magicdog vs wagga

an invitation to read at the wagga space program was all it took to get us leaping with abandon onto the luxuriously appointed countryrail service to wagga...

welcome to electrifying wagga! rumour has it that 2wg plays both kinds of music...

so we were invited to wagga to read some poems as part of a performance at the basement theatre... also on the bill were some cool experimental musicians & a longer performance piece by keri's friend matt (which also featured his brothers)...

on the afternoon before we were due to read, the wagga library had a performance by some experimental musicians... my memory's kinda foggy, but i think it was some kind of anniversary or something...

here's a shot of matt rehearsing in the basement of the wagga civic theatre...

& here's a slightly blurry shot of los trios schultz brothers...

uh oh... here's a shot of a "sydney-based poet" looking slightly deranged in a wagga coffee shop...

& this is keri's mum, rana, who's no doubt hoping the deranged sydney-based poet is going to knock it off with that bizarre grin...

here's keri waiting for our pre-reading meal to be served...

just as every town in australia appears to have some kind of basement theatre, so too do they all appear to have at least one coffee shop in which patrons are encouraged to write all over the furniture...

but it's not all poetry readings & coffee shops in wagga, nope... there's also the beach!

complete with slightly over-exposed sign...

what the? no dogs? hmmm... what about walruses? walruses are okay? great! i'll be right back...

one of the things to do in the river at wagga is float down from the rocks to the beach... my swimming technique wasn't quite up to it, so i walked along beside the river instead...

while keri took the plunge...

& went for a leisurely drift down the river...

which, as you can see, is quite wide...

yep, that's quite a wide river all right... i eventually went for a bit of a paddle around at the beach...

on the day before we were due back in sydney, we went out with keri's mum for breakfast...

& found a cool antique shop that had some neat things in it...

like this pony, for instance...

which also looks kinda cool from this angle...

& there was this excellent bike...

here's a view of part of the main street...

complete with heritage sign, which i'm assured no longer bears all that much resemblance to wagga...