When I was traveling overseas, and even when I’m just at home in NZ, I would never think about leaving a good chunk of my life’s possessions in the back of a car. That’s just asking for trouble. Do tourists think that New Zealand is a magical place with elves and orcs, and zero thieves? Sadly, our little country is just another country, and not protected by God no matter how many times we sing our national anthem.
Tourists should take a bit of personal responsibility and not expect that things that are a bit sucky and commonplace throughout the world could never possibly happen here.
Maybe we should sing God Defend New Zealand one more time just to be sure!
Sun and Bass is an annual drum and bass festival that is now into its sixth year, held in San Teodoro, Sardinia. It is less of a festival in the usual sense, and more of a series of party nights in a beautiful beached location. San Teodoro is a small little village that hosts a number of excellent clubs and beautiful beaches, which makes it perfect for such an event.
About 1,000 people attended this year, and it gets bigger each year. The festival lasts for a week, and each day there are a number of events; one or two events per day, and one club night with each club night having two areas/zones. The main nights this year were themed: Metalheadz Session, Hospital meets Spoonfed, A Bunch of Cuts meets Feline, Club Autonomic, and Serato Session. On either sides of these main events were also unthemed nights. (See the line-up here.)
Once I saw the line-up, I chose a number of main events I wanted to go to. These were (in no order of preference):
Metalheadz Session
Hospital meets Spoonfed
A Bunch of Cuts meets Feline
Club Autonomic
Alix Perez and Spectrasoul on the beach
Lynx & Kemo, DRS, Jenna G at Bal Harbour
Instra:Mental b2b D-Bridge on the beach
Even though that is not every day of the festival, that is still some full on drum and bass dedication to party that many days in a row, especially as I know when I party there is a high chance I will be hugging a toilet bowl the next day. Also, I am old. My liver only functions at about 50% these days, or so it would seem.
So back to the start a bit more before I continue on about the festival itself. There are a number of things you need to do well in advance of deciding to go to Sun and Bass, particularly if you are enough of a nutter to come from the other side of the world for it.
Get travel insurance. The promoters of Sun and Bass seem to leave a lot to the very last minute, as this year a line-up did not go out until about the week before, and it was not even sent to those on the mailing list or those who bought tickets online. Do not expect preparation for events such as PHAT where you know 4 months in advance who is playing. I say get travel insurance on the off-chance the gig doesn’t go ahead and you need to get your flights refunded, although hopefully this would never happen.
Book your flights. Firstly, you have to get to the other side of the world. The festival is right at the end of peak summer season in Europe so to get better prices you will want to leave at the very end of August or early September. You will also want to make sure you have a couple of days to sort out your body clock as jet lag for me going to Europe lasts about 3 days. You have a couple of options: get a travel agent to book everything for you, or get them to do the major international flights and use cheaper domestic routes yourself. But careful – some as bastards such as Ryanair, and some airlines fly into an airport other than Olbia (which is the closest to San Teodoro). Because a lot of people will also be flying from London, you might want to consider flying from another city in order to get decent flights that get into Olbia, that won’t be full and arrive on the Saturday. I flew with Jet2 from Machester which was not too bad a price, got to Olbia, and got me there on the day I wanted. The issue you will find here that international flights will give you more baggage allowance than the domestic, so you will either have to pay excess, be stuffed, or be a good traveller and take no more than about 18kgs.
Find somewhere to stay. As someone who can’t be bothered with such things as camping, I would recommend getting an apartment for the week, and ideally somewhere in the middle of Al Faro, La Cinta beach, Ambra Night, Ambra Day, and Ripping Club so you can stumble home in the early hours without having to do a massive mission walk (Ambra Night is about a 30 minutes walk from Ripping Club). These can range from really cheap to really expensive. Ours was on the expensive side, around €500, but you can definitely get cheaper ones than that. It is very important you book well in advance! Also as a note: the apartments are not hotels, so you will need to pay extra for linen and towels, so make sure you at least bring a beach towel (which you could always buy on the beach from on of the African merchants).
Get to San Teodoro from the airport. There are buses but instead I hired a car for the week, to give me some freedom and be able to explore a bit more. I paid €35 per day for unlimited mileage. Renting a car was easy, as you pick it up from the airport and just drive straight to San Teodoro. Be prepared though, they drive on the right-hand side of the road and the street signs are confusing!
Learn at least a bit of Italian. This is where I mostly failed. But at least I had a phrase book for those moments when I needed it. There are quite a few people in San Teodoro who don’t speak English.
Take euros with you. There is only one cashpoint in San Teodoro that accept cirrus/maestro and it is hard to find. Couple this with not being able to use credit cards without chips at the clubs or credit cards at stores for purchases less than €10-20 and it can get very tricky.
Now for some advice once you start your Sun and Bass experience:
Take toilet paper with you to the club. The clubs look nice in photos, but the first two or three nights there was no toilet paper at all in the girls loos. I told the bar staff and they said they couldn’t do anything about it. So unless you want to try and do the shake and get piss all in your panties, I recommending bringing a stash in your purse.
Try to avoid the blue cocktails. Whatever is in them is lethal. It’s just not worth it, unless you have a penchant for vomiting.
Put your dancing shoes on. You are definitely going to need them!
Don’t miss the day events because you are still drunk from the night before. That is what I did, I should have sucked it up and just gone anyway.
Try to see some of the island before you leave. Sardinia is beautiful. Go to other towns, go up the Esmeralda Coast (which I missed because I was cuddling a toilet bowl), just generally explore. It’s very pretty.
Bring earplugs. This is your mother speaking.
So, my experience at Sun and Bass. Overall, it was great fun. It would have been more fun with a big crew from back home, because although I met people there it would have been nice to have some hard-out dnb buddies there to enjoy the experience with me. That said, I met some really lovely people there: a girl from Christchurch who I went to Redeyes with in London afterwards, a girl who grew up in the same town as me in New Zealand, another girl who went to school with my sister and knows me from the parties I had when I was a teenager, a wicked girl from Slovakia who took me out to dinner, a crazy German girl who likes to get drunk more than me who I spent a great morning on the beach with, and had some good chats and times with people like MC Lowqui who was on instruction to look after me (job succeeded), Jason A-Sides whom I’d met earlier in the year who was a great beach buddy. And overall, I got to have lots of random conversations about drum and bass with new people, and dance to the music I love in somewhere completely different, both of which are things I love doing.
Some of the highlights for me:
The Club Autonomic night – without a doubt this was for me the best event of the whole festival. Amazing vibes, great people, great music, lots of dancing.
Jenna G’s live vocal set at Bal Harbour with added bonus accidental strip show.
Fats being rushed in when Calibre dropped Drop It Down to sing along.
Randall at the Serato Session: I just couldn’t stop my feet from dancing, even though it was my 5th night on it! And I can’t finish this highlights list without a mention of specific DJs that I had gone there to see: Spectrasoul, Calibre, Commix, Instra:Mental, Marcus Intalex, Doc Scott, Klute, Lynx, and Alix Perez. They are the DJs I would want to see every time they came to New Zealand.
Some of my experience was marred somewhat by what I can only say is the sexist nature of drum and bass. 99% of the DJs and producers are men, it is largely men dancing with their shirts off (to other men, may I add, not gay at all), and they all seem to have some fucked up notion that if you are a girl and you are there, you are there to have sex with DJs. I think this needs to change. I know it is possible to be a girl and be in love with drum and bass, not only because I am one, but because I know girls who are just like me. I can only think now we need to band together to change the scene; enough is enough. Less sausage sizzles and sexism!
But in summary, Sun and Bass was an incredible experience. I definitely want to go back next year and catch up with my new foreign dnb buddies again. I know we’d have an even better time next year!
(For more photos and videos, see my set on Flickr here.)
The only time I had previously spent in Melbourne was back in the year 2000, on a brief and drunken weekend bonus from my company at the time. I only remember snippets of that trip: a mile of Italian restaurants, basement bars with good cocktails, a secret club that played crappy music but at the time was the largest and coolest club I’d been too, a massive mall with vacuum tubes between the various shoe departments, and a very vague recollection of the Victoria markets. Oh, and my workmate getting so drunk he puked up his stomach lining. That was pretty impressive.
This visit, I remember much more. I was also there for the best part of a week, so I had time to explore a few areas and have a look around. It was pretty much how I had imagined it, and how it had been explained to me from people who have better memories than me: like a bigger, better, more architectural Wellington. I’d say that’s not far from the truth. It has a great public transport system, lots of bars and restaurants, different areas each with its own little vibe, and lots of New Zealanders. The weather is also rather shite. The buildings in the city centre really are quite beautiful, and obviously the local government and architects have done a good job of keeping the old buildings intact, unlike Wellington where for some unknown reason thought it would be really good to knock down all the nice looking buildings in the 1980s and erect a bunch of horrendous looking semi-high rises. Also unlike Wellington, Melbourne has kept the trams going which I think is great because not only do they have that awesome screeching metal-on-metal sound but they are better than buses because they don’t get stuck in traffic with everyone else. Other things that impressed me in Melbourne was the amazing shopping (I could literally spend every penny there), and the cute little cottages in areas like Kensington.
Now as I write this I feel I perhaps really quite like Melbourne. It has a nice vibe about it. But, it’s not New Zealand (I think that means something) and it’s even further away from my family than Auckland (despite this I still haven’t seen them since about April). The thing that I do find weird about Melbourne is that is almost feels like New Zealand but everyone has a funny accent.
I should also mention that during my stay I went down the southwestern coast for a night and stayed at a place called Apollo Bay. I saw a koala in its natural habitat (A TREE!), saw amazing surf beaches with barrels for infinity, and paid to stay in a “motel” room the equivalent of a trailer like the trailer trash I am. I’m not sure why I have left the koala episode as a footnote as it was totally fucking awesome. He just sat there, half-looking at me, scratched himself to show me his massive nutsack, and then almost fell off the branch and jumped to another, although the last bit I know happened but didn’t see because I turned around to get back in the car because it was cold and raining. But it happened.
So in summary. Melbourne is good. I’ll definitely be back to spend all my pennies, of which I will have approximately three of after I finish my trip and get back home to New Zealand.
After my whirlwind 2 days in Manchester, I sometimes wonder if I ever left. It feels completely familiar, homely almost (although a bit of a shitty cold rainy one, much like Wellington I suppose but with less scallywags), and I feel confident travelling around by myself. Which after the past few days experiences is any wonder, seeing how I am obviously completely rubbish at travelling alone and need a travelling companion or an assistant or my mum.
It feels like nothing much changed except a few new shops, and when I first saw Mischa I thought he was now a man which disappeared after about 1 minute and then seemed exactly the same. Then I met up with Anna, and later Lance, and it felt so easy to just pick up where we left off 3.5 years ago. It’s great to have friends like that.
Things I have missed: trains, the shopping, warm apartments, Boots Southern Fried Chicken wraps, Mischa’s awesome host skills, Anna’s sense of humour, Lance’s argumentativeness, Manchester’s constant drizzle, being kept up all night from street noise… oh wait.
So now I am at the airport (well ahead of time and on the correct day) waiting for my flight to Sardinia to go to Sun & Bass. I am looking forward to the sun and the beach and the start of the raving with Commix, Spectrasoul, and Lenzman tomorrow night. Perfect!
That is really the only advice I can offer you. I wish I had taken such advice, but instead I didn’t and I bowled on up to the airport the day after my flight from Melbourne to London. Cost: AU$102 change fee, £120 rebooking fee for non-refundable flight to Manchester, dignity (lucky I have none).
But with bonus premium economy upgrade and Valium I will get through this!
Since I arrived back in New Zealand at the start of 2006, the only time I have been overseas was to Tonga for a week in 2007. My feet are constantly itchy and I feel I have been working long enough now to take another trip. I am taking five weeks off work and leave in ten days.
The itinerary is as follows (and here’s a super map because I like maps):
Melbourne – if I’m going to have to fly through, I might as well stop for a few days and visit some of the ex-pats. I haven’t been since a weekend work trip in 2000, and to be honest I was drunk most of the time so I don’t remember much. It will basically be like visiting somewhere I haven’t been before.
Manchester - I lived there for 1.5-years, and two of my darling friends Mischa and Anna are still there and require visiting. I will enjoy the scallies and Piccadilly “Gardens” and may visit my old work. I also might even visit the spot where Loves Saves The Day once stood, and if I’m lucky Chris Joyce from Simply Red will try to bitch slap me again.
San Teodoro – About a year ago, I was listening to one of the Marcus Intalex Soul:ution Radio mixes, where there was a guest mix from DJ A-Sides. Apparently it was from Sun & Bass, and Marcus Intalex talked about how it was an amazing drum and bass festival in Sardinia and made it sound so awesome that I wanted to go. So, I’m going. I am going to stay in an apartment for a week with my friend Erik, we will dance to drum and bass, cruise around Sardinia, swim at the beach, and generally drink a lot of alcohol. It’s going to be great.
Milan - After the festival I have to get to Saariselkä, Finland which requires me to go through the next two cities. Again, if I’m flying through I thought I might as well stop for a couple of days and have a look around. My only plan for Milan is to see The Last Supper by Leonardo di Vinci. I am sure I will also drink lots of coffee, dress like I am being photographed for The Sartorialist, and get hit on by sleazy Italian men.
Helsinki - Ever since I saw the Hel-Looks website I have been rather fascinated with Helsinki. It also has an awesome name, which for a long time I thought was actually “heh-lints-ki”. It’s not. In Helsinki I am going to visit the Design District and try Finnish food. I don’t know what that will be like.
Saariselkä - This is where the excitement happens. My best friend Pip and I are going to Saariselkä to stay at the Kakslauttanen Hotel & Igloo Village. We are going to stay in a glass igloo and watch the northern lights together as a way to celebrate our 30th birthdays and the fact that we have been best friends for almost 20 years. A picture of the awesomeness is required:
Hopefully we don’t get shit weather so I will be doing dances for the weather gods for the next few weeks.
London - What would a trip to Europe be without a smasher of a week in London. There are so many lovely people I can’t wait to see, parties to go to, shopping to drain my bank account with; chances are I may not survive.
Los Angeles – My third time in LA will again be a fleeting visit. I suppose this time I should at least see the Walk of Fame, but at the very least I will be going to Bloomingdale’s and Fred’s and buying everything.
It will be tough coming home. My bank balance will only show sad faces and my actual face will only show big purple bags from lack of sleep. It’s going to be great!
I have officially been a JAFA for precisely 16 days now. It’s starting to feel a bit more like I actually live here, instead of how it has been feeling which is that I am housesitting for someone with all my stuff and my cat, and that I am temping in someone else’s job. It’s quite an odd feeling really, and I feel like I am going to go “home” to Wellington any day now.
Things to note:
Auckland is very muggy. I live no more than a 15-minute walk to my new job and start at 8:30am each day. For the first two weeks I would walk not entirely too strenuously because at 8:15am it already muggy and hot. I arrive at 8:27am, grab my water bottle and take some swigs of yesterday’s water, take it to the cooler to refill it, and then go to the bathroom to run my wrists under cold water and daub my forehead and upper lip with a paper towel. In 2002 I coined the phrase, “There’s a rivva in my boobies,” and sadly the rivva has returned.
The coffee is terrible. I have not had a single good cup of coffee in Auckland. Everyone’s beans taste burned and bitter, and lattes arrive thin and watery, to the point I would consider going to Starbucks out of preference. That is deadly sin in Wellington, the land of delicious coffee.
Everything is very far apart. No longer can I waltz down to the post office at lunch, or quickly grab some new stockings when the ones I’m wearing run, or wander around Farmers looking at cheap make-up and new hair straighteners. I don’t work in the city centre, rather in one of the closest suburbs which although very nice is overrun with stupidly expensive clothing boutiques and many cafes selling crappy coffee. And because Auckland is so large and sprawling, everywhere seems to be a destination shop. A 20-minute drive to Briscoes, a 25-minute drive in another direction to go to Freedom Furniture, and a short drive into town for a lot of other stores that you would want to shop at if it were not a requirement to try for a ridiculous amount of time to get a car park. Perhaps I will be needing a car after all, and my poor little Vespa will need to be sold. That is as yet undetermined.
The shopping and eating choices are never-ending and fantastic. Being in a city that is 3.5-times the size of Wellington of course the shopping is going to be better. There are so many great little boutiques (that I can’t afford but can wish) and lots of stores Wellington just doesn’t have. There are loads of new restaurants to choose from, and a lot more delicious Asian foods to try which is a wonderful by-product of having a larger Asian population in the warmer north.
The houses are way prettier. At least in the area I live in. In Wellington, the areas with the beautiful historic Victorian villas have had many demolished to make way for hideous townhouses and apartment blocks. Instead in Ponsonby and Grey Lynn, most of these are being restored to their former beauty. I love going for walks in my neighbourhood just so I can look at the houses and dream that one day I am going to win the lottery that I never enter so I can afford to own a home in a suburb such as thing. However, chances are that it will never happen.
So, I’m getting along alright up here. I miss my family and I miss Wellington (good days only), but I’m sure it won’t be too long before I start replying with “Grey Lynn” instead of “Wellington” when people ask me where I’m from.
On Tuesday I am once again packing my life into boxes and moving cities. This time, Auckland. Again, I am taking Goblin. The movers will come and take my life’s possessions (although I have managed to collect more possessions in the two years I’ve been back in Wellington than the five years I was overseas) and then Gobbles and I will catch a plane. She is such a seasoned traveller. People often remark that she has lived in more cities and countries than most humans. This is true.
In a week’s time I start my new job at a software company in Ponsonby. I will have moved into my new flat in Grey Lynn. The wankicity of having purchased a brand new Vespa with an Italian-designed Momo helmet in 2006 will be realised when I then scoot over to my boyfriend’s house, to Richmond Road Cafe, to the supermarket, to the video store on Ponsonby Road.
In a week’s time, I will already be missing my sister and her children (6 and 5-months, both absolutelyadorable) and her daily phone calls to me at work that always start with her saying, “Hi. It’s me. What are you doing?” and me replying, “Working!” will cease as these will now be toll calls. I will miss having weeknightly dinners with my flatmates in front of 72″ of Shortland Street. I will miss games nights with Jake and Carly, because they are silly and make me laugh lots. I will miss chin-stroking at gigs with Cole. I will miss the good days in Wellington, where the saying goes that you can’t beat it.
This aside, I am also really quite excited. I love going to new places, especially places where I don’t know every second person and their cousin I went to school with. I am looking forward to not having quite as aching joints in winter (yes, I really am getting old), I am looking forward to rain that doesn’t fall sideways, I am looking forward to the thousands of new cafes and restaurants I get to experience. And I am most definitely looking forward to having a boyfriend I see more than once every fortnight.
I will never be Just Another Fucking Aucklander, as they say. I will always be from Wellington, and Wellington will always be my home, a place I know like the back of my hand. But Auckland will soon be my sixth home, after Wellington, Austin, Houston, Manchester, and Antwerp. And I’ll definitely continue to make it south of the Bombay Hills and beyond.
It is the responsibility of us working in media to ensure women are not under represented in the advertising we create. http://t.co/GLqsiPQS - posted on 26 Jan 23:08
"Woohoo! You've read all the messages in your inbox." I think I've seen that message 3 times in 1.5 years. I bet it only lasts 15 minutes! - posted on 25 Jan 15:23
"These are the projects that are re-inventing and re-defining the technical parameters of our online experience." Wow. Epic. - posted on 24 Jan 11:47
in its natural habitat (A TREE!), saw amazing surf beaches with barrels for infinity, and paid to stay in a “motel” room the equivalent of a trailer like the trailer trash I am. I’m not sure why I have left the koala episode as a footnote as it was totally fucking awesome. He just sat there, half-looking at me, scratched himself to show me his massive nutsack, and then almost fell off the branch and jumped to another, although the last bit I know happened but didn’t see because I turned around to get back in the car because it was cold and raining. But it happened. 
