Sydney re-cap continued.

So Saturday we went to 'Homebake'. It was a great day but long and exhausting. We got there at about 11am and left after 11pm. Here's a rundown of who I saw.

• 'Boy & Bear' - Amelia's friend's band. They were really good, one of the best bands I saw actually.
• 'The Middle East' - Excellent. Really getting into this band.
• 'The Bumblebeez' - Just nuts, dudes dancing around in rabbit/skull masks.
• 'Underground Lovers' - Vince's band, was cool to see them at Homebake, had a brief chat to Vince afterwards.
• 'Eskimo Joe' - Not bad, wasn't really into it though.
• 'Hilltop Hoods' - Awesome set, it seemed pretty stripped back though. Live hip-hop is a totally different experience compared with listening to an album. There just aren't those same production elements, rather it's all about the performance. Great stuff.
• 'Jet' - Good live band but I'm really not into Jet. It didn't help that there were all these asshole Jet fans behind us being asshole Jet fans.
• 'Powderfinger' - Great way to end the night, we were in a prime position less than a metre from the front. Would've been even better if they'd played some of their earlier slower stuff but still, I'm quite liking the stuff from the new album.

That was about it, not including brief fragments of sets that you catch as you take a break. If the schedule was different, I would have loved to have seen 'Tumbleweed', Paul Dempsey, Sia and Sarah Blasko but inevitably at festivals, there are time clashes. By the end of the day our legs were totally wrecked. Went back to the hotel, jumped into the sauna followed by a quick swim. (we did this every night - brilliant) Thoroughly exhausting day.

On the Sunday, Nathan and Amelia picked Rhys and I up (Eleonora met us later on) and we headed to Manly. It's a weird name for a place, Manly. Had a bit of a wander round, ate a pub lunch and ended up at this little beach with this man-made rock/sea water swimming pool that was part of the beach. Cool day. That night we ate lasagne at the apartment and watched 'The 40 Year Old Virgin' on TV. And of course, had a sauna and a swim.

Monday was a day of very little. We kinda just hung out, stayed close to the apartment and saw another movie (see below). That evening we headed out to a bar to meet up with Amelia, but the line was pretty huge (especially for a Monday) so instead we went to a nearby pub, had a beer and played some pool. Amelia crashed at the apartment later on too.

Tuesday we took the train and the bus to Bondi Beach. It was about 35 degrees and the beach was pretty packed with people. I pretty much just relaxed, read a book in the sun. After that we went to 'Hurricanes' and got these mad burgers and ate them at a picnic table as seagulls bickered over the last of the chips.

Wednesday we headed for home, back to Sydney airport, back on the plane and by the afternoon we were all back in Melbourne. The week was a bit of a blur. We managed to cram a lot in, I reckon. Top week.

Oh, and it would be remiss of me not to mention the discovery of 'Mad Mike and Mark', an unintentionally hilarious show on Animal Planet that we became a bit obsessed with. Mad Mike and Mark are a pair of South African (actually I think Mad Mike was Botswanan) guys who travel around Africa taking photos of wild animals. The photos are usually really appalling, totally out of focus and badly framed but the main appeal of the show is the duo's relationship. They're kind of like competitive brothers but they also have a bit of a bickering married couple vibe to them. Anyway, it had Rhys and I impersonating them all week. Check it out.

'Zombieland' (2009) directed by Ruben Fleischer

Pretty good fun overall but not at all scary. By the end I think I felt a bit underwhelmed, like it was more style over substance. Still, I enjoyed it, particularly the Bill Murray cameo which has to go down as one of the greatest cameos of all time. Somehow I didn't feel that the four main characters really gelled as a group though, perhaps there was too much of a contrast between Woody Harrelson's "tough-as-rusty-nails-dipped-in-poison" Tallahassee and Jesse Eisenberg's "Woody Allen-straight-outta-grade-school" Columbus. I'm a sucker for zombie films though, particularly comedy zombie films so this is well worth a looksee.