From the Brain of Matty

Australian Idol (26.04.05 6:15 pm)

Hello world. I had a very eventful weekend. Let me regale you with tales of wonder and .. er .. wonderous .. stuff.

On Saturday morning we packed up the car, and at lunch time we picked up Shell's cousin from hockey and went for a drive. Eventually we reached Cairns, and went and parked at the Pier. Then we sat in a line for over twelve hours so the cousin could audition for Australian Idol. Although when I say 'we', I mean 'I'.

The three of us sat in the queue until.. oh, around 1am-ish I think. Shell's cousin was curled up under her sleeping bag, snoozing. Then it started drizzling slightly, and her cousing was getting a little sniffly - not the sort of thing you want the night before entering a singing competition - so Shell went up and got a room at the hotel above the Pier. They went up there, and I volunteered to hold the position in the line.

I lay in the rain under a drenched sleeping bag for a while (using the umbrella to protect the CDs and book and other stuff we had with us - leaving myself exposed to the elements).. until the girls minding the spot in front of me gave up (their friend was auditioning, and she also had a room inside). Then, as the rain died down a little, I carted all the crap back to the car, and went back to waiting in the line. It rained again, on and off, all night.

At one stage during the night, before Shell went to get the room, a bunch of Canadian tourists came around, asking to get their photo with everyone in the line - in case it meant they were getting their photo with someone who would soon be a celebrity (so we obliged). They came back around a few times during the night, and I had a bit of a chat with them for a while one time. They were from BC, and didn't like people mentioning the word 'about'. And one of them thought hippos would be totally cool, and they could fight off the crocodiles.

Another time, a bit later, some other (drunk) Canadian stripped down to his grundies and went for a 'mud bath' in the mudflats exposed by the low tide.. someone went out and rescued him from his own stupidity. He didn't get arrested.

And then, much later in the night, a couple of guys came wandering over without shirts, both completely saturated. Apparently their boat had sunk out in the marina - they'd managed to right it and get it back up to the surface, but they needed tools to get in and clean out the engine (and dry out the spark plugs). They sat next to me under the BBQ shelter, and eventually found a dry blanket somewhere, and went to sleep.

There was also this group of girls behind us a few places in the line, with whom I had a few chats during the night. They said I was the most amazing, wonderful husband they'd ever heard of - standing in the line, in the cold and wet, holding the place while my wife was up in a nice warm dry hotel room sleeping on feather mattresses and all that. They gave me a couple of guarana tablets. I hope they were just guarana tablets.

Then, at about 6:30ish Shell and her cousin came back down, and I (eventually) made my way up to the room, had a hot shower, and slept until 11:30. Then we checked out at twelve, and drove home (via Mareeba and the tablelands).

I also met Kyle from Kyle & Jackie O (a national radio bit we have here in Oz), who is going to be the new judge (replacing Dicko). We have photos. Plus I took a few snap shots. I want to see how they turned out - I've never done nocturnal snapping before.

Oh yeah, Shell's cousin didn't get through. Oh well. It was an adventure.

I'm off now to rip the photots from the camera and have a peek. Ciao tutti!
Matty /<

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