Vin Down Under

Back Home Again

2010-05-04T01:34:00.000-07:00

Well we've eventually made it back to good old Yorkshire, we landed at 7.30 on Wednesday 28th April at Newcastle Airport after a long but uneventful flight from Singapore via Heathrow. A nice touch from British Airways, they gave us access to the VIP lounge and we made the most of the food and wine. My two large Gin & Tonics went down very well thank you. It was a wonderful sight to get off the plane and see Pat and Julie waiting there for us, it's good to be back home.

Thank you Australia, it was sad to leave your wonderful country behind. So many wonderful memories, so many wonderful people we met along the way, old friends, new friends, thank you all so much for helping make this trip so special for both Vin and I.

This was Vin's biggest ever Tour In his own words his "40 Years Of Anonymity Tour" (We know better!). From Malaysia, down to Singapore and on to Australia, with concerts in 14 cities, full houses in 29 venues and four major Festivals, in fact as Johnny Cash would say "We've Been Everywhere Man"

All in all we had been on the road for 67 days, covered a grand total of 43,038 Km (26,720 miles) by road and air, with only a few minor hitches, the last 11,000 from Singapore to Newcastle being slightly more difficult than the rest.

From Melbourne, Adelaide, Alice Springs, to Darwin and Perth, Sydney to Canberra
Vin has delighted audiences and received outstanding reviews for his performances. For these last few months It has been a real priviledge to have supported a true proffessional, who's work and audiences come first and who gives his all on every occaision.

I would like to thank all the audiences in Australia who gave me their support and encouragement. Particularly as it was the first time they had heard my music and songs, without exception they could not have been more welcoming and supportive. Thank you for all your offers to come back and play in Australia again, I will definately be back soon.

We would like to thank everyone involved in the organisation of the Tour, From club to festival organisers, our hosts in the various cities who looked after us so superbly, drivers who picked us up from airports, those who fed us and kept us clean.

Along the way, we sung with and met up with some notable Folkies from Australia and the UK; the superb Eddie Reader, Boo Hewerdine, Dougie McLean, Les Barker, Emily
Smith, Eric Bogle, Kristina Olsen, Australian songwriter supreme Bernard Carny, Dave De Sante from Wongawilli, Keith Podger of the New Seekers, Canadian song smith James Keelaghan and from Chilli (one to note for the future) the 24 year old wizard of guitar and song Nano Stern, to name drop but a few.

We completed the tour on the 14th April with a superb farewell concert at "The Fly By Night Club" near Perth. After 12 relatively trouble free international and internal flights, we flew back to Singapore on the penultimate leg of this epic
journey, only to be stranded in Singapore by volcanic cloud dust.

A special word of thanks to Alex our host in Singapore for letting us take over his flat and giving us a place to stay. We think your great!

The rest as they say is history.

Watch out for a final summary (blog) coming out soon.

Things Are Looking Up!

2010-04-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Well thanks to Pat and the girls at Flight Centre we have been brought forward to a flight on the 30th April.

This means that Vin should get home in time to do some his Gig's, although he'll be a bit Jet lagged.

There is still a glimmer of hope that Qantas will schedule more flights out of Singapore next week and we have asked to be considered for one of those.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone for your E Mails and your growing concern for our welfare, I think the pictures of the pool, did it.

I'm writing this through an ever increasing cloud of fog, I thought this is unusual for Singapore, then I heard Vin coughing somewhere near the back of the room, nothing to worry about, the gardener is outside with a fog machine spraying against denghi fever and Vin looks a bit like a Denghi this morning!

Here are a few photo's taken from our park bench to help you understand how rough it is over here just trying to survive!!

23949495 Pte Graham ACC Reporting for Duty Sir!

2010-04-20T23:01:00.000-07:00

In 1966 I came out to Singapore as a young Private soldier, I was 20 years old, it was my first overseas posting and I'd managed to switch my original posting which was to alcohol free, female less, Bahrain to wild wild Singapore. I did so with the rather dubious help of a friend of mine who was the Commanding Officer's postings clerk. Well that's another story.

I arrive at Gillman Barracks after a 26 hour flight in a VC10, which coincidentally stopped in Bahrain for refuelling, thank goodness I didn't get posted there!

My new unit was 40 Field Park Squadron Royal Engineers in Gillman Barracks, it was a bit out on a limb just a short distance from the British Military Hospital on Alexandria Road. The Barracks were situated on a rather pretty, very well manicured complex which comprised a single steep hill overlooking the Singapore Straights.

The Headquarters Building, the Quartermasters Offices, the Officers Mess and a handful of storage buildings were on the bottom level, as were the sports fields. The kitchen, dinning room and Gymnasium were on the first level up a steep winding road, the NAAFI, and series of accommodation blocks were spaced left and right on the third and fourth level as the road wound it's way up to the top. . My block was right at the top and gave us spectacular views of the surrounding area, the amazing sunsets, and the Chinese Pagoda which stood on a hill opposite. We shared the barracks with A Malay Regiment and 39 Commando Sqn RE. Stay with me if you can be bothered, this is relevant information, or of your bored go back to a previous Blog. .

Between the first and second level in the centre of a immaculately grassed area, was a wonderfully positioned swimming pool which was for use of soldiers and families alike, this is where I spent most of my afternoons swimming and sunbathing, someone had sent me to heaven. The work was interesting, life here for a 19 year old was exciting and the sport was brilliant. I spent my time playing Water Polo, swimming for the Regiment and playing football. We also spent quite a bit of time exploring the more dubious delights of Singapore whenever we could afford it. I had a red MG B GT sports car, which had very few MG parts in it, A Vespa Scooter and a licence to kill. It was the most wonderful posting anyone could ask for. The remainder of my exploits here are censored!

I'm getting to the point now, Vin and I had decided to get a bus into town and had studied the bus routs, having decided to take a chosen route, Vin promptly decided we should take the first bus that came along. The journey on the No 970 was to take us to the Harbour Point, which at the time seemed a good a destination as any.

We were nearing the end of our journey when much to my surprise we passed Gillman Barracks, I could not contain my excitement, at which point a very well educated Chinese gentleman sitting close to us stepped in and told us all about the area and the barracks. I decided there and then to return the next day.

The following day I jumped on the No 970 bus and sure enough was deposited in front of the Old Guardroom, now a rather up market Real Estate Office. the whole area was quite a posh eating venue. Just further up the road stood the Officers Mess in all it's glory and very much as I remembered it, let me point out , that I was never at this stage of my career an Officers Mess Cook, I was allowed at times to help the Master Chef, a ferocious Geordie called Jack Frost, with the Regimental Dinners from time to time, that apart I was unworthy. The Officers Mess, where I remember the Officers charging up and down the corridors after the formal dinners on a pair of life size articulated wooden horses, was now rather fittingly a posh restaurant.

Further up the road were a number of building which I don't really remember much about, in use and turned into yet another up market eatery. At the very top of the road, stood the Officers and Families Quarters, still very much as they were in 1966, but with a fresh coat of paint and modern windows.

Alass, I could not say the same for the rest of the soldiers blocks up the hill. I approached the road leading up the hill and it just stopped dead a wall of tropical jungle. It stopped about a hundred yards up, a building which had stood at the bottom of the road was being used by a builders merchants, so I popped my head in and asked some questions.

I was given some strange looks by the workers and the office staff, 1966 was anyone born then, how embarrassing , eventually a lady of some authority turned up who knew all about the barracks. After more strange looks, she said I was welcome to look around, but she had no idea what was up the top of the hill now, but the swimming pool was still there, under the mass of jungle off to the left of the now cracked and disused road. Don't go in there they all told me, it's full of Cobras and who knows what else, one look convinced me they were right. Here is a picture of the pool, I think taken in the early 60s? Followed by a view of where I think it is now!

There was one chance to get a look at my old accommodation block on the top of the hill, an Ariel walkway that went right across the back of the old barracks and overlooked the camp ran all the way up to Mount Faber which should have overlooked the camp and was I thought where the Pagoda was. Off I set, but after a half hour slog in the heat of the afternoon sun, I had seen nothing but trees and jungle. I stopped a young couple to ask them if the Chinese pagoda was still up there, they gave me yet another strange look. Eventually I did get a panoramic view of Gillman Barracks, bitter disappointment the hill where it once stood had been cut in half and cleared to ground level on the side that faced the ocean, probably ready to make way for yet another high rise multi million pound complex which will join the thousands of others that dot the horizon of this once beautiful un spoilt island. We'll you can't stop progress.

It really enjoyed my trip back in time, it brought back many fond memories of my youth, any adventures, many a close shave with authority, good friends now lost but not forgotten, the good old days.

Just goes to prove something I've always said to myself, it's never any good looking back you'll only end up disappointed.

Lights Out.

What If?

2010-04-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

Vin, sorry to disturb you but could you pass me another ice cold beer and the sun cream.

By the way, what do you think would have happened if we had mentioned to the girls our original plan, which was to stop off in Singapore for two weeks holiday after the tour of Australia.

I think I know what Julie would have said, Pat too I suppose.

Oh well better not push our luck, but it would have been worth a try.

Careful don't spend too long in the sun it can be quite hot and that Tiger beer can go to your head, see you for cocktails at 4!

Singapore Sling

2010-04-19T20:21:00.000-07:00

We'll not much sympathy so far, apart from Malcolm and Richard, bless you guys, we knew we could rely on you.

After breaking the news to Pat and Julie that we going to be stranded in Singapore for another two weeks, we decided to
re-assess the situation. In true British style we unanimously decided that we'll just have to make the most of our deplorable situation.

Our came the swimming trunks, sun cream, tennis shorts and yellow balls, no that's not an illness!

Alex, our amazingly organised Spanish friend in Singapore has very kindly allowed us the use of his flat for as long as is necessary, along with his girlfriend the loverly Claire, they have made life very easy for us and have been just brilliant, true friends in time of need.

Future Blogs will be sent from the poolside bar and include lashings of ice, small cocktail umbrellas and liberal amounts of gin, well we are in Singapore!

News from across the world has reached us, we know that Les Barker is still in Australia, Martyn and Danni Wyndham-Read are possibly stuck "Somewhere In America" and that Gordon Brown has come unstuck! Our world traveler Barbara Welford is also stuck in America. Do you know of anyone else we could mention. This could be a whole new blog!

Stranded

2010-04-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Getting out and back into UK seems to be a fundamental problem. We are stranded in Singapore waiting for the Volcanic Ash to clear over UK. We contacted Quantas this morning and they have re-booked us for a flight on the 4th May. What will we do for the next 16 days? I can see Pat and Julie having fits when they see this. Don't worry too much girls, we hope will be offered alternative dates once flights are back to normal. Singapore is not a bad place to be stranded, but it is expensive.

In the meantime we are considering our options; this park bench is really quite comfortable and sleeps two with ease, it in easy reach of the local opium den, our view of the stars at night is impressive and has it's own monsoon drain, which is handy for obvious reasons.

Our best and cheapest option so far would be a package holiday in Malaysia, Indonesia, or Vietnam. , offers would be welcome if anyone has a spare hut, house or air raid shelter near a beach in any of these locations. In desperation, we would be happy to accept any offer which provides us with a room and two beds until we can get back home.

Vin is already concocting a poisonous dip for the tip of the spear he is planning to use to catch fish, I had to tell him that mayonnaise with garlic and tomato ketchup is not going to work!

The Swiss Family Garbuttson.

No Strings Attached

2010-04-15T04:35:00.000-07:00

In 2004 Vin bought an Art & Lutherie Hand Made Guitar in Canada, it was played for the full tour of Australia in 2004 and then left in good faith with Richard & Helen in their house in Perth, hopefully to be used on a future tour. There it laid hidden under a bed gathering dust and slowly warping for the next six years as Vin always brought another guitar with him. We spent days deciding what to do with the poor old dear, including sending it down to the knackers yard. Fortunately Tony Henry, who hails originally from Middlesbrough, has saved the day and restored "old Nosferatu" to it's former glory. Figure the name out for your selves. Well done Tony, you get the Vin award for services rendered; "We think yer great, you me".

Of course poor Richard and Helen are now lumbered with Vin's other guitar which replaces this one under the bed, good luck you'll need it. Anyone who needs a guitar in Perth we're open to offers!

It's Almost Over

2010-04-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

That's it, our last gig after an amazing two months on the road, it could so easily have been an anti climax after so many great gigs up and down the country, but Fremantle did us proud. A fitting end to a memorable tour.

Many thanks to Richard and Helen for their wonderful hospitality and for his excellent organisation. Success is always down to the detail and nothing had been left to chance, "We think yer great"! It was a magical evening, the venue, the sound (thanks to Rick who looked after Vin at Fairbridge) and the audience, it just could not have been better, thank you Fremantle and the Fly By Night. "We think Yer Great"! Don't worry Pat, Vin has not dyed his hair, it's just the lighting!

Vin was brilliant, he was relaxed and very spontaneous. It was a joy to see Vin at his very best, the songs flowed, his voice was great and the laughter filled the large hanger. Thanks also to everyone who stayed to chat after the gig and chat, we enjoyed talking to you. Special hello to Sandra and Dave who are good friends of Ron and Jean Cable, dear friends of ours who live in Guisborough. Dave also worked with Vin's dad at ICI Wilton, it's a small world. Thanks to Fred Rea for the photo's from last night and the photo's from Fairbridge.

Finally a very special thank you to everyone in Australia. Clubs, Pubs and Festivals, fellow musicians, organisers, hosts, old friends and new. It's been a pleasure and an honour to be able to share our music and laughter with you, thank you for lightening our load and buying all those CDs, we'll miss you, look after your selves, we'll be back. "We Think Yer Great" !

Friday morning we'll be flying over to Singapore for a couple of days rest and then back to our loved ones on Monday. We've missed you girls, but not long now!x

The Last Curry Supper

2010-04-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

Richard and Helen gave me the deluxe tour of Perth and Fremantle yesterday afternoon while Vin did a bit a shopping. We paid a visit to Kings Park walked around the gardens and the War Memorial, Eric Bogle was asked to sing here when the Queen opened the Flame Of Remembrance on Anzac Day in April 2000. We saw some magnificent houses, spectacular views across the Swan River and the running commentary was first class.

Here we all are at Anghiti Indian Restaurant celebrating our joint birthdays. The curries were superb and as most Australian Restaurants do "BYO" (Bring Your Own Grog) we were amply provided for with wine at a very reasonable corkage price. Thank you to Ann for our superb bottles of wine, mine was a very special Voyager Estate Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon from the Margaret River and Vin and Richard were given a Ferngrove Cabernet Sauvignon from the Frankland River, all we have to do now is fit them in our suitcases.

A Few Lost Photo's

2010-04-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

On Scarborough Beach near Perth Western Australia.

Driving the Tram at Vin's club in Canberra.

A Moment of Contemplation in Darwin!

Sydney Opera House from the Manley Ferry.

On a day Trip with Eric and Carmel out to McLaren Vale.

Back - From The Outback

2010-04-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

No we have not deserted our thousands of loyal followers, or disappeared down the "Lawson Trail" never to be seen or heard from again, we've been to Fairbridge, which is about an hour south of Perth in Western Australia. It's been a long hot, dusty weekend at Fairbridge Folk Festival, the sun shone, the band played and the beer flowed. At times there was bit too much music and jolly drinking going on. Our room was strategically placed above Ruby's Wine Bar, in fact we were almost on the stage. I never thought I'd complain about being close to a wine bar, but as the laughter and song faded at around 2 in the morning and started again 4 hours later at 6, we were becoming a bit less patient. Not that we're complaining but there was not much peace and quiet during the day as the stage was constantly in use and it would have been nice to have a few moments to get out heads together.

Having said that and before we get hung drawn and quartered, let me tell you we had a great time at Fairbridge, it was a very special and memorable festival. The music was superb, the location was very special and the organisation throughout was excellent. Musicians had their own rest area with tea, coffee, toast on tap all day, free massages, transport into town and helpful friendly staff.

The music venues were well staffed and the sound was exceptionally good, we particularly liked the Chapel which had great acoustics ans was ideal for the smaller more intimate performances.

Here we are after Vin's main concert on Saturday afternoon, left to right Stan, Ann, Ray, Vin, Helen, Richard and Margaret, what a jolly bunch we are!

It was great once again to see so many old friends from Vin's previous visits and to meet lots of new fans who were experiencing his music for the first time. Best wishes to Christine Bolt who we met and Canberra Airport and who had a bit of a turn on the plane, fortunately she was back back to her normal self in time for the Festival.

The line up of acts was exceptional, the wonderful Eddie Reader with Boo Hewerdine on guitar and Allan Kelly on Accordion, Australia's The Fiddle Chicks were very impressive, the brillient Chilean Guitarist Nano Stern, the faboulous Genticoram (who shared our house), our old friend James Keelaghan and many more, a feast of great music, well done Fairbridge a fitting end to our festival appearances.

A quick word about Fairbridge itself which was orignially a reception home and training farm for the homeless children, sent out from Britain and other countries by organisations like Bernado's, to Australia from the 1930s onwards. I had a chance to visit the school museum on site I told them about my Dr Bernado's Song "Doors Ever Open" which was written for my great friend Vic King from Shrewsbury himslef a Bernado's Boy and left them a CD. They asked me to sing the song for them and the visitors which I was delighted to do.

Can we just say a special thank you to Vin's son Louis for his Stirling work on the Facebook, Myspace and all other Cyber communications systems which he has been manging for us, we think your great, you us! Louis send the bill to your Dad!

Our last gig will be at the "Fly By Night Club" in Fremantle on Wednesday April 14th at 7.30pm, you just have time to tell all your friends and anyone you know to come along for what promises to be a very special concert, see you there!!

Last word, Happy Birthday to me for yesterday, I won't tell you how old I am, but Vin sang that well known Beatles song as we ate our Museli yesrday morning and also to Richard for today, we'll be having a party tonight in Perth to try and forget our combined age which is somewhere up in the 110's.

The Olive And The VIne

2010-04-08T04:45:00.001-07:00

We wer drinking the Vine and picking de Olvies mit Bernard Carney and his lovely wife Eleanor in Carl isle, which is a suburb of Perth last night. Bernard cooked us a superb Leg of Lamb on his "Camardo" (a sort of Tandoori Oven which burns charcoal). Before we ate, we picked olives from the branches of his olive tree and ate the olives from last years crop, there were delicious.Vin refused to eat one particular olive because it was stoned!! Bernard your a plucking genius. After supper we got the guitars out and sang a few songs, including "The Olive And The Vine".

The National Re-Visited

2010-04-08T02:42:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to say that my previous post on the National was a bit rushed, I only had a short time to type it as we were waiting to be picked up from the hotel, so here goes.

I was very impressed with this superb weekend of Folk Music in Canberra, The National is a true Folk Festival and concentrates on Folk Music from Australia and around the world. The range of artists was very extensive and everyone I saw was excellent. The venues were well organised, the sound was great and the audiences were wonderful.

All of Vin's concerts were jam packed full, he was in wonderful form and his humour as ever sharp as a knife. Cd's were flying out of our hands at every concert and they were queuing up to get into his whistle workshop on the Sunday morning. From our point of view it was a huge success. We met many old friends from our trips around the clubs and festivals in Australia and it was great to catch up with them again, unfortunately there are far too many of you to mention.

I even caught Kristina Olsen busking for a new dress in one of the Stalls!

The highlights from our point of view we without doubt the concerts at the Troubadour, Andrew Patterson's venue is a central focal point for artists and discerning audiences alike and is always full. Gigs are by invitation only and no one gets paid to perform there. The best of the best are invited so all the gigs are quality. Vin played there twice, one the afore mentioned late night gig and the other Vin's desert Island disks. I was also fortunate enough to be offered two gigs.

As we were helping Andrew and Heather pack up the Troubadour we had a number of visitors, one notable fellow turned up looking for one of my Cd's called Ken Prato he is an old friend of Martyn Wyndham-Read's and was sporting a Whitby T Shirt, well worth a pose! He presented me with a notable volume of his poetry called "Sheepshit On The Brain".

The weekend was filled with special moments, the weather was fine and Canberra was an exciting and beautiful Capital City, it was a pleasure and a great experience.

Of course I'm writing this in in Perth, we are now staying with Richard and Helen in their lovely house in Double View. So called because from the top of the estate you can see the Indian Ocean and the City, wonderful. I think I've found my perfect part of Oz. Western Australia is spectacular, the weather is almost perfect, the air is crystal clear and it's clean and well just a nice place to be. You'll find some of the best beaches in Australia here and this morning we drove down to Scarborough Beach and swam in the Indian Ocean, heaven. The waves were powerful and huge, the water warm, no sharks this morning thank goodness but we did see a dead blowfish, yes they're deadly too.

First day we were here Vin popped into the ABC studio's to be interviewed by Gillian O'Shaughnessy. To anyone who is logging in and who will be around the Fremantle area on the 14th April, Vin and I will be doing our last concert at the Fly By Night Club in Holdsworth Street, starting at 7.30 and we would love to see you there. Come alone and join the party.

The Parties Over

2010-04-05T17:39:00.001-07:00

We'll it's time to move on from Canberra after four superb days of music, laughter and sunshine at the National Folk Festival, I can see why everyone raves about this very special weekend in the Australian Folk Calender.
For me it had everything a festival should have, a wide range of venues from the small more intimate stages to the large auditoriums. There was something for everyone, it was friendly, well organised and fun.
Last nights concert was a fitting finale, I was on stage at the Troubadour with Boo Hewerdine, Enda Kenny and Graham Wilson, we sang in the round, the place was packed and the audience was great. The final act was Vin, Martin Pearson, Peter Grayling and the Festival Director David 'Neill who as it turned out was a superb guitarist, it was a light hearted session of banter, song and off the wall humour, brilliantly orchestrated by Martin which finished around 2.30 in the morning. See you in Perth.

And There's More!

2010-04-05T00:14:00.000-07:00

Here is Vin with American Folk and Blues legend Chris Smither, behind the scenes at the Troubadore.

A fun moment with a couple of giant Kangaroo's and two cheeky birds.

There's plenty to see and do, street entertainment, shops, food stalls every days a party.

The children are well looked after even the trees join in the fun!

Images From The National

2010-04-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

Here are a few not very well taken photo's to give you some idea of what the National Festival is like, although it's bright and sunny most places are shaded and under the trees, no excuse I should do better, I'll try again today.

There are children busking on almost every corner, this little toddler was so sweet and believe me she could play a few tunes. She was doing alright finacially as well, I might join her and see if she needs a songwriter?

There's an Australian songs and tunes tent called The Billabong I think? and I just loved this iron horse which had several moving parts, the big kids (grown ups) loved it. You'll notice I resisted the temptation!

Here is Andrew Patterson's Troubadour Tent which is by invitation only, most of the big bands and acts have played there over the weekend, although it's only a small venue it's one of the places to be seen. I was fortunate enough to be given a slot on Saturday morning, I had a full 30 minutes and manged to get 5 songs in which went down very well, so much so I've been asked to join in the Monday special concert and I'll be on stage with Boo Hewerdine, Les Barker and a great singer called Graham Wilson.

During my wanders I came across this giant Scottish Piper with a woolly dog who seemed to be intent on licking everybody to death.

More pictures from me tomorrow!

Live From The National

2010-04-04T07:24:00.000-07:00

I've just recieved this brillient photo taken by the "magnificent" Malcolm (Hill). Thanks Malcolm, we should have hired you as the tour photographer, it just captures everything that Vin's performances are about. Two shows so far at the National, plus a very entertaining Desert Island Disks interview at the Troubadore, all packed to capacity, everyone want's to see Vin and he never lets them down. We know, why dosen't everyone else know, singer, songwriter, entertainer, he's the best!

We're On The Road Again Sydney

2010-04-03T03:32:00.000-07:00

It is time to leave our wonderful hosts behind us and make our way to the National Festival in Canberra, the National Capitol. The magnificent Malcolm and Julie have been brillient, it's so sad leaving them behind, the wonderful guided tours, the excellent food, the wine, the dogs, the football reports, the rock gigs, it's all too much for us old folkies we crave the quite life. Thank you both so very much for your hospitality, we think yer great!

I tell a lie, actually, we havent got rid of Malcolm yet, he's coming with us to The National, just as well we have no idea where it is. Malc is organised and we even have time on the way down to stop at The Old Bakery Tea Rooms in Berrima for lunch. Here we are three old english gentle men stopping for tea in the middle of nowhere. Yet again we have this habit of bumping into people who want to have their photo's taken with us. Vin called him a dummy and we ended up in the stockades. Oops I forgot to take my socks off before the photo was taken, well it was cold in the car!

We arrived in Canberra late afternoon and booking in with the Festival, sorted our rooms out at the very posh Pavilion Hotel along with Eddie Reader and my old friend who probably won't recognise me, Boo Hewerdine, only the best stay here. After inspecting our luxury suits, we made our way up to the Troubadour to see Vin's agent Andrew Patterson of Burke and Wills fame (read our earlier blogs). Would you believe it, there waiting for us was Vin's red Bintangs which he had inadvertently (ho ho) left in Tasmania, along with a tea shirt (Ho Ho) he had left accidentally left in Brisbane, what will come back to haunt us next? We haven't heard the last of the Bintangs, he's even threatening to auction them off at his next concert!! Quite to my suprise but not to Vin's, Malcolm knows where we can get an almost English pint of local hand pulled ale and it's just a stone's throw away, lead on Gonga Din.

Before we depart Sydney can we just say a huge thank you to Tim, Shari and Shelly of DiskBank in Brookvale for producing an extra 300 CDs for both Vin and I at such short notice, well done guys you saved the day.
My next report will be from the National Folk Festival, which is without doubt the biggest and the best in Australia, Vin has a concert at 1100 am tomorrow (Fri) morning so keep tuned in>

Crowded House In Concert

2010-03-31T15:30:00.005-07:00

Here is as picture of the latest Sydney Boy Band (Vin Malcolm and Stan)hoping to get a gig supporting "Crowded House" last night. Despite our disappointment at not getting the gig, we did go down and watch the boys at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney. They were excellent and even standing for 3 hours did little to dampen our spirits.

They had a new album to preview and sang some excellent new songs and of course many of their hits. Some of my favorites were; Weather With You, Fall At Your Feet, Don't Dream It's Over, and Four Seasons In One Day. It's over 30 years since I've been to a rock concert but give them credit it was a great evenings entertainment.

Sydney, Katoomba and The Blue Mountains

2010-03-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

I might just have mentioned once or twice that Australia is full of really interesting people. Well we are now staying with Malcolm and Julie Hill in Sydney.

Malcolm was a Director of Promotions for EMI before retiring and the house is full of gold disks from a huge range of stars. Among the many stars he looked after were, Radiohead, Tina Turner, Blur and Queen. They have made us most welcome and produced a fantastic Bar B Que of Butterfly Leg Of Lamb with mint and garlic, delicious washed down with a rather special bottle of "Monopole Clos De La Mouchere Puligny Montrachet 1997 1st Cru: for me this will remain a highlight of the Oz Wine Tour.

I need to go back a bit now because I forgot to mention that Malcolm picked us up from the airport and dropped us off in the centre of Sydney for the afternoon. Not that he wanted to get rid us us, but he had to rush off attend a football match at a club where he is a director. It proved to be a brilliant idea because it gave us a great opportunity to look around this spectacular city, the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and Circular Quay. I think we manged to see most of the sights then as the sun was going down we then boarded the ferry from Circular Quay across to Manley which takes you across Sydney Harbour. The ferry boat ride is quite an experience and one you are not likely ever to forget. I could go on but you'll just have to come out here and see it for your selves.

The following day he gave us a guided tour around the beautiful countryside north of Sydney, we drove out to Barrenjoey Headland and then West Head. More things to add to your list of things to do in Oz.

As if he had not already done enough, Malcolm then drove us down to Katoomba for the gig at the Clarenden Guest House and Theatre. Katoomba is a picturesque town at the top of the Blue Mountain Range. This section of the Great Dividing Range near Sydney gets its name from the blue mist that rises from millions of eucalyptus trees and hangs in the mountain air, tinting the sky and the range alike. In the colony's early days, the Blue Mountains were believed to be an insurmountable barrier to the west. The first expeditions followed the streams in the valleys until they were defeated by cliff faces rising vertically above them. Unfortunately the sun deserted us for the first time since we arrived in Oz so instead of spectacular views we were met with lots of mist and rain. Despite the rain and the mist we drove out to Govertts Leap through the National Forrest and took our pictures across the mist covered valley. The gig in Katoomba was quite special.

The Clerenden is unique 20s style guest house with it's own music theatre. Lots of well known musicians have played there and their signed posters lined the walls. We had a very lively audience, good singers and quite a few of Vin's fans had driven up from Sydney to see the show. Steve the sound enginner did a brilliant job setting up the sound for us and although Vin was distracted by the coffee machine on several occasions, his usual pathos and comedy were matched in equal measure and the faithful left happy along with the newly converted. Unbeknown to me Vin and Malcolm were sat at the back during my set and were doing their Simon Cowel and Pete Waterman X Factor act, judging my performance, they told me this morning I had just about passed! Another wonderful evening in Australia. Thank you Katoomba. "We think yer great".

The following morning we shared a hearty breakfast with a couple of Vin Folk then we headed back to Sydney for a bit of an afternoon nap. This evening we will be guests of "Crowded House@ who are playing at the Enmore Theatre, tickets courtesy of Malcolm. Our next move is to Canberra the Capitol of Australia and home of the National Festival, see you there.

I hope you've noticed that I've been a bit more deliberate with the layout of the Blog. For the first time since we arrived I've found myself with a bit of spare time and a chance to experiment, so I've managed to master a few of the layout aspects of this thing. My paragraphs have not been quite what they should be. I hope this makes it easier to read, please note, we are always open to constructive suggestions!

What Are You Doing Here

2010-03-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

I have a theory that the North East Of England is still deporting huge numbers of it's population over to Australia! How else could you explain the fact that no matter where we turn up in this vast country, people from Loftus, Middlesbrough and Guisborough pop up at the most unlikely moment and are old friends or fans of Vins, it's weird!!
Without exception they are wonderful folks and it's a pleasure to meet them, many of them travel great distances just to catch Vin's concerts. Our grateful thanks to every single one of you for your support.
Here are just a few pictures of Vin Folk we've met along the way; Brian Marshall from Neston who turned up unexpectedly at Woolworths in Darwin, Sandie and Michael from Guisborough and Middlesbrough respectively, who were at Katoomba,(congratulations to Sandie for having just graduated as a teacher last Friday). The lady who had travelled all the way from New Zealand to see Vin play in Brisbane, I still looking for my piece of paper with your name on it, I'll find it eventually. The Tilley's from Brum who were also at the Brisbane Old Museum gig and finally the old boy who we met up with Blaxland at the foot of the Blue Mountains.

Where Are We Now?

2010-03-29T00:18:00.000-07:00

In order to do justice to our visit to Brisbane, I think I'm going to have to tackle this particular blog in two parts. Our departure from Darwin was uneventful thanks to our helpful taxi service provided by Peter and his wife Mary who duly delivered and returned us with typical Ozzy Folk efficiency to and from the airport. To everyone we met in Darwin, thank you all for your friendly welcome, your appreciative applause, the ice cold beer, the fresh fish and chips, the heat, the thunderstorms and a memorable concert at the Railway Club. We wish you all the very best of luck with re-building the club it will give Darwin an excellent music venue for the future.
The flight was equally uneventful and we were picked up by one our new hosts Gary and taken through a very busy Brisbane Centre past the river to their home in Chelmer. Jan Nary and her husband Gary Rankin have been friends of Vin and Pats for some years now and have even visited them in sunny Loftus. Gary had prepared a superb Chicken Dinner for us and Jan came to our rescue by doing all our washing.
We didn't have a lot of spare time to visit the sights but the drive passed by the harbour and we had some great views of the City and first hand experience of the rush hour traffic. We were only staying the night with Jan and Gary before heading up into the Glass Mountains, Vin's concert was in Montville that evening and with Gary once more at the wheel, we set off for the mountains north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast.
We were staying with a very nice couple called Bob & Laurel who perform together as The Goodwills, Bob is an accomplished songwriter in his own right and we had a great time swapping ideas and songs. The drive up to the mountains was spectacular, this is amazing countryside, semi tropical, lush green grass, beautiful scenery, views to die for around every corner, add this to your list of "Must See" places to visit.
Bob and Laurel had a wonderful home overlooking the valley filled with tropical fruit trees, lemon, orange, Mandarin, passion fruit, figs and even banana trees. They drove us to the concert from their home in Maleny, a picturesque little town high up on the mountain range, to the village hall in Montville. Once again the views were spectacular.
The concert was being organised by John and Nicole of one of Australia's premier groups, Cloudstreet, they will be touring UK in August this year so make sure you see them they're just great entertainers and musicians. They will be in York at the Black Swan on the 26th August 2010. I'm sure you think I'm exaggerating, but the concert was another super duper special evening with a number of the ladies of the Maleny Choir in the audience, who needed very little encouragement to get them singing, the laughter was louder and more spontaneous than any of the other concerts. They seemed to be tuned in to Vin' humour and their laughter was infectious. A fantastic evening, thank you to all and everyone in Montville.

Next day after a magic healthy breakfast prepared by Laurel and Bob's excellent fresh coffee we were heading back down to Brisbane, this time in a car loaned to us by John and Nicole, we followed them down the mountain and they kindly make a number of detours to show us the sights. The most spectacular being the Glass Mountains from a wonderful view point in Woodforde. The Glass House Mountains were named by Captain James Cook as he sailed north up the coast of what is now Queensland in 1770 as part of his epic voyage aboard his ship HM Bark Endeavour. They were so called as the shape of the mountains reminded him of the huge glass furnaces (glasshouses) back in his native Yorkshire. These amazing peaks just seem to rise out of the ground and are the result of Volcanic Plugs in the distant past. Vin told me that he thinks the Glass House Mountains were named by James Cook because he said to his first mate, in his Middlesborough accent, I bet that's where the Aussies grow their tomatoes! We made our way back to Jan & Gary's house to get ourselves prepared for the concert that evening which was at the Old Museum in Brisbane. I'm not even sure where the venue was but Vin's navigation was worthy of note, like many a true Yorkshire man before him, he steered us as if by magnet around the mind boggling maze of streets, tunnels and bridges in central Brisbane, it was uncanny could he be a descendant of James Cook?.

How many times can I say, great concert, great people, wonderful atmosphere, excellent venue. Vin did make mention of the rather severe orange lighting and said that I looked a lot like Count Dracula during my set. I can't wait for the photo's to come through in the post! A thousand and one thanks to Cloudstreet (John & Nicole) who organised both events, they were brilliant, we loved Brisbane and hope you will invite us back again some day. We now move on to Sydney and a couple of days well deserved rest before we head up to the Blue Mountains which are a two to three hours drive away. Speak to you soon.
Thank you to Jan, Gary, Bob, Laurel, John, Nicole for a wonderful stay, we could not have been made more welcome, had more fun, your generosity's is overwhelming, as Vin would say "we think your great"!!

Darwin To Dilly

2010-03-24T17:08:00.000-07:00

Darwin the Northern Territories multi-cultural capitol, famed for it's markets and festivals, stunning harbour, it's World Heritage listed Kakadu Natural Park and it's laid back lifestyle. We've had a short but very special visit here, we stayed with Martin Goreing and his mum Norah who has been visiting for a few weeks. On our first evening we joined a jolly group of the local Folkies down at Fisherman's Wharf a wonderful eating and social venue overlooking the Harbour. I tucked into a very reasonably priced fried fish platter, of Barramundi(local fish), Calamari and prawns with chips and salad, washed down with yet another ice cold beer, it's the norm in these parts. I saw Vin devouring an equally delicious looking oriental dish of Barramundi and noodles. Later in the evening we were treated to a spectacular sunset, unfortunately my camera doesn't do it full justice! We fed the fish from the edge of the wharf and watched shoals of them including golden snapper, black jewelfish, queenfish and small sharks team to the surface to polish off what was left of our fish & chips (cannibals). Last nights concert was held in the Railway Club in Parap not far from Martin's House. It's being reconstructed so it was a bit of a building site, not that that made any difference, the crowd were great and we had a fantastic evening. The lack of air conditioning made it bit uncomfortable and I was sweating buckets after my set, Vin was the same and came off stage dripping wet. I think I should stay up here for another couple of weeks, then I might just reach my target of losing a stone in weight before I come back home. Many thanks to Peter for collecting us from the airport, Chris for the sound, Martin for his hospitality, the endless suppply of ice cold beer and Nora for all the cups of tea. When we came back from the concert we played some Martyn Wyndham-Read tracks from his Jackeroo album, good on ya Martyn, there's a gig waiting for you here next time your passing through.

Doctor My Eyes

2010-03-24T01:36:00.000-07:00

Vin's been complaining that everytime he eats a burger out here he gets a pain in the eye!

Vin Van Tour 2011

2010-03-24T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,
Just to let you know this trip has been so successful we are already planning a follow up tour for 2011, we thought you might like to help us pick out a suitable tour bus that would go with The Vin Van Tour image. Here are few to choose from;

Close Encounters Of A Marsupial Kind

2010-03-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you a little bit about our stay in Alice Springs, it's certainly different. We have been lucky with the timing of our visit. Alice has had quite a lot of rain recently so it's much greener that you would normally expect, just before we arrived the Todd River was in full flow and bursting it's banks, now it's dry as a bone again. We were being looked after by David and Mary Evans, Mary collected us from the airport after a trouble free flight from Adelaide. The weather was warm and dry, clear blue skies, light breeze, I am already beginning to fall in love with Alice Springs. You immediately notice the presence of Australia's first citizens, the Aborigines are a unique and interesting race and it was our first sight of them in their home territory. Alice has grown in size over the years to cope with the tourists, but compared to the other cities we had visited was compact and easy to get around. We had a relaxed and pleasant afternoon with David and Mary, Mary took charge of our dirty washing and I sat down with David to watch Arsenal on the Telly, just like home. I won't go on about the concert, but it was another memorable evening, the venue was a small auditorium in St Phillips College, we had about a hundred friendly folk, who joined in, sang and laughed all evening and we all had a great time. Special thank you to Scotty Balfour on the Sound, Ian for running the bar, and David for his excellent organisation. On the day after the concert we managed to find a few hours to walk around town, I posted some excess baggage back to UK and sent off a few postcards. Jane took us up to see the Anzac Memorial which overlooks the town and provides spectacular views of the surrounding hills. here you see Vin and browning our legs in the clear blue skies. I In the afternoon Scotty Balfour came out to David and Jane's to collect us for a trip our to Nature World a dessert attraction on the Outskirts of town. On the way out we stopped at the memorial to the founder of the Flying Doctor Service, here are Vin and Scotty pretending to be tourists. Vin and I were fascinated by the Desert Park Outback Attraction. (When Vin told me about the Outback Attraction I didn't realise he meant the traditional Aussie dunny!) It was very cleverly done to show the various landscapes of Central Australia, there were lots of interesting birds, Red Tailed Black Cockatoos, Raptors, such as Whistling Kite, Black Kite and Brown Falcon, Vin told the handler he was a Talon Scout! We saw deadly snakes lizards and Kangaroos. It's amazing what grows and lives in this dry arid land, if you stop and take time to look around. The last thing we did before leaving was watch a short film about the Australia Outback, when it had finished the screen rolled down revealing the landscape in all it's glory, breathtaking.
Later that evening we sat down with our hosts for what turned out to be an exceptional meal cooked on the Bar B Que, our starter was grilled Crocodile with a chilly sauce (and a snappy dressing), followed by Emu Sausages, Camel Burgers and Kangaroo Steaks, fresh salad and boiled potatoes, what a feast, the best meal we've had in many a year. (Vin thought a Camel burger was second in command to an Austrian Lord Mayor. I would recommend Alice Springs to any world travellers as a must see destination, even without a trip to Ayers Rock this place is well worth visiting, there is lts to see lots to do, it's full of friendly faces, good food and the pace of life is slow and easy. Put it on your list of things to do before you die, I always like to finnish on a cheerful note. See you in the tropics of Darwin.

On The Road Again

2010-03-23T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hi, We've been moving around quite a bit the last few days and covering quite a bit of ground, it's been difficult at times to get a Internet connection when we have not been busy preparing for a concert or running to catch a plane. We've had two great concerts since my last post, one in the Folk Centre in Adelaide and the other in Alice Springs. Both events have gone superbly well and our thanks go to everyone involved in the organisation of both of those events. I wanted to give you a rest from concert fatigue this time round, so instead I'll be giving you you a bit more detail about the places we are travelling through. I will get round to doing that tomorrow when I think I'll have some spare time. By the way we're now in the tropics, Darwin to be exact and you can feel heat and humidity, it's tropical. In fact we've had a couple of humdinger rain storms since we arrived, not to mention a glorious sunset, a great seafood meal down on the wharf, delicious ice cream and a couple of cool beers.
I have lots to tell you about, the great Alice Springs Bar B Que, our Outback experience, Kangaroos, Bats, Sharks, Mosquito's, lager phones, crokodiles, Emu's, Camels, so don't miss out on the next episode. Here are a few Photo's to whet your appetite. Stan at Port Nuarlunga, Bilbo Garbutt looking for an new home at Horseshoe Bay near Adelaide; Vin blots out the Sunset on Eric's veranda in Happy Valley;.

The RSL Club Adelaide

2010-03-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

Just a few photo's for you to look at from The RSL Club in Port Noarlunga near Adelaide.

Made In Adelaide

2010-03-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

Hi Again, I just had to get this photo into the Blog as soon as possible. This is Vin, Eric and Carol Whitelock in the Studio at ABC Australia,(Oz for the BBC). Vin and Eric did a brilliant interview for Carol's afternoon show the day we arrived> spoilt somewhat by Tod, a local painter, who phoned in to ask what language they were speaking. It's the Queen's English of course Tod, but not as you know it. But fair do's, everyone is entitled to an opinion. A note of caution from the boy's, you should be aware that someone up the top of a ladder should not be throwing stones! Eric and Carmel have a superb house in Happy Valley, the views are to die for, it overlooks the Gulf of St Vincent which has got loads of sharks, in fact I said to Vin, is that a Great White, he said no I prefer the Shiraz! Carmel has done wonders with the garden and it's beautifully landscaped. we're all on the lookout for their friendly but elusive Koala Bear called Klaus who lives in the trees around their property. They also have two cheeky and cheerful Schnauzers called Ranger and Radar. They remind me of two interview-ees, I was with this morning! Our evening gig was at the RSL (Returned Serviceman's Club) in Port Noarlunga a little coastal town near Adelaide. We arrived early for the sound check and then walked down the road to a local Fish & Chip Shop with Eric and Carmel, where we indulged ourselves with delicious Butterfish and Chips, washed down with an ice cold beer, heaven.
The concert was packed out, and I was quite moved when after my set which finshed at 9pm, they recited a few words from the poem, “For the Fallen”, by Lancaster-born poet Laurence Binyon and then had a minutes silence, they do this every night at the same time, wonderful, good on ya boys. Vin did his usual Tour De Force concert from 9 to 11.45 with a short break in between. It was another special evening, Vin's patter and his selection of songs were brillient, not even the Ghost of the moving microphone who seemed to be intent on showing how clever he was with the mic stand could have spoilt another amazing evning in Australia. I keep saying it time and time again but the poeople we meet along the way are just wonderful. Thank you to all at the RSL. There are a few more pictures from the evening which will be in the next post.

Tasmania You Devil

2010-03-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

I hope you will allow me just me a minute to look around and find out where we are today? Ah yes, we're at the wonderful hilltop home of Eric and Carmine Bogle in Adelaide. Eric picked us up bright and early this morning from the Airport after what I'm delighted to say, apart from getting up at 4am, was an uneventfully, on time, flight from Tasmania. No extra baggage fees, no problems, but don't hold your breath. Our host and event organiser Roger Joseph picked us up from the airport at 9.30 in the evening after our five and a half hour delay in Melbourne. Thank you for being so patient and understanding Roger. Our apologies to the local radio station, Vin had a radio interview booked which went out the window, but we smiled our way through it and arrived weary and ready for bed. Although everyone has told me how wonderful Tasmania and Hobart are, we didn't actually get much chance to explore the island or city, apart from our brief drive into town and the scenic route which we took to the gig. Our venue was the Bookfield Winery near Lindisfarne, do they know something we don't know about our drinking habits? By the way, lots of towns have English names over here. The old barn used to be used for storing fruit and drying herbs and well as wine making but is now an excellent music and dining venue. One of it's other attractions, wine apart, was the old Tutor model village and German model railway layout. I have posted these pictures specially for our friend Peter in Melbourne. Peter don't you think it's about time you got started on your own layout, all those wonderful trains of yours gathering dust, here's something to give you a few ideas! I'm delighted to report a full house at Brookfield and a top quality concert from Vin, notably lots fo fans turning up who remembered him from his appearance at the Longford Festival in 1979, one couple had travelled 400 miles just to see the concert. Many thanks to Marie Rose who was at the concert for her E Mail and very kind remarks, Vin is delighted that you enjoyed the concert so much. It was as you might say a short but sweet visit, thanks everyone, who knows what tomorrow brings, see you again sometime.

Melbourne to Hobart Tasmania

2010-03-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

Sadly our time at Andrew and Heather's Burke and Wills Winery and our days with John and Marilyn at the Rowanston on the Track Winery have come to an end and we must hit the road for Hobart and all points North, South, East and West. This is our farewell photo with Andrew, in front of his newly painted sign as you approach his property. The second photo is another sad farewell, our last photo with Peter Crone who along with his wonderful wife Jane looked after us so well in Melbourne, thanks guys, your hostpitality was Amazing. The Burke and Wills photo was taken by the lovely Barbara who we will say goodbye to at Melbourne airport as she sets off on her travels around Australia and on to New Zealand. We really have enjoyed her company for the few short days she spent with us in the outback, our blood was shed amongst the vines where the Merlot grows, Bon Voyage Barbara. Once again our luck seems to have run out at Airports, thank you Jet Star. We were overweight, our baggage that is, and had to pay an extra $20 each, our flight which was then delayed by four hours. There were a few heated exchanges from our fellow passengers who were not over impressed by the delays, Fortunately we are seasoned travellers so Vin and I took it all in our stride and made the most of the meal vouchers provided to go off and have a curry. While everyone else was grabbing hand fulls of complaints forms I turned ours down and was rewarded with an extra meal voucher which we both appreciated. Surely everyone knows they rip them up anyway! Let me digress and tell you about the mobile phone we were loaned by Alex in Singapore. We have carried this phone around with us for two weeks now without the slighted idea of how to use it. On various occasions we have enlisted the advise of various intellectual giants to unravel the mysteries of such simple functions as turning it on, making a phone call or even answering an incoming call. It has defeated us all. The along came the wonderful Jenn, a fellow detainee at Melbourne Airport, tall blond, young and bubbly who was actually a air hostess with Jet Star. Vin spotted an opportunity to unlock the mysteries of the Sony T2020 Frustration. With a twink of her bright blue, or were they green, eyes she had the dead thing singing and dancing to the tune of Waltzing Matilda, so we can now phone the world. Thank you Jess. Where were we, well, we have now arrived late in Hobart Tasmania for a very quick visit and one concert before moving on to Adelaide to stay with Eric Bogle. Our host Roger Joseph will be collecting us at Hobart, I hope he is a patient man, were 5 hours late! A very special thank you to all of our friends and audiences in and around Melbourne for making our stay in Victoria so memorable, we enjoyed your company, your laughter, the food and the wine. It's just as well they didn't weigh us as we boarded the plane! See you all in Adelaide.

Burke & Wills Concert

2010-03-14T23:26:00.000-07:00

The concert at Andrew and Heather's Burke & Wills Vineyard was held on Sunday afternoon. Our previous concert there was a very special one and this one proved to be even better. The venue is well known and recognised for it's quality of music , food and wine, what a combination. Andrew has been running them for many years and has only the best artists from all around the world, we were following in the footsteps of some great musicians like, Ralf McTell and Eric Bogle and now of course Vin Garbutt and Stan Graham. First things first, everyone tucks into a superb lunch we had slow grilled beef, baked potatoes and salad, washed down with lots of excellent Patterson quality wine. Then it was up to Vin and I to provide the entertainmenr. I did the first set, my 40 minutes which somehow stretching into 60 minutes, we then had a break for a Patterson Family special Trifle and a delicious Apple Crumble before Vin got up to provide a great 2 hour extraviganza. He was in sparkling form, very relaxed and spontanious as only he can be. We would like to thank everyone at Burke and Wills for a memorable afternoon, you were a great, your applauce generous and very much appreciated. A special thanks to all of you who bought CD's and have lightened our loads. Please tune in again soon for more Vin things.

Brunswick and Beyond

2010-03-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

Hi there all our regular bloggers and any others we are picking up along the way. I hope you are finding our travel log interesting and varied enough to keep on following our Vin Blanc adventures. We have returned to our sleepy little vinyard base in Mia Mia out along the Burke and Wills track, gee but it's good to be back home. Vin's friend Barbara has been dragged along with us from Melbourne to see a bit of the outback. We drove back from the city after the Brunswick Music Festival. Vin was playing to a packed house at the Mechanics Institute on Sydney Road. It's a very lively area and the festival goes on for about 10 days. The Festival is run by a Scottish exile who a few of you might know called John McAuslan. Vin was pleased to see his old frinds, Hugh McEwan and Eric and Sue Purdy who he's known for many years, Eric nearly strangled a venue organiser in 1972 when he cut short one of Vin's sets. Vin's set started at 9.40 and it was well after 1130pm when he got off stage, he was brilliant. I'm amazed at how well he copes with different audiences and changes his set to suit each occasion. He has a not repeated any of his sets since we arrived in Australia, everyone has been different and unique to the venue. On our way to Brunswick, we managed to call in and visit John Bevis, John is a great Australian Songwriter, having written a number of outstanding songs in his time including The New Road which is a classic. Martyn Wyndham-Read has recorded this song and number of his other songs and had told me a lot about John before I came out here. It was pleasure to meet him and he was delighted that Vin had made the time to call in to see him. We had decided to drive back home after the gig because we had a concert at the Burke and Wills Winery the following afternoon. Everyone had warned us to expect a rough trip and warned us not to go above 60 km per hour because of the Kangaroo's who have a habit of jumping in front of cars and writing them off. We we're on tenderhooks for most of the journey but all we saw were two rabbits sitting at the side of the road eating leaves! It's grape picking time at Rowanston and John and Marilyn are picking the grapes for next years Rowanston on the Track Sparkling White, which is as good an Australian Champagne as you are ever likely to taste and would give many a French bubbly a run for their money.
Barbara and I joined the grape pickers this morning to speed up the harvest and both managed to add some flavour to next years vintage by cutting our fingers, I might stick to drinking the vintage in future. Our fellow grape pickers are a cheerful lot and great company as we worked our way along the vines, well at least until lunchtime, when we both manged to find important jobs that needed doing. It's hard work on these smaller vineyards but easy to see how satisfying a life style it is. It's been a beautiful day here cloudless blue skies, light breeze, perfect in every way. John has reliably informed me that Riesling is going make a comeback and having tasted several bottles of his award winning vintage I can confirm that it's well worth drinking, hic!

Peter and Janes House Concert

2010-03-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

Our visit to the fair City of Melbourne and our stay with Peter and Jane Crone is sadly coming to an end. We move on to the Brunswick Music Festival today. It's difficult to say what we will miss most, the music, the friendship, the wonderful food and wine or the daily banter. Peter and Jane have looked after us superbly, in fact, we feel much like part of the family and Melbourne has been a joy to visit. The organisation for the House concert was brilliant. Jane with the help of her friend Jenny Frazer provided a great spread for everyone to tuck into, Peter along with two great friends of his, Geoff Leeds and John Murrihy laid out the room, carted the chairs and tables up from the basement and converted the front room into a mini concert venue. It was great to be in their company John was an Ex Vietnam Army Engineer and he and I exchanged a few war stories together, we sat out in the sun, swapped a few jokes and I suffered a bit of light hearted "Pommy" bashing. Once again the friendly welcome you get from Australian folks shone through. At the appointed hour everyone arrived and got stuck into the grog, you'll notice how easily I now slip into the local dialect these days. Vin and I stayed sober!! at least until after the concert! I started the evening off and from the very first song you could tell be had a very receptive audience, I decided to give them a rest from my batch of well worn Australian songs and did a more mixed set, including Sarajevo and When Jessica Comes To Play, I did slip in my Doctor Bern ado's song Doors Ever Open about the exploitation of children sent out here for adoption. Vin's two sets were as always quite superb and the audiences love him. Punjabi Girl, Troubles Of Erin, he finished off with We May Or Might Never All Meet Here Again and everyone already knew the chorus probably have heard it from Martin Pearson who learnt it from Vin when he was a lad. seems to be a favorites out here in Oz and it was amongst a number of requests he did, he also managed to slip in a couple of requests from the Singapore gig. Very few of them had heard him before but warmed up to him immediately, he said it was by far the most friendly and receptive audience he had experienced so far. On the welfare front, Vin is starting up a new society for the voluntary repatriation of British Slugs who didn't want to come over here in the first place. He's also helping fund research into a UV sunscreen for Ozzy Slugs, which might be called Slugslime Solair.
Vin has been seen collecting the shrivelled up corpses of slugs with a view to returning them to their families in the UK. A huge thank to to everyone we met and talked to at the concert, we hope you enjoyed our music and CDs, to all the folk of Melbourne and especially to Peter and Jane, thank you for the memories and the excellent Chinese meal last night, you are both stars.

Melbourne A Fair City of Parks

2010-03-10T02:54:00.000-08:00

Well we have arrive at Chadwick House, the home of our hosts, Peter and Jane Crone in Eaglemont Melbourne. Their house is quite magnificent. Built in 1903 by Harold Desbrowe-Annear, and one of the oldest houses in the City, it's a marvel of planning and design, a superb timber panelled Arts and Crafts home, much of the restoration having been done by Peter himself over a period of twenty years. It is an honour to be staying here with them. They are the most wonderful hosts you could imagine and we are treated like royalty. The house is amazing, it was one of the very first open planned houses ever built and sits on a hill with magnificent views of Melbourne. It has eye-like balustrades which overlook the Yarra valley and the Dandendong ranges beyond. We had a superb supper last night cooked by Jane and Peter, probably one of the best Rib eye steaks I've tasted in many a year from Jane's special Butcher, with Veg and salad provided by Tosscano's, the finest Italian Fruit and Veg shop in Australia. We accompanied Jane on her shopping trip, Vin even managed to find a Baseball cap for $1which made his day. Today was a day off and we made our way into Melbourne City on a voyage of discovery, Vin gets desperate for a bit of solitude and I'm partial to a bit of peace and quite myself. So we went our separate ways agreeing to meet up around 5 o clock to get the train back together. It came as no surprise to me, when met up later in the afternoon, to find that Vin had bumped into an old friend of the family from Loftus who had only been in the country for three hour. He seems to meet up with people who know him almost everywhere and anywhere we travel. Of all places they met up in the tourist information centre. Barbara Welford is on a round the world trip and has been a great friend of Vin and Pat's for many years. Vin says we have to make a fuss of Barbara because the Welford's are the "bees knees". As we got off the train at Eaglemont, Vin noticed this wonderful Mural just outside the train station, it was another one of the three houses Annear built just below Peter and Jane's house, there it was ten foot high for all the world to see. Tomorrow's concert is sold out, but more of that later. Something quite exciting is happening on Friday, the well known Melbourne sculptor Julie Edger is coming to measure Vin's head with a view to eventually casting a bronze bust of Emperor Vin. I think he should be well hung in the Museum of Fine Arts! or in the Station Hotel Loftus.
We will be moving on to the Brunswick Music Festival at the weekend which is close to Melbourne, then back to Andrew's Vinyard in Mia Mia before heading off to Tasmania. Lots of adventures ahead, keep tuned in.

Our Last Day At Port Fairy

2010-03-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

It was actually quite sad to leave Port Fairy and all the nice folks behind today, just as we were settling in and getting to know everyone, what a wonderful place it turned out to be, thank you all for your superb hospitality. I hope these few pictures give you some idea of the size and scope of the event. Vin just seemed to grow in stature and popularity every time he stood up on stage, well sat down, on stage. As we left our hotel this morning even the manager of the hotel asked me when and where Vin was playing! This mornings concert on Stage 1 was without doubt his best of the weekend, despite it being at 1030 in the morning, it was packed, I was reliably told there were 2,000 people in the tent. Vin was on top form and if anything his performance topped anything he has done on the trip so far, I would venture to say he was the star of the weekend for many individuals. After the show it took us another hour to sign and sell CDs, one man told me, "he has it all, great stage presence, wonderful humour, brilliant songs and great vocal ability", I don't think we can argue with that. I heard someone else thank Vin for making his festival weekend so special. The sound on Stage 1 was excellent, special word of thanks to all the boys on the nobs. We were also looked after by two very special stewards, Keith and Sandra, they were wonderful, thank you guys for all your help and the change for the CD sales..

While Vin was warming up this morning I popped over to the Green Room for coffee, Bear with me for a moment. I had only just sat down when Dougie McLean arrived, he came across to sit next to me. Trying not to seem too overwhelmed, I made room for him in my exclusive corner of the room. We chatted for quite a while talking about his gig the previous evening which I had attended (he was brilliant), the festival, songwriting, recording, Australia and life in general. You may remember at this point that Vin had introduced us yesterday. I have to say Dougie was great to talk to, natural and very friendly and why shouldn't he be! He and his wife Jenny were off driving around Oz in a cozy little camper van and quite excited about the prospect. Anyway, I had to get back to stage 1 for Vin's concert so with some regret I excused myself. As I was leaving and much to my surprise Dougie asked me if I had any of my albums with me, would you believe it, I had one in my pocket which I was going to give to Enda Kenny, so with some reluctance I gave it to him. With luck Dougie McLean is now driving around Australia listening to the songs of Stan Graham. Not a bad mornings net working.Just in case you were wondering I eventually caught up with Enda later in the morning and gave him the CD I promised him, he told me he's hoping to come back to UK on tour next year, so any Folk Club organisers out there take note! One of the problems we were going to have to face as we flew around Australia was the weight of the CDs we are having to take with us, help however was on hand, two old friends of Vin's kindly offered to take two boxes back with them to Freemantle, thanks a million to Don and Ruth see you both in April.

We left Port Fairy after lunch with bright blue skies over our heads and arrived back in our base at Mia Mia after a uneventful and quite pleasant five hour drive. I was introduced to something new free coffee and tea on route provided by roadside volunteers, what a great idea! We drove into the winery with perfect timing, just as they were serving up the Spit Roast Supper. Two huge legs of beef had been slowly spit roasted for the assembled masses, washed down of course with a glass or two of Andrew"s superb Burke and Wills wine. It had been a bit of a damp weekend at the winery, they had experienced a number of thunderstorms, but everyone was in high spirits and we soon joined in the party. In Victoria no one complains about the much needed rain, droughts are common and every drop is welcomed. Andrew is famous for his wonderful "Troubadour" musical weekends, renowned for there quality of music and hospitality. The event was in full swing when we arrived. The meal was excellent and the beef was delicious. Andrew introduced of to Peter and Jane Crones our hosts for the concert in Melbourne on the 11 March, if anyone out there is looking for tickets sorry to say the concert is sold out. They really are a charming couple, what else would you expect in OZ, friendly and a joy to talk to. We're on our way folks, can't wait, Melbourne promises to be another great venue and adventure. We stayed for a couple of hours after the meal enjoying the excellent live music, before making our way back to our little house down the road. Both Vin and I are singing at tomorrow nights concert so we decided an early night was in order. Enough excitement for the day, good night all.
Late news flask, we are having a special guest stay tonight at out little house in the vinyard, American Blues legend Josh White Jr is coming over, should be an interesting late night jam session!

Port Fairy

2010-03-06T03:50:00.000-08:00

Well here we are at Port Fairy Folk Festival on the South Coast Of Victoria, about 4 hours drive from Melbourne. It's not the sort of Fesitival you might be used to in UK, for a start it's ultra organised. We arrived on Friday afternoon,first thing you noticed were the easy to see directions to the festival office posted clearly in the main street. The performers reception office was well organised, although we were actually not expected until Saturday, no problem fixed in a flash, we were given a welcome food hamper, maps, passes, directions to our Motel, all done in a flash. We have an artists Green Room (BBC Style) free breakfasts, subsidised meals and drinks, guitar lockers, easy chairs, seperate doors into the Arena. Star treatment all round. The whole town seems switched on to welcome the Festival, there is music everywhere, on the streets, in the pubs, on the beach, Port Fairy has opened it's doors and it's full of friendly happy people.
The Festival Area is big but compact, if you know what I mean! There are five main Stages, four of them tented, there is also a live music Guiness beer tent and a cafe style music tent where you can sit eat and lisen to live acts, there are open air shows with variety acts,jugglers, acts like Miss Australia 1963, not sure about that one! childrens tents and a wide selction of food tents selling almost every type of meal and drinks you could imagine, from Curry to Bratwurst, it's quite a sight.
The tents are the size of circus tents, people bring their own chairs and when the place gets full they do the Port Fairy shuffle to get everyone to move forard and let more in. The PA is top quality, experinced staff everywhere, helpful and efficinet, there's that word again.
The line up of artists is simpresive, Nanci Griffiths, Elenore McEvoy, Dougie McLean, The Saw Doctors, Emily Smith, Josh White Jr and of course Vin, As you would expect there are also quite a number of Australian on the bill, in fact we bumped into Enda Kenny last night as we wandered round getting our bearings as well as quite a number of poeple who recognised Vin from his previous visit three years ago. In fact people stop Vin almost everywhere we go, we stopped at a quite little town in the middle of knowhere on the way down here and a couple from Melbourne came over to say hello.
Vin's first concert last night was on Stage 2 at 8pm, the audience loved him and although he only had a 40 minute spot, just enough time for Vin to warm up, he was on top form and produced another great set. I have to admire the way Vin handles these situations, it must take a lot of effort and experience to capture such a large and varied audience in such a short period of time and win them over with such ease. I'm learning so much from just being part of this quite remarkable tour.
After the concert we sold some CD's outside of the stage door and then went on to do an official CD signing at the main CD sales tent, all very well attended, it's amazing how many northerners there are here!
The wonders of modern day computers, last night we manged to get Skype working on the laptop, I spoke to JUlie first by phone, which worked really well then we linked up via the Video link, I saw her wearing her new pink plaster on the broken wrist, I'm missing her already, especially now that she is in need of some TLC. Vin then spoke to Pat although the conversation was quite intermittent and kept breaking up all the time, I think it's the laptop more than the internet link. More from Port Fairy as the weekend rolls on.
While I have been waiting to connect to the internet and update the Blog, another afternoon has passed in Port Fairy, Vin's second concert took place on Stage 2, this time it was full hour plus encore, and he went down a storm, which reminds me the heavens have opened up and it's pouring with rain. After the concert we set the CD stall outside the tent and it took another hour to clear the crowds, in fact we sold out of nearly all the CDs we had brought down to the area and Vin was kept busy signing and chatting to everyone.
We decided to go across to the Green Room for a quick bite to eat and bumped into Dougie McLean and his wife JUlie,we spent a very pleasant half hour chatting to them, I had the camera handy but decided not to seem to starstuck, it seemed the right thing to do at the time, I think Vin agreed. We also bumped into Dave DeSante from my favotite Australian group Wongawilli, Dave runs the Illawarra Folk Festival and invited us on the spot to come down to Sydney to do a concert for him.
I manged to catch Dougie in concert this evening over at stage 4 which was great, he sang all his well known songs and had the crowd eating out of his hand.
I just made it back to our Motel be fore the heavens opened!
Tommorow is our last day here, so this will be the last report from the Festival, Vin has a concert early tomorrow morning them back to Burks and Wills to sing for our supper. Speak to you then.

Melbourne

2010-03-03T18:33:00.000-08:00

We've been here at the Burke and Wills Winery in Victoria with our hosts Andrew and Heather Patterson for three days now and it's been quite an eye opening experience. Burke and Wills are probably Austalia's best known and least successful explorers, who came to a sticky end quite near here, more of that some other time. Andrew is Vin's sponsor here in Australia and a fine winemaker, musical entrepreneur and along with his charming wife Heather are wonderful hosts. We have been fortunate enough to arrive at a time when his brother Michael is here. We've been out Kangaroo spotting, had supper at the local bar in Heathcote and had a Barby which was held in our honour with all Andrew and Heathers friends and neighbours. Keith Potger of the Seekers was one of the guests and was a well known singer over here called Martin Pearson. It turned out to be a fantastic evening, superb food, great company, magnificent wine and Australian Champagne from the Burke and Wills Estate We were all asked to sing for our supper. I have to report that Vin's healthy low fat regime has flown out the window, he's had Bar-B- Que Beef on Weetabix, Lamb Chops in Muesli and high alcohol fermented grape smoothies, all in the name of healthy eating. He does his best!!! To prevent under arm fungal infections caused by the heat, Vin has taken to wearing a clove of garlic under each arm pit, he now eats on his own, well down wind!! We have seen a number of magnificent Wedge Tailed Eagles flying around, hundreds of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, an Echidna in the middle of the road, which is a marsupial Ant Eater and lots of beautiful Eastern Rosella's which are crimson parrots.
We are actually living in our own little house just down the Burke and Wills Track with a lovely couple called John and Marilyn, they also own a vineyard, in fact Vineyards are scattered all around us, we now have a new daily duty which is to sample as much of the local wine as possible. Last night John & Marilyn cooked us a superb steak and salad supper washed down with his award winning Riesling and a bottle of his superb Champagne. Once again we sang for our supper as we looked out at a wonderful sunset across their fields of Olives and Vines, there has to be a song there somewhere! It's a hard life on the road!
We leave this little corner of heaven to travel to Vin's first Festival booking at Port Fairy which is 200 miles down on the Victoria coast. There is a monsoon heading that way at the weekend, but all is not lost Vin has managed to find an Op Shop (Charity Shop) with a couple of high class waterproofs left over from the Goldrush in 1880. The paid us to take them away.
One piece of bad news from home, my lovely Julie managed to break her wrist on Tuesady, she fell off a ladder while pruning the Wisteria in the back garden, sorry about that baby, we're thinking about you, hope it heals quickly.

2010-03-01T18:06:00.000-08:00

How sad it was to leave Singapore behind, what an amazing place to visit again after all these years. Our host Alex looked after us superbly, he was an excellent guide, wonderful host, organiser and all round nice guy. It was a pleasure to meet him and spend time in his company. Thank you Alex for a superb guided tour of Singapore, your hospitality and friendship.

My own experience was one of confusion and delight. I liked what I saw of the new Singapore, much more sophisicated and modern than I remembered in my time. I certainly remembered all the street names, but that was as far as it went, all the landmarks had changed and I found it impossible to get my bearings. Huge buildings, lots of affluence and very friendly, cheerful people. The transport system takes you all overthe island, it was inexpensive and efficient as well as being easy to use.

We fly on the Melbourne on Sunday evening for the major part of the tour, arriving in Australia at 6.30 Monday morning.

Vin's Update

2010-02-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

Great start to the trip, apart from the problems that you have already read about.

The full band has now turned up as you can see from the photo on the left, I'm ashamed to say I really should have bought my own newspaper and the next frame would have shown you the purple lady's handbag hitting Stan in the face! Apart from teaching lanquages, Alex is a part time deodorant salesman and green activist!

We rode the MTR, Mass Transit Railway around the island getting off in the middle of town and wandered up and down the length of Orchard Road. Lunch at the Asian Food Court should have been uneventful, I ordered a Murtabak which is like a stuffed Paratha unfortunately Stan got the pronunciation wrong they brought him a motorbike in a Tikka Masala sauce. Here you can see Stan giving me instructions on how to complete the new Rubix map of Singapore, if you can put it back to it's original form, you get a free weeks holiday in Jakarta!

We joined Alex and his friends at a local curry Bar called Sam's, to celebrate Clare and Penny's birthdays, all the meals were served up on huge Banana leaves, the ambulance had to be called because Stan choked on his Banana leaf which no body else ate! Our fingers are crossed that British Airways have not E Mailed ahead to tell them to charge us another 40 pounds per guitar excess baggage as we fly off to Melbourne.

Tanglin Trust School Singapore & The Col Bar

2010-02-26T19:11:00.000-08:00

On The Road To Singapore

2010-02-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

We arrived after a short and uneventful flight one hour door to door with Air Asia, we even managed to have a quick snack mid flight of coffee and Chicken Masala. We jumped on board a taxi and headed straight to the venue at Tanglin Trust School where Alex Bosch our Catalan host was waiting to meet us.

The last time I was here in 1966, Singapore was a very different, it's fair to say I hardly recognised the place. I let you know my thoughts once we have had a good look around the island.

I'm delighted to say we had yet another great concert last night, much more intimate and less formal than in KL. It was a small theatre in the school with a mixed audience, quite a few had never heard Vin before but as always there were a fair number of loyal fans who turned up. Annoyingly Vin kept telling the audience I was lying about my surname and that my real name was Stan Dandyliver! Vin's set was different from the previous night and he had a number of requests which he managed to slip in. A lady mentioned to Vin that he had a much fuller head of hair than the last time she saw him, at which point he removed a handful of the noodles from the previous nights meal in Kuala Lumpur!

We were delighted to find an old friend of Martyn Wyndham-Read's in the audience called Brian Mooney, apparently he played with Martyn on a number of occasions in Australia many years ago, he invited us to join them at a late night session at the Col Bar, this well known establishment was originally an unofficial other ranks mess for the British Army back in the 60s on Ayer Rahja Road. I lived and worked in Gillman Barracks at the other end of Ayer Rahja Road, despite this I still have no idea where we are. What a great way to relax, an ice cold Tiger Beer, Vin playing whistle and lots of great music, including a young chinese lad with a double bass, who just happened to be passing by.

Today's adventure will be posted a bit later, so keep logged in.

Yours.

Stan & Vin.

Relaxing in Kuala Lumpur

2010-02-25T18:24:00.000-08:00

A huge thank you to our hosts in Kuala Lumpur, Amanda and Mike who looked after us so superbly, it was a pleasure meeting you and staying in your wonderful home. Thank you so much for organising a brillient concert, the food, the sound the atmosphere and the company could not have been bettered. Vin was in top form and thank you all for lightening our load by taking so many CDs off our hands. We now head south to Singapore and another concert tonight at the Tanglin Trust School.

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

2010-02-25T10:24:00.000-08:00

Well at long last we are in possession of our cases, have a clean set of clothes to change into and have the first gig under our belts.

We are in the veritable lap of luxury in the Hilton, the rooms are palatial as was the concert venue. With an audience of over 110, a superb pie and mash meal to start the evening off, followed by wine, music and song.

I started the evening off with a few songs, the audience were with us from the very first chord and the evening just got better as it progressed.

Vin was in great form and as you would expect had the place rocking with laughter with a few short minutes of stepping on stage. His ad libs were brilliant and included quite a lot of off the cuff and quite hilarious comments and plays on words from our wandering around Kuala Lumpur. He is just so sharp when it comes to being observant and creating a vein of humour out of almost nothing. Another triumph, no doubt the first of many. We sold lots of CD's which is a god send as we both needed to lighten the weight in our cases.

Internet connection over here is sometimes best described as variable, which makes it difficult to log on when you want to, so please be patient with us, I expect things may be the same in some areas of Australia.

We have manged to have few adventures in the local if somewhat dodgy areas in and around the city centre, Vin loves to sample the local food and breath the local air, this side of our journey is interesting as is the food we chose. A hunt for empty CD cases proved fruitless, they don't exsist here but we did eventually manage to find enough to package Vin's CDs.

Kuala Lumpur is a mix of the old and new, we joined our hosts last night at their office Chinese New Year party, the year of the Tiger. We ate in a sea food restaurant, one side of the wall when you walked in was filled with dozens of fish tanks full of Lobster, Prawn and every other type of live fish you could ever imagine, your selection was cooked and brought to the table within minutes. Vin had to be restrained from donning his snorkle and flippers in an effort to get at the sick squid that they owed him! I've never seen anthing quite like it, even on my travels. The group was a wide ranging mix of all the races in the city, Chinese, Indian, Malay and of course Ex Pats.

After a considerable number of courses, we cranked up the Karaoke and almost everone including Mike our host got up to sing, it was just a magical evening, Malaysia is as fine an example of successful multi racialism as you'll find on the planet!

The highlight, apart from the singing, was the ritual throwing of the noodles up in the air with chop sticks making as much mess on the table as possible, oddly Vin said he felt right at home! Hope fully this brings everyone good luck for the coming year.

I don't think we could have had a better start to Vin's world tour, wonderful hosts, interesting city, a bit of adventure, lost luggage, great concert, lots of fantastic people to meet and who, without exception made us feel so welcome and special.

Tomorrow we set off for Singapore and a gig in the Tanglin Trust School, I was there in 1966/67 when it was military camp, if I remember rightly we almost blew it up one day when we were on excerise, so it will be interesting to see how it has changed. The numbers are looking quite promising, with 50 seats already booked and more promised by the time we arrive.

I have managed to forget my E Mail password so it has been difficult logging on the read my E Mails, old age takes it toll!

That's all Folks, speak to you soon.

Stan & Vin.

Arrived Safely a Day Late In Singapore

2010-02-22T18:13:00.000-08:00

Who would have thought it would be so difficult to get out of the UK?

Not the best of starts. After Julie and Pat dropped us off at Newcastle Airport we had what could be described as a bit of bother with BA, derspite vallient efforts to sweet talk the staff, plead poverty, break down in tears we had to fork out an extra 40 quid each to get our guitars out to Singapore. Having sorted out this annoying problem, we were delayed by the snow on the runway for about three hours at Newcastle, missing our connecting flight at Heathrow.

We spent a pleasant evening at the Rennaisence Hotel curtesy of BA, the rooms were quite plush, so they should be at 230 pounds a night. We had a midnight feast of cheese sandwiches and chips, that's all that was on offer, before heading off for a good nights sleep. The flight out left at 1100am and we landed here in Singapore at 9 am Tuesday 23rd.

The Changi Airport is immaculate, the staff are extremely efficient and the sun is shining, nothing like my first visit here in 1966, it was abit rough and ready then, no security, no immigration, dirty floors. Overall things are definately looking up, our flight to Kuala Lumpur is at 1250 and should take just over an hour. Of course your all still fast asleep at home so we have a bit of catching up to do when we arrive at KL.

Keep checking the page out, more to follow.

Where And When

2010-02-15T01:53:00.000-08:00

Just to give you some idea of the distance we will be covering and the places where you will find us, here is Vin's gig list;

February 25th - The Hilton Hotel Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

February 26 - Tanglin Trust School Singapore

March 1 - Arrive Melbourne

March 5-7 - Port Fairy Festival

March 8 - Burke and Wills Winery Mia Mia

March 11 - Eaglemont Melbourne

March 13 - Brunswick Music Festival

March 14 - Burke & Wills Winery

March 17 - Brookfield Vinyard Hobart

March 18 - RLC Folk Club Port Noralunga Adelaide

March 20 - South Australia Folk Centre Adelaide

March 21 - Alice Springs

March 24 - Darwin

March 26 - Montville Hall Brisbane

March 27 - The Old Museum Studio Brisane Bowen Hills

March 30 - Katoomba The Clarenden

April 1-6 - National Festival Canberra

April 7 - Sydney

April 9-11 - Fairbridge Festival

14 April The Fly By Night Freemantle

Well that's it, if you know anyone out there in OZ, tell them to come and say hello.

Time To Swat up on a bit of history.

2010-02-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

It is the driest, flattest,hottest, most infertile and climatically aggressive of all the inhabited continents and still Australia teems with life - a large portion of it quite deadly. Australia has been things that can kill you in a very nasty way than anywhere else. Bill Bryson from his book "Down Under" He goes on to say; The people are cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted and unfailingly obliging: their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water: the food is excellent; the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines. Life does not get much better than this, lets go Vin.

I have suddenly realised that in seven days we will be heading off to the other side of the world, to a country I've known existed about all my life but know very little about. How about you? Any authorities on Australia out there?

Our first port of call on the 1st march will be Melbourne and we will be staying in a charming sounding place called Mia Mia, more to the point it's wine country and our Host owns a Vin-yard.

Will I need my old school cricket bat and pads?

2010-02-10T03:58:00.001-08:00

On The 21st February Vin Garbutt is heading "Down Under" to follow in Captains Cook footsteps and Re Discover Australia accompanied by York Singer/Songwriter Stan Graham. The tour will start off in Kuala Lumpur the capitol of Malasia, followed by a special gig in Singapore, before heading on to Aus where he will guest at all the Major Festivals and a considerable number of clubs across the length and breath of the country. This promises to be a very special tour which, as I'm sure you would expect, will produce many hillarious and memorable moments. We would like to invite you to join us as we discover the delights of Australian music and hospitality, all you have to do is keep in touch with this Blog which will be posted at appropriate points along the journey. Please tell your friends and all of Vin's fans!