Australian travels...: Adelaide thus far

We arrived in Adelaide Saturday afternoon after visiting a few wineries in the Clare Valley on the way in. Sevenhills was one of the stops, a great winery set in the hills with a beautiful church right next door. Great wine as well, in fact, we bought 2 bottles! Then we stopped at Eyre valley wineries, another good stop, and bought 1 bottle of wine :) I'm really beginning to like my wine!

That evening we stopped in town, walked up and down Rundle street. I should mention that there is also a massive 3 week festival with a variety of artists, music, art, comedy, ect. as well as a 4 day street festival where the street was closed with street performers, and booths with a wide variety of 'stuff'! We went to an English pub for dinner, Rob was feeling homesick!! Then went to "Alice in Wonderland", a movie that I had wanted to see since I first saw the adds! Man I love Johnny Depp, such an awesome actor!

Anyways, Sunday was just a drive around Adelaide day, check out all the sights, we went to Glenelg beach as well, had a much needed massage, and a beer on the beach.

Monday was the big day. The Womadelaide festival was on over the long weekend - World of Music, Art and Dance where artists from all over the world, obviously, come and perform. When I saw the itinerary and saw that Xavier Rudd was playing, I just HAD to go! Rob had never heard of him but I dragged him along anyways! Monday was the last day of the show and he was playing that afternoon. We where there when the gates opened and pretty much stayed the whole day. Within 2 hours of being there we had seen about 5 acts, all different, and all very good!! One band from the small east coast town of Byron Bay -Fyah Walk (pronounced more or less like 'fire') were absolutely amazing!!! 2 singers, guitar, bass, keyboard, a trombone player as well as a trumpet player - who was a midget!!! There upbeat, fun, makes me wanna dance music is contagious! As soon as the show ended we went and got one of their CD's and later got it signed by the band! Their website www.fyahwalk.com, is coming soon and their myspace website is www.myspace.com/fyahwalk. I highly recommend them and check them out, they have a couple songs on ITunes as well.

Xavier Rudd, my hero, played at 4pm, and the area was packed!! He performed with 2 other musicians, a bass guitarist and a drummer/percusionist (Xavier Rudd & Izintaba). These 3 put on such an impressive show. Xavier with his multi musical abilities - an awesome singer, quitarist, harmonica, percussion, drums, and of course his awe-inspiring didgeridoo abilities. He was born in Australia but has spend much of his life in Canada and incorporated a lot of aborignal (Australian and Canadian) voices in his albums, some of which where recorded in Canada. He actually has a Canadian tour coming up, with shows starting in Montreal starting Mid-May. If you have not heard his music, I HIGHLY recommend checking him out!

There was also the impressive Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka Shankar. They have an indian background and the fact that Ravi will be 90 in April is pretty impressive! He is also a composer with his last composition written in 2008! His website is www.ravishankar.org/index.html and if you're into something different, check it out!!

The Womadelaide festival was bigger and better then I could have imagined! I really had no idea what to expect, and only knowing one artist it was a bit of a risk. There where so many shows to choose from with 7 stages set up, it was located in the Adelaide botanic gardens, a massive venue, so there was also something to see and do. If I ever have to opportunity to come back I would definitely be going for the whole weekend.