Triple M

Parko had to try some of the local tucker. The steak was massive but no trouble for our Parko. 

The Cage Went To The End Of The Earth For A Suburban Song.  

On a Monday afternoon The Cage took Suburban Songs on the road, heading an hour or so south-east down the Princes Highway, to the shire of Cardinia, where the now infamous town of Nar Nar Goon rests.

JB, Brig, Pete, Parko and Fitzy were greeted with open arms (and hands) on arrival.

JB and Brig dropped into Nature's Health retreat and day spa for a rub, after checking in at the Serendipity Lavender farm. Parko settled into his digs at Caraween horse stud before joining Pete at the Nar Nar Goon hotel for a well-earned cold beverage with the locals.

Mark and Sylvia from the pub opened the bistro especially for our Monday night visit, taking just shy of 150 bookings for the scrumptious house specialty 'The Parmagoona'. Local duo Ginja Roe performed a couple of sets as the diners and drinkers slowly increased their raucousness.

Eyes were on Parko too after accepting (and subsequently beating) the challenge of Beat The Chef - he had to finish the entire meal, a 700g piece of porterhouse, salad and a mountain of chips, for the glory. The accolade hadn't been won in a number of months, so well done to the walking comedy unit, who was also on show for penning the highly anticipated Suburban Song for Nar Nar Goon.

The 300 strong crowd at the pub thought that the Scared Weird Little Guys taking the stage might allow for a sneak preview of Parko's ode to The Goon, but not to be... after waitintg a month, one more night couldn't hurt.

With all the team billeted out around the district, everyone excitedly gathered early Tuesday morning for The Cage live at the Nar Nar Goon footy club.

Throughout the morning around 600 people (including volunteers from the footy, cricket and netball clubs and the local CFA who were making the breakky) and one sheep packed into the club rooms to witness The Cage do their show.

Culminating, at 7.30, in the debut performance of Parko's Nar Nar Goon suburban song, penned to the tune of Thirsty Merc's Twenty Good Reasons, to rapturous applause. Favourite lines included: "it doesn't sound as rude as pakenham upper" and the verse "there's many a wall / with many a muriel / it shows off the town / in a way that's pictorial / they've got a toilet block that really needs rendering".

Sadly we still aren't entirely sure what Nar Nar Goon actually means, various locals' theories abound: 'no no koala', 'no no water' or that it's possibly aboriginal for 'Pakenham East'.

Thanks to everyone who came down making the event truly special. And be very proud of the fact that through the sale of limited edition t-shirts, hearty bacon and eggs in muffins, coffee and tea we raised $3,000 to help the Nar Nar Goon progress association render the toilet block next to the kindergarten.

But perhaps the observation of the entire trip came from Parko, after Jane from the lavender farm cooked up a batch of lavender scones: 'part snack, part air freshener'.