Last day at work today – and now the fun begins! :)

I’ve started to pack a little for my Australia tour. People drop their jaws when I say that I will be travelling to the other side of the globe with only a carry-on that weighs a maximum of 7 kilos… ;) I hate carrying bulky stuff around. The less shit I have to drag around, the better. And I know how to make it work by now.

Might have to rethink my present to my Melbourne-host possibly, weighs too much, lol. But other than that, I’ve got all the essentials: Energy gum (survival kit #1!) , travel-adapter, camera, extra batteries, memory cards, sunglasses, sunscreen, makeup, clothes and an inflatable pillow. I’m good to go!

The reason for this light packing is that I will be flying from place to place once I get there and I have no patience standing there at the luggage carousel watching people’s suitcases go round and round and round forEVER….! Drives me nuts. I just want to grab my stuff and go. Hence the carry-on solution. :)

My first plan in Sydney was going to be a wildlife-tour to the Blue Mountains, about 45 minutes outside of Sydney. A day-trip out to see wild animals (been dreaming about KOALAS for weeks!) but… the wild fires there might stop THAT plan. Maybe it’s just as well, I might be dead tired, who knows.

Then the first Firewind show in Australia, out of 4. Here are the venues!

MANNING BAR – SYDNEY:

SECOND SHOW – IN BRISBANE, AT THE HI-FI:

THIRD SHOW – FOWLERS LIVE – ADELAIDE:

AND FOURTH – AND LAST AUSTRALIAN FIREWIND SHOW – THE CORNER HOTEL IN MELBOURNE:

I will be blogging as much as I can of course – providing I’m not so jetlagged that I just want to crawl into the nearest bed and pass out, but shame on me if I do!!

THESE will be the places I’m about to see, and I’m very very excited about it!

ADELAIDE:

BRISBANE:

MELBOURNE:

AND of course…SYDNEY:

Hopefully at least one of these too!

The trip starts on Monday… but there’s a bit of cool stuff happening here BEFORE that too.

The Swedish Metal Convention – with a bunch of great artists and metal-related exhibitions!

GUS G – JORN LANDE – ANDERS JOHANSSON (YNGWIE, HAMMERFALL) – CRASH DIET – CRUCIFIED BARBARA – PAUL DIANNO (EX-IRON MAIDEN)

I remember the first convention, it was ambitious but rather small. Still, not bad at all to get SEBASTIAN BACH to visit, among others.

My interview with Baz from that convention:

The second year, I was shocked to see how much the convention had grown – as were many others. People who are now in as participants and sponsors, biggest online-record store in Sweden GINZA and of course, SWEDEN ROCK. Last year had people like DORO, UDO, MIKE TRAMP and Jesper from D.A.D visiting – plus the largest IRON MAIDEN collection in the world. It was interesting for sure.

And this year – let’s see how it goes, they say that third time is always a “win or lose”-situation so I’m hoping that it will be a major success!

If you’re in Malmö this weekend, here is the schedule for the convention!

*** PROGRAM 2013****

Saturday conference room
15.30 – 16.30 Guitar Clinic Gus
16.30 – 17.00 Q&A Gus
17.00 – 17.30 Q&A Crashdiet
17.30 – 18.00 Q&A Jorn Lande

Saturday photo-sessions
12.30 – 12.50 Crashdiet
12.50 – 13.20 Paul Dianno
13.20 – 13.40 Jorn Lande
13.40– 14.00 London Based Hellfire
14.00 – 14.30 Gus G
14.40 – 15.00 Crucified Barbara

——————————————–

Sunday conference room
12.30 – 13.00 Q&A Nicki & Ida
13.00 – 13.30 Q&A Paul Dianno
14.00 – 15.00 Fashion show

Sunday photo-sessions
12.00 – 12.20 Paul Dianno
12.20 – 12.40 Ida & Nicki
12.40 – 13.00 Jorn Lande
13.00 – 13.20 Crashdiet
13.20 – 13.40 London Based Hellfire

CRASH DIET