Fully Grown Homos Podcast
Welcome to the Fully Grown Homos Podcast.
Our aim is to create a safe space where everyone can find connection and inspiration.
LGBTQ+ Queer
Fully Grown Homos Podcast
Newcastle Pride, Maitland Magic, And A Mini Break
A four-day “quick break” became a full-bodied story about place, Pride, and the people who keep communities alive. We start with a happy accident—booking Maitland instead of Newcastle—and land in a spotless, genuinely pet‑friendly stay where the front desk maps out the best eats and slyly warns us off a chipless kebab. Between pub couches and old-world facades, we stumble into a local art gem, Patricia Van Lubeck, whose surreal trees and whimsical shapes jump off the wall like technicolour daydreams. Dinner at the club delivers a potato bake pizza and a hypnotic ceiling fan that makes you question reality in the best way.
Pride at Gregson Park brings the colour and the crowds, and we hit record among jacarandas and glitter. Our talk with Dr Olivia Carroll from the Hunter Medical Research Institute digs into how feminising gender‑affirming hormone therapy might affect lung function—clear, careful science done with the community, not just on it. We also spend time with Katie from the Suicide Prevention Network, whose lived experience anchors a new drop‑in mental health hub and night safe spaces. It’s practical care with heart: walk in, be heard, get connected, and come back when you need to.
Not everything lands. A second stage competes with the main one, some stalls feel generic, and performers deserve fuller rooms. But resilience shines through, especially when Courtney Act lights up the park in gold, the crowd refusing to dim. We round it out with Warner’s Bay coffee, Redhead Beach boardwalks and ecstatic dogs, a long lunch at Blanca with old friends, and a street moment that reminds us progress is uneven—and grace is a muscle worth flexing.
Hit play for travel mishaps turned memories, queer joy with edges, and conversations that matter—from hormones and lungs to suicide prevention that shows up after hours. If it moves you, share it with a mate, subscribe for more, and leave a review so others can find their way to the party and the quiet corners alike.
If you want to send us a question or would like our thoughts on a particular topic you can contact us at Fullygrownhomospodcast@gmail.com or contact us on any of our socials at Fully Grown Homos Podcast.
Welcome to Fully Grown Homos, a podcast about our adventures as fully grown hymos navigating today's world full of inquisitive friends' questions about gay life and the unexplored activities of a life lived as fully grown homos.
SPEAKER_03:We'll discuss the gay 101s, sex, sexuality, and topics we don't even know yet, as we want your input into what you want to hear. Nothing is off limit, so email us on the fully grown homoespodcast at gmail.com.
SPEAKER_02:Or message any of our socials, Fully Grown Homer's Podcast. Good morning, Matt. You sound sexy. Don't feel sexy. He's got his demi more voice on back in the 80s.
SPEAKER_03:What was it? What was his what was his strip tease? That's it, strip tease, yeah. I didn't do my strip tease and then he would get his voice.
SPEAKER_02:I know. It sounds sexy though. Oh, didn't feel it. Yeah, the listeners are gonna love it. Um bit of ESMR happening and all that good. I suppose he had a uh chest infection all week, so not well, but we we pre-unwrapped some of those, yeah, um, which are like little honey lol lemon sort of cough jolt type. So hopefully I'll get through this podcast in one piece. You will, because we are gonna be supported because we've actually pre-done a lot of work this week. We have. We've done some pre-records. Um tell us where are we what what what are we gonna talk about today, Dave?
SPEAKER_03:Well, we're gonna do a wrap-up of what we did last week, yeah. Um, which is our four-day trip away.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, our little four-day mini break, which is always I want to say refreshing, but fucking exhausted.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but it was a good, good four days away. It was great. Weather was great.
SPEAKER_02:It was great.
SPEAKER_03:I think the weather was good, or not.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, the weather was fantastic, it was absolutely stunning. Yeah, it was beautiful every single day. Not like this week. This week's been thunderstorms and lightning, very, very frightening.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I know, right? So we'd planned this trip away for probably about a while ago now. Five or six weeks ago?
SPEAKER_02:No, longer than that.
SPEAKER_03:Longer, okay.
SPEAKER_02:Sammy got in touch with us and told us about Newcastle Pride happening. Um that's right. And and she said, Oh, it'd be great to catch up with you guys. So we thought, okay. Good work, Sammy. Um well, we love you and we understand. Um, so um, but yeah, she got in touch with us and said, Come to Newcastle Pride.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so you as you with your ADHD got on board. So I thought that sounds like a plan. And went into action straight away and booked accommodation. And where did you book the first accommodation?
SPEAKER_02:I booked I booked accommodation at Warner's Bay. I got on Airbnb and booked because like when we go away short breaks and stuff like that, I like to take my girls with me, right? Um, so we booked a little Airbnb at Warner's Bay, um Tantara. Tantara, yep. Um, it's hosted by um Selena, if anyone's looking for it. If you type in Warner's Bay, Airbnb, two person, two pets, um, basically. You got a pool as we didn't use the pool. We didn't use the pool, but um it was it was a lovely, lovely, lovely, neat, clean, tidy, um, very secure. Um fully equipped. Fully equipped. Now, with all Airbnbs, most of the time the hosts, if they are pet friendly, they don't like you to have your dogs on furniture and beds and all that kind of stuff. Hence why I always take a blanket to put on my bed as courtesy.
SPEAKER_04:It's a special blanket, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02:It's it's become blanket. Um, it's one of those wet blankets. Um, they're a sex blanket, basically. Um, and they're waterproof and all that kind of stuff. So if you do come all over them, it's easy to get off. Um or if you're a squirter, girls listening, um they're really, really good. Um but they're lightweight and they're warm, and it's good because again, if the girls, because blondy sometimes the well, the dogs like them as well, don't they? Yeah, they love them and all that kind of stuff because they are textural as well, they're quite smooth on one side and then they're kind of woolly on the other side. Yep. Um, but I always take that and sort of throw it on the bed that way, there's no damage done to any of the um the hosts, I guess.
SPEAKER_03:Um but it's also you know a common thing because you don't want to get anything dirty anyway.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, correct, correct. And and like the one I got is nice, it's nice, and I can't remember what company I bought it from. It might be Peach Blankets or something like that. But anyway, but that was cool. Um, not sponsored, unfortunately. No. Anyone that sells a sex blanket so wants to sponsor me, um, send me a couple. I'll test them out. Um, because I do sex a little bit. Um and we're digressing already. Anyway, fuck, that's unusual.
SPEAKER_03:Um but Warner's Bay, really nice little accommodation. Well, we'll talk about that later on because the start of the journey ended up in Maitland. And why did we end up in Maitland Main?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so I did a week of nights, uh basically late nights, and so it turned out that even though I'd booked an annual leave day on the Saturday, when we were gonna leave on the Saturday morning and go up, um, it turned out the way the roster had kind of worked that I was gonna end up having the Friday off. Um so I'd finished it around midnight and um was gonna originally go up on the Saturday, but I thought, well, what's the point of sitting home all day Friday when I'm actually off? Because we know who I am and we know I'm gonna be awake and then I'm gonna be sitting there and I'll try and go, Oh fuck, I wish I had gone away a day early. So I booked a last minute, right?
SPEAKER_03:You got excited because you messaged me, you didn't say, guess what? Change of plans. We're going on Friday now.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, well, I had sort of tentatively thought about it when I worked out that I was gonna do the the week of nights, and maybe we're gonna get the time off on the Friday.
SPEAKER_03:You couldn't find anything. And then I couldn't find anything.
SPEAKER_02:Because everything was super exy.
SPEAKER_03:But because of that's because of the dogs, isn't it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, because the because the dogs the pet friendly is very limited and stuff like that. You can book into pubs in Newcastle for like 90 bucks a night. It's great little and it's only a couple of years. And we've done that, and it's a good one. We have done that, yeah. Um but um okay, Matt doesn't have a sense of direction, do I? No. No, not soever, not whatsoever. Now, I went on and looked first of all, I sat there and sort of gave up on it. And then about I think it was about eight o'clock that night, I thought, I'm just gonna check again one more time. Probably would have checked another ten times, let's be honest, if I didn't get this place. Um because I kind of had my heart set on going away a bit earlier. And um, we all know that what I want I get um always. Um and um so found this place in Maitland, um, which I typed in Newcastle, okay, to my defence. Yeah, well and it came up saying it was a pet friendly place and all that kind of stuff. So I booked it, right? And it was like$154 a night or$164 a night, and it was the Punt Hill Maitland. And it's really nice. But it was apartment box.
SPEAKER_03:I didn't know anything about this until the day we were leaving, as into the location.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Well, it was like four levels, right? But I booked and we're driving away. We're driving along. And I said to him Dave says, Where are we going? And I said, Maitland. And he went, Why Maitland? And I went, Well, it's in Newcastle, and he went, No, it's not. No, it's not, it's at least an hour away. Well, 45 minutes, yeah. And I went, No, I typed in Maitland, Newcastle to Airbnb, and that's what came up. So it's got to be in Newcastle. Well, Dave was right. I was incorrect. I was right. I said Dave was right. I didn't say I was wrong. I said Dave was right. It wasn't in Newcastle, but I'm blaming Airbnb for that, not me. Um, all right. Look, it was only only I am happy to say that it worked out well. That it worked out really, really well because we got to see somewhere that probably wouldn't have booked otherwise.
SPEAKER_03:And the strange thing is, which we'll mention later on as well, is friends of ours, uh Simon and Simon. Oh, yeah, yeah. They message us when they realised that we were at Maitland because they own the Gloria Jeans there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they've got the franchise for the Gloria Jeans there.
SPEAKER_03:And they said, Oh, we just missed you.
SPEAKER_02:We've literally just missed you because they were at the store that day. Um, but yeah, so it was like, but but Maitland, look, how to describe Maitland?
SPEAKER_03:It's a lovely oldy worldly old worldie old mining village, yeah. To what we're led to believe. Yep, yep. And it had the characteristics of that.
SPEAKER_02:So much character, like the architecture was amazing. It was about like ten churches in a row, right? All different denominations.
SPEAKER_03:But it the facades of all the houses all very were very old.
SPEAKER_02:There's some art deco, there's some like uh whatever that Elizabethan type um gothic not Elizabethan, gothic, well, I don't know. There was like swirly things and the big bloody planters and all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but that was like neo. That was like Renaissance sort of thing.
SPEAKER_02:I I know certain periods, I wouldn't say I'm a designer.
SPEAKER_03:Elizabethan. Elizabethan is back with like isn't it quite grand? It's grand, yeah, but it's very renaissance style thing, you know, very opulent and whatever.
SPEAKER_02:So they were really pretty old buildings, yeah. All right. And um some really cool. So there was a pub there that we went to, right? That was cool. Walked in, it was really cool. It had these big leather couches out the front, and we were sitting on the couch, it was having a beer, and like Dave had a beer, a local beer, and I had um a it was like a a salsa. A lychee single lychee salse sort of sort of it wasn't a beer, but it was like an alcohol pop type thing. Didn't taste like lychee at all, it tasted more like lemon. Um, it was quite sour. Um, but I was fucking getting hammered on this one drink. I'm sitting there.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yep, loving people watching and yeah, and just having a really nice chilled afternoon, weren't we? Yeah, about an hour or so.
SPEAKER_02:It was it was lovely. We sat there for an hour or so, had to be.
SPEAKER_03:That would have been roundabout because we didn't get there until about lunchtime, did we? Just after lunchtime.
SPEAKER_02:It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. We sat there for three, four. And then it started to chill down a little bit. We went for a wander around in Maitland basically. Oh, we took lots of photographs, lots and lots and lots of photos.
SPEAKER_03:Yep, and uh then we discovered there was another pub that we could have gone into, which one we had seen when we drove in. And we said, That looks cool. We need to go there. And we thought that was the pub initially, then realised it wasn't. Yeah, and we went to another one, another one, another one. That was busy, wasn't it? It seemed like it was very busy with people, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:A lot of hot guys there. Lots of hot guys, lots of hot tradies and sort of guys, and yeah, just in general.
SPEAKER_03:I I I think there was quite a few gay people around, you could tell that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, one guy said, Oh, you guys should have come in here for a beer. And we're going like, okay, we should have, but we've just had one, so I'm not about to have another yet. And um, and definitely we looked in and we went, ah, okay. Yep, he was there with another guy that definitely was somewhat gay. Um, but yeah, so it was um, but like Maitland itself, it was lovely. I really enjoyed the vibe of it. Um we took the girls for a walk along their river or their yeah, I want to say river, like I don't know, it was like a lake, uh like a big what was that? What do you call those things? It was like man-made. It was the lake. Yeah, it was a lake, the big lake. It was a river.
SPEAKER_03:It was a river, it wouldn't be it wouldn't be man-made, it would be a big man-made, it was like yeah, it wasn't a man-made lake, it wasn't fed off. It would have been fed off somewhere, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But it was a big, big tunnel of water, basically, and it was really nice, had a big bridge over it. Um, right, but it was really, really pretty. Yeah, um, we got a couple of snaps there, uh, and there was like a really cool old house. We've gone back and picked the dogs up at this point, haven't we? Yeah, yeah. We'd taken the yeah, we'd gone and picked the dogs up, walked, walked basically the riverside. Um, there was a really old, nice old house with the big jackaranda on the big rolling hills.
SPEAKER_03:Go back a little too much. Okay, okay. Sorry, we went back to so the actual accommodation we stayed in in Maitland. Yeah, right. It's called Punt Hill Maitland.
SPEAKER_02:Describe that that so it was like four stories, right? But it was quite spread out, right? But immaculately clean. Immaculate, but I was blown away. Like it was new, it felt like a four-star hotel, didn't it? Yeah, and that's uh like it was pet friendly.
SPEAKER_03:The furnishings were amazing, weren't they?
SPEAKER_02:Really styled beautifully, right? But when when I'm staying somewhere that's pet friendly, for example, my expectation isn't gonna be that it's gonna be super luxe. No, right? Because I figure they're allowing pets in, they can say they can't say, like, and these this one didn't say like you know, under 50 kilos or anything like that, this place, it just said pet friendly, right? So the thing is that if I'm thinking pet friendly, it could be greyhounds, it could be freaking great dance, could be anything, could be elephants, whatever. Um I'm not thinking tiny little dogs, teacup dogs only, and stuff like that, right? So I'm thinking it's gonna be a little bit run down, a little bit not top of the line. But this basic motel sort of thing. Spectacular, it was neat, it was clean, it was and the girl on the reception, she was so good, wasn't she? So good, like so good. When we said, Oh, where where do we eat around here? Like, okay, check-in was effortless, flawless, basically, because we'd already done all the pre-check-in stuff and that as well. We just walked up basically, she gave us our key, and then we just got to chatting. Um as we do. Unlike Dave, unlike me. Um, but she talked us through basically all the restaurants in the area and basically where to go, where not to go. She said she did leave me down. Don't go, don't go to Mustafa's. She said, she said, Mustafa's has got great kebabs, yeah, but they don't do chips. Like it was an actual sin, and it was just like so funny, right? Um, she said, like, so I wouldn't go there because they don't do chips, right? But it was just like, okay, all right, cool. But then there was a quite a few other places. She said, This is definitely the best Chinese um in town. Like this place, this this place is where you'd go if you wanted this, this place is where you would go if you wanted that. Um, her knowledge of the town was brilliant. Yeah, right. To have someone like that on the sir on the desk was good. Like she was checking us in. Yeah, someone else walked in, she said to them immediately, won't be a moment, I'm just checking these guys and I'll be with you, right? Yep. And so I thought, okay, she's gonna hurry us through, blah, blah, blah. But she didn't. She then said, Look, you know, because you've got the doggies, let me show you exactly where they go to the bathrooms and all that kind of stuff. So she took us, left this person there. Like, she had acknowledged. So, from a service point of view, right? She'd spoken to them, she'd said to them, Look, you know, have a seat. Basically, wait for wait a minute, we'll check these guys in properly, and then we'll go. Took us through, showed us how the room keys work, showed us how to get in after dark, after all that kind of stuff. Took us out to this little corridor where the dogs went to do their business, and um, and like it was it was lovely as well. It was really, really nice little area, and it was full of smelly sort of plants and stuff like that for the dogs to get their sensory stuff happening. Um, but just a really nice place. Um, lovely, lovely, lovely. I'd stay there every day. Sensory located. Oh my god, smack bang in the main street in Maitland, which I think there is only one street in Mainland.
SPEAKER_04:Um parking everywhere.
SPEAKER_02:Parking everywhere, lots of parking. Um, thanks to your special sticker. We got a really good park right out front of the basically hotel.
SPEAKER_05:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:Um but um look but that that was the accommodation anyway. But we went after we went to the pub, so we are going bit just joined here, but we not unusual. I know, but we went and we were looking around some of the shops as we were doing, you know, and then we came across that that art artist shop, remember?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so I've got that her name.
SPEAKER_02:There was a gallery, yeah. And she was a local artist, and you read a bit about our name is uh Patricia Van Lubeck, and she's basically an artist that was from um uh Newcastle New Zealand, sorry, initially.
SPEAKER_03:Um, and then basically um she moved here about ten years ago. Yep, and then moved to Newcastle and she's been here ever since. But to describe her artwork is very futuristic.
SPEAKER_02:I'll let you do this because you know that I'll say it's surreal, but I don't know. It is very surreal. Oh, okay. I got that right.
SPEAKER_03:It is very surreal, you're right. It's very arch she she she focuses on like trees, but they're almost like a lot of shape.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but there's also a shape.
SPEAKER_03:And now the shape, if I can if I can it's like cloudy with a chance of meatballs. If you ever watched that movie, yeah, she is very whimsical in the ways of the But the shape as there's a lot of shapes in her things. They look like buttons. They look like butt plugs.
SPEAKER_02:They do. A lot of shapes in her drawings. Yeah. They all look like butt plugs. Maybe that's why we like them. Which gave me a giggle. But her colours, her the way she makes them pop off the page and stuff like that as well. They like vibrant yellows and oranges and but she's also done some street art in the area. So she did a big wall there. The mural. So yeah, okay, that's what they're called. Yep. Um, and she did that, and it was magnificent from different angles as well. It looked really good, and and again, I went wild with photos on that as well. So um, but she was great, and we wish that the gallery had been open. And I don't think from from remembering, a lot of it didn't look too expensive.
SPEAKER_03:Not for what it's an original art piece.
SPEAKER_02:No, for original art pieces.
SPEAKER_03:But you know, she's done things like futuristic void like like space sort of things, but it's not space as in outer space. It's just like the the concept. If you imagine the Jetsons and stuff like that, you know, in terms of the the architecture that they had, the buildings, the 1960s, 1940s, 50s, but their futuristic version of that. Yeah. So she's followed that sort of theme, but again with a lot of plants and um sort of like um uh uh whatchallow, um uh the trees and stuff. But she's also done some stuff with like modern stuff like you know, like um like Volkswagen beetles and stuff like that and things like that. And she got one that's like she's got like a a bus that's in the in the surf, and she's got it coming out of the surf with a bus coming out, which is amazing. That's quite yeah, she's done one with a dog with a face, just the face of the dog up close with the nose, and that's really, really that was a really detailed. Remember that one she's got like a big marble, and there's like a beetle pushing the barble, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So like a big dung beetle. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and but uh she's she she was like her work was a really like it stopped us in our tracks, and we were sitting there going for it.
SPEAKER_03:I would definitely say check her out. Like I said, her name is Patricia Van LeBec. So it's Patricia P-A-T-R-I-C-I-A Van V-A-N Lebec is L-U-B-E-C-K.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:And I would definitely say just check her webpage out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, she's no doubt got it in stuff. I haven't looked at that.
SPEAKER_03:Look, absolutely. And I think an example of the artwork, right? Certified certified limited editions on these glees, right? So non-framed, you're talking about$595. So cheap. Up to$1,595 for the bigger ones.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:And then framed are just$200 more for each one. Yeah. So I would like, you know, I get them framed every day because we know that on late. When we've been on the cruise ships, like I said to you, I think she would do so well on the cruise ships. Yep. I mean, because her style of work would definitely like captivate people from that. Do you know what I mean? So again, uh, is it something that she would do later on? I don't know. I mean, but look, I mean, I would be more than happy to go back up there and go into it and buy a few pieces for that. I I think so, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I think it's such a nice because they are really cool, really cool, and they really caught our attention. So definitely, definitely. But look, a trip to Maitland's definitely on the cards for us because again, I and I'm not talking like seven days or anything like that, but like a good three day there would be quite nice and relaxing. It would be, yeah. And knowing that that pet family accommodation is actually pet friendly, right? And we we left the girls in the room while we went and had dinner and all that kind of stuff, which is we went to their local RSL, yeah, right. And that again was really good.
SPEAKER_03:But that was probably about 10-15 minute drive away, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, not even 10 minutes, something like that. And it was, I'm just trying to I'm trying to find that photo so I can actually find the actual location. Um, but what we had, oh my god, talk about the menu is really good, wasn't it? The menu was really good, really, really good, really, really, really yummy. Um, but I think you took one. I did, I definitely did take that photo, and I'm just finding it any second now because it can't be too far in here. It's just here, and that's it there, and it was oh okay, so it's saying uh good on you. It's not giving me the actually location, it's just saying it's in Rutherford. Um Rutherford is a location. Uh okay, Club Maitland. Club Maitland in the city, it was, right? And I tell you what, what we had was a potato baked pizza. Exactly. Right? It was a potato baked pizza, right? And we had some chips with it in that as well, because why not double carb? Um but um and the the restaurant's actually called the quarry, right? And they had things on there like um different burgers, they like have a different range of burgers. They had a halloumi burger and stuff like that, which Dave was thinking about, but then when we went to the pizzas, we went, oh, we couldn't beat the pizzas. Um, and the potato baked pizza was fucking sensational. Something nothing like I've ever had before. No, me neither, right? Absolutely nothing like I've had before. But like they had like pulled pulled lamb pizzas, the prawn and bacon pizzas, all that kind of stuff, all your normal club fare and that as well.
SPEAKER_03:But it was well done. It was very, very tasty.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah. And but it was a really nice atmosphere, very family friendly, lots of hot guys, lots of hot daddies there with their kids again. Um couldn't couldn't couldn't fault that, um, obviously as well. Um did you go to the tourist there? I did. Didn't I? Yeah, I can't remember. Yeah, I did. You have to go everywhere, you had to check. I have to pee everywhere I go. Yeah, I'm I've got to go and mark my territory 100%. Um oh on the ceiling in that place, that was what was really bizarre. Yeah, the fun. The fucking light. Right. The light we I I looked up and I was kind of thinking to myself, am I having a fucking stroke? Right? Because they're and again, really, really nice, but it was um, and I don't know what you would call it, as in whether that's kind of a deco style, it's very modern.
SPEAKER_03:It's more 19s, not a deco, it's very 1950, no 40s, 50s.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, isn't that deco? Anyway, well it's after after anyway, but it's really cool because it was like very stringy, yeah, um, and sort of curvy in that, but like literally trippy as balls, like it was moving, it was moving, it was singular, but it was moving at such a slow pace, but it was only rotating like three-quarters of the way around, then it was being back on itself.
SPEAKER_03:But you didn't know whether it was moving or whether it was you actually filled with the movie. Well, I said to Matt as well, I looked up and I was like, Is that moving? And he goes, I thought the same thing. And I looked up again and I had to video it to just to see because it was very so slightly moving. It was bizarre. You have to seem you have to sort of watch it in in you know to make sure you could see that it was moving, and it was definitely moving. Yeah, and we checked the other ones and they were all doing the same way. They said the oscillation was on like slow those speed.
SPEAKER_02:It was really strange, but um really good but yeah, but yeah, it was really cool.
SPEAKER_03:But um, but yeah, so Maitland um tick-tick. But on the way back, we then decided to have a quick walk up the street again because we wanted to check out the cafe, yep. Um, because obviously we didn't get a chance to call in and see Simon. No, um, so we thought I'd have a look and beautiful, beautiful uh Gloria Jeans. Oh, yeah, we've got to be. We've done such a good job up there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, um, but we walked past like I mean you and again, Gloria Jeans got a good fit out anyway, yeah, but it was really welcoming.
SPEAKER_03:But we went past this gaming place, didn't we? We did, we did. And we we went past it initially, and there was like a lot of old people in there. Yeah, not young people, but like Nerdville. Yeah, right. But you got like grandmothers and stuff like that. Yeah, it was like and they were playing board games, weren't they?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they were all in there. It was this big, big shopfront, right? That sold Pokemon all that kind of cool, cool stuff if that's what you're into. Dungeons and dragons and um but they said that they have like a very big um gaming tournament situation happening there, and that's how he actually makes his money. Now the owner slash um manager is a disabled guy, his um disability um looks like a wheelchair, I think, or some kind of disability. Yep. Um but again he said that it's a tough business to run, but he basically charges not to get in per se, but if you're gonna enter any of the tournaments, it's like ten bucks to enter the tournament or something like that. Um, but you have like different people running the tournaments, like doing the tournaments throughout the week and all that. And there's like a little prize pot that they get and all that. Um, but it's very social. Um, and in a world that's so anti-social when talking of gaming and stuff like that, yep. Um it was really, really good to see. And like Dave said, there was the demographic, you couldn't pinpoint it.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I would say it was heavily RA'd and above.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but then there were some younger people in there as well.
SPEAKER_03:Predominantly, I said, you know, on that night.
SPEAKER_02:On that particular night. But he said that it varies depending on what they have.
SPEAKER_03:They're open all day as well, aren't they?
SPEAKER_02:But he said that the the DD, like the Dungeons and Dragons tournaments, attract a lot of younger girls now. Yep. He said that it's it's very much a female-dominated sort of game now. Whereas I remember back in the day. Back in the day, it was all nerdy boys, right? And all that kind of stuff. And it was uh they're living out their fantasy worlds and all that kind of stuff. And I've never I can honestly say I've never played Dungeons and Dragons, and I'm happy with that. Um you could play other dungeons. I I played put my dragon in your dungeon, um, but um that's a different thing altogether. Lock it up and unlock it and make it breathe fire. Um, but um but it was a cool shop as well. But it was, yeah. But look, Maitland, we love you. Check it out. We love you. Come we'll come back um at some stage um soon enough, um, because it was quite easy to do in that as well.
SPEAKER_03:But yeah. So we obviously left the next day. We were in there for one night, yeah, and then we travelled down to Newcastle, which was probably about an hour away, now 45 minutes. Um it was a nice drive. Yeah, it was a nice easy drive, very nice. Um, so we were heading to the Pride Festival because that was what we were there for.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, and that was in that was in Harrow. That was in Gregson Park in Hamilton. Yeah. Right. And it was on 11 till 6.
SPEAKER_03:So we got there around about 9:30.
SPEAKER_02:No, yeah, 9:30-ish.
SPEAKER_03:9 30.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but 9 30-ish. Yeah, it was because we could get everywhere early.
SPEAKER_03:So most things have been set up, most of the stalls had been set up, but all were still being set up.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they were just being finalised.
SPEAKER_03:There were still people walking around, so the actual event hadn't properly started. But we knew that our friends Will and Dan, who run Tinker Co., their company, yep, yep, um, were there, and we thought, you know, we're going chunk with them while we're while they're setting up and all that kind of stuff. And luckily we did because poor Will, he was struggling with Tinker and and Vincent. And Vin. Vinny. And and poor Dan was setting up the stall on his own, and Will needed to be back there.
SPEAKER_02:And so they were having a nightmare. So we took dogs, Vinny and Tinker away. And um, and Dave thought the Chanel used to pull on a lead.
SPEAKER_03:Oh god. Vincent, oh my god. On a lead for a cavalier spaniel.
SPEAKER_02:He was just a tiny little dog, but Dave was getting fucking pulled along with him.
SPEAKER_03:He is so strong. So strong. So so strong. He is just like pulls and pulls and pulls and pulls. Yeah, Dave thought he was on a bobsled. Um anyway, so you know, we walked around and we we were watching these um stools being set up, and we thought, okay, we've got our podcast up with us. We're gonna do the podcast from here. Yep. If we can, we'll speak to what whoever. So we did, and we we did recorded quite a few segments, a little bit a couple of little stuff. We'll be put we'll be inserting them shortly into the actual um yeah, into the into this podcast. Into this podcast, and and yeah, doing that that way. Yeah. Um so we had a look around. There's a few stalls that we didn't get a chance to interview because I time constraints, but also because um there were so many other things going on, we missed the opportunity to do that. So we will mention them, but obviously we'll find a bit more information about them and pass that on to the to you know the listeners. Yep. And also get information for ourselves as well.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, correct. You know, because we in we enjoy chatting to people and getting information and stuff like that, obviously. Um, I love other people's opinions on things and and why other people do things, like what drives them and things like that. Now, some of the people, I don't want to give it away because I want you guys, our listeners, to hear those conversations.
SPEAKER_03:So, what we'll do, we'll just quickly run through this very quickly. So we got there and then we waited, and then around about one o'clock after it started, we thought we'd take the dogs to the new accommodation. That's when we got you got a message saying, you know, we can drop them off. Yep. So rather than have them with us all the time, um we thought it was tricky to have the puppy. It was probably about what, 20 minute drive? Yeah, twenty minute drive to the uh to Warner's Bay. Yep. So we dropped them, checked in, dropped the dogs off, and then we headed back. And then that's when we then started doing the sort of like looking around and we chatted with Olivia first. We while we had the puppy. So what we're gonna do. Now we're going to insert the um the actual conversations we had live from the fair day. Hopefully you'll be able to hear it properly because there's a lot of background noise. And then yeah, we'll we'll carry on from after that.
SPEAKER_02:Alright, so what I'll do first is I will do this. Where was my bloody intro one gone? Oh no, don't tell me what have I done here? Right here. Here we go. Hey Dave, where are we today? Hey Matt, guess where we are?
SPEAKER_03:We're up at Newcastle.
SPEAKER_02:We're at Newcastle Pride's Fair Day. It's an annual event that's held around this time every year, I'm just saying. I hope so, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and it's kind of buzzy with it is. And do you know what surprised me more than anything? There's so many families here. Heaps of figures. Absolutely amazing to see the support that the LGBTQ community are getting here. With families, young kids, and obviously our own genders that are here.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, our our our own um identifications. Like we've got lots of lots of sexy game in so far. Um there's a bit of everything, I think, we've seen so far. Lots and lots of lesbians. Look, it's lots of puppy dogs.
SPEAKER_03:Great, great weather, it's not too hot, not too cold. It's the Goldilocks experience, I think, from us all.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:So we've got um we're just waiting for the porridge to come along.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. We've got um Will and Dan, friends of ours that run Tinker and Code, they've got a store set up here, they have it every year. Yep. Um we'll go and chat with those guys later. There's lots of different informational sessions that we're gonna go and chat.
SPEAKER_03:So we've got people that we want to go and maybe hopefully interview and talk um. Have a bit of a chat with. Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, it's gonna be very educational from our perspective as well. Yeah, but you know, it's supporting the community, it's being around people that care, but also it's a fun day for both of us as well.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and there's lots and lots of colour out there, there's lots of rainbow, lots of glitter, lots of wings. Like we're sitting where we are sitting, just doing this little bit. I can see rainbow face painting, ponytails, wings.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:What else can we say?
SPEAKER_03:Bloody speech. Studio, a studio, I don't know what painting, face painting, acrobats, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:There's trees, like there's a big park. It's um it's a big park and it's um there's lots and lots of stuff around.
SPEAKER_03:So look, it just it looks to me like an amazing organized day. Yeah, really?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, really cool, really cool.
SPEAKER_03:Apparently, um in the next hour or so we've got Courtney Act, is that right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, Courtney Act, she's gonna be appearing on the main stage, so hopefully we'll get to um we'll do a bit of a recording when she's actually performing. Um but if we get a sneaky chance to even just have a chicken, we'll get a chair and we'll have a chance to jump on board and do that. Yeah, hopefully we do.
SPEAKER_03:But look, at the end of the day, I think you know, for us it's uh time for us to have fun and enjoy ourselves because we've been so busy with our own lives. Yep. Um, and I know for you more so this is like uh the first break you've had all year.
SPEAKER_02:It's a nice little break, a nice four-day.
SPEAKER_03:And um, we went to Maitland last night, that was awesome.
SPEAKER_02:We did, we did, and that was lovely. Went and to the local club, had a meal there, and sort of checked out some of the local talent there as well.
SPEAKER_03:But look, it's a very quaint place, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, it's freaking yeah, but it was great, and um we'll talk about the the the potato beak pizza. Oh, that was that was delicious. But yeah, but we're in the park right now and we're sitting around and can see the big jacaranda trees all in purple flower, which is lovely. Yep. But we'll now be able to head on in and start chatting. Alright, catch you later. So that was our chat with um with us. But now we're gonna go straight into chatting with Olivia Carroll, who was oh sorry, Dr. Olivia Carroll, Olivia Carroll. Yep. And um without any further ado, let's um play this and yeah, give you some information all about Olivia Dr. Olivia Carroll and what she does. Hey, we're coming to you live from Fair Day in Newcastle, yeah. It's brought to you by Newcastle Pride, and we're with Liv, and she's at the Hunter Medical Research Institute. Hey Liv, what do you do? Tell us about it.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, thank you for having me. Um, yeah, my name's Liv, Olivia Carroll. I'm a postdoctoral researcher at the Hunter Medical Research Institute. What does that mean? Um essentially I'm a scientist, I work in the lab. Um, my background is in respiratory immunology, so understanding different respiratory conditions, um things like asthma, um, infection, and essentially our body's immune responses during those diseases.
SPEAKER_02:And I see you guys are all wearing big cardboard cutouts of lungs and things like that. So that's what's what's that about?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so one of our studies that we're chatting to people about today is um the Theodora study. So we're really interested in understanding how uh feminizing gender-affirming hormone therapies affect respiratory diseases and lung function. So what we're doing is we're uh conducting lung function testing on individuals who have been on a feminizing gender-affirming hormone therapy for at least six months and understanding if and how their lung function is affected.
SPEAKER_03:So are these people referred to you, or do you have like a trial thing that's set up?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so we have um we're working closely with a local endocrinologist, Dr. Katie Wynn, or Professor Katie Wynn, I should say. Um so we work closely in her clinic, so Maple Leaf House, um, and through the John Hunter Hospital for this study. Um but we're actually giving uh people today information about the study they can get in contact with us if they want to get involved.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. Um what what sort of the age groups of people that you've seen coming through with your sort of like research side of things?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, um so the study is for anyone over the age of 18. Right. Um we don't currently have a a limit to who can get involved in terms of their age.
SPEAKER_02:So gender affirming so that there is happening, I guess, depending on person transitioning.
SPEAKER_00:Um exactly, and I think you know this study is quite preliminary in nature. I think depending on someone's goal for gender affirmation um might kind of dictate what sort of hormone regime they're on. Yeah. So we're trying to capture everyone that's on a feminising kind of hormone regime. Yeah. Um so they can be on an estrogen alone, or they might be on an estrogen in combination with an androgen blocker or a progesterone therapy. Okay, yeah. And so we're capturing all of that to try to.
SPEAKER_03:So when they come to you, are they already on certain types of medications and stuff already going forward, are they?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so they they have been on some sort of hormone therapy for at least six months.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And is that referred to them through their own GPs and stuff that way, is it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so that side of things is all organized through their endocrinologist. Yep. Um and yeah, we usually speak to people during the or after their endocrinologist, like their routine endocrinology appointment that's already been scheduled. Um so when they're in clinic, they'll speak with their endocrinologists. If they're eligible for the study, um the endocrinologist will pass them on to me. I'm usually sitting in the other room.
SPEAKER_03:What about you based yourself?
SPEAKER_00:Where's your uh So I'm I'm based at HMRI or the Hunter Medical Research Institute. Um I'm a University of Newcastle researcher, but I'm based at the HMRI, which is on the John Hunter Hospital campus.
SPEAKER_02:And yeah, people want more information. How do they get hold of that? How do they get hold of you?
SPEAKER_00:Amazing. So if people are interested, they want to either participate in the research or just know more. Like we're so keen on just chatting to people and getting this out there. Um they can get in contact with me. So my email address is olivia.carol. Carol is spelt c A R O D L at Newcastle.edu.au.
SPEAKER_02:Fantastic. Fantastic. Thank you so much for your time, Olivia. Thank you guys.
SPEAKER_03:And you know, you have a wonderful street having people like yourselves doing all these research because without you guys, research doesn't happen, you know what I mean? And that's the sad thing about it, you know. And even if you save one person's life or you help someone's life, it's just a benefit for you know for the whole community, I suppose.
SPEAKER_00:I totally agree, and I think a big thing for us as researchers, and something I like to kind of really get out there, is you know, our science and our research is only as good as we can communicate it. You know, if we're keeping it squirreled away in the labs, what good is that? So thank you for doing what you're doing and giving us the plush to get it out there.
SPEAKER_03:Well, hopefully, people will listen to the podcast and sort of or know people that will benefit from you guys.
SPEAKER_00:I hope so, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And like I said, you know, going forward with any of the information you've told us today, anyway, which is a lot more than what you've actually mentioned so far. But look, I mean, you know, just reaching out to people like yourselves is going to be a benefit to people learning anyway. Yeah. And it's good that you've actually got into that research yourself. How did you get into it, by the way?
SPEAKER_00:So my background was in uh looking at female sex hormones in asthma. So I'm really passionate about understanding how female hormones influence inflammation and immune responses. And I think you know, we when we talk about hormones, I think we often just associate them with reproduction, and that's totally fair, they are involved in that, but yeah, our hormones travel all throughout our body, and I think they interact with all sorts of systems throughout our body, so there's a lot more we we should know about our own.
SPEAKER_03:So what's your what's your end goal in terms of where you want to be in the future with these things?
SPEAKER_00:Amazing question. I would just like moving forward. I think if clinicians, researchers, the community are more kind of intuitive. And understanding how they may influence all sorts of aspects of life, I think that would be awesome.
SPEAKER_03:No, absolutely. I mean, like you said, it's it's great seeing people, especially young people like yourself as well. And it's it's it's great. I mean, obviously, because there's a lot of people that don't realise their potential until you sort of hit into a niche area and do research yourself and you find there's a bigger, bigger problem out there, and then you take on that as a burden yourself, you know what I mean? But it's good that you do that because other people's gonna benefit in the long term, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly, and I think as well, a part of like what I'm really passionate about is talking about you know what it what science and research actually looks like because I think so many people think, oh, like I could never do that, like I'm not I'm not smart enough, I didn't do well in science school, and it's like that's so not the case. Like, research can look so different for so many people, and I just would love to kind of see more people trying to get into research and get involved because it is yeah, it's an awesome career.
SPEAKER_03:Well it's great anyway, but uh but we'll we'll probably come back and have another chat with you later on. Amazing. I get more information, but we're gonna go to more research in other schools. Yeah, but thank you so much. Reach out to the Hunter Medical Research Institute.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Bo. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_03:Take care, thank you.
SPEAKER_02:So that was our brief chat with Olivia.
SPEAKER_03:There was so much more that we could have talked about.
SPEAKER_02:Well, okay, so when I say our brief chat, because Dave then sat there, basically stood at their store with Olivia and chatted for probably at least another 45 minutes. I did, yeah. It was a 45 minute at least, right? Because I went wandering off. You did. Um because my attention span is me. Um and while I found it extremely interesting and extremely important, especially the work that she'd done and that Hunter Research Mental Medical Institute are doing, um my brain only could take so much in, especially with all the um stuff. No, no, all the stuff that's happening around, like the external um generators and stuff like that. Oh, not just the generator, but just everything that was happening. Like there was just hot men that I needed to pursue. Um like there was like your focus on other things. Well, like I I can't focus. I don't do focus. We know that. But like it was literally just like the overkill of like of uh what's the word I'm looking for? Um being involved in that conversation to level up. No, but like the the there are too many things anyway. There's too much stuff going on. Yeah, you you for me. Overs stimulated. My brain was definitely overstimulated and it was literally going crazy. But we wanted to chat with Olivia more and more and more, and you did. You literally had so much more as far as a conversation with her.
SPEAKER_03:Beautiful person. Oh, what a human. She's only in her early 20s, right? But someone that has got so much passion, yep, so much dedication, and so much uh knowledge about what she's talking about. Yeah, I mean, to be f to be a professor at that age is amazing anyway, yeah. But to have the level of like passion that she has is just like it was amazing, yeah. It was good it was good. And I and I I just I just and her and Jay, I think he's name the professor was there with him. Yeah, one of the other guys again, I mean it was hot, yeah. Very hot, but um, but what I'm saying is, I mean, his level of knowledge as well was just super imposed as well. All of them, all of them were good. But it it just emphasizes things that we don't know, you know. I mean, you know, people doing research into hormone therapy, but that could have an effect on your lungs.
SPEAKER_02:But this is the thing, is that like again, uh it's another part of our community, which again, the trans community I know about, but I don't I wouldn't ever profess to say I understand, but I wouldn't understand the trials and the tribulations they go through, right? But then when we're talking about, I guess, the uh health concerns that could come from them having the hormone replacements and things like that as well. Or just the immunology itself, it's not stuff that we even think about.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly, but just people doing research in the background on everything, you know. I mean, things like immunology, you know, things that affect our breathing and the way we are and how our body reacts to certain medications, to me, it just is unbelievable. Yeah, you know what I mean? The dedication, the time, and the techniques they have to go through and the perseverance of trying to find the results that they're after. But I think the biggest satisfaction I think they get is when they find that missing link or they find that that common sort of like problem, and then they can then rectify you know people's lives going forward. And I think it's amazing, I really do. And she's not even a doctor in terms of a doctor doctor, a doctor, no, she's a doctor with PhD, she's a she's a medical doctor, she's a scientistic, scientific doctor, yeah, not a medical doctor, if you're anything. Yeah, but there's a crossover anyway, and her research could allow her to go down that path if she wanted to, anyway.
SPEAKER_02:All right, but yeah, but I know that you had lots longer chats with her and all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_03:We will reach out to her and we will get more information into what we're doing. Well, she's contacted us via email and that is. Yeah, so maybe we could actually get her to do live podcasts with her, you know. Yeah, and we can talk more on that. More on that. Like I said, we were limited to time, but also the background noise was, in my opinion, I didn't know how it was going to sound. Uh-uh. And it sounded fine, yeah. I mean, like I said, but at the time.
SPEAKER_02:You're right, we don't know. We haven't really done this before with background noise. Um, but it goes to show that the podcast stuff you got is really good. It is true. Yeah, road is awesome. Road is awesome. That's all I've got is my road gear. I love it, love it, love it, love it. But then we um we went over to the main stage to check it out a little bit, and um, we did did a little bit of a talent review from there. So here's that back there. Hey Dave, so we're in front of the main stage. There's a direct performer at the moment. How's the entertainment? How's the vibe? Uh the vibe is pretty cool.
SPEAKER_03:I can see it's very difficult to have a conversation because it's so loud. It is loud, but there's a lot of people here supporting the axe, and uh look, the actual main stage is well sentenced, I suppose, you know. Yeah, so given the proximity to the audience, it's pretty, pretty in there, you know what I mean? You actually immense yourself into or merging yourself, I'd say, into the actual event, I suppose, aren't you? Yeah, and like I said, there's so many families here, that's what I'm blending away with.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and the the performer's name is Queen, K W E E N. And I think on the main stage soon you're gonna have the one and only Courtney Act, which is pretty cool as well.
SPEAKER_03:Look, I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, you know, everybody seems to be having a fun time, everybody seems to be sort of like chilled, there's no sort of like um animosity or anything, yeah. Everyone's pretty much pretty cool with everything. Yeah, yeah, what a great vibe. I mean, you can't fault the talent that's here, can you? No. Newcastle Pride Day. Yeah, hello, hot day. Unfortunately, our friend Sammy and Allah had to go, so we only said the hello, goodbye.
SPEAKER_02:So that was a bit of a shame, but you know, I'm sure we'll catch up with every other time. So let's go and wander and see who we can chat to. Absolutely. So we um watched the name main stage for a little while and we went off and chatted.
SPEAKER_03:For me, I wasn't engaged too much because it was just it was very the way the stage was set up wasn't centralized. Yeah. So there was a lot of like you're off to one side, so to me, they would have been better off having it in the main area.
SPEAKER_02:Well, well, it was it was it was a funny situation because like and we discussed that would we go back again? Possibly, possibly not, in a hurry, right? It's not because we didn't enjoy the event, because we definitely did, right? Um but we thought there could be like there was a lot of informational stalls, right, which was really good. And that was that's something that I got a lot out of, obviously. Right. However, I think some of the stalls there, um stalls that you'll see at every Sunday market, every weekend.
SPEAKER_03:Wasn't there the LGBTQ?
SPEAKER_02:There wasn't a great deal of LGBTQ friendly. Well, no, they were all LGBTQ friendly, but friendly from a from a financial perspective, right? So there was a plant stand there that looked like it was run by just your average granny from wherever, right? Um uh there was there was a stall that was there that it looked like they were like an all um secondhand clothing and all that kind of stuff. But it looked like what they'd done for the day, right? And again, I'm not saying that they weren't LGBT friendly or allies or anything like that, but it looked like what they'd done is literally just gotten every piece of rainbow clothing from their collections over the years, or from any op shop, or just got t-shirts and tie-dyed them rainbow, um, cushions that tie-dyed them rainbow. It literally like it was more than just rainbow. It wasn't fake, it was just basically yeah, it kind of was, yeah, it kind of was. Alright. It was just like it was done for the sake of making money, and I get that. Yeah, but it wasn't there necessarily for support.
SPEAKER_03:This this is the comparison between this pride to the one that's on Sydney Fair Day. And Sydney Fair Day, um it is like like four or five times bigger. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But they've got the slave.
SPEAKER_02:And there were some stores there from last year we went to and we saw that. And they were and look, okay, I'm not gonna say like there was like I said, there were some stores there that were really good, like to supporting like like your friends Will and Dan, or our friends Will and Dan, right? They're a gay couple, right? Um that have created this business through necessity and all that kind of stuff through um Dan having a stroke and stuff like that, right? Um and it's now basically Wilda's now full-time in the business, Dan's full-time in the business, so it is their livelihood. But they are members of our community that definitely should be attending our community events. Now I'm certain, I am certain that there are other members of our community that created small businesses like themselves, right? Like so that could have actually been part of that store holder, right? Rather than the other ones. It was there was like a little dance troupe, right? That were doing gymnastic displays all day. And they were just like little teeny little girls and boys that were doing.
SPEAKER_03:So what you're saying is the pride element wasn't the main focus like it should have been.
SPEAKER_02:No, it was more like here's a market, and here's a couple of pride things in here. Family. And look, the family aspect, and look, the fact that there was a lot of people there supporting the pride element of it, right? Yeah, um, so everyone that was there was an ally, right? Um, but it was definitely a different vibe. It was a different vibe, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It was a different vibe, quite honestly. The other thing I I sort of like didn't like as well was where the main stage was, they had another smaller stage just to offset. Save yourself some money. They clashed so much. I mean, you could hear the volumes of each one competing against now. The main stage obviously had everybody on there, yeah. So all the people around that, and the poor guy doing the whatever the act he was doing in the other one, there was maybe two people sitting there watching.
SPEAKER_02:At the second little stage, right? There was people that were on there and they were performing to three people, right? Which as a performer, um back in my day I used to be a singer-songwriter and all that kind of stuff, right? Um, and I've done lots of amateur musical theatre and all that. But to perform to no one is really, really fucking hard. Like really hard, right? And these guys were giving guys and and the drag queens that were performing and all they were given their best. But then like the MC was going, all right, let's hear it for 'em. And you'd have three people plus the stall holders that were situated in that area, right? Were clapping and cheering. But it was nothing. The poor things I really felt for the performers. But then I also, on the flip side, I felt for the stall holders that were situated in that area.
SPEAKER_05:Exactly.
SPEAKER_02:Because they were a lot of them were informational, so it was the guys from the stroke information and stuff like that that were situated basically right outside of it. And they couldn't really have conversations with people that were going up there to have the conversation. Right. So the thing is that so the layout was probably a little bit hit and miss for me in in that aspect.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, like I said, it was it wasn't well positioned. Yeah, you know, the location was good, but the positioning of the actual main event is that it wasn't.
SPEAKER_02:No, no. So look, we enjoyed ourselves, but we're going to enjoy ourselves even if we go to the tip, we'll probably actually enjoy ourselves more because we'll find good treasure. Um but it was it was fun.
SPEAKER_03:Um I take my happy to anybody that organises these events. Yeah. But you know, when you say it's a pride event, my impression of previous pride events and stuff like that that we've been to, and hopefully future ones we go to, we're just so much more focused on that element rather than just a family day out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah I mean we did go back to the main stage at at whatever time it was to see Courtney. Yeah, now I'm not gonna play the whole thing we've recorded because unfortunately we weren't able to get an interview with Courtney. Um but I'm just gonna play literally a snippet of the um the intro of her song because she was sensational. She always talented performed, yeah. But I'm not gonna go through the talky-talky stuff that she does at the end of the thing because a lot of it, I guess, was all around people um that had gone in and they'd actually cut the power, like somebody that thought they could actually turn off Newcastle Pride cutting like by cutting the power, right? Um, were a bit more resilient than that, and Courtney basically called them out for that. Um but she was dressed in a lovely gold, uh, there was a reveal, obviously, and she looked amazing, she performed amazing, she always does, always will. Um but um we just recorded a little bit of it, so I'm gonna just play and I don't want to also breach copyright, so that's why I'm sort of basically she did Xanadu, which is always fun, and she's done that a million times. But I don't want us to get in trouble for breaching copyright, so I'll play a little bit of Courtney playing singing copy again, what's your name? But then after that, I will go straight into a chat with um Katie um Katie Lou, I think her name was, and she's from Suicide Prevention Network, right? Um, because it's a 10-minute chat, so we'll basically then come out the other side that do a little bit of a wrap-up of that, yeah. Um, and then we'll go from there. But here's a little bit of Courtney.
SPEAKER_06:They are entered.
SPEAKER_02:So we'll leave it there with Courtney and we'll head over into Katie from Suicide Prevention because um Courtney was fun and she's always a constant.
SPEAKER_03:But you could hear the vibe that she had.
SPEAKER_02:She had she had the crowd going off, everyone was dancing and having fun. So yeah, but now's our time to have a chat with Katie from Suicide Prevention. We're gonna leave with it. Hey guys, we're still at Newcastle Pride, and we're now chatting with Kate at Suicide Prevention Network. She's from the Lake Macquarie District.
SPEAKER_01:And Newcastle, yes.
SPEAKER_02:In Newcastle, so tell us a bit about why you're here today and and what you do and all your stuff.
SPEAKER_01:So we're here today because we love being out in community and meeting people where they're at, and it's such an inclusive event for us. Uh, we have just opened the mental health hub up at Charlestown, so it's a safe dropping space Monday to Friday, 9 till 4:30. So anyone who's facing mental health challenges or is caring for someone who is facing challenges or knows someone, it's a space they can walk in, there's someone to talk to, if they need to be connected with services, we can do that for them.
SPEAKER_02:That's fantastic. Everyone, really, isn't it? Because we all have mental health issues or I don't want to say issues because that's not the word. But we have the mental health challenges.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, I suffer from depression, anxiety, and I think a lot of people do, but a lot of people are in denial, and you know, they don't seek the right help, and then obviously before then things people just decide to, you know, end their life, which is so sad. So, in terms of your um story background, do you know anybody that has actually communicated?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, so I lost a family member when I was a teenager. And it changed the course of my life. I decided to pick up a drink to help myself, and so I started drinking from a very young age and found myself in active addiction for many years, and I got sober four years ago. Thank you very much. And um, I also live with bipolar, so I have a lived experience of mental illness, and I know how challenging the system is and how traumatising it can be for people.
SPEAKER_03:And now that I'm in a stable place, it's time that I give back, and this is how it's great because I mean it for me, people that have actually experienced it are the people uh best advisors to give back to them because they know exactly what it feels like. So, in terms of like in terms of support-wise, do you get much support from like councils, governments, or are you fully self-funded or we're funded by grants and donations, yeah, so we don't get any government. That's a hard process as well, isn't it? It is really difficult.
SPEAKER_01:We have some great champions in the community who have lost people they love and they raise money on our behalf, um, and it's just incredible to see the community get behind us and support us in that way. Um our CEO is Bradley Dunn, and he fought for a long time to get this hub open because we don't want anyone else to fall through the cracks. So the hub is really a space for people that don't know where to go.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. From from um from what you've knowledge and stuff you gained over the years and stuff like that, what is the sort of like the demographic of people that normally come to you? Is it younger, older, or lately it's a real mix.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. And lately we've been getting a lot of young people in our doors, and I think it's because they lack those safe spaces to go. So we get um people that come in and just want to hang out. Yeah. Um, that'll want professional help. Um, they just need someone to talk to who understands what they're going through. And we've been grateful to open the help um Roses in the Ocean open the Lake Max safe space. So that's now open Monday and Tuesday night, and that's purely run by lived experienced volunteers. So I'm in there on a Monday night usually, uh, and that's from 5.30 till 9.30. So if anyone's having suicidal ideation or is really struggling at night time and they feel alone, it's a place they can go and sit as well. So we've got that coverage now um Monday to Friday, a hub, safe space Monday, Tuesday nights, and then the safe havens in town, Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights. That's amazing, that's so good.
SPEAKER_02:I guess that's that's why you're here today, I guess, to raise awareness and basically like your merch. I I love your merch. It's like newy loves you, right? Yeah, which is a great because suicide prevention, suicide is quite an aggressive hard word.
SPEAKER_05:It is.
SPEAKER_02:It's it's it's a very confronting word. I guess if you've been through suicidal ideolations, idealation thoughts that that's a word, thank you. Thoughts yourself, it's quite confronting. I've I've thought about it myself when I was young when I haven't been in great places. Yep. Um, whereas for me, looking at this new he loves you, that's not so confrontational.
SPEAKER_01:So it's no, and it's a good conversation starter, so a lot of people will stop me in the supermarket and say, What is new he loves you? And I'll say it's all about mental health and being there for your community and that you're not alone, and that's what it's about. It's about people rallying around each other and giving each other the support we need.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so what in terms of like numbers of people that work in the organization, is it a small group of people or are you?
SPEAKER_01:It is, there's only three of us. Oh wow, and then we have a lot of volunteers that help us as well that sit in the hub, but then also do events, so we're usually at the farmers markets, and it's just about having conversations with people, and that's the favourite, my favourite part of the job is just being out at events like this, and someone coming up and going, Wow, I've never heard of you before, what do you do? And then I get to talk about it.
SPEAKER_03:So, do you have like links to other organisations that can support you as well?
SPEAKER_01:Or yeah, so we've got an information section in the home.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:So it's just full of resources from homelessness, domestic violence, um, indigenous, uh, employment. So we can make phone calls for you because I know when you're unwell, it's really hard to do the legwork. Yeah. And it's all up to you to reach out and get help, and sometimes that can be really overwhelming.
SPEAKER_03:Are you um are you very sort of like not are you frustrated with the lack of support from like the governments and people? Oh, definitely, yeah, because it's such a big thing. And they talk to that, but they never supply the actual goods to you guys, do they?
SPEAKER_01:And then they don't they tell us how much money they've spent, but where did it go and what are the outcomes?
SPEAKER_03:Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:And I think for me, I can get really angry at the hospital system and the way I was treated and everything that happened, but you know what? I can't make change with hate. I can only move forward with love and passion, and that's what's gonna make change. And having these conversations with people, that's what's gonna make change.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly, and look at your I mean, you've got a great setup, it's really, really good and very well professionally done. So good on you for doing it.
SPEAKER_02:So how do people get in touch with you? So how do they retail?
SPEAKER_01:54 Ridley Street. Or they can call us on the phone on 024. 0240 961100. So that number's accessible Monday to Friday night till 4 30. Best thing to do though is just walk in the door. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:54 Ridley Street Charles. And we'll put the buddy say, yeah. Yeah. And we'll put that that number in the actual comment section as well when we publish this podcast. So because yeah, so go forward.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, where do you would like where would you like to see yourself in like three, four years' time in terms of the work you've done so far?
SPEAKER_01:We would like to see more hubs around the place. Um we would like to see hospitals, supportings, saying so when someone gets discharged, they're given one of our pamphlets and told that go to the hub and they'll help you find the support you need. So that would be the ideal for you.
SPEAKER_03:But in terms of your facility you've got, the hub itself, is it a small facility or is it an area that it can be expanded upon or um we've got a downstairs area where people can sit and hang out, and then we have private rooms.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, and then we also have on some like clinical psychologists, counsellors, up therapists that we can refer to so they hinder out the spaces. Oh wow, and that helps us stay sustainable. And then we've got a whole upstairs floor which we'll be looking to open in February next year, so we'll have even more services in the buildings so we can connect people straight away.
SPEAKER_03:That's that's amazing. So well done on that. I mean, that's impressive for what you've done.
SPEAKER_01:Shout out to Brad.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because also yourself and all the other people as well, and the volunteers as well.
SPEAKER_02:Because we can't do it without people coming to it. So you've got some amazing volunteers. We were talking to one of the ladies in the back there, we said that she we'd met her at Bernie's last summer up in Newcastle. And the Woodridge's is an awesome queer space and stuff like that as well.
SPEAKER_01:Um, but they have a great non-alcoholic menu.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, which is great because you want to socialise, but part of what's really good for mental health is being part of a community and being part of a social.
SPEAKER_01:To me, what keeps me some of an me stable is the psychosocial support and being with people and being with community, it's not necessarily my psychologists or psychiatrists, it's the people um in the community that help me stay so far.
SPEAKER_03:So, in terms of like the suicide itself, in terms of like the people that come in for the support, is there any sort of like one sort of like area that they're struggling more with, or is it just a combined, you know, is it is it coming from something things?
SPEAKER_01:I think a lot of it is isolation, okay, and a lot of people not having the space to be themselves and kind of find themselves in the world, and expectations too from society on where you're meant to be anymore. So you get young people come in and they're like, I should have this and I should have this. Like there's no timeline a lot like you do what you do when you're ready. And you can only do what you do with the tools you have. Absolutely. And if you don't have those tools, then let's help you get it.
SPEAKER_03:And it must be great seeing people that you've catered for and they've come through your doors and they've walked out and they've actually been able to change their lives and realize that life is definitely worth living. Because it is, you know what I mean? And that's the hard thing when people are struggling so hard and they can't see beyond what they're going through, and people like yourself that are there to support them, and people have been through that themselves, are the best people to advise and guide them because you know what it's like, and life is hard as it is anyway, and I mean, but when you're segregated or you're put into a situation where you know you have got no enough to turn turn to what you provide is is a life-saving. It is life-saving at the end of the day, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:The best thing about it is when people come back. Yes, and then make a part of their weekly routine coming to the safe space to come into the world. Do they give talks as well?
SPEAKER_03:Do they provide talks to other people or guidance? So the people that you've helped come back. Do they sort of give it away?
SPEAKER_01:I mean, we would definitely have them on board as volunteers. That's awesome. Because everyone deserves to be heard.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, exactly. That's right. I mean, you know, moving forward, I mean, I'm hoping that you know you can expand bigger, bigger, bigger, and like I look forward to seeing Nui loves you everywhere.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, yeah, I'm definitely gonna be getting one of the bucket caps. I just spied those other, yeah, they're pretty cool as well.
SPEAKER_03:So people like yourself, I mean, are you know are a benefit and you know a godsend to the community. So I thank you. Yes, I think it's a privilege. It is, I mean, but like you said, but people like yourself that put the hard work in, and it's a thankless task, but you get to provide you know a safe space for people, not so much.
SPEAKER_01:Like so many people have said to me today, I'm so glad I found you. That's the best thing you can hear.
SPEAKER_03:And you can tell the way you are. I mean, you you're very empathetic and very easy to talk to in that regard, but you've got a lot of like care inside. You can see your heart is very pure.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it is my life. I live on bread as well.
SPEAKER_02:So that was um our chat with with Katie and with Katie, sorry. And beautiful woman again. Another wonderful human um who, like she said, she's actually sort of gotten um down the alcoholism path and stuff like that. And like I said, she's exactly sober for four years.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. But for her to then transition back into where she is is great.
SPEAKER_02:And a lot of the experiences, I guess, are people that are in in these spaces have actually come from lived lived experiences.
SPEAKER_03:And they're the best people to give the advice. Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_02:100%. So and again, um look, the the mental and well-being hub there at Charlestown, um, the connectedcare.com.au um is how you can reach them all on um 024096-1100.
SPEAKER_03:Um so it's like the great tool, great resource for Newcastle there and unfortunately because of time constraints and we didn't realise that a lot of the store haulers were packing up at four o'clock. We realised we thought it was on until six, so we didn't realise that people were going at four and the main stage was just staying on till six.
SPEAKER_02:So there is a chat that that we we and and I did actually message um and and or they messaged me originally. Yeah, it was um um the stroke um uh stroke So Survive, isn't it? Stroke survivors and all that kind of stuff, basically. So stroke survivors, so LGBT stroke um search and that. So we are gonna have him on. I've I'm and I really apologize. Um that I was meant to actually be recording on Saturday night and I completely forgot my brain. I've been busy, busy, busy with working all day yesterday as well. So I've been fucking knackered, quite honestly.
SPEAKER_03:I've been organise that because it's gonna be a very interesting one because the premise of the actual concept of what they do is stroke survivors and sex afterwards, yeah, and how it affects the community that we're in, and basically.
SPEAKER_02:So it is relevant to that.
SPEAKER_03:And it was really good because Dan, who's had the stroke, we mentioned to him that about it, and he went and spoke to them as well.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So I think it's such an important aspect that people don't sort of like forget that they can continue with their lives afterwards. Yeah, correct, correct. So it's a hard stage. I mean, seeing where Dan's gone through to where he's now is uh is awesome. He's brilliant, yeah. It is absolutely fantastic.
SPEAKER_02:But again, and couldn't do that without the support of people like that as well. And there was lots and lots, and obviously with his husband, with his partner, husband, actual husband, yeah, yeah, we're all and stuff like that. But there was lots to see and lots to do that we did miss out on, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_03:They had a really good setup, they were talking a lot around bow cancer.
SPEAKER_02:I did speak to one of the guys representing the bow cancer side of things, but obviously, because of restrictions in terms of approval to come recording, because they're such a big group as well, they have a lot of their people go through media, you have to go through media um um to get to get um clearance basically. Clearance, basically, yeah, yeah, permission, permissions to to actually approach um media. So we're even though we're a little tiny podcast and um we respect the values. Yeah, we we sit there and we go, all right, cool, and I get that. So we do ask, you know, it's all just takes it. We know and we've known, and everyone in our community, well not everyone, but Akon deliver an absolute ton of support for people, all different people. Now they had an indigenous tent set up there. They were doing um they were doing testing on the actual day, like um HIV testing, STI check testing, and all that kind of stuff on the actual day. So they were doing a lot of work on that particular day um through the whole process and stuff like that as well, as they always do within our community.
SPEAKER_03:I was talking to a guy, I think his name was John, he was an American guy.
SPEAKER_02:He was hot.
SPEAKER_03:Um very, very nice. Um, but again, like I mean, we he was willing to do it, but obviously he had to have permission first, so he sought permission and they said we can't because you know we don't have the clearance to do that. That's okay. So, but I had a chat with him and he explained to me what they did, and it was a very informative chat. Yeah, again, but we'll find that information, we'll put that information into another podcast for people to know. Yeah, because you've spoken about account and number and what I'm saying in terms of what he was dealing with, in terms of the uh the bow cancer.
SPEAKER_02:The bow cancer and all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_03:Again, for us, I mean, if we can get information out ourselves, um, it's great because I mean it's a learning curve for us.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, very much so.
SPEAKER_03:I love going to events. Every day is a school day. Yeah, exactly. For me, like learning is so important every single day. Learning, you know, if you learn something new every day, it's worth living for, I say. Yeah, yeah, 100%. Um, but look, I mean, we won't digress anymore because that was pretty much the the fair day itself. Yep. Um we'll just carry around very, very quickly for the rest of the trip the trip. We won't bore everybody too much.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, well, we wasn't boring, but we managed to catch up with um with Simon and and Scott.
SPEAKER_03:So basically the next morning was our last day at Warner Bay. So we took the girls down to as in the dogs, the girls, uh, down to Warner Bay itself.
SPEAKER_02:Um had a wander around there. Beautiful location. Got a coffee, walked along the thing. Check the daddies out everywhere. Yeah, and chat. Did we have bacon egg rolls that day? No, that was the day after. Um, but we uh we checked out the daddies and and walked along the foreshore and watched some of the joggers were jogging along and watched their little cocks bouncing in their shorts. Um, and it was quite impressive and quite fun. Um, but like coffee great um from some little coffee shop, there was about 10 of them there.
SPEAKER_03:Um I think the location was really cute and it was such a nice, nice day as well, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_02:Lovely, lovely day.
SPEAKER_03:But and bear in mind it was a Sunday and there was a lot of people out of the bar, wasn't there? You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02:Lots of people wandering around.
SPEAKER_03:That is a week of today.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. And um, but we're just really, really nice. The girls loved it. They walked along the we were walking along the the lake thing there and sort of stuff like that. So just beautiful, relaxing morning to get up.
SPEAKER_03:Then we took them back to the accommodation and then we went off and we caught up with Simon and Scott. Yeah, Simon and Scott are friends of ours who we met on the cruise ship last year in Singapore.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, yep. With the with the we met uh these boys with a lot of other boys as well, and a lot of other tank people as well.
SPEAKER_03:But they they just fitted into our our group of people that we sort of wanted to keep in contact with. Now, because of time and everything, we just haven't had the opportunity to catch. This is the first time we've actually caught up within a year. Yeah, so coming up in about two weeks' time is when we went away, you know what I mean? So it's been a year since we've got a lot of people.
SPEAKER_02:It's almost our anniversary.
SPEAKER_03:Um but um but look, it was we had the great conversation, wouldn't we? It's almost like we hadn't even not spent.
SPEAKER_02:Not shut up. Like literally, it was just like chat, chat, chat, chat, chat. We had to send the waitress away a couple of times and say, Oh, we're not even we haven't even seen it. Where did we actually meet them at? We met them at Blanca, which is on Newcastle, which is near the honeysuckle pub there, right? On on the waterfront. It is on the waterfront, yeah. And uh what a uh again, real blanker meaning white, I think. Blank white. Um and it was like a Mediterranean style restaurant. Um really, really tastefully decorated. But again, I would expect nothing less from Simon. Like now, Scott's a also a classy guy, but Simon is super classy, right? And he's um like he's got style oozing out of every paw, right? Um now, like the restaurant itself, really nice, fresh looking restaurant. The food, fuck my life, delicious, like the chickpea thing with the wood-fired bread, yeah, and then the bloody lamb um shoulder just fell apart. Yeah, there wasn't a bad thing. The lemon cello we decided to share, didn't we? We decided to share. Um he's um one of the hose reports. You can't do a podcast without the hose because somebody's got actually fucking asking. Um, that's Miami. She's asking her husband's trying to use big words on her, and the word is tenacity. Well, Miami, when you hear this back, I'm not gonna actually answer you, so you'll have to listen to the whole podcast. But tenacity means it's tenacious, so he's basically relentless. He's saying that you're so fucking relentless, can confirm. Um yeah, I'm sorry, interject. Um, but the food was amazing, the company was spectacular, obviously.
SPEAKER_03:For about two and a half hours, weren't we?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we had a 12 o'clock booking and we were I think we uh walked it was 12 to 2.15. I think they were close enough, weren't they? They were trying to kick us out almost. Um they weren't, and I think again, for what it was, because it was a it was a nice vent, I think it was reasonably priced, I think, as well as it was for four of us. Yeah, we done about seven. We had a lot of things.
SPEAKER_03:That was the drinks and the three courses we had.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, about 75 bucks each, which is like bloody, really well done.
SPEAKER_03:And we left a lot of food, didn't we, as well?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, we had to leave little bits of everything, unfortunately. I wish I could have eaten a bit more, but my bloody tummy went along.
SPEAKER_03:But the main thing was catching up with Simon Scott, and that was Simon and Scott. It was just to me, it was just almost like we hadn't seen him since last week. Yeah, yeah, it was really cool. Yeah, it's just so easy, guys, and you know, we hope we're gonna be able to get come back and catch up with them more often. Catch up again soon. Because they're they're they're just great good guys, yeah. Yeah, good guys, good guys. Right, great guys, but yeah. So obviously after that we went dinner.
SPEAKER_02:We went back to lunch, sorry, picked up the girls.
SPEAKER_03:Well, yes, we went back home via Kohl's, yeah, didn't we? We picked up we picked up that little Oh that's right, that was that day.
SPEAKER_02:Fuck, I thought it was our exit day. No, that wasn't. We walked via Coles because we need to get some more milk or something.
SPEAKER_03:But we had to go via Kmart first, didn't you?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we yeah. Um and when we walked into Kohl's, there was like a little cheese board type thing, right? That like platter that had been marked down to like$12.50, right? From about$80, yeah. Yeah, no, from about whatever. It wasn't$80 worth. Yeah, that was$80 worth. I'm fucking shopping. I'm never shopping at that Coles place again. Um can't believe I shopped at Kohl's twice. It was fucking broke me. Um but um we picked up this little cheese plate because we thought that'd be nice for dinner later. So we had that dinner way later, like way later. But we took the girls out for another walk, I think then. Um and then settled in for the night, didn't we? Settled in and watched some TV and shit like that uh back in the little apartment, which was lovely. Yep, had a dinner and all that, but then the next morning we got up and we vacated the room. Vacated the room and all that kind of stuff, and um packed up the car full of everything.
SPEAKER_03:Drove down to uh one of the local beaches in Newcastle.
SPEAKER_02:Well, there was a few different options, and so we we went to one that was called Redhead Beach, right? Stunning. It was amazing. We went to the surf beach first part, right? Um we stopped and got a coffee, which was lovely, and a burger, um, and and a hamburger, and uh sorry, bacon and egg roll, and that was fucking delicious. Right? So cool that it was some little cafe in Redhead. Some near Redhead Beach. Um, but we got to Redhead Beach and we got out of the car and sort of walked around and realized that we weren't at the dog friendly part because it was just so confusing. But um apparently it's oh it's a little park that's near the beach. That's where you actually get off on your walk. That's where we thought it was. Um, but then we went down to the beach part. But um but the beach itself was beautiful and well, the actual walk into the actual beach was amazing. Or the walk to the dog beach itself. Yeah, okay. So I'm talking about the main beach. Oh, that was really, really nice. Well, well maintained. Yeah, really beautiful. Um, and the the lifeguards there were hot, and um, there was like some hot surfer guy there who walked in his speedous bald head and fucking muscular, and it was like, I want to go here. Um, but the girls didn't want to stay in the car. Um, I would never do that to my babies anyway. But then we went down to the other part and we walked the boardwalk, it was like crazy. They built this whole boardwalk that made it almost accessible.
SPEAKER_03:It was effortless.
SPEAKER_02:People were walking with strollers and prams everywhere, it was so good. Um, we got to the Redhead Beach, which is the dog-friendly beach there. I let the girls off their lead and they had a ball. They were running and going wild and being crazy and talking about the dogs. They've collected a thousand shells and driftwood and all kinds of stuff. Um it was a beautiful beach, a beautiful um it was a lovely weekend away. It was we packed up and then basically came home after.
SPEAKER_03:Well, we didn't. We went, we went, we decided to check out the local areas for future. For future forgets all these things. Oh, yeah, sorry. So on the way back, we thought well while we were up there, we thought we may as well just check out local caravan and pi places where we could take the dogs. Yeah. Because obviously, with the dogs, it makes it better for us. Yeah, but also it gives us the opportunity to sort of like you know experience and I can relax a bit if my girls are. We were looking at going away for Christmas with a group of friends anyway, yeah. And having a bigger place would have been the ideal. Yeah. Obviously, we everything's booked out now, so we we were at our deficit for there. So what we decided to do, we checked out the area, found out as much as we could, then we drove down the coast road rather than the motorway back home. Yep, and then we went via uh Bato Bay. Oh shit, yeah, yeah. And then we drove down and then we messaged a friend of ours who just moved up to the central coast, Ryan and Tom. Yep. And they've only been there probably a couple of months. Yeah, a couple of months. Um, they live at Etalon Beach, uh, which is further down. Um, so we decided to drive down and like I said, call into various um caravan parks and stuff like that to see what there was available. Um, and then we eventually met up with uh well, I messaged uh Ryan and said, Are you free? Because it's impromptu, you know. And he said, Yeah, come over, come over. So we got there about an hour later and met up with Tom and Ryan. Looked around the house, it was amazing. Beautiful. I mean, that's stunning. Well, Ryan is just so well.
SPEAKER_02:We know it's gonna be stunning because look, Tom's got style, Ryan's got style, yeah, and then then the both of them like that, but their place was beautiful, a lot bigger than I thought it was because on the plans what we saw when they first moved down, it was a brand new townhouse they moved into.
SPEAKER_03:Yep, it didn't look that spacious compared to where they've been in the past, yeah. So I was a little bit oh, I don't know if it's gonna be big enough for them. Uh but look, you know, it's lovely, it's still smaller than what they've had, but what they've done with it, and I get why they fell in love with it. Yeah, it is enough room for both of them, yeah. But the location is definitely something I would say I would love to be up that way. Yeah, great, isn't that? So I got us looking as well, didn't it? Yeah, I mean, so yeah, we go off in a little minor. So we we because Tom was um a little bit tired and he was watching his American football. Um, Ryan took the took his dog Bailey with me and Matt and uh Blondie and Chanel. Uh and then we went and we just walked into the local town and had a coffee there. Yeah, walked into your minor and basically we were sitting there chatting and everything else. Fuck yeah, yeah. And we had a lovely coffee and cake. Well, I can't remember the name of the place we went to.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it was nice.
SPEAKER_03:It was nice. We were sat outside and the dogs decided to jump on our lap. So we thought, okay, so Matt had Chanel, I had Blondie, and then Ryan had his little dog, Bailey on his dog. And we were just talking, and this other woman had got her dog, and she came over a few times and was yap yap yapping. And and then suddenly a little community.
SPEAKER_02:It was very much her in the cunt. Yeah, an older lady how would you describe her early 70s, right? Short hair, short hair, dyke looking yeah, well, sorry, sorry to I'll let lesbians out there. But she was she was a a rougher older lady, right? Walk straight up and she says, Hi guys.
SPEAKER_03:Hi guys, you know, in my day, no, she said it's nice to see guys with dogs on their laps, and then she went into the Yeah, yeah, and then she says, In my day, if there was three grown three men sitting there with little dogs like that, we would have called you as poofs.
SPEAKER_02:Just out like that, just totally out of that. And I turned around and I went, funny that we are. And she's gone, oh, oh. And then she just wandered off. Yeah. I'm thinking, fucking, I wanted to say so much more. I wouldn't turn around and go, well, a short hair like that, we would have called you a butch lesbian.
SPEAKER_03:Just show you what people are still thinking in society.
SPEAKER_02:I'm sitting there and kind of like, but like, yeah, but look, we gave her a pass because we thought, okay, she's clearly 70 plus. Um from a generation that that doesn't know that not everything you say you think has to come out your mouth. Um, but it was it was funny and it was amusing, and we all had a chuckle, but then we kind of went, Why do people think they have the right to say things like that still? Like so it was a bit bit bit sensitive at the same time, and I thought, I don't get offended by funny shit. We all did laugh.
SPEAKER_03:But again, it like like Matt was saying, it's just one of those things that basically it's 2025. It's like you don't expect it, but it's still happening.
SPEAKER_02:It threw us definitely because we all kind of went, Oh, okay, all right. But yeah, but then then we after that we then basically went back to Ryan's place, said goodbye to the drive and drove home, and that was pretty much our our four-day trip, wasn't it? And and now that we've looked at this and it's like taking us 120 minute uh sorry, a hundred and yeah, a hundred and oh fucking over an hour basically, almost two hours to to chat about. I'm now wondering I'm now realising why I'm fucking tired still.
SPEAKER_03:Like we did a lot in that time frame. We made the voice of every moment.
SPEAKER_02:We pack a lot into everything we do.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and I think again, like on an impromptu sort of like short drip, you know, you can get a lot out of it if you put the effort into it, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Couple of tips though, couple of tips that will be remiss if I didn't actually mention them. When you're planning to go away on four-day little breaks and stuff like that. Um no, definitely let map plan it, because you get adventures that you don't know you're gonna have, right? But if you're looking at staying in a particular area, maybe get out the map. It's just saying, like if you want to stay. Shut up, fucker. Um if you want to stay in the middle of Newcastle, maybe have a list of suburbs and go, these are the only ones you're actually allowed to stay in. Or reduce your search on your your little invoice. Yeah, well, I don't know. Anyway, it didn't work for me. Um but but and then planning, if you're looking at planning when there's an event on, way forward plan, right? So the thing is that if we're looking at n Christmas, so the thing this year to stay in accommodation, let's start looking at next year, yeah. Um, right, instead, um, because it'll book out real quick otherwise, because a lot of people just continually book for the year after and stuff like that. Yep. Um so let's have a look at all that kind of stuff. Um make sure that you have communicated with your pet sitters and stuff like that if you're going away nice and early so that they've got plenty of time as well. Um, so yeah, but lots of lots of lots of little tips and hints and um yeah, but plan to have fun um and plan to enjoy. And don't try and plan too much in that time because that's when you have the most fun, is when you're doing random shit. But yeah. Oh, sorry. I do want to mention Wests as well. So the Wests is a group of people that look after and oh that they have Newcastle clubs, they've got lots of different clubs up at Newcastle and Maitland and all that. Fair Day, sorry shit, yeah. Because they were very LGBTQ uh inclusive allies, right? But they also, when we went to one of their clubs for dinner that night, the t-shirts that they were wearing was all about DV, domestic violence. Um, and everyone in the club was basically wearing domestic violence t-shirts to raise awareness and saying that it's not okay in this venue and it's not okay in Newcastle. So I think they needed a special call out as well. Sorry, but but they were they were really good, and we had lots of chats with those guys, Justin who manages the clubs, yep. Um, and they own also a Newcastle Knights football tire side as well. So um a lot of LGBT friendly. Jay, who was a hot straight guy, unfortunately. Um but again he still wanted me. But yeah, um, but yeah, no, lots of lots of really good venues and places up there as well. So we had fun. We had fun. So that was pretty much our um trip away. Our trip away, wasn't it, Dave? It was like it was it was a big one, it was a big one, and now where the hell do I find it?
SPEAKER_03:Well, I don't think we I think it's been going on too long, so I think we need to just do this to be able to wrap it up. All right.
SPEAKER_02:Um that's a wrap from us. We've been your fully grown homos, and we look forward to opening your mind, your ears, and your curiosities. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe, and share our podcast with your curious friends. You can contact us on Fully Grown Homos Podcast at gmail.com or any of our socials fully grown homos podcast.
