Travel Around Australia and New Zealand

[dce]

Leaving Bris-Vegas

Well, after a very whirlwind trip to Brisbane (I was in the city less than 24 hours, but still managed to take in an incredible Cohen concert and a range of other nifty things) ... this morning it was time to say goodbye:



After a fairly uneventful flight down to Sydney, I decided that it would be a good idea to check out the area around the Acer Arena (where Leonard and band will be performing tomorrow night, the first show in a two-night run). I'll have to confess to not being particularly familiar with this area of Sydney. For those (like me) who don't know about Sydney's Olympic Park .. it's basically exactly what it sounds like -- the precinct that got built as the primary site for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. It features more sporting arenas than you can easily shake a plush toy kangaroo at, all kind of lined up next to one another. The Acer Arena is one of these venues.

Here's what it looked like this evening ... hmm, I'm guessing I was only eager beaver checking out the venue a day ahead of the show. At least I couldn't see anyone else even remotely close to the venue:


While the site of Sydney's Olympic Park is kind of nestled in the middle of fairly inner suburbs, it is ringed by lots and lots of parks and other greenery, effectively giving it the appearance of being a little oasis of sparsely scattered monolithic arenas just kind of existing in isolation in the middle of a green and lush environment. It's a bit strange, but also quite a spectacular place.

I had a little bit of time to spare, so I took a walk through the two largest areas of park, both of which are just a few minutes walk from the Acer Arena. The first is Bicentennial Park, one small bit of which is shown below:


The other, even more spectacular area is the wetlands area just a short walk north of this park. It's really easy when walking through this region of natural mangroves, and watching all the birdlife around you, to entirely lose sight of the fact that you're really right in the middle of a very large, very developed city:


Both the park and the wetlands are very peaceful places ... I figure that if, following his soundcheck tomorrow afternoon, Leonard is in search of a quiet place to meditate in order to centre himself before the show ... he could do far worse than a quick visit to either of these places


Dean (from Adelaide)

[dce]

Six Down, Six To Go

So, I have just arrived back in Adelaide for a brief two-day home stop. I’m slightly sorry that I will be missing Leonard’s second Sydney show, although given the nature of the venue … maybe I’m happier having saved a few hundred dollars.

I am now officially half way through my programme of Cohen concerts, having seen six shows.

Next stop is Melbourne for two shows (this Friday and Saturday), then Hobart on Monday the 15th.

It’s proving to be quite an exhausting schedule of travel, not to mention a lot of late nights (I usually try to get most of the write ups done straight after the shows). I am surviving mainly on caffeine. But … seeing so many performances by Leonard and his band in short succession is incredible. In the words of a lady in front of me last night as I was filing out of the Acer Arena: “Leonard’s performances are like a special kind of a drug, that stays with you for days.”

I guess I need to now spend a few days back at the office, to start paying off my next hit.


Dean (from Adelaide)

[scocoh]

--

[dce]

Thanks for this, Dean. Lot's of fun reading along.

I'd like to do something similar somewhere on the next tour. I doubt I'll be able to pull it off financially, but it's fun reading about your trip.

Thanks scocoh ... good to hear that forum folks are enjoying being "virtual passengers" on my ride-of-a-lifetime tour with Leonard.

If anyone ever has the opportunity to try something like this in their area (and assuming ther *are* more tours), I would thoroughly recommend it as quite a special experience. It's hard work, and tbh I'm not sure how (or if) I'm managing to pull it off financially ... but it is quite rewarding on a number of different levels. Not least of which is having the opportunity, thanks to the forum, of sharing the experience with like-minded fans (everybody else I know thinks I'm nuts ) and meeting a few folks along the road.


Dean (from Adelaide)

[dce]

On The Move Again ...

The bags are (re-)packed and I'm just preparing to leave home for the third leg of my great Australian-New-Zealand Leonard Cohen adventure. This time around I'll be seeing a couple of shows in Melbourne (tonight and tomorrow) and a concert in Hobart on Monday.

I'm looking forward to all the upcoming performances, but tonight's show promises to be particularly special -- several folks from the forum are planning to meet-up after the show to go somewhere for a few drinks (and no-doubt a little bit of discussion about Leonard and his music). I'm looking forward to meeting some of the people who live behind the screen names ... should be fun.

Unlike the concerts that have occurred so far on the "down under" tour, where beautiful sunny weather has pretty much followed Cohen wherever he goes, the forecast for the next few days is for more inclement weather. So, naturally, I've made sure when packing to include my not-in-the-least-famous black umbrella.

Taxi coming in 30 minutes …


Dean (from Adelaide)

[dce]

Blogging The Blogger

As most readers of this Forum would know Joey Carenza, the tour manager for Leonard's Unified Heart Touring Company is kindly blogging regular photos taken from the various cities the tour has visited. You can find his blog at http://leonardcohen.tumblr.com/.

Yesterday, his blog included several shots of a cafe in Melbourne's Bourke St. Now that I'm in town, I thought it would be interesting to find it ... and blog from outside (thank you mobile broadband for this gratuitous use of technology).



Surprisingly, while typing up this blog entry on the side of the street, I only got approached by *one* homeless guy asking for change (but at least he was very polite).

PS: No, I didn't eat at the cafe ... the people inside were giving me strange looks after having stood outside for several minutes taking photographs with a laptop

[dce]

Walking Around Melbourne

Melbourne is a neat city for just wandering around and looking for the weird and wonderful (usually hidden away down little alleyways, where all the chic underground cafes and bars also lurk).

With a bit of spare time before tonight's Rod Laver Arena concert, I thought I'd explore a little:

This hotel, in the midst of skyscrapers, really takes the notion of a rooftop garden to new levels:


OK, so this place claims to have been here since 1967, but I still think the name may be a little confusing for visting Americans:


When it comes to naming buildings, the Melbournians really believe in truth in advertising:



Dean (from Adelaide)

[dce]

The most minor of calamities

So ... in the early hours of Saturday morning, sometime between me getting back to my hotel from ania's post-concert party and waking up, my room got slightly flooded. As mentioned before, rain has been the order of the day here in Melbourne, and it would seem that a blocked drain in an adjacent courtyard area lead to some flooding into the building, which in turn made the carpets in one corner of the room pretty wet.

Thankfully, nothing particularly valuable or electronic was sitting on the floor in this corner of the room (like, say, my recharging laptop that was on the floor elsewhere in the room -- lesson for next hotel). But ... well, there was a slight casualty:





But, before people get *too* concerned about the destruction of my (inkjet-printed) lanyard ... I do have several more of these at home. But it does mean that for the second Melbourne show and the Hobart concert, I'll be wearing one of the smaller, non-personalised, forum lanyards.


Dean (from Adelaide)

[dce]

Arrived in Hobart

Well ... not only have I've made it to Hobart, but I have also rendezvoused with Cathy (from Adelaide) who has flown from Adelaide to come along to the Hobart show.

For those who are less familiar with Australia ... Hobart is the capital of Tasmania, the little triangle shaped island thingy down the bottom of Australia (famous for devils and tigers I guess). Tassie's mostly an unspoiled wilderness, an absolutely glorious place to visit. It's also somewhere that isn't very heavily populated -- Hobart, for example only has about 200,000 people. So you can imagine what a buzz it is to have a Leonard Cohen in such a place.

Unfortunately the weather in Hobart today is a bit cold and rainy ... so not the best day to go sight-seeing. But, without anything much else to do, Cathy and I went for a bit of a wander anyway. Here's a couple of pics:

Hobart airport is small enough that (a) there's only one runway, and (b) you have to walk across tarmac to get to the terminal. At least there's a nice sign welcoming you!


I will leave it to another of the forum's many Aussie members to explain why a business (apparently a burger restaurant) would name itself this ... personally I've got nothing:


The Hobart waterfront, looking back across the CBD:



Dean (from Adelaide)

[dce]

A Brush with a Restaurant having a Brush with Greatness

So, while Cathy (from Adelaide) and I were walking around Hobart's waterfront, we went past the floating seafood restaurant pictured below:



Who do you reckon we spotted having a late lunch (or maybe just a drink) in the ocean-facing window (left corner on the photo)? Yep, that would be Roscoe and Sharon ... and a figure with his back to the window who looked suspiciously Cohen-shaped. Wearing a fedora.

And, no, before anyone asks ... I didn't go into the restaurant and interrupt these nice people having their lunch.


Dean (from Adelaide)

[dce]

"As the mist leaves no scars ..."

Another fairly inclement day here in Hobart ... a little bit of sun breaking through the clouds this morning, but rain throughout most of the day.

Without anything specific to do ahead of tonight's show, Cathy and I went for a drive through the Huon Valley coming back via Peppermint Bay. As with most places in Tasmania, the scenery is pretty stunning. Although on a cold and rainy day, I guess we weren't seeing the place at its best.

On the way out of town we went for a drive up to the top of Mount Wellington (the big mountain that Hobart is nestled at the foot of). This was before the rain set in, but there was thick swirling cloud hanging to the top of the mountain, making for a strangely ethereal ascent and a fairly mist-shrouded view from the top. Just for a moment, we got a glimpse of the city:



Back in the hotel now, getting ready for the concert ... only three hours to go!


Dean (from Adelaide)

[dce]

Back Home in Adelaide … for a few days, anyway

I was lucky enough today to have late flights from Hobart back to Adelaide. This meant that I got to enjoy a lovely day of sunshine in Hobart (after the previous two being wet and wintery). The place looks even more charming under sun, and it's a shame that the UHTC were leaving just as the weather was changing ...





So I'm now back home for the rest of the week, but have the enormous good fortune of having Leonard in my home town for a performance on Thursday. I can hardly wait!


Dean (from Adelaide)

[dce]

Counting Down to Adelaide ...

Well it's now only 12 hours until Leonard goes on stage in my home town of Adelaide. This is actually very exciting -- I've only ever had one previous opportunity to see a Cohen concert at home (the mind-blowing winery show on Australia Day, 2009).

I really hope the Adelaide crowd gives Leonard the reception he deserves -- the winery audience last year certainly did (I've never seen so many standing ovations in my life!).

Unfortunately, yesterday's beautiful sunny weather doesn't seem to have quite lasted. We've got some clouds and maybe a little rain (Adelaide doesn't really do serious rain ) ... but it should still be a good evening for the concert.

It's also a bit of a novelty BTW recognising most of the places in Joey's photo blog -- for those who care, his Adelaide photos are of:

• Corner of North Terrace and West Terrace (at the new tram stop)
• Corner of King William St and Currie St
• Synagogue Place, just off Rundle Street
• The Colonial Mutual Building in Rundle St (which I always call the Hudsucker Proxy building ...)
• Festival Centre (taken, I think from near Adelaide railway station)
• Lots of photos from Gorge Wildlife Park, northeast of the city
• North Terrace approaching Pulteney St from the East
• Beehive Corner: King William St and Rundle Mall (the Haighs Chocolate shop is a giveaway )

Dean (from Adelaide)

[dce]

Late Nite Packing Anxiety

Saturday morning first thing I’m back on the road, travelling to see Leonard’s performance at Hanging Rock. It’ll just be a short one-day trip back to Victoria, flying to Melbourne then picking up a car to drive the 60Km or so north to Mount Macedon, seeing the show, and flying back from Melbourne to Adelaide early Sunday. Short, Sharp and Shiny …

However, it’s now five minutes to midnight on Friday night … and I’ve just realised that I have yet to grapple with the fact that I need to pack, not only to cover the day travelling but also to ensure that I’ve got what I need for six or seven hours at an outdoor concert. I’m feeling suddenly very under-prepared …

[neo]

Late Nite Packing Anxiety
I’m feeling suddenly very under-prepared …