Gene Vincent Tribute Show
Prior to his Show at the Hervey Bay Boat Club Eddie Daniels rang the FraserCoast FM radio studios and I had the privilege of interviewing him all pre arranged (so I could press the 6 second profanity button !just in case) The interview was a hoot and I mistakenly called his show the Gene Vincent Show when of course it was the Gene PITNEY tribute show (Eddie as kindly made a promo for my show mentioning the hilarious incident! Eddie also provided me with some mp3 music that enabled me to play his music giving potential customers a pre look at his style.Eddie also presented my show on his & the Boat Clubs behalf with a fantastic give away prize ( I was almost tempted to resign on the spot so I could enter the draw) consisting of TWO tickets to his show,TWO Club Bistro Meals and TWO of his wonderful CDs,the phone in response was fantastic!
Eddie came on stage and before his show asked me to stand up and be recognized and did a great introduction to the FraserCoast FM 107.5 station in front of an estimated audience of 200 !! of course that sort of intro can only do good for the station.The first hour plus was dedicated to Gene Pitneys Songs and uncannily sounded just like GP ! The second half was full of songs from the 60s and certainly kept the crowd baying for more.Dancers were encouraged to use the smallish dance floor front stage while other patrons danced around their tables !! Accompanying Eddie was Suzie Lee and she is a ‘live wire’ on stage !! so much energy and the audience took to her immensely.All in all it was a great nights entertainment and looking forward to their next show in Hervey Bay (and hopefully a giggling interview ) Thanks Eddie for kindness shown and of course Suzie (maybe a word or 2 from her next time on the radio?) The winner of the ‘give away’ is pictured with me n Eddie ( of course I’m the good looking one)
Geoff Eddie Winner
Geoff Eddie Daniels
Sadly didn,t get a picture of Suzi (naturally that would have added beauty to this blog)
Brother Brian & his wife Tresha’s Visit to Oz
11.40 am and I,m looking resplendent in my sunnies and Akubra hat as they get of their aircraft from Brisbane (starting off in Manchester UK) looking very windswept ( well it was windy) Hugs and a bacon balmcake made them feel very welcome (which they are) after arriving back at our home. The day ended very well with us having a few beers in the Boat Club and getting them lifetime honary memberships (so they can use the FREE bus transport provided by the club!) followed by more drinks at the RSL Club .Needless to say we were barred originally from the Boat Club because Brian was wearing a vest !! Longs chats at home were the order of the day and off to bed.Thursday involved giving them a tour of our wonderful hometown followed by a visit to our local Radio Station where I host a show from 3pm to 6pm and followed again by a Dinner and drinks with friends at the RSL Club ( I won the meat raffle!) and I ended up drinkin TWO bottles of wine!! Friday was pretty laid back with a walk along Point Vernon Beach and to view the magnificent Mangroves that are plentiful and growing from an old reef (the very beggining of the Great Barrier Reef starts at this very place) I abstained from alcohol and went to bed around midnight.Saturday was spent beach walking and the girls did some house shopping and we all went for a walk on our fantastic pier (I managed half way !) We have booked tickets to see a Gene Pitney Tribute show at the Boat Club this evening with some friends..more about that on the next Blog
Wrought Iron,Me and Bragging Rights
In 1960 aged 15 yrs and 8 days old I started my apprenticeship as a Blacksmith Welder ( which as absolutely nothing to do with Horses!!) at Marton Forge 19 Bk Lomond Ave,Marton,Blackpool, Lancashire,England and over the course of the next few years I became very competent (smug I know) and learnt my trade very well mainly because I thoroughly enjoyed it ! Fortunately I was also able to learn Cellulose Paint Spraying ( a skill I used at night doing part time work for a Stove Enamelers whilst saving to get married and support a baby) Over the years I have gotten lazy and since working in an entirely different field as a Social Trainer (30 yrs) I am now retired and kept some of my old tools from way back when ( including my Anvil) and Annie has given me a kick up the Bum and motivated me into creating ironwork as illustrated. At the grand old age of 70 I have been reborn (yes I still act like an 11 yr old too!) and bringing back some of ( I thought I had lost) the skills I learnt over 4/5 yrs.Sadly my skill appears to be a dying one as I haven,t seen many ironwork’s around (Its mostly forged prefabricated stuff now) I am pleased with the results and have decided to pat myself on the back ! although if Annie has me making more pieces I fear our house will rust !!!!
Last full day afore Homeward Bound sadly
Day TWO and still getting on with each other
Saturday The very next day after a good nights sleep we are off on the road again heading towards Ban Ban Springs 40 kms outside Gaynor.We travelled thru the Bunya Mountains and had a brief spell in the very densely forrested historical National Park and is is Magnificent ! massive trees climbing to the skies,vines hanging from them as seen in old Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan pictures,sadly it was very misty at the mountain range top and views weren,t to be seen(we had climbed 1500 mtres via very steep roads,something we could not have done in our Motorhome) Also in abundance were many Blackboy trees and ferns.All in all the undergrowth is fantastic to be in..We traveled into Kingaroy and stopped for a Macca,s and then onto our destination thru Memerambi and saw lots of newly built house abandoned !! No sign of life in them and so sad to see all those vacant homes just going to ruin,then thru
Wooroolin,Tingoora,Wandai and here we are settling in behind an old heritage Aboriginal pond that is Ban Ban Springs. Night time came very quickly,still no TV or Internet and I find that rather good,we spent the evening chatting about future road/bush travels! The night time showed a magnificent starry night and as Jon Lennon said “Diamonds in the Sky” Climbing onto the bed is a little easier and with practice will get better !the bed is of Queen size and really comfortable,tomorrow brings another chapter into this short testing adventure
In the middle of the night I could actually hear the Spring bubbling upi in the pond,very eerie but enjoyable
Day ONE of our road test and camping skills (Oh Dear !)
Friday 15th and let the fun start!! Setting the slide on was a problem ending with Annie crying ib frustration,cup of tea and an indoor cool of courtesy of the magical aircon and after losing what seemed a bucket of sweat .everything was tip top.a quick shower and off we go heading for our first stop Maidenwell near the Bunya mountains.A quick stop relief at Woolooga and we we headed towards our destination we refueled at Nananga an eventually found our FREE campsite alongside a bushy waterhole teeming with birdlife which was also a KM away from falls a beauy spot that seemed ( to me ) about 10 000 feet be;ow ! Fortunately steps are provided and the area was populated with the few visitors taking a dip in the water.The Falls were not at their best display with the lack of water and being midsummer!!however in Wooloog a acoupl of years ago flood waters almost reached the house ceiling !! We settled in decided to give the inviting pub a miss (yes I did!) and sit away from the waterhole and watch all kinds of colourful birds sample the water.Night time we found we hadn,t got a TV aerial !!!TV we brought along had been viewed before so we opted for an 8 pm bed time,A very windy cool night was experienced and we managed to rise arrive at 8 am.Deciding to pay a visit to the toilet I mismanaged the outside step and went flying ( I was fortunate ? I fortunately enough grabbed the safety railing afore being hurtled onto the gravel BUT needed assistance via a portable step in order to regain a standing position,It has left a great bruise and scratches on my left leg IT has also put Annie in a good mood for the day having a good ole laugh at my expense !!!
Are We There Yet? Lets GO !!
New Bus already for the road..Hot water..TESTED and OK…. Gas BBQ TESTED and sorted (after contacting the seller it doesn’t work !! he told us about a switch we didn,t know was there ! AND it works!) Hot Water System all thumbs up and systems GO..12 Volt Battery outlet ( used for tyre compressor ) up and running,altho we did have to return to Workshop as the makers in America hadn,t put it together !! All is well on that now..Interior Ladder redesigned and made suitable for us old people to get into the bed !! Dongle full of music and movies ready…CB Aerial fitted and functioning great ( ready for some great road Jargon for our BIG trip mid year or later) 12 Volt compressor has arrived,tested and tip top condition ( thanks to Paul our unofficial new equipment tester) We have had Airbags fitted to help the Springs as we are travelling thru theOutback.Tomorrow Annie will stock up with grub and water (can,t wait to try the external shower !) Hardest part will be Friday am reversing the car onto the slide on (practice,practice,practice) Destination not yet defined as it is still kids school holidays and we want to keep away from them !!!
It has been quite a while getting sorted out,we thought selling the ‘old’ Motorhome would be a headache but we sod it as as it was advertised !! by a freak chance we spotted Palomino ( apparently the only distributors in the whole of Australia) hidden down a side street.We met up with the sellers Kevin & Tanya and was told we would have to wait until March for our new bus ! BUT bcause they are so nice and my continually harassment we took control of out new portable home before Christmas.All models are made in the USA and are shipped to him every 3 or 4 months and he is extremely busy ! After sales is fantastic and Mr fixit of the firm ( Bob) always on hand to sort us out (which he did with a smile on his face) SO Big thanks team we are now ready for the ultimate testing ( seeing if I live with Annie in such small quarters !! Only kidding Ann,just in case you are reading this !!) Hopefully I will gather enough info as we go on and add many more (hopefully) interesting Blogs !! Stay tuned
Cheap Transport from China (and bits of Asia)
While we are awaiting the arrival of our new “motor” home I was reading thru an article relating to the way “inventive” Chinese ( as we have also observed in Cambodia/Vietnam and Bali) Health and Safety would have a field day IF they were allowed to pose sanctions ! These ingenious ways of cheap transport ate commonly used in the “poorer” countries ( I am not comfortable using the term “poorer”) It seems danger is a long way from the minds of the people in the photo,s ( thanks to the Daily Mail) and for we Westerners it provides a somewhat fascinating view of the tough life life experienced in some Asian countries
Toilets !! and other Interesting stuff
Having travelled around this wonderful world of ours I was amused by some of the toilets ( public and private) used around the world and I am inspired to do a log on said ablutions ( with pictures naturally) My own personal favourite can be found Central Australia and consists of TWO toilets next to each other one with lid DOWN and t’other seat up ! and of course it is a communal rest room. Whilst in Alice Spring one particular pub had razor blades and barbed wire encased in clear plastic !! Urinals world wide can be hilarious in shape and sies including Mick Jagger type lips ( the mind boggles!) to well designed flowers bearing realistic petals. Places that are poor or simply not cleaned and kept germ free ( yeah right) are rampant throughout the world and of course different religions and races vary in the method an individual actually uses the toilet
Public toilets where men can be seen in the open doing something NONE of us can do without!!
Geoffs Music Mix Frasercoast FM 107.5
I have put AMRAP on my programme page,look up http://www.frasercoast.fm/ and click on Geoffs Music Mix as displayed on the Thursday 3 to 6 pm slot and click the BLUE link and that will take you to the music I will be playing on the advertised date.Music can be requested at anytime and the address to send it to,is on the AMRAP page.Please feel free to add requests,dedications after all? it IS your community Radio and we also stream around the world the player can be found on the FM web site
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 