the den: October 2010

Last week the Boyzz & I headed to Brisbane to see Tame Impala.

It began on Wednesday - we had to be at the airport by 10:30 & I was the last to arrive, all along I thought Sarm would be late - sorry Sarm.

So we went & checked in & we were delighted to be served by Mr Harry. No documentation required, here are your boarding passes, seeya later boyzzzzz...

Ben was expecting to run into a couple that he knew, sure enough he ran into them whilst boarding the plane, then out of all the seats they happened to be sitting across the aisle from him. Sarm was right next to them. Metal heads. Excellent.

I was seated beside a lady who was excellent friends with a lady that I work pretty close with. Then we ran into her whilst shopping one day in the city & she wasn't even staying in the city, what are the odds of that.

We took off trying to pop our ears furiously, looking retarded I'm sure. Then we whipped out our gameboyzzz. I definitely told Sarm to bring his, but he'll say otherwise.

Not one blink of the eye later & we were touching down in Brisbane.

We collected our bags & made it to the train, had a short walk to the apartment, checked in, & went down to purchase some wine. We bought the cheapest - about $16 for 4 litres.

We then went for a little wander... decided we felt like some vanilla cigars. We found some lovely looking little cigars at Woolworths so we grabbed them & went straight to try them. In short, they were horrendous - They definitely smelt delicious but I can only describe the taste as having ear wax covering your tongue, awfully bitter. We were disappointed. Now as Sarm had rolled his big toe under his foot just days before the trip, his walk was not the best, so he decided not to join Ben & myself on the search for cigars.

After heading straight to the only tobacconist we knew & finding it was closed, we chose to hit every grocery store we could find - still no luck. At this point the sun had gone down & we still had no cigars. We even tried looking in tattoo shops & were about to buy shisha tobacco & put it in cigar rollies, but we knew it wouldn't be the same. We were disappointed & admitted defeat until the following day.

We continued to wander & came across a downstairs/underground Irish pub & settled on a pint. Ben did not have to show any I.D, but as I did not (& still do not) have a beard I had to show mine. The place was scrumptiously cozy & we found ourselves a little booth in a corner down the back. We sipped away quite happily & it went straight to our heads - I'll admit I was quite pleased with this. We weren't planning on moving & Sarm was ringing -"Heeeeeyy." "Where the hell are you guys, you've been gone forever??" "Yeah yeah we're still looking for cigars. We're not having much success. Shouldn't be long. Wish us luck."

So the pint went down far too well & we decided for another. We were completely settled at this point & decided we best call Sarm to tell him we weren't coming back & if he was lonely he better hobble to the pub. He decided on the latter. Excellent!

Ben had to use the men's room & asked a lady where he would find them, she politely gave him directions & off he went. While I waited, the same lady came over & collected my empty glass - I said "Ta".

Then a guy sitting at a table nearby got my attention & said, "You know she doesn't work here." I was a little surprised & wondered what the hell she was up to then. He said she had been drinking since 12:00 & probably had no idea who she was anymore.

Ben returned & so did this guys friend. We began talking & they joined our booth. They're names were Blake & Captain Red Shirt. Blake seemed alright, Captain Red Shirt was a dick.

Anyway Sarm arrived & the night went on. Blake shouted pints all night then whipped out this concoction that had to be served in 2 glasses as the alcohol content in the 1 glass was illegal. It was lemony in 1 glass & clear in the other. I was told to drink some of the lemony one first then top it up with the clear stuff. Then I was told to drink it quick, done. Captain Red Shirt proclaimed his love to me & I couldn't get away - trying to hold my hand while Sarm pulled me away etc. It was not good, especially the state I was in.

Well needless to say by the end of the night I was undoubtedly the most drunk I have ever been & I'm not proud & it was only about 9:30 as I remember wanting to get home in time to have a swim - the pool closed at 10:00. Many excellent things happened that night & Sarm played laser tag with some people in suits he had just met.

The following day I was nursing quite a decent hangover & had no idea why because I only remember drinking 2 pints & the lemony thing. I was later advised I drank more like 6-7 pints & the lemony thing - very quickly.

We had a big fatty breakfast & we hit the shops. Ahhhh I bought so many fantastic records - here is my list...

7-inch

Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me

Prince - Raspberry Beret

INXS - Faith In Each Other (Live) flexi-vinyl

12-inch

Led Zeppelin - Earls Court Bootleg recording (May 24th 1975)

Led Zeppelin - In Through The Out Door

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd - Ummagumma

Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers

Best Coast - Crazy For You

Free - Alright Now (single)

Fairport Convention - Nine

T-Rex - Bolan Boogie

T-Rex - Zinc Alloy & The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Dallas Taylor & Greg Reeves - Deja vu

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Then each day we had big fatty breakfasts, one of which Ben & I had champagne. We scoped out an amazing toy shop with collectors figures...

Dimebag.

That day we went back to the tobacconist & found some vanilla cigars alongside some chocolate cigars - they had 3 of each left so we bought them all.

That night we tried the cigars - they were pretty nasty also - not as bad as the others, but bad enough. We also got some chocolate pies! Yum. & in the end we left 3 in the fridge. Damn.

I'm pretty certain we played cards that night that we got from the 7/11, just plain cards as we left it too late to get Uno cards.

The next day we did more & more shopping & a bit of sky-diving. We went to the pub again that night too.

"Take it to the sky boyzzzz"

NOW terrible news - the Wednesday night when we first went to the pub, Ben was wearing his big crim jacket that he got from overseas, the next morning he no longer had the jacket. We searched EVERYWHERE for it & there was no sign. We tried re-tracing our steps from that night, we were extremely drunk & had a lot of trouble walking home, but at no point can we remember what happened to the jacket. A sad departure that was...

So while we at the pub the second time we thought it would be a good idea to check their lost & found. I went over to the bar & said a friend had lost a jacket - they said they had a jacket fitting that description so they went & showed me - the guy behind the bar told me to take whatever they gave me - the jacket they showed me definitely was not Ben's jacket. I went back to the boyzz & gave the bad news. We figured we may as well take the jacket, even the guy behind the bar said to. So Sarm & I went back to the bar & I said, "Heeeeey, just wanting another look at that jacket, this is the friend who lost it." Sarm had a feel & said, "Yesss, I've been looking for this for ages, thank-you so much." & Ben had himself a new/used Ripcurl jacket - not half as good as his other though.

I think it must have been the Thursday night, Ben received a call from Brad advising he had a extra Metallica ticket - Ben accepted the offer & would be staying until Wednesday. We were meant to be leaving Sunday & I had an extra day off work... So I decided to leave on the Monday instead, Sarm joined me. We spent close to an entire day feeding coins to a computer in a shopping centre for the internet. We couldn't get a refund on our current flights, ended up paying more than double for new flights, re-booked Ben's flight for Wednesday & booked another nights accommodation, though we would have to change rooms.

Eventually we were done.

It worked out well though because otherwise we would have been getting up at 6 to catch the plane at 8:35 the morning after Tame Impala - so I was happy.

Also along one of our wanders, Ben & I found a shop called "The Den", I couldn't believe this find so we had to scope it out... It was a sex shop. Now this may be seen as inappropriate to some but we just HAD to buy something from there, seeing as though it was called "The Den" & all. So we bought Sarm a gift - it made him mega peeved at us - definitely worth it!

The night of Tame Impala we went & got some tasty pasta from a little place in Brunswick St mall, very tasty. The boyzz shouted me everything that night - CHEERS BOYZZZZ!!

We headed off to the Tivoli - which we learnt from Kevin Parker says "I love it" backwards - minus the 'e'.

Well we got lost AND we were reading a map. So we had to ask a bouncer for directions. His hands were so gigantic that 1 finger took up the whole screen of my phone, he was alright, we found our way in the end.

We got right up the front, in the centre. All the bands were fantastic!! We saw Felicity Groom,The John Steel Singers, & of course Tame Impala.

We headed home - it was freeeezing. We stopped for a beer - Sarm disappeared back to the apartment. Ben got us a pint of 1664 - $9 something each. Outrageous.

MGMT were playing on the telly & I found I had a small hole in my tights. We ended up ripping them to shreds & we have some video footage that I think looks kinda neat.

Sunday was full of fun. I can't remember specific details but we did a lot of shopping, ate a lot, drank a lot, had a nice beer at another cool Irish pub & decided that we had to get to the Pancake Manor before we left. We left the pub & began our trek for pancakes. We walked & walked & asked for directions & walked some more, looked at the map aswell... finally we found the Pancake Manor - I might add that if we had have crossed the road when we left the Irish pub we would have been there in like 3 minutes, but instead we did a round house trip. Earlier that day Ben & I had decided it would be best if we purchased some glow in the dark silly string & coloured hair spray. Also we all decided to buy apples to attempt to make jack-o-lanterns as the pumpkins were way too expensive & big. The apples lanterns turned out swimmingly. We also got some coconut oil to do some Tai Chi & work out sesh's.

This is a mischievous little tale...

Anyway the days flew, the last day we tried our luck on 1 last pack of vanilla cigars - the guy said they were the best - last night we actually tried them & nope, they were terrible aswell. We will find a good one eventually.

We parted ways at the train station & Sarm & I made it with 1 minute to spare. We made it to the airport with about 1 & half hour til departure. Man, we had some great noodles, though Sarm had to modify my chopsticks because I'm shit & he made them into tongs with my hairtie- very handy.

We sat & spoke for way too long & were almost late for the plane, actually we thought we missed it as we were still sitting waiting when we were meant to be in the air. Thank goodness (in the nicest possible way) a lady smashed her head on the plane door handle in our plane that just arrived in Brisbane, the ambulance had to come etc & we left 30 minutes later.

It was an amazing trip. There are several details missing but this would have been an extreme blog if I had added them.

Over & out.