:: A Weekend with Sydneysiders ::
SO FUNNY - karen is now WoWing too..!!!
After a whole heap of drama installing and trying to get my internet to let her connect from her laptop, at around 12:30 in the morning we FINALLY got her online and WoWing... YAAAAY!
Sacrificing sleep was most definitely worth it :D
Sunday 3rd August
Everyone came to my house to start the morning, yay :)
We piled into the tarago with Chedter at the helm, Carmoo as pretend-navigator, and Nutley and Azza at the back. Plotted destination: the centre of Melbourne, for a breakfast along Little Flinders.
Not long into the drive, my seat was rearranged WHILE I SAT IN IT as the males sitting behind me got bored and also dissatisfied with the way the seat didn't align perfectly with the seat next to it.
Still not entirely sure why Kaz got off scot-free since it would have been just as easy to rearrange HER seat to match MINE =_=
Parked at Fed Square and meandered on down to flindies.. only to discover that the Waffle Place was closed.. Nutley had an unhappies moment. But we managed to find another cafe that wasn't already absolutely chockers full of people..
..and I was stunned that everybody thought nothing of having Really Massive Breakfasts..
The boys all ordered plates which seemed to contain everything.. -_-" and Nutley's even had hollandaise slathered all over it. Carmoo decided to have the Vegie Breakfast, and.. Kaz most probably went with Eggs Benedict..? I felt ill, so I just ordered little things - hash brown and sossie. Even that proved to be a little too much =_=
After that, we trotted over to the City Circle Tram so that the Syddies could have a good look at some Melbourne sights.. marvelling at the Giant Cow Up A Tree at Docklands.. excitement at spotting a NAB building..
Nutley flicked me. And then all hell broke loose =_= It began a chin-flicking war that lasted the rest of the day.........
Got off at Spencer St so that everyone could have a gander at the DFO.
Chedter perused shoes, got flicked.
I stared off into space, got flicked.
Karen started talking to me, we both got flicked at once.
We both POUNCED on Azza, who was gleeful at having gotten both of us at once, and we WHAPPED HIM UNTIL HE WHIMPERED. He went crying to Chedter. We were satisfied :)
Clever Carms had wound her scarf in such a way that HER CHIN COULD NOT BE GOTTEN AT.
I'm not entirely sure much of DFO was actually looked at, since we spent the whole time larking and jumping on each other and either flicking or getting flicked.
Kaz cracked Azza on the head (some boys just don't learn, do they), netting him a magnificent headache for the rest of the morning :D
A baseball cap is not sufficient protection from the Wrath of Kabs, hahaha..
There was some joy when we discovered a bookstore.. well, when I say "discover", I mean we walked in because suddenly Chedter had shouted "RISING DAWN!!!" or something to that effect, and disappeared into it.
We had no choice but to follow him :)
He didn't find his Rising Dawn book, but there was plenty to keep us browsing around. Kittie books and Birdie books (me), Baby books (kaz), snow books (chedter)..
While I was preoccupied with book covers, Azza crept up and sneaked a hand out to flick...
...I didn't let him have it back. Reflex ended up as some sort of arm-lock :) while he flailed, I kept looking at the books I had been pondering before he so rudely interrupted :p
He still didn't learn, going after Kaz moments later.. she caught him in a finger-lock which left him whimpering (again).
As we were leaving the bookstore, Chedter reached over me to flick at Kaz.. I elbowed him in the ribs :D
The rest of the day continued in a similar vein ^_^
A short trip to Blue House arcade because Nutley wanted to play Taiko Drums.. the rest of us stood a safe distance away while Nutley and Kaz indulged in a Taiko War to end all Taiko Wars... LOL, excessive drumming has never been so exciting and exhausting-looking. Chedter and Carms had a go at one round and gave up, ahahaha.. and Kaz discovered that the Curse of Arcade Taiko struck again.. BLISTERS!
Chedter played Tekken 5 while the rest of us wandered outside for a breath of fresh air.
Nutley attempted to flick Carms. She retaliated with wild catfight flappy-hands :D
We headed to JB for.. I'm not sure what we went for, but it was full of things we all loved to look at, so nobody complained :) Laptops, games and DVDs were browsed through.. Azza was all set to buy 3 box sets of House before it was realised that Sydney has JBs as well and it would probably be easier to buy it back home :p
Then Mebourne Central, to find an EB from which to purchase WoW for Nutley's friend in Hong Kong so that he could play with us.
Detoured into Harajuku Crepes (formerly Ichipan Crepes) for nutella banana almond goodness.
Detoured into Audio Visual World because Azza spotted an Alienware poster.. which I refused to help him steal.
Detoured into Oakleys so that Nutley could look at sunglasses to replace the ones he lost kayaking..
Finally made it downstairs to EB! Nutley immediately went to get a WoW Battlechest for his friend.. and we ended up getting one for Kaz too ^^ The first step in dragging her over to the Dark Side... :D
Mission complete, we headed back to Kaz's house to set her up..
Pausing briefly for dinner and watching Thank God You're Here..
Then driving pell mell to the airport!!
Made it with 15 minutes to spare, so Kaz and I walked the others to their departure gate, and tried not to watch the two Very Huggy Men standing just behind us.. though I felt sorry for the beardy Huggy Man when he was left alone to queue up for his flight.. he looked so glum without his chum...
Flicking continued until the others went to board their plane home :)
Kaz drove me back to my house, and I carried on trying to set up WoW on her laptop..
Saturday 2nd August
Day trip to 12 Apostles and the Great Ocean Road!
8:45am
Phone Carmen to wake the Sydney lot up. No answer.
8:46am
Phone Nutley to wake the sydney lot up. Am greeted by a froggy sounding "phnerrrh..."
Phone Kaz to wake her up. Greeted with another "phnerrrh..." ^_^
Apparently nobody else is a Morning Person.
Bring nice fluffy polarfleece blanket on the tarago, in case anyone feels like a snooze. It is THE BEST FRICKIN' BLANKIE IN THE WORLD. Am massively pleased that everyone else who cuddles up to it also thinks it is awesome :D
10:00am-ish
Breakfast at Eltham McDonalds. Very entertained when Azza takes a bite of hash brown and immediately doubles over crying. (Tongue injury has developed into an ulcer at this point.) Chedter takes photo of the famous Hash Brown That Very Nearly Did Azza In.
Carmoos ponders the merits of butter vs canned cream on a scone.
The car ride through geelong is mostly uneventful.. well, uneventful for Kaz who is driving. The rest of us have whipped out the DSes and proceed to MarioKart rather madly against each other, interrupting Kaz's driving with frequent shouting, squawking and mad laughter :)
We take a short stop at a roadside Subways to stock up on cookies & drinks, and to allow Nutley to render the men's room a complete no-go zone for living human beings..
My big nicole ritchie sunglasses were stolen by Azzador (despite his already having a perfectly good pair of sunnies, thank you very much) and used as a sleeping mask..
..frequent male chirps of "are we there yet" would periodically echo around the tarago.. even from the driver himself..
..and my head was used as a tripod so that Chedter could take a photo of Azza making Crazy Eyes at him in the rearview mirror.
We stopped at Apollo Bay a few hours later, to stick our noses into the visitors' centre and enquire how much further to 12 Apostles (one and a half hours..!) and get some fresh air. We discovered Screaming Seeds, Hematite bracelets, and some awesome cool sparkly stones. And a plush lobter was pelted at my head.
After that, the weather became considerably more murky, but we got to see about 3 or 4 rainbows in all the low-flying mist, and Kaz and I were taught how to play "Hey Cow".. but nobody was game enough (or could be arsed) winding down the window to holler at bovines..
The winding mountain road towards the Apostles & Port Campbell was completely nausea-inducing..
It was mucky and damp at this stage, with mushy wet ground and everything, and it wasn't long till we encountered a bogged-down campervan which had slipped and gotten its left side stuck in the mud. We stopped to see if we could help, when a ute came along to offer a hand and a tow.
Carmen and I, too immersed in the unfolding Drama of the Campervan and the Heroic Ute Rescue, only just avoided being nicked by passing cars 'cause Azza dragged us out of the way.. oops.
After the ute successfully hauled the campervan out of the mud, everything seemed to be hunky dory so we continued on our way to the 12 Apostles.
Saw more rainbows..
..saw some ocean..
..saw some bits of rocks sticking out of the water. YAY!
We got out of the car and donned our jackets. It was windy. It was cold. And once we actually got to the lookout...
..IT BUCKETED DOWN CATS & DOGS.
One gets about the same degree of drowned-ratness by swimming with all one's clothes on.
Azza's waterproof jacket dripped like crazy onto his jeans, and Chedter snapped a photo because it was just SOOOO frickin' funny.. "Aaron, your jacket's peeing. On you." XD ..the Defining Moment of the trip? Heheh, maybe.. :p
To his delight, Chedter also discovered that the windy conditions up at the lookout did another Fun Thing - by standing at the railing, the wind puffed up his clothing to the point where he looked like a brown-clad version of the Michelin Tyre Man.. legs and all, ahahaha!!
The balloon pants cracked us up, and Kaz dutifully took a photo of the Moment :D
More photoage ensued, including classics such as "Azza seems inexplicably pleased to be standing next to Kaz who is facing the wrong way", "Carms can't see", "Nutley is a grey monkey", "Yes we're asian tourists", and "Azza thinks pushing people off the walkway is a Very Good Idea".
Upon returning to the Apostles Visitors' Centre, Nutley decided to have another look at the Asian Style Squat Toilet discovered earlier (presumably included for the sake of Mainland Chinese tourists..?), Kaz and Carms tried to dry their jeans using the old Hand Drier method, and Chedter decided to get Very Nearly Run Over by Nutley because he insisted on taking a photo in the middle of the road of the tarago coming right at him =_=
After that, we headed back to Melbourne by the in-land route. Azza peeled chocolate coins for his beloved Nutley who was driving, and resolutely refused to peel one for Kaz. (Poor Kaz..) Carmoos decided to sleep slumped forward with her head on the back of Kabben's seat.
Dinner, it was decided, should be on Lygon Street. Where Underbelly happenings occurred. Smug Sydneysiders and their ability to watch things banned in Victoria..
Two large pizzas and three various tomatoey pastas were ordered at Cafe Coretto, as well as a platter of mixed breads which went down nicely.
The Original Lolly Shop was explored, and Nutley had an attack of the happies to find that they stocked Hartbeats lollies.. XD
And then... KARAOKE!
Of which I actually remember very little except for snippets:
- PartyWorld's idea of Beef Jerky is spicy to the point of making my eyes water.
- Deep Fried Corn Kernels are very chewy and sticky and don't actually taste very nice.
- Kaz leapt on Nut, kneed him and then squashed him, for reasons nobody can recall.
- Everyone loudly sang angsty songs at the top of our lungs, just for Azza.
- Nutley seems to enjoy howling Really Cheesy Old Stuff.
- Carmen and I were startled and partially deafened when Nutley suddenly shrieked into the microphone.
- Barbie Girl is not as fun to sing when the boys refuse to participate.
- Carms knows songs that nobody else knows..! XD
- Chedter may well be the only chinese person in the world who can not sing Kan Guo Lai.
- Everybody loves to sing a Justin Song.
- Shouting is A LOT OF FUN.
- Nutley kept bellowing even after the rest of us had gone hoarse.
Friday 1st August
Every horse's birthday. And the arrival of Ches and Azza. Extreme glee ensues..!!
5:00pm-ish
Three familiar faces tentatively poke their heads in office door.
Excitement - it's Kabs and Carmoos and Nutley!
Quick bag change at my house, then off to fix up new accommodation for the Sydneysiders..
Arrived at the motel where they were supposed to be staying.
Completely dingey looking el cheapo place, with a shoddiness not too far off from the kinds of ramshackle portable "cabins" that people use for school camps.. eww. Stuck my nose in the room.. and nearly died.
Musty smell, hospital-like curtains, prison-like small beds, awful awful bathroom and NOT MUCH ELSE.
Hustled out of there quick-smart and arranged to stay elsewhere, just a minute or two down the road.
The Tudor Best Western was a noticeable improvement as soon as we parked the car. Stepping into the reception and the smell was clean and warm and cosy..! MUCH better. Nutley and Carmoo were much happier with this motel..!
I did a little scarf dance in the lobby while Kabs read the newspaper and Carmoo recounted a story about a cute hand-reared lion having a reunion in the wild with its adoptive human parents and Nutley tried to haggle with the receptionist :)
The room was nice. I bounced on all the beds to test whether they were any good, and then straightened out the blankets to hide evidence that they'd been jumped on ^_^ Carmoos and Nutley's bed was best in terms of trampoliney boinginess, so I flopped down on that with Kaz and we watched Carmoo WoW for a little bit on her laptop.
..man, my laptop's graphics and net connection must be really terribly awful, because on the Macbook Pro, WoW looked effiging AWESOME. I marvelled, and Kaz rolled her eyes :D
So after Nutley had sorted out grownup things, we trotted off to find dinner.. asian hotpot, aww yeah. Experience was only marred by slightly-less-than-ace service and my getting anxious about precisely what sort of people were arriving, after overhearing pieces of phone conversation between Nutley and the other two who were still on their way to Melbourne at that point..
8:00pm-ish
Ate too much. Near waddled back to car, full of tofu and beef and taro and lai noodles.
Ches and Azza's flight was delayed, so we went to the airport anyway to pick up Nutley's hire car, drove back to Kaz's to drop off her car, and went back to the airport again all in the hire tarago to pick up the boys.
11:30pm-ish
Text message from Chedter: "The zeppelin has arrived".
The chaos begins with the arrival of Ches and Azza..
Sometime after midnight
Arrive at Crown Casino, so that the boys can get fed and also see what melbourne recreational gambling is like.
Azza discovers he has somehow mysteriously injured his tongue.
Speculation as to how it got that way follows.
Kaz finds that rainbow gelato is bubblegum flavoured, and the kind of bubblegum that is not at all to her taste.
Caro learns that gambling is complicated, and proceeds to space out for the rest of the evening.
Thursday 31st July
Nutley arrives. More glee ensues.
However we decide it shall be a quiet night in preparation for the weekend to come, so nothing happens.
Had I known he was staying at the Stamford again, I might have come out just for the sake of ironing something.. and finding out what brand/model of steam iron the Stamford uses, because I was so enamoured of the dragon-like steam-puffing action of the one I found in Nutley's room last time he was in melbourne.
Wednesday 30th July
Dinner with Carmoos and Kabbenication at Automatic in Crown. Carms orders the turkish version of lamb souvlaki. It arrives looking somewhat like a Giant Bread Clam. We are in awe.. it is an intriguingly shaped food. Kaz elects to go with the more conventional dinner option of spaghetti, and I end up with a nice chorizo sossie pizza topped with tomato and cheese and basil and stuff.
It is way too big for me to eat on my own.
In the end, the Giant Bread Clam of Yoghurted Lambiness proves too much for Carmoos also and she ditches the bread halfway through and just scoops out its guts to munch on :)
Kaz dashes off at 8:30 to go to work, leaving Carmoos and myself to ponder leftovers and whether or not dessert is an option.
..it isn't. We're both completely stuffed full >_<
We take my remaining half-pizza and wander out to Southbank to walk off the effects of overeating.
Carms spots the Giant Ferris Light-Up Wheel on the Yarra, so I drag her over to have a close up look.
She then notices that, oddly, the Giant Sky Wheel seems to get smaller as we get closer.
And it really does. We ponder this strange melburnian optical illusion as we wander Birrarung Marr.
Once there, the Sky Wheel does not look at all interesting. And the ice-cream truck next to it is closed :(
Slightly disheartened by this discovery, we decide to head back to Carmoos' hotel by tram.
Daydreaming, I completely miss our stop >_<
..we end up in Docklands. Which is pretty by night, but nothing much seems to be happening at all. Wednesday night appears to not be exciting in any part of this city.
Waiting for the tram back, we ponder the Safeway ad on the side of the tram stop.. a geriatric man appears to be Excited at the prospect of eating a wedge of watermelon.
We ponder how much one gets paid to pretend to eat fruit, and whether he ate it in the end, and whether holding such a big smile for the photo made his mouth sore.
We do eventually get on the tram, and back off at the correct stop.
I get to see Carmoos' hotel room, which is much much nicer than the one she was in last time. At least this one is a spacious room with a desky and a proper bathroom and a tv cupboard with mirrors on it and a wardrobe with mirrors on it (is there no end to the mirrors..?!) and two bedside tables and a good view of Southern Cross Station. If any more Pumpkins occur, Carmoos will be the first to notice ^^
I brought cupcakes, so Carmoos examines them and we ponder whether or not the sparkly chrome glitter sprinkled on said cupcakes is, in fact, edible.
Carms then proceeds to show me the cookbook that came with her hotel room. Apparently strange qantas accommodation deals occur on occasion where you are able to get a room for cheaper if you agree to let them give you a cookbook..? We flick through it, but there's not really much use for a cookbook when the room has no kitchen of which to speak.
Is getting late, so I trot off home (and to deliver my leftover pizza to Kaz so it can be her supper/breakfast on night shift).
Turning in to Clifton Hill, my car comes face-to-face with some moron who decides to drive in to oncoming traffic.
Luckily because it is late there isn't a whole lot of traffic behind me. I growl in my head at the driver, and go on my way.
Arriving at the hospital with my pizza box, I encounter two security guards who grin cheekily and insist that Kaz said I could leave the pizza with them.
Kaz appears and claims her pizza :) Nothing else of note occurs on my way home, except that I take advantage of the near-empty freeway to coast along and sing at the top of my lungs :D
Tuesday 29th July
Carmoos arrives in Melbourne. Glee ensues.
After a whole heap of drama installing and trying to get my internet to let her connect from her laptop, at around 12:30 in the morning we FINALLY got her online and WoWing... YAAAAY!
Sacrificing sleep was most definitely worth it :D
Sunday 3rd August
Everyone came to my house to start the morning, yay :)
We piled into the tarago with Chedter at the helm, Carmoo as pretend-navigator, and Nutley and Azza at the back. Plotted destination: the centre of Melbourne, for a breakfast along Little Flinders.
Not long into the drive, my seat was rearranged WHILE I SAT IN IT as the males sitting behind me got bored and also dissatisfied with the way the seat didn't align perfectly with the seat next to it.
Still not entirely sure why Kaz got off scot-free since it would have been just as easy to rearrange HER seat to match MINE =_=
Parked at Fed Square and meandered on down to flindies.. only to discover that the Waffle Place was closed.. Nutley had an unhappies moment. But we managed to find another cafe that wasn't already absolutely chockers full of people..
..and I was stunned that everybody thought nothing of having Really Massive Breakfasts..
The boys all ordered plates which seemed to contain everything.. -_-" and Nutley's even had hollandaise slathered all over it. Carmoo decided to have the Vegie Breakfast, and.. Kaz most probably went with Eggs Benedict..? I felt ill, so I just ordered little things - hash brown and sossie. Even that proved to be a little too much =_=
After that, we trotted over to the City Circle Tram so that the Syddies could have a good look at some Melbourne sights.. marvelling at the Giant Cow Up A Tree at Docklands.. excitement at spotting a NAB building..
Nutley flicked me. And then all hell broke loose =_= It began a chin-flicking war that lasted the rest of the day.........
Got off at Spencer St so that everyone could have a gander at the DFO.
Chedter perused shoes, got flicked.
I stared off into space, got flicked.
Karen started talking to me, we both got flicked at once.
We both POUNCED on Azza, who was gleeful at having gotten both of us at once, and we WHAPPED HIM UNTIL HE WHIMPERED. He went crying to Chedter. We were satisfied :)
Clever Carms had wound her scarf in such a way that HER CHIN COULD NOT BE GOTTEN AT.
I'm not entirely sure much of DFO was actually looked at, since we spent the whole time larking and jumping on each other and either flicking or getting flicked.
Kaz cracked Azza on the head (some boys just don't learn, do they), netting him a magnificent headache for the rest of the morning :D
A baseball cap is not sufficient protection from the Wrath of Kabs, hahaha..
There was some joy when we discovered a bookstore.. well, when I say "discover", I mean we walked in because suddenly Chedter had shouted "RISING DAWN!!!" or something to that effect, and disappeared into it.
We had no choice but to follow him :)
He didn't find his Rising Dawn book, but there was plenty to keep us browsing around. Kittie books and Birdie books (me), Baby books (kaz), snow books (chedter)..
While I was preoccupied with book covers, Azza crept up and sneaked a hand out to flick...
...I didn't let him have it back. Reflex ended up as some sort of arm-lock :) while he flailed, I kept looking at the books I had been pondering before he so rudely interrupted :p
He still didn't learn, going after Kaz moments later.. she caught him in a finger-lock which left him whimpering (again).
As we were leaving the bookstore, Chedter reached over me to flick at Kaz.. I elbowed him in the ribs :D
The rest of the day continued in a similar vein ^_^
A short trip to Blue House arcade because Nutley wanted to play Taiko Drums.. the rest of us stood a safe distance away while Nutley and Kaz indulged in a Taiko War to end all Taiko Wars... LOL, excessive drumming has never been so exciting and exhausting-looking. Chedter and Carms had a go at one round and gave up, ahahaha.. and Kaz discovered that the Curse of Arcade Taiko struck again.. BLISTERS!
Chedter played Tekken 5 while the rest of us wandered outside for a breath of fresh air.
Nutley attempted to flick Carms. She retaliated with wild catfight flappy-hands :D
We headed to JB for.. I'm not sure what we went for, but it was full of things we all loved to look at, so nobody complained :) Laptops, games and DVDs were browsed through.. Azza was all set to buy 3 box sets of House before it was realised that Sydney has JBs as well and it would probably be easier to buy it back home :p
Then Mebourne Central, to find an EB from which to purchase WoW for Nutley's friend in Hong Kong so that he could play with us.
Detoured into Harajuku Crepes (formerly Ichipan Crepes) for nutella banana almond goodness.
Detoured into Audio Visual World because Azza spotted an Alienware poster.. which I refused to help him steal.
Detoured into Oakleys so that Nutley could look at sunglasses to replace the ones he lost kayaking..
Finally made it downstairs to EB! Nutley immediately went to get a WoW Battlechest for his friend.. and we ended up getting one for Kaz too ^^ The first step in dragging her over to the Dark Side... :D
Mission complete, we headed back to Kaz's house to set her up..
Pausing briefly for dinner and watching Thank God You're Here..
Then driving pell mell to the airport!!
Made it with 15 minutes to spare, so Kaz and I walked the others to their departure gate, and tried not to watch the two Very Huggy Men standing just behind us.. though I felt sorry for the beardy Huggy Man when he was left alone to queue up for his flight.. he looked so glum without his chum...
Flicking continued until the others went to board their plane home :)
Kaz drove me back to my house, and I carried on trying to set up WoW on her laptop..
Saturday 2nd August
Day trip to 12 Apostles and the Great Ocean Road!
8:45am
Phone Carmen to wake the Sydney lot up. No answer.
8:46am
Phone Nutley to wake the sydney lot up. Am greeted by a froggy sounding "phnerrrh..."
Phone Kaz to wake her up. Greeted with another "phnerrrh..." ^_^
Apparently nobody else is a Morning Person.
Bring nice fluffy polarfleece blanket on the tarago, in case anyone feels like a snooze. It is THE BEST FRICKIN' BLANKIE IN THE WORLD. Am massively pleased that everyone else who cuddles up to it also thinks it is awesome :D
10:00am-ish
Breakfast at Eltham McDonalds. Very entertained when Azza takes a bite of hash brown and immediately doubles over crying. (Tongue injury has developed into an ulcer at this point.) Chedter takes photo of the famous Hash Brown That Very Nearly Did Azza In.
Carmoos ponders the merits of butter vs canned cream on a scone.
The car ride through geelong is mostly uneventful.. well, uneventful for Kaz who is driving. The rest of us have whipped out the DSes and proceed to MarioKart rather madly against each other, interrupting Kaz's driving with frequent shouting, squawking and mad laughter :)
We take a short stop at a roadside Subways to stock up on cookies & drinks, and to allow Nutley to render the men's room a complete no-go zone for living human beings..
My big nicole ritchie sunglasses were stolen by Azzador (despite his already having a perfectly good pair of sunnies, thank you very much) and used as a sleeping mask..
..frequent male chirps of "are we there yet" would periodically echo around the tarago.. even from the driver himself..
..and my head was used as a tripod so that Chedter could take a photo of Azza making Crazy Eyes at him in the rearview mirror.
We stopped at Apollo Bay a few hours later, to stick our noses into the visitors' centre and enquire how much further to 12 Apostles (one and a half hours..!) and get some fresh air. We discovered Screaming Seeds, Hematite bracelets, and some awesome cool sparkly stones. And a plush lobter was pelted at my head.
After that, the weather became considerably more murky, but we got to see about 3 or 4 rainbows in all the low-flying mist, and Kaz and I were taught how to play "Hey Cow".. but nobody was game enough (or could be arsed) winding down the window to holler at bovines..
The winding mountain road towards the Apostles & Port Campbell was completely nausea-inducing..
It was mucky and damp at this stage, with mushy wet ground and everything, and it wasn't long till we encountered a bogged-down campervan which had slipped and gotten its left side stuck in the mud. We stopped to see if we could help, when a ute came along to offer a hand and a tow.
Carmen and I, too immersed in the unfolding Drama of the Campervan and the Heroic Ute Rescue, only just avoided being nicked by passing cars 'cause Azza dragged us out of the way.. oops.
After the ute successfully hauled the campervan out of the mud, everything seemed to be hunky dory so we continued on our way to the 12 Apostles.
Saw more rainbows..
..saw some ocean..
..saw some bits of rocks sticking out of the water. YAY!
We got out of the car and donned our jackets. It was windy. It was cold. And once we actually got to the lookout...
..IT BUCKETED DOWN CATS & DOGS.
One gets about the same degree of drowned-ratness by swimming with all one's clothes on.
Azza's waterproof jacket dripped like crazy onto his jeans, and Chedter snapped a photo because it was just SOOOO frickin' funny.. "Aaron, your jacket's peeing. On you." XD ..the Defining Moment of the trip? Heheh, maybe.. :p
To his delight, Chedter also discovered that the windy conditions up at the lookout did another Fun Thing - by standing at the railing, the wind puffed up his clothing to the point where he looked like a brown-clad version of the Michelin Tyre Man.. legs and all, ahahaha!!
The balloon pants cracked us up, and Kaz dutifully took a photo of the Moment :D
More photoage ensued, including classics such as "Azza seems inexplicably pleased to be standing next to Kaz who is facing the wrong way", "Carms can't see", "Nutley is a grey monkey", "Yes we're asian tourists", and "Azza thinks pushing people off the walkway is a Very Good Idea".
Upon returning to the Apostles Visitors' Centre, Nutley decided to have another look at the Asian Style Squat Toilet discovered earlier (presumably included for the sake of Mainland Chinese tourists..?), Kaz and Carms tried to dry their jeans using the old Hand Drier method, and Chedter decided to get Very Nearly Run Over by Nutley because he insisted on taking a photo in the middle of the road of the tarago coming right at him =_=
After that, we headed back to Melbourne by the in-land route. Azza peeled chocolate coins for his beloved Nutley who was driving, and resolutely refused to peel one for Kaz. (Poor Kaz..) Carmoos decided to sleep slumped forward with her head on the back of Kabben's seat.
Dinner, it was decided, should be on Lygon Street. Where Underbelly happenings occurred. Smug Sydneysiders and their ability to watch things banned in Victoria..
Two large pizzas and three various tomatoey pastas were ordered at Cafe Coretto, as well as a platter of mixed breads which went down nicely.
The Original Lolly Shop was explored, and Nutley had an attack of the happies to find that they stocked Hartbeats lollies.. XD
And then... KARAOKE!
Of which I actually remember very little except for snippets:
- PartyWorld's idea of Beef Jerky is spicy to the point of making my eyes water.
- Deep Fried Corn Kernels are very chewy and sticky and don't actually taste very nice.
- Kaz leapt on Nut, kneed him and then squashed him, for reasons nobody can recall.
- Everyone loudly sang angsty songs at the top of our lungs, just for Azza.
- Nutley seems to enjoy howling Really Cheesy Old Stuff.
- Carmen and I were startled and partially deafened when Nutley suddenly shrieked into the microphone.
- Barbie Girl is not as fun to sing when the boys refuse to participate.
- Carms knows songs that nobody else knows..! XD
- Chedter may well be the only chinese person in the world who can not sing Kan Guo Lai.
- Everybody loves to sing a Justin Song.
- Shouting is A LOT OF FUN.
- Nutley kept bellowing even after the rest of us had gone hoarse.
Friday 1st August
Every horse's birthday. And the arrival of Ches and Azza. Extreme glee ensues..!!
5:00pm-ish
Three familiar faces tentatively poke their heads in office door.
Excitement - it's Kabs and Carmoos and Nutley!
Quick bag change at my house, then off to fix up new accommodation for the Sydneysiders..
Arrived at the motel where they were supposed to be staying.
Completely dingey looking el cheapo place, with a shoddiness not too far off from the kinds of ramshackle portable "cabins" that people use for school camps.. eww. Stuck my nose in the room.. and nearly died.
Musty smell, hospital-like curtains, prison-like small beds, awful awful bathroom and NOT MUCH ELSE.
Hustled out of there quick-smart and arranged to stay elsewhere, just a minute or two down the road.
The Tudor Best Western was a noticeable improvement as soon as we parked the car. Stepping into the reception and the smell was clean and warm and cosy..! MUCH better. Nutley and Carmoo were much happier with this motel..!
I did a little scarf dance in the lobby while Kabs read the newspaper and Carmoo recounted a story about a cute hand-reared lion having a reunion in the wild with its adoptive human parents and Nutley tried to haggle with the receptionist :)
The room was nice. I bounced on all the beds to test whether they were any good, and then straightened out the blankets to hide evidence that they'd been jumped on ^_^ Carmoos and Nutley's bed was best in terms of trampoliney boinginess, so I flopped down on that with Kaz and we watched Carmoo WoW for a little bit on her laptop.
..man, my laptop's graphics and net connection must be really terribly awful, because on the Macbook Pro, WoW looked effiging AWESOME. I marvelled, and Kaz rolled her eyes :D
So after Nutley had sorted out grownup things, we trotted off to find dinner.. asian hotpot, aww yeah. Experience was only marred by slightly-less-than-ace service and my getting anxious about precisely what sort of people were arriving, after overhearing pieces of phone conversation between Nutley and the other two who were still on their way to Melbourne at that point..
8:00pm-ish
Ate too much. Near waddled back to car, full of tofu and beef and taro and lai noodles.
Ches and Azza's flight was delayed, so we went to the airport anyway to pick up Nutley's hire car, drove back to Kaz's to drop off her car, and went back to the airport again all in the hire tarago to pick up the boys.
11:30pm-ish
Text message from Chedter: "The zeppelin has arrived".
The chaos begins with the arrival of Ches and Azza..
Sometime after midnight
Arrive at Crown Casino, so that the boys can get fed and also see what melbourne recreational gambling is like.
Azza discovers he has somehow mysteriously injured his tongue.
Speculation as to how it got that way follows.
Kaz finds that rainbow gelato is bubblegum flavoured, and the kind of bubblegum that is not at all to her taste.
Caro learns that gambling is complicated, and proceeds to space out for the rest of the evening.
Thursday 31st July
Nutley arrives. More glee ensues.
However we decide it shall be a quiet night in preparation for the weekend to come, so nothing happens.
Had I known he was staying at the Stamford again, I might have come out just for the sake of ironing something.. and finding out what brand/model of steam iron the Stamford uses, because I was so enamoured of the dragon-like steam-puffing action of the one I found in Nutley's room last time he was in melbourne.
Wednesday 30th July
Dinner with Carmoos and Kabbenication at Automatic in Crown. Carms orders the turkish version of lamb souvlaki. It arrives looking somewhat like a Giant Bread Clam. We are in awe.. it is an intriguingly shaped food. Kaz elects to go with the more conventional dinner option of spaghetti, and I end up with a nice chorizo sossie pizza topped with tomato and cheese and basil and stuff.
It is way too big for me to eat on my own.
In the end, the Giant Bread Clam of Yoghurted Lambiness proves too much for Carmoos also and she ditches the bread halfway through and just scoops out its guts to munch on :)
Kaz dashes off at 8:30 to go to work, leaving Carmoos and myself to ponder leftovers and whether or not dessert is an option.
..it isn't. We're both completely stuffed full >_<
We take my remaining half-pizza and wander out to Southbank to walk off the effects of overeating.
Carms spots the Giant Ferris Light-Up Wheel on the Yarra, so I drag her over to have a close up look.
She then notices that, oddly, the Giant Sky Wheel seems to get smaller as we get closer.
And it really does. We ponder this strange melburnian optical illusion as we wander Birrarung Marr.
Once there, the Sky Wheel does not look at all interesting. And the ice-cream truck next to it is closed :(
Slightly disheartened by this discovery, we decide to head back to Carmoos' hotel by tram.
Daydreaming, I completely miss our stop >_<
..we end up in Docklands. Which is pretty by night, but nothing much seems to be happening at all. Wednesday night appears to not be exciting in any part of this city.
Waiting for the tram back, we ponder the Safeway ad on the side of the tram stop.. a geriatric man appears to be Excited at the prospect of eating a wedge of watermelon.
We ponder how much one gets paid to pretend to eat fruit, and whether he ate it in the end, and whether holding such a big smile for the photo made his mouth sore.
We do eventually get on the tram, and back off at the correct stop.
I get to see Carmoos' hotel room, which is much much nicer than the one she was in last time. At least this one is a spacious room with a desky and a proper bathroom and a tv cupboard with mirrors on it and a wardrobe with mirrors on it (is there no end to the mirrors..?!) and two bedside tables and a good view of Southern Cross Station. If any more Pumpkins occur, Carmoos will be the first to notice ^^
I brought cupcakes, so Carmoos examines them and we ponder whether or not the sparkly chrome glitter sprinkled on said cupcakes is, in fact, edible.
Carms then proceeds to show me the cookbook that came with her hotel room. Apparently strange qantas accommodation deals occur on occasion where you are able to get a room for cheaper if you agree to let them give you a cookbook..? We flick through it, but there's not really much use for a cookbook when the room has no kitchen of which to speak.
Is getting late, so I trot off home (and to deliver my leftover pizza to Kaz so it can be her supper/breakfast on night shift).
Turning in to Clifton Hill, my car comes face-to-face with some moron who decides to drive in to oncoming traffic.
Luckily because it is late there isn't a whole lot of traffic behind me. I growl in my head at the driver, and go on my way.
Arriving at the hospital with my pizza box, I encounter two security guards who grin cheekily and insist that Kaz said I could leave the pizza with them.
Kaz appears and claims her pizza :) Nothing else of note occurs on my way home, except that I take advantage of the near-empty freeway to coast along and sing at the top of my lungs :D
Tuesday 29th July
Carmoos arrives in Melbourne. Glee ensues.
posted by c.a.r.o.l.i.t.h.e. at 11:58 pm
1 Comments:
Caro~ immensely comprehensive! o_O I'm assuming you wrote this after a session of WOW???
I think you forgot we visited Winsome and gave her choccies and tissues :)
Just wondering, do you write your posts in chronological order or the order they're shown?
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