"This is the life for me."

Enthused for a day of busking.

Felt like I had to squeeze in the two and a half hour Burnie busking session into this crazy week, which has been filled with last minute plans and frantic packing as I organise my 4 day trip to the mainland to visit my partner, and the parents throw together their spontaneous six week trip to Europe!
Needless to say our household has been a hive of excitement, phone calls and explanations.

I was enthused and felt good to be out on the street with the harp once more, before I leave. Had a great play, punctuated by dancing children (always rewarding!) interested couples, and elderly folk keen to hear my story, and to share theirs. 

My watchful guardians/photographers discussed many deep topics while I serenaded the public before we joined the rest of the family for an early Fathers Day lunch! 

Daffodils, Snow Drops and Gum leaves. The prefect bouquet. 

My solitary drive home was broken up by a stop to pick a bunch of lovely roadside daffodils! It was an idyllic close to a busy the day, and a sure sign that Spring is actually on it's way.

A friendly face.

Sat like a sniper for 15 minutes trying to get a shot of this little fella and his mate

Comment of the day

"There's a few coffees worth in there!"

Provided by a friendly caffeine addict donator, 

with a sense of humour.

Hanging with the Habits

So rarely is my name spelt correctly!


Thought it about time for another post, and since this Saturday I have something new to share with you! I met the amazing and friendly duo Daniel and Lasca who make up the band, The Habits, during the Chocolate Fest music competition in Latrobe this July.
They expressed their interest in having me play my harp at a gig they were planing to hold in the beautiful Devonport Regional Art Gallery.

Blasting out the tunes


Escaping the house where for the last week I had dwelt in sickness! I braved the half flooded roads between Sheffield and Devonport.
It was a nice and casual evening, with a good turn out and I enjoyed it immensely. The acoustics in the converted church were amazing! sadly though that meant that at times I was in competition with the some what rowdy crowd. Yet still felt appreciated, and received many aggressively encouraging and kind comments though-out what was a hugely amusing night.

The wonderful duo 

As most my time is spent street performing, I learnt a lot observing how the gig was run, and the musicianship, skill and style of 

The Habits as they engaged and entertained the crowd.

With Daniel Bicanski and Lasca Dry 

All in all it was a grand experience. Keep an eye open for these two! they are already climbing the charts on TripleJ and I have no doubt we will be seeing more of them in the years to come.

Many thanks to James for coming along and snapping some photos for us.

The Stories Behind the Pictures

Our reflections artistically captured

Many thanks to my mum for coming along to Launceston with me last Friday, and despite the cold and rain capturing a few unusual shots of me playing. 

It is wonderful to be able to share these photos with others.

Showing a bit of leg

A beautiful young family

The joy of having friendly people come up and express their enjoyment of my music, is always heart warming, particularly coming from such a wonderful young family. I believe I will be seeing more of them, as it turns out they have also met my father and alpaca in a handful of different towns on several occasions! I hope the phrase "it's a small world" is indeed true.

Striding past

When I am playing in the street, pretty much all I see of people is from the waist down. Which is why I am fond of this picture, as it captures the impression that I myself glimpse while playing.

Sometimes I try to imagine and match faces to the shoes I see, or wink at the little child who is clear enough in my line of sight to make eye contact with. Eye contact you may think, is nothing special. Yet on the street it is almost a rarity, most people seem uneasy about eye contact while making a donation, yet children have no such inhibitions and often continue to stare a me as they go past. Which has resulted in many a collision with oncoming pedestrians, and on occasion power poles. 

A fellow busker

A fellow street performer doing it tough in the rain, due to the council taking both our bookings for the only sheltered designated performance area. 

He opted to play in the rain as the wet would effect his instrument less.

It is a wonderful, and some what camaraderie attitude most buskers have towards one another. 

In my experience, always showing interest and nilly always donating to each other. 

Sometimes going so far as to give tips on the best locations, or warnings about some of the regular passer byes and trouble makers, or unfriendly shop owners.

This goes for other street performers I have met over seas, and in countries where we've shared not a single word.