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January 30 A Stung Ego?As I sit here with a slightly swollen face, I wonder what is more hurt....my skin or my ego. It all started this afternoon with a fairly harmless trip next door to collect unwanted items for our massive Raise The Gong Garage Sale (see www.raisethegong.org.au, as i'm not going into it here)...and ended with me moping on the lounge with a sore face and some suspicious looking dried white splotches on various parts of my body.
The cause? A wasp attack!! Strangely, for 30 years I have managed to steer clear of the usual volatile suspects of the animal kingdom. I've never been bitten by a dog, swooped by a magpie, scratched by a cat, or even stung by a bee. In fact, besides the fairly frequent, yet write-off-able mosquito bites, there has been nothing at all in my life to suggest that I'm an enemy or indeed any threat to any of our farmyard, barnyard, zooland, jungle or any other kind of animal friend. So why me? (Oh, the woe is just pitiful, isn't it?). And why now?
And I want sympathy. Short of demanding this, it is much more preferable than the slightly amused reactions that I've gotten so far. The cream is itching me, my gland in my neck is swollen and I feel horrid. How is it that such a minor incident has turned me into a sulky child? Those that know me well can probably answer this. As one of my less-sympathetic buddies put it...."oh well, it happens to all of us...". I suppose when I glance in the mirror at my face with large red dots covered in dried-up white sting relief cream I can see the genesis of amusement.
Maybe I just wanted to get through life without any of those vicious "when animals attack" moments. Am I just catching up now? Am I going to be one of these people that will get snarled at, scratched, shat on, pecked, poked, hissed at, spat on, kicked or peed on by creatures great and small?
OK, so I re-read and realise that I do thrive (just a little) on the drama of my life. Maybe I should delete this entry and just write: Today I got stung by a wasp. But where would the "me" be in that. Neuroses. Just an everyday part of my world :)
And I do hurt. No matter what you all think.
RIP Joseph.
March 31 Pet ParadeI'm no Dr Doolittle, but I do love an animal or three, or four. Not particularly cats or flying thing, but pretty much anything else. My pet situation has changed a little over the past little while. Let me go into it in a more systematic way...
I'm almost mourning the loss of Jerry my psychotic fish. I say "almost" because he's not actually dead, just moved to another home, and also because i'm not actually mourning, I'm actually relieved not to have a fish that wants me dead. In his place are several smaller tropical specimens, of which there are too many to name and therefore I am having difficulty forming close bonds with. They are small. And pretty. And easier to see. These ones actually swim about and rise to the surface to kiss the ends of my fingers at dinner time. I just miss the mean fish. Jerry did leave a draft diary of his final days, so once I edit all the profanity from this I will find time to publish it for his fans. And he has more than I, it would seem.
Iris is also quickly becoming the bane of my home existance. Even from my sick-bed this week I have managed to throw things out the door at her, or yell in a scratchy croak for her to shut-up. I don't know what has gone on in the last few weeks but all of a sudden she's horrid! If I didn't know for certain that Jerry was still alive, I would assume that his evil spirit had possessed Iris. The only other fact negating this theory is the fact that Iris still indeed loves me and does not wish to harm me in anyway. She seems to have discovered her "inner-pup" all over again and is driving me up the wall. Awwww, I can hear some of you sigh, for yes, Iris is the cutest of them all. The most gorgeous little face on a dog ever, but the face that lately I wish was staring at me from behind the bars of a cage at the local pound while I drive away. OK, so I jest. I would never do that to one of my babies. Although Jenny did offer to swap her daughter Georgia for Iris this morning, and it is a tempting temporary trade....
In Queensland I wanted to buy that tarantula. I think it would have made great company for Hector and Henrietta, my dried and preserved dead huntsman spiders that take pride of place on my living room mantle. I will forever regret not buying this tarantula. I want more spiders. I didn't tell the MAJOR arachanophobe Ros, who was feeding my animals during my reprieve, that I was in fact in a mid-huntsman-breeding cycle just before I left, and there was a sac ready to burst near my front door. I am too scared to find out what happened to this. I know that if Ros had of spotted it we would no longer be friends. I want a new spider.
I am content at the moment to be back under the loving, but sometimes muddy, paws of my beautiful canine companions. Oh how they missed me so. Except for Iris's "rough patch" it all goes well. Although Page did confuse me the other night by begging for and then eating my mushy banana? March 24 QLD: The Last Couple of Days....DAY 10: Bris-Vegas
Share the Culture
There was a Sunday morning I recall, after our night out at the Irish Pub to celebrate Mel's birthday. Luckily it wasn't the latest of nights so we made a decent start in the morning. Troy's younger brother Ash came over from New Zealand that morning, he's migrating permanantly so is staying in Brissie for a few months until he gets sorted. As a welcome, we decided that a day out at Brisbane Museum may be in order.
Now, the last time I went to an institution where you have to behave, I got asked to leave. It tends to happen to me, I just don't see why they have to be such serious places, and why you can't still have fun! Anyways, I guess I was determined to make it fun. There was an Ancient Egyptian exhibition that included mummies, coffins, old heiroglyphic stones and all that other stuff. I adore ancient Egyptian stuff, so this was right up my alley. After discovering the very, very long queue to get in, we amused ourselves in the line by taking silly photos. See photo album for evidence. It wasn't until I'd taken several photos in the actual exhibition that a sour-faced woman in a eye-glaringly bright yellow shirt told me in her matter-of-fact manner that I couldn't take photos. Of course I argued with her, and not just because I like to stir the pot, but also because NOWHERE in the ENTIRE MUSEUM, at the entrance or otherwise did it say that you couldn't take pictures. Her excuse was that the light from the flash can damage the artifacts. This I know, so I informed her that I had my camera on no-flash, no light setting. She then said that it was taking the photos that was the problem. So I informed her that it didn't say that I couldn't take photos. She said it was museum policy. I asked if I could see the policy as I hadn't noticed any signs anywhere to state this to the unaware public. (OK, so at this stage she was getting a little frustrated, but I probably would have let it go if she had been nicer and not treated me like I was a moron). She then said that it was common knowledge and she didn't know of any museums that you could take photos in. I told her that the North Queensland museum near GinGin where the mystery craters are welcomed photos for personal and education processes. She asked me, quite bluntly if I could just put the camera away. Probably because people were staring. Oh well, I did put it away, but them Mel and I swapped handbags in a stealth-like manner and took it in turns to capture evidence. I suppose I should clarify that I probably exaggerated a little. The North Queensland museum is really nothing more than a few photos on the wall, and it does not proclaim itself to be a museum, even though by definition, it is. And it is located in someone's back yard. Oh well, I got my pics.
Eye of the Storm
Later that day we got national news about a Cyclone Larry, a catergory FIVE cyclone that was heading to North Queensland - around Cairns/Townsville - where we had just come from!!! That was pretty scary, thinking that if we had delayed our holiday we would have gotten caught in that.... At any rate, it had ended up quite disasterous for the little towns of Innisvail and Babinda (both of which feature in the early days of our holiday photos) -with neither of them looking now anything like they did when we went through earlier in the week. Sadly, that is 90% of our banana business gone, and me, being a daily banana-eater am as devestated as those poor little towns. I guess Innisvails "Give It A Go Day" on March 25th seems a bit trivial now....
An Icky Night
Later Sunday afternoon, Liss returned from her pilgrimage to the Gold Coast to visit her brother. A long-awaited reunion was celebrated, as they usually are, with a trip to the bottle shop and local Chinese restaurant. In that order. Unfortunately, this made me feel a little unwell and I spent several of the wee hours of the early morning feeling quite icky. All I could think about was being sick on the airplane. The last thing I needed. An aspirin, a mylanta and a 1/2 hour 4am chat with Liss later, and I was calm and settled and ready for more sleep.
DAY 11: The Final Countdown
Early Monday morning we woke so we could fare-thee-well Troy and Mel, and spend a couple of hours shopping in the heart of Bris-Vegas. Go big city lights. We knew we had to pack and get completely ready to get to the airport. Alas, the packing proved more problematic. We got one of those massive stripy bags and proceeded to put the "additional" items in it. My Sweet Valley High search had been somewhat successful, but anyone who knows me knows that I am addicted to books of all descriptions, so when we finally weighed in at the airport, I took responsibility for at least 16 of the 18kg of additional baggage we had to claim. So, back to the shopping trip, which of course involved visits to a couple more 2nd-hand bookstores - just in case - but mainly to the few shoe and handbag stores we hadn't yet been into, plus a 30min sidetrack to Target. Heavily laden with EVEN MORE baggage, we finally made it back to the car, which we had to return and headed to the airport. Hmmm. Now this was not a very well thought out plan. Between the two of us we had two very large suitcases, of 20kg each, plus the 18kg stripy bag (that is nearly as big as me), plus a box of wine we bought at the winery (see Day 3, i think), plus a handbag each, plus my big beach bag. It was a little harder to manoever than we first thought, and it just so happened that we couldn't actually go anywhere without a trolley. After Liss fought with a coin-operated air-trolley machine, we finally had one. We sent the car back (with a cigarette butt accidentally melted to the rubber window surround on the passenger side -oops) and went to check in. Instead of the leisurely lunch we imagined we would have when we got to the airport, we found ourselves with only minutes to spare before boarding. A little confusing, but seeing as I haven't worn a watch for 19 years now, I wasn't all that surprised. Liss was overjoyed to find a petite little woman in her adjoining seat, someone we could tell from a quick glance was not going to snore like the last companion in Seat 7C. A joyous time was had by all on the flight home. Yippee.
I tell you what, I could NOT WAIT to get in the door, have a shower, put my PJ's on, watch a quick DVD and head to bed with a book. I was pleasantly surprised to find Grant in my house, well actually he wasn't the pleasant surprise, but the fact my house was clean was more the marvel. I also soon discovered that (gasp!) Jerry my psychotic fish had been replaced with several smaller and more colourful fish. And these ones aren't nasty. I must say that a few days on, I am starting to miss Jerry, but apparantly he sulked the whole time I was gone and this led Grant to believe that he wasn't happy in such a small tank and NOT that he missed me. My beautiful pups were overjoyed at my return. I don't even think there is a word to describe their elation in human terms. My poor boy Curtis (he's always the most sensitive one) was particularly excited and did not leave my side for hours, crying at the door when I went inside to refill my glass. After dawdling for a few hours, giving the Amityville Horror a go on the DVD player and hopping in a bath, it was time to head to bed. Aaahhhh, another feeling that can only be described as indescribable - although I'm sure you all know what I mean. I will refer to it simply as the feeling of "My Own Bed" after 2 weeks away. God I slept well. And then I woke up and it was all over. Back to the boredom, mundane work life....except that I awoke with a particularly bad flu :( All better now, but it caused two days of lying down with a tissue pressed against my nostrils. Ugh. At least I wasn't sick on holidays. So now it's Friday night. Exactly 2 weeks since my first dinner in Cairns on my holiday...and that seems like a lifetime ago....
Now, to plan the next trip. I have my sights on Switzerland. Yay for Alps! March 19 Queensland Adventures: Day 7 to 10DAY 7: TOWNSVILLE TO ROCKHAMPTON
A Day On The Road A day on the road is not much fun for anyone, but of course being the fun kinda people we are, we were determined to make sitting in a shitty little Hyundai more fun than we could possibly imagine. Difficult this was as we had gotten up at 6am, to leave Townsville bright and early, in order to make it as far down the coast as we could. Half asleep, we packed up the car, guzzled a quick coffee and said our speedy goodbyes to Carmela (the only one in the house awake!!!). First stop was Soroptimist Park at the entrance of Cape Pallarenda - a peninsula suburb of Townsville. During our stay we had often pointed and laughed at the various colourful stone animal objects. This time we stopped and snapped pics of ourself playing with these animals at the ungodly hour that it was. Following this, a quick petrol stop, another chuckle at a store called "EXPLOSIF" clothing - which caused us to put on our "heppy wog" voices (EVERYthing is funny when you're up early), and then it was the open road - kilometres and kilometres of it in fact. The problem is not so much the open road, but rather the idiots upon it (excluding ourselves of course!). Sooooo many drivers are too overly cautious, and create problems on the roads, by attempting to overtake, changing their minds and braking suddenly at the last minute, or going so far under the speed limit that you end up with a long line of irate drivers behind you - and this is not a good thing. All of these irritations aside, we managed to reach Rockhampton by around 7pm - without major incident and with many belly laughs on the way. See additional entries below for further details....
But I Want to Be the Sausage King! After a sophisticated brunch at Ayr McDonalds, we stumbled across a sign that proudly blazened "1999 North Queensland Pork Sausage King". We thought this was humourous not just because everything sausage-related usually is, but also because it was in the most obscure little town - of which the name has now escaped me - but also because it was painted lovingly on the side of a somewhat curved pig in a crown. Now, what I want to know is who hands out these titles? And how do I get one? And what has he done since 1999, eh?...
Gumlu. No More To Say. A tiny, tiny town about 147km from Townsville. Or to more accurate, exactly 147km from the Woolworths Petrol Station on Charters Towers Rd in Townsville. The place consisted of maybe 3 rundown little cottages behind a massive chain mail fence. Intrigued we were, but we just quickly snapped a shot of the main residences and continued on our way. Actually this is not the strangest town we've come across. Actually along the way, there have been several places, bizarrely named. There also seems to be a Six Mile Creek in EVERY SINGLE town in Queensland. Unless it's the same one winding back and forth, and in that case it is way longer than six miles. Some of the towns, places and locations we found noteworthy:
In actual fact, if anyone can tell me why there are soooo many boarding kennels in North Queensland, i'd really appreciate it. I reckon there are at least 2 or 3 in every 100km stretch of road. Hmmm....
Some Fascinating Truck Driver Statistics As often occurs on long travels, when boredom sets in, silliness reigns. For example, did you know that 1 out of 3 car carriers on the road from Gumlu to Airlie Beach will wave back to a car with two girls in it who are waving madly?? Further to this 73.4% of all heavy vehicle drivers will respond in a courteous manner to the same stimuli. This statistic includes truckie offsiders who were also respondent to our gestures. A bit further down at a place called Kolijo there was huge roadworking going on. Since we had stopped for about 5 minutes, we attempted waving at these guys in heavy machinery but to no avail. We even put on our best Schawarznegger voices and spoke loudly to the man holding the "Slow/Stop" sign. "Turn it, Dooo iiitttt, doooo ittt...you can doooo iittt". But it didn't make him switch it over any faster. Funny that.
Heaven On A Coastline. Been to Airlie Beach? You should go. It was absolutely sensational, even despite the fact that you weren't actually allowed in the beach bit of the beach, i.e. the water. At Airlie, the sun always shines, or so they say, and to overcome the difficulties encountered when tourists want to enter the salt water, they have built an enormous man-made lagoon to swim in. We were ready - all set, couldn't wait to jump in the water....when disaster stuck!! Where were my swimmers??? I looked in the bag. Twice. Then in Liss's. Then back to the car to rummage in the suitcases. No sign of them. Dismay set in. Liss was certain that she brought them in when collecting the washing, and I was certain I'd seen them in the car. Relief washed over me as I spotted a women's swimsuit store in the near distance. Power walking to this location, I discovered a whole range of appropriate swimming attire to purchase. The sales clerk deftly steered me to the section I was looking for (it's not easy to get DD cup swimmers you know....), and then the dismay came back. The top I liked merrily displayed a price tag of $99.00 and the bottoms just $59.95. Huh? Sensibly I decided that $160 was a tad too much to pay for a pair of emergency swimmers just to duck into Airlie Beach, but the force was strong with this one. We went from Beach Hut to Beach Wear to Pacific Princess stores scouring for reasonably priced items. In a tourist town? I don't think so. Eventually, after many walks up and down and across the street and up again, I bought some bargain bottoms, and matched then with a dodgy T-shirt from one of the bargain stores, for a "I-just-pulled-this-swimsuit-together-to-get-in-the-water" look. Pulled it off magnificently. After a couple of hours in the sun, it was time to continue the road trek to Rockhampton. We did the right thing and went and bought food and a cooler bag so we wouldn't have to spend money and time stopping for food on the way. On return to the car, I got it all together and put together some chicken and cheese sandwiches on the driest grain bread you can imagine. Airplane food is what it reminded me of. But it got down slowly, even if it did take 600mL of water per half sandwich as a mastication aid. Mind you, when we stopped to fill up for fuel at Airlie Beach 127c/L prices, the man behind the counter almost didn't give me my change. Although it was only 50c, I did feel like yelling at him. I mean, seriously, if we were chewing dry sandwiches to save money, I certainly wasn't going to tip the petrol station attendant!!!
Airlie To Destination Just out of Airlie, after post-sandwich rehydration, Liss went to get her bottle of coke, and lo and behold, it exploded. Everywhere. Well, actually everywhere except on me. This I was thrilled about, and smiled happily as Liss found expletives additional to the ones in my own vocabulary. We had to stop for her to dry off, and luckily the Wet Ones I had packed in my scout-like manner came in handy to wipe down the steering wheel, and the console, and the gear knob, and the dashboard, and the handbrake, and the sides of the seat, and the pedals.....you get the idea. That was the last "incident" between Airlie and Rockhampton, and we finally arrived in Rocky in the evening. Finding a hotel was a tad more difficult than expected. But eventually we found one. The Plaza. As the name suggests, it was one of your more upper-class establishments, of the like that we would not normally be able to afford. As luck would have it, the hotel was mid-refurbishment, which meant a great rate and a little luxury at the same time. As easy at it usually is booking into a hotel, this one was a teeny bit trickier. We had a choice to make. We could have one of the older un-refurbished rooms with two double beds on the smoking floor OR we could have one of the nice new rooms on a non-smoking floor but we would have to share a bed. Hmmm. Weighing up this choice after 13 hours in the car is difficult. On one hand we would have a nice new room, on the other we would get our own bed for the first time in days. The lady insisted we take the key and check out the first room, bring it back then go and check the second room before we made our decision. Obviously the matter of where a traveller should sleep is not taken lightly in Rockhampton. The first room, although it had two beds was very smelly, and not like smoking room smelly, like towels left in the washing machine overnight dampy smell. Ugh. We decided on the nice new room as soon as we saw it, as we at that point discovered that it had two beds in it anyway. Room service and beer later, we were in our jim-jams tucked in bed watching Medium and ready to sleep away the night.
DAY 8: ROCKHAMPTON TO BRISBANE
The Mysterious Outback We left Rockhampton early after a GREAT nights sleep. We had fallen asleep in front of the TV at around 9pm, so by 9am we were washed dressed, re-packed and ready to hit the road. A lovely statue of a cow bid us a safe farewell from Rockhampton and we were on our way. About an hour or so out of Rockhampton we saw a sign. "Mystery Craters 500m" was all it said. Being the adventurous souls we are, it was decided that this was an opportunity not to be missed. In hindsight, I'm not so sure. At any rate, we reached the Mystery Craters. Apparently, according to signage, these are the most baffling mysteries in Australia. Now, I'm sure there are others, and just because as I type this I can't think of any surely does not mean that these are the most baffling phenomena in Australia. Can someone help me out here? We were greeted by a lady who had obviously not had a customer come through the Mystery Craters for about 4 years. In actual fact, one of the most mysterious things about the whole situation, according to me, was that these craters were actually in her backyard. Curiouser and curiouser. We were charged $5 for the pleasure of entering the back yard, but first were taken through a collection of newspaper clippings, media comments and historical photographs of the craters. Although this consisted of 6 pictures on a 50cm wide wall with a quick commentary by the elderly woman herself, I suppose we could still class the experience as "informative". We were then ushered into the back yard. An old dilapidated, rickety wooden staircase sat lonely and forlorn in the middle of the grass. We were told to climb the stairs and as we did so I nearly fell down when the Demtel man's voice came booming out of an invisible speaker...."Hi and welcome to the Mystery Craters, the site that has scientists baffled". Now the premise was that these possibly looked like a dinosaurs left footprint. I took photos, so check it out for yourself. Scientists are baffled? More baffling to me is how a one-legged dinosaur managed to hop into what was to become an outback Queensland backyard.
Wanna see a Flying Fox? Go to Kmart! Bundaberg is actually a really pretty little town, and I think there was a smidgeon of regret that we weren't actually going to stay overnight as per the original itinerary. First stop was the Tourist Information Centre. We had checked out several tourist sites before making the trip to see what sights would be worth seeing on our adventure. One in particular was a definite, and this was to visit a random store in the Bundaberg region that boasted Australia's only remaining flying fox. And by flying fox, they refer to the old communication and money transfer wire systems used in shops in the olden days, not the sporting jungle variety. It was, according to the tourist guides, located in a drapery store. What a sight to see. Well, actually we just thought it would be a humourous addition to our tales, so it was a must-see. We followed the big "i" signs and asked the aging volunteers behind the counter about the flying fox. I described as best I could what we wanted ..."It's an old flying fox used for communications and money exchange and it's in a drapery store around here somewhere". The poor old biddies were a little confused...."Oh yes...I think you should try K-mart, they have a drapery section". Eh? Attempt Two. "No, we don't want a drapery store, we want the SPECIFIC drapery store that has the flying fox in it.."...."Oh yes, I think you mean Spotlight. It's a bit down the road." Attempt Three. "No, not Spotlight. We can't remember the name, but it's a really old store"..."Oh, I think you'll have to speak to Helen, she will know. Fine. Where's Helen?....Attempt Four, at counter 2. "Hi Helen.....blah, blah, blah". "Oh yes, I know where you mean, I'll have to look it up on our website". What ensued was causing me slight impatience. Firstly, Helen didn't know how to use her own website, so I had to go around and show her how to do the search for attractions in the Bundaberg region. After a somewhat convoluted process we were informed that the Drapery Store was in Gayndah, about 40 minutes out of Bundaberg. How devastating, considering we had only about 1 hour all up. It was all OK though, we visited the Bundaberg Ginger Beer factory instead, did a quick stopover in a 2nd-hand book store for Sweet Valley High book search - unsuccessful, and then got back to the highway.
Brisbane. We arrived around 6.30pm, about 1/2 hour before Mel was due back from work. Troy directed us to the local bottle shop, and we went bought up, waited for Mel to come home and settled in for a night of chatting, laughing and general catching up. Liss had decided to spend Saturday night with her brother down on the Gold Coast, so he was coming to collect her at 5.30am the next morning, after his night shift, so before bed I said a quick goodbye and slept. Like a log.
DAY 9: BRISBANE ADVENTURES
An Unexpected Face On awaking on Saturday morning, I discovered that Liss was still here, her brother had been delayed, so instead of sharing a bed with me, she had spent the night, needlessly between the lounge and the futon in the study. Oh well. He finally came to collect his dear sister while I was in the shower, and then Mel and I set out for a tour of 2nd-hand bookstores, and a visit to the bridal store to have my last fitting of my bridesmaid dress before it gets ordered.
Wedding Planning. The bridesmaid dress was just as pretty as I remember. The colour I finally have a sample of, so i can stop describing it as “a sort of greyish, brownish, copperish colour” that no-one seems to be able to picture. And yes, unfortunately I had put on weight since the first fitting in October, so this was a little depressing. Not as depressing as having to have my measurements taken, and having the consultant yell them across the counter for the other lady to write down!! At least I got some compliments I suppose, if you can call being told that you have “a wonderful healthy bustline” a compliment. Also, I apparently am a perfectly proportioned hour-glass. Not the most ego-boosting of compliments. I know I have a largish bust, so in effect, this just means I also have a largish butt!! But hey, the dress looks great!
Shopping. Money Gone. The following six, yes 6, hours were taken up with shopping. We decided to hit the factory outlet stores before attempting the SVH search, just to see. Four pairs of shoes and a handbag or two later, I was slightly regretting this decision!! But, nevertheless, i managed to get a pair of perfect shoes for the bridesmaid dress - shockingly these were the FIRST pair I tried on, perfect size, perfect colour. Of course, this did not stop us from entering every other shoe store, just to be certain! I also collected my jewellry for the day, so Mel and I match. Expensive but successful, and I’m going to focus on the successful bit. The SVH search was not as successful. The one store we found with a huge stack of them managed to be, coincidentally, nearly an exact replica of my current collection! Arrrggghhh....
Dooleys. OK, So I Stole Something. Mel and Troy’s friend Chris, is the manager of a big Irish pub in the City. So here is where we went to have a few drinks for our Saturday night outing. There was a rumour that Pete Murray was going to show up for an unadvertised gig, but unless this happened after we left, it appears that it was just a rumour, and for once, one that I had NO affiliation with. The night was just us, hanging around talking, with Chris managing to come over and say Hi every now and again. There was one guy who had a “thing” for me, but I managed to keep him away simply by ignoring him totally. After attempt 3, when he tried to start conversation with Troy, you know that distraction “get in good with the friends” manoeuver that sometimes works, he finally gave up, defeated. I managed to pilfer a leftover clear green St Patricks Day visor. Just for fun, and for some reason I had a white pool ball in my bag. Mel put that in there, so I’m not taking any blame. I’m not far off a full-set now, you know......Fun night, a few drinks...and actually the bar was really, really cool. Top this off with a slice of Chicken and Spinach Pizza and we have a near-perfect night. The only downside is that we had to catch trains there and back. I hate trains. They smell.
DAY 10: THE HOME STRETCH
It’s close. I’ve been up for a little while, Liss will arrive back soon. We have just one day remaining. It’s gone sooooo fast!! Plans for today, uncertain. One more entry tomorrow on return, and then we’ll have the end of my Queensland Travel Adventure. Sigh. March 15 Queensland Adventures: Day 4 to 6The Rest of Day 3
The remainder of our 3rd day in Cairns did nothing to improve it's fast growing reputation of being the rainiest city on the planet. In fact, Sunday night was a continuous downpour of very heavy rain. In fact, Sunday night was a continuous downpour of very heavy rain. In fact, the local paper, imaginatively named The Cairns Local, declared proudly on it's front page on Monday that it was the wettest weekend in THE HISTORY of Cairns. And yes, we decided to visit on THIS particular weekend!!! I did spot a colony of bats, and i mean colony, flying across the rain-filled sky. Even they were trying to escape the weather. Needless to say, we couldn't actually leave the house, seriously. Not event to go to the 2-for-1 spirit specials at the local pub. Now you know I'm serious, right? As an alternative we watched some telly and devoured a stunning roast dinner my cousin Eddy cooked up for us. We also learnt a few new songs...one in particular "You made a match" stuck in Liss's head for quite some time. Pity it was the theme song of the New MacDonalds Farm Match-the-Animal toy attached to the fridge.
DAY 4: A BUSY MORNING
6am? What on earth is going on here....
After several mid-night checks to see if the car hadn't washed away in the deluge, I managed to find myself in the unfortunate, and unlikely, predicament of being up at 6.00am. Although neither my eyes nor brain could really stand it, it did have a higher purpose. Mon 14th March marked Ceridwen's 8th birthday. I really couldn't let the morning go by without ringing her and giving her my birthday wishes. She was asleep, but thrilled none the less and carried me around on the cordless phone while she got ready for school. I enjoyed the call, but was looking forward to getting back to bed. But, then I heard footsteps, and found Eddy getting ready to go to work. Because I wouldn't have another chance to say goodbye I stayed up and had breakfast with him, on the back porch admiring the rain. Actually, he was admiring the rain, I was cursing it under my breath. Towards the end of breakfast bed beckoned. Until more footsteps were heard. This time 2 year old Ryan joined us. I found myself waving goodbye to Eddy and then in the lounge room with the company of Ryan, and then Max and Millie (two puppet like character from the New MacDonald Farm DVD). Max was playing hide and seek with the animals, which apparantly meant that I was to play hide and seek with Ryan. At 6.50am. Luckily he had a very predictable hiding place of behind my armchair, and the lack of change meant that I had the distinct advantage and won each of the three rounds. Following this was a read of the Nursery Rhyme book, where doing the character voices is a must. The proviso? Max and Millie needed to stay on the TV, and we went from book to TV and back to book again several times. At 7.10am. Then it was time for the Wiggles. This involved minimal interpretive dance, but movement none-the-less. Another quick coffee and half a bruised banana and I was ready for the Wiggles replay. Yep, right from the start again. By 8.20am the rest of the house (Amanda and Liss) were up, so I managed to sit outside and recuperate.....and then move quickly to get ready to depart Cairns, that is after going into the city and swapping cars, for our drive to Brisbane. Road Trip, here we come!!!
Sweet Valley Success
Upon leaving Eddy and Amanda's, the idea was to head into the city, have some lunch, pick up the other car and drive away. I made a detour past a second hand bookshop. I have no idea why I am now obsessed with continuing the SVH collection I began building as an 11-year old. Actually I do, i think it was slightly rekindled around garage sale time when Tina from work cleaned out her garage and handed me a big pile to sell. I won't mention that this is because her young children had grown out of them. At any rate, I found myself purchasing a couple here and there, just so I could while away the time with easy reading books. Hmmm....Then, upon visiting Jenny's collection, found that she had sooooo many that I didn't because I stopped collecting them years back. The love affair is now rekindled, and despite not finding any in the last 2nd-hand bookstore I was determined not to resign my quest. I went to another store and asked the lady, who looked thoroughly amused, but then disappointed me by saying she did not have any. I was then welcomed to look through the "teen" section, and lo and behold could not contain my audiable squeal when I found one...and then two...and then three!! That was it, I had Liss on Sweet Valley search duty also, and ended up purchasing a rather large stack. Of course, I only bought these 13 books because all proceeds from that store go towards one of the Womens' Refuges in Cairns. Yeah, sure Chels.
The Car Fiasco
Of course. What holiday of mine would be complete without a little drama, eh? The ceremonious swapping of the cars was no exception. Of course, neither Liss nor I were thrilled to be getting rid of our sleek black beast in favour of a more "practical" car for driving down to Brisbane in, but being the sensible lasses that we are, realised that this would indeed be more practical. So, from one car rental company to another, we figured we would pick up the 2nd car first, so we could transfer all the luggage across before giving back the 1st car. Upon our arrival at Place 2, we were warmly welcomed - not only from the friendliness of the attendant, but also because the building's air-conditioning was broken - and then informed, with a smile, that the car we'd hired had been in an accident earlier that morning and they were just trying to find a replacement. A quick glance at the time showed just 20 mins before we had to return Car 1 without incurring a penalty. OK, so we decided to go back and get Car 1 and empty the luggage into the foyer of Place 2 so we could take Car 1 back. This is what we did. By this time, the 10 mins we were told we had to wait for Car 2 had turned into 15, so we thought it best to return Car 1 and come back for Car 2. OK, so we raced around the corner and walked through the door of Place 2 right on time. Except (there's always an except) we had forgotten to refuel. The lovely lady told us that instead of paying $2.30 per L of petrol, we were best to use the 15 minute lee-way of grace we were given and go refuel. This was a time where two heads were better than one, as I gave Liss the last moments of joy with the convertible (while she went to fill it up) and I walked back to Place 2 to get the other car. Upon arriving at Place 2 I noted that the car was not quite ready, so took a seat and tapped my foot impatiently. And I was impatient just because that's how I usually am, I did have a good reason - we wanted to make it to Townsville in daylight. See, a good reason! Finally Place 2 came good with the car, but not the cute little yellow one we were supposed to get, instead a dodgy-assed white one. Boring and plain :(
It makes me sad to drive standard vehicles. I got over this quickly as I started to pack the car with our ever expanding luggage. Just a moment later I got a call from Liss who was lost in Car 1 and couldn't find Place 1. And lo and behold, she kept driving back to her favoured dead-end street. So then I decided to finish packing, call her back and drive around in Car 2 to try and find her. I did just this except that when I finally got packed and buckled in, Liss had found her way back to Place 1 and all was well in the town of Cairns. Effort.
The Road Trip Begins?
Then we were set. Water? Check! Road Maps? Check! Smarties? Check! 80's CDs? Check! Sunnies? Ummmm?????? Liss had left her sunnes out at Eddy and Amandas, so the very first part of our road trip had become a trip backwards. In transit I also realised I'd left a very precious bottle of ginger wine in the fridge, so this was a perfect opportunity to regain, and fill the void of emptyness that appears when you lose something. But don't worry - we are both fine now.
On The Road
It then began! Yay for us! The first part of the road trip was as you would expect from us, one driving, one out the window taking photos, and both singing along to the best of Michael Jackson. This part of the trip was fairly pretty, and not very eventful. We did manage to find a Big Marlin and a Big Crab to take pics of on the way - for those of you familiar with my obsession with "big" things this was very exciting for me. Other highlights included:
* Stopping at The Warehouse for beach towels
* Visiting Murdering Point Winery - yep, the name drew us there!!
* The icky lunches at the Cardwell truck stop.
Be Cass-o-Wary
Yes. That's what the sign said. We were stopped at Mission Beach, and had just spent the last 30kms being bombared with cassowary information. See some of the latest pics for the ridicularity (if that's a word). Anyway, the sign that urged us to "Be Cass-o-wary" was just that little bit too much for us to stand. And as the visit to Mission Beach had been, well, a mission, we were disappointed that we were not allowed to swim due to deadly box jellyfish, and that the cassowary seemed to be the main focus point of the region. Speeding has killed cassowaries, you know....
Townville. Ah, What a glorious night....
Arrival in Townsville was nothing less than we expected. Sun setting blissfully over the nearly mountains, no rain, a gentle warm breeze and 26deg temperatures at 6.30pm. Ah, heaven on a road-map. I started to get excited. So did Liss. We contained ourselves and arrived at my cousin Carmela's house, and settled in for a night of relaxation!
DAY 5: TOWNSVILLE
A pretty nice lunch
The food here in Townsville is just sensational. As the lovely Liss put it, Wollongong chefs need to start getting a little more creative with their cooking. Our first meal in the fair city was no exception. A wonderful little woodfire pizza place on the wharf delighted every tastebud. I had trouble deciding what to drink, so the waiter decided to surprise me with a cocktail. A mountanous conglomoration of vodka, malibu, fresh mango and other indeterminible ingredients was presented to me. Yep, a mountain. Again the photo speaks louder than words. We also, whilst dining managed to convince two of the local parking police that their uniforms were sensational and needed to be captured with our camera. Although they weren't the friendliest of men, they were easily persuadable and I even convinced one to hand over his helmet for my personal enjoyment. I won't go too much into detail, as we're planning to add a whole restaurant and food review at the end of this diary. Stay tuned, this will probably be on my return.
Yeah, One More Day will do it...
We decided to spend an extra night in Townsville. Mostly due to the hideous weather we were subject to in Cairns, but also because it's a beautiful place to be and we want at least ONE day to spend on the beach!!! So, here it is, all plans reviewed and sleep-stops altered. Just like me to change plans mid-way. Can't say Liss was really surprised. To celebrate, we spent the entire day shopping. And I do mean entire day. Starting out in the mall, breaking for lunch, driving out to the shopping centre, scouring the small arcades. You name it, we shopped in it. For a 7.5 hour total. Needless to say, sore feet resulted in a quiet night at Camela and Gregs. Strangely enough, we seem to really enjoy going into EVERY cheap discount store we can find and discovering random items to take photographs with. We do have a flasher-jacket packed, but have found that we don't necessarily need this to make fun. Liss's outfit in the local charity store was a particular winner, and although we were both crying with hysterical laughter in the change room together during this fashion parade, the staff still appeared tight-lipped, obviously in staunch defence of their quality clothing products. See for yourself and decide.
DAY 6: BEACH!!!
A Beachside Playground
A day at the beach, in the sun and warm weather is just what the doctor ordered. Well, it would have been had we seen a doctor. Surely. We hit the beach (after a small detour past 6 2nd-hand bookstores looking for SVH books), and found that we were the ONLY people there. This meant we had our own little bit of sand and surf, and luxury. OK, so the water wasn't as blue as we wanted, but it was soooooo warm, and not too salty. Liss is showing signs of redness, but I succeeded in doing nothing but scrubbing off my spray-tan. Oh well, at least you'll all know that any brownness I display on my return is purely due to my own melantonin.
The Claws are Out!!
I love dogs! Always have, and my four beautiful babies who I miss so much are testimony to this fact. Cats on the other hand....well, never really been a fan. Don't have much time for them and prefer the wagging tails and cold noses any day. Carmela and Greg have a cat. Or more accurately their son Daniel does. A little black streak of trouble. The cat had trouble from the start. She was given to them by the pet shop as a mild, meek little kitten, only to have thrust upon her a little later, that she was a he. A quick name change and the cat was none the wiser, but obviously some remnants of confusion remain. For some reason this cat adores me. It doesn't seem to understand that the feelings aren't necessarily mutual, and at every opportunity it sits on my lap, rubs at my legs, tries to touch me with a stray claw or some other obvious sign of affection. A favourite place is lying at the groove between my boobs across my stomach. Ah well, at least it's a pet - something I'm missing dreadfully. Actually, the cat isn't that bad. I can't say I'm a changed woman, but now that I realise that it's purr doesn't mean it's "growling" at me, we might just be able to get along for the one last night in Townsville!!!
So, What's in Store?
The extra day here has meant our travel plans have changed. Tomorrow we set off early to Airlie Beach, then drive and drive til we can drive no more and stop wherever the car takes us. Hopefully to somewhere with a bed. We're almost packed, and for some reason, who knows, I have two extra green bags full of stuff. Hmmm.....the flight back is going to be interesting. A few extra bags, a BOX of wine from the winery, 3 additional handbags and just as many pairs of new shoes. Hey! It's a holiday right!?
So, signing off for now....hopefully I'll get a chance to update on the road-tripping when I get to Brissie, but bear with us! Photos are getting taken at every opportunity.....
See you soon!
Chelsea
xx March 12 Queensland Adventures: Day 1 to 3DAY 1 - FLIGHT TO CAIRNS
The Trip to the airport
As you can imagine, Liss and I were very excited about leaving for our Queensland holiday adventure, and as you can also imagine, it often leads us to talk in strange voices, unlike those of famed drag queens. Oh well. Liss's sister Donna and niece Kylee were our airport escorts (completely plutonic was their escorting) and despite their best attempts to embarass us when they dropped us off at the Virgin departure lounge, I won by screaming my goodbyes and waving animatedly from afar. I don't embarass easily...if at all, so don't ever challange me!
The Departure Lounge
After a quick rummage through the void of mess that will from now on be known as my suitcase, i removed all the "forbidden" items, you know tweezers, nail scissors and camera chargers from my hand luggage and shoved it into a space spot in Liss's suitcase. She was lucky to have one of those "Heavy. Bend knees" warning signs on hers. I was jealous, but managed to put my competitive streak aside for the greater good of our holiday. The departure lounge was full of strange people. We duly noted the activity of a man we named "Simeon", for his notable resemblance to the primate species, a hippy dressed in filthy rags, with a long, long greying beard, of which he had altered into several attractive braids. We could sense him whenever he was near, most probably from the faint odour wafting in his wake whenever he moved. Most noteable was the scared child who was patiently waiting for his father to arrive to collect him after he flew alone. The cheerful blonde flight attendant exclaimed, "Oh here's your daddy here!" when Simeon walked towards the desk. The child had a look of what can only be described as indescribable terror and silently shook his head in a very non-verbal, but very expressive expression of "NO!!!". Poor Simeon.
Lucky Me, A Window seat!! I'm always thrilled when this happens, particularly if I can bask in the glory of someone else (namely Liss) having to sit in the middle between myself and a stranger. The stranger in our case did happen indeed to be someone that I could actually write a few words about. A VERY obese woman who boarded with her bag of Krispy Kremes (as did we, but we were good and hid them from public view) and needed an extra-large seat belt extender. You can imagine Melissa's joy....and my undeniably sympathetic snickering...hehehe....But it wasn't all bad, she fell asleep almost instantly, leaning into the middle chair and then snoring NON-STOP for the entire flight. Oh what joy...
The Hotel We arrived at the hotel, after a drive with a taxi-driver from Newcastle that not only talked football the entire drive, but managed to put doom and gloom on us on the very start of our adventure by telling us that it would indeed be raining, monsoon style for our entire stay in Cairns. I advised him sweetly that we were indeed not going to have it rain for the entire time we were here, and although he chuckled I have faith that he believed that I always get my way and would not allow that to happen. Due to our champagne on the plane, and other factors, we were pretty pooped by the time we got to the hotel, and mightly hungry. Checking in to Room 13 (Liss gave me a look that screamed "I'm so suspicious", but I laughed this off) was wonderful - a really great little room with all the trimmings! Then a quick stop at the closest bottle shop, and the "refreshing" of my now squashed donut, we eventually decided to head out to dinner. This was a joy - the prawn, crab and
barramundi stuffed ravioli in a fresh tomato and basil sauce, plus the basil and macadamia pesto bread, put us in a siesta type mood. We sat silently for a while before deciding it was probably not an option to "hit the town" as first intended, and retreated to the hotel room, our pre-bought alcohol and a couple of dodgy movies (in my case, a couple of dodgy Sweet Valley High books that "happened" to be in my suitcase)...
DAY 2 - CAIRNS The Surprise
I had decided before we left to surprise Liss at least once on our holiday, and that this was not to count me jumping out of sheltered spots around the place and shouting "Boo". To do this, I woke early on Saturday morning and waited for Liss to jump in the shower before ringing ahead and confirming that my plan was working to....well, to plan. No fear. Next step was to ring my cousin Eddy, and get him to pick us up from the hotel and drop us off in town. Good going! I haven't seen Eddy for almost two years, but nothing ever changed (except the size of his boy, Ryan!). After a less than comfortable ride in his ute we arrived at destination. Just as an aside, this is not just me whinging about not having the window seat, or having nowhere to rest my water bottle, this time my description of "less than comfortable" is more than apt. I had the middle seat of a ute, where a space of 15cm was the room assigned to my ass, which is a great deal more than 15cm. As a result I had the clacker (whatever you call that seatbelt thing) wedged into my bum for the entire journey. Although this entire round trip was less than 15 minutes, it was still not the most pleasant experience I can recall. At any rate, it did prevent me from sliding off the seat (?).
So, sidetracked! The surprise. When we arrived at the car hire place to sign the paperwork, all was well. We signed, grabbed the keys and headed out to get the car. Liss walked straight to the "little shoe", a fair and decent Hyundai Getz in a pretty shade of blue, but on attempting to unlock it with the key, realised eventually that it was the sleek and shiny black convertible that was actually in our possession, for a couple of days at least. The squeal alone was worth it!! She was quite thrilled with the new development, and we continued on, pretending to be Gangsta Bitches with our Hip Hop pumpin' out the windows while cruisn' Cairns. Liss enjoys driving the car so much she consistently drives into the same street, over and over. In an attempt to find our way from the bottle shop to the hotel, Liss drove into the same dead-end street twice. Then again later in the day. I'm not sure what the attraction is.
Lunch and The Aftermath
Lunch was a pleasantly simple affair at the Cock & Bull pub in Cairns with Eddy, Amanda and Ryan. This would have been just one of those lunches, except for the fact that my jar of decaf, which luckily and conveniently didn't fit in my bag, unscrewed it's own lid and spilled it's contents through Liss's bag. If Donna is reading this - haha - as it's actually her bag. Liss made her swap on the way up to the airport....I just sat back and relaxed while Liss methodically wiped decaf granules off each and every item in the bag. Oh dear. After lunch, time for a siesta. Only day 2 and already needing mid-afternoon nanna naps - how will we survive on return? Back at the hotel, it was time to pull the blankets out and watch Lindsay Lohan in some random Disney movie, while pretending not to care about it. Then a swim, with an over-enthusiastic yet cold spa, and the sprinkling of impending rain. Luckily a call from Eddy and Amanda meant that we had dinner plans. A drive through the very heavy rain to a place called Kazaly's (we only got lost once), and then a run through the heavy rain in the
car park got us to the foyer. For me, its not easy to run. I had my 6-inch heels on, and every step of speed made by boobs jump and my shorts edge closer down my hips, so that by the time I reached the foyer I was flashing quite a bit more skin that I had originally intended. Cursed not bringing an umbrella, and cursed the taxi-driver for not telling us it was going to be a sunny weekend. Had dinner, danced with my 2-year old cousin, won some money on the pokies. I probably won because Liss and I came up with a plan for luck. This involved her putting 5c pieces in my back pocket and rubbing my stomach before each press of the button. This was surprisingly successful, even though each tummy-rub caused me to laugh hysterically and drew many strange glances from the club locals. Ask Liss about the camel-toe cup and hairy hoof. She'll surely tell you, it's
a funny story....
DAY 3 - PORT DOUGLAS Rain, rain, go away....
It does follow me. Anyone who has been following my travel diaries will know this. It seems to rain on every main "adventure" I undertake, and this is no exception. Awoke this morning, ready for our drive up the coast, in the sun, with the top down, wind blowing in our hair...only to discover there had been 193mm of rain overnight. Cars were flooded in car-parks, the whole thing sucked really. We packed up, checked out, all the while checking the window with exclaimations of "It should be right, there seems to be blue sky there", "No, it's definitely steadying and clearing now...", and more commonly, from me "This sucks. I hate rain. It's not fair". But, lo and behold, when we went to head off, the rain did clear. OK, so it wasn't the sunny, Thelma and Louise experience i had imagined, but it was close enough. And it WASN'T raining. We got to Port Douglas only having been the receipents of a couple of instances of road-rage. Now, you realise just from reading that sentence that if we were the receipients of road-rage, and not the perpetrators, then it must have been Liss driving!! These bloody drivers were so impatient that even doing 10kms over the speed limit, they were coming up right behind us, even going to the extreme of flashing their lights! Geez! Mind you, for anyone that hasn't driven the road from Cairns to Port Douglas, it's a very bendy and windy and RIGHT on the edge of a cliff. Bizarre. But, we got there without major incident, walked around showing remarkable restraint, particularly in the homeware stores, ate lunch and travelled back. I left without buying a dead, stuffed, mounted and framed tarantula that I really, really, really, really wanted. I am lamenting this decision as I type. I really, really, really love spiders and this one was just sensational. Even though Liss told me she would NEVER visit me if I had that hanging on my wall, I think I could have planned around that small obsticle to reach arachnid heaven. It's gone. I must release. Our continued drive back to Cairns involved a quick stop for dress-ups and photos in the local Warehouse store. You have to see this pics. I cannot describe them. On return to the city, we scoured second-hand bookshops, Liss for something decent to read, me for more Sweet valley High books to cure my recent obsession. Not a successful run for me, but Liss did manage to steer us into the dead-end street she loves so much, yet again. So now, we're at Eddy and Amanda's quietly sipping cruisers and preparing for a 2-for-1 night at the local Irish pub.
There's the first three days in summary...Hope your lives have been a little less exciting - and I don't mean to be rude (well, maybe I do...) but there would be no point being on holidays if it wasn't going to be a little more exciting than normal life, would it????
So we've got the pub tonight, and tomorrow we swap our gorgeous black convertible for a dodgy "economy class" vehicle to take us the rest of the way down the coast. We're off to Townsville tomorrow for a couple of days, so stay tuned for the next update.
Missing my baby dogs terribly!!!
Chelsea
xx March 10 Weekend Blog Walk: Ten Years Ago....Well, i'm leaving in an hour, and thought i'd quickly write something down for this week's weekend blog walk - on the off chance that someone visits ;)
Wow! Ten years ago. Let me think...
I was 19, about to turn 20. I was in my 3rd year of my Psychology degree at Uni. Mum and Dad had just built and moved into their new house. I had just broken up with my psychotic, violent and alcoholic boyfriend. I had just gotten my licence and a car.
But...where did I think I would be now???
Actually, that particular year was a pretty rough one for me. As I've mentioned, my boyfriend was a bit of a psycho, and I kept trying to leave him, but you know how it goes...it's the same story for so many girls of that age. I had also just stop using a lot of drugs, and just started eating again after 2 years of starvation. To be honest, I didn't quite know where I'd be....but I did make a plan when I was younger than that.
If I think back, I know I wasn't sure if I was going to end up following the path I had set for myself earlier. When I was about 15, before all the crappiness started, I made a 10-year plan....Now, according to my teenage diary that I rarely read, but that sits in my bedside table still to this day, the 10-year plan went a little something like:
Well, well...look what we have here. I have to say that without really thinking much about it, or putting in shit-loads of planning, and despite all the drama and bad stuff, I seem to have gotten close enough to be happy!
So, ten years ago when I sometimes thought that I was heading down the wrong track, and didn't plan anything or consider consequences, there must have always been a small part of me that knew that I would be able to eventually get back to where I was supposed to be.
I did think I would be a bit richer, however!!
As most of you know, I'm off on holidays....woo-hoo! Only 45 mins to go!!!!!!! That being said, I won't be able to duck around and visit your sites, but I am hoping to keep my blog updated with the holiday happenings (there is ALWAYS gossip and adventure with me....), and promise to try and visit all the blog-walk sites when I get back...
Happy Weekend Blog Walk.....
March 09 One More Sleep!!!!!!Just one more night in my own fantastic bed before I hit the air, and the road, and start my road-trip adventure with my dear friend Liss...
 I am extremely excited, we're flying about 2600kms north up the coast of Queensland to Cairns, home of the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef, and then hopping in a car and spending 11 days on the road making our way back home....woo hoo!! God I love a good road trip!
Liss's niece was wondering if we were going to behave or not, and if we'd come across any adventures...well, in a nutshell I usually don't have to look for fun and adventure (read: trouble) - it usually comes looking for me.
Let's look back at some of the strange adventures I've had whilst on holidays over the past few years:
And you know, this is just naming a few...this is probably best as part of my "Most Embarassing Moments" list, but it can stay right here for now. At any rate, part of my packing includes items such as a full-length bone coloured jacket, affectionately known as the "flasher jacket", a water bottle shaped like a bowling pin, a book written by a famous Australian cricketer of the 70s, a red sequinned bow-tie on elastic and a fluffy kangaroo tissue-box cover. Now, now, i'm sure you're confused as why I would pack these items, but it's important for me to have "props" when I holiday. It seems to be that just having a bizarre item or two in your luggage ensures that you will have a slightly crazier time than if you didn't. I also really enjoy any random luggage searches that occur at airports, as I think it is important to confuse those workers....hehehe....(yep, that was a laugh of pure EVIL).... Alright, so i'm nearly packed, i've been spray-tanned today so i'm not tempted to ruin my skin too much by sitting in the sun.....(a fake tan is always a great start for a real one!), i've been plucked and waxed in all the spots that count, I have new clothes and shoes to take, my dogs have a dog-sitter, my house has a house-sitter (both my brother!), my mother has a copy of my home-made itinerary (to pre-empt a stroke or other health drama she is likely to incur if she doesn't know where I am), we've told my nan I'm flying and only not as far (so she doesn't follow me), I have stocked my pantry and fridge with snacks for my brother, all my dogs have had several extra cuddles today, I put my out-of-office on my work email, my car is locked and so is the garage (so Grant doesn't "just happen" to be discovered cruising in my beamer while I'm not here), i've charged my phone and my camera, i've packed my glasses, got a few books to read, grabbed all the pharamcueticals i'll need, confirmed accommodation and car booking and un-banked my spending money!!! Yep, I think i'm pretty prepared...God I hope there's some gorgeous men about.... Wish me luck, and stay tuned as I hope to update my travel diary online this time, rather than e-mailing it around... Yay!! I LOVE HOLIDAYS!!!! March 04 Weekend Blog Walk: Who Would I Meet???It's just a quick one today - we've just had a monster garage sale and I've been up for over 12 hours, selling donated bits and pieces to HEAPS of bargain hunters in our area! Phew....
Anyhow, having thought about it, I have come up with a few. I don't think I could limit this list to just one person as I would want to meet a few different people for a few different reasons. Some are a bit morbid, so I'll apologise in advance....
* Jim Morrison - although I'm not as obsessed with him as I was when I was younger, I'd still relish any opportunity to speak to the man! I would just want to see if he speaks as poetically as I imagine and maybe get some insight into why he used alcohol as an escape from the world.
* Charlie Manson - similarly, I'd just want to find out how the frig his head works, and how someone so messed up could influence so many young maladjusted folk in such a scary way. I do think this is probably the psychologist coming out in me, but I think it would a very interesting experience.
* Cary Grant - I love him. No other reason.
* Oscar Wilde - Just to sit and chat with this guy would be so entertaining. I'm a fan of dry wit, sarcasm and very subtle humour. He's the man for that....
Alright...cannot stay awake, and I'll apologise now for not coming to visit you all this week. I just don't have the time to sit at the PC and do it!!!
Next week I will be at the top of Australia, holidaying in Cairns with my buddy Liss, and I'll be out then too - no technology on the beaches I'll be lying on!!!
The week after that I'll be in Brisbane on the home stretch of my girls road trip down the East Coast, so again, apologies but I won't be accessing this very much (maybe just here and there for a quick travel diary update, but definitely not spending my usual 2 or 3 hours blog-walking....
Sorry guys!! I'll be back on track eventually.......
March 02 Garage DaysWell, well...our first fundraising event for our new organisation is coming up quickly. This Saturday to be exact!
An enormous garage sale, full of stuff - all donated - to raise money for our Raise The Gong experiement. Not so much an experiement, as an experience I suppose. "Raise The Gong" is a group of girls (and a couple of boys) who are all willing to open their wallets and donate to our cause. Our cause being mainly Womens Cancer charities, but we're also going to be supporting other charities too!! So far there are 50 willing members, and we've done all the hard yards over the last few weeks, getting a business name registered, an ABN, a bank account (well nearly) and membership forms and constiutions and meeting minutes and voting forms...whew! What work!!
Anyhow, this Saturday is the first real event of our new little company, and I've got all my limbs and phalanges crossed to make sure it's a successful one. Our aim is to raise a minimum of $500, hopefully $1000, to get us started on the road to charity fundraising.
Liss's garage is quite large and almost filled to the brim with people's donated offcasts - furniture, books, records, clothes, CDs, DVDs, lights, disco balls and a variety of other kitschy and entertaining items!!
As is the usual case with me and any major event, I go into stress and crisis mode in the day or two leading up to it. Today is no exception. I have just seen the nightmare weather forecast of rain that I did not want, and I have my own nightmares of getting up early on Saturday only to find that we didn't get the organising done, or the newspaper forgot to print our ad, or printed the wrong address, or something. I'm not usually that much of a stress-head, I'm just a PERFECTIONIST. Irritating as it is, I think it does contribute to my success in event management and planning in many ways!!
Alrighty, it's time for me to make yet another trip to Liss's with yet another car load of random items. In my boot at the moment is everything from a girl's bike to a dinosaur shaped cake tin, a Tupperware Fresh 'N Crisp, a pair of angel wings and several Sweet Valley High books!!!
Yay for us! Let's earn some bucks.....
February 24 Weekend Blog Walk: Online BuddiesThis week Marie asks about our online buddies.....who are they??
Well, I must say the people I usually speak to online are the same people that I speak to on the phone, and in person the rest of the time - my friends!! I had a quick check down my MSN Messenger list, but it's pretty much just people I know..I haven't quite mastered how to use all these bits and pieces!! (Although Jenny might have a tale about a man from Turkey she tried to pass onto me, then was going to give her sister away too!!!)
I do have one person however, that is an online buddy solely. His name is Garvin, from Ireland. I met him online when my ex-flatmate and I decided to join a now non-existent website that matched you up with people to chat to astrologically. We were doing it for a bit of a laugh, and when the results of suitable chatters came back, I must say a laugh is what we had!! One guy, Garvin, seemed pretty funny, so we used to look him up when we were online, and then started with the emails. Now five and a half years later (i CANNOT believe it's been that long), he's one of my dearest buddies, although we've never met. We don't do the chat thing anymore, it's an email here and there, and a phone call about once or twice a month (go the massive phone bills!!). He's the big brother I never had, forever listening to me whine about the latest guy I'm seeing, the ex's that keep re-appearing and the new boys that never make it past a week. I think he thinks I'm a man-eater!! At any rate, he sends me the best presents for birthdays and xmas, and knows me really well.
I would love to go see him one day, hopefully around this time next year, actually....It's pretty awesome having someone out there who you just adore!
 Other than that, nada! Although I must say, I have been enjoying getting to know you fellow blog-walkers over the past month or so!! Let's keep it up..... February 23 Another Little Star In The Sky....Said Riss today.
 Poor Riss, lost her little dog Sasha today, the poor dog eventually giving in to lung cancer, and what a little battler she has been.
There are those of us who like dogs, those of us that don't, and those of us who love them just as much as the other "real" people in our lives. Mine four are my babies. Never been a very maternal person, but these dogs are my family. Love 'em to bits.
Let me tell you about Riss and Sash.
Riss met Sash one day about 16 years ago. Riss was 16, and Sasha was a stray little dog, flea-ridden, ginger-haired, cuddly and very much in love with Riss at first sight. The feeling was mutual, and Riss took this gorgeous little bundle home with her. After looking for the owner, it was apparant that the dog was homeless and in need of a new mum. Shoes that Riss was only too happy to fill. On her first vet visit, Sasha's age could not be determined. All Riss knew about her was that she wasn't a pup, wasn't quite old, probably between 2 and 5, and was very cute and in need of a home.
For the last sixteen years, Sash has been Riss's trusty and loyal sidekick. Attending all our parties, and living her life in spoilt luxury. Sash's big pillow on the lounge room floor has been there for as long as I can remember. Sash slept with Riss, had regular bubble baths, ate at dinner-time and was treated like a princess in her home. Sasha has been part of Riss's life for as long as most of us have known her, and we know what they meant to each other.
Last year there was some bad news when Sasha was diagnosed with breast cancer. Sad for a little dog. Poor poppet had to get all her glands removed, and after her recovery it was like a new puppy had been born. With a new lease on life, the once sluggish Sasha became a vibrant little dog, running around just as she had done years before. Her coat got it's gloss back, her eyes their twinkle...and in short, Sasha got her groove back.
About a month ago, Sash started to become a bit unwell again. A cough. Riss took her to the vet and they discovered lung cancer. Quite advanced and Sash was only given up to three months to live. She didn't make that time, and very sadly, Riss told me today that Sasha had become a little star in the sky.
Oh Rissy, I am so sorry for you. I would be lost without any of my dogs, and I have not had them for as long as you have had Sash, nor have they lived the life that Sash did as your baby.
My heart goes out to Riss, and I remember fondly the little dog that got snuck onto trains in large handbags, that travelled in my car sitting proudly in the back-seat on a drive down the coast, the dog that posed for photos with Big Mark curled up on the floor next to her, that got so excited when she saw me at the door she ran in circles - even if i hadn't seen her for months.
Some of us love our dogs like family. Some of us still miss pets we lost long ago. Some of us were lucky enough to see the bond between Riss and Sash, but I hope all of us can say a little prayer for them both. February 18 Weekend Blog Walk: Spare Time?Spare time...hmmm....spare time.....hang on, let me think....oh yeah, spare time!! That's that time you have to yourself where you don't have to do anything, right??
It appears my spare time has left the building. It's a rare occassion now when I sit around bored, staring at the walls wondering which of my many neglected and discarded hobbies I will spend a few hours on....
I guess most of my spare time is taken up with my friends - and this is a great thing, I think! I have the kind of house that is revolving door - and I love it! If it's not a family member, it's a friend, just stopping in for a quick cuppa after work, or coming round for dinner, or a wine, or some gossip catch up....and when I don't have the pleasure of a face-to-face visit, I have the phone calls. My social life is booming, but I suppose I've always been like this. Have heaps of friends, and really do try and make the effort to keep up to date on their lives!!
My dogs also demand attention. Four little Jack Russells keep me quite busy! I have the old girl Bailey, who is happy for a pat when she can get one, dear little Iris who always needs me to stand by her dinner bowl to ensure the others don't get it before she's finished, Page whose day is not complete without a bit of a play with the ball or a mosey inside the house, and my dear boy Curtis who sticks to me like glue when I'm around and relies on his daily cuddles and belly-rubs to maintain his wonderful outlook on life....
 Luckily Jerry, my psychotic fish, demands very little of my time. He can stay.
Then there's the plethora of discarded hobbies I alluded to before. If I do ever get the chance to pick up something I started yonks ago, I tend to not really ever get any further in. Example, I began knitting a bonnet for my aunties belly only a week after she told me she was pregnant. I still have the unfinished bonnet (and by unfinished I mean only about 10 rows done!!) and my dear cousin Sarah turned 16 last month. Hmmm.
Then was my attempt, more recently at learning to sew. I got mum's old sewing machine, bought some patterns and some material with the idea in my head that I would save money on clothes if I could learn to make some simple winter skirts. This was the winter of 2002. The material sits in it's plastic bag atop my wardrobe and the sewing machine gathers dust at the back of my garage.
 Likewise, my scrapbooking attempts failed dismally. The books, the papers, the punches, ribbon, bits of glitter, buttons and bits and pieces designed to make the photo album for my godson's christening a real treat, and a very personalised present. I don't know how many times I've apologised to his parents for not producing the said album in a timely manner, and with his first birthday just passed, the last 9 months have been really depressing for the bag of scrapbooking materials sitting forlornly on my study room floor.
All that aside, I keep busy!! Most recently my dear friends and I decided to start our own non-profit organisation with the view of registering as a charity - eventually! (That is when the bueurocratic red-tape finally becomes unstuck!)....The work going in behind the scenes for this is MUCH bigger than I'd imagined, but it's a goal i'm happy to work towards. We'll be raising funds for women's cancers, and that's enough of a reason to keep going.....
So, all in all, with full time work, regular family commitments, the housework, the homework, my pets and all the rest of it, I don't have much spare time
..... but god I enjoy what I do!!! February 17 Oh...And Some Gossip!!I can't believe I forgot to give you the goss in today's blog entry!!
TWO of my friends told me they were pregnant today!
That's right...TWO of them. One is 13 weeks pregnant and the other only 3.....so there's a long wait with both of them.
So many babies at the moment, what's the deal gals?
 Between Jenny and Sharon, both due this year. Melanie's sister Lyndel is due later this year. Liz just had her baby on Australia Day, Sharon's sister Paula has a 2 month old bubby...I'm sure I've forgotten a few too!!
This increase in fertility has something to do with either the weather or the water for sure! Even though my sex partner is now in another state it has me questioning whether I need to go on the pill!! I admire you all my dear friends, but motherhood just isn't for me!
So, I bet you're thinking now......and my lips are sealed, at least for a little while!! Brought To You By Jim MorrisonI've seen this music questionnaire on several blogs lately, so thought I'd give it a go....
Now, The Doors. They are probably my favourite band of all time. As a misled youngster I used to get high and then sit in the dark in my bedroom listening to Jim Morrison - morbidly wishing that I'd lived while he was alive...Haha, to think back on all that teenage angst does nothing anymore but make me smile!!
I was IN LOVE with Jim Morrison. My friends found this quite strange, being that it was the same type of music their PARENTS listened to, and the guy was dead!! But I persisited, and can still sing every lyric to every song, including the poetry. It's great memory music, great music to inspire poetry and my artistic side, and the absolute best stuff to listen to when you're driving on your own. Love it...
So here goes, my music questionnaire.....based of course, on The Doors!!
      Use song titles from your favourite band or musician to answer the following questions...
1. ARE YOU MALE OR FEMALE? Queen of the Highway 2. HOW ARE YOU FEELING AT THIS VERY MOMENT? Take It As It Comes 3. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF? Twentieth Century Fox...just kidding, more likely Wishful Sinful
4. IF YOU HAD ONE WISH WHAT WOULD IT BE? Not To Touch The Earth 5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PASTIME? Tell All The People 6. IF YOU COULD BE ANYWHERE WHERE WOULD YOU BE? Spanish Caravan
7. AND WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING? The Unknown Soldier ;)
8. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR EX LOVER? Crawling King Snake (I was very tempted to say Back Door Man, just to insult him...but I won't....hahaha) 9. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR CURRENT LOVER? Light My Fire (even though he's just become another ex!) 10. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAY/OR DO TO THE ONE YOU LOVE? Hello, I Love You or You Make Me Real or Love Me Two Times or Touch Me (There are so many appropriate Doors songs for this!!!) 11. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAY/OR DO TO THE ONE YOU HATE? The End 12. DO YOU HAVE ANY WORDS OF WISDOM FOR US? People Are Strange There you have it...much easier than I thought....now to see what Jenny does with The Beatles Discography!!! February 16 GuestbookDo I need a Guestbook?
 It seems like the done thing on a blog, and because I'm such a conformist (hehe) I have decided I want one too. Actually, it's possibly more of an ego thing than a conformity thing with me, but either way...SIGN IT!!!
I know my avid blog readers may sign just to be nice, and that's fine...but if I don't get lots of comments in here then I'm going to have to write it up as one of my Embarassing Moments. My Muppet Personality
Well, well...i could have guessed I would be the science geek - and it's so like me to have a semi-mute sidekick that will just do what I ask (hehehe....). But I guess it's a tad accurate. I'm not so much inventing banana sharpeners as coming up with ideas, some hair-brained, plans for parties, events, things to do. I'm a bit of an ideas girl, i think my friends would agree. Yeah? And I would probably like to punish the Beakers of this world too!! Take the Muppet Personality Test yourself: http://www.blogthings.com/themuppetpersonalitytest/ February 15 Old?Age is just a number. You're only as old as you feel. But you're so young compared to me. Oh, these are the best years of your life. Well, you look younger than that.
Just some of the comments I've been receiving as I spend time lamenting the impending doom and gloom of my 30th birthday.
I'm a liar. I've been lying about my age for years. My closest gal-pals have always known, but some of my closest male friends have been having the wool pulled over their eyes for quite some time. I mean, you'd think they would notice that I turned 22 twice, and then 24 twice...but no!! I would have continued to get away with this uplifting charade except my conscience, or my lack of good judgement, had me revealing last June that I was indeed 29, not 27 or 28 as the majority of my guests had assumed.
So why is this such a big deal for me? I do not know!
Perhaps it's that i've always been a successful kinda person, and everything I do or aim to do usually eventuates...eventually! There are a couple of goals I have not reached - most of these relate to travelling the world and seeing things I want to see...the others mainly relate to my home and what I want to do to it. Is this the source of my drama?
Perhaps it's that i've always been very young at heart (read: immature) and I enjoy my nights out drinking, my smoking, my all-night shenanigans and my ability to have non-commital sex-based relationships with sexy men. (Where's the negative side of that, eh?)
Perhaps it's that i've seen the other things people have done by 30. The weddings, the children, the lack of party time....and I realise that even though I don't want to do these things, that my 30's may be too late to ever change my mind...although this is HIGHLY doubtful.
Who knows??? At any rate, the beginnings of my 30th plans (Yep, i'm way ahead of the game, getting party quotes and invitations ready already...) it's beginning to disturb me. Albeit slightly.
Karla and I discussed the other day the problems we have with rowdy young hooligan neighbours. It seems that no longer is it us on the other side of the bedroom windows with a bottle of vodka/bourbon after midnight...giggling and carrying on, dancing on the street, taking photos of random objects. We're now the ones in bed, fuming silently and cursing these inconsiderates!! Karma, I think it's called?
OK. Enough of the drama. It's not like I've got the knitting needles out yet, or anything...
30. It's a comin' and there ain't nothing I can do about it.
 Except keep lying, I suppose. February 12 Embarassing Moments!Over this weekend, I got the comments once again about how I never seem to get embarassed....To others, it appears I can act the fool, talk to strangers, dance like a Thunderbird, or do anything without embarassment. This is true to a certain extent. I have a high embarassment-tolerance and not many things I do will turn me shades of red (more likely to occur in anger!)...
Rest assured, I do have SOME embarassing moments, well probably more like SEVERAL...but just to prove that they don't embarass me that much, I'm going to list them for the world to read....
BUT....
I know we've all had embarassing...and what's more they make for funny reading for others. You know how sometimes you think you've been really embarassed...and then you read about other people's exploits and realise you can once again hold your head up high in the public arena??
Well...that's what I'm talking about!!
I'm hoping that you'll join me in reliving and admitting to some of the embarassing things you've done...YOU CAN ALWAYS BE ANONYMOUS IF YOU HAVE TO (but where's the fun in that then, eh?)...
I'll start off minor. But be aware, there are more where this came from (i'll update occassionally)
 Embarassing Moment #1:
I have never been a sporty person, in fact I seem to be missing the hand-eye coordination gene, and combine this with my bizarre running stance, and you can understand why I dreaded sport days at school. In Year 9, at the merry young age of 14, the class was learning the discus. I was immediately a disaster, and couldn't even control the way the darn thing went. At any rate, my Phys Ed teacher - a very thin and spritely red-headed woman of about 27 or 28 - kept giving me motivational talks, words of encouragement that she didn't realise were eternally wasted on me. After several attempts, I was getting worse and worse. Dear Ms X with her last remaining bit of patience told me to really concentrate, to close my eyes and put all my force behind me. This I did. When I opened my eyes and saw the flock of people moving towards the teacher, I felt that icky feeling, and when she emerged from the crowd, mouth bleeding and half a front tooth missing I realised what had happened. Yep, my discus straight into the teachers mouth with a force unlike any other I have ever or will probably ever produce. Fellow students congratulated me, the teacher had about 2 weeks off work and had to get her teeth crowned, and I still list this as one of the more embarassing moments of my life.
Embarassment Factor: Excruiciating
Addit: 23/2/06
The other day, out for lunch with Nina at the local shopping centre....was just walking around after we ate, checking out shops and stuff. Nina was describing to me the look of someone she knew, and used a strange terminology to describe it. Thinking this was quite funny, I attempted to laugh with a mouthful of water, and succeeded only in spitting it out. Unfortunately I spat it all over a lady, but mostly on her unhappy toddler in a pram. I would have apologised, except that this caused me to look on in shock, in a display that then caused me to begin choking. She just glared at me. Nina walked off so as not to wet herself, as she was now also quite embarassed!!
Embarassment Factor: Humourously Mild
(I don't know the woman and am not likely to ever see her or the child again, except maybe the child in a few years for counselling due to this traumatic event!!!)
OK, so now tell me your more embarassing moment, release it, and leave it here for all to read (and chuckle about!)....
I'll tell you (more of) mine if you tell me yours..... February 11 Weekend Blog Walk: My Perfect Valentine's Date.Geez Marie!!! Poor old single me is going to have a tough time with this one....!!!
 I suppose I should begin with the facts...
The person who has been my bed-buddy for the last 2 years recently (very recently as in last week) upped and moved interstate. It shook me up a lot more than I thought it would, and being the stubborn self I am, for 2 years I refused to admit that there was anything more than a casual fling existing (even though my friends saw right through this), I refused to admit to him how I felt (even though he told me and gave me ample opportunity), and further refused to have contact with him for the 3 weeks leading up to his departure (even though all I wanted to do was throw my arms around him). So, being honest, I would have to say that my perfect Valentine's Day would be too have this sexy man back, just for ONE night..to get some closure...Oh, and some GREAT sex!!
Seeing how this is impossible, I'm not sure what I would want this year. I definitely have a few cards up my sleeve, if you know what I mean....there never seems to be a lack of men around, just a lack of the right ones. So what if my standards are too high!?
Fantastically speaking, let's just say that I would probably give my right arm...well no, but at least a fingernail or two, to have George Clooney on my doorstep, in a suit, laden with irises and a bottle of red. I have a full-length body pillow that I sleep with named George in his honour, but it just doesn't seem to match up to a warm-blooded male. Hmmmm...
 If George is busy, or out on an imaginary fantasy date with another one of you blog-walkers then maybe Robert Downey Jnr would do. I mean, so what if he shows up in a cannabis-induced haze, or an amphetamine-promoted live-wire mood...he'd still be welcome to rest his hot little head on the spare pillow beside me at night. Yum!
Ahhh, Valentine's Day. At least nobody has set me a blind date this year!! I'll just spend my evening at home with 4 dogs, a psychotic fish and a few DVDs....now that doesn't sound like too bad an idea really......!!
Take care all.... |
You take the title "mad scientist" to the extreme -with very scary things coming out of your lab.|
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