Wednesday, December 05, 2001
Back From The Sunshine Coast
Well, I'm back, tanned, rested and about 5kgs heavier than when we left. I'm not pleased about the last bit but I can't do much about it. Shrug.
Anyway, we had a great time. It started off abit shakily Kevin was late picking us up and we had lots of luggage to stuff into his tiny Daihatsu Charade since we don't have a car. Part of that is my mom's fault- she made us bring the steamboat that we had here, if you recall, we used it the night before we left... for her friends who wanted one. So yes, I think we are like the only people in the world who travel with a steamboat. We managed to get to the airport in time, even though we had a scare with Kevin trying to drive off with only half of me in the car ( I was trying to arrange the many bags we had so that I could find some space to sit).
Virgin Blue is a no-frills sort of flight. No inflight entertainment except for the upbeat music they play prior to take off and landing. Also they don't serve any sort of refreshments on board. You got to pay if you want like, let's say, an orange juice or a bar of kit kat. Daniel liked the planes. He thought they had character. I suspect that it had something to do with the painting of a girl with Barbie-esque proportions on the plane. Well..he also thought Noosa (that's the Sunshine Coast) was cool cos there were plenty of nekkid babes sunning themselves on the beach. Yes.... I must admit that these surfer girls look extremely good in their bikinis. The guys were pretty yummy too, but some of them were just too grubby looking for my liking. I'm a clean-cut-guy kinda gal.There was this one very priceless moment of nudity on the beach. We were just taking a walk down the water line and there was this 2 year old child (we couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl) who was buck naked save for a cowboy hat playing. He ( I think he was a He, Dan thinks at that age, they look androgynous from the back) was just sitting there, totally absorbed with getting as much sand onto his spade and flicking it onto the other side of him. Absolutely priceless.
We met my mum after 5 blissful days of sunsoaking by the pool or by the beach. That was pretty much the end of my bliss. She was the one who convinced us that we absolutely HAD to stay with her friends on the farm. But she didn't tell them to expect us. It led to some awkward moments and me trying to find the right words to ask if we could bunk in on the farm. Yup. Also, she bought everything in sight and told me to bring back to Melbourne for her (she was going to Sydney before coming through to Melbourne). Not so fun. Plus she had this fantastic cough but insisted on eating stuff that made her cough even more. I swear, I think she's getting back at me for all those things I did to drive her crazy when I was young. I think mothers see that as their God-given right. I think it just happens, you drive them crazy when you're a kid and when you're old enough, they do it back to you. I'm guessing this is how it's going to be for me and everyone else when we become parents. Oh well.
All in all though, it was worth the $100 a month saving the both of us did the whole year to just about save enough to go on this trip. The farm was an absolute eyeopener. My mom's friends, John and Ros have a 220 acre farm with 90 cattle on it. It was huge. The house was huge. And it was remarkable because everything there was on the farm, was done by they and their kids. They planted every tree and barbed wired every fence and let me say this, too fence up 220 acres into about 20 paddocks is alot of fence to barb. They wake up at like 4 in the morning and work all day. Hard work is given a deeper and more realistic meaning here. Also, they are so much at the mercy of the land and the elements. The cattle could be attacked by dingos, or get caught in barb wire and they have to live with it and go on. I guess when you do this sort of work as a livelihood, you don't take very much for granted.
Well, I have to go do 10 days worth of washing. It's amazing how much laundry you can accumulate in such a short period of time, really. I'm going to see Harry Potter tonight. I don't care that my mom disapproves or thinks its evil. I want to see it and that's that. She also had plenty to say about Daniel's The Hobbit t-shirt. Sigh..
Later now. There's lots more to talk about but I'll save that for when I don't have laundry and a headache.
Ondine tossed this thought in at 17:21
0 thoughts...
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" Far in the stillness, a cat languishes loudly"