Day 3: Melbourne
Welcome
Yesterday was the final show of our very short Australian tour. We did some more flying, driving, and loading.
The first task of the morning was filling our 2021 Toyota Hiace with instruments and suitcases and driving it back to Brisbane Airport. Here we were extremely lucky to be able to access the basement loading dock of our hotel and job was completed on time and under budget.
On the way to the airport we drove past the 2011 World Transport Building of the Year, the Kurilpa Bridge. This structure which spans the Brisbane river, the M3 Motorway, and the Bicentennial Bikeway, is the world’s largest hybrid tensegrity bridge with a total length of 470m and a longest span of 120m. It was completed in 2009 and features two large viewing and relaxation platforms, two rest areas, and a continuous all-weather canopy for the entire length of the bridge.
Our flight to Melbourne was annoyingly delayed but the positive outcome was that we got to see our luggage from the departure lounge. I have hit enhance multiple times on the image below but still have been unable to confirm the location of Tristan’s cymbal case.
As soon as we were wheels down in Melbourne we disembarked without even waiting for the plane to stop rolling. We sped to the venue and arrived only 30 minutes late for load in. Sadly though there were some technical difficulties at the venue and all of Tristan’s efforts including dodging oncoming traffic and the successful escape from the police chase were for nothing. The gig ended up running late and there were no soundchecks but despite this it was a great night. Hachiku played their songs brilliantly and we had a very fun time despite not having our in-ear monitors, a luxury we have become extremely accustomed to over the past few weeks of shows. The club we played at was called Night Cat and it’s most unique feature is that the stage is set in the middle of the room giving the audience the option of listening to how our amps sound from behind.
At the end of the night we said our goodbyes to our friends in Hachiku and headed back to our accommodation ending the night on a high with this iconic staple of antipodean television, the Transforma Ladder infomercial.
