fremantle arts centre

last weekend, my friend julie and i decided that we didn't just want to sit in a cafe to while away our sunday. no! we wanted to do something a bit different. so i checked out the "what's happening freo" page in the paper and we chose to make our way to the freo arts centre. interesting fact: the arts centre was a lunatic asylum. am i saying artists are lunatics? no, but don't tell me you didn't think it too.

i've been to the arts centre before, only twice, but i never went inside. sad, i know. they host such cool musical events that it never really crossed my mind. but this time we did. we went because i'd read about FotoFreo, a yearly (i think) photography event held in freo and surrounds. it was on for the entire month of april, but do you think john and i managed to go to any of the exhibits we wanted to see? nope. not one. julie and i decided to pick up the slack and check things out.

there were 5 different photographers on display at the arts centre (well, not them exactly, but their pics). each was unique and a bit strange, as all abstract photography is. one was particularly strange: the photographer took roadkill (yes, roadkill) and placed it along side still life. with titles such as "wombat and watermelon" or "parakeet and lemon on table" you can only imagine how the pics looked. truthfully, we didn't overly like this exhibit at first, but the more we looked, the more we liked. i am particularly a fan of the wombat and watermelon. something about the colour of the watermelon and well, wombats are just darned cute!

another exhibit was of the "process of getting a tattoo" (my title, not his). this was less then thrilling. there was one very cool, juxtaposed type picture  that was worthy of my eyes, otherwise i could do without. really, do i need to see a close-up of the blood and rag that a tattoo artist is using on a guy's back? i don't think so!

the 3rd exhibit was your typical "photography exhibit". random people looking sad. random couch. random door. blah blah blah. some were strangely attractive to look at. others were not.

the 4th exhibit was one photo. but it was massive. and it was a live-person copy of the infamous "terracotta amy" in china. it was a very cool photo. the guy added some of the colour by hand. neat!

the last exhibit, though the first one that we found, was something along the lines of a camera within a camera. essentially, you could stand inside this box with a tiny hole poked into it. once your eyes adjusted you could see the outside, but upside down. it was cool. the guy took this box around australia (possibly only WA) and took pictures in random locations with random people inside and/or outside of the box. the pics were quite spectacular. we had to look very closely at a few of them to determine which person was actually in the box and which wasn't.

that's not where the freo arts centre experience stopped, oh no! turns out, there's a museum there too. a history museum (blah. sorry marc) but a museum none the less. we paid the 2 dollar donation and checked things out. turned out to be more fun then i thought (sorry marc). it was all about the history of WA, and freo more specifically. from the first prisoners who came over to colonize, to the "10 pound Pom's" who came in the early 1900's, it was a pretty descriptive picture. they had a lot of quotes and interesting info from people who came over from europe before or after the war, what the expected, what they got, etc. some of the info that was on display clearly shocked my rather PC way of thinking about immigration. it's strange how racist a country who's entire history is based on immigration can be!

within the museum, there was also a "lights and sounds" hands-on area. needless to say, julie and i spent a good hour of our time in there. very cool things to do with light tricks, mirrors, music, etc. 

we finished our day as anyone should when's it sunny and just turning into autumn: sitting outside under a tree eating a snack. realizing all at once that leaves do fall from the trees here (and not just in summer when they are dry and scorched) but they are not nearly as beautiful as the leaves at home. 

overall, a "crazy" fun day at the lunatic asylum / arts centre.

xo

Nationals 2008: Coffs harbour

ultimate frisbee nationals were held in coffs harbour this year. a long jaunt from perth, as coffs is on the coast of NSW, about a 1.25 hour flight north of sydney. add that to the 4.5 hour red-eye we all flew and it felt like a long day of travel. luckily, we all managed to arrive the day before nationals were scheduled to begin, so we managed a bit of recovery (read: early bed time)

coffs is located on the 

holiday coast of NSW. which to most people would imply sun and fair weather. so you can imagine our disappointment when the wea

therman informed us that it would be rainy, windy and cold for the duration of the tournament. *sigh* it rained when we arrived on wednesday and it held strong all night. we woke on thursday morning to soggy ground, looming grey skies and a strong chilly wind. having flown across the country to compete, we were not deterred. we just packed up all of our dry gear into bags and headed to t

he fields. turns out my CDSL poncho would come in handy after all!

as we were seede

d 13th (out of 14 women's teams), our  first games (back to back no less!) were against the 3rd place, then 1st place team. not a great way to start a tourney, but we fought them hard and considered them to be our "warm up" games. it sprinkled on/off most of the day but we managed to

 stay pretty dry overall. the fields weren't too bad at first, but as we headed to the end of the 1st day, signs of the disaster to come were becoming apparent. wet patches which had turned muddy, divots left-right and centre and pools of water lining the fields. we won our last game of the day handedly, so we finished on a high note. 

again, the rain! with a big storm overnight, we were starting to get a bit worried about the next day. and with good reason.... day 2 started bright and early (less bright, more early), with 2 games to be played back to back. we were lucky enough to be playing our first game of the day on the dry (ish) pitch in the stadium (meant for cricket) but unlucky to have to warm up on the "training pitch". we were told it was dry. they lied.

we warmed up with water up to our ankles, cleats sopping wet and heavy by the time we had to start the game. back on dry (ish) land, we played our first game of the day. the rain started pretty quickly and kept turning on and off. on long enough to get really wet and make the disc very slippery. off short enough to make you cold. we lost, sadly. our second game of the day was less fortunate. the sky opened and did not let up until we were through. at some points it was so heavy it was hard to see. and this time we weren't on the good pitch. mud. everywhere. sopping wet fields and cleats. cold winds. miserable. we played hard and lost by one point, assuring that we could not play for top 10 this year. we were shattered. 

by our last game on day 2, the rain had stopped but it was too late. the fields were ruined. wet mud pits. we had a good  game, won handedly again and pulled up extremely dirty. in fact, between us and our men's team, we somehow managed to ruin the washers at our hotel. not a great feat, but a feat none the less.

saturday was to be our last day of play. we woke to sun! first game of the day, bright and early again. the fields were still ruined and muddy but at least it wasn't raining. it was hard to run fast and not get stuck in the mud but we managed a great game against a team who whooped us last year. we lost, but it was ok because we played well and had them working hard. our last game, for 11th place, was against the team we'd lost to by one point on friday. we were determined to win this one. and with the weather holding off, playing on the quality pitch in the stadium, we pulled through. we won and finished 11th. 2 spots up from our rank and better standing then last year. 

we were a bit disappointed that we didn't crack the top 10 this year, but were happy we placed higher then our previous attempt. as well, this year was more of a team effort, with all of us scoring at least one point and assisting another. 

we are currently taking a break from women's training  but i'm sure it won't be for too long! we have to start planning our attack for next year!

xo