Matthew Ford’s Infernal Blog

We went to Maroochydore, which is a beach town up the Sunshine Coast, about 1.5 hours’ drive north from our Brisbane home. We stayed at the Sebel, a wonderful, new hotel which was both lush and affordable! I surfed, Dylan boogie-boarded, Kat sunbaked. (Kira was in the loving care of Dee back home.) We had a great weekend away. Some pictures of the trip, and Dylan’s 14th birthday, are now in the Flickr photostream.

In an episode that would be cut from a Baz Luhrmann epic as “too cliched”, last night a kookaburra tried to steal some roasting kangaroo fillets as I cooked them on our barbecue.  Let me say that in a more cliched manner: a kookaburra tried to nick some roo from my barbie. I expect this to be followed by a dingo taking our baby and my being attacked at Bondi Beach by a shark and crocodile, which I fend off with a boomerang.

The  footage below (also at http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ll8aPonbA7E) sets the scene: this is a few days before. On Christmas morning, as you do, we put out food for the resident kookaburras. Kat, Dee, and Kira all star; I am the cameraman.

(Please sing the above title to the tune of “Holiday in Cambodia” by the Dead Kennedys… we did…) We just got back from a holiday in Tasmania, we three running about in a campervan for a week. It was great! Not sure if we are campervan types but we enjoyed Tassie and enjoyed the freedom of carrying our home around the island. (continued »)

Kat and I (and by extension, Dylan) became Australian citizens on Australia Day 2008, which is… come on, you know it! I know it! (In fact I took a citizenship qualification test which made me memorize it forever, along with the wattle and Phar Lap) …January 26th. (continued »)

I am finally back to my rich blog-scribing tradition after a long break of intense work, holidaying, and procrastination. To make more bite-sized the mountainous prospect of updating this blog after my long period of taking short vacations (the subject of a later post, which is the whole point), allow me to write about something short and sweet. Ah, I feel less oppressed already… I’m not writing a five-page travelogue, I’m just writing yet another paean to Radiohead’s latest album In Rainbows. I could just copy-and-paste one of the thousands of other love-fests frolicking on the web, but none of them are my style so I’ll give it my own shot. Besides, now there is a dandy Amazon pay-me widget I can imbed in my post, so go buy it now! I’ll wait while you download the MP3s.

You’re back? Good shit, huh?? Now you’re listening to it as you read the rest of this post, hopefully drinking a glass of Syrah (note to my legion of Aussie fans, it’s called “Shiraz” here in Australia and good on you). You’re sipping Syrah|Shiraz even if you don’t like it, because I do like it, and I should not be drinking alone at 6:07AM. (Kidding!) (continued »)

I’ve uploaded a bunch of photos from my and Kat’s weekend trip to Townsville; head to my Flickr site to see many more! This one is from when the tour operator (pictured) on Magnetic Island (near Townsville, Queensland) brought us to a pub that specialized in attracting hordes of rampaging rainbow lorikeets. On his instruction I took a handful of sopping wet bread from a bucket and held it out. “What n–” I started to ask, and was answered by one of most startling and intense experiences of my life. I was instantly set upon, and you really have to be there to understand how overwhelming it is. The color, the claws, the whipping of wind from the wings, the deafening caws in my ear… it was a feast for the senses in the sense that having a cannon full of Chicken Cordon Bleu fired at you is a feast for the senses.

We’ve done it– moved into the new house in Kenmore. I’m more in love with the house than ever. Kira loves it too, she is looking out at the trees and birds, sniffing, stimulated.

It was a great feeling to wake up in the house, hear the birds, and watch the trees wave from bed. It was lovely to live in our new home. We had neighbors stop by and they were very nice.

Our friend Romi decided to accept our offer to stay with us for a while, using the guest room. She’s looking for fulltime work so in the meantime she’ll be a huge help, staying there to meet tradesmen, teaching Dylan how to get home from school via the bus, helping unpack and get things in order, and such. She’s also a very sweet and energizing person to have around and Kat and I are very pleased to have her along on the adventure.

Here are some notes on my trip to Uluru with Dylan, Kat, and her mom Josie. Photos are still in the camera with Kat. They are still vacationing and I am playing the bachelor at home, then I’ll catch up to them again Saturday. (continued »)