Report from DownUnder…Paulette’s most wonderful adventure

G’day mates, I’m sitting here waiting for the girls to wake up…man can these girls sleep!  As usual I’m restless, I’ve already cleaned a few things in the house this morning, Laura has to be out by tomorrow so everything has to be shipshape.  It feels like all we do is clean and make clandestine trips to dump gargage in dumpsters!  Tonight the girls and Darrick (Laura’s cute and really nice boyfriend who got hair so curly that your fingers would get stuck in them!) are having a get-together for all the friends that are remaining, the goal is to drink all the booze that’s left before they leave.  I might have to help them out in that department.  So far, the only wildlife I’ve seen was in the Billybong Sanctuary…yes I held a Kuala, so did Jane.  Oh yes, Jane came to visit last weekend.  Picture this girls…Jane sharing a mattress on the floor with me and Laura has an infestation of ants in her house so there’s these tiny little ants all over the place….Jane was frieking out, she put every thing up on chairs and tables, by the second day she gave up!!  While she was here we went up the coast to Cairns and then on to Port Douglas.  It was an awesome ride, with breathtaking scenery all the way there.  We went up in the rainforest, sky rail on the way up, old fashioned train on the way down…all the while amazing scenes all around us. 

Port Douglas is cute, hippish with lots of shops, restaurants and bars.  We took a detour on our way back to Townsville and went to Millaa Millaa to see some falls.  Thank God Darrick was driving because Jane and I couldn’t have!!  It was like a rollercoaster ride, I thought I was going to be sick a few times…however, the wild ride was worth it.  It’s absolutely beautiful up in that area, farmland, very luscious and green with rolling hills and different palm trees, banana trees and ‘Lion King’ trees, you know the ones with huge canapies. 

Hey Barb, I saw a winery sign called ‘Murdereing Point Wineries’ makes you want to drop in for a tasting doesn’t it!? 

I’ve been doing some cooking while at Laura’s, restaurants are expensive and the food has been hit and miss so far.  In Cairns we went out to this really posh place called ‘Red Ochre Grill’ it was the best food so far.  Laura and Jane were very adventurous and went for the ’Taste of Australia’ menu at $66 per person!!  Hang on to your chairs girls here’s what they had:  first course appetizer tray of:

Kangaroo Terrine; Emu Pate; Crocodile Wonton; Deep Fried crocodile with a fancy sauce; wild prawns; Flamingo rounds with goat cheeze; Lemon Myrtle octopus; KaKadoo Plum; Capcicum Jam.  Jane loved the octopussy!  Laura loved the crocodile.  The main course:

Kangroo and Emu Steaks served with sweet potatoes/bok choy/fancy potatoes with dill/rice.   For dessert:  Chocolate Slut….really..I swear!  The only black note of that evening was the waitress…bitchy.  Next on the agenda is Brisbane (Nov. 29) from there I go to Canberra for the weekend to visit Jane, the girls and Darrick are going to Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay, we will meet in Melbourne (Dec. 4).  We end up in Sydney (Dec. 8).  we are staying on Bondi Beach …apparently it’s a cool place according to the girls. 

I’m having a tough time adjusting to the heat, I get these episodes of light-headedness….yes more than usual….we have to drink a lot of water that’s for sure.  I wear a hat all the time, the weather has been around 35 degrees each day, it rained last night though so it’s cooler right now.  Nobody wears pants here, skirts and shorts and sandals.  I’m amazed at the number of people who walk barefoot…on the hot pavement!  Next report….My Canbarra visit with Jane. 

Ta Ta  and hugs to all of you,

Paulette

This entry was posted on November 27, 2007 at 6:37 pm and is filed under Trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.