iaskedforwonder.com

Finally I have my visa! So I’m a legal alien now and looking forward to getting on with what I came here to do. It was a good experience being in Auckland but the visa process did dominate so a return visit under less complicated circumstances is a must. Worked out well in the end and gave us the opportunity to catch up with my cousin and her husband who moved to NZ over 30 years ago - pioneers! So, if you plan to move out here the moral of this tale is make sure you don’t use a useless agent as the go-between - it would have been easier if I had done it myself considering the whole thing was handled in the UK! Something I only found out at the eleventh hour. It could all have been sorted while we were still in the UK - but the bright side is that we got to see New Zealand and now have a couple more stamps in our passports!

The Australian bureaucracy in its dark wisdom decided that we should leave Australia before we could be granted our working visa - so we’re in Auckland and making the most of it (in between waiting ages in the Embassy waiting room only to be told to return the next day to wait a bit longer).Yesterday we took a trip up to the top of the Sky Tower which affords some fantastic views of the City and surrounding area. Plus you get the chance to walk on air - well, a glass floor 328 metres above the streets below. Amazing experience - if I had the money I may have even took the opportunity to jump off it - harnessed to a cable of course - maybe another time. Another first for me was a Chinese massage. My neck and shoulders have been a bit tense recently so I paid $30 for a neck, shoulders and back massage in a shopping mall. The girl who did the massage was about four feet tall and tiny - don’t be fooled! She had a vice like grip and elbows like steel rods and it HURT! But boy did it work - amazing! I will be taking the opportunity again when I get back to Oz - if ever you’re out here you’ll see a lot of massage services out on the street and in Malls - give it a go - no pain no gain!

Watched this excellent film last night - As It Is In Heaven - it’s Swedish so has subtitles but that doesn’t detract from what is a powerful story of the human spirit and the power of music. It’s the tale of a musical prodigy who is bullied as a boy and who grows up to be an obsessive composer who eventually becomes ill from his obsession. He returns to the small Lutheran community he left as a child and gradually transforms the choir of the local church. The transformation goes far beyond just the performance and ability of the choir to the lives of the individuals involved - including the recovering composer. It sounds as though it could be a bit schmultsy but  I can assure you it isn’t. It deals sensitively and honestly with real life issues and pulls no punches. One of my favourite characters is the wife of the Lutheran Pastor who finds the freedom to be herself much to the displeasure of her husband who is repressed beyond belief (but sadly I have met many like him). It’s an inspirational film that in an age dominated by cynicism we would all do well to watch every now and then. Oh well, back to the decorating - I’ll post more regularly once we’re done and settled in the new place.

Just watched Walk The Line the film of Johnny Cash’s early years with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. Both fine portrayals of their characters. It’s an honest portrayal of how fame can be both addictive and destructive in equal measure. It isn’t difficult to see the parallels between the addiction to fame and how that is played out in other addictions during the course of the pursuit. There are some good lines in the film and my favourite was the words of Sam Phillips who produced Cash’s first record. After stopping the band part way into a routine gospel song he gets into a conversation with Cash about why it wouldn’t do for him to just sing gospel since everyone was doing it on every radio station and it had no authenticity - nothing to grab the audience since it wasn’t real, he says, If you was hit by a truck and you was lying out there in that gutter dying, and you had time to sing one song. Huh? One song that people would remember before you’re dirt. One song that would let God know how you felt about your time here on Earth. One song that would sum you up. You tellin’ me that’s the song you’d sing? That same Jimmy Davis tune we hear on the radio all day, about your peace within, and how it’s real, and how you’re gonna shout it? Or… would you sing somethin’ different. Somethin’ real. Somethin’ you felt. Cause I’m telling you right now, that’s the kind of song people want to hear. That’s the kind of song that truly saves people. It ain’t got nothin to do with believin’ in God, Mr. Cash. It has to do with believin’ in yourself. On hearing this Cash goes on to sing, and subsequently record, Folsom Prison Blues - the rest is history. One of my favourite Cash songs is a cover of a Depeche Mode classic - Personal Jesus - I think Cash improves on their fine effort.

Listen to Personal Jesus

The title of this post shows my age and my origins - it was the catch phrase of a comedian called Bobby Ball who was one half of the comic duo Cannon and Ball based in the north of England back in the seventies. Tommy was Cannon’s first name and Bobby would make stupid faces as he pulled on his braces saying, “Rock on Tommy”. Comedy was simple in the seventies and also not very good really. But back to Tommy soon - first, the photo - I snapped this ‘little’ fella in the garden of a friends house whilst trying to identify a huge flying creature that was hovering across the water of their swimming pool. It was of course a dragon fly - a huge one (everything is huge in this country, especially the bugs!) It wouldn’t stay still enough for me to snap it but then I noticed the grasshopper munching away on the hedge. I switched to macro mode and managed to capture this photo. If you click on the photo it will take you to a bigger version which shows the detail of how complex and beautiful this creature is. It is a feat of incredible engineering and an obvious inspiration for Alien in the film of the same name.

Now, back to Tommy - or to be more precise, Tom Tom. If the engineering of the grasshopper is incredible then it has to be admitted that the engineering that goes into the invention of the Tom Tom is also worthy of recognition. It is a marvel of technology that enables a very tiny man (or woman if you choose) to fit into a little box with a TV screen and tell you how to get anywhere you want to go in the world! Being new to Brisbane it is great to have Tom Tom to tell us how to get to the supermarket and then how to get home. Even better is that when I still make a wrong turn he can quickly work out how to get me back on track. Rock on Tom Tom!

This week we witnessed our first storm in Brisbane. We have been told about how dramatic they could be and this one was certainly that. My little video doesn’t really do it justice but we were informed by those who know about these things that it was a pretty big one. The thunder was deafening - the kind you can feel resonate in your chest - and the lightening was both sheet and fork. In the video, if you’re quick,  you can catch a little bit of the forked (just before you hear Joan say, “did you get that?”) - but we witnessed more dramatic stuff that I was unable to capture on film. I love storms, always have and so I was thrilled to see my first one here. I began trying to take still photos but of course it is a bit pointless because you need the reactions of a zen master and a camera that can respond before you have even clicked the shutter so in the end I started shooting video (that reminds me, I must read the manual to my new digital camera). The downside was that I had to rest my elbows on the fencing out on the porch to steady the camera and I either had a bad reaction to something on the fence or a mozzie or some other flesh eating blood sucking varmant had a feast on my arms - the swelling and redness is only just dying down. I am reliably informed by a nurse friend of mine that this is just evidence of a healthy immune system building up resistance so maybe I will soon be immune to the little buggers! Either that or I will join the ranks of other superheroes as Mozzieman - not quite as romantic as Spiderman but a catchy name don’t you think? - suggestions as to what my super powers might be welcome in the comments . . .

We’ve been in Australia for almost a month and in Brisbane for half that time. There is no doubt that this is a beautiful country accentuated by gasps and “Wow’s” as we turn every corner. We have been on a kind of mini retreat for the past couple of days without Internet access except for my iPhone which is why I haven’t posted for a couple of days. But thanks to a nifty widget on my iPhone I am now able to post (but as yet not include a picture). I am eager to get going in my new position and a window opened by a tiny crack today that suggests I may have the opportunity sooner than we had been led to believe. My visa could be completed within the next two weeks - bring it on!

I think that this band may be my first live gig in Australia. They’re called Augie March and even though I have only heard a handful of their songs I have a feeling I will like them a great deal. They have elements of Arcade Fire and not surprisingly other influences can be heard ranging from Dylan to Mercury Rev. They feel refreshing and intelligent and not typically ‘Australian’ in their sound and style. If you search for these guys on iTunes you will find only a single and a few tracks included on compilation albums. They’ve been around for 12 years and still remain almost anonymous and yet highly aclaimed by those in the know. In 2006 they had a good response to a song called One Crowded Hour which I have included in this post for those who would like to hear them. They are touring and make their appearance in Brisbane on November 28th - I’ll let you know how it goes . . .
Listen to One Crowded Hour

After managing to arrange for the sanding and sealing of our floors  in the new home before the furniture is delivered we took a trip to the Glasshouse Mountains travelling up north from Brisbane. At the risk of sounding boring it was yet again a journey of incredible views and spectacular skyscapes. The mountains themselves resembled something out of Lord of the Rings and the rolling valleys were surprisingly green for such a hot climate. We called in at a few gems hidden amongst the ferns, palms and trees and in one of them I managed to pick out an Akubra hat - the iconic Australian headgear - and if I say so myself it is pretty dapper - now I’m a proper Crocodile Dundee! And the mention of crocodiles reminds me that as we drove up the coast there were huge billboards with CRIKEY! blazoned across them advertising Steve Irwin’s zoo - we even drove along the newly named Steve Irwin Way, named in his honour after his tragic death. We’re thinking that our next trip up the Sunshine Coast will be a trip to the zoo - sad we will not get to see the great man but by all accounts the zoo is well worth the visit. All I need now is my horse and since will live very close to not one but two race courses I may be able to arrange it!

I’m walking the busy streets of Brisbane, swept along by the crowds of people making their way through the retail outlets and workplaces. The buildings scrape the skyline looming above us and suddenly I am confronted by an island of huge trees. They look ancient and it isn’t unreasonable to think that they may well be but my research reveals that they are probably around a hundred and sixty years old rather than thousands. They are two white fig trees and one banyan tree. They have roots descending from their branches reaching to the ground which form a dappled curtain - hence their common name of Curtain Trees. I love the fact that they stand defiant in the midst of rushing commuters, shoppers and passing traffic. How long will it be before I pass them by without a second thought as so many of the other Brisbane residents appear to do? Hopefully never - even if these particular trees aren’t as ancient as many of those we saw on our journey through NSW and Queensland, they stand as a reminder that the land is ancient and our place in it is very recent - something I hope I do not forget in the rush of modern living. My photo is a bit too small to do justice so if you’re interested you can see a better one here.