biennale!

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after pampering ourselves silly for the last 5 months in marvelous melbs, it was time to emerge from the warehouse of love in cremorne and get nasty.

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we thought we'd slum it out for a few days in australia's metropolitan equivalent of an antichrist (or a cheap tart): sydney.
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the occasion? the 2008 biennale: a massive, free, public art show that took place at multiple locations throughout the city.
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i have to say that as a location, sydney is gorgeous, and seeing the bridge and opera house together is like an iconic slap in the face. whilst the locals were nasty, they can't detract (much) from the amazing city they live in. definitely in my top 10 australian cities.
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at circular quay there was a massive inflated telstra dome-ball where we went in pretending to be french tourists with little english, wrote some hero-mail to stephanie rice and sat in big eggs watching the olympics. it was great - but doesn't change the fact that telstra are fucking australia up the arse by maintaining their stranglehold on broadband!
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incidentally, there seemed to be a frenchwoman on every boat, beach and street corner, which made the act of loudly abusing people tricky.
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everyone talks about melbourne as if it's some sort of restaurant haven. i am a self-confessed melbo-centric bastard, but it just seemed that every restaurant or cafe we walked into in sydney was an absolute winner: from burgers to thai to korean bbq, G + i were packing it in until we were bursting at the seams.
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in fact, on our final night we visited an all-you-can-eat vegan restaurant where i lost all impulse control and developed what i can only imagine was vegetable-induced blunt trauma to my stomach - from the inside. i just pushed in one too many fried cauliflowers! i've loved the restaurant on previous visits because it has an associated cinema with beds in it - the perfect place to cuddle and spoon while watching the action on the big screen.
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a good deal of the artwork at the biennale was concentrated on cockatoo island - an old shipyard island in the harbour which had its barracks, warehouses and docks converted into spaces for art display. what an awesome idea. even the free ferry out there and back was a treat. as far as visiting a city goes, having something like an art show as a base to from which to work each day was really good. no more savage wandering of streets with nothing to do.
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one of the highlights for me was cirque du soleil, which i've been wanting to see for a long time. we realised it was in town, jumped on the net to buy tickets, and a few hours later were in the heated tent watching what was probably the best two hours of entertainment i think i've had in my life - incredible. i was so amazed at what was going on on stage that i actually started crying on a number of occasions, in addition to gasping, howling, clapping and shouting. the cirque is coming to melbourne next year, and i'd recommend it to everyone. compulsory viewing.
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the biggest highlight was of course the g-man. basking together in the sunshine (on the grass in the middle of winter!), walking about the nearby beaches or through the city or even drinking cocktails on the 35th floor of a harbourside hotel (thanks for the tip-off, n), g+o has been, and continues to be, a pretty magical combination.
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or i make one

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the olympics opening ceremony dragged. slumber party. we popped down to wilson's prom the following week for a couple of days with vov, nick and their friends jean and max.

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sandwich queens

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rockhugging
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that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a barren promontory.

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G looking particularly froggish
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the wilson's prom team

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join us next week when we head north for winter.

all crushed into these big feet

It was time to show G some of the sights, so off we went on a journey along the great ocean road. here's the obligatory shot of G+O and the 12 gay apostles.

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had to sneak this one in of healesville sanctuary from the week before. who knew you could have so much fun with a carrot and a furry animal?

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at night we crawled into our den of comfort, from which the frog was difficult to extract the following morning

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australian? gerard's first EVER fish and chips!

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The frog contemplates some of life's bigger ponds

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the 'round the twist lighthouse
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a moment of tenderness captured at tower hill

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morning feast en train de se faire

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proof that physics loves gerard at the balconies in the grampians

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. . (at the wind farm near ararat) I would stand,

If the night blackened with a coming storm,

Beneath some rock, listening to notes that are

The ghostly language of the ancient earth,

Or make their dim abode in distant winds.

Thence did I drink the visionary power.

new beginnings

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at 3am on wednesday the 3 may 2006, i awoke from sleep on a mattress on the floor of a peasant's house in haba village in northern yunnan province. i was in excruciating pain. something had happened to my hip! (the dedicated readers among you may even remember the very blog entry recounting the drama!) ... so began two years of debility, non-diagnosis, multiple rounds of imaging, and a distinct psychological downturn, that has, with any luck, just come to an end.
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i'm writing to you 24 hours after having had my left hip re-modelled. that's right! i've got a new hip - but this one is a super-deluxe version for a new ondrej. it's a new hip for a new beginning.
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pictures of my hip! top left is where the labrum had a chunk ripped out of it

bottom right is a piece of bone floating freely within the joint. no wonder it hurt!

for those who are interested - and i know you are - the surgeon took down the labrum, cut away part of the acetabulum, stuck the labrum back on, and then reshaped my neck of femur. in lay terms - i was sliced and diced! post-op highlights included shitting in the bed because i had had a spinal, and vomiting all night long from the GA. coming home highlights include having my very own blue-eyed, red-bearded nurse waiting on me hand and foot. that part is most particularly nice.

it is a year for new beginnings. gerard and i, both formerly ruggedly independent bachelors, have thrown ourselves down the slippery slope of domestic bliss to convert our conte de fees into a real life love affair. gerard is an unashamed hausfrau, and even i am starting the morph into a domestic goddess. soon i'll even be able to cook something.

we started renting a reconverted warehouse in the industrial part of richmond known as cremorne. we had a fun housewarming, and special thanks to all the trashy drags that turned up in style - in particular dad! the apartment itself is wonderful, and for those who haven't seen it and even those who have, open invitations exist to come over whenever you want and stay for as long as you want.

the apartment is a stone's throw from the botanic gardens, and we have been exercising our freedom to grab a blanket, cheese and wine on a sunny sunday afternoon and cuddle away the hours on the grass while trying to wish the park's children out of existence.

we're settling in for a comfortable year - gerard is working like a dog, and his business(es) are slowly but positively taking off, and i'm working part time in order to focus on getting my health back up to scratch and pursue some more language study. turns out you can do exactly what you want with your life and get away with it.

the third member of our household - musashi the siamese fighting fish

it's been great seeing everyone in melbourne and i hope to see lots more of all of you, and even some of you who are overseas and visiting this year!

L5/S1

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the downside of the drive from darwin to melbourne was a prolapsed disc, which has left me irritable, depressed, and unable to sit down for a few weeks now. phuong extracted me from my self-loathing for an afternoon of upright exploration of the streets and lanes of melbourne.

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marvelous melbs is the world capital of stencil graffiti art, and graffiti art in general is abundant, beautiful, and often thought provoking.

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much of these pics were taken in and around hosier lane. if you know of any other city hotspots please tell! click on images for further detail.

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i won't carry on at length. enjoy.

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melbourne je t'aime!

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