The Cross-Country Chronicles: I Got People in Portland

Guess who's back in the USA?!

That's right. I've traded in maple syrup, Tim Hortons and the eternal winter for west coast beaches and Barack Obama. And I couldn't be happier. Bye bye Canada. Hello California.

After 18 brief but enjoyable hours in Vancouver with Zosia Cassie - my bunk director from Appel Farm 2010 - I made my way into the Americas via Seattle, Washington. I had a two hour layover in Seattle before I was due to catch a train to Portland, which was just enough time to decide that I could live in Seattle and live a very happy life. Despite its reputation, I was dubious about the coffee (I have become dubious about all American coffee) but I was pleasantly surprised that it lived up to its name. I spent two hours sitting in a cafe called Zeitgeist - free WiFi, coffee, happy days - sending emails and preparing myself for the prospect that in four hours I would be in Portland with my Appel Farm BFF, Molly Soloway.

Seeing Molly really hit home that I was back in the USA and that after all the waiting, camp was a mere couple of weeks away. Her parents welcomed me into their Portland home like I was one of their own children and were even encouraging about my having another hole pierced through my ear - just be glad it's not a tattoo, Mum. Molly showed me the Portland delights - the Saturday Markets, a trip to Trader Joe's for roadtrip supplys and a night of dancing at the Crystal Ballroom for their 80's music video party. Whitney Houston, dance your heart out.

My stay in the City of Roses was short and sweet and before we knew it, Molly and I were embarking on our Cross Country Roadtrip - Portland to New Jersey via the most wayward destinations available (more on that to come).

Our first day was spent getting lost before we even got out of Portland, followed by a seven hour drive to Eureka, California where for the second time since being in the USA, I got behind the wheel. Molly swears I'm doing really well, although I swear there's been a few times where she's clutched the door handle in fear because I've drifted too far to the right side of the right lane. Give me a break - it's a struggle using the left side of my brain.

On our drive to Eureka, we were given a small taste of the Redwood National Forest but nothing compared to our drive from Eureka to San Fransisco where we drove straight down the middile of the Avenue of the Giants. The Redwood National Forest protects 45 per cent of Coastal Redwoods - the tallest and most magnificent trees in the world. You could not wrap your arms around these suckers if you had your whole extended family plus the Brady Bunch - they're huge.

After Molly and I got tired of taking photos of the trees and driving our car through the middle of one (we didn't crash, we actually drove through a hole in a tree and paid $6 to do it), we headed onwards to San Francisco - home of the Golden Gate Bridge, Full House and a hell of a lot of hills. We are fortunate enough to be staying with the mum of one of Molly's school friends who has been an obliging and humble host since we got here all of five hours ago . She took us on a guided tour of downtown San Fran and then treated us to a lovely dinner and an even tastier bottle of red.

We're taking a break from driving tomorrow and spending the day in San Fran, where we will no doubt take more photos of the Golden Gate Bridge and tone up our ta-tas walking up and down this hilly heaven.

Ciao for now. xo

What I've Learnt From Living in Banff, Canada

After eight months of living in the Land of Maple Syrup, I have officially left Banff and therefore, Canada. A couple of tough goodbyes, not to mention a teary farewell at Calgary Airport with the people I have shared every waking moment, every drunken night, every drunken drama, every snowboard stack and every game of pool, reassured me that my time in Canada has left me a changed person.


You certainly can't spend eight months in a foreign country - even Canada - and not learn a little something about yourself and the place that you've temporarily called home.

So here are a couple of things I've learnt about Canada, Canadians and what it's like to exist in their country.

1. Tim Hortons - the purveyor of doughnuts, 'doughnut holes' (referred to by CAers as TimBits), bagels and other sugary treats and the brewer of what CAers consider to be gourmet coffee - is not just a Canadian institution, but a deliciously cheap religious experience.

2. Just like How I Met Your Mother insinuates, Canadians really do put 'eh' on the end of everything, therefore turning everything into a question. It's such a strange custom, eh?

3. Eight months living in a ski town has turned me into a professional at pool. I am also in the draft to turn pro at foosball - wicked attack line. Not so great at defence.

4. Clamato juice and tomato juice are two different things.

5. Which brings me to ceasers. While at first I turned my nose up at Canada's national beverage, I can't deny I have developed quite a thirst for these little cocktail concoctions. Vodka, clamato juice (which, for the life of me, I STILL don't know what is made out of), a splash of tobasco, a shake of worcestershire, a couple of olives and a green bean, all topped off in a celery salt rimmed glass. Hello, I'm drunk.

7. Don't live in Banff if you don't like Jagermeister. Something like 30 per cent of all Jager is ingested in Banff (Okay, so that's not a real statistic. But when you’re knocking back the 50 bazillionth shot of jager in the last two hours, it sure as hell feels true). Statistic or not, live in Banff and be prepared to drink Jager like its running water.

8. After a surprisingly drunk night where we both woke up asking, "What the hell happened?", Housemate Maadi and I decided, under no circumstances, should we be left at home alone with a bottle of Housemate Luke's Jager, a ski shooter and a couple of leftover party hats.

9. Ski shooter = a ski with four or five shot glasses attached to it, wherein the people shotting must hold the ski, lift it together and drink their shot all at the same time. Inability to do this results in Jager down your front.

10. When it's -15 degrees outside and your freezer is too full to hold the giant punnet of vanilla ice cream you bought for Christmas, you would think putting it outside on the patio would keep it frozen. This isn't true. The ice cream melts and gluttonous deer try to eat it.

11. In a similar idea, leaving cans of coke out on the patio in -15 degree weather doesn't keep the coke cold. It makes the cans explode.

12. When you live in a ski town and you want some coke, be sure to call it coca cola. Coke is something different altogether.

13. Every national or international holiday, regardless of whether you celebrate it in your own country or not, are guaranteed to be celebrated in Banff. Drunkenly.

14. Being a musician in Banff is surprisingly lucrative. I think it comes down to hotels, bars and establishments being kind of lazy when it comes to finding talent, not when they can simply steal their competitors' instead. And I'm certainly not complaining. In all seriousness though, Banff is extremely supportive of local artists and being a musician as your full time job is certainly do-able.

15. When it's -30 degrees outside, never underestimate how many layers you can actually wear. However, no matter how many thermals you put on under your jeans or how many t-shirts you wear under your coat, your hair, your eyelashes and your snot will still freeze.

16. Living in a house with four girls, results in a lot of hair ending up tangled around the drain. It's embarrassing when the hot plumber has to come over and yank it out.

17. No matter what the boys in your house think at the time, finding an 80s exercise bike on the side of the street is like striking gold. It might rattle a bit when you ride it, but it makes for the best clothes horse.

18. Milk and bread crates stolen from the backdoor of the pub make for the best shoe racks.

19. Give it eight months and you're guaranteed to become as freaking ice hockey-crazed as every other puck enthusiast in the country.

20. Canada might be Australia's version of New Zealand - the USA's overshadowed side-kick who gets bullied and poked-fun at - but after eight months of living there, you're quick to realise that the side-kick has his own attributes to offer. I may have been on the other side of the world, but I found commonalities between Oz and Canada which made me feel strangely at home. And it's the reason I intend on returning and moving to Vancouver in August.

Ciao for now, Canada. xo

Life of a Rockstar

My friend, Troy Fagan - snowboarder and aspiring photographer - was kind enough to stop by one of my Bruno's gigs a couple of Thursdays ago and take a few paparazzi shots.

It was an empty bar, but it was fun making art together each in our different way.

This is just a sample.

I think his talent speaks for itself.

Ciao for now. xo

Slush Slush Slush

On Monday 23rd May, 4500 very drunk, very colourful, very rowdy snow enthusiasts arrived at Sunshine Village to celebrate the end of eight months of record breaking snowfall. And they did that by skiing and snowboarding down a hill and trying to make it across a dug-out of chilly, winter water.

This is what they call Slush Cup.

From the beginning of the season, Slush Cup had been pegged as the loosest, craziest, busiest day we would experience on hill and its reputation certainly delivered. After a few days of bipolar weather patterns, the sun got its act together at the last minute and rewarded us with a beautiful, blue bird spring day for our last day at SSV.

My boss at Trappers very kindly gave me the day off (as well as the Saturday and Sunday before it) to play my final gigs at Sunshine with Lisa Baskin. We spent one and half very memorable hours playing our final show together on the main stage that morning. It was the perfect way to end my season - playing my music in front of the snowy hills that hold so many happy and unfogettable memories.

It was my pleasure to then boot up, line Bluejuice up on my iPod and ride those snowy hills one last time before fighting my way through the crowds to buy a jug of Richards Red and a good posie for the big show.

Slush Cup is a well-known Sunshine Village tradition and 2011 marked the 83rd year that skiing and snowboarding extremists have streamlined down Angel run in hope of making it across the watery dug out. While many of the snowboarders crashed to their aquatic end, a few skiers had the skill to make it without getting their feet wet and were rewarded by an appreciative drunk crowd.

After polishing off a jug of beer to myself, it was back to the slopes with all the confidence and bravado of a professional. Needless to say, I ended up back at the bar with a spiced ceaser on one arm and a bloody, ice graze up the other.

But beneath the beer haze, I hardly felt the pain. All I could feel was happy. A happiness that continued well into the evening until the ceasers, snowboarding and sun-burn sent me home around 2am.

Yes, my snow season was over. But that was not the point. The point was that it happened.

Ciao for now. xo

The Bye Bye Bruno's Gig

After eight months of singing, drinking, collaborating and hoping that one day we might each be KT Tunstall in our own way, Lisa and I's Thursday ritual of playing together at Bruno's came to an end last night.

And what an end it was.With pretty much everybody I know and love in Banff in the audience and with Gary (the bartender and our in-house roadie) letting the beer and the Jager flow freely (and I mean, free) it was always going to be a night to remember.

And remember it I do, despite shotting more than I care to blog about and having a couple of very deep-and-meaningful conversations thanks to my inebriation and impaired judgement. How I was still standing, let alone still singing, is yet to be determined.

 While standing on stage in front of my friends and family (even if I was seeing two of everybody), all of who had come to support me at the finale of my musical journey at Bruno's, I had another one of those moments. The kind that will be a defining memory when I'm a little old lady remeniscing about those crazy 12 months I spent overseas, running away from responsibility. In that moment, I felt like I had achieved something and it wasn't to do with my music. It was my friends - the fact that these people were in my life and had been for the last eight months and they had come to support me. And the realisation that in one week, this community of people we have forged around us, will all be going their seperate ways and making new communities for themselves.

While last night was not the last time Lisa and I will play together (we're fully booked out this weekend playing up at Sunshine for Slush Cup), playing our last show at Bruno's left me feeling melancholy. Bruno's was where it all began - this whole unplanned musical blessing I've been so fortunate to experience while in Banff.

While my snowboarding enthusiastic friends learnt to do 360s and ride rails and throw themselves off cliffs, I played my music and established myself because of it. Despite all the other experiences I've had since being in Banff, that one thing is what I will take away with me proudly.

Ciao for now. xo

You, Me and Vitamin D

I returned 'home' to Cranbrook last week to spend a few days with the lovely Steph Murray.

There's something about Cranbrook. There's not much too it but it has the small-town goodness that you don't find in big cities. It reminds me alot of Gympie which is a comforting thing when you're on the other side of the world. Returning to C-Brook after being in Banff is like coming home from work and pulling on a pair of comfy old sweats. It just fits.

The sun was shining in B.C so I made the most of it by lying in the sun and getting my first sunburn of the summer - my back and my bum are now two different colours! Hurrah! There are no words to express how it feels to have the sun back in my life and be able to lie in it wearing minimal clothing. Instead of wearing thermals, jeans, a singlet, a t-shirt, a long-sleeved t-shirt, three sweaters, my snow jacket and a beanie and still be freezing my kahootz off.

Cranbrook's local professional junior ice-hockey team, the Kootenay Ice, were playing two home games while I was there so I was very willingly dragged along to watch with Steph and her ice-hockey enthusiast father. Both games were pretty important in the series, determining the Ice's lead up to the Memorial Cup so the whole town was packed into Cranbrook's stadium. Now that I've got the hang of watching ice hockey (penalties, power plays - I've got the jargon down pat), I don't know if I can ever go back to watching the cricket.  All the skating and the slamming and the violent throw-downs on the ice - it's just so damn addictive.

I did all the things typical of my trips to Cranbrook - went to Boston Pizza, drank a lot of ceasers, went to the movies, went shopping, played Steph's out-of-tune piano and painted my toenails. It was lovely to feel like I was back in the 'real' world, rather than the Banff bubble. It felt like I had crawled out of my winter hibernation like a bleary-eyed bear and was feeling those first welcome effects after a healthy dose of Vitamin D.

Ciao for now. xo

I've Got The Music In Me

I haven't blogged about it much, but every Thursday night since arriving in Banff, I've been performing at Bruno's. I haven't blogged about it because it became such a regular part of my routine. I'd rock up, have a few beers, play a few songs with my muso-friend Lisa, do a few shots and stumble home to wake up with a hangover.

I mentioned it to a friend at work who has contacts all over town and next thing you know, I'd lined up another gig playing the piano at the Banff Park Lodge every Friday night. So I'd go along, drink a few waters, play a few songs, help myself to their seafood buffet and go home with a bit of cashola in my pocket.

So there I was, running a fairly self-sustainable side business as a musician in Banff without really trying. When my contract at the BPL ran out a few weeks ago due to their seafood buffet finishing, I was left with my un-paid, alcohol supplemented gig at Bruno's and thought that would be it until the end of the season.

But word got out, as it always does in Banff, and next thing you know my boss is lining me up another (paid) gig to play three hours each Saturday and Sunday at Creekside - the bar at the base of Sunshine Village. Knowing that I don't have enough songs, or enough voice, to hold out three hours, I invited my Bruno's buddy Lisa to join in with me.

So there we are on the mini-stage at our first performance at Creekside, doing the set we do each Thursday night at Bruno's, when the director of events from Sunshine walks in. In the middle of our gig, he pulls us to the side and asks us if we would like to open each Saturday for the head-lining acts on the mainstage at Sunshine's Spring Music Series. To which we answered,

"Um... HELL YEAH!"

So last Saturday, admist the sunshine at Sunshine, Lisa&Kristen played their very first mainstage show. Okay, so we were simply the opening act, but when you're plugged into a professional system, playing your own songs and hearing your own music amplified out among the masses, not to mention standing on a big fancy stage surrounded by big fancy equipment, you can't help but feel like a bit of a big, fancy rockstar.

We played for an hour, took about a bazillion photos, and then headed down to Creekside for our afternoon gig. I got home at six o'clock feeling absolutely wasted.

Like a true rockstar, minus the addictions.

Ciao for now. xo

Visa Vie!

I took a little trip to Calgary not too long ago and paid a visit to my friends at the US Embassy. They were so happy to see me, they gave me a wee gift - my American Work Visa!

I only had to go through mounds of online paperwork, apply for another police check, take a horrible-looking mug shot, get on a bus at 4am in the morning, sleep for a few hours in the Greyhound terminal, twiddle my thumbs in the Embassy waiting room until they were all twiddled out and sweat with paranoia that in the next 30 minutes I was going to somehow get deported, before they finally gave me the thumbs up.

It arrived by delivery this week. I look horrible, but who cares?

I am USA bound, baby!

Ciao for now. xo