The Couch 5 year Overnight Party - August 15, 2014

Last week was a big milestone for The Couch. Over 5 days we celebrated the 5 year anniversary of The Couch. It kicked off with a tea party on Monday and, as everyone knows, concluded on Friday night with our overnight party (with lots of fun and craziness). The suggested dress code was a onesie and, for those who are not so fond of formality like myself, that was awesome!

It was such a popular night, people parked anywhere they could!

The venue was laid out in such a way that both performers and spectators could comfortably enjoy the live music on a typical cold Melbourne night. After our first performer, Alastair Matcott from the Honey Badgers,we had a trivia contest hosted by Funky Bunch Trivia which brought an intimacy to the evening and everyone closer to form smaller groups. By all accounts, the questions would not be as easy for Gen Y (vs Gen X) so congratulations to the winning group of 4 Gen Y’s, The Polar Bear. There is no chocolate in the Arctic, so please enjoy your reward!

Roon sings Wonderwall by Oasis for bonus points

A fashion show featuring Zsaneta Couture easily swept away thoughts of sleep with eye-catching designs and professional models.

For some international students, Great Ocean Road is an ideal place to visit while staying in Australia. Christina from YHA hosted a contest which has made that dream come true sooner for one lucky student who overcame tough qualifying rounds and finally took ultimate victory in a Vegemite sandwich eating contest. Yes, that’s right! An international student beat an Aussie in a Vegemite eating contest!

As the night went on, we focused on the main topic of the night with the showing of a video clip about The Couch made by Jelly – our master video maker.

What else do we have on a birthday party? Of course it’s birthday cake. It was a big Number 5 cake made by Doyle - our Master Chef of the night. Everyone sang the Happy Birthday song and blew out the candles together. Believe me; it was just gone in couples of minutes. It was so gone so quickly that some had to collect small table scraps just to know the taste (I did).

Then it was live music again. Whohooo! This time we had Yu Kondo and two friends, Misako on vocals and Masa on the bass guitar. It was already midnight by the time and the jazzy music was so smooth and gentle and suitable for the night.

The activity that rocked the night was another eating competition. Forget about Vegemite, we had some pretty large cakes with cream and sugar on top. Everyone was on their feet and cheering hard, except our eaters who were busy dealing with cake enemies. Isabella ruled them all with her excellent eating skills! Have a guess what size her next birthday cake is going to be! :D

During the night, the venue had been transformed in different ways to serve different activities. It did become a little movie cinema for a typical movie night at The Couch. We also included all kinds of snacks for viewers. There were heaps of haha’s and aww’s, indicating everyone was really enjoying it! Most importantly, there was no snoring. After the movie, everyone seemed a bit tired so we took a break and had some amazing toasties. And guess what! We decided to watch another movie.

Focal Length: 35mm, ISO 25,600, 1/15 sec, F/2.8 - handheld

It was bed time for some although the 2nd movie was still on. People basically slept everywhere they could. Long chairs, couches, mix of chairs... It was classic; the coolest experience ever! Then dawn arrived; the beginning of the day is the end of the party! Thanks everyone for coming and those who stayed from dusk to dawn!

P.S: Jelly did manage to stay awake, eating chips during the 2nd movie and went on ahead sole to watch the 3rd movie with her mighty earphones.

Article: Tuan Luu Minh (Robin)
Photos: Andrew Coulter.

More photos in the album.