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Zifco's Cappetta LoungeThose who need to already know who Zifco is!!! 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
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