I’m still recovering and still basking in the musical afterglow of an extraordinary weekend at Aireys Inlet. A combination of both relaxing time-out away from the family with girlfriends, combined with pumping action at the Aireys Inlet Pub – the hub of the local music festival.
Driving along the Great Ocean Road, the coastal town of Aireys Inlet seems pretty quiet and sedate. Houses are dotted sporadically through the bush and there’s still a rural feel with plenty of dirt roads, squawking cockatoos and the crash of the ocean in the distance.
Even the General Store, with its petrol pumps out front, harks back to a bygone era. But last weekend, if you’d crossed the road to the Aireys Inlet Pub, it was another world altogether – a bustling, thumping hive of creativity and musical passion.
The car park was rammed as visitors from all over Australia and some international guests, joined locals for the annual Aireys Inlet Open Mic Music Festival.
A lone toddler gets up close and personal with a performer.
It’s an eclectic festival featuring more than 160 acts, which all donate their time and energy. What’s extraordinary about this event, is the wonderful community feel. It seems like everyone is the area has contributed on some level. Families turn up with toddlers and grandparents, while teenagers rock out up front, close to the stage.
Singer Ben Brown travelled from Bendigo to perform at the festival.
The local school kids painted designs over cardboard cutouts of guitars, which are plastered all over venues about town. Plus, this wonderful event is actually FREE. Guests are only asked to contribute cash to buckets at performances, with what they feel the festival has been worth to them. Wow. That’s unheard of!
And the food at the Aireys Inlet Pub is sensational! I was reluctantly talked into ordering a Thai Green Chicken Curry for main course, as mostly Asian food in rural areas tends to disappoint… Not so here. In fact, I think I’d be hard-pressed to think of a Melbourne restaurant that does one better. DELICIOUS. As for the chicken parmigiana, my girlfriend Vanessa couldn’t even eat half, the serving was so huge.
I was even impressed with the wine list. GOOD CHARDONNAY!! Yay – my favourite, a local wine, Scotchman’s Hill completed my overwhelming satisfaction with the evening. They’re pretty good at hospitality, these folk at the Aireys Inlet Pub.
After dinner, we braved the testing weather to head outside, but soon forgot about the cold when local band Altitude turned up the volume. These guys are one of the festival’s youngest, coolest and most popular bands – being veterans who’ve performed here for the past six years.
Here’s a clearer but less colourful shot. My camera was playing up in the weather… Lead singer and band manager Liam Brennan describes their sound as ‘garage rock’. He says like most rock bands, they’re hoping for fame and glory, all the while writing good music and having fun.
The guys have just left school and plan to focus on writing a heap more music while at uni before looking for serious professional management. They are super talented, so I’d advise anyone in management to take a look and get in line.
It wasn’t too hard to head home at the end of the night. As much as I’d LOVED the music and the vibe at the pub, I knew I was heading back to Number 8 Beach Road. Luckily, just stumbling distance up the road…
There’s also a comfy lounge-room, complete with open fireplace. We were too tired after the festival to light one up, but I was impressed there was chopped wood ready and waiting by the back door if we’d wanted one.
Earlier in the day, I’d caught up with Lili Biderman, from Great Ocean Retreats, who told me how she’d had the business for seven years, and couldn’t think of a better job. She says they have several properties, catering to both ends of the market – those on the budget end and high-end. And just to make you feel at home, they can also organise catering or car hire if needed. Now that’s service…
I want to tell you more about the mystery guest who performed at the festival on Sunday, plus the 11-year-old girl who stole my heart with her singing… but I’ve rambled on for long enough, so you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to hear that.
But one more thing before I go, if you would like to stay in the wonderful Number 8 Beach Road in Aireys Inlet, just get in touch with Great Ocean Retreats. This is their website, plus the rates for the property. Get in quick though. I’m seriously thinking about booking for next summer…
Sometimes the logistics of running a family get tricky. For instance, what happens if your husband has bought a ticket to a Neil Young concert this weekend (in Geelong) and then at the same time, you’re offered an amazing weekend away along the Great Ocean Road, staying at an up-market beach property overlooking the sea, to cover the Airey’s Inlet Music Festival – but your teen daughter needs DESPERATELY to go to a party in Melbourne and your son is playing in an all-important school cricket match???
Hmmm… As I said, tricky. Plus, this weekend happens to be our 23rd wedding anniversary. Which we celebrated in fine style at Ezard’s restaurant in the city last night. Definitely one of Melbourne’s best on every level. I was particularly impressed that they noted it was a special occasion and decorated our desserts to suit.
But back to this weekend. Often my amazing Mum and step-father help out with the kids, but as it turns out, my older brother had already booked their services… So Fletch, bless him, realised this was a great blogging opportunity for me and gave up his ticket to see Mr Young to stay home and ferry the kids about to their various commitments. What a guy!!!
THAT IS WHY FLETCH GETS A HUGE GOLD STAR THIS WEEKEND.
This ALSO left me free to turn this into a ‘girl’s weekend’ and invite along a few mates for a break from domestic and kiddie duties. And yes, they were pretty happy with the offer to head down to one of Victoria’s most picturesque holiday locations for an uber cool music festival AND stay at a beautiful holiday home.
Driving down to Airey’s Inlet, I had to stop along the way and marvel at the view from the Great Ocean Road. Truly stunning, isn’t it? As a child, I was lucky enough to enjoy several family holidays at Fairhaven, just up the road from Airey’s Inlet, so it felt a bit like going home.
Erin Hughes, from Great Ocean Retreats sorts us out
I dropped in to Great Ocean Retreats to pick up our keys and was mighty impressed with their organisational talents. Marketing manager Erin Hughes had printed lanyards for the music festival ready and waiting, printed directions to our property with the keys AND she had even found out what wine I liked and told me TWO BOTTLES of chardonnay plus a cheese platter were in the fridge waiting for us. Tick, tick and DOUBLE tick. I knew from the moment I met her she was my kinda gal!
Then we set off to the house and found a magnificent two storey property, with double-bedrooms both upstairs and downstairs, two bedrooms with bunks for the kids we left behind, and two living areas. Both double bedrooms also come with their own massive ensuite bathrooms.
The kitchen is modern and open-plan, with wonderful wide benches, which would be brilliant if we actually wanted to cook, but no, maybe next time… There’s too many bands to see down here to waste time slaving over a hot stove.
Even better, most of the bands are playing at the Airey’s Inlet Pub which JUST HAPPENS to be a stone’s throw from our beachside mansion!!! Now ain’t that a happy coincidence… Oh yes, the house is also walking distance from the beach too. Of course.
I’m going to show you more pictures and give you the lowdown on the music festival on Monday, but for now, I want to get to the pub and enjoy myself. And if you haven’t got anything planned for tomorrow, jump in the car and head on down. Cheers!
Sometimes Melbourne’s taxi services leave a lot to be desired. I really tire of drivers who don’t know left from right, let alone how to get anywhere, such as the location of our major icons – even the MCG. Why they don’t have to pass a test like the London cabbies do – with THE KNOWLEDGE – beats me.
And then, with our recent spell of hot weather, there’s the matter of personal hygiene… EWW! Shouldn’t the use of deodorant be mandatory??? Even better, let’s lobby for legislation.
But it’s not within my budget to afford a limo every time we go out. Heck, I’m quite happy with public transport if I’m not in high heels with trussed up hair heading somewhere fancy. But hang on… I do wear heels quite a bit….
So I was delighted when I heard a new service, called UBER, was being introduced in Melbourne, to fill that gap in the market – for those wanting something more up-market than a taxi but not so pricey as a limo. It’s already proved a hit overseas, with Uber cars in most major cities including London, Paris, New York and Berlin.
UBER promises a service with sleek black cars, air-conditioning and drivers who know exactly where they’re heading. (And are groomed appropriately!) Even better, Uber has an amazing I-phone App which is incredibly accurate. It will tell you exactly how many minutes away your driver is, so you can decide to proceed with a booking or not.
THIS is how a travelled when I headed out last night. Mev, the Uber driver, turned up to within a second of the estimated time and I never had to tell him which way to go to get to The Smith restaurant in Prahran. (one of my favourites!!)
It might cost a few dollars more (the average cost compared with a taxi ride is about 30% more) but the quality and efficiency are worth it. As well, you don’t have to worry about payment at the end of the trip as it’s all charged automatically to your credit card. Those details are sorted when you sign up. And you’re not expected to tip the driver either – just be polite! The website is easy to navigate too, at Uber.com.
Now isn’t that better than finding yet another tax driver who doesn’t have the right change? Arghhh – that always drives me crazy.
Now I can sit back and relax, and enjoy an UBER ride every time.
(NOTE: The Uber Group kindly donated vouchers to the Goodie Bags of our Sisterhood Charity function on Valentine’s day, raising funds for cardiac research at St Vincent’s Hospital)
You all loved the blogs about my muffin-top experiment so much that I’ve decided I really should get off my butt and try another beauty treatment – just to keep you entertained. I mean, heck, it’s not like I CARE what I look like, or anything??? All in the name of duty, right?
It just seems that’s there’s so MUCH stuff out there about how to improve our faces and bodies – how do we actually sift the good from the shonky and know what actually works?
Don’t go thinking I’m going to turn into some kind of Jocelyn Wildenstein, though. I do understand the meaning of restraint. And just in case I went all silly, I KNOW Fletch would pull me into line. He even hates lipstick. To the point that he WIPED HIS MOUTH after kissing me at the alter during our wedding. The shame…
Luckily the kind folk at the Liberty Belle Clinic in Toorak, where I underwent the Cool Sculpting process, are happy to help out, so I went along to check out the different procedures available.
Looking through all their brochures, I learned there’s a helluva lot of different and NEW treatments available to improve ourselves that I’ve never heard of. I could easily hang around this clinic for years. After focusing so much on my tummy last year, I thought it was time my face got a bit of attention. When I saw this brochure with the line ‘A Fresher Face WiTHOUT Surgery’ – I snatched it up faster than you could say ‘Botox’. Because, yes, I have had Botox and I love it, but something new and different is always appealing. This treatment is called Pelleve.
I’m at that age where anything promoting WRINKLE REDUCTION warrants immediate attention, especially now those nasty lines around the neck region are becoming more prominent. Unfortunately, if I’m to blog about this, it means more humiliating photos of myself to show you what really happens….
So I have to show you a really ICKY close-up photo of my face without makeup, so you can get the gist. Ewww. These pics are taken by the lovely staff at Liberty Belle in the same photo room each time so the lighting is consistent too – very legit!! This snap was taken before my first treatment.
But getting back to howPelleve works… In the brochure, it explains how a metal probe is used over the skin – using gradual radio frequency that becomes quite hot at times – to stimulate the re-growth of collagen. The effect is not immediate and you really need about three treatments over a course of several months. But I’m assured it WILL work.
To give you a much better understanding of the science behind all this, I’m going to interview Dr Chris Moss (you met him last time, chatting about the Cool Sculpting fat freezing treatment) who will explain it properly. He’s a very busy man, but I’m going to nail him down in the next few weeks for the nitty gritty and get back to you. Then I’ll have some Pelleve sessions and, over time, we’ll see how my wrinkles go. (Away, I hope.)
(For further enquiries, contact the Liberty Belle Skin Centre on 9826 9988 Address: 504 – 506 Toorak Road, Toorak)
For most writers, the dream begins at an early age. That burning desire to create a book that you’ll one day hold in your hands – physical proof you’ve achieved your goal of becoming a published author. It’s the validation most writers seek that their words really do have some merit.
These days it’s harder than ever to have a book published that’s printed on paper. The increasing popularity of e-books is taking a toll on many a writer’s dream. All the more reason for author Ailsa Piper to be celebrating, with news this week that her first book, Sinning Across Spain, is to be re-released one year on, in the smaller B format, coming out in April.
But sometimes reality falls short of our dreams, so I’m curious to find out if Ailsa’s experience has lived up to expectations. Having a book published is also the start of a long journey – promotional commitments, signings at bookshops, media interviews, appearances at writers festivals – all very much a part of what needs to happen to generate a buzz about your book. Has it been everything she’d hoped for?
‘It’s still continuing,’ said Ailsa. ‘The thing I didn’t realise, being a first-time author, is that it can be six months or a year and you think the book has done its dash, and then suddenly a letter comes in talking about it transforming someone’s life or you’re invited to another writers festival – so it’s been an amazing journey.’
As well, the subject matter of Ailsa’s book has led to some added complications. It’s a real-life account of her travels, hiking through north-west Spain and following a long-held tradition of carrying other’s sins to buy forgiveness. That’s not because Ailsa is deeply religious – rather she was exploring a spiritual concept to help her write a play, unaware at the time her experiences would end up becoming a successful book.
‘Because this book is about confession, people have made a decision on some level that I’m the vault and can keep secrets, so they tell me extraordinary things. In fact, in the last few months, because of the royal commission into sexual abuse and the fact that the book deals with someone’s whose brother committed suicide as a victim of abuse by a cleric – that has led to people telling me about the abuse of their children, their siblings… That’s been quite hard but I’m also very aware I’m privileged to receive their stories.’
I imagine that could be quite a lot for one person to carry. Is the weight of such stories sometimes too much to bear? ‘There was a day last year where I felt my heart would break because I had about six people at one book signing come up with those stories and then I came home and heard from someone I know, who had had a similar experience and it came very close to home. I don’t have much to offer except to listen, but I’ve come to understand that listening is not a bad thing. It’s small thing, but it’s something.’
But the subject of abuse is just one of many issues raised in the book. In fact, Ailsa says she’s often surprised by the number of ways readers have interpreted her work. ‘It depends on the reader,’ she said. ‘Some people read it just for the story about the Camino and there are people who read it because they love the poetic nature of the descriptions about landscape and Spain. Others go into the morality side of things. It reminds me that a book is co-written by the reader, in a way that has really surprised me. One person’s experience of the book can be completely different to another’s.’
Part of the book’s success has led to Ailsa being invited to many writers festivals – definitely an upside of sinning. In the past year, she’s been part of festivals at Airey’s Inlet, Byron Bay, Daylesford, Perth, Denmark and Albany. Next on the agenda is the Sydney Writers Festival in May. The main benefit of these, says Ailsa, is that they open the book up to an audience who may not have known about it.
I’m sure part of the reason for Ailsa’s book finding such a broad audience is that it appeals to those interested in pursuing a spiritual quest that isn’t necessarily religious in the traditional sense. Ailsa herself was brought up as a Catholic, but her parents divorced when she was little, and she was never forced to go to church.
‘I loved all the rituals – the candles, the incense – I still love all that. But I was always angry I couldn’t be an altar girl and that thing about a woman’s place in the church was frustrating, so I had skepticism from early on. I wanted to believe, but kept questioning things. Even on the walk, I wanted to believe and that’s why I kept going to churches. I really do envy people who have their faith.’
For myself, I found the book satisfying in that Ailsa’s long and arduous quest in Spain does lead to a form of spiritual realisation. I don’t want to give away the ending, but I think it’s something many will relate to. And it doesn’t mean you’ll feel any pressure to get to church every Sunday. But you might want to put on your walking shoes and appreciate the here and now, instead of trying to get to heaven.
