Hullabaloo

Quartet was my fave

*note this was a longer post than intended*

Wine Tour

As mentioned previously, I timed my Perth visit with the Hullabaloo dance weekend. As part of the pre-event activities, a wine tour was organised on the Friday. The group of 30 or so participants were from all over Australia: local Perthies, who’d taken the day off, as well as many interstaters from Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart and Melbourne. This wine tour was quite different than the one I’d done in the Hudson valley.

At the first stop, Lamont’s, I mostly enjoyed a white mixed wine called Quartet. While some description was given on the products, it was mostly, here are the bottles, take what you’d like. As it was a hot day, I wasn’t really in a red wine mood and as per my experience in the Hudson valley, I knew I wouldn’t be a fan of the Semillon nor Chardonnay. I guess the organiser in me would’ve liked something a bit more structured, but as I was saying, I quite liked the Quartet.

Feral microbrewery tasters

We then headed to the Feral brewery for lunch. My lamb was fabulous, and the couple of beers I tried were quite good. The Hog Hop was well um hoppy and the Fantapants was a nice bitter. I would have gladly spent more time there to taste some more varieties.

We then headed to the Kimberley Rum Company which didn’t quite do it for me (perhaps I’ve been too spoiled!?) and then to the Oakover winery. The latter did present their wines in the usual way from the white to the red with a brief explanation, so that was quite appreciated, but none really struck my fancy.

I think we were all quite excited to head to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. I’m guessing the original is further south in Margaret River itself, but this one did the trick. There were some free chocolate chips to taste and it was a good stop to find gifts for my hosts. It was definitely a winner and it was fun to watch the staff work behind the glass pane making tasty things.

Lovely leads, take me away!

That night is when the dancing, and the late nights, began. The main dance was at the regular local Perth Friday night dance venue. I think they’re quite lucky to have live music on a regular basis. Afterwards, we headed to the late night venue at the dingy. It was pretty good, they had the indoor dance floor, and it was warm enough to dance out on the balcony. So when I wasn’t dancing, I was admiring the Swan River at our feet. The music wasn’t quite my cup of tea, but I did have some pretty good dances!

The next day I slept in ‘til 12, caught up with Lauren for a few snack style groceries to help us through the night and we then headed over to set up the late night. I had volunteered to help out for the event, and as Lauren was volunteer coordinator, she scheduled me to help her during her shifts to keep it simple and convenient. So with the help of a couple of others, we prepared a couple of dance spaces for the evening dance, with some fairy lights for the blues room of course. (I call those lights, white Christmas lights, but sure, fairy, why not!?)

A Lindy Hopps beer brewed for us.
No percentage listed, but on the low side.

We then headed to the main dance at the North Perth town hall. After this weekend, I’m rather under the impression that all the local town halls are ballrooms J. The night was actually quite humid, and the lack of ventilation and fast music made for quite a sweaty dance night. I did love the outdoor veranda with cool air as well as those huge electric fans. During the evening, an open Jack & Jill competitions was held. I like that pretty much anyone could join, whatever their level, and that it was a pretty low stress comp. Andy & Shob from Melbourne also performed a nice bluesy number. The blues theme continued at the late night. There was both a lindy room, and a blues room. The floors were pretty good, and at some points the music was so good in both rooms, I didn’t know which one to choose. Once again, I had some great dances both leading and following. I just love how expressive blues lets you be. And well, as Lauren & I were part of the clean-up team, we once again stayed ‘til the end and finally got to bed around 6 am. Kudos to Dan -aka the hobo- for the music and to all them yummy leads.

My host Lauren & I

Once again, sleeping in was the theme. We didn’t have any set up to do for Sunday, but there was a lot of prepping for the Ball as this was the official dress up night. I wore this lovely green dress I found on sale in Melbourne and borrowed Lauren’s curler to do my hair. It was great to see everyone dolled up at the dance. There was no competition that night, but performances from the other guest teachers as well as a number by one of the classes.  (I’m not sure where all these people get the energy to take classes during the day and dance all night. Perhaps I’m too old or just lack the stamina, but I’d rather dance ‘til the wee hours and sleep all day J. )So more late night was to be had on Sunday night. As some were leaving Perth on the Monday, I made sure I got extra dances in with my favourite leads, and took the time to dance with those I had yet to meet. That night, I went to sleep at 6.30!

With Alice a Bruxelloise turned Perthie

The next day, I headed to the afternoon picnic at King’s Park with Isaac from Melbourne, and his host Paul as it was easy for them to pick me up. The view was pretty awesome and I attempted my first game of giant jenga. I did not lose, and well, it was pretty much the wind that tipped our sculpture over. Some were hullahooping, playing ukulele and singing. Here’s a clip of the vibe on the hill for my FB contacts.

I then headed home to pick up my things and move home to Greg’s as Lauren was off to Sydney the next day. We then headed back to Fremantle for the last dance of Hullabaloo. It was a beautiful bar, with lovely couches and red tapestries. The floor was a bit on the sticky and small side though. But the live band was good, and it was a great setting for more goodbyes. I was almost in tears during the thank you speeches. Lots of late nights will do that to a poor soul ;) After lots of hugging goodbye, Greg and I left a bit before midnight to drop off some Melbournians at the airport for some more farewells.

Thank you to the Perth committee for creating such a lovely event. Thank you to the Perthies for being so welcoming. Thank you to all the other interstaters for being part of this lindy high. It was great to catch up with old friends and make new ones. I can only contemplate coming back...10^th anniversary in 2013?.... hmmm so tempting!