Sep 23, 2009

Perth and Freo


I arrived in Perth late on a Wednesday night and was surprisingly not jet lagged after a weekend of late night lindy hop and blues.
The hostel was in a community called Northbridge, just north of Perth’s downtown core. Although I had heard it described as ‘a young, funky community with lots of pubs, bars and restaurants’ it is more accurately a fairly dodgy community full of bars, strip clubs and several varieties of meat on a stick.

The up side though is that it was just down the road from the weekly swing dance venue, which features a live band. The Perth lindy hoppers are great. Good dancers and generally awesome people. They’ve made me feel right at home.

On the weekend I headed down to Fremantle, or Freo, and much preferred the scenery down there. It’s a smaller community (separate city depending on who you are talking to) right on the harbour and full of really nice pubs and cafés.
The hostel was absolutely wonderful! When I first walked in the manager pointed me in the direction of a few places that are hiring and he even helped me do my online RSA test (Responsible Serving Alcohol). I had a dorm room to myself that had just one double bed and it was lovely. There was also a swimming pool in the backyard. The weather has been pretty dull and cool, but I did enjoy an afternoon with a book and my toes in the pool.

Freo is also home to one of the country’s best micro breweries; Little Creatures. The name is in reference to the yeast that turns malt into beer. I did apply for a job there (along with nearly every restaurant and café in freo) but since I wasn’t successful, I decided I might as well enjoy the beer there. We had a great night out, me and an Irishman, Englishman, Aussie and a Kiwi. As you can imagine, a fair amount of beer was consumed. I also tried Kangaroo and it was delicious, a lot like a nice rare steak.

Even though I really enjoyed hanging out in Fremantle, I decided to take a job up in Lancelin, about an hour and a half north of the city. It’s a small town that hosts the beginner surf camps, and their local pub was hiring. Perth is great, but it is just another nice city, so I thought I’d see what the countryside looks like. Any locals I talk to make it sound like it’s in the middle of nowhere, but I’m really looking forward to it.

Sep 16, 2009

SFLX '09

Wednesday night I headed down to the South Bay to stay with some lindy hopper friends, Alex and Katie. This area, also known as Silicon Valley, is essentially where computers as we know them started, and where corporate giants such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft call home. It feels just like you would expect, a lot of office buildings, suburban homes and no night life whatsoever. We did, however, enjoy a great band at the weekly dance venue, the Wednesday Night hop. And, if you refer to the photos, you will see a wildlife conservation area that entertained us for a sunny afternoon.

*warning: the following paragraph may contain opinions relating to lindy hop that do reflect the views of the writer*
The San Francisco Lindy Exchange was unofficially kicked off with the 920 special on Thursday night, featuring Kim Nalley. She is a phenomenal singer and it was a great night, but this is where I discovered what “groove swing” is all about, and how it somewhat defines the San Fran lindy scene. It essentially means that unlike Seattle, which features Savoy style lindy hop, and lots of swinging out, San Fran tends towards a mix, which includes more soulful music and blues. Friday night I found myself in a lindy hop room that was smaller than the blues/jump blues room. It was a little odd, being at a lindy exchange, not a blues exchange, but it was loads of fun and the separation allowed me to meet more people in a smaller setting. The music throughout the weekend balanced out in the end, and don’t tell anyone, but Sunday night I blues danced till 6am and had a great time.

Although it was a very follow heavy exchange, and the level of dancing overall wasn’t quite what I expected, it was a great weekend. Again, the people I met were definitely a highlight, as were the dances we had and the food! I found myself eating real Mexican in the Mission area, Arabic Fusion (just try to imagine spicy, creamy, mango, mushroom and spinach ravioli) and of course all you can eat sushi.
My host was lovely, but since she lived all the way out in Birkeley and had some non dance commitments, I ended up hanging out with other people during down time to avoid the commute. Sunday I hung out with a group of dancers from SLO (San Luis Obispo, Califiornia) who were super welcoming and great fun to be with. Some of my favorite dances were with Hurley, who is always smiling and makes you feel on top of the world. A jam circle formed late Saturday night, where we somehow managed to do a slow motion pancake, only I was the one flipping him!

Again, it was a fun weekend filled with wonderful people in an absolutely gorgeous city.

San Francisco


I arrived at the Adelaide hostel in the heart of (read: tourist central) San Francisco, Sunday afternoon. The urban exploration began in Castro, the gay-bourhood, probably the nations largest, but definitely the proudest. San Francisco is a beautiful place. Most striking are the brightly painted houses and warm feeling neighbourhoods. And of course, the steep climbing hills that offer magnificent views of the city and the bay. After ascending Buena Vista park and enjoying the evening calm of the city, I headed back to the hostel where I met some really great people, some that were unfortunately leaving that night, but others I ended up hanging out with all week.

Monday was by far my favourite day. Since it was a holiday, I decided to avoid the shopping districts and highly touristy areas and just take a nice long walk through the city. I started by hiking up a hill (before coffee this was quite a challenge) and then back down the other side (it was around this point that I stopped doing exactly what my guide book told me to do). The views were amazing, and unlike the park, it was close up of the streets people somehow drive, bike and walk every day.
It was in this area that I found the cable car museum and the building that makes it all tick (or rumble). I can understand now why they needed the cable cars. It would have been very difficult to populate the city without a means to get up the hills, and horses were becoming more and more expensive.
After eating the largest peach you have ever seen, over looking the city, I headed down Hyde street and ended up at the far end of the painfully touristy ‘fisherman’s wharf’ at the Hyde street peer. Although I try to avoid such places, there was coffee, and a lovely spot called the Aquatic Park, so I stopped to have a rest. Little did I know that this spot would captivate me and I would end up watching the swimmers, children and dogs for over an hour. There is just something about the ocean breeze that makes the rest of the world fall silent, and it the most peaceful feeling.

Further walking took me around the marina and all the way to a beachy spot where I watched about a hundred wind surfers skim across the water and breathtaking speeds as they passed back and forth in front of the Golden Gate bridge. The wind was so strong, that to get up, all the had to do was prop the sail out of the water from underneath, and poof, the wind pulls them up onto the board and they are off!

Another highlight was the Academy of Science at Golden Gate Park. It is San Francisco’s answer to Central Park, but I found it takes a while to get into it and find the really interesting and beautiful places. The academy was great, not only because of the aquarium, filled with some of the largest and smallest fish I have ever seen, but I learned some really cool stuff about real life.
There was an exhibit on climate change featuring a scale. On one side, you mark how much you drive, bike, take the bus and fly, in about a year. It also considers the efficiency in your home. Adding all these factors shows how environmentally friendly you are. As it turn out, even though I don’t drive, and if I were to have a solar powered home with high efficiency appliances and were a model citizen in every other way, the number of times in a year that I fly, still make me worse than the Smoggies! (refer to wikipedia). Note to self, look into Carbon Offsets.

I took public transit around for the week and really enjoy it, as I always do in new cities. It’s a great way to see the real place, and in a city like San Francisco, it ‘s efficient and quite pleasant. I do get frustrated with first time/tourist transit go-ers, who don’t understand, or just don’t listen when they ask you to move to the back, but other than that, it’s quite enjoyable.

Other things on the touring agenda included the famed prison on Alcatraz island, the barking sea lions at Fisherman’s Warf and the Golden Gate Bridge. It is important to know that although we are in California, a heavy fog descends upon the city almost daily, and as a result, I could not in fact see the Bridge. But I do feel that I saw the real San Francisco.