Beaches, Seaworld and Rude Barsted Men - Day 4 161008

We were up and ready early so we decided to go down to the beach for a look. Such a beautiful place. OMG its gorgeous! The sand is so clean and soft. Hard to move on in a wheelchair! I just wobbled down to the beach holding onto a railing so I could say that I had stood on it (the beach, not the railing).

Got some pics and then we went off for a walk down the street. Had a nosey in a few shops but avoided most of them. I don’t think we could have even afford to look in the window of Cartier and Gucci! Got back in the car and drove off. The roads here are getting all set for the Indy Cars which arrive next week. All fencing and stuff everywhere. We heard yesterday that it takes them 6 weeks to get it all ready and 6 weeks to take it all down!

Then off to Seaworld we went. Got there about 10. It was busy already. We slowly wandered down to the dolphin show which was on at 1045. Saw some little dolphins in the nursary on the way. We got there just in time. It was packed. But thankfully me being me, we got ushered in a different way and given a reserved seat right at the front. Oh being disabled has its advantages! Anyway, the dolphin show was fantastic.

They are so beautiful and smart and I was just amazed at the connection the handlers have with them. The dolphins were literally hugging them. So touching.Tear! Took plenty of video and pictures.

We went on the monorail around the park. Once again, we got a specially reserved car for us. Told mum I felt like I was a dog the way I was racing from one side to the other to get photos. LOL! She gave me a strange look. Redda just wanted to go to sleep on the chairs. We did offer to leave him there to travel round and round while we went and checked the place out, but he decilined.

What do starfish and men have in common? NO BRAIN!!!! HAHAHA

The polar bear was amazing. He wasnt there when we first went to see him, and by the time we walked all the way down the ramp he was out, so off up the ramp we went. Poor mum! But then I suppose its good Im not heavy. But the polar bear..... I think he came out just to show off. He sat on the rock in the middle, doing what I am sure was posing!

Then chased a seagul and landed in the water. Swum about a bit and played with his toys and dove down. Was so cute. The rudest of rude men was there. There was a small gap and I just asked him politely if I could just squash in and he turned around with a “fucking unbelievable” and stormed off! Mum yelled back at him that he was the unbelievable one! So that all upset me a bit. HOW VERY RUDE!!!!

We just walked around for a few more hours. Loved the underwater viewing of the sharks and stuff. The sting rays were great. I could have stayed there for hours just watching them.

There was this one fish (which was only a toadie) who kept coming up to the window and just staring at us, showing his teeth. He cracked me up.

Ran into a guy from Warneet we used to know. Mum actually bought her old house off him. Small world huh. Got himself a mail order bride by the look of it! Sleaze. We were going to go to the 4D show but were too late, same with the seal show. And I really wanted to get my photo taken with a sea lion but mum didnt want to hang around that long. So we left at about 2pm.

Came home and just rested then. Had a nice nap. And just sat around the rest of the night.

Queensland, MP3s and Strip Clubs. Day 3 - 151008

We left the hotel at 8am this morning and went back down the jetty. Tide was right in this time. Took heaps of pics and chatted to some locals. Had a bit of a joke with mum about the pelicans and how there was one lonely one on his own (we named him, but I won’t say what here).

Then left Ballina and headed towards Tweed Heads. Took a few hours. Wished I had my iPod at this stage. Would be nice to escape some times...hehe! Anyhoo, finally crossed the QUEENSLAND border. YAY I FINALLY GOT TO QUEENSLAND!

Drove along the coast thru all the suburbs, Currumbin, Miami, Broadbeach and so on. Couldn't see any Kurts properties in Broadbeach. Used to work for them. We decided to go to the Pacific Fair shopping centre as it was only 9am (Queensland don’t have day light savings so we are an hour behind now) and we couldn’t check in to the apartment til 2pm. So we walked around there a while. I would love to go there on my own. We saw bugger all of it. Mum isn’t a shopper and poor Redda has bad legs, so didn’t see much at all. Ran into Suzy & Eric on their honeymoon, which is trippy cos mum & Redda went to their wedding down at Berwick last weekend. Went into Target and got a cheap MP3 player (the cheapest) so I can now listen to music again. Then Narelle (my 2nd or 3rd cousin) rang and we found out that mums 1st cousin Cliffy (Ral’s dad) was close by so we met him there and went and had a coffee and a chat. Were there a while then decided to come here to the apartment and see if we could get in early, which we could.Where we are staying!!! NOT!!! HAHAHA!!

The view from our balcony

So here we are in the apartment in Surfers Paradise. YAY! We are meeting Cliffy and Ral tonight for tea. Should be good. Right now mum is napping (she deserves it) and Redda is here watching the telly and I am about to go down to the computer room here and post this.....

I will post more when I can...... Chow for now!

Ok its now early Thursday morning but I’m going to finish day 3 before I start 4.
I went down to the computer and found it was just one internet pc, with no USB port. Damn. Mean s I can’t upload this here. So hopefully soon I can find somewhere to do it. We went for a walk down the street. There is a shopping centre not far down.

Hahaha Snort!!

The main street on Chevron Island

Heaps of trendy cafes and bars. We saw how the other half live. Got some grog then walked back. Sat down and had a wine with mum (I had no Pepsi to have a bourbon). Then just after 6 Narelle and Cliffy picked us up and off we went out to tea. We went to the Kurrawa Surfers Club. Had to wait for ages for a table. But sat at the bar and had a few drinks and chatted and caught up.

Mum and Cliffy

It was pretty busy in there. Heeeeaaappps of people. One of the guys that works there who Ral knows name was Avon! (Ding dong...) lol!

Narelle

Tea was beautiful. Had a chicken burger and chips. Chips were yummo! But I’m a chippy freak and could live off them. When we left Narelle took us for a drive down the strip. I think she might be a lead foot like me (hehe). She pointed out the strip clubs, lol! I wouldn’t mind going for a walk down there during the day. It was raining by this stage. So much for all the nice warm Queensland weather I heard all about. We got back to the apartment and they left and we came in and went to bed.

Cardboard whales & big bananas ... Day 2 14/10/08

Ok..now this was yesterday and I was too tired last night to write it. And right now I am already in Surfers Paradise and my notes are in the car so I just have to try and remember it.

Left Taree at about 8am. And drove along til we got to Port Macquarie. Beautiful place.

We got out of the car and took some pics by the ocean. I really liked it there. We drove into the town (by accident – don’t ask) and I saw a bit of that. And then we drove off and got to a town called Fredericktown (I think) and stopped at a place called Fredos Pies where we decided to have brekkie. Had the yummiest Sheppard pie! And got a fantastic pic of mum posing with Marilyn Munroe...

The next stop was Coffs Harbour. B E A Utiful! Loved it! We got out of the car and went for a nice walk along the foreshore. They had speed humps there, which I jokingly said were for wheelchairs, so mum drove me over some.

They had Whale watching tours there from $20. Bloody cheap, but we decided that maybe you don’t actually get to see a whale. Maybe they just have a cardboard one that they wave across the front of the ship...LOL!

Saw the Big Banana at Coffs, didn’t go in though. Anyone would think we were in a huge hurry.

So off we went. Drove further north. Got to some cane fields. I had never seen sugar cane (except on the telly). There was heaps of it. Lots of roadworks along the way too. Couldn’t believe e it all. 38k of it at one stage.

Then we finally got to Ballina at about 2.30pm I think. Found a hotel and then went into town. Had a look around the shops. Finally got a stubby holder. I wanted to collect one from each town we stayed at but couldn’t find one for Taree. So got one with Ballina on it. Then went into the cheap shop next door and found an even nicer one that was cheaper, but too late.

Bought some birthday cards for the girls in Tassie. Then went down to the jetty. Was nice there. But the tide was almost out. So we decided we would go back this morning. Then back to the hotel. Had a bbq tea then piked it. I think I was asleep by 830pm!!! And for those of you who know me know that that is blooooody early for me. I’m normally a 2-3am person. Very rarely before midnight anyway.

So that was day 2.

Day 1 - It's just the beginning! 13th October 2008

Well I woke at 430am after 2 restful hours of sleep (yawn. Got ready and went over to Toc to mums place. At 615 we finally headed off on our merry journey. It was only just starting to get light. Had to keep our eye out for skippies. Didn’t want to hit one of the barsteds. Make such a mess on the car.

A town named URANA!!! Of course we would all love to get out and stick an S on the town name sign wouldn’t we. Can you imagine it? “Yes, I live in Uranas!” ROFL!

Mum nicking the lollies!

We then got stuck behind this shocker of a truck. This barsted didn’t know where the left hand side of the road was, and he was going slower than we would have liked. Mum tried passing once and he swerved into the middle of the road. So we got stuck behind him for ages. Finally passed him then watched the idiot behind us passing other cars and still swerving all over the place. Anyway we were finally free of him so kept on going.

CAR CRASH!!!

By this time I really needed the loo!!! I didn’t say anything as if we stopped those trucks would pass us and we would have to get by them again. Only 60K to Wagga Wagga. Rough road and lots of potholes help! Rides!! Who needs Dreamworld. Oh there was a dead skippy too. I suggested to mum that we play the roadkill game but she politely declined and just told me to play on my own. Hey I suppose I’m used to playing with myself...whoops...by myself! Bloody seatbelt pushing on my bladder!! We aren’t far out of Wagga now. And Redda is already rolling a smoke ready to light it the second he gets out of the car. LOL! Glad I don’t need those anymore. This area reminds me of the Midlands Hwy in Tassie, near the highest point. Oh now it’s different.

At Wagga Wagga. Stopping for Brekkie. AND A WEE BREAK!! This place reminds me of Launceston. Lots of old houses and stuff. I don’t know, it just has a similar feel. My ear is playing up, like I’m on a plane. Wonder if we are at a high altitude. On the road to Gundagai, Lalala! Just going onto the Hume Highway. Oh we bypass Gundagai, so we miss seeing the dog on the tuckerbox.

OK just slept for an hour. I dreamt that Monty was here in the car with me. When I woke up I looked for him. Poor baby. Anyway, just outside of Yass. Stopping for fuel.

Back on the road. About 250k south of Sydney now. Just asked mum and we have travelled 458k so far, and its 1137am. Oh a town called Breadalbane!! Are we in Tassie? I got UH HUH HER blaring in my ears. So addicted. I tried to update my iPod last night cos this album isn’t on it. And I think the barsted is dying. It said that I needed to run a scan of the drive for errors then said it couldn’t do it and it wouldn’t update. So I think I might be stuck with what’s on there. Shite.

My knee is burning from the heat of the laptop. Going to be a nice day I think. I would normally only be waking up. Cos we all know I have no life. There’s a turnoff to Canberra....Peter Harvey............................Caaannberar! Clare is laughing right now. I bet you said it out loud didn’t you! Oh I really love this song “Well are you such a dreamer, but yourself in my shoes, careful what you wish for love...” It’s such a nice song. OOOOOOO OOOOOooooo! Now I see red is on. Love this song too. So addicted to this band. Hey I found out that one of the girls in the band, liesha Hailey, used to be in the band the Murmurs. They sung that YOU SUCK song. Remember? “Well there’s dust on my guitar you fuck, and it’s all your fault. You paralyse my mind and for that YOU SUCK!” HAHA! I have to say I prefer UHH though.

Went past a place called Marulan, where mum and dad got scammed with the pine tree plantation back in the early 70s. Saw the turnoff to Bowral. Shouldn’t have made that backpacker joke, didn’t go down too well. Whoops! I’m also starting to trip out cos we’re going past places where I used to do the CNI database for at Telstra. Sydney was my area. I still remember the exchange codes of all the places and it’s been over 6 years now. Sad I know.

Signs by the side of the road keep saying it is a high wind area, I always thought it was a high wind area with me! HAHA! Going thru the western suburbs of Sydney. Don’t get to go over the Bridge. Doh. But it would have been to shocking with the traffic. So that’s ok.

A weird looking Subway north of Sydney

Drove along, bypassed Newcastle and stopped for another piss stop. Went thru a place called Bulahdelah! Urana is still my fave hehe! There was also a place called Wang Wauk! ROFL! So funny.

So now were here at Taree. We did 990k today (that’s 615 mile for all the oldies). We should have gone another 10 to make it the 1000 but poor mum was just exhausted. She is in bed nodding off already and its only 810pm.

Haven’t really seen the town much yet. Went for a drive to the bottle-o to get a drink and saw the river here. Looks so pretty.. It reminds me of the river at Scamander in Tassie. I think I’m missing Tassie cos everything is reminding me of it. We are going to go to Barrina tomorrow, about 450k away. Only a small trip then. Not an 11 and a half hour one like today. I am exhausted. So goodnight for now!

20 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level of Insanity

1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hairdryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.
2. Page yourself over the intercom. Don't disguise your voice.
3. Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.
4. Put your garbage can on your desk and label it 'In.'
5. Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to Espresso.
6. In the memo field of all your checks, write 'For Personal Services'
7. Finish all your sentences with 'in accordance with the prophecy.'
8. Don't use any punctuation
9. As often as possible, skip rather than walk.
10. Ask people what sex they are. Laugh hysterically after they answer.
11. Specify that your drive-through order is 'To go.'
12. Sing along at the opera.
13. Go to a poetry recital and ask why the poems don't rhyme.
14. Put mosquito netting around your work area and play tropical sounds all day.
15. Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party because you're not in the mood.
16. Have your co-workers address you by your wrestling name, Rock Hard.
17. When the money comes out the ATM, scream 'I won!, I won!'
18. When leaving the zoo, start running towards the parking lot, yelling 'run for your lives, they're loose!!'
19. Tell your children over dinner, 'Due to the economy, we are going to have to let one of you go.'

And the final way to keep a healthy level of insanity.......
20. Put this in your blog to make your friends smile...Its called therapy.