The old proverb says a picture is worth a 1000 words. So video's much be worth 10,000!

Some other things I've been up to are, attending the movies at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival and the ever present sax/band practice. I have found a new instructor that I really like. So I have gotten back into practicing more. The band has a concert with the gay youth chorus at the end of May and I hope to be able to play 2 or 3 songs entirely instead of just pieces of them.

I get my Australian driver's license on April 7th and am starting to look a used camper van to purchase.

I'm enjoying the slightly cooler weather. It's April 1st which equates to October 1st for you and it's almost 90 today. The mornings are much cooler and you can smell Autumn in the air at times. We change our clocks this Sunday so soon I'll be 17 hours ahead of the west coast of North America. There's still a little more than 12 hours of sunlight here.

I having a feeling there's someone I should wish a happy birthday to but I'm not sure who? You know who you are and I wish you well. Marian's is coming up but I'll make another blog update before her big day.

I have a camping trip planned for the 4 day Easter weekend here. So look for that blog update in late April.

Mardi Gras

This was the big weekend trip up to New South Wales. Just having a week off work and a plane trip somewhere to go was great. But this trip to Sydney was as special. Since I have been to the city with the big bridge and opera house several times before, there was no need for heaps of information packets or tourist attractions. I knew exactly how to get to Oxford Street and the gay bars! Along with a familiar city, I met up with Shawn and Jim, my first friends from Portland to come and visit. (Hopefully, not the last! Some body better get a plane ticket going!)


But let me start back in Melbourne for a minute. Friday morning the 6th of March was cool, grey and damp. Melbourne has NO tram or train lines running out to Tullamarine Airport. There are city buses , shuttle services and of course those beautiful yellow cabs, that are knitted into the very fabric of the city, but no trains. The check in at the airport was completely hassle free and quick! Terminal 1 was for domestic flights only. I entered my reservation code into the kiosk and was rewarded with a seat assignment of my own choosing and a boarding pass. No ID required at all, just the alpha numerical code printed from the web. Next it was up to the counter to check some bags. There’s about 25 groups of people ahead of me and the line was actually moving. In less than 5 minutes I’m talking to nice person with my passport in hand. I’m asked for my boarding pass and the number of luggage I’d like to stow. My passport seems of little significance to the clerk. Nor do they want my driver licences. At no time am I asked to show ID at all. I was only required to verbally confirm my name was Brian Harris, before being sent on my way. When I got to the security gates the line here was even smaller maybe only 4 or 5 people in front of me. There are little blue trays to put your things in and no one is in a hurry at all. I stop pull out my CPAP machine. It always gets swiped in the U.S. , surely it will here. I take off my shoes before I notice that no one else is, so I quickly put them back on. Drop my mobile phone and my bag on the belt and slip through without any identification again, my CPAP being less important than my passport. I quickly shove it back in the bag and head to my gate. The entire time from kerb (curb) to gate was no more than 15 minutes. It was the most pleasurable of airport experiences I had ever had. (But not more than getting drunk with my Portland friends before leaving)I do have to admit I was a little taken back by how easy it might be for someone to just walk on to a plane without having to prove who they actually were. But something of a saving grace is that Melbourne airport does have the new body imagine scanning devices at security. This makes it very difficult for a person to sneak anything dangerous through.
The flight was just as smooth and seamless. I read my book and was pleasantly served cupcakes or green apples along with non alcoholic beverages. No extra charges for fresh tasty food. Before I knew it we were descending into Sydney. A 60 minute flight was different from the last 2 times I was here. Obtaining my luggage I made my way to the train platform and got my ticket to the city for $14.60, one way. Arriving at the station near my accommodations you come up from under ground at Museum station in the southwester corner of Hyde Park. I took a beautiful stroll through the magnificent large gum trees that lined the path ways. Bustling people, Ibis birds pecking about, the hum of city life and a nice breeze rustling the trees through the sunshine! An AWESOME way to start the weekend! I made my way the kilometre of so to one of Sydney’s hostels. To a small door, narrow hallways and mostly clean room. The room had 2 windows overlooking the recycling bins, an octagonal table with 2 beat up old 70’s styled chairs, an ancient hand dial TV (which I never checked to see if it even work, much less if it was colour) a small armour for my clothes, brilliant fluorescent overhead lighting, and a double bed close to the floor with a milk crate holding up one corner. But the most important decorating piece was the oscillating fan. With no air conditioning this fan was going to be a life savior for me! I was lucky enough to have a private shower and sink. But unlucky that I had to share a toilet down the hall with the other people on the floor, of which some of them had no services in the rooms. At $60 a night in downtown Sydney, 6 weeks before Mardi gras weekend I was lucky and happy to have my own space with a door I could lock.
It didn’t take me long to ditch my gear and had out to find Shawn and Jim, not to mention the first cocktail of the day weekend! They had made bookings long before me and were able to secure much more comfortable accommodations at the Cambridge Quality Inn just 1 block south of Oxford street. They weren’t in on my first check so I wandered off in search of lunch. Upon my return we bumped into each other in their hotel lobby. It was so nice to see a familiar face. People I had a history with that went back more than 6 months! Shawn and Jim had arrived on Monday and by Friday had settled in nicely to the quick paced city life. We had cocktails in the room and talked for several hours, catching up and making our plans for the party weekend ahead. Friday night festivities included a pool party at the Cook-Phillips Aquatic centre just a few blocks away. I made a quick trip back to my room for a change of outfit before we met up with some other friends Shawn and Jim had made on previous trips to Mardi gras. Some are Australian and some other INSERT 005. Jpg Americans, guys from Seattle and Vancouver BC. The Aquatic centre was much larger than I expected. It needed to be to fit 150+ bears! There was a large lap pool, a hot tub that could fit 30, a playscape area for the kids (of which there were NONE!) and a 40’x80’ wave pool. As you can imagine with that many large men things we’re nicely crowded. Inflatable beach balls, rafts, and even a few giant penises we splashing around in the mix. I met people from Amsterdam, A flight attendant from Hawaii in for a 55 hour layover, a Brazilian and many people from Australia. After about 2 hours of wet and wild fun it was time to grab some quick dinner and head to Flinders Bar for drinks. As we came up out of the centre I caught this beautiful shot of an old church with the moon rising behind it.



















In the morning I awoke to another glorious sunshine filled day. I walked through Hyde Park and organizers had started to erect mobile fencing to keep people out of the shrubs the reflecting pool and other sensitive areas. I met up with my friend Dominic, who I had met back in Melbourne a few months before, and he showed me some of the local sites. We had brunch and then wandered around a new gourmet market in his neighbourhood. In the early afternoon I headed back to my hotel to rest up for the big event that night. To walk in the parade we had to meet the bear group organizers in Hyde Park at 4pm. The parade didn’t kick off until 8pm but we needed to get our pink wrist bands identifying us as marchers. The park itself was filled with all types of people milling about, some getting costumes ready, some snacking on nibbles and socializing, some all dressed and showing off already. There were many spectators mingling about the pompom boys and leather queens. Everyone, including myself, snapping pictures at every opportunity, angle, and gorgeous body. Shawn and Jim introduced me to a group of Americans they had met on previous trips to Sydney for the Mardi Gras parade. So once we all had our wrist bands we found a bar for a few drinks before getting locked into the parade formation area at 7pm. Once back inside the gates with our little buzzes going we found our way to the Harbour City Bears float. Which turned out to have the BEST dance music in our area and everyone was dancing to the beat, parade marches along with the large crowd of spectators. Parade organizers had shut down an entire 4 lane street running the full length of Hyde Park for participants and floats to gather. After a few minutes of boogieing I decided to take a walk around and see what I could find. The next few pictures are all of people marching in the parade. We waited for over 2 hours for our line to start to move down the street.

















































































































Once we were moving the crowds standing at some points 20 people deep cheered and waved us on. It was said that over 10,000 people marched in the parade and over 300,000 people watched it along the sides. To me the number of spectators seemed even higher. As our group of about 75 big hairy men made our way the crowd was awesome. They cheered when men kissed, high fived anyone, and gave out hugs freely to people who ventured to the edges. They waved flags from many countries and of course our favourite the rainbow flag. They whistled and cheered so loud it was hard to hear the music blaring from the truck in front of us. There was confetti flying in the air, Streamer cascading down from balconies, and half naked men every where! Our group strutted, danced, sang, screamed, ran, and swayed our way down the 2 kilometres of parade route. There was even some fire works as we passed the bar, Flinders. The home of the bear bar we partied at the night before. As we strolled along the crowds started to thin and finally there was a single line of people up against the fence.































































I hope these 2 videos work??


When we finally reached the end it was located at the arena where the dance big dance party for 25,000 people was being help. We didn’t attend. I needed to save something for next year. What surprised me the most was there were no services for anyone outside of the arena. No bathroom and no water or food vendors. Me and many others had just danced our way down Oxford Street for more than 5 hours and while there were port a potties at the beginning that was a long way back. Now I and several other people had to find some pushes to pee in. We did manage to find a drinking fountain but the stream was so strong it shot about 10’ past the fountain. Thirsty people don’t care so we drank the warm water and tried not to spray those around us. What transpired was a face and beard full of water. But at least I didn’t have to pee and was no longer thirsty. After making our way back around the parade route to avoid the spectators and the last of the people streaming down the street. We were completely sober at this point and making our way past heaps of garbage and drunken people of all ages and lifestyles. Drunken people, hanging on to each other, some even passed out on the sidewalk already. Shawn, Jim and I made it back to their hotel to catch up with the crowd before heading to the bars ourselves. The rest of the evening was spent in bars chatting with the many people from all around the world. Sunday was spent in bed, with a slight hangover but most just catching up on my sleep. Sunday evening I met Shawn and Jim for dinner and organized the logistics of our flight back to Melbourne on Monday.



I met the guys at their hotel and we shared a cab to the airport. Once we breezed through security without so much as slowing down, air personal has no idea who we really are, without having to take anything out of your carry on luggage. Breakfast was next on the agenda a $15.00 Australian style breakfast consisting of 2 fried eggs, big sausage link, 2 No fat all meat slices of bacon (more like ham than bacon), a grilled half of tomato, with toast. As we walked to our gate I got paged over the airport intercom. Who listens to those airport announcements anyway? But there was my name in the subliminal messaging of the airport hum. I found my way to the customer service desk. The lady that paged me said I had to go to baggage gate 17, back outside security. Across the terminal I go. When I arrive at gate 17 the young women informed me she had just retuned from a break and had no idea why I was paged. I thought I’d check my boarding pass and found the one I had was my old arrival ticket and I didn’t have the correct paperwork. Still miss “just had my break” wasn’t so sure and asked around. When I convinced her I needed a new one. She finally did ask to see my ID! Too prove who I was. She just the went into standard mode quickly giving me another pass with no more questions. As I walked through the gate she suddenly found my old boarding tickets just to the side of her keyboard. “Oops there it is?” her only comment. My boarding pass back in hand I head for security again and my gate. The lesson here is you don’t need ID to get ther first boarding pass but you do to get a second one. This seems a little backwards. Then again we are down under and everything is a just a little different.



The flight itself is very short and in no time at all we are in our rental car heading for the CBD of Melbourne and the Grand Chancellor Hotel, Shawn and Jim’s home away from home for the next few nights. IN the afternoon I gave the guys a tour of my neighbourhood, with a walk down to the beach in St Kilda, about a kilometre away. We had drinks on the patio at the surf club along shoreline the watching the sunset across Port Phillip Harbour, a great way to start our time in Victoria. Dinner was at Carlisle, a fanciest place just a few blocks from my house with GREAT food.

Tuesday was our big day driving along the Great Ocean Road out to Port Campbell and back. A almost 600km (360 miles) day trip. We stopped and had lunch in Lorne. The famed town from the surf trip a few weeks ago. We made our way across the Otway peninsula to the high sandstone cliffs that make up the national park. As you can see this trip was much more sunny and dry than the last time I was out here, back in November. We did the usual tourist high points, but this time I actually got down on the beach, via some steps about 200 of them (I didn’t actually count. ) Standing on the edge of a continent always makes me feel small and wonderful at the same time. Our return route was inland through a few little backwoods Australian bush towns. Places where the sheep and cows out number all other life forms. We made it back to town about 7pm, 11 hours from our start, oh so long ago.

Wednesday morning we all slept in, I returned the rental car and then wandered the city with teh boys, having lunch in the laneways, a stroll along Southbank by my office and the casino. Then spending and hour looking for Brunetti’s Italian pastry and coffee house, but it is so much more than just that. It has sugary confections beyond your wildest dreams. Hot chocolate that is really just melted chocolate in a glass. Cakes piles high and covered in elaborate shapes of chocolate shavings. Scrumptious singles serving dessert that takes your breath away. Can you tell I like this place! Everything they have is just yummy! We got a small tray of about 10 of those little tiny bite size treats to sample as much as we could. As usual the evening was full of drinks at the bars. The great thing about not having a car and living in a city with a good public transportation system is I can drink and not have to worry about driving home!

Thursday was spent on my own. Shawn and Jim wanted some down time by the hotel pool before getting on the plane back to early spring in the Northwest. We met for dinner on the Restaurant Trams. 3 old vintage trams, decked out with one way tinted windows, thick warm curtains and upholstery, a very good tiny ass kitchen/bar/waitress station, with seating for a crowded 30. Our end of the tram was the smaller side with seating for 12. But tonight there was only 9 giving us all a little more elbow room. The staff was prepared and as the tram started to make its way champagne was flowing with a small plate of capsicum (red pepper) dip and liver pate. There were 2 choices each for the remaining courses. It wasn’t hard to see we we’re all getting the beef fillet. From one end of town to the other on a 3 hour tour of the sites of Melbourne we drank, conversed with our new friends and were fine dined. A wonderful evening was had by all! This is something I’d recommend. It was smooth ride and very enjoyable service with high quality food and free open bar. The guys and I had to walk back through the casino so we ended up saying our good byes there.

Friday morning the boys left town for your hemisphere and my life went back to the routine we all make for our selves. I enjoyed the last few days of my vacation at home by sleeping late and getting caught up on rest of my Melbourne life. I have found a new sax instructor I’ll be trying out next week and have rented a car for the long 4 day Easter weekend coming up April 9th. I’m thinking some where in far eastern Victoria or maybe Southern tip of New South Wales along the coast. More national parks I need to check off in the book. Oh yeah and its payday this week. Always a nice thing when you only get a fresh influx of cash on a monthly basis.

Until next time people near and far who read about my travels.

PS: HAPPY 50th Birthday to Robert Jones on march 26th. You made it!!