restoration

Australia is full of beautiful beaches, but I chose to feel the sand between my toes for the first time since I arrived here on the long stretch that runs from St Kilda to Station Pier.  Enough was enough, 4 days in and I hadn’t even come close to dabbing my toes in the water.

We had stumbled down to St Kilda last night, after a chance sighting of a poster advertising a Tim Finn gig at legendary venue the Espy.  This occurred over breakfast as Ian once again polished off an enormous mini-banquet and I struggled to get through half of mine (still not adjusted to eating meals at certain times, let alone actually having breakfast).  Ian had wanted to catch a show by a local band called My Friend The Chocolate Cake, but it was sold out and we hopped on the tram down to the seaside.

The gig was the launch party for a new TV show, with the absence of actual TV cameras and 15-seconds-of-fame possibilities a disappointment.  Nevertheless, after a cracking support set from some lass called Katy Steele, then 20 minutes of comedic genius from some random dude Frank Woodley (“so, talking of poo…”), Tim came on stage.

I’ve seen Crowded House, led by his wee bro Neil a few times – Tim featured on the Woodface album, which got me into the band originally.  He did a set of mainly new material but finished off with Weather With You (cue mass singalong) and encored with Split Enz’ classic Six Months In a Leaky Boat.  It was a good way to finish off a historic day.

A random gig experience in a random place following a random sighting.  Hopefully, this won’t be the only random experience of this month.

We headed back to St Kilda earlier today to enjoy a bit of sunshine and chilling out.  Ian misunderstood my desire to walk along the beach and, as I sat down to take my shoes and sock off, he announced he was wussing out and would toddle along the road.  Not before taking my camera and ensuring that Matthew on the beach was captured for posterity.