Forever in Art History: Spencer Tunick's "The Base"

A few months ago I braved the cold, and 5,000+ other naked Sydneysiders, to take part in a little bit of history in front of the Opera House.

Recently, the hard work and I am sure a lot of stiff review on Tunicks' part resulted in the final shot. The artwork that will officially be called "The Base"

Of all the shots we took: some facing forward, some kissing our neighbor, some embracing, some raising our hands to the sky, Tunick ultimately picked this shot. 5,000+ people laying down facing the sky on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.

To many it will just be another amazing piece of art. To me it will be a memory that is always with me. A freeing experience, a little bit scary, but life changing.

Hats (and all other articles of clothing) off to you Spencer Tunick.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/big-day-for-sydney-nudies-20100803-11403.html

Roller Derby: Whip it good!

Have you ever seen the movie Whip it? Its all about Roller Derby, and apparently that is what this was like? I haven't seen the movie but I am pretty sure it is awesome because well, Roller Derby is definitely that.

A group of friends and I went to the Horden Pavilion in Sydney to watch our home team the Sydney Assassins in all their fishnet glory in a Fiesta themed battle.

Oh yes, that's right the fiesta themed match even had a Mariachi band playing on the sidelines. How could you not?!

It took me a while to understand what was going on with the game, but once I figured it out, its easy to get into. And when the ladies on the team have names like: Bitchy N Scratchy, Dizzy Bordon, Trippy Longstockings, and Haterade, how can you resist cheering them on? Plus their half-time show involved an amazingly athletic pole dancer! As if I hadn't seen enough, Roller Derby had to top it all.

To finish the package, this is the first time in Australia that I have seen Budweiser for sale...Now if that's not a trashy combination I am not sure what is?!

And how else can you end a night of Fiesta Roller Derby than with Margaritas?! Game, Set, Match, or whatever Roller Derby phrase there is!

New Zealand: 5 Girls, 1 Car, lots of trouble!

I have been avoiding posting anything about New Zealand for two reasons. One, I have now been back at work over a month since my trip - and its painful to not be on vacation! And two, there is SO much to write about I was actually overwhelmed that I wouldnt be able to convey what I wanted. So decided that I probably never be able to do it justice and I might as well just try to put together some highlights for you.

I mean where do you start when everyday you are in a new city, seeing new things constantly, and having too much fun to recall?!

So like I said, here are some highlights....

The North Island: I loved our second day in Auckland at a cafe drinking wine and eating cheese, after a hike to see Mt Eden Crater. Napier where we sat in the sulphur baths, and applied sulphur mud masks. The baths were amazing, but I have never smelt such a foul smell in my life, not sure how people live here. Leaving there, we hit Hawkes Bay, known for its wine region for a few cheeky wine tastes before we made our way down to Wellington. Wellington was windy and fun, tons of cheese and wine, and beautiful walks. The night life was outrageous, and being a city on the water, made for spectacular views and lovely shoreline.

The ferry ride from Wellington to Picton brought us to the South Island, the 3 hour ride across to the South was one of the most specular views I have ever seen. One of our first stops was the Marlborough, New Zealands most famous wine regions, known especially for its sauvignon blanc - my favorite wine. This is also where one of my dreams came true, they let me drive the wine tractor. Probably one of the highlights of my trip if not my life!

On our way down to Queenstown we stopped at Franz Glacier, one of the most specactular glaciers in the world. We took a tour of it, and got to hike across this massive glacier - it was by far my favorite activity in New Zealand. It was absolutely breath-taking.

We finally made our way down to Queenstown, the adventure town. (My favorite city by far) where we did some ridiculous things, like jump off a canyon, saved from the ground only by a swing harness, and did an extreme River Jetboat, which scared the crap out of all of us! The town was flooded due to high volumes of rain and the river just flowed into the streets, but it didn't seem to slow anyone down! After two days in Queenstown we had to drive up to Christchurch where we flew out of.

I cant even describe our trip. Truly an amazing place. A must-see in your life.

Perth: The Wild, Wild, West of Australia

Perth. A city on the West Coast of Australia. Sits pleasantly on the Swan river, oh and it's also known for a little place called Margaret River. Oh yeah, that's right - WINE REGION: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Merlot, Chenin Blanc and Verdehlo! Woot! (We made two days of it, tasting our way through wineries, and even one brewery. Ending our night with a bottle of wine at the Margaret River, a beautiful beach known for its surfing. Amazing.)

We stayed with some friends who recently moved out to Perth from Sydney and they were able to show us around a bit. First they took us to Fiori, basically the coffee mecca out in Perth. A small warehouse filled with freshly ground beans. Bag and bags of freshly packed grounds. What kind of coffee do you want? "How do I decide?" Just stick your head in this bucket of freshly roasted beans and take a whiff! Just being in the warehouse wakes you up, the smell is so intense you feel like your drinking a cup of coffee with every breathe. Amazing.

Next we got to see downtown Perth and the surrounding area. Beautiful views of the swan river from the city. The area around Perth is decidedly into its beer. In Fremantle we went to Mad Monk Brewery one day, and Little Creatures Brewery the next. For a girl who's decidedly more "wine" than "beer," even I was impressed.

And no trip to Fremantle is complete without a trip to the Subiaco, Australia's home of Aussie Rules Football, also home to the Freo Dockers. We rode up thinking it wouldnt be hard to get a last minute ticket, were we ever wrong - the stadium was beyond packed. We were able to get "restricked view" seats, with a pilar right in the middle of our view, but somehow leaning around the pilar to see the game seemed okay because the energy of the place was so amazing. And of course the Dockos won, great day to be at the Subi!

We took a ferry out to Rottnest Island, where we biked around the island for a day, saw Quokkas (an animal you can only see on Rottnest), saw the old military bases, and relaxed with a cocktail before we headed back into Perth.

To top off our 10 days in Perth - the Redbull Air Races. Pilots from around the world competing over Swan River through Red Bull's Air Race Track. We packed a picnic and hit the shore to watch some amazing practice rounds, all the excitement without the crowds, its great to be on vacation when other people are at work!

With my fill of wine, coffee and planes, I left Perth in preparation for a three day layover back in Sydney before I left for New Zealand!

Easter Weekend: Crescent Head Camping

Camping at Crescent Head: tents, the ocean, singing by the camp fire, Smores and oh yeah, fire twirling - of course.

Every year a group of friends (about 25 people) head out to Crescent Head for Easter weekend camping. It's about 5 hours outside of Sydney and sits inland only enough to barely hear the waves of the ocean crashing late at night.

Our site was set up right along the river that feeds into the ocean, so we had the calm all around us. The weekend was lazy (as any good camping weekend should be.) During the day we would hang around BBQing and drinking wine/beer, then head down to the ocean for a nice swim.

At night we would gather at the beach for a rousing game of Cricket, my first attempt!

There were a few firsts that I was happy to see: My first Kangaroo spotting while camping (they were drinking from the river right by our camp), my first game of beach Cricket, and oh yes... my personal favorite: my first leech. Thats right, I got bitten (or sucked) by a leech!! Right in between the toes! I wasnt the only one either a few of us, some got it worse than others from wearing sandles near the edge of the river - where apparently they like to hang out.

At night we would sit around the camp fire, chatting, singing to the guitar, watching a friend twirl some fire (see video) and finally, Smores! Though this may not seem all that exciting to Americans, Smores are something that have never been experienced in Australia. For one, there are no Graham Crackers and no Hersheys and two, marshmallows are not the same. So I took the remaining Smore rations I had brought back from home in Dec, and introduced the Australians to a good old fashion Smore!

Not shockingly, they were a big hit!

Spencer Tunick: The Base

Have you ever woken up at 3am and thought, "hmm.... I should take all my clothes off in front of 5,199 other people and stand here for the next 2 hours bare naked?" Yeah, I never had before either, but I guess there is a first time for everything....

March is Gay Pride Month in Sydney. They hold their annual Gay Mardi Gras Parade and the city becomes alive with energy. Because Mardi Gras is such a huge tourist attraction and revenue generator to the city, the Mardi Gras board was able to commission Spencer Tunick, famed photographer, to do one of his famous mass nude works. The piece would be called "The Base", and would take place in front of the Sydney Opera House. His works include, New York's Grand Central Station, Miami, Barcelona, yet, there have been very few times has he been able to get more than 4,000 people to get nude for his photos.

My flatmate asked me if I would do this with her, and I thought about it for a second, and decided yes, why not? So we woke up at 3am on a Monday morning, rode into the city by 4am, and got in line to enter the Opera House waiting area with about 5,000 other people.

At 6:30am, the sun was finally high enough to take the photos, we were told to take our clothes off and leave them in the bags provided. There was something crazy about this mass strip, we were surrounded by men, women, mothers & daughters, friends, partners - of all shapes and sizes baring it all for art. As were were part of the first group to strip we walked past all of the still clothed groups waiting their turn to take it all off. Surprisingly, as we climbed the Opera House steps, I wasn't embarrassed or self conscious (COLD as all heck - it was about 45 degrees out) but not worried. The other group clapped as we made our way up to the stairs, everyone was so supportive of everyone else- what an amazing feeling, and what energy!

After 2 hours of posing nude, we finally were given the word to get dressed. So I got dressed and went to work... no one the wiser!

What an amazing experience, I cant wait to see his final shot. As a thank you for participating, each of us will get a print of the work, a souvenir I will never forget.

Get your Bali On!

Indonesia. Temples, beaches, spices and Bintang.

Bali is a place not to be missed - I however, almost did just that.

A hot day in Bondi means one thing. People. And when there are a lot of people in Bondi there are no buses/cabs/donkeys/or carrier pigeons out of there. So after waiting 45 minutes for a bus out of Bondi and another hour on a bus to the airport, I arrived 10 minutes past the 1 hour check-in for my international flight. Long story short. They didn't let me on the flight (begging did not work with the woman at the counter- though believe me, I tried). But by some miracle, they decided to have just a bit of pity on me and book me on the next flight out (the next day) free of charge, which for JetStar is pretty much unheard of.

Needless to say, the next day I was 3 hours early to my flight and made it on without a hitch.

Bali was an amazing place, breakfasts on the beach in the morning, 3 dollar Bintang beers, $12 huge seafood dinners, beautiful temples, and amazing people.

My favorite part about Bali (besides the food!) were the temples. We visited two temples, a water temple as well as the Mother Temple: Besakih - which all Balinese people are required to pray at once a year.

Our trip was on motor bike - which was a pain in the ass - literally. Hills and winding roads, combined with dirt and intense heat made for a very uncomfortable ride. We had to take bum-breaks every 45 minutes just so that we could regain feeling. But despite the soar arses, it was the perfect way to see the Bali countryside. No roof meant you could see the high rice paddies, and look around at the constant movement of people putting out offerings and tending to their children and the myriad of animals.

The icing on the cake in Bali was definitely my birthday dinner in Jimbaran. Jimbaran is a fishing community where they have started putting restaurants along the beach. The sand is lined with rows and rows of tables overlooking the water. The fish is freshly caught and kept in tanks, ready for you to come and choose. There is no menu, and once you choose your fish, they cook it - you don't even decide how. And of course, you can get a fresh baby coconut, chopped open for drinking. Sunset, seafood and good friends was the perfect way to celebrate 26 in Bali.

Festival First Nights: Al Green Still Has "It"....

Festival First Nights at the Domain. What a great idea: Picnic. Drinks.Al Green. The Man. The Myth. The Legend. For his first ever trip to Australia.

And, in case you are wondering. He still has "It" whatever that is.








He may be 60 but he still jams like Smuckers(tm).

The Festival First Night is the kickoff to the Festival season in Sydney (January). Al Green headlined the First Night at the Domain, which sits just outside the Botanical Gardens. Oh, and did I mention, this was a FREE show. With blanket packed, Vodka, Wine, Beer, Cheese and Lindt truffles, we danced, sang and shimmied to Al.

How could you not love a guy who hires only his daughters as backup singers. Because, why else, he wants to keep the money in the family! The night was hot (and I mean hot like 85 for 10pm) and so was Al. Besides him whining a bit about not having enough time to play - he put on an amazing show to a sea of tipsy dancing Sydneysiders.

So Al, Lets stay together...

(tm) note: I cannot believe how many amazing sayings I am coming up with for this blog. I mean I thought "Schnitzeled" was good. But "Jams like Smuckers" - where do I get this stuff?!

p.s. you wont actually be able to see anything with this video I was too far back for the camera to capture it, but the audio is pretty good. You Go Al.

NYE 2010 Sydney Harbour!

20 hours of travel from SF to Melbourne to Sydney to Bondi. Please tell me it was worth it to make it back to Australia for New Years Eve!?!

Exhausted from my flights/layover/bus ride home I had only one hour to take a shower, get dressed and meet friends on the Sydney Harbour to enjoy an afternoon-evening on the boat and watch the fireworks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

After a few glasses of wine, some delicious Sydney prawns, pasta salad and of half a Twinkie (treats brought for the boat from the good old US of A!) I was feeling almost brand new (with the exception of a nap right around the 9pm mark, thankfully everyone woke me up before the fireworks!)

The fireworks were everything I was hoping for, absolutely stunning especially from the water. (In the video it is a bit shaky sorry! - I wasn't drunk, the boat was just rocking quite a bit!)

As I watched the fireworks I knew it was worth every hour of travel to get back to see it! But I slept exceptionally well that night!