Crowded House In Concert

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

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

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?

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

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

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

Vin Van Tour 2011

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

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

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

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

Made In Adelaide

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.