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Thursday, October 30
[Annoying thing #341]posted by pete at 13:52I thought it was such a good find when I purchased my metallic silver briefcase-sized CD carrying case. Of course, now that I've loaded it with discs and, concerned about the weight, rang the airline, it seems there is some doubt as to whether I'll actually be able to take it on board as cabin luggage.
They told me it will depend on who I speak to at check in, ie. if I luck out and get someone lenient. That's the sort of dice game I don't need at the moment, especially since I'll be going to the airport by my lonesome self and therefore will have nobody to give any 'excess luggage' to. The dilemma is made even worse by the fact that I'm supposed to be shipping all my unwanted CDs and empty cases back to Adelaide with Jess tomorrow.
What to do, what to do? I sure as hell don't want to send my CDs in the cargo hold.
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[Wilson's Promontory]posted by pete at 08:50On a whim, Kate, Brooke, Jess and I decided to do a little weekender down to Wilson’s Promontory.
We set out around lunchtime on Saturday and drove straight into a torrential rainstorm. Much of the roadside scenery was therefore cloaked in mist and thus we were forced to withdraw into our own crazy little worlds… thank goodness we’d brought drinks for the road (but not for our responsible driver Jess).
The hilarious thing about the whole trip was that I never really knew where we were or where we were going.
So we rolled into a place called Foster, found the pub, then organised our accommodation near the entrance to Wilson’s Promontory.
Unfortunately our cabin stank of congealed sheep fat, as if someone had hidden freshly barbecued chops in the wall-mounted heating unit. Obviously the previous occupants had opted for flesh as their evening meal, and had actually forgotten to turn the grill off, which was pumping warmth into the room when we arrived.
Saturday night saw us enjoying a counter meal at the aforementioned pub, whilst taking care to avoid anybody wearing a cricket uniform or openly adjusting inappropriate bits of their anatomy. Look, we’re all rural folk so we know how to approach such situations.
The promontory itself is absolutely beautiful. The entire region is national park and the lovely landscape differs markedly from the more dreary adjacent parts of rural Victoria. I was reminded very much of some of the breathtaking sights I saw in New Zealand, albeit on a MUCH smaller scale here.
Suddenly it was revealed to us that we had all but run out of petrol and thus had to tap into the emergency supply that was thankfully available. They had to unlock the pumps for us. It was also revealed that the road went no further, and all other sights (such as an intriguing lighthouse) could only be reached by walking for about six hours. Needless to say, we are not the type of tourists who would get involved in such strenuous activity (and none of us were wearing cargo pants), so we surveyed the map for 10-minute walks.
Therefore we walked only the trails marked suitable for limited mobility, and then three of us got attacked by a red bird in the car park. I don’t know what that bird’s motives were for landing on Jess and I, sparing Brooke and flying at Kate’s face, but let me tell you there was no symbiotic relationship on offer between us and that demented corella or lorikeet or whatever it was. When the seagulls and ducks wanted in on the action, we left the nearby bemused Japanese tourists to contend with the menace and got the hell out of there.
On the way home we collapsed in a lovely café in a town called Fish Creek. At the end of our meal, the man who served us suggested that we’d been on a psychedelic holiday in search of the region’s magic mushrooms. Why this allegation? Simply because we couldn’t recount any details about where we’d stayed or been. Hey, it was a Sunday afternoon and we were exhausted from the weekend’s activities.
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[Southern capital]posted by pete at 16:52I thought I’d do a bit of a slapdash day by day account of my most recent Adelaide visit.
First was Wednesday’s road trip component, all 700km of it. Rural Australia flew by as we traversed the Western Highway with junk food and super CDs. Thus the week of madness was launched, beginning with a fun evening at Sonia’s. Unfortunately I had to sleep on a swag, which upset my vertebral alignment.
Sonia, doyen of everything, was involved in the launch of breast cancer awareness week (and had adroitly decorated a bra with beautiful beads and so on), so I went along to that on Thursday. It was like two birds with one stone: supporting a cause and grasping the opportunity to sip champagne (and eat Haigh’s chocolate hearts) in a mildly la-di-daa environment. Afterwards I dragged her and mum to a basement vegetarian café for an extremely healthy lunch. That afternoon I hit the suburbs to see mum and dad’s new house and spend quality family time™ with them, which was genuinely lovely. I’m so glad they live in Adelaide now.
On Friday I visited two sets of aunties and uncles and also squeezed in lunch with Filthy Ange, not to mention a near-legendary baking session with Pippa and Josh. That night I met up with a whole bunch of friends at the Bombay Bicycle Club. I’d picked this venue for two selfish reasons, the first being that I thought it would be the sort of chilled out place that we would go to by choice, and the second that it was about a minute’s walk from where I was staying. Only the second motivation proved valid, as it is little more than an Indian theme pub which draws a slightly creepy crowd (particularly in the front bar) and has a video jukebox, oh one minute it’s the Prodigy, the next it’s Darryl Braithwaite. Nonetheless, it was a great evening because we took over a significant part of the downstairs section and enjoyed overpriced refreshments.
Saturday was spent doing the family thing. At one point I ended up at West Lakes after checking out a car that Sonia has now bought, not that I had anything to contribute because I know nothing about vehicles. That night I attended Josh’s farewell party. He’s off to Canberra and put on quite a show, but I’d entertained this stupid notion of borrowing Sonia’s car (not the new one, she didn’t have that yet) because it seemed convenient and therefore I could not participate in the red wine festivities. Stupid me. Nonetheless I had a splendid time, and saw a number of uni friends who I’d all but lost touch with.
More family time on Sunday, but then I bussed back into the city to meet up with Selena and Sarina before dinner with resplendent people such as Janine, Lisa, Gossy and Sonia at the Vietnamese Palace. The flavours of South East Asia seemed to dominate my culinary excursions during the week.
Monday morning was spent with mum and dad, but then I was off to Port Elliot with Lisa, to stay with Sandra and Peter. Entertainment consisted of a bad restaurant meal followed by Monday night’s TV schedule coupled with our general hilarity. Whenever I visit that part of the world, it always proves restorative.
So on Tuesday we lolled about the South Coast for a while, then back to Adelaide and I had lunch with former workmates Chris and Beajaye before visiting Tree and Jono in their city abode and then meeting Trish and Alex for yet another dinner of South East Asian influence. Then I bussed it back to mum and dad’s.
Wednesday was devoted to aforementioned family time, which included walking in the spring heat and lunching in North Adelaide. (Speaking of the weather, I encountered all sorts from intense heat to flurrying cold, and thus made use of every single item that I packed, which might be a first.) I caught the plane home at 7:30.
I hope I haven’t forgotten anything.
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[Miles per hour]posted by pete at 21:21More flights booked and paid for... this time an Adelaide -> Melbourne leg. I'm going back for a few days next week. It's just the worst possible timing in terms of actually being able to catch up with people, and my time in Adelaide will be all too short unfortunately.
I still don't know how I'm actually getting there. Most likely it will be the road trip mentioned in an earlier post, but I may yet book a flight in order to arrive earlier. It seems that Sonia is off to Brisbane or something, so I'll hardly get to see her.
It's difficult juggling preparations for my first international move with efforts to catch up with everyone, but I'll do my best and it's not as if I'm never going to see anybody again.
Handed over the cash for the Tokyo flight today as well. Should I say, handed over my credit card number. Looks like my first few months in Japan will require some restorative saving, to chip bits off my spiralling credit card debt.
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[Narita]posted by pete at 20:586 months of travel insurance plus airfares to Narita (seemingly via KL, yuck) with an extra 20kg baggage allowance... it's a costly affair!
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