September 1, Thursday

Becky and I left Poona for Bribie Island to stay with her Uncle Gary and Aunt Chris so we can rise early and be closer to the airport to catch a plane 1600 kilometers south to Sydney in the state of New South Wales. I worked the day at the Cafe, on the Mary River. We hit the road around 6pm and arrived on Bribie at 8:30 pm. We stopped for a bran muffin and a coffee. When we arrived on Bribie, we enjoyed a beer with Uncle Garry in his new (old) backpacker school bus, "Livin' the Dream"-- the official name of the bus! The traditionally rounded-roof bus once held twenty seats, but in order to drive the bus on a normal-class license, Garry had to reduce the number of seats down to 12. He recently began transforming the bus into a mini motor home, by building a bed in the back, adding a mini kitchen, and had Chris sew curtains for the length of all the inside windows.

We "Lived in the Dream," drinking Coopers Pale Ale "stubbies" (375 milliliter glass bottles of goodness from Adelaide, South Australia), conjuring up ideas to make it the ideal party bus: maybe add a disco and strobe light, and attach a fog machine. The PA system already came installed, but the bus just needs Garry's puppets--his vintage Punch and Judy British puppets, which are over one hundred years old. Gary, a puppeteer for 25 years, collects hand puppets, marionettes, dummies, and ventriloquist dummies. Garry purchased these quality wooden and hand-painted puppets, in the mid 1980s, from a fellow, Professor Wallace. Gary now travels up and down the east coast of Australia, joining fares and festivals, performing puppet shows as entertainment for kids (and of course for adults too!) Now he has a dream machine to drive and tow his trailer of unspeakably fun friends.

Video: Puppeteer, Gary, celebrating his 60th Birthday on Bribie Island, with his marionette named Banjo, named after Aussie folk poet, Banjo Paterson.