Saturday 26th March 2016 - 20th Biennale of Sydney Cockatoo Island

Today I spent the day travelling by ferry from Circular Quay to Cockatoo Island my second Biennale site visited. This Biennale site is known as the Embassy of the Real and the weather was perfect to explore this Biennale site.

I heard quite a few disappointed visitors to this Biennale site. Mainly negative comments about having less artworks being exhibited around the island than in previous biennales.

I was excited to see what artist Lee Bul had install for this Biennale but was quite disappointed when I saw her actual artwork on exhibition - yes it was large but I have just returned from Canada and her artworks on exhibition over there were far more interesting.

There were some very good pieces of artwork on exhibition on the island and some leaving me to question "Is this actually art?"

If anyone remembers the "Google Train" from the last Biennale on Cockatoo Island through one of the 2 tunnels on Cockatoo Island, this year's exhibition through part of Dog-leg tunnel is just as memorable. However was it worth the 40 minute wait in a queue? You'll have to experience it for yourself to find out. Nobody that entered and exited the tunnel gave anything away about their experiences in the tunnel.

Out of the 21 or so artworks on exhibition I only have 3 favourite pieces of artwork on exhibition on the island this Biennale. One in the Industrial Precinct, one in the Upper Island/Convict Precinct and one in the Shipyard Design Precinct.

Did the artworks exhibited on this Biennale site portray the message of the Embassy of the Real ie "Virtual/Body/Sc-Fi"?
Yes I think it did. I rate this site 8/10

Please refer to youtube for video under 20th Biennale of Sydney - Cockatoo Island

Friday 25th March, 2016 - 20th Biennale Sydney MCA

I spent the afternoon at the Muesum of Contemporary Art Australia - my first stop of the 20th Biennale of Sydney which is on from 18th March - 5th June 2016 . Known as the Embassy of Translation the exhibitions at this site included various artworks using different types of mediums such as paper, material, foil and performing art on film.
Did the exhibitions portray the messages of the Embassy of Translation ie "Reinvent/Rewrite/Living Archive/History"?
Judge for yourself by visiting.
I rate this Biennale site 7/10

Friday 15th January 2016 - Friday 22nd January 2016 Welcome To Whistler - "The Australian Ski Capital Of The World!"

Its a right of passage - a trip to Canada isn't a trip without a visit to Whistler Blackcomb or one of the other major ski resorts. It is estimated that 80 - 90% of the Winter population in Whistler Blackcomb and some other interior ski resorts are Australian.

And a working holiday isn't a working holiday without getting a job as a minimum wage paid "Liftie" or getting a more prestigious job as a Level 1 Snowboarding/Ski instructor. (I am one of the exceptions to the rule - I did my working holiday in Vancouver rather than Whistler years ago). Bu be prepared accommodation in Whistler is limited and often basic - you go to Whistler to work for the lifestyle not to fund your travels hence the perks of a seasons pass in lieu of above award wages.

Everyone knows about Whistler but be warned what happens in Whistler stays in Whistler! To read instead of Welcome to Whistler - "The Australian Ski Capital of The World!" it read Welcome to Whistler -  "The STD Ski Capital of the World!" would be a futuristic public relations nightmare.

Whistler has changed remarkably over the past 18 years I have been staying there. What was once 2 separate mountains owned by 2 separate organisations is now 1. Whistler Blackcomb was hailed from a former rubbish dump site. Since the Winter Olympics in 2010 hosted in Whistler Blackcomb, there has been an expansion of its lift system to include the Peak to Peak Gondola, expansion of its runs on the mountains and installation of an outdoor/indoor ice skating rink near the Olympic Plaza in the village. Whistler has become unfortunately what can only be described as "overly commercial" ie expensive however quite an achievement for a former rubbish dump site. I can only ask the question "How much more expensive can a lift ticket get?"

Whistler may have been voted #1 North American Ski Resort time and time again but you notice I mentioned # 1 North American Ski Resort NOT #1 Canadian Ski Resort - that's because literally the Americans own it not the Canadians.

Whistler Blackcomb is a year round resort and during the Winter season offers many other activities apart from downhill skiing and snowboarding. There used to be a list of 100 things to do in Whistler and I have probably done most of them. Each year more activities and events are added. Following are just a few of the activities and events I have participated in or attended:

1. Snowshoeing/Cross Country Skiing (Classic and Skate) around Lost Lake. Tip - don't ask a local how far it is to the Lake especially if they tell you it's just around the corner"! (See photo attached)

2. Ice Skating at the indoor/outdoor ice skating rink in Whistler Village. It's free if you have your own skates but relatively cheap if you have to hire them.

3. Zip Treking - there are now 3 different Zip lines across Whistler Blackcomb Mountains - Bear, Eagle and the new addition Mammoth . Each one higher then the other. There is also a day to night Zip Trek tour. All tours have an Eco/Sustainability emphasis. Alternatively there is a a tree trek tour if you are a little scared of heights or do not satify the age , height or weight restrictions.

4. The Film Movement - usually run once a month on a Thursday night at Whistler library, foreign film unseen anywhere else are screened and is free admission.

5. Tubing - take the gondola from Whistler Village on Blackcomb Mt to mid station and walk to the tube park for some tubing fun . Tip : if it's your first time ensure to tell the tube operator at the top not to spin you in the tube down the mountain!

6. Bald Eagle Tour - this an eco tour outside of Whistler.  Let the mini bus pick you up and drop you off from your village accommodation for a day trip to spot bald eagles at Brakendale near Sqarmish. Visit lookout points you would normally not stop at for photo opportunities along the Sea to Sky Highway. Visit a salmon hatchery. Spot other wildlife along the way.

7.  See a movie at The Village 8 Cinema in Whistler Village.  Latest movies usually screening.

8. Visit Alpine Meadows Sports Centre. Before I bought my timeshare and before the indoor/outdoor ice skating rink in the village was built I used to take public transit and go ice skating and use the pool and hot tub facilities there. The centre has also has a gym and squash courts.

9. Visit Whistler Museum and aWhistler Library. The current site of Whistler Museum was the original site of Whistler Library. There is a small admission fee to visit the musuem. If you are after good free wifi then Whistler library is the place to go. Join the library and read a book.

10. Shopping and dinning out. Shopping in Whistler is not all about wintersports gear and clothing although there are plenty of stores catering for this around. Whistler also has 2 Rexall pharmacies or as the North Americans call them "Drug Stores" and a Shoppers Drugmart; an IGA supermarket and a Whistler Grocery Store; several chain stores such as GAP, Lole, Helli Hansen, The Bodyshop, Rogers (the telecommunications store) and
( - not to be confused with) Rogers Chocolates, Lush; fast food chains such as McDonalds and KFC as well as Starbucks x 2, Blenz, bottleshops (very important - most ski resorts will have a bottleshop even if there is no supermarket) - Whistler has at least 2 - BC Liquor and the bottle store next to the Whistler Grocery Store and this is not including shopping at Creekside (where the plebs stay) and The Benchlands ( where the posh stay). Dining out there are plenty of concessions , bars, clubs, cafes and resturants to choose from - examples ARAXI, BLACKS, MONGOLIAN GRILL, THE SPEGETTI VILLAGE, GARFUNKLES, that burito place in Marketplace Village North and that $4 cheap meals place that's always packed on the corner near Main Street? and Earles on Top I think it is or it could be a Milestones.

11. Celebrate Australia Day in Whistler. Australia Day celebrations in Whistler are bigger in Whistler than back home in Australia. People line up in the snow for hours just to get into the famous LONGHORN SALOON. Fosters (that's not even an Australian beer! Who drinks that anymore?) , XXXX, Coopers, Victoria Bitter, flags aound the neck, flannel shirts, shorts, trackie daks, UGG boots, thongs, Akubras, t-shirts, temporary face paint, tattooed flags, lip and nose zinc etc . I've seen it all - Cricket in the snow, Australia's Top 40 played even the rumour of someone changing the "Welcome to Whister" sign to read "Welcome to Australia" and random breath testing on the slopes and people wasted staggering around Whistler Village the day before Australia Day!

12. Indoor rock climbing - unsure if this activity still exists but there were several indoor climbing walls inside the old Rainbow Theatre which was the original cinema before The Village 8 arrived.

13. Watch the weekly fireworks after the Fire and Ice Show in the village on Sunday nights.

14. Take a bus any bus  outside of Whistler Village to explore Creekside Village (unless you acvidently take a wrong run and end up skiing down there) , The Benchlands, Alpine Meadows and Emerald Estate, Chekamus (oops unsure how to spell this) and even Function Junction.

The list of things to do and places to see are endless.

Saturday 5th March, 2016 - Happy Mardi Gras! Tolerance - Acceptance - Diversity

For anyone that didn't go to the Mardi Gras parade here is just a preview of the one big street party that lasted 3 hours. Apologies for the poor footage I kept getting video bombed by strangers therefore only have limited uninterrupted footage to upload.

My only complaint the police that tried to clear the area near the start of the parade where I originally found my way to along with hundreds of others - a dead end . I was standing on my collapsible stool and my back pack on my back trying to take a photo with my phone on my selfie stick. I felt a tug on my back pack which made me topple from my stool and police yelling basically not to clear the area politely but telling me to "bugger off" out of the area along with everyone else. Luckily I was uninjured from being yanked off my stool or trampled by the crowd there. It was dark so I could not identify the police officer that tugged my backpack. The crowds kept coming after I left the area. Oops looks like blogger does't like videos. 

Sunday 13th March, 2016 Moorabool Farmers Farm Fresh Bus Tour - "Food From Paddock To Plate"

I had so much fun over the 2 day Strawberry and Cherry Festival last November I decided to return to Bacchus Marsh for their annual 1 day Harvest Festival in March.

This time I booked myself on the Moorabool Farmers Fresh Farm Bus Tour - 1 day, 5 farm stops , a coach full of farming enthusiasts and a buffet lunch in between made this very first Fresh Farm Bus Tour a complete day of fun and success. Goodies bag on the bus which included a snack and water also a very good idea especially on a hot day.

Going on this Fresh Farm Bus Tour has made me appreciate where my food comes from more. -the huge amount of hard work that goes into producing food, the huge amount of capital invested into producing food and the high level of technology that goes into producing food. I will never look at a product in the supermarket in the same way again.

I can only rate this bus tour which was run by farmers and not professional tour operators a 10/10! From the very start it was well organised. Timing was a bit of an issue at first but soon settled down as the day went by.

There were talks of plans to run a second fresh farm tour in a different region concentrating on potatos , meat and dairy farming for 2017 on this bus tour - Sign me up!

I won't actually write about this tour much in my blog as I have uploaded onto YouTube  (under Moorabool Farmers) 5 short videos of each farm stop detailed below:

Pick up 9.30 am from Bacchus Marsh Railway Station (coming from Melbourne on a Sunday timetable it was absolutely vital to catch the one and only  8.15 am train from Southern Cross Station to Bacchus Marsh Station in order to arrive in time for the Fresh Farm Bus Tour coach waiting at the station)
Drop off around 3.30 pm at Bacchus Marsh Railway Station (with option to stay in the main street of town to enjoy the Harvest Festival's other activities returning to Bacchus Marsh Railway Station around 5 pm)

Stop # 1 Parwan Valley Mushrooms - "Mushroom Farming"
I've always wanted to visit a mushroom farm. This may not be the stinky humid old disused underground railway tunnel that I have always imagined where mushrooms would flourish but it was one state of the art mushroom farm. With mushroom samples to take back with us, I had already planned what I was going to cook for dinner when I returned to Melbourne that afternoon - pasta with mushrooms in a tomato sauce. Any left overs I will take back to NSW with me.

Stop # 2 Balliang Food & Fibre - "Growing Grain"
I was amazed at the vastness of the stubbled land and the size of the machinery used to plant and harvest grains and legumes. Does anyone not own a green and yellow John Deer piece of machinery on their farms out here? Next time I go to the supermarket and buy a museli bar for example I will stop and think about the technology, capital investment and labour that went into producing the ingredients used in this museli bar. Some of the products produced by 4th generation Australian farmers were Barley, Wheat, Spelt, Peas, Beans, Lupin, Chickpeas, Oats . Could have done with some wheat so I could take it back to NSW with me and have it milled and made into homemade bread! Way to go if you have a thermomix or know someone that has one!

Stop #3 Table Top Vegetables - "Mixed Salad Greens"
The only thing I can say is how different a salad leaf tastes when it is straight off a farm rinsed dried and placed in a cool room to one that has been sitting on a supermarket shelf. Samples of mixed salad leaves did survive the trip back to NSW however like all salad leaves only had a very short shelf life. They were great on my cheese croissants I had back in Melbourne!

Lunch Break - buffet lunch @ local Town Hall in town
This was fantastic - everyone just loved the barley salad! Some had seconds! Great idea to have drink bottles as it became quite hot by the time we reached the final farm stop.

Stop #4 Naturipe Fruits - "Strawberry & Apple Picking"
Who would have thought that pomegranate or basil would go well with strawberries - hold the cream! This was our dessert stop after lunch. Followed by strawberry and apple picking. I am all too familiar with this property I was here picking cherries and strawberries last year during the strawberry and cherry festival - I did very well with the cherries however not so good with finding any strawberries they were all picked by the time I had arrived last year. It's time to redeem myself ! Success! Unfortunately due to moisture my strawberries did not survive very well this time round back to NSW - a few strawberries were frozen straight away and the majority were eaten or made into a fruit compote - pancakes here I come! I didn't wonder off to the apple trees which I recall last year were still undeveloped.

Stop # 5 Jeff Jones Plants & Produce  - "Fruit Salad Orchard & Growers Market"
Final stop - I bought a loaf of sour dough as I did on my last visit except by the time we arrived the ones I wanted were sold out ie potato and pumpkin sourdough loaves. There was an interesting pumpkin patch on this farm - samples of quince Ya pears apples and ornamental pumpkins were on offer to take home as well. I still have my quince and am unsure how to cook them , I tasted a Ya pear and it was like no other Ya pear I have eaten before - crunchy crispy juicy and sweet a cross between a green pear and a nashi apple. All sample of produce survived the trip back to NSW very well.


I only have one negative about the bus tour and that is the connection times between coach arriving and departing from Bacchus Marsh Station and the train timetable to and from Melbourne not corresponding - I had to wait 1.75 hours for the next train back to Melbourne. If I had opted to stay in town and return at 5 pm I would have missed the train I was waiting so long for back to Melbourne. No I wasn't going to Ballarat again as I did during the Strawberry and Cherry Festival last year - it turned out to be an even worse idea then waiting around Bacchus Marsh station for the next Melbourne train.

Saturday 12th March, 2016 - Alliance Francaise French Film Festival Melbourne (2nd - 24th March 2016)

The is something addictive about the French films selected to be screened at the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival around Australia that makes them "Must See" films. I could have easily watched the entire program of  films screened at the festival in one sitting.

Il y a quelque chose de dependance sur les films francais selecionnes pour etre projetes au Festival du film francais Alliance Francaise autour de lÁustralie qui les rend "Must See" films. Je aurais pu facilement regarde lénsemble du programme des films projetes au festival en une seule séance.

(apologies for any grammatical errors - autocorrect is really annoying and keeps changing my manual corrections)


Unfortunately on this particular Melbourne trip I could only manage to fit in 2 consecutive films which were screened at The Palace Como Cinema in South Yarra with its Chic French décor in its foyer. Imagine yourself sitting on a daybed sipping expensive French champagne from the bar surrounded by glass mirrors, crystal chandeliers, heavy curtains with gold tassels and wall to wall black velvet! There was even French music playing in the background of the washrooms!

At 4.15 pm I went to my first French film screening of The Student and Mr Henri (L'Étudiante et Monsieur Henri)
The film is about the relationship between the older generation and younger generation. It is centred around family expectations and going against them. It's about failure and perseverance. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry. I am sure many of us can or will relate to this film. Even if you don't understand or speak any French the storyline and humour of this film is quite easy to follow. English subtitles included. Duration approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes (including some pre screening previews of other films and advertisements).
My rating 9/10.

1/2 hour intermission (If I could call it that!)

At 6.30 pm I went to the screening of First Growth (Premiers Crus)
I selected this film for a reason - in preparation for my "Fresh Farm Tour" organised by Farming Moorabool tomorrow. Although I will not be visiting any working vineyards on the Fresh Farm Tour itinery, I wanted to appreciate life on the land and the risks involved in primary production for example yield and weather dependency. I wanted to appreciate the old and new science and technology behind primary production, the huge amounts of capital investment involved in order to keep primary production afloat and most of all appreciate the amount of hard work family and friends contribute to primary production. This film gives an insight into all of these aspects. It asks the question as with primary production in general "How and Why do some vineyards survive generation after generation where as others fail?" The film is about passion and commitment to the land. It's about backing yourself and taking risks. There is also a hint of romance throughout the film. Again this film is centred around family expectations although not necessarily going against them but returning to them. I love the scenery in this film. The French language is more serious and complex in this film however the storyline is still easy to follow - especially the words "Bankruptcy" and "Administration". Duration approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes (including some pre screening previews of other films and advertisements)
My rating 8/10

Saturday, 13th February 2016 - H2O Bar

Today I went to an Art and About exhibition which I had been planning to go to way before I departed for Canada and was hoping I didnt miss upon return. It's called the H2O bar. It's a temporary water bar set up in an old reservoir garage site. It's a series of chambers which is closed to the public but open for special events. The chambers lead into a permanent secret garden complete with a water feature. Great to visit all year round as it is semi enclosed and hidden below street level. Great for alone time and it's one of my favourite places to go just outside the city centre or downtown core. Very peaceful.
The H2O bar was set up in the first underground chamber and looks like a laboratory complete with chemists in white lab coats, glass pipettes, conical flasks, beakers and funnels. Each glass laboratory vessel contained water from different regions around Australia and is taged with the location, water type, chemical analysis and ph. We were given a glass test tube or beaker (I really hope these were not from a real testing laboratory and that they have all been sterilised through an autoclave!) to use as a tasting glass and samples of each of the waters were given to us to taste. At first all the water samples tasted the same but then I retasted random samples and my palette told me that some were just awful.  The best water sample I tasted was from The Snowy River full of minerals - really good for you - unlike Perrier more like Evian. Another water sample tasted chlorinated and Sydney water just tasted neutral.  We also tasted a sample of water high in naturally occurring cyanide.  Yep Cyanide but totally safe?! If you dont hear from me again then you know Ive dropped dead from it! There were also water samples from volcanic locations and an area where the water only gets collected when the wind blows in a certain direction only - wierd. The second chamber in the old garage reservoir was set up for a 2 hour workshop between 3 pm and 5 pm for families. This was a free prebooked event . I didnt sign up for it but had a look at what types of activities were involved in the workshop.
I took a photo of each of the water sample analysis. 2 of the water samples were actually commercially available bottled water . I'll be looking in the supermarket for these!
Some of the activities in the workshop involved tasting each water samples and describing them and testing the ph of each water sample.
Overall a great event! Enjoyed it very much.