New Guy in the Hostel

Yesterday a new guy moved into the hostel. His name is John Paul and is from New Zealand (JP the Kiwi). He used to be a professional rugby player. He played at the highest junior level in New Zealand, may have had a shot at the All Blacks, but followed a girl to Europe. He got to play at a high level over there, too. But about a year ago, he broke his back while playing and was unable to walk for four months. Eventually, he began travelling and found his way to Australia. He hung out with a mate for about quite some time, travelling. On a camping trip, his mate would go to town to get supplies. Unfortunately, his mate was actually taking money out from his account, an amount that totalled $10,000. So, he got ripped off badly and is now trying to get things back together.

While cleaning with him, we exchanged our stories and he seemed quite interested that I was training for ultimate. I told him a bit of what I've been doing and he said that I inspired him to start training again. Being a former professional athlete, he knows a lot of information about training. He gave me a bunch of good tips about getting explosive speed.

After cleaning, I showed him around town. We made our way over to the gym, so I could see if it would be open later. We ended up spending several hours there, playing different games. He's even more competitive than I am. We would make up some game using the equipment there and see who would win. We played a bit of cricket, netball/basketball, and soccer. On the way home, we threw the disc for a bit and I taught him how to throw a flick.

Later in the evening, we went to the free dinner at MJ Finnegan's, where there was a free pool competition. We set out to win it. We practiced before dinner and even strategized for the higher level games. We ended up winning it and earning a $20 bar tap, most of which went to waste.When we got back to the hostel, we competed a bit more. We played Trivial Persuit, Checkers, and an attempt at Backgammon (neither of us knew the rules). As the manager, Damien, was closing things up, we were about to head to bed. We talked with him a bit, and I went upstairs and JP and Damien headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Fast forward to the next morning, and JP isn't around. There is, however, a two page note apologizing for being offensive to Damien. He thanked him for the opportunity, didn't want to rip anyone off, and said he was going back to Sydney. Strange stuff. The only two people who know what really happened will be Damien and JP.

Strikeback Music Festival

I wish I had been posting since I arrived in Australia, but I haven't. So, oh well.

Today I went to the Strikeback Music Festival in Newcastle. This weekend is jam packed with stuff to do in the area, which isn't very common. They could have spread things out over a month of weekends, but decided to cram it all at once. It just means that I have to pick and choose what I do.

Music festivals are quite a bit different here in Australia. There was no one set genre that all the groups fell into. There were five stages (3 bands playing at any given time) with hard rock, hip-hop, jam, and others at the same venue. I couldn't imagine such different groups being found in the same place in the US without some serious fights breaking out between opposing fans.

The musicians are a bit different, too. At Ozfest in Pittsburgh, the bassist from Mudvane got hit in the head with a bottle of water. While I thought this was hilarious, he was ready to go down to the crowd and attack the person guilty of throwing it. A member from Bodyjar got hit with a rugby ball and he replied 'Bloody hell! That was a good shot!' Then he booted the ball into the crowd.

I got to see a lot of bands during the day. It lasted from 10-11, but I didn't go until 4 because I went for a bit of a surf. The bands I saw were:
Bodyjar (they do a song found in Tony Hawk)
Repercussion + Kai + Dhopec (hip-hop bands)
Bagster (Rock band with a horns section)
Mojo Juju (Bluegrass, I suppose would best describe them. Sang a song about keeping your dog upon a leash because my chickens don't like your dog. Also, they all spoke in fake accents.)
Lefta Centa (Hip-hop)
Bliss N Eso (Hip-hop)
Laura Imbruglia (I assume Natalie Imbruglia's sister, similar style)
E.E.S. (Hip-hop, some contest winner, not a big fan)
TZU (Hip-hop, this was the second time I saw them)
Sleight of Hand (Harder rock)
Karnivool (Harder rock, reminded me of System of a Down)

I emjoyed being able to go from one genre to the other so easily. And the venue was great: right by Nobby's beach. You could smell the ocean.