The Last Wintersun in Coolangatta, 2010: Day 2

Continued from The Last Wintersun, 2010: Day 1

It was 9am when my alarm went off. I groggily pulled some clothes on and went down into the street to buy some hairy lemon tablets. Hairy lemon is an evervescent tablet like Berocca except it has added guarana in it to really pep you up. Bella, Aleisha and I had one and felt reasonably better. Matt was too far gone for it to have any effect. I headed downstairs to the room to work on my hair, using Bella's straightener and rollers and was rather chuffed with the results!


Proof I need to steal Bella's hair straightener


Aleisha, Scotty and I met Matt down at Big Chief for a quick feed. Not wanting to smear all my lipstick on a burger I ordered some grilled fish that I ate with a fork. If anyone knows me they know I love fish!

Our next destination was Goodwin Park for more perusing of cars.


A Victorian Viccy! Tasty Note the excellent red flats I picked up from the markets the previous afternoon





We even arrived in time to catch the vintage swim suit parade. Laura was modelling one of the suits and she looked like a fox as always.


The fabulous models in the vintage swimsuit parade. Too bad I'm only 5ft high and was so far away.


Falcon parked near Goodwin Park. I have an immense fondness for cat's eye headlights.

Being the typical girls, Aleisha and I then demanded to go and see the markets for some more shopping. We had quite a haul. We bought some hair flowers and bows from Pin-up Parlour. I also got myself a beautiful black draped dress.

We hung out in Bernie’s stall, Cowpunkabilly, for a bit while Scotty was trying on some jackets, however given the wonderful collection of wares Bernie has we all ended up buying something. We were hanging around for so long that the sun went down on us, so after giving Bernie a hand putting his stall away it was off to get some gritz.


Laura inside Bernie's stall. She looked like a fox (again) in her beautiful vintage dress

I was dismayed when I was dragged into Grill'd again. Don't get me wrong, Grill'd do great burgers but I wasn't thrilled with my friend's lack of variety in my friend's dinner venue choices. So I made the best of it and ordered a burger I normally wouldn't choose. It was satay chicken with coriander! The verdict: I'd eat another one of those again... but maybe in a few weeks time. On the way back we found this guy who is a dead ringer for Richard Hammond.


Aleisha with the Hampster look alive.

I ventured out with Bella that night. Matt, Aleisha and Scotty went off to see Dean Z, Bobby Brookes and Lance Lipinsky's show. They certainly do a great show but there wasn't anywhere to dance at their venue. And I was really itching for some more dancing.



Bella immaculately beautiful as ever. I snapped this one before we headed off

I arrived at Cooly Hotel too late. I missed the Rechords. Darnit darnit darnit (but all is not lost as I will see them at Greazefest). The queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson was performing. She dated Elvis back in the day you know! And like every gig she does, she paused to tell everyone how in 1973 she found Jesus Christ. It's like clockwork so I remember that fact so very well. She's an incredible lady who still retains her amazing voice, even at the ripe old age of 73.


Mimi & Bells


Shenanighans between Leo from the Rechords and Lorraine

The Last Wintersun in Coolangatta, 2010: Day 1

It’s been a yearly tradition to go down with a bunch of friends and stay the weekend to hang out and party at Wintersun. For those who are unfamiliar with this event, Wintersun is a 50’s era rock & roll festival that has taken place annually in Coolangatta for the past 25 years. The festival consists of 10 days dedicated to all things of the 1950's era such as:

• Vintage cars


• Rock & Roll music & dancing


• Rockabilly music & dancing


• Horrible Elvis impersonators (expect for Dean Z, he's really good!)


• 50’s music


• Themed markets


• Vintage fashion

... and the list goes on. Everyone dresses in in their beautiful vintage, reproduction and rockabilly styled attire. The cheesy rock & rollers dress in tacky sequinned poodle skirts arm in arm with their husband wearing a matching shirt. It's absolutely hideous but it's good for a laugh.


Oh yes, and the poodle skirts bring their poodles.

Despite its long history of being a part of the Gold Coast, I am sad to say that as the title of this post suggests, this year was Queensland’s last Wintersun. Next year it moves to Port Macquarie. I seriously can’t be stuffed travelling down there next year. Wintersun IS Coolangatta and I just can’t imagine it anywhere else.



I almost didn’t make it this year as I had originally thought my assessment period clashed with the main weekend. However in the weeks counting down I realised I was in error and the Wintersun weekend was in fact 2 days after I handed in my last assignment. Sweet! Thanks to my lovely friend Bella I was able to secure myself some last minute accommodation. She was staying just one level below where I stayed last year and it was lovely to be in familiar surroundings again.


Bright and early at 6am we rolled into Cooly through the sea of old cars that the owners were hurrying to put out before they closed the road. It was so surreal. There wasn’t a new car about so it felt like we has stepped back in time. That was until we saw a couple of ugly billet rods and the feeling was ruined for us. Hahah. After dropping my things off at the hotel room Matt and I met up to walk around and see all the cars before the general public arrived and clogged the streets. It was so beautiful and quiet at that time. Just like a private showing. And then I saw sex on wheels...



A 1949 customised Buick. I was salivating. I took an insane amount of photos of this car. Never have I seen a custom look this good and so subtle that it doesn’t scream custom. Can I have one please? I met the owner later in the day and was a really nice guy. Dig your style buddy!




Friends out and about were telling me the markets were hard to navigate due to the crowds the day before so I took the opportunity to cruise through early even though they were still setting up. I happened upon the art stall Tiki Markus and was pleasantly surprised to see American artists James Owens and Max Grundy also there selling their wares.



Max Grundy


James Owens

I had a really good chat with the three of them and they were giving me some tips on how to get around in the art world. I treated myself to a James Owens print and one of Max’s t-shirts. I also got a sweet Tiki Beat shirt, like James is wearing, from Marcus.


The beautiful giclee print I bought off James, titled 'Furious'. Mmm 1958 Plymouth Fury goodness. It's going home to live with the Max Grundy print Matt already has.


I caught up with Bella to go and see Pat Capoicci combo playing in the street.




Lauren Rebelle and I met up to get ready for our shoot with Erin of Poco Rojo pictures. Lauren’s Hair was turquoise and it was the maddest thing I’d seen in a long time. Given the impossibility of trying to find someone willing to move their car at Wintersun, we shot on the astro turf green of the resort’s put-put course.


L - R: Aleisha, Myself, Dean, Matt, Lance, Scottie

Once again I met up with gang but was disappointed to find as soon as I’d got out that they were now headed back to the room. Thankfully my good old mate Turkka wasn’t headed back yet so I grabbed a sweet Langos, a yummy Hungarian snap fried bread (yum yum) and we headed back to the markets. I didn’t have any flat ballet shoes to go with my skirts and rather than kill myself wearing heels the next day, I decided to make it my mission to find some ballet flats. Not an easy a feat as it seems. I started to despair. I bought another pair of heels because well, they were pretty and I couldn’t resist. But no flats! My saving grace was at the very end of the markets. Red patent shoes with a strap and the tiniest of little wedge heels. Is there such a thing as a kitten wedge heel? They were kind of like that.

After pumping a few victory arms we called it a day. But not before we got a photo of the gorgeous Libie who was helping out at Mimsy's Trailer Trash Tattoo.


Hottest 'Trailer Trash' I ever did see

Back at the hotel Bella and I got ready and I gleefully put my new TUK heels on. I threw some barrettes and a big sweeping roll in my hair and headed upstairs to Matt, Aleisha and Scotty’s room for some pre-drinks. A few tequila’s later we left for Coolangatta hotel which is earmarked as Rockabilly HQ for the night time gigs.


L - R: Myself, Bella & the beautiful Emma who also plays in the The Sugarshakers

We arrived fairly late but were in time to see such and such and Men Into Space.


Men into Space, now with added tattooed extra terrestrial!

I spent the night dancing to the bands, having drinks and and having an all around good time. It was around 3am by the time Bella and I got to our hotel room and we both promptly collapsed with exhaustion into our beds.


Good times had by all!

Click here to see how we all fared the morning after

New tattoos. Extending my sleeve.

This morning I rolled into True Love Tattoo to see my artist AJ Traynor to do some work on my sleeve. After spending a bit of time perfecting the designs and positions, I was ready to go under the needle.







The outlining and black shading was completed. In a couple of weeks I go back for colour.










I love them so much. AJ did a fantastic job. The exciting thing is that they will look 10x better once they're coloured.

Assesments are over. Time to party!

Everyone in my class sighed a sigh of sheer relief as we all handed in our last assignment today. It's been a busy couple of weeks full of practical tests and late nights putting the finishing touches onto mood boards and story boards. A few of us decided to celebrate the end of the semester by having a good ol' chow down at the local Sizzler restaurant. Like true students we stuffed ourself to get our money's worth.


The gang, fat and happy after much stuffing of buffet food. At this stage I was thoroughly regretting wearing a skirt belted at the waist.


Obligatory cramming as much dessert as you can into a sizzler's bowl. Can you see any ice-cream under all that?

Here are a couple of photographic insights into the last fornight of semester mayhem:




A tattooist I know told me how his first lightbox consisted of a drawer, a light and a pane of glass. Very useful information to know when you need to trace images for trade drawing. It's dodgy, but it works!


The Sewing room at TAFE. Look at all that industrial goodness!



Last minute t-shirt assessment freak out. As awesome as the purple leopard print was I wanted to be on the safe side and sew an easier fabric. So black rugby knit it was.


My shirt turned out awesome. My boyfriend now wants 5 of them.

The Real Bambi & Thumper + other YouTube videos.

Funny how you end up watching YouTube when you're meant to be doing assignments. Before I hit the books again I figured I'll make my time wasting worth while and share my favourite online videos with you.




A baby deer and a rabbit frolicking around like they are the best of friends? Hey, this sounds awfully familiar. But seriously it has to be seen to be believed! Especially the fawn wigging out.

The original Margarita story - by Cointreau staring Dita Von Teese So that's where the Margarita came from! Dita Von Teese is as stunning as ever, though she looks strikingly pale for a Mexican :)

Mad Fabricators Society I love these guys! I have all their soundtracks and have watched all the DVDs. This is a really good clip that gives you a snapshot of what the Mad Fabricator's are all about. I dig those customs cars. Drool! Worth listening to for the Knuckel Drager track alone, if garage and grungy surf music tickles your fancy.

US Soldiers in Afghanistan, dancing tribute to Lady Gaga, Telephone Troops busting out hilarious dance moves to Gaga. If you haven't seen it yet, do it now! Otherwise I'll unleash the chat roulette tribute on you.

Jessica Rabbit - Why don't you do right My favourite scene in one of my favourite movies that I've loved since I was a wee kid. This amazing cross of live action with animation has always fascinated me. Not to mention Jessica Rabbit is a fantastic character. Often imitated but never duplicated.Well, almost :)