cloud control // on tour in hobart Posted by Helena

So... I kinda went on tour for 24 hours. Half of the reason I went to Hobart was to see my friends play another gig and hang out with them some more. I texted Laura, one of our friends back in London, with some silly snaps of us and she said, "Helena, are you on tour?!" I guess I was! Not unlike when I was on tour for 24 hours with Laura's band Tigercats in Barcelona. 24 hours is my tour limit. I'd had very minimal sleep the night before I flew to Hobart and then another night of minimal sleep since we were up until 4am.

Cloud Control's second album Dream Cave is out now, and they're playing at Laneway Festival next year!

day trip // werribee mansion Posted by Helena

My housemate's parents came down to visit and we did a little day trip to the other side of town to take them to Werribee Mansion. I've since realised that this is where The Genie From Down Under was filmed - only my favourite ABC show ever (Rhys Muldoon was cute)! It's really quite beautiful and we were getting a definitely Downton Abbey kinda vibe from the upstairs/downstairs exhibits. We wandered through the gardens where I fell in love with the greenhouses and then popped to lunch at The Park Hotel, purveyor of craft beers.

a spot o travellin' // hobart Posted by Helena

Despite still being in left over debt from living overseas and having a seriously great holiday just before I came home last year, I promised myself that I'd get to Tasmania this year and visit Mona. It just so happened that my friends were going to be on tour (more on them in another post), so boom! Easy holiday. N and I flew in Saturday morning and headed straight to Salamanca Market. To be perfectly honest, I was a bit disappointed in the markets, especially after hearing such great things. I guess I can be a bit of a market snob, but I was expecting a lot more gourmet food and it just didn't deliver for me. I did have the best salmon and prawn pie I've ever eaten in my life though. The stall's signature scallop pies had sold out, so we made do with salmon.







This guy looked like he was from a seaside town in England.

On the ferry to Mona.









This was my favourite piece. Giant screens with binary code and a constant stream of data flashing up. I snapped this just as a guy was walking past...



The Cloaca Professional (aka the poo machine) by Belgium artist Wim Delvoye.



Delicious lunch at the Mona Wine Bar.







The oldest bridge in Australia - Richmond Bridge.



Perhaps 10:30 was too early for a whiskey tasting when we were starting a winery tour...





I made friends with all the winery pets. This is Pooley Wines' cat Portia.



This adorable corgi is Polly, who lives at Puddleduck Vineyard.





Look at her! Ridic cute.

tavi gevinson // #ladyhero Posted by Helena

Sooo Tavi Gevinson. Ladyhero. Nevermind the fact that she's like a decade younger than me, she's still a ladyhero. Tavi was a keynote speaker at the Melbourne Writer's Festival (among others like London's mayor Boris Johnson, bless him). She spoke for about half an hour and then did a Q&A session.

Let me just say that Tavi essentially spoke about what she loves and about how her life is kind of like being a professional fangirl and being creative. Everything she said I've thought, but she says it so much more eloquently than I could ever do. When you have some spare time, check out her speech, because it's really truly great and I relate a lot. Any teenage girl, or anyone who's been a teenager really, would relate! Also, Benjamin Law chats to her in the above video, so that's #awesome!

Yes, Tavi referenced One Direction. And Bieber. Daria. Taylor Swift. The Virgin Suicides. Fleetwood Mac. Rashida Jones. All sorts of amazeball stuff. She makes me rethink my internet bio of "pop culture nerd".

cloud control // david young Posted by Helena

Once again I've neglected my little corner of the www. Just running in to say that my friend Dave made his directorial debut for our friends' latest single and I'm super dooper proud of him.

Dave, Al, Ulrich and some other peeps went to Iceland for a few days to film it. Al character is a bit of a vagabond who wanders around trying to get to his destination in some really spectacular scenery.

May I present SCAR by CLOUD CONTROL, directed by DAVID YOUNG. Wahoo!