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Chapter Five: Keep those doggies rollin', Rawhide!
25th May 2001

I'm writing this on the bus as we travel south to our Newcastle show and back to our Sydney homes.

Our last show was in Toowoomba, which is on a plateau to the east of Brisbane. We had difficulty finding accommodation due to the size of our bus and the popularity of the Garden City's caravan parks, but we eventually found a suitable place at Jeffrey's rainforest lodge. We had a whole day off in Toowoomba to enjoy the local sights and each other's company.

We played at the University of Southern Queensland's Campus Club and had lots of fun! Our audience were keen, (they don't get enough good funky dance /electronic music there) and wouldn't let us finish for the night. Meem and I had videotaped a local busker singing "Rawhide" earlier in the day, and everyone cheered with recognition and laughter when we mixed it into meem's set. At the end of the night pack up was hampered by autograph collectors so we faced our next challenge in a cheery mood: our magic bus Zahir wouldn't start! Luckily a friendly local had jumper leads so it was a simple fix.

We'd been invited to a party, and so Steve, Meem and I cabbed it to the other side of town to continue our Toowoomba adventures. Enthusiastic newfound friends welcomed us and we made merry until the not so small hours, when we sadly said our goodbyes and raced back to meet the bus that would depart in just a couple of hours.

We continued Southwards through Darling Downs country, stopping at Woodenbong for a picnic brunch. A local woman, Norah, who turned out to be Big Mal's wife (he's a famous Country and Western star) stopped us and asked "I've Toured around Australia Sixteen Times, What can You Do?" and smirked cheekily as Rick and Meem explained the story of the Yak, and that Electronic Music Is Not Evil. She tipped her chin and said "so, what REAL instruments can you play?" and we all laughed as Rick and Meem justified their knobs and dials. She grinned mightily and tossed her head, and her haughty parting shot to us all was "I've had Five Kids On The Road, What Can You Do?". I am planning to go back to Woodenbong to learn some lessons from that amazing woman!

We continued our journey, stopping overnight at Coffs Harbour and then onward to Newcastle.

The tour is by far from over, but we are reaching the end of our travels in the bus. I'm going to miss life on the road, but it will be good to get home and re-acquaint myself with my own bed and shower and kitchen. Has it really been four weeks? It's been an intense time and so much has happened in such a short space of time that its all a potpourri (or perhaps a toe-pourri judging by the odours on the bus). I've been thinking about all the mixed up memories and moments, and this is what remained when I stirred the blur:

An optimistic brand of artists
leave their comfort zone
to take the yak to strangers' lands
and call their bus a home

A month of winding roads
and bumping vinyl seats.
Where are we staying next?
Where will we stop to eat?

Every place has its own new face
but we only stop a day
to eat and sleep and lug
park the bus and play

Was that cafe with fries in Kempsie,
Bairnsdale, or Geelong?
And will the yak ever come back
to play our sweet lug song?

Long hours, challenges faced
together everywhere we've been
have made us an electronic tribe
living for our dream.

I might not remember
every overtaking lane
but lessons learned and people known
are memories I hope remain.

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Oh dear, I'm getting all teary and sentimental. I'll write the next instalments from Sydney in a few days...

See you soon!

Cin