This issue's cover is in tribute to Phillip Hughes: remembered as a great cricketer and a brilliant bloke; may he rest in peace.
ISS U E 14 • DE C/JAN 2015 • F R E E
HOWZAT!
THE GREAT AUSSIE OUTDOORS ISSUE AUSTRALIAN CRICKET CAPTAIN MICHAEL CLARKE… FORMER WORLD BOXING CHAMPION ERIN McGOWAN… A HOST OF OUR FAVOURITE FOOTY ICONS BRILLIANTLY ILLUSTRATED… DIVING FOR ABALONE OFF WA’S SOUTH COAST… SWIMMING WITH SHARKS AND DOLPHINS… SURF-SPOTTING WITH CLARKE LITTLE… TREKKING THROUGH INDIA… DRESSING COWBOY STYLE + MORE!
ALL THE MUSIC ON EARTH. IN EVERY ROOM. WIRELESSLY.
www.soundlab.net.au Tel. 1300 880 544 154 Hay street, Subiaco
Photograph by Jayga McMullen.
EDITOR’S LETTER Summer is well and truly here and with it comes plenty of activity. This issue we present things to do in the great outdoors, from sidling by sharks (safely) to swimming with dolphins; skydiving over the city to flyboarding across the Indian Ocean; diving for abalone to surfing and shooting waves at the same time. Out of the water and onto the field, we profile Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke, chat with outback legend Steve ‘The Bushdog’ McGrath, go a couple of rounds with Perth boxing champ Erin McGowan, and trek through India, only to stop by one village to play a bit of bat-and-ball. We’re very happy with our Gallery section this issue, which boasts sporting icons from the worlds of AFL, cricket and diving, all gloriously illustrated by pop artist Naomi Le Get. So get to it, and enjoy a great read. Outdoors... lazing by the pool... if you must.
Cover:
leg before wicket! illustration by naomi le get for the art of the game.
Antonino Tati Editor
Read it online!!! with interactive contents
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au
PUBLISHED BY CANDY CUSTOM MEDIA PTY LTD P.O. Box 444 Northbridge WA 6865 www.candycustommedia.com.au www.rockcandymagazine.com.au ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES sales@candymedia.com.au EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES editor@candymedia.com.au GENERAL ENQUIRIES info@candymedia.com.au
6 | December/January 2014
MANAGING DIRECTOR Cornelius Curtin conny@candymedia.com.au EDITOR Antonino Tati antonino@candymedia.com.au CREATIVE DESIGN Barbara Bertoli design@candymedia.com.au CONTRIBUTORS Lisa Andrews, Coco Bertinese, Barbara Bertoli, Joyce Chun, Lenya Jones, Marco Fraschetti, Andrew Halsall, Naomi Le Get, Andrea Manno, Michael Mastess, Bobby Quillard, Ringo, Debbie Russo, Louis van Senden, Lei Tai, Gemma Thomas, Claire Wallman
Rock Candy Magazine is published in Western Australia by Candy Custom Media Pty Ltd and distributed free of charge to resource industry workers at various locations around Western Australia. All rights reserved. No material published in Rock Candy may be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written authority. Views expressed in Rock Candy are not necessarily the views of the editor or publisher. Rock Candy takes no responsibility for the accuracy of information included, or for submitted content. Submissions grant the publisher the right to publish editorial in full or in part. © 2014 Candy Custom Media.
AT L A S P E A R L S K N O W S W H AT W O M E N WA N T If Christmas shopping isn’t your thing... Let Atlas Pearls and Perfumes take the pressure off. If you are working away or can’t get into our Claremont store, we offer a personal shopper service to assist in making your loved one’s Christmas...
Bright and Beautiful
CALL US OR GO ONLINE: and receive 15% off our online collection (excludes clearance stock). Enter the code VCXmas4102 at the checkout to receive 15% off any full priced items*. Shop online at www.ShopAtlas.com.au or call us on 08 9284 4249. IN-STORE: For every purchase across our entire store this festive season, we will reward you with an instant 25% of the value of your transaction towards your next purchase*. Every $300 you spend also puts you in the running to win a fabulous $10,000 South Sea Pearl strand*. Shop in-store at shop 1, 47-49 Bayview Terrace. Claremont 6010.
*Terms and conditions apply. OFFER 1 - CALL OR ONLINE - receive 15% off our full priced selection of jewellery online or by calling our showroom. Clearance sale stock not included. Not available inconjunction with any other offer or discount. Product may vary in-store and online. OFFER 2 - INSTORE - Purchase any item in store and receive 25% of the value of that transaction towards a second purchase. Offer must be redeemed in-store on the day of your original transaction. Offer is available to use on all items in-store including full priced and discounted items, perfumes and cosmetics. This offer is not available online. OFFER 3 - DRAW TO WIN A PEARL STRAND - The prize of a $10,000 South Sea Strand prize will be drawn on the 15th Jan 2015. Purchases must be made in-store to be eligible for entry. All offers are non transferable. Offers can not be redeemed for cash. All offers are valid from 15th November 2014 until 15th January 2015 while stocks last.
CONTENTS - ISSUE 14 – THE GREAT OUTDOORS ISSUE – DEC/JAN 2015
29
40
78
48
FEATURES 29. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED Contemporary artist Naomi Le Get loves her sport as much as her art, so she decided to start screen-printing major sporting events for iconic posterity. Enjoy a gallery of her brilliant work.
40. GET CARTER A muso at heart, an actor by trade. Whatever he throws himself into, you can rest assure Brad Carter – star of True Detective – is doing it with absolute passion.
44. MARKING HIS TERRITORY Surviving harsh weather conditions, scorpion and snake bites, and vehicle-poundings by kangaroos, nobody knows the great Australian outdoors better than Steve ‘The Bushdog’ McGrath.
48. OLD HOLDENS NEVER DIE… They just evolve into bigger and better muscle cars.
50. THE SWEET SCIENCE OF BRUISING Erin McGowan is currently Australia’s greatest female boxing export whose star is only just beginning to shine. Rock Candy was there in the front row of her recent fight... happy to see our logo on her boxers waistband.
8 | December/January 2014
44
56
60
50
16. GADGETS & STUFF 54. RIGHT-HAND MAN And left-arm orthodox… A profile on Aussie cricket captain Michael Clarke.
56. LITTLE WONDER Clark Little was born to ride waves, but even he never thought he’d spend more time capturing them on camera than ‘catching them’ in the surfing sense.
60. SIX MONTH SEA CHANGE When it comes to the serious sport of abalone fishing, it seems less of a leisure activity and more of a hardcore religion as Louis van Senden discovers.
REGULARS 10. COMPETITIONS Go in the e-draw to win a Pure Jongo A2 adaptor to modernise your ol’ stereo system, or one of five boutique haircare packs. Also turn to our Gadgets pages for excellent comps.
13. THE BITS UP THE FRONT Tina Arena invests in a Perth pearls and perfume company; a FIFO turns his hand to writing children’s books; and tattoos take over television.
A GPS for the golf course; shatter-proof phone cases and ‘glassware’; and the coolest turntable we’ve seen since, well, the ’70s.
instead with a volunteer group and do something karmically rewarding, like teaching underprivileged kids English, or even how to play cricket!
19. STICK IT IN YOUR DIARY
74. TRAVEL II – DOMESTIC
The Perth International Arts Festival in a nutshell; Busselton devotes itself to Oz rock again; and a diary note – way ahead of time – for another ripper Perth 400.
There’ll always be debate about which Australian city is best, but for multicultural cuisine, cosy café culture and, yes, sometimes even the footy, Melbourne wins hands-down.
20. HOMEGROWN TALENT
76. GOOD GROOMING
A few simple Qs to local musos Abby Soanes of Legs Electric, and Dalton Tuttle of Drown The Faith.
A brand new department in Rock Candy, where we suggest product and tips to keep you looking good.
23. POP CULTURE
78. FASHION
We chat with Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, and film producer Matthew Baer – who’s just filed away Angelina Jolie’s award-nominated movie ‘Unbroken’.
Even cowboys get the blues as our brooding dude in denim and plaid will attest. Photography by Claire Wallman with styling by Lenya Jones.
67. FOOD
88. THE FIFO WIFE
For all the talk of healthy eating being bandied about, fast food is as popular as ever; one reason being the renaissance of food trucks which sell everything from spicy ceviche to croc spring rolls.
Deb Russo goes camping with her three sons… Well, she at least manages to pitch a tent in the lounge-room.
68. TRAVEL I – INTERNATIONAL Forget trekking through India with a backpack – just too sweaty and so 2013. Get involved
RETRACTION: Last issue we incorrectly mentioned the film ‘Dracula Untold’ would be available for home entertainment December 2014. It is actually being released March 2015. Ahead of ourselves, as usual!
GLASTRON GT185 FROM $35,575
SCARAB 215
SCARAB 165
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500hp jet boat
COBALT 220WSS $109,500
250hp jet boat
COBALT A25 $163,644
Competitions
WIN: 1 OF 5 MUK HAIRCARE PACKS!
WIN: A JONGO A2 ADAPTOR TO MODERNISE YOUR OLD STEREO SYSTEM!
What’s that sitting there next to the shelf stereo system looking all slick and minimalist style? Why, it’s the Jongo A2 Adaptor – a nifty gizmo that gives your old hi-fi a new lease of wi-fi life. This clever little audio device from Pure is easy to use anywhere in the home. Simply plug the Pure Jongo into your hi-fi system and connect it to wi-fi. You’ll be able to stream music from any device, meaning no need to get rid of seemingly out-dated stereo equipment. The Pure Jongo system now comes with Caskeid technology, making the synchronised wireless streaming not only a possibility, but exceptionally accurate. Perfect for those wanting to use one of the hundreds of music-streaming services on offer like Spotify, Radionomy or Pandora in a multiroom set up. The Pure Jongo A2 Adaptor costs $199 and is available from Harvey Norman or online at pure.com/au. If you’d like to try and win one, simply email your name, address and the Subject heading ‘Pure Jongo’ to competitions@candymedia.com.au by 5pm AWST, Monday 29 December. You could be receiving great news before the year is out!
10 | December/January 2014
The perfect combination for guys who like their hair a little rough with brutal hold, Hard Muk Styling Mud gives a matte, low-sheen finish and is humidityresistant – great for hot days spent out in the elements. The result is a non-greasy, water-soluble style without the product build-up. Hard Muk Styling and Texturising Shampoo is a double impact shampoo which gently cleanses the scalp to help eliminate residue and excess oils that can weigh the hair down. A unique combination of ingredients and protein helps strengthen and thicken hair with texture and substance. The end result with these two star products is serious style with maximum texture. For more information visit mukhair.com. To try winning one of five Hard Muk packs – each containing a Hard Muk Styling Mud, and Styling and Texturising Shampoo, total value $43.90 each – simply email your name, address and the Subject heading ‘Hard Muk’ to competitions@candymedia.com.au by 5pm AWST, Monday 29 December.
*
TURN TO GADGETS & STUFF PAGES 16 + 17 FOR MORE GREAT PRODUCT COMPETITIONS!
SAME
www.candycustommedia.com.au
bits up the front The
CUSTOMISE YOUR CONSOLE
We’re loving the new Nintendo 3DS console, mainly because of its convenient portability while still boasting a size 1.2 times bigger than that of the original - all 4.88 inches of it. We’re also loving the fact that we can now customise our consoles with colourful cover plates like the designs pictured. MM The new Nintendo 3DS retails at $219.95. Cost with customisable cover plate is $249.95. For more info visit nintendo.com.au.
NOW IN THE BUSINESS ARENA
STREET SMARTS
If you’ve ever had that moment – that very, very rare one – where you’ve gone completely blank when someone has asked you for your street address, you’ll be happy to hear that information is readily at hand. In the form of a lounge cushion. Lumbi is a brand that gives you the option to label your cushions with your suburb name and postcode, hence brandishing it with your street name, too. Available in two sizes, 40cm and 50cm, these cushion covers are made from 100% cotton, featuring print on the front and a plain black. Antonino Tati RRP $59.95 (for 40cm cover) and $79.95 (50cm cover). Add $5 and $10 respectively if you want your cushion stuffed. Available through lumbi.com.au.
Tina Arena is one of Australia’s most successful female artists, but the icon is oh-so much more than that. A smart and astute businesswoman, Arena recently announced her collaboration and partnership with Western Australian company Atlas Pearls and Perfumes. So passionate about the Claremont-based business is Tina, she has also invested in the ASX-listed company. And it’s a business doing impressive things, having already taken out two WA Industry and Export Awards, acknowledging Atlas’ innovative work with pearl powder in fragrances and cosmeceuticals. In a nutshell, the company is making creative use of the bio-mass left after the pearl comes out of the shell. On the fragrance front, custom-made bottles featuring keshi pearls were designed in Perth by jeweller Simon Henderson and presented as gifts for both the French and Chinese Presidents. And popular so far is Atlas’ Wild Islands range which includes a unisex fragrance called Mountain Pepper that takes the best of Tasmania’s natural botanics and essential oils and combines these with French fragrance expertise. In 2015, Atlas Pearls and Perfumes will work on two unique projects with Tina Arena. One will be the creation of a luxury perfume and the other a stunning jewellery line featuring Atlas Pearls’ signature silver and white pinctada maxima pearls, which are recognised as some of the finest in the world. As they say in the music world: stay tuned for more. Coco Bertinese Atlas Pearls and Perfumes’ showroom is located Shop 1, 47-49 Bay View Terrace, Claremont. For more information visit atlaspearlsandperfumes. com.au or phone (08) 9284 4249.
TIKE TALES
It’s not every issue that we review a kid’s book in Rock Candy but Daddy Works The Late Shift is worthy of note simply because it was penned by a FIFO worker named Shane Sadlier who – perhaps not surprisingly – felt like getting a little creative in his RDO time. Following the fear a little kid faces of a big ‘monster’ whom might be awakened if said kid makes too much noise with his toys, this actually sounds like a good premise for horror story… had Steven Spielberg written it. LA ‘Daddy Works The Late Shift’ is published through Billabong Valley Publications, RRP $15 soft cover, $20 hardcover. Shane Sadlier’s next book is titled ‘My Daddy Works FIFO’.
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 13
bits up the front The
MAKER’S MARKS
A scrapbook of info about those bits of art we busily decorate our bodies with… Tattoos. Text by Andrea Manno
HELLO SAILOR!
You may have heard of Sailor Jerry – that brand of rum easily identifiable by its colourful tattoo sketch of a hula girl playing a little ukulele. Indeed you may have even consumed a few bottles of the good liquor! The story goes that a dude named Norman ‘Sailor Jerry’ Collins worked as both a sailor and tattoo artist, leaving a legacy of flash works, eventually starting his own line of Sailor Jerry Clothing. Now, the clothing line has adopted one radical rock star by name of Iggy Pop to do its designing. Widely-known for his music with The Stooges, followed by a vast solo career, and often considered the ‘Godfather of Punk’, we reckon Iggy is the perfect match for the new Sailor Jerry clothing collection. As for his top-of-the-wish-list must-have item? A denim vest armed with the Sailor Jerry anchor on the back along with the words Death Shall Triumph. Nuff said. To check out or purchase Iggy Pop’s ‘Flash Collection’ for Sailor Jerry visit sailorjerryclothing.com. Photography by Mick Rock.
MORE TATT TALES ON THE TELLY
CONSIDER YOUR INK AN INVESTMENT
The number of Australians with at least one tattoo currently sits at one in seven. Anyone who has one knows that when you leave the tattoo studio, freshly-inked and proud of your new investment, you do so with a list of care instructions from your tattoo artist. But how many people go on looking after their tatt past the advised number of days? It’s not news that the sun fades the colouring of tattoos – especially the hot Australian sun – but what is new is an aftercare package branded Brut Tattoo, which aims to maintain your body art forever. Brut Tattoo Builder is an antibacterial cream with D-Panthenol to moisturise and assist in the healing process during the days after you’ve just been decorated, while ther’es also a Tattoo Guard that contains SPF50 to help protect the tatt from sun-fade, along with aloe vera to maintain the skin’s hydration. Both products contain a healthy dose of Vitamin E, too! Brut Tattoo products are available at Woolworths nationally.
14 | December/January 2014
Just in case you weren’t content with the high amount of tattoo visibility on the telly (hello LA Ink, Miami Ink, Incorporated) it has recently been announced that the ABC will capture some local tattoo stories, honing in on a tattoo shop in Bondi. In an eight-part series, Tattoo Tales will explore the desire behind people wanting tattoos in the first place, and document everything from the inking to the reaction, and often the regret. Says ABC TV spokesman Phil Craig, “The stories we choose to write upon our skin give special insight into who we are. What’s particularly impressive with this new series is the way the producers use something as commonplace as a visit to a tattoo studio as a means of exploring some extraordinary Australian lives.” ‘Tattoo Tales’ airs on ABC2 in early 2015.
OR… GET RID OF IT FOR GOOD
Sometimes in life, we make choices we wish we hadn’t – like getting that huge tattoo of WINONA on your arm and then having to deal with it when you’re not going out with her anymore. Well, on the tattoo front, we’ve got you covered. Armed with something called ‘picosecond technology’, PicoSure is a product that promises to work way beyond the traditional photo-thermal capacity of nanosecond lasers. PicoSure enables the fragmentation of ink into tiny smidgeons, then sees these removed from the skin with the resulting appearance as if the tattoo was never even there. Taking between two to six treatments over a span of a few months, PicoSure apparently beats the time it previously took to remove tattoos – this being up to 15 sessions. And you can mark our word on that. And then remove it. For more information visit picosure.com.au.
Gadgets & Stuff
THEY WILL SURVIVE…
The Survivor All-Terrain is a US military grade tested case for your phone, designed to be weather resistant, shock-absorbing and shatter-free. Built on a polycarbonate frame clad in rugged silicone, the case can survive a drop from up to two metres. A built-in screen protector seals your display from the outside environment, while hinged plugs seal the dock connector, headphone port, hold switch and volume controls for the ultimate protection. Whether you’re on a job site or hiking through the bush, the All-Terrain can protect your phone in any environment. MM RRP $59.95, available for iPhone 4 and 5/5S, iPhone 6, and Samsung Galaxy S5 from griffintechnology. com/survivor. Also available at JB Hi-Fi, Big W, Harvey Norman, Officeworks and The Good Guys.
WIN! Rock Candy has 5 Survivor All-Terrain cases to give away. Simply notify us if you’d like a case for iPhone 5/5S or Samsung Galaxy S5 and put this information within your email along with your name and address. Send your email with the Subject heading ‘Survivor’ to competitions@candymedia.com.au by 5pm, Friday 9 January.
GOOD DIRECTION
Most golfers don’t have the luxury of their own caddy for advice on club selection, wind direction, and so on. Luckily, the GolfBuddy PT4 GPS has arrived. GolfBuddy’s latest handheld GPS will help you navigate the course like never before. It boasts a 4-inch high resolution LCD touchscreen, is fully water resistant, and compact enough to carry in your pocket. Who needs a caddy, then? AT RRP $499.00, available through drummondgolf.com.au.
TOTES SHATTER-PROOF
Ever been at a party and seen your glass slip from your hands and shatter (as if in slo-mo!) into pieces while everyone turns to stare at the dick who did it? Well Govino have the solution with their glassware not actually glass at all but made from 100% BPA-free polymer that reflects a bevvy’s colour much like crystal would. Available in four styles – red wine, white wine/cocktail, champagne flute and beer/cider glass, designed into each ‘glass’ is an ergonomic thumb notch on the side, making these the safest go-anywhere drinking containers. MM Govino ‘His’ Party Pack RRP $79, includes 1 x Red Wine 4 Pack Tote, 1 x White Wine/Cocktail 4 Pack Tote, 1 x Beer/Cider 4 Pack Tote, and 1 x single Decanter. Free shipping with purchase from govino.com.au.
WIN! Rock Candy has one ‘His’ Party Pack to give away. To try scoring the lot, simply email your name, address and the Subject heading ‘Govino’ to competitions@candymedia.com. au by 5pm, Friday 9 January. REAL ‘SUN’ GLASSES
Adidas has introduced an array of lenses to their Originals range that are so hip it hurts. They’re being dubbed the ‘Liverpool Collection’ and come in sky blue, fiery red, yellow, and sunset orange (pictured). All are coated with a new scratchresistant nano-finish and can be exchanged for prescription lenses. Now that’s good lens sense. AT RRP $210, stockist information at adidas.com/originalseyewear.
16 | December/January 2014
PEEK-A-BOO
Slide over Go-Pro. There’s a new gizmo in town and it’s scoping out the sights remarkably well. HTC’s ‘Re’ camera is the new toy on the market and it has many people bemused by its design alone. Looking rather like a periscope, the Re is a handheld device that’s simple to hold and operate. Just point, shoot and click. It’s not only clearly ergonomic and compact but water-proof and shockresistant. Plus it boasts a 146-degree wide-angle lens to shoot the best of what’s around you while you enjoy living in the moment. The absence of a viewfinder means that rather than have you fixate on your smartphone screen and miss the whole event, you can leave the Re camera to do all the work while you stay focused. And goodness knows we all need a little focus right now. Andrea Manno RRP $199.99, for more information at htc.com/au or phone 1800 987 039.
SMOKING HOT
When summer hits and the socialising begins, the good ol’ BBQ gets dragged out from its corner, its cover ripped off, and grill set on high. But after a few uses, any barbie can start to look a bit, well, shabby. ProQ BBQ have something that not only does a brilliant job at cooking those sausages, steak and shrimp, but looks stylish doing it. It even roasts beef, lamb and chicken to perfection, with the ProQ turning into a rotisserie in a matter of seconds. And if seasonal heat is deterring you from a hot meal, with an optional extra like the ProQ Cold Smoke Generator, you can enjoy a cold meat feast instead. It’s also big on catering, with two options available: the ProQ Frontier that can cater for up to twelve people, and the ProQ Excel 20, the larger top-ofthe-range version. Either one you choose, it’s got to be better than that dusty old thing you’ve had hidden in the backyard for years. AM RRP starts at $399, for stockists visit proqsmokers.com.au.
WOODEN IT BE NICE?
Many people are tuning in to vinyl recordings. Either returning to the medium (hello retro music lovers!) or experiencing it for the first time. One thing is for certain, vinyl record sales are on the rise. In fact in November 2014 it was reported that vinyl sales reached their highest since 1999. If you’re keen to go old-school with your music, you may as well do it in style. And without the cumbersome hardware. Enter the Clearaudio Concept Wood – a master in disguise providing you with a stress-free, plug-and-play listening experience. Unlike rival designs, which require patience, a steady hand and a passable grasp of trigonometry to get working, the cartridge-equipped Concept features a stylus force that is preset, so it’s simply a matter of plugging it into the nearest electrical outlet and sticking its lead into an amp linked to speakers. As for the look of the thing, its sleek metal and wooden components lend it a vintage aesthetic while its motor and drive are as whiz-bang modern as can get. Heck, you could even play a 78 record on this device and it’ll sound better than you’ve heard before. Antonino Tati RRP $2,995, for stockists visit kedcorp.com.au or phone (02) 9561 0799.
ULTRA SOUND
With all the celebrations going on this summer, you simply cannot forget the number one ingredient: quality music. Lugging a huge boom box to the beach, though, can be a bitch. Instead, turn to something compact with impact, like the Deck Ultra by the clever combined minds of Sol Republic and Motorola. A wireless, Bluetooth-enabled speaker, it hits such impressive decibels that its hard to believe such oomph can be packed into one sleek, slim design. Promising long battery life (22 hours after one full charge) and an extra 30 metres of wireless reach than the previous Deck model, it also boasts something called ‘Heist Mode’, which allows up to five people to sync their MP3 players to the speaker so that everyone can play DJ. And that, our dear friends, is what we call musical democracy. AM RRP $249.95, available from convoy.com.au.
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 17
Stick it
December 27 January 1
from to
WOODFORD FOLK FESTIVAL
One of Australia’s most iconic events in folk and rock music, the Woodford Folk Festival celebrates its 29th year with a massive and impressive programme. Note, Woodford is the largest gathering of artists and musicians in Australia, and this year the festival features over 400 acts presenting 1556 shows in 35 performance venues over six spectacular days and nights. Phew! Billed to play are: Violent Femmes, The Cat Empire, Archie Roach, Bertie Blackman, The Topp Twins, Sticky Fingers, Kate Miller-Heidke, Jeff Lang, Christine Anu, John Smith (plain name but brilliant artist, pictured), Mia Dyson and more. Besides live music there’ll be vaudeville acts, beat poetry readings, comedy, even a bit of rap. Says Brian Ritchie of Violent Femmes, “Folk means people, and Woodford offers the most ‘honest’ music of people of most parts of the globe. Any way you look at it the range and mass of art and audience at Woodford is unique in the Aussie festival scene.” Hear, hear. Lisa Andrews
in your diary Gigs worth getting tickets to and we mean in advance!
Woodford Folk Festival is on from December 27, 2014 to Jan 1, 2015. For ticket pricing and camping options please visit woodfordfolkfestival.com.
OZ ROCK BUSSELTON
January 24
Busselton bursts with rock music every January when Oz Rock takes centre stage in the regional city. Twenty-fifteen will see another unprecedented lineup of excellent Aussie acts performing at Barnard Park on Saturday 24 January. As a pit-stop to their ‘White Heat’ platinum concert series, one of Australia’s most respected bands, Icehouse, will headline an impressive bill that also boasts local Perth lad Diesel, along with Wendy Matthews, James Reyne, Ross Wilson (think Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock) amongst others. Make this coming Australia Day Weekend a memorable one – and get your ass across to Busselton. Michael Mastess Oz Rock takes place Saturday 24 January. Tickets available through ticketmaster.com.au. Pictured: Iva Davies of Icehouse.
May 1-3
V8 SUPERCARS 2015
Every year, the V8 Supercars descend upon us for the Perth 400 injecting a need for speed into our otherwise fairly laid-back city. Twenty-fifteen will see yet another SuperSprint event where Perthians will witness Holdens, Fords, Nissans, Mercedes and Volvo’s firing on all cylinders. While the occasion was planned at Barbagallo Raceway for mid-April, it will now run from May 1-3 (something to do with clashing with the footy) so be sure you make the change in your diary – now! V8 Supercars will welcome the return of Ford after Chaz Mostert took out the Bathurst 1000 title for the classic motor giant this year, however they are said to be considering withdrawing given that the event coincides with the close of Ford’s sponsorship deal with FPR. But, who can say? V8 Supercars Perth 400 is on at Barbagallo Raceway from May 1-3, 2015. For more info visit v8supercars.com.au and for ticekts go to ticketek.com.au.
from
February 13 March 7
to
PERTH INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL 2015
This year sees the Perth International Arts Festival celebrating its 63rd year, and with a budget of over 22 million dollars, things look set to be huge. Quite literally! To begin with, the festival will open in an epic spectacle in the way of French company Royal de Luxe’s ‘The Incredible and Phenomenal Journey of the Giants to the Streets of Perth’, the biggest arts event WA has ever seen. For three days over opening weekend, these masters of theatrical art will let loose a modern-day fairy-tale of gigantic proportions as 11-metre tall giants take inspiration from uniquely Western Australian stories and “tour” the city, partly in commemoration of the Anzac centenary. Another highlight - and still on a battle tip - is the production of ‘Black Diggers’ which interweaves stories of Indigenous soldiers who fought in the battlefields of World War I for Australian and then returned home to be treated as second-class citizens. Heavy – but pertinent – theatre, to say the least. Perth theatre-goers will also have the opportunity to see the English National Opera’s production of ‘Madama Butterfly’ and, on a more raucous note, Australian circus ensemble Circa will present ‘Beyond’, a radical spectacle of modern music, superb acrobatics and outlandish comedy that made a major impression at the recent Edinburgh Festival. Whether it’s serious or spooky subject matter you’re chasing, or light-hearted and comedic, the Perth International Arts Festival 2015 has got it all. And don’t get us started on the massive list of music acts visiting our shores to perform live, suffice to say that the names Neneh Cherry, Sinead O’Connor, Rufus Wainwright and Musica Viva should all ring a bell. Antonino Tati The Perth International Arts Festival runs from February 13 - March 7, 2015. For information and bookings visit Ticketek outlets, perthfestival.com.au or phone (08) 6488 5555.
ALSO, PERTH ARENA IS BURSTING WITH TALENT IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2015!
January 4-10 >> Hopman Cup... February 14 >> Roxette... February 18 + 19 >> The Eagles... March 10 + 11 >> Billy Connolly... March 14 >> Kylie Minogue... March 21 >> Rod Stewart... April 4 + 5 >> Ed Sheeran... April 24 >> The Script... May 8 >> Ricky Martin... May 22 >> Spandau Ballet.
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 19
ABBY SOANES
Bass guitarist + fuzzy dirty noisemaker, Legs Electric
Homegrown Talent
What’s currently on your iPod? Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash, Muddy Waters, Ryan Adams, Wilco, You Am I, Beasts Of Bourbon. In fact I have lots of music, ranging from the 1950s to now. How would you describe the music you make? Heavy dirty groove rock’n’roll. Or just maximum rock’n’roll. Can you sum up your personality in a sentence? No. How would you describe your fashion style? My style is pretty casual most of the time. I wear a lot of black. I do appreciate fashion and wish I could afford some of the big designer brands – but I’m a muso... And musos never have money! I like a good pair of boots, though. If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing? I would probably be a Workers Injury Manager. Or a stripper. Legs Electric’s EP ‘Maximum Rock’n’Roll’ is out independently and available on iTunes. You can also purchase it at any of their gigs, with the band’s next tour being on the east coast throughout December. More information at legselectric.com. Abby is pictured far left.
DALTON TUTTLE
Lead guitarist, Drown The Faith What’s currently on your iPod? Thy Art Is Murder, Trivium, Whitechapel, Machine Head, Chimaira, Periphery. How would you describe the music you make? The riffs I write come from a
20 | December/January 2014
range of influence – Metalcore, Deathcore, Groove Metal Thrash, and Prog. But mainly I work very closely with our drummer Rory and we write whatever comes naturally. Could you sum up your personality in a sentence? I’m a pretty shy guy. Very loyal and honest. And just a mad lover of music!
And how would you describe your fashion style? Working class man at beer o’clock on a Friday arvo. Ha ha! Nah, very simple, really: jeans, work boots and a band t-shirt. If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing? I’d be making guitars. I’ve made a few now and really enjoy it.
Drown The Faith’s EP ‘Blood On The Page’ is out independently and available on iTunes. You can also purchase it at any of their gigs. More information at drownthefaithmusic.bandcamp. com/releases. Dalton is pictured second from the right.
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KIC090600143
2,002
$600.60
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KIC090600146
1,282
$384.00
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705
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471
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472
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556
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813
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1,123
$336.90
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KIC090200028
490
$235.00
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KIC090300065
842
$252.60
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Pop Culture
FIGHTING FIT music
F
oo Fighters are having a bit of a green day. Not as in that other band. But quite literally. Dave Grohl is dressed in vibrant green baseball socks, and Nate is wearing what can only be described as ‘frog green’ sneakers. Speaking of frogs, I myself am wearing a T-shirt that pays tribute to Guns ‘N’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction album art – except the Gunners’ skulls have been replaced with pictures of Freddo the Frog, Smurfette, and other cartoon icons. Dave says he really likes the T-shirt. I say he can’t have it. To add insult to injury, once the king of grunge leaves the room, I nick the cigarette butt he’s left behind in an ashtray, along with his half-finished bottle of Vittoria mineral water and end up selling these on eBay as a combined keepsake for two hundred bucks. In retrospect I regret it. Not the stealing of the contraband. The selling of it. It’d be worth a greater amount today already. But back to the rock stars themselves. Foo Fighters are big in that rock-band-asroving-satellite kind of way. Few have made it so big and stayed there – maybe U2, Muse and Coldplay. The rest are, like, pretty much lost in cyberspace. Dave Grohl is telling me how he used to make music as a kid, in a pseudo multitrack kind of way. He once made a cassette recording about his dog, appropriately titled Bitch. First he’d record himself banging on some drums, then he’d play that back and simultaneously record it with erratic guitar playing. Then he’d play both those ‘tracks’ back and record them with his vocals on top. I’m surprised he didn’t go a fourth round
and get his dog to provide backing yelps. Anyway, eventually Dave got out of the backyard and into a punk rock band called Scream. And then he found Nirvana. The rest, as they say, is history. Dave and the boys of Foo are back with their newest album Sonic Highways. After a handful of major successful LPs, you come to expect great things from this band, and the newest LP doesn’t let you down. While maintaining that powerful yet beautifully melodic style, the Foo Fighters have managed to take things to yet another level and, no, we’re not talking about turning electro – although the temptation might have been there. Instead, Sonic Highways is a balls-tothe-wall version of the band’s trademark sound. A result of Grohl “trying to make things more direct, more powerful, or more beautiful, more delicate, or simply louder”. The keyword here, kids, is “more”. Although a near-deaf mute could identify a Foo Fighters riff on a dodgy polyphonic ringtone, this isn’t to say the guys haven’t evolved as a band. What started off as a fun experiment has turned into an outlet for emotional constipation, and we can’t get enough of the shit. Dave Grohl admits that with previous records, “I’d play the puzzles, like I’d write in these little jigsaws and would try to make it as complicated to understand as possible”. He intently adds, “With this album, I tried to the opposite.” Indeed, the clarity is there in some of the song titles, including The Feast And The Famine, In The Clear and the double-banger What Did I Do? / God As My Witness. And it’s
definitely there in the clear-cut rock ethos of the songs themselves. While the themes are mainly hardedged (eg: arsonists sing out on the streets), I couldn’t help rever ting to the Foos’ back catalogue, pinpointing one song in particular. On a previous album - Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace - there was a song called The Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners which was a tribute to two Australian miners trapped below ground in 2006 who requested, of all things, to hear “anything from the Foo Fighters” to keep them sane. Says Dave, “When people are literally staring at death and ask for your music, it becomes pretty apparent that you’re reaching them on an emotional level. So I guess we’re doing a good thing, making music... sometimes it can help people out.” Well, no-one has accused them of ever being too philosophical. While Foo Fighters remain a tight-knit collective, it’s hard to ignore Dave Grohl as its leading force. Throughout his career in music he’s played the part of drummer, guitarist, producer, filmmaker, singer and lyricist. When asked if he was multi-talented as a child, he responds rather confusedly with an “Uh… No”. Great, now we can add ‘humble dude’ to the list. Jokes aside, as Sonic Highways attests, Dave Grohl and company can do no wrong. Five stars all round. And a little sticker with a pretty green frog on it. Antonino Tati ‘Sonic Highways’ is out through Sony. Foo Fighters photographed by Ringo.
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 23
Pop Culture
‘UNBROKEN’ BOUND TO BREAK RECORDS movie
T
here are films that touch on confronting topics and ones that really capture and breathe life into a subject. Then there is Unbroken. A film based on the representation of the life of Louis Zamperini – Olympian, prisoner-of-war, bombardier, survivor – whose story is presented astonishingly well by A-list actress-turned-director Angelina Jolie. British actor Jack O’Connell plays the mentally and physicallyresilient Louis, bearing the incredible weight the Italian suffered at the hands of childhood bullies, then as the prop for two mates with whom he was lost at sea for forty-seven days, and then as the target for the sadistic Sergeant Matsuhiro Watanabe – ‘The Bird’ – in a Japanese POW camp. Preparations to deliver some of the most graphic scenes in the film were reportedly extreme, with Jolie claiming at the Hollywood Film Awards that “in the cell, the actors would be confined, not knowing if [the antagonist] would go in there for three minutes or an hour. A crew member with a rubber baton would go in at unexpected times and hit the actor. It didn’t hurt, but the feeling would bring up the emotion of the loss of freedom, the never-knowing, the sense of powerlessness.” The producer of the film, Matthew Baer, who had been gunning to make a movie 24 | December/January 2014
of Zamperini’s life since 1998, told Rock Candy, “There was careful orchestration and rehearsal in terms of allowing Jack to have the space to be comfortable, but to also be able to believe that what was going on with him was this massive frustration with him being a caged animal. Being an Olympian, Zamperini was the last person you would ever want in a cage. And yet his energy was never broken.” Unbroken traces Zamperini’s life from Torrance, California, to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, to war-time 1930s and ’40s – but if the film were to cover all the places and material of his life, it would run for well over the two hours the production actually is. There will be bums on seats, though, with talk of Unbroken being a major Oscar contender. And why wouldn’t it be? It has all the right ingredients of an award-filming f i lm: strong per formances by its actors (O’Donnell, Garrett Hedlund and Japanese rockstar-turned-actor Miyavi); an amazing production team including the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, as two of the writers, and cinematographer Roger Deakins of The Shawshank Redemption fame. And, yes, having the amazing Angelina Jolie in the director’s seat has certainly brought a fair share of attention to the movie. Says Baer, “It’s a rare case where a major studio such as Universal gets so fully behind a movie of this kind. After all, it’s not about
comic book heroes and it doesn’t feature special effects. It’s reliant on the emotion of this one man’s story, and so I’m grateful to [author] Laura Hillenbrand for writing this magnificent book that made the studio feel comfortable in greenlighting the movie. “I’m also grateful for Angelina’s force as a person, and as a filmmaker, to help push the boulder over the hill in terms of making it into a film.” Jolie clasped Zamperini’s life in two hands and constructed one key message: that hurdles can be overcome with enough strength, determination and belief within oneself while illuminating the trials of war and the torturous environment of POW camps. Filmed in Australia, largely in New South Wales and Queensland’s Gold Coast, many of the scenes are confronting, including human beatings and bodies suffering from malnutrition, but it is the combination of these scenes of distress that only make Unbroken’s characters even heroes in our eyes. Louis Zamperini passed away on July 2, 2014 but not before he managed to view most of the film of which he was the main subject – with Angelina Jolie by his side in the hospital. And no film scene could get more poetic than that. Andrea Manno ‘Unbroken’ hits cinemas January 15, 2015.
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Pop Culture
books
FOOTBALL’S FINEST ACCORDING TO A KEY PLAYER
I
t’s difficult enough when members of the public are asked to vote for their ‘greatest’ players of all time in any given sport. Debate runs rife and god forbid should an ardent sporting fan’s suggestion be criticised in the Comments section of an online blog. All hell is sure to break lose – at least with a torrent of verbal abuse. It’s even more difficult – and the risk of critique even higher – when a list of the world’s ‘greatest’ players is devised by one person only – especially when that person is an ex-sportsman himself, with backlash of divided opinion inevitable. Given this fact, one-time English soccer hero Geoff Hurst does a dandy good job in listing his 50 favourite footballer. Over 50, actually, since there are several draws. Hurst admits there is a certain element of bias on his behalf, after all, 11 of the players are English, and five are teammates from his infamous 1966 World Cup final squad. That the majority of the list are forwards also has me suspecting Hurst has a definite respect for players attacking on the frontline. That said, the author avoids sounding too elitist in his description of each player, even though he has probably shared more
26 | December/January 2014
hot dinners with most of them than you and I have with our own mates. Written in a fairly frank style, the entry for a certain enfant terrible with a penchant for biting, for example, begins with: “When I first drew up this list, Luis Suárez was higher than nineteenth position. But when I first drew up this list, Luis Suárez had not dug his teeth into Giorgio Chiellini’s back.” It’s this kind of down-home approach that makes the book a good laidback read. Had some pedantic fulltime sports commentator or trainspotting fanatic written it, it may have come across as clinical or bland. But from Hurst’s pen, it’s colourful, often even cheeky. I won’t reveal the full list of his favourites from the game, suffice to say that Pelé is sitting pretty in the top spot, while Messi, Rinaldo, Maradona and Moore all make it into the top ten. A good read for fans of football… Even though no-one will fully agree with Hurst’s limited choices. Antonino Tati Geoff Hurst’s ‘50 Greatest Footballers Of All Time’ is published through Icon Books, Allen & Unwin, RRP $27.99.
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AFL Season 2014
GALLERY
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
The Art of the Game is a Melbourne-based art studio founded by printmaker Naomi Le Get whose love of pop art is as evident as her appreciation for all things sport. Be it AFL, cricket, cycling, even diving, Le Get loves to take key sporting events (finals, test wins, Olympic highlights) and screen-print these onto canvas for posterity. The results are then reprinted, framed and made available for fellow sports lovers to buy. But mass-printing is something the artist would rather avoid. “We’re not interested in selling you lots of the same posters,” insists Le Get. “That’s why we only do editions of 100. Sure, we could sell more, but we’d prefer to design our next poster, not keep printing the same ones again and again. It means any poster you buy is pretty special. You’re not going to see it in every café and every living room.” Don’t tell her you plan on cutting out and keeping the images from these pages, then... Interview by Antonino Tati
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 29
GALLERY
Diver - Suspended
“It eventually dawned on me that I could pull my two loves – art and sport – together into one combined business.”
Hi Naomi. What a clever business you’ve got going there. Recreating moments in sport and lending them a pop-art aesthetic. When did you come up with the idea? It was actually a couple of my worlds coming together quite nicely. I was looking at starting my own business, trying to find some space to do my art, and making it down to the odd game at the MCG in between searches. It eventually dawned on me that I could pull my two loves – art and sport – together into one combined business. Thankfully it was a gradual realisation; rather than having been whacked in the head by a soccer ball or any other violent epiphany! Do you constantly keep your eye on sporting events so as to be inspired for new prints? I do like to keep up with what’s happening in the sporting world, but what I really love is mixing in things nobody expects from outside the sporting world – to come up with something truly original. My ‘Chromosome’ prints, for example, look like old-school science posters, but with the chromosomes in AFL team colours. I think they’re a great example of the unexpected. I’ve noticed some of your prints are illustration-based; others photo-illustrated. With relation to the photo-illustrations, do you need copyright permission of, say, an image of any given AFL player or a particular sportsman? For all the kids out there, if you use other people’s photos then, yes, you absolutely need to be on the right side of Mr Copyright. That said, traditional printmakers are generally pretty bad at creating people [on canvas] – flat block colours and realistic people don’t mix easily. The Art of the Game has forced me to learn how to ‘do’ people well. I received a couple of early commissions that required me to create players, and so I had to learn fast. I’ve drawn on that photo/stencil style because it enables me to build prints using natural techniques, but using original images as inspiration. I don’t think anyone was more surprised than me at how good they look! Could you describe some of the detail you’ve got to go through? I study photos of the players intensively before doing a piece, and sometimes I’ll work with a photo to get the details of the eyes 30 | December/January 2014
or hands just so. But I’m always looking for something beyond the standard images we see of these players. Have any of the sports icons in your prints given you feedback on their pop art portraits? Not directly, but none of them have ever said no when I’ve offered them a copy. Actually it’s probably best I don’t know too much [ie: get too much feedback from them]. I’ve only done prints of players I really admire, so I’d be horrified if they hated them. Obviously you don’t favour any particular team of any given sport when it comes to creating your art… Whenever I’m working on a new team I’ll always sit down with any fans I know and get them to talk about what they love about their team, and their favourite moments and icons. You can’t do the prints if you don’t feel the connection. I feel like a mother with a whole tribe of kids now. I started off with just a couple of teams and sports I supported, but now they’re everywhere. It does get emotionally messy if they play each other though. In those cases I generally barrack for the team coming second. Even that gets difficult in a close game where the lead keeps swapping… Finally, tell us about the ‘limited edition’ aspect of each print so the reader knows they’re getting something pretty rare... ‘Limited edition’ can be seen as an over-used term. By the time you’ve got limited edition Coke you know it’s probably gone a bit too far. However, I don’t really have a better term for what I do. Basically, I like doing print runs because they make the pieces affordable. If I just did one-off pieces, they’d be too expensive [to produce and hence for the consumer to buy]. What I can say is that the people who buy my prints are getting something that is absolutely artist-made. I design them, I print them, I sign them, I tick them off their run sheets, and I pack them. Keeping the editions to 100 allows me to find a balance between what I can create personally, making the prints affordable, and ensuring customers really do have something unusual and special. ▪ Sports prints by Naomi Le Get are available at theartofthegame.com. au. Free postage is offered on all standard, unframed deliveries.
GALLERY
Collingwoood Premierships
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 31
GALLERY
Fremantle Dockers - Tattoo
32 | December/January 2014
GALLERY
West Coast Eagles Premierships
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 33
GALLERY
“Limited edition can be seen as an overused term. By the time you’ve got limited edition Coke you know it’s probably gone a bit too far.”
Adam Goodes
34 | December/January 2014
GALLERY
Dustin Fletcher
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 35
GALLERY
A History of the Ashes in 24 Bats
36 | December/January 2014
GALLERY
Leg Before Wicket
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 37
GALLERY
WIN!
Courtesy of artist Naomi Le Get, Rock Candy has two illustrated sports prints to give away. All you need to do to try and win one is visit theartofthegame. com.au and select which print you’d like to win! It’s that simple. Then send your name, address, artwork selection and the Subject heading ‘Art/Game’ to competitions@candymedia.com.au by Friday 9 January, 2015.
Joel Selwood
38 | December/January 2014
GALLERY
Chromosome Series - Port Adelaide
“I love mixing in things nobody expects from outside the sporting world. My ‘Chromosome’ prints, for example, look like old-school science posters, but with the chromosomes in AFL team colours.”
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 39
PROFILE
GET CARTER
He’s a muso at heart, an actor by trade. Brad Carter - a.k.a Charlie Lange of True Detective and Leland Gruen in Sons Of Anarchy - also likes to play a bit of guitar on the side. He has, in fact, over a million hits on Youtube of a clip of him playing a home-made six-string during brain surgery – much to the astonishment of web surfers worldwide. An all-round Mr Nice Guy whom you could easily take home to Mom (U.S. spelling imperative) it just so happens that Brad ends up playing a lot of bad boy roles on TV. As well as the aforementioned, he has played a hard-ass on Bones, Dexter, CSI, Criminal Minds and The Mentalist. Here he chats with Andrea Manno about giving it your all, on-screen and off. Photography by Bobby Quillard
Hi Brad, where are you right now? Today I’m in Calvary in Canada, working on a movie called The Revenant. It stars Leonardo Di Caprio and Tom Hardy and it’s a period piece set in the 1820s – about the true story of Hugh Glass. A bunch of trappers get attacked by Indians, and the ones that survive have to get back 20 miles to where they’ve come from… Oh, and Di Caprio’s character gets mauled by a bear. Ouch. What part are you playing? I’m one of the trappers, called Johnny. I probably can’t say much about it, dammit, but let’s just say a lot of people die. It’s based on a true story and a lot of guys died at that time… So we’ll leave it at that. To something we can talk about. All your television work. There’s been so many primetime shows you’ve appear in, and in most of them you play a criminal or some kind of complicated rough nut. A long time ago when I started acting, I wondered, ‘How can I get my foot in the door?’ and I noticed that on TV shows, there were always smaller roles for bad guys and people they needed to kill off real quickly. So I thought that would be the best way for me to earn some credits. I thought, you know what, I’ll go be the best bad guy I can be – a meth dealer, a red neck – whatever they need! My mom
40 | December/January 2014
always says ‘Why can’t you play a nice boy?’ and I say ‘I don’t know Mom, I guess I have this face that people just want to punch or throw in jail’. And let me guess, you’re a good bloke in real life? Yep! Well… I think I’m a nice guy. But, you know, nice people can get mad, too. Anyway, what happens is you get to play these [nasty] characters and a side of you that doesn’t usually come out gets to, and you can explore that side of yourself that you may not get to otherwise verbalise. Like releasing the tension into a punching bag. Absolutely. It’s good because you get to play with different aspects of your personality while you’re at it. Yep. And as my career has grown, it becomes more fun. It can become draining playing the same characters over and over; you take it home with you and start asking yourself ‘Am I this person?’ What’s been awesome is the opportunity to play characters that are well-written and fleshed-out and have a definite purpose to driving the story. That’s been exciting! I told my agent, let’s try to get some different roles for me. I want them to be something I can sink my teeth into, especially since True Detective came out. That was sort of a turning point for me, acting-wise.
PROFILE
“If you Google ‘guy plays guitar during brain surgery’, 10 million articles come up about me… And that’s a real number.”
www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 41
PROFILE
What else do you like about being a part of the show? Well the fun thing about doing True Detective as that it’s shot very much like a film. I’ve done a lot of TV and I’ve worked with a lot of amazing actors, but this is working with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. It’s, like, these guys are A-list actors, so you better bring it! It causes you to elevate your performance; sink or swim. Those guys are so seasoned and at the top of their game and I love working in those situations because it pushes you to be better. We had a saying in acting class that you’re only as good as the people around you! Indeed. You’ve had a lot of decent talent around you in Sons Of Anarchy, too. How would you best describe your character, Leland Gruen? Leland is definitely not a lawyer; he’s in my wheelhouse, let’s put it that way. There’s a character, Tully, played by Marilyn Manson, who is in prison with Jax and who is the head of the Aryan Brotherhood in that prison. And so he makes the deals from there and my character is his boots on the street sort of thing; everything goes through me. A rough-as-guts role again. Yep! [Laughs]. Next up is television sci-f i ser ies, Ascension. Are you excited to have a role in that? Absolutely. Ascension is the thing I’m most excited about at the moment. It’s my favourite role I’ve gotten because it’s outside all those characters we’ve talked about. I’m still a blue-collar guy but he’s on a ship out in space. Of course, I can’t talk about much of it but I can tell you that it’s set in 1963, and that President Kennedy has decided to secretly launch a space craft the size of the Empire State building towards this planet called Promixa. What happens is 600 people leave Earth, some of the best and the brightest. It’s 2014 on Earth but it’s a travelling time capsule so it’s still 1963 on the ship. They still listen to records and have none of the technology we currently have. No cell phones, iPods, etc. They haven’t had contact with Earth; in fact they don’t know if it even exists still since they left during the Cold War. Sounds like a Noah’s Ark in space… Exactly! It’s incredibly well-written – by Philip Levins – and it’s constructed so well. What I hope is that people don’t hear about it and think, ‘Oh, I’m not into sci-fi; it sounds too out there’, because what’s great about this story is that it’s about everyday people in a situation that really could happen. You have a class system. In fact, there are 80 stories in this ship and as you get to the lower deck, you find the blue-collar workers. My character is a butcher, John Stokes. One whole floor of the ship is just
42 | December/January 2014
“My mom always says ‘Why can’t you play a nice boy?’ and I say ‘I don’t know Mom, I guess I have this face that people just want to punch or throw in jail’.” pigs, chickens, goats… and you’ve got all the guys down at the bottom feeding the rest of the ship. That’s one empowered butcher… My character gets to have an incredible storyline that’s like no-one else’s. It’s actually quite pivotal; in fact, it’s bad ass! I get to do a few things that I hadn’t gotten to do before and when you see it, you’ll see what I mean. Are you a sci-fi fan in general? I love some sci-fi. I grew up on Star Wars, the original ones. The first movie I ever went to at the theatre was Star Wars. The first three. I don’t even want to talk about the next three. I just pretend those don’t exist in. Away from TV and cinema for a while; if we could turn our attention to music and the internet. You captured the world’s attention for playing your home-made guitar while enduring brain surgery to alleviate ‘essential tremor’ in your hand. How did you feel about the attention you got from that? That was never meant to go viral. Like, if you would have told me that everyone around the world would have seen this, I would have asked why. Why would anyone care? For me, it was my last stand to get some relief from a problem I’ve had for eight years. It’s a progressive condition; essential tremor is also the most common movement disorder in the world. If you Google ‘guy plays guitar during brain surgery’, 10 million articles come up about me… And that’s a real number. Ten million videos and articles that everybody grabbed and put it onto their news sites and blogs. But what’s frustrating is that half of them say ‘man with Parkinson’s’. It’s unfair for the people that have essential tremor that it’s not being labelled correctly. Anyway, there is this amazing technology that we have; it’s been around for about 15 years but it’s only just starting to get used in hospitals around the world.
Tell us more about your condition. I struggle with depression. I’m an Art major, I’m good with my hands, and I’m a self-taught finger-picker. I’m a banjo player and to watch your fingers and hands stop working is incredibly painful and incredibly frustrating. When you’re trying to have an acting career on top of that, it can become an anxiety for me and a point of contention. The only reason I had this guitar built for me is because I always thought, if I ever got to go play live again, I wanted a unique guitar that was memorable. I never thought it would be seen on brain surgery videos around the world; that’s not how I planned on unveiling it. You were awake for about hours straight during the surgery, right? Yeah, you have to be awake the whole time because you have to participate. They’re working so close to your speech capsule, in the thalamus; the movement is right beside the speech. Literally, if they move this electrode one thousandth of a millimetre too far in the wrong direction, I would lose my speech. I absolutely lost my speech a couple of times; it was like I had a stroke. But they fixed it. And that‘s why you have to be awake; so that you can let them know how it’s going. So is the tremor dormant now? Dormant, yes, but there is no cure. What happens is that I have something like a pacemaker under my skin. It’s an amazing little computer that connects to my brain. There’s a wire that goes up my neck and into my brain, and it looks just like a pacemaker for someone’s heart. It’s done wonders and it’s given me my confidence back! I’m so grateful to UCLA and the doctors for trying so hard. You once said that you wanted to know what the shelf life of your skills was going to be. Do you still want to know? Yep. There’s nothing like being told you’re going to lose your skills to light a fire under your ass to go and use them. It’s not a death sentence, but there’s a part for you that dies inside when you realise you
PROFILE
TV SERIES BRAD CARTER HAS BEEN IN… ASCENSION BONES CASTLE CHEERLEADER DIARIES CRIMINAL MINDS CSI DEXTER HENRY’S LAW HOUSE MD JUSTIFIED THE MENTALIST NEW GIRL PERCEPTION SONS OF ANARCHY TRUE BLOOD TRUE DETECTIVE
have a shelf life on your creative talents. Now I’m even wanting to make music. I did a Kickstarter and raised some money and just said, ‘Fuck it, I’m gonna go make a record’ and my goal is to finish it. Making music. Acting. What else do you see yourself having accomplished in five years? I absolutely want to go out and perform live as long as is humanly possible. That is the most important thing to me; to get my
record out there and play it. Everything else is cherry on top! And I would love to do more films. What’s next on the cards for you then? I’m shooting an indie crime film called Dixieland that I’m really excited about. It’s set in the ’90s and it’s written by Hank Bedford [The Fighter, Immortals]. The film also stars RJ Mitte from Breaking Bad, Riley Keough [Elvis Presley’s granddaughter] and Faith Hill. I love the character I’m
going to play. Larry is a strip club owner and kind of a sleaze-ball. And I reckon I’m good at that! ▪ ‘Sons Of Anarchy: The Final Season’ airs Wednesdays on Showcase. ‘True Detective: The Second Season’ airs early 2015 on Showcase. In 2015, Brad Carter will also appear in the film ‘Black Mass’ opposite Johnny Depp.
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PROFILE
44 | December/January 2014
PROFILE
MARKING HIS TERRITORY
Nobody knows the great Australian outdoors better than Steve ‘The Bushdog’ McGrath. He’s survived harsh weather conditions, scorpion and snake bites, vehicle-poundings by kangaroos – and half the time in his sleep! Andrea Manno meets the man who’s keen to keep ‘ocker’ in the Aussie vernacular. Photography by Andrew Halsall
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rowing up in Meekatharra might not have been the biggest eye-opener for a kid, but it was a small taste of Midwest country that would see Steve ‘The Bushdog’ McGrath set for rural life. Steve earned the nickname ‘Bushdog’ from the fact that he loved to stop at places and scratch about while taking a necessary pee pit-stop. His colleagues at Travel About Tours described him as being “like an old dog in the bush, marking his territory”. Nothing could paint a truer portrayal of young Steve, the kid who left school early, realising it just wasn’t for him, to throw himself into a hobby-come-career of kangaroo-shooting at 16. “This truckie named Bruce Croft asked me one day if I wanted to learn kangaroo shootin’,” tells Bushdog. “I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll give it a bash’. I thought it’d be pretty exciting, bangin’ around shootin’ kangaroo. Or marlu as we call them – that’s roo in Anmatyerre [the Indigenous Australian language of Central Australia peoples].” When the government decided to put a quota on the number of marlu that shooters could hit, Bushdog decided to hang up his gun and join the shearing team to earn a decent buck. But at six-foot-three, he found it was a long way to bend down. Either that, or the sheep were just too darn short. Steve recounts the memory in his mildly-gruff voice: “I said ‘stuff it’ to the shearing mob. ‘I’ll go in the kitchen
and learn how to cook. I thought that would be easier, ya know? It was easier but, crikey, you’re getting’ up at goddamn four o’clock in the mornin’ and cookin’ breakfast! I’d give ’em scones in the mornin’ and fruit cake in the afternoon and they’d whinge and carry on saying it was always the same thing. So then I’d give ’em fruit cake in the morning and scones in the arvo…” A larrikin at heart, who loves to spin yarns, it’s a strong sense of humour that has helped Steve keep his wits about him when surrounded by the risky elements of the outback – just him, the stars, and every now and then a good mate. Steve spent seven months on the road with an Aboriginal friend of his, sleeping in an bunged-up Landrover, with no side windows and a windscreen that folded down to allow them to aim at the marlu. Recalling driving into Sydney after six weeks in the scrub, Steve describes the two of them as “dirty, filthy-looking blokes with big scruffy beards and long hair hanging out of the windows.” Indeed, with no shaving supplies, no deodorant, and scarcely a bath – save for the occasional dip in a river or creek when they were lucky to find one – Steve chuckles as he recalls, “We must’ve frightened the shit out of them pretty city girls we was passing by, but geez it was all good fun.” It was only natural, then, for the Bushdog to make a
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PROFILE
meal out of his passion for the scrub, and soon Steve turned to tour-guiding. “I had four walls around me,” he tells of previous work in his Dad’s hotel, “and I didn’t like that; I didn’t like that at all.” After kicking that, he began as a tour guide with Safari Trek, where he covered areas like The Pinnacles. If that wasn’t quite rugged enough, joining Travel About and touring the outback certainly was, and so the story goes on. T he Wes ter n Au s t ra l i a n Tou r i sm Commission had eventually heard of this “man about the bush” and so when the TV program I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! put a call-out for an experienced bushman, the Commission contacted their West Aussie Bushdog. When Steve arrived – swiftly picked up by limousine – there was an audition of sorts to go through. “I got there, and there was this bloke who looked like Mick Jagger, and he says ‘I’m the producer, director and all that’ and I says, ‘Well, really pleased to meet you, I’m bloody Steve’. I had all my [casual] bush gear on, too. I don’t give a shit who I’m going to see or what I’m gonna do. If you don’t like me, then you can piss off. Take me for what I am.” Nonetheless, the starched shirt-wearing director and his subject took to the bush together and began shooting what made for great gutsy television where Steve got to share tales of dangerous encounters in the rough. He’s now telling me a swag of stuff. Like the time he was stung by scorpions and when he woke up covered in centipedes; both a lot bigger in the bush than what you’d find in urban backyards. Then there’s the time a Whiptail snake bit him. Steve regales these tales as only a man who’s ‘been there and done that’ can. “I knew some of those things were poisonous, but I’m a big bloke,” he says. “Once on a tour, there was this snake that I wanted to pick up. As I bent down, there was this girl in front of me with a loose top on, and she was bending down too. All I saw were these bloody jooblies and, hey, I’m only a man and a man’s gotta sneak a peek… So the ol’ snake thought, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna get you!’ Give me a bite on the hand and that’ll teach me!” While most of the people on board that particular tour screamed and feared the death of their guide, Bushdog coolly and calmly radioed into base telling them of the bite, only to find the good news: that Whiptail snakebites were generally not lethal, however he was going to be very, very sick. Twenty-four hours later, after constant spewing and putting up with a pounding head, which Steve describes as feeling like his “brain was going from side to side” Steve popped a couple of Bex and Disprin and was soon right as rain. 46 | December/January 2014
“I had four walls around me and I didn’t like that; I didn’t like that at all.”
PROFILE
“I don’t give a shit who I’m going to see or what I’m gonna do. If you don’t like me, then you can piss off!”
MEETING THE LOCALS Travelling on tours throughout the Northern Territory in the early 1990s, Steve became fairly familiar with the artwork by Aboriginal peoples in the area and upon getting to know community members including an Elder, Cassidy Tjapaljarri, he purchased some pieces. The respect he personally showed them and in introducing people from all over and all walks of life to the Anmatyerre peoples as well as assisting in merchandising their artwork earned him their veneration. So much so that upon arriving one time with a tour of 20 passengers, they were greeted by roughly 50 tribe members, each with art pieces to show and sell, along with invitations to the tourists to spend overnight within the community. Steve insists he loves the grassroots experience of it all. Joi n i n g We s t e r n E x p o s u r e , n o w Kimberley Wild Expeditions, four years
ago, Steve ‘The Bushdog’ McGrath currently holds the title of Operations Manager. He looks after the company’s camps, and trains up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tour guides on the how-tos, the dos and the don’ts (such as not getting distracted by titties when attempting to handle a snake). His knack for passing on basic survival techniques and regaling amazing stories of the bushland sees him well respected and liked by his Kimberley colleagues. There were stories before and there will no doubt be more to come as Steve’s life runs its definitively wild course. Who knows where this Bushdog will go from here? Chances are, wherever he ventures to, he’s sure to be leaving his mark. ▪ For more information or to book a tour with Kimberley Wild Expeditions, visit kimberleywild.com.au or phone (08) 9418 1294.
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MOTORING
OLD HOLDENS NEVER DIE… ANTONINO TATI PAYS TRIBUTE TO AT AN AUSTRALIAN MOTORING INSTITUTION WHOSE FACTORY DOORS WILL SOON BE CLOSING FOR GOOD.
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MOTORING
Come on jump in my car: The classic “muscled up” Monaro; white bodysuit optional.
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MOTORING
I
remember in the mid-’70s, my Dad driving us kids around in his slick jade green EJ Holden – a beauty of a wagon back when cars were built to last and less of a hassle to maintain. Heck, this auto was so damn good, it even had a badge with the word Special stamped on it. Sure, the stick-shift would get stuck on occasion in later years, but the engine continued to rev two decades on; in fact Dad managed to get a good 22 years out of that car. The longevity of the mean green machine was testament to the adage “old Holdens never die (they just go faster)” and instilled in me a certain trust in the great Aussie brand (well, Holden was fully Australian owned and manufact ured once upon a time). At 18, the first car I bought was a secondhand Torana SLR (it was also the first car I made out in, if you must know), while my brother would drag-race his fair share of Monaros, and even Mum was subject to her own Holden fascination, moving from Commodore to Commodore before eventually being seduced by (the far inferior in my books) Mitsubishi Magma. Indeed, my family’s devotion to Holden was not an unusual one. There was a long time there when Commodore remained Australia’s top-selling make several years running, only to be occasionally knocked off the track by Ford’s Falcon. 50 | December/January 2014
Speaking of which, Holden’s history in racing is a chequered one. Once bound by General Motors’ strict “no racing” stance, Holden had to look on helplessly as Ford had all the fun on and off the track in the early- to mid-1960s. Then, in 1968, the Bathurst Race marked the beginning of what we know today as the great Australian motor racing tradition of Holden-versus-Ford. Here, Holden’s Monaro GTS 327 went head-to-head with Ford’s Falcon GT 302 – and won. A first for Holden, and a landmark occasion that virtually announced the birth of the company’s first ‘muscle car’. In 1969, the first 5.0-litre V8 engine was fitted into the GTS, as Holden’s reputation shifted from trusted family vehicle to something speedier, sportier and, quite simply, more sellable throughout the free-wheeling ’70s. Celebrating those halcyon days in part is the book Holden: The Great Years, The Great Cars which focuses on the brand’s cooler cars manufactured and raced from 1968 right through to 2003. The book is packed with photos and stories, boasting in fact a full history of some of our nation’s best-loved autos, the main focus being on three key makes – Commodore, Torana and Monaro. The pictures are sure to impress even the most jaded petrol-head, as will the anecdotes. It’s interesting to note, for example,
The original Holden Muscle Car: A 350 GTS Monaro.
‘Holden: The Great Years, The Great Cars - 1968 -2003’ celebrates muscle cars on and off the track.
MOTORING
Cameron McConville and his famous rollover at Sandown, 2001.
Speed was a key selling point of the Monaro according to this newspaper ad; the cost of the car back being $2,575. that there was a gap of almost a decadeand-a-half between the Commodore’s first victory at Bathurst by Peter Brock’s VB in 1980 and the second in 1994 when Mark Skaife took his VP to the first of multiple titles. In between are many moments where Holden take to task on the racing track not only Ford but the posher likes of Peugeot, Fiat and Morris on the real road. Fast for ward to 2014, and with the announcement of the closure of Holden factories in Australia by the end of 2017, Holden – the book – is not only testament to a tough product, but tribute to its tenacity. While Holden’s involvement in exports has f luctuated since the mid-1950s, the declining sales of large cars in Australia has driven the company to look to international markets to potentially increase profitability. Sadly, though, it continues to incur losses (ironically due to a strong Australian dollar and weaker international currencies).
Steven Richards in his race-winning V8 Commodore.
When you’re hot, you’re hot: The Torana SLR 5000. The closing of Holden’s production plant in Australia will be a tragic day for auto lovers. A sure sign that despite a backlog of brilliant product, well-evolved models and strong branding, not even the best businesses are invincible from the beast that is the global economic crisis. It would be an even bigger tragedy if Holden vehicles were to be rebadged as Chev rolet once GM completely hands business over to international manufacturers. As for the memories? You couldn’t capture more colourful scenes, even if Instagram had been invented back then...
‘Holden: The Great Years, The Great Cars 1968 -2003’ is available through Rockpool Publishing, RRP $29.99.
DID YOU KNOW?
Holden’s logo of a lion and ‘stone wheel’ was designed as a tribute to the prehistoric fable that the sight of lions rolling stones led to the invention of the wheel? The Holden lion badge has changed only three times since 1928 including a slight change in 1972 to coincide with the launch of the HQ Kingswood, and in 1994 as Holden ramped up its marketing push for the Commodore to reclaim top-seller status from the Ford Falcon.
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PROFILE
I
f you visited boxing site boxrec.com and clicked under the category ‘Australian World Champions’, you’d see a list of some 25 names. These include a bunch of famous fighting blokes - Jeff Fenech, Danny Green and Kostya Tszyu, among them - but there sitting amid the Ms, between Rocky Mattioli and Anthony Mundine, is one Erin McGowan – currently Australia’s biggest female boxing export whose star is only just starting to shine. On this same list, contender Arlene Blencowe appears ahead of McGowan, alphabetically, but at a recent match between the feisty pair at the WA Italian Club, the latter came out victorious, with Blencowe going down in round one. Ring-a-ding-ding. Backtrack a couple of years and things weren’t so confident in Erin’s corner. In 2012, she suffered serious concussion at the hands of Belgian fighter Delfine Persoon, which forced McGowan to take 18 months off from boxing. In fact she almost gave the sport away. “There were a lot of conditions that I wasn’t too careful of before that fight,” McGowan told Rock Candy recently. “The travel, the cutting of my weight, the short preparation… I just got caught early in the fight with a couple of head clashes and some big shots that stopped me. Afterward, I didn’t go to hospital soon enough, and instead went home and slept.” In a nutshell, there was more damage to her head than she’d imagined, meaning a need to take off much more time to heal than had she paid attention to the injury earlier. A yearand-a-half of tests and surveillance later, and Erin was back in the ring again in March this year, this time to fight - and beat - Thailand’s Sriphrae Nongkipahuyuth. Things started to look rosy again for the Perth born-and-bred boxing babe. Since then, Erin has incorporated into her regime a new form of training at Matt Hodgson’s F45 Fitness Centre (“I’ve been doing strength and conditioning with the guys there; they’re firm believers in training for the way the body works so that you’re not putting extra pressure on joints”) and has fought several times more at the Italian Club including her recent big win against Blencowe. For that particular fight, Rock Candy was one of Erin’s main sponsors – happy to see our logo on her boxers waistband – looking as sharp as the word Everlast ever has. So what does Erin consider her greatest assets to be? “One of my main assets is my jab,” she tells Rock Candy proudly. “I’ve always had a good jab and I’ve used that distance with my jab. Also, I’ve got a good reach for the weight I fight at. And good, natural footwork, which I think has come from years of playing state netball and basketball.” In short, I doubt we’ll see this former World Boxing Champion falling through the ropes any time soon. Antonino Tati * The title of this article was inspired by boxing journalist Pierce Egan’s term ‘the sweet science of bruising’ – a phrase that acknowledged boxers as both methodical and tough.
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T E E E W OF TH S E C N E I SC SING* I U BR
PROFILE
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54 | December/January 2014
RIGHTHAND MAN
(AND LEFT-ARM ORTHODOX)
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ince hitting a century in his 2004 Test debut, Aussie cricketer Michael Clarke has gone from ‘pup’ to ‘top dog’ in a relatively short career so far. And while he comes across as the nicest guy in interview, be careful with this one – his bite is indeed more indelible than his bark. Winning test player of the year at the 2014 Allan Border Medal – his third win in as many consecutive years – Clarke was quickly tagged this country’s “most reliable cricket talent”. And a talent of contradictions at that. The guy bats to his right but bowls with his left, albeit slowly and orthodox. He’s confident in captaining his players, but never lets the skipper title go to his head. He listens to Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus in his off-time (well, okay, to two ‘winning theme’ songs in Roar and We Can’t Stop). And he freely admits to it when he hasn’t scored runs as “consistently” as he’d like to, yet humble when he makes outstanding 200-plusses. The 33-year-old Sydney-born, Perth-adopted player finished last season with 1030 runs at an average of 44.78 – including four centuries. This year he looks like beating those impressive figures. And all this after a back injury that could have left him tending to small gardens instead… Still, great is not good enough for Clarke who last year, when heading toward a possible Ashes whitewash, said, “I hope there’s bigger and better things [ahead] for me. I’d walk away from the game if I was told it wouldn’t get better, and I think this team can get better. It wouldn’t be wise for us to get carried away [with a 4-nil score].” And that’s what makes a champion sportsman. This year, Clarke and his team had to cope with the tragic news of the passing of fellow cricketer and friend Phillip Hughes. Naturally, he was in attendance at Hughes’ funeral in Macksville, NSW, and even gave a sobering speech. “He’d definitely be calling me a sook right now, that’s for sure,” Clarke joked. The Australian captain commented on how amazed he was at the way people came together to show their support in the wake of Hughes’ death, referring to this as “the great spirit of cricket”. As he tried hard to hold back the tears, Michael Clarke continued: “We must dig in and and make it through to tea. We must play on.” Antonino Tati For cricketing updates visit cricket.com.au.
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56 | December/January 2014
LITTLE WONDER
Clark Little was born to ride waves. Indeed he has a knack for taking off on closeout shorebreak waves – and surviving in one piece. From his perspective, these waves – when they’re just about to break onto shore – are a sight to behold. Hence on occasion he forsakes catching them and instead actually captures them on camera. And that’s no mean feat in anyone’s books. In little time, Little’s photography has become known as “Clark’s view”, earning recognition and getting showcased worldwide from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington to Ritz-Carlton Resorts across the USA and Four Seasons hotels the world over. He’s also been published periodically in the most serious of press, from National Geographic and Nature’s Best Photography to Surfer’s Journal and the New York Times. With a career that’s often risky but never dull, this surfer-cum-photographer also published a book - The Shorebreak Art of Clark Little - in 2009, and two years later opened a gallery under his name in his hometown of Haleiwa, Hawaii. Little’s website boasts a gallery of some of the most glorious shots of breaks caught via his lens. There, the artist refers to the shorebreak as his “comfort zone”. “I absolutely love it and it’s always different,” tells Clark. “The light, the colours, the water, the sand, and what happens to it all. To be there to capture it, and then to share it with the world… what a dream.” For an example of those dream-like results, you only need view his photographic work ‘The Black Pearl’ – a spectacular result of kaleidoscopic light refracting through water, snapped off the coast of Maui (pictured below). Little’s pics are so stunning, we’re not surprised they’re being picked up and mounted on walls in some of the most reputable galleries around the globe. But they’re not the only places you’ll see his vivid works. His prints have made it onto everything from mugs and mouse pads to greeting cards and even phone cases. Indeed, to paraphrase a classic Beach Boys song, these images like to “get around”. Andrea Manno To v i e w m o r e o f C l a r k L i t t l e ’ s b r i l l i a n t photography or to buy prints of his work visit clarklittlephotography.com/store.
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E R O F E B O D A T T GO E V ’ U O Y S G N I FIVE TH IS THROUGH SUMMER ’15
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CHUCK LAPS WITH DOLPHINS
SIDLE BY A SHARK OR TWO
If you have to confront one of nature’s primary predators, it’s probably best to do it in the relative safety of an encased aquarium with trained professionals on hand, rather than alone in the open ocean in a deflating life raft. But you might have to book a trip to the east coast to do so. Manly Sealife Sanctuary has a colony of grey nurse sharks of varying sizes (the largest being 350kg) who, despite their fierce appearance, are actually the more gentle of the species – and are therefore happy to have humans swim around them. Just remember: no touching! Taking the plunge with two qualified instructors lasts about an hour, and your friends can watch from the safety of an encased glass viewing tunnel below. There’s also the option to watch instructors feeding the sharks. And no diving experience is necessary as training is conducted beforehand. FP Visit manlysealifesanctuary.com.au. Main photography by Marco Fraschetti.
Did you know a dolphin’s skin is six times smoother than human skin? It also heals that much faster than our mere flesh. As you would expect, it’s also very soft to touch, which you can do to your heart’s content when you experience a Wild Dolphins Cruise through Rockingham Wild Encounters. As well as seeing the beautiful critters perform for your entertainment, you might score other awesome sights, like seeing male dolphins showing off for the ladies, or witnessing mothers nursing calves. You’ll even discover fascinating info such as the way in which dolphins use stingrays to catch their dinner. Fact! Ferries depart daily from Central Perth at 7am and Rockingham at 8am. Cost starts at $75 for spectators and $205 for spectator and ferry ride. AT Visit dolphins. com.au.
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FLY HIGH, MAN
If you’re somewhat of a water baby, chances are you’ve heard of the latest craze, jet-boarding. But if you’re not so aqua-mad, we’ll explain it to you. What it involves is someone manoeuvring through water in a jet-ski, with you being dragged behind riding something called a fly-board. Once you’ve gotten the hang of balance, you’re raring to go, and you can jump – indeed fly – up forty feet into the air. This is followed by a swoon-dive back down into the water, just like a bird swooping to snatch fish! Where should you go to fulfil this adrenalin-charged experience? For Perthians, the place to be is Flyboard Rockingham, or at Jetpack Adventures in Champion Lakes. With temperatures set to soar and heatwaves rolling in for summer, flyboarding looks like the ultimate intense escape. AM Visit flyboardrockingham.com or jetpackadventures.com.au.
CATCH A BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF THE CITY
Imagine looking down over Perth city from a bird’s-eye view and feeling like you, too, can fly and swoop? All you need to do is strap yourself into a harness and have packed the necessary parachute on your back, and you’re well on your way up. Around 14,000 feet up in the air, that is. Australia’s Skydive the Beach & Beyond (long name, yes) can take you where your imagination has already gone. Situated in Langley Park, between the CBD and Swan River, it allows for one of the most magnificent aerial views of Perth city. And for those of you that find the city too busy to stare at, diving over Rockingham Beach is also an option, with spectacular views of the Indian Ocean. AM Visit skydive.com.au.
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DIVE IN, THE WATER’S FINE
You can literally jump in the deep end and become a qualified scuba diver within three days. What separates Perth Scuba from other diving schools in Australia is the small proportion of teacher-to-students ratio (on average one instructor to eight students). Dive masters and extra trainees are often around to assist as well. Indeed Perth Scuba can pretty much answer any diving query you have, and they possess one of the best safety records in the country. Specialing in PADI open water diving, they’ll have you up-close and amazed by the glorious reefs around Rottnest sooner than you think, or diving for your own seafood if you want to go that far! They even offer courses that could see you becoming a diving instructor yourself. And, yes, diving is that addictive, you just might want to! FP Visit perthscuba.com or phone (08) 9455 4448.
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DIVING
60 | December/January 2014
DIVING
SIX MONTH SEA CHANGE
When it comes to the serious sport of abalone fishing, it seems less of a leisure activity and more of a hardcore religion as Rock Candy’s Louis van Senden discovers. Photography by Marco Frashetti
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he Antarctic wind slaps me across the butt cheeks as I brace my naked body against the rise and fall of several big southern ocean swells. The buck of an unexpected wave sends me flying across the deck of the boat as a chorus of laughter erupts. Unceremoniously pulling on my wetsuit for the final time I reflect upon my journey to the southern limits of Western Australia. The rugged remoteness, the risk of the catch and the reward of the voyage. Six months ago I was sitting in an ordinary office, at an ordinary desk, facing an ordinary existence. The regular stream of work emails f i l led t he screen: spa m, spa m, un related, compla i nt s, spa m , a nd t hen a spark. “Want to come down and do some abalone diving?” I sat up straight at my desk, pondering the words from Gyula, a quirky diver I had been in contact with for a while. Having just watched a doco featuring an abalone diver bitten across the face by a Great White Shark, I was contemplative, nay, hesitant. But then the thrill of adventure, the offer of escape, and the call of the ocean became all too strong to ignore. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, my possessions were packed and the journey had begun. Based in Albany, we were to dive between Esperance to Busselton. Close to 1000 kilometres of breathtaking coastline, ranging from the wild raging cliffs off Albany, to the protected waters of Bremer Bay. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from my new employer, a South African-HungarianAust ra l ia n accou nt a nt-t u r ned-aquar i s t-t u r ned-com merc i a l-d iver. I h ad always pictured abalone divers as rough and ready, big-drinking, hardened sea dogs. Our first conversation flowed from diving to the hadron collider and went as far as chess. Definitely not your average abalone diver. Passing the long drives to distant beaches, Gyula was always good for an exciting tale. From diving with crocodiles in Zimbabwe, to trading spear-gun rubber with North African tribes, there was a seemingly unlimited supply of adventurous stories to kill the long hours driving the coast. During our time together I learnt not only the art of weaving a good tale, but more about the king’s gambit chess opening than I’ll ever need to know. The work was challenging both physically and mentally. Navigating long distances underwater took a little getting used to and too often I would recognise a rock or ledge from half an hour ago, only to realise I was swimming in circles. Abalone are creatures of habit and once the code was cracked, it was just a matter of time and concentration to find the next patch. I cease to be amazed at how much people are willing to pay for such an obscure and ugly ocean snail.
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PRELIMINARY PANIC Dur ing t he f irst mont hs my m ind was so consumed with finding abalone; I had little time to think about sharks. The more confident I became, the more stray thoughts drifted in. Then the dreams started. Whether I was on the Great Wall of China or in a parallel universe a grizzly shark often managed to sneak up and start gnarling at my leg, waking me in a panic. Getting in the water after dreams like that was hard, but add a colony of seals to the mix and I became nervous Nellie. As the months passed, the prospect of a shark encounter seemed more like an inevitability. The odds grew shorter until eventually our number came up.
We pulled up to dive for the day in immaculate conditions. No wind, low swell and crystal clear water. I was first in. The dive was amazing. An incredible variety of fish, beautiful cold water corals and inquisitive seals following me around like a Jack Russell with a ball. I surfaced, elated, and sent Gyula down to enjoy the beautiful conditions. Moments after he descended, the air hose made a beeline for the shallow water. Something was wrong. I made a quick turn in the boat and was chasing down his bubbles when the surface violently erupted and a cry of “shark” echoed across the water. I gunned the engines and was upon him in a matter of seconds. I hauled his torso over the gunwale, almost
DIVING
“THE REALITY OF BEING IN SUCH CLOSE PROXIMITY TO A POTENTIALLY DEADLY CREATURE AND THE LONG HOURS SPENT AWAY FROM MY WIFE SPELLED THE END OF MY SHORT CAREER UNDER THE SEA.”
01 01: The Rugged South West coast has a host of beautiful inlets, headlands, islands and beaches 02: Eyes on the prize. One lapse in concentration can prove costly out on a rough day. 03: Greenlip abalone, hanging on to the edge of a boulder. 04: Swimming with an air hose can be graceful when the boat driver is on his game.
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05: Fish like this big blue grouper are opportunistic when ab divers are in the vicinity. 06: Temperate waters aren’t always associated with beautiful corals like these pictured.
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expecting to pull half a body into the boat. As he stood on the deck limbs intact, the adrenalin oozed out of him. “I looked over my shoulder and there it was, the most beautiful shark, so beautiful, swimming straight at me.” He spotted the big Great White Shark as he glanced over his shoulder, swimming straight towards him. The pointed white snout made infamous in the jaws films, coming in at full speed, a collision of diver and shark unavoidable. Like standing up to a charging hippo with a butter knife, Gyula pushed forward his abalone tool in defence and jousted the shark past him. With the element of surprise gone, the shark took a wide lap and glided off to pester the seals. After a few moments of reflection, we regrouped on deck. Looking up the island I spotted a seal clambering up to the top over a hundred metres up. He must have spotted a fin! A few kilometres along, and Gyula got straight back in. His attitude appeared to be ‘if you fall off the horse, get right back on’. I finished off the day with a dive in deeper water. I spent so much time looking
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over my shoulder that finding abalone was near impossible. The reality of being in such close proximity to a potentially deadly creature and the long hours spent away from my wife spelled the end of my short career under the sea. The six months exploring uncharted coastlines, braving the heaving southern ocean and sharing stories with new mates left me with lasting memories and friendships. I steady myself and quickly pull up my wetsuit, taking half my leg hairs in the haste. The compressor kicks to life and the air hose takes up the pressure. Swimming along the final stretch of terrain my mind wanders but returns to the present in time to notice a crack full of big abalone. The final plunder. EPILOGUE Sharks cost me many sleepless nights, but I don’t resent them for it. We need to come to terms with the harsh reality that once we enter the water we become a part of the natural world beyond our control. By trying to control nature we loose the essence of humanity, but embracing adventure, fear, love and the great unknown brings us closer to what it means to be human. ▪
07: Greenlip abalone are the most sought after abalone making them a prime target for poachers. 08: Shucking a greenlip on deck between dives. 09: The author with his prized greenlip. 10: Being outdoors every day, you get to appreciate the best and the worst of weather conditions. This photo, naturally, showing the best.
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FOOD
GOURMET FAST FOOD (ON THE GO)
For all the talk of healthy eating being bandied about, fast food is as popular as ever – and we have two phenomena to thank for that: ‘Masterchef’ and fast food trucks. Antonino Tati takes one more bite from his gourmet taquito before investigating…
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was at the opening night of the indie film Chef earlier this year, and noted that the PR girl had done a dandy job in tying the nibbles and drink-serving in with the film’s theme – that being about a man and his food truck. Guests clamoured around tough-looking, rustic trucks for a bite to eat and a bevvy – one serving Mexican nosh, another dishing out delicious tapas, a third whipping up salted caramel ice-cream. The only problem was, the queue to each truck was so long, by the time you got your nachos and a soy latte, it was time to enter the cinema… Should the clever PR girl (kudos to you Adriana from Anarchy) choose to run a similar pre-movie party today, she’d have a lot more food truck businesses to choose from – the phenomenon has grown that much in a matter of months. With its roots in New York City, the food truck phenomenon is currently spreading fast across the globe. These ‘roaming restaurants’ previously only associated with music festivals and footy matches have now become exciting destinations in themselves. Plan to go to a local celebration like the Beaufort Street Festival, for example, and you’ll be as keen to know what restaurants will be setting up shop – or truck – there as which bands will be playing live.
Food trucks serve their food fast, but they don’t have the stigma associated with fast food franchises – mainly due to their focusing on a specialty cuisine (Authentic Mexican, Traditional Italian, Asian Fusion), often adopting kosher ingredients (organic, halal, gluten-free), and not looking like hundreds of similar-branded outlets the world over (take that KFC!). Food truck operators, who often double up as the truck’s head chef, take their food as seriously as a judge on Masterchef would. He or she has to – because the competition is vast, and today’s culinary consumer knows way too many kitchen tricks to be duped into buying a cheesy inferior of what they’ve seen on the telly. One foodie has taken her fascination of this phenomenon further by publishing a book of her favourite food truck businesses from around Australia. Photographercome-graphic-designer-come-author Erika Budiman invites readers on a road trip to discover the country’s best food trucks in her aptly titled tome Food Truck Feasts. Featuring a selection of recipes from fabulous food vans around the nation, the book serves not only as an alternative cookbook of sorts but a journal of Erika’s yearlong quest to document Australia’s thriving multicultural cuisine scene. Readers will salivate at such recipes as Barbeque
Sauce & Pork Rib Rubs from Gorilla Grill, Vietnamese Orange & Ginger Ceviche from Bánh Mì Boys, and Sous Vide Pork Belly from The Bun Mobile. Fans of ‘combination’ meals are catered for, too, with businesses like Comida do Sul offering a ‘composed plate’ that includes fish, chicken, beef, beans, rice and even French fries. And diehard foodies will be challenged, with new true blue cuisine being concocted in these restaurants on the go. Grumble Tumms, for example, serve a mean Crocodile Spring Roll – if you’re feeling game enough. Far be it for these new food truck operators to serve the humble hot dog and chips. It’s gourmet all the way for these chefs. From bite-size snacks with a la carte-type names to exotic desserts that’ll put Mr Whippy to shame, Food Truck Feasts is packed with what I like to call “posh street food”. And looking at a few of the recipes, the dishes don’t look too difficult to recreate in your own kitchen. Then all you’ll have to do is make your kitchen much smaller; thrown on a set of wheels; move it out onto the street; and you could start making a buck from your own fast food truck. ▪ ‘Food Truck Feasts’ by Erika Budiman is published by Hardie Gr ant Publishing and available through Random House, RRP $34.95.
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TRAVEL - INTERNATIONAL
A PASSAGE THROUGH INDIA
FORGET TREKKING THROUGH INDIA WITH A BACKPACK. JUST TOO SWEATY, AND SO 2013. INSTEAD, GET INVOLVED WITH A VOLUNTEER GROUP AND DO SOMETHING KARMICALLY REWARDING, LIKE TEACHING UNDERPRIVILEGED KIDS OR ASSISTING NURSES IN A VILLAGE CAMP. STORY BY ANTONINO TATI
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T
he trip to India was never going to be simple. Exciting and enlightening to the max, yes, but not simple. First it was recommended that I filter through an extensive list of suggested doctor’s shots to avoid catching something overseas, and as you can imagine, the list is very much hyped when it comes to a place like India. For the record, I opted for just the anti-malaria pills. Even obtaining a visitor’s Visa was a drama, with the Indian Consulate packed to the rafters with travellers of all sorts filling in forms and bickering with desk clerks. The staff at the consulate have been trained to operate fairly bureaucratically, so it was suggested by a friend not to tell them I was a journalist embarking on a famil tour for a magazine travel piece; to instead dish a white lie that I was a dude simply going on holiday. The guy behind the counter sussed my itinerary outlining things-to-do such as ‘Leave homestay for drive to Than Gaon with option to teach English to the children of Pestalozzi’. “So you’re a teacher?” asks the clerk, aching to stamp every bit of paperwork in front of him, not once, but three times, but hesitant because he’s been trained to be (the OTT paperwork
is reminiscent of how the public service loves to dramatise administration in Italy). “No. Not a teacher.” “A journalist then?” “No, not a journalist. Not a novelist. Not a writer. Just going on holidays.” With Visa finally granted, it was off home to pack for the one-week trip. This is where the second conundrum struck. How to pack for a journey consisting of seven one-night stays, trekking from campsite in an underprivileged village, to ‘homestay’ (ie: staying in the house of a wealthy suburban family), to five-star accommodation, then stripped back to two-star, knowing that my Louis Vuitton duffle bags were going to have to be carted all over the shop with barely a break for the leather to breath? The answer? Pack light. Not only to make the rampant checking in-and-out less of a drama, but because there’s excellent shopping to be done in India and I wanted to fill those bags with interesting stuff including rustic statuettes of all them gods. Gladly for this trip, I left behind my PC (just too heavy with that backup battery) and, shock horror, my mobile phone.
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TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL - INDIA
If I was going to do the passage through India thing, one night per stop, I hardly imagined I was going to be hopping online for travel tips, and ultimately, I figured I could cut ties with the western world and survive to tell the tale. And you know what? I didn’t miss a thing. That’s how incredibly engaging and magical a place India is… LEARNING LOTS AND TEACHING A LITTLE The moment we touched ground in Delhi, the buzz hit. There are the expected beggars to greet you at the airport, and yes, I did feel bad asking them if they take Aussie currency (for I hadn’t converted yet). There are the groups of beautiful Indian women dressed in rainbow hues of green, gold, pink and red saris, their husbands drudging behind them, dressed in starched office shirts buttoned all the way up (even near midnight, mind you). There’s the smoke coming from drains in the barely bitumened roads, swirling up towards an indigo sky blanketed with stars. And there’s the traffic! Driving through the streets from Delhi to Dehradun is akin to being sucked into a PS4 game. You feel like you’re the main animated character, zipping through haphazard traffic, trying to keep your eyes off the brightly coloured schizophrenic signage around you, so as to avoid being killed by oncoming vehicles. There are no traffic lights. Only horn-tooting. Lots of it. In fact, every car, bus and truck has the words ‘Horn Please’ painted on the back of it, and whether the locals see this as warning or invitation, they’re hell-bent in tooting that horn. Forget road-rage back home. This is road-rave party central. Put it this way: I took half an acid trip once, and the world around me suddenly t u r ned sh a r p, g raph ic a nd color f u l, crammed with small and tall humans in vivid outfits, some of them inviting, others scaring the wits out of me. The drive to Dehradun was like a flashback to that acid trip. You see, you don’t need to do the stereotypical smoking of hooch to heighten and appreciate your surrounds in India. The psychedelia is already all there. For real. Our chaperone in Dehradun was Mayank, a cricket fanatic like most Indian natives (the kids here wag school to spend the day in alleyways hitting ball with makeshift bat) and Mayank is filling us in about the generous Aussie cricket stars who’ve come to India to fund projects and meet and greet the poor kids. Spooky thing is, he’s telling us more bits and bobs about Warney, Waugh and Clarkey than even we know. After a bite to eat at beautiful Khatauli Gardens, where pheasants duck in and out of wel l-kempt hedges a nd f lora l bushes, Mayank takes us to the Pestalozzi Children’s School to meet and greet some of the students. Now I was aware these kids were smart, selected from various villages to study at Pestalozzi with the aim of going on to become India’s positively influential 70 | December/January 2014
next generation of commercial players and leaders, but I didn’t think they’d be that smart. Heck, some of them could do a better editing job than some people I know in the publishing trade, and at the ages of eleven and twelve! Still, it was a treat to swap language with the students, learning how to say this and that in Indian, and, since their English was already pretty good, to teach them an idiom or two like ‘She’ll be right, mate’ or ‘Don’t go the raw prawn with me’ (that was a really difficult one to get the concept of, even for myself). The Pestalozzi kids love colour. The interior walls of their schools are wallpapered with paintings, collages, and all manner of pop cultural montage. Indian and western pop idols decorate their doors, living space walls, even their ceilings. And, here’s a tip, they love it when you bring them bright Textas and pens to create even more art with. It’s an amazing feeling to teach and learn from these kids, and I’m glad that volunteer project organisation, Antipodeans, invited me to do so. Travellers to India can experience volunteer work in various fields, from teaching to assisting in medical groups. This is a unique way to combine your holiday with a volunteer project, with placements offered from two-to-12 weeks in length on small-scale, on-going grassroots projects. An agent greets you at the airport and guides you through your experience, helping pre-arrange your accommodation beforehand. It really is an excellent way of enriching your cultural experience while benefiting a small community. You can visit antipodeans.com.au for more information on how to get involved. THE RUSH OF RISHIKESH After playing teacher for a time, it was off to experience the heady locale that is Rishikesh. Our home-base was still Dehradun, in the house of a wealthy couple, Inder and Ninu Mehta (she’s a doctor, he’s a tea merchant). Inder and Ninu put on a fabulous banquet for us, giving us the opportunity to taste home-cooking Indianstyle. It was a lot sweeter than the savoury I was expecting but the food was presented on the table just as you might see in an Indian restaurant back home – little metal bowls containing meats in tikka and korma sauces; vegetables in delicious marinades; roti bread piled high… Af ter a decadent mea l we slept in comfortable surrounds, our single beds lower than we were used to but puffed up with fat mattresses and blankets. And a good night’s sleep was just what we needed for tomorrow’s big day. The drive from Dehradun to Rishikesh was, again, a freaky challenge akin to playing Grand Theft Auto for real. More of those honking cars while the locals go about their brightly-hued everyday business. We passed plenty of billboards featuring
TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL - INDIA
THINGS TO BRING Whether you intend to travel around India a lot on foot, or live the luxury life flitting from one five-star hotel to the next, the key is to pack light. Many tourists prefer to shop for clothes in India as they like to adopt a more local way of dressing. Plus, of course, looser attire is more comfortable in a country so hot. 1. Light cotton tops 2. Short-sleeved shirts (sometimes these are more suitable in venues like nightclubs where a tee might be considered too casual) 3. Pair of dress pants 4. Pair of jeans 5. Sandals 6. Sandshoes 7. Pair of cargo pants with plenty of pockets (good for treks) 8. SLR or DSLR camera (go crazy; this place is so colourful, it’s great for photography) 9. Adequate supply of any medications you take 10. Puffy jacket (it can get cold at night, especially near the mountains) 11. Voltage converter (if you’re tempted to bring your PC and mobile charger) 12. Basic language book (Lonely Planet’s Hindi, Urdu & Bengali phrase book is clever and compact) 13. Day-pack (one with plenty of compartments for long days away from your hotel or camp) Snake charmers (above) have cottoned on to the tourist dollar, often exaggerating the ‘charm’ bit. Some smile sheepishly and blackmail you to drop money into their tin “otherwise snake go to sleep”. Lord Krishna (left), one of several Hindi deities.
familiar logos like Pepsi and Dominoes, but these brand-names are painted erratically rather than printed in precise typography. It seems India is one of the few nations in the world where the multi-corporations allow the locals to break trademark and copyright laws. After all, who are they gonna sue for getting a logo wrong? And it does provide for great light entertainment when, as a tourist, you encounter a wobbly painted slogan that reads ‘Coke I-S hit’. Usually they get it right enough, though. The juxtaposition of commercial nous and rustic history is no more evident than in the heart of Rishikesh, that part that lies on the riverbank of the Ganges, where market stall operators know English better than you think, and panhandlers seem to have their own pimps, fully informed on the perfect spots to shake their metal. Even
snake charmers in Rishikesh have sidekicks who smile sheepishly as they coax you to drop your money into a tin – “otherwise snake go sleep”. At around six at night, groups gather on one side of the Ganges to pray, or deliver their aarti. The singing is beautiful and unnerving at the same time, as individuals are lead into the river, coming out physically and metaphysically cleansed. The aarti go on for some time, ourselves struck by the ritual for a good hour. Leaders of the crowd are generous in their putting the poorer folk first, hence you might notice some of the beggars you saw earlier getting dibs in a dip in the river. Rice and other simple foods are also offered at this time. By dark, the intoxicating fumes of spices, incense and lots of marijuana has filled the air. Now I’m not sure if there’s such a thing
as second-hand pot-smoking, but once again, that flashback sensation started to kick in. A good time, then, to get back to the homestay for a nice mellow rest before tomorrow’s Than Gaon campsite visit. EXPERIENCING VILLAGE LIFE Than Gaon is a 40-minute drive north of Dehradun. We dwelled on a campsite that was actually more comfortable than expected. In fact, more accommodating than some school camps I’d been on. Upon arrival we had a spot of lunch – more of that delicious rustic cuisine – then at dusk, practiced some local techniques of yoga and meditation. Feeling all light and lovey-dovey again, we enjoyed more rest before being served an outdoor banquet by terrific cook, the single-monikered Raoul. He told us of his trips to Oz, where he regularly partakes in food festivals and, sampling his cooking www.rockcandymagazine.com.au | 71
TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL - INDIA
PACKAGES
Scenic Tours offer great economically priced packages to India – including visits to over 30 World Heritage-listed sites, traditional temples, and mountain treks. Thirteen-day packages start from $5,695. For more information, visit scenictours.com.au. &Beyond go one better and offer excellent safari adventures such as stays at the majestic Mahua Kothi Jungle Lodge where guests in search of an authentic jungle experience can stay in a homestead that virtually disappears into the bamboo fronds. Rates for the Mahua Kothi, for example, start at $420 per night. More information about getting there at andbeyond.com.
which was glorious as, it’s no wonder he’s known as one of India’s celebrity chefs. The morning after, we visited one of the village schools to witness medical students doing health check-up rounds with the local kids. We met Dr. Paul, an amazing guy who overlooks 16 village schools, keeping tabs on the wellbeing of the local kids. The doctor, and students who stick around longer than the usual Antipodean-style volunteer, offer their services to villagers free of charge, largely thanks to equipment and medicine donations from international trusts. We also paid a visit to the Parmath Nature Cure and Yoga Centre, where again, ex-pats and locals work together, combining modern medicine and ancient therapies. After a gratifying stay at Than Gaon, including a culmination of amazing stories around a campfire at midnight, we hit the sack to rest for tomorrow’s trek down the foothills of the Himalayas toward the market town of Mussoorie. MARKET-HOPPING IN MOUNTAIN COUNTRY Okay, I admit, I pulled out of the trek down to Mussoorie, but I had good excuse to, having been nursing a hairline fracture in my ribs, even through all the bumpy AC van riding so far. Instead, while the others packed lots of bottled water for the walk, I had the privilege of checking into our two-star hotel early in the market capital. But I was there to greet my fellow travellers with trusty cans of Red Bull as they arrived at the base of them foothills. With everyone still abuzz from the trek, after a quick refresher session, we headed 72 | December/January 2014
to the Mussoorie markets. These are astonishingly clean, with neatly laid-out stalls offering handsome wares like genuine cashmere, way-cool traditional Indian slippers, and individually crafted toys and jewellery. I bought a bronze Shiva statuette, what with me being a student of deconstruction and he being the god of destruction (before passing the collapsed job onto Vishnu, god of reformation and preservation). I also bought a couple of scarves for myself and mum (she loves to brag about her good son’s travels to her girlfriends at bingo, so I figured a scarf to be a good conversation starter). Even on spring days in Mussoorie, you can see the snow-caps of the Himalayas. The mountains are simply majestic, among the most beautiful of natural wonders you’ll witness in the world. They certainly offer a settling backdrop to the hustle and bustle of Mussoorie. While two of our crew prepared themselves for a detour to just-as-bustling Mumbai (traditionally known as Bombay, home to Bollywood), the rest of us made our way back to Delhi by bus to be greeted by five-star luxury. After an amazing varied class experience in different parts of this incredible country – from swapping language with the kids in the villages, to praying and taking in hashish in Rishikesh, to meditating and feasting in Than Gaon – it was a stark contrast to arrive at the very postmodern Le Meridien Hotel in the heart of India’s capital. Delhi reflects the cultural diversity and religious unity of India, but it’s a difficult city to define as there is a
continuous inflow of people not only from various parts of the country, but from all over the world, some on holiday; many on business. The city went through some major transformations when it was bidding to play host to the 2016 Olympics. While it lost out to Rio, the reconstruction now sees parts of Delhi shine that were once dowdy. The design of the hotel we were spoilt at reflects a certain dichotomy of Delhi’s, where old-school charm meets progressive commerce. Delhi is indeed in the midst of cultural change – some say losing much of its ancient ways – but in fact, if you scratch the surface, you’ll find some of the glory of the past still looms in this expansive city. There are nightclubs where local groovers like to strut their bling to the sounds of Beyoncé and local divas alike, and temples standing strong between these modern houses of leisure. Prayer is still sacred and you can hear a lot of hymn-singing or ‘gurbani’ going on at night. Like its lifestyle, Delhi’s culture and cuisine are a mix of old and new, and our fabulous hosts at the Meridien treated us to a feast for dinner in the roof top restaurant, Le Belvedere (the seafood, in particular, is excellent). After a send-off evening of much wine-drinking and merriment – the live band even played a couple of AC/DC covers for us! – we felt sad to say goodbye to India. But the images of this brilliantly diverse nation will always linger. As the Indians like to say, when they bow and acknowledge the true soul of something, my last word to this glorious land can only be: ‘Namaste’. ▪
TRAVEL - DOMESTIC
ON A MELBOURNE HIGH
Antonino Tati takes the Southern Hemisphere’s speediest lift up Eureka Tower in Melbourne’s CBD to enjoy a 360-degree view of the city of style… in style.
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elbourne may have its unofficial debates with all the other Australian capitals over which is better in the delivery of fashion, food and fine art, but one field it supersedes most other cities in is urban landscape and design. T he cit y boa st s some of t he most beautiful heritage buildings that stand far-from-pretentiously alongside newer edifices constructed of firm materials and bold hues. Even crossing the bridge in a cab from Tullamarine airport to the city, visitors are greeted by bursts of colour: with primary hues of cyan, magenta and yellow brightening up the greys between bitumen and sky. A great way to see the kaleidoscopic design of Melbourne city is to take yourself up the lift to the 88th floor – Skydeck 88, to be precise – in the infamous Eureka Tower, Southbank. The Eureka building itself is perfectly positioned for 360-degree, floor-to-ceiling views that encompass Melbourne’s CBD, sports and arts precincts, stunning Port Phillip Bay, bustling Docklands and everything in between. Look over one side of the building and you’ll see the Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct, then way past St Kilda Road onto picturesque Alexandra Gardens and the Kings Domain. Turn the other way and you’ll see the more robust likes of Crown Towers and Entertainment Complex, busy Sout h W ha r f a nd t he Melbourne Exhibition Centre. 74 | December/January 2014
Skydeck can boast being the Southern Hemisphere’s highest viewing platform, and it is the only observation deck in the world possessing a glass cube that projects three metres out of the building – with you in it, suspended almost 300 metres above ground! Not only is Eureka an architectural masterpiece, the interior of the building is impressive on both a visual and audio level. A specially composed soundscape provides ambient noises relevant to the direction the visitor is looking. For example, F1 engine noises rev up as the viewer looks toward the Grand Prix circuit around Albert Park Lake. On an aesthetic note, a unique system of ‘blades’ has been designed for the ceiling that match the sky’s appearance, egs: clouds, lightning or thunderstorm effects to give the visitor an even trippier environmental experience during winter months. Where observation decks often come with connotations of touristic naffness, avoided by the locals (except perhaps on opening week), the Eureka Tower – including Skydeck 88 – have a certain style that makes even Melbournians appreciate them. For this reason, many are happy to join their out-of-town relatives for the speedy lift up to level 88. And if the budget stretches, they might even take the rels out for a posh dinner on level 89. If that’s on the cards, best you read the review page opposite. Visit eurekaskydeck.com.au.
THE ULTIMATE DEGUSTATION
It takes a lot to impress regular diners with a decent degustation meal. Eureka 89 surpasses impressions, and proves it’s deserved of being certified gold.
T
here are two things I look forward to most when visiting Melbourne. The first is the style of the place: all those colourful coffee shops, cosy bars and restaurants, each decked out so uniquely. Even the corporate buildings in this city look more rustic and welcoming than most. The second is the food. Just about everywhere you visit in Melbourne promises a decent meal, and surpasses that promise. No, scrap that, any dining experience in Melbourne is pretty much amazing. One thing Melbourne does truly well is degustation, and for a finer example of this you can’t go past Eureka 89. Situated on the top floor of the famous Eureka building (see profile, page opposite) the first thing that blows you away about this place is its CBD positioning and the grand views of the city. But a restaurant’s location means nothing if the food isn’t of high standard, and what we sampled at Eureka 89 impressed.
My dining partner and I were first treated to morsels of kingfish tartare, served with umibudo, seaweed, avocado and horseradish (pictured below, left). Very Japanese-y and a perfect match with sips of Ashton Hills Blanc de Blancs from the Adelaide Hills. Next we were served a bite of baked potato with artichoke and leek, which made ‘eating our greens’ a more appealing affair. Had we been feeling decadent and not had a function to go to afterward, we might have opted for the 7-course degustation and sampled the seared fois gras, but since we had a show to go to (and were watching our tum-tums, I must admit) we agreed on five courses only. Our next dish was the fish, with the freshest Murray Cod – keeping things nice and local – served with a delectable rock lobster and clam side. Per fec t ly si zed pet ite por t ion s of Flinders Island Lamb followed, served
with a mushroom and truffle sauce that I would come back for again and again. Then cheese and choccies to round out a superb meal. Eu rek a 89 of fers a f ive- or sevencourse degustation experience Tuesdays to Thursdays, and a seven-course only option on Friday and Saturday nights. While the menu and wines are subject to change, rest assured that the chefs and sommeliers here certainly know the art of fine dining. In fact, we left almost wishing we didn’t have a show to go to - just to fit in two more of those tantalising dishes! Antonino Tati Eureka 89 is situated Level 89, 7 Riverside Quay, Southbank, Melbourne. Cost for 5-course degustation, food only, is $100 per person; with wines $155. Cost for 7 courses, food only, is $135; with wines $215. For more information visit eureka89. com.au.
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Good grooming 2014
HAIR TODAY… AND TOMORROW! Okay, I admit it, my hair is thinning somewhat. My maternal grandparents both had thinning hair – but that was in their late 60s. I’m only… well, not in my 60s, but already I’m seeing the signs of a receding hairline up the front, and a bit of a bold patch up the back. Anyhoo, I was at my hairdressers recently when I came across a collection of shiny silver and blue boxes branded cerafill - the postmodern lowercase lettering apparently imperative. The packaging alone looked like serious stuff, so I questioned my hairstylist about it. As it turns out, cerafill is a range of products created in the labs of reputable haircare brand Redken, and now being used by customers to achieve thicker, fuller hair – instantly. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing so I invested in the full kit to test it. The kit consisted of a stimulating shampoo and conditioner, redensifying treatment, and something called ‘hair diameter thickening treatment’. That last one, I was told, would actually be working on each strand of hair to instantly plump and increase follicle thickness by up to 9%. Goodness gracious, Einstein wouldn’t have believed it! 76 | December/January 2014
Anyways, I am now three weeks into my regime of shampooing, conditioning, simple towel-drying, and then applying the treatments, and the results are phenomenal. It’s like my hair has grown, yes, thicker and fuller within three weeks. There’s a reason for this apparent magic. First of all, the cerafill Retaliate Shampoo and Conditioner are infused with menthol and ginger ingredients – both of which help stimulate, invigorate, cleanse and strengthen the hair – all at once. Following up this basic haircare procedure daily with the redensifying treatment reportedly promotes up to 1,700 new and denser follicles in a matter of months. Add to this the boosting effect of the Dense FX thickening treatment – et voila – the textured effect is even more impressive. I kid you not, if someone had told me that I’d have fuller-looking hair in a matter of weeks simply by adding a couple of new products to my grooming regime, I’d have thought they were joking. Now I’m wanting a lifetime supply of this very good stuff. Antonino Tati
Cerafill products vary in price and start at RRP $35.95 each for the Retaliate Stimulating Shampoo and Conditioner.
DID YOU KNOW…
Up to 50 percent of the population will experience some form of hair loss or thinning throughout their lifetime? This includes 85% of men who will experience hair-thinning by the time they hit 50. The list of reasons for hair loss is long and various and can include skin disorders, damage to hair follicles, reactions to medications, and hormonal changes. A new solution from Redken Science, cerafill is the first of its kind to provide instant, longterm results in one comprehensive range of easy-touse products. To locate your nearest Redken salon visit redken.com.au or phone 1300 650 170
DISCOVER UNIQUE BEAUTY AT THE WALPOLE WILDERNESS CENTRE Three unique and breathtaking wilderness experiences will connect you with nature - all in one day.
3
2
1
Swarbrick
Mount Frankland
Tree Top Walk, Valley of the Giants
Walk above the Giants 600 m walk fully Accessible
Experience the excitement of walking through the canopy of the magnificent tingle forest on the 40 m high Tree Top Walk. Explore the Ancient Empire trail and be captivated by the forest, the plants and animals. You can also do the Forest by Night run during school holidays and on request. Educational fun for the whole family.
See views like no other Take the universal access path to the new Wilderness Lookout and be rewarded by expansive vistas over the wilderness, or walk around the base of the granite outcrop along the Caldyanup walk trail and take-in the sounds and smells of the forest. For 360 degree views of the Walpole Wilderness follow in the footsteps of the fire towerman to the summit of Mt Frankland. A site not to be missed!
Ancient Empire is free. Entry prices for Tree Top Walk: Adult $15.00. Child: $7.50, Concession: $10.50, Family: $37.50.
Discover the nature of art Experience peace and contemplation while walking around the Swarbrick art loop which features thought-provoking art pieces like the 39 m long Wilderness Wall of Perceptions. This area is also home to some of Western Australia’s famous old growth Karri trees and provides a majestic backdrop for acclaimed artwork. Keep an open-mind and enjoy the journey! The Walpole Wilderness Discovery Centre is a 450 km drive from Perth to Walpole.
W E S T E R N AU S T R A L I A
Walpole Wilderness Centre Visit the three sites in one day, at a leisurely pace, and discover unique beauty for yourself.
BEARDMORE ROAD
Swarbrick
Mt Frankland NORTH WALPOLE RD BRIDGE ROAD
WALPOLE
Bow Bridge
Tree Top Walk SOUTH COAST HIGHWAY SOUTHERN OCEAN
There may be hazardous weather conditions during summer - some sites may be closed. Each site is open every day except the Tree Top Walk closed Christmas Day.
For more information:
www.parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au facebook: www.facebook.com/treetopwalk e: frankland.district@dpaw.wa.gov.au t: (08) 9840 8263
78 | December/January 2014 Mavi jeans. Guess shirt. Boohoo shoes. TW Steel watch. RM Williams croc bracelet and hat.
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Location Special thanks to Megalong Valley Heritage Centre
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RM Williams chino pants. Dr Denim shirt. Amsterdam Blauw jacket. RM Williams shoes, croc bracelet and hat. TW Steel watch.
80 | December/January 2014
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Dr Denim chinos. RM Williams shirt. Scotch & Soda vest and blazer. Le Coq Sportif shoes. TW Steel watch. RM Williams croc bracelet.
82 | December/January 2014
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84 | December/January 2014
Mavi jeans. RM Williams shirt. Dr Denim jacket. RM Williams shoes and croc bracelet. TW Steel watch.
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Denham jeans. Jag shirt. Scotch & Soda jacket. TW Steel watch. RM Williams croc bracelet.
Mavi jeans. Jag shirt. Le Coq Sportif shoes. TW Steel watch. RM Williams croc bracelet and hat.
86 | December/January 2014
DIRECTORY Amsterdam Blauw scotch-soda.com/en/denim Boohoo boohoo.com/aus Denham Jeans denhamthejeanmaker.com Dr Denim drdenim.com.au Guess guess.net.au Jag jag.com.au Le Coq Sportif lecoqsportif.com.au Mavi Jeans mavi.net.au RM Williams rmwilliams.com.au Scotch & Soda scotch-soda.com.au TW Steel Watches twsteel.com
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The Fifo Wife
Debbie Russo | bio
CAMPING IT UP…
Debbie Russo has been a regular columnist for Rock Candy since the mag’s launch in 2012. Deb tells it how it is, from the other side of the FIFO fence, as one of those perennially waiting for a partner to return home, only for him to go back to work just weeks later, leaving the matriarch holding the kids and looking after house and home. I f t h e re’s a s ub j e c t yo u’d like to see Deb write about, send your suggestions to info@candymedia.com.au.
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Can we go camping they asked?” All three sons of mine. In unison. So I did what any FIFO wife does. I negotiated pitching an actual tent in the lounge room. It was a few months back, during winter, so damned if I was going outside. St i l l, t he boys were ecstat ic to go mock-camping. Me, not so much. Sleeping on the floor of my lounge room wrapped in a sleeping bag when I have a perfect bed just metres away is not logic. But the things you do, right? I even made smores in the fire place. A complete and utter disaster that included sugar burns and an impatient dance of ‘come-on-mum-hurry’, only to be rushed with the responding verdict being “We don’t like them; what’s that black stuff?” “That black stuff, boys, is Mummy trying to make this FUN.” Typically I woke with a kinked neck; tired with that hung-over feeling you get from lack of good sleep (and not even a drop of liquor) because I couldn’t find a soft spot on the timber floor despite my makeshift mattress – a yoga mat – because that’s what the boys say real campers use.
88 | December/January 2014
A nd because t hey have on ly been camping once in their lives, and that was in our very comfortable pop-up van, I let them have that illusion. For the record, I have been real camping. I grew up in the Northern Territory when it was still the last frontier. Camping, fishing, hunting: these were the pastimes, no, duties of my childhood. So I know that waking up with a kinked neck and sugar burns earns me the right to say that an evening spent on my lounge room f loor was camping, damn it. Trying to do the outdoors stuff with the boys is one of the trickier parts of FIFO life. Blessed with all boys, my lot are superhero acting, run-everywhere kids and I break myself to give them what they need. I play with them just like Dad does. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I’m the only mother in the street who can be found most afternoons on the trampoline wrestling with her boys. I think I’m also the only mother in my street that does bush-walking, line-fishing, picnic dinners, scooter-riding, football-kicking. And camping in the lounge room. ▪
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