365 Outtakes August 2009

Australia – The Wrap Up

Because I was having to much fun to take the time to blog here is a quick and dirty wrap up of our final two weeks down under.

When we got back from Adelaide we went for a nice (but ridiculously overpriced) lunch at The Boat with Janne and Glen. As always, Mindarie provided a beautiful location for a drink and some food.

In an attempt to have a “nice meal”, Charlie, Lindsay, Sarah and I thought we would try Hippo Creek down at Hillarys. Unfortunately the wait was over an hour so we went to The Grill instead. We should have waited for Hippo Creek. The food was terrible and took forever to arrive. At CinCin prices I expected better. We still managed to have a fun time though and made up for the lacklustre dinner  with yummy Cold Rock ice cream for dessert.

Finally in our second week we made it to the beach! It was a beautiful hot morning and the sea breeze hadn’t really come in yet. The water was warm and calm and I got to try out my new waterproof Fuji which was awesome.

After the beach we went by and got a wicked kebab at Peter’s By The Sea. Then we drove to South Perth and had a lovely visit with Nanny Irene. The new place she is living is really nice and has lovely gardens you can go and sit in and relax. 

With the intent of going to Bar 120, we met Callum and Erin down at Hillarys. We started out with a few games of pool at Pot Black which was fun but I was reminded of how terrible I really am at pool. After a couple of drinks there we made our way to the line up for Bar 120. This is when Sarah, Lindsay and I discovered that we are too old for clubs. We were officially those old people in the line who everyone was looking at and laughing at. I thought that we would be fine despite this, even though Sarah pointed out that we were almost old enough to be parents to some of them and that it would be believable if we went to the doorman and said we just needed to pop in for a moment as we were looking for our son.

What did it for me was when the hundredth absolutely wasted girl stumbled towards us in a dress half off and heels that were an ankle injury waiting to happen and I had to fight the urge to pick her up put her in a taxi and send her home. That was when we said goodbye to Erin and Callum and drove our old asses home.

I finally got to go to Perth Zoo. Though there weren’t heaps of animals around for viewing all was forgiven when I saw this guy. I officially love Wombats now and want one as a pet. Lindsay has said no. I am working on it. 

Friday night we went for a BBQ at Casey and Bruce’s house. It was so much fun and I miss them so much!!

One of the best meals we had in Perth was with two of my favourite people. Nadia and Sean suggested this new place called The Naked Fig. The setting alone made it an immediate favourite but the food was really good too. I feel I would be a regular there if we ever moved back.

We went for dinner in Leederville with Janelle and Gilly and then to this funky cafe. I loved the atmosphere and it really felt like it could easily be in Mount Pleasant.

Monday evening Lindsay was in Cervantes and Sarah and I met Nathan for a couple at The Queens. After way to many laughs and a jug of water to sober me up we said a sad goodbye to Nath.

We didn’t feel like taking the drive down to Margaret River this trip so we went out to the Swan Valley instead. We found this great little brewery called Mash. I tried a great cider there (not quite as good as Pipsqueak) and had some tasty nibbles. 

Our final night we had one more going away party at the Sovereign Arms in Joondalup. It was a great night with lots of good friends.

Down Under – Week One

I can’t believe we are already a week into our holiday. It seems to be going so fast. We flew out on Christmas Eve on our round about journey to Perth. First stop – Los Angeles. What a shit hole. LAX has never been my favourite airport but the section that we were in was terrible. Thankfully we only had two hours there and then we were off to Auckland.

Thirteen hours after we left LA we arrived in sunny Auckland, New Zealand. We had around a 6 hour stop over in Auckland so we decided to get a hotel room near the airport so we could eat, sleep and shower before our next and final leg. We stayed at the Holiday Inn which all seemed very nice. That is until it was time to leave and my stomach began to gurgle. We had eaten toasted ham and cheese sandwiched when we arrived with chips. I had sour cream with my chips. Not a great idea. By the time we got to the airport I couldn’t stop throwing up. We boarded the plane and by the time we were taking off the vomit bags were in full use. As soon as I could, I made my way to the toilets, where I stayed for the first two hours of our seven hour flight. Then  the crew found me. They gave me 3 seats to lay down on close to the washrooms. The food poisoning lasted for the entire flight and I even had to be taken off the plane and out of the airport in a wheelchair. Very embarrassing but kind of good since we got to skip all the line ups at customs and quarantine and go out with the crew. The food poisoning lasted for another day in Perth but then I was feeling better.

On Monday night Caz and Birdie had us over for a BBQ. It was great to catch up with them. Birdie made a lovely lamb dish that was amazing after not really eating anything for two days.

Tuesday we met Nathan for lunch at Little Creatures in Fremantle. The place was packed (what else is new) but we managed to find a table on the back patio. Despite the muggy and humid heat that day we had a nice lunch and drinks.

Wednesday morning we flew out to Adelaide to spend New Years with Carney, Davina and the kids. Gibbo and Louise were also there so with our wolf pack of four (Charlie, Sarah, Lindsay and Me) it was quite the full house. We had two days of 40 while in Adelaide and it was scorching. Of course the usual shenanigans occurred once everyone had a few drinks down them which led to some interesting photos and videos. ;) 

We flew out Saturday morning back to Perth. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:30am so we had to be up around 4am. Fun! We got out to the airport with plenty of time only to learn that there was something wrong with our plane and we had to wait for a part to come in from Sydney. A 2 hour delay!! Not happy! We finally made it back to Perth and after a quick Rooster Roll (yummy as always) we all went back to bed.

I am happy that we won’t have to get on another plane for a couple of weeks.