Last weekend saw a whirlwind trip to Geraldton take place.  Hoping to repeat the success of last year, Murphy's Lore were invited back to play at Roz Worthington's Charity Begins at Home Auction Ball.  This is a wonderful event, with the money raised going to Geraldton locals who are living with cancer.  Being a fan of road trips, I thought I'd bring Rhona along for the ride, and she was going to be quite happy to spend her evening in a hotel room with some wine and chick flicks.

So, getting there was going to be a little different this time around.  Last year the band played at the Priory in Dongara the night before.  It was a fairly quiet night where we were lambasted with the usual excuses for poor attendance in a country town ('Gav's 21st is tonight and a heap of them have gone into Gero...' and such and such).  After we'd packed all the gear into the van we headed to the bar for a drinking session with the staff that saw some band members greet the sun.  Dongara is only 70km from Geraldton, which was a good thing, due to our collective hangovers.  I'm sure the folks setting up at the ball that day were quite amused by our low-key, sunglasses-clad load-in.  Having a bender the night before ensured that none of us drank that much, so the long drive home the next morning would be relatively pain-free.

We were all heading to Geraldton at different times, with Shaun and Court leading the charge after they finished their Osbourne Park Hotel gig Friday night.  Oh yeah, that's right, they drove all night. Our sound guy on this trip was to be our usual knob twiddler Kane's brother Matt, and he'd gone to Green Head earlier in the week. Jase had to work until 5pm, so he was going to hoon on up straight afterwards with Lore fill-in and touring guitarist Tim.  Rhones and I headed off Saturday morning, dropping the kids to Kelmscott (their grandparents' house) and picking up Kieran and his drums from Kingsley.  We were on the road before 11am, and we got into Geraldton around 3:15pm.  It seemed that the new 'quick' coastal drive wasn't that speedy, although it was a much prettier drive.

Having dropped Rhones to the hotel room, we headed to the venue to meet Shaun, Court and Matt for setup. Now, this was Matt's first time setting up a PA for the band on his own, so things didn't go as smoothly as they normally do for a soundcheck, but we got there. We ended up back at our rooms at 6:15pm and needed to be back at the venue by 7pm (we were guests as well as performers, plus Court was opening the show).

The gig itself was great, but there was a lot of waiting before we hit the stage.  Some of it was quite sad (one of the recipients of last year's ball passed away in February), and some of it was uplifting (little Shay, diagnosed with a rare infancy tumour as a 12 week old, went into remission in September!).  After the auction and everything was over we ended up hitting the stage at about 11pm.  It's a weird feeling being at a gig and having to wait for so long.  A lot of nervous energy builds, and you start getting very restless.  I think we played quite well because of it, but it's hard dealing with the waiting.

By that time of the night, the people were ready for a boogie and the dancefloor was pretty much packed for the rest of the night.  We've been told that we'll be asked back again for next year's ball, which is awesome. It's a wonderful night to be a part of.

I ended up back in our hotel room by around 3am. I'd had the foresight to take Sunday off, so Rhonie and I enjoyed a 9 o'clock sleep-in.  The other boys had left before we'd awoken due to gigs or other commitments. We enjoyed a leisurely drive home, having breakfast in the Geraldton town centre and lunch in Jurien Bay.

It's the traveling that makes those little trips.  Rhona and I are big fans of them.  Nothing like being in a car for a few hours, talking and listening to music and watching the country go by.  We also like our little stops in towns for food or some sightseeing.

On the drive up, Kieran had showed me his latest Q magazine which featured celebrities submitting playlists of their favourite 10 songs of particular artists. For instance, Ricky Gervais picked his fave Bowie songs.  I like this concept a whole heap.  I'm going to endeavour to do an A-Z of playlists for the month of November. Could be a big ask, but I'm going to give it a shot.  Plus, it'll be fun!