QLD- Part 1

At 5am Sat morning I woke up, ready for our holiday to QLD. From that moment it's been a cavalcade of events. Here's some notes (sorry for lack of pics, they'll follow when I get home).

SATURDAY
Everything went without a hitch on the way to the airport, which is always a good way to start. The flight went pretty well. Isaac had plenty to keep him entertained, which meant our trip was pleasant.

When we got to the airport it was straight to get bags, then to find our hire car. When we got there it was pretty clear our car wasn't ready (ie when the lady called the guys out back and said "can you put the baby seats in"). I guess they didn't want to go to all that effort and we didn't show. Eventually we got out car about 25mins later. Just like the "Seinfeld" episode. Around me there were people getting upgraded left, right and centre due to a lack of cars that had seemingly been booked. There was also the classy "charging you $330 now for the insurance" fee incase I had an accident, which they'd cheerfully refund if I didn't.

From here it was off to the Benn's to get set-up and ready for the wedding. On the way we stopped off at Myers to grab a shirt for the wedding. I did my "looking like a shoplifter" thing as I was in a hurry and had no idea what I wanted and was just cruising around the store looking very randomly at things. I'd no sooner settled on a style when Tara called me, worried, to check what that I was buying something fashionable. Seemingly I wasn't, so she came and looked at shirts while i waited with the sleeping boys. I was happy with her choice. You'll see some pics soon.

We got settled at the Benn's then headed off to the wedding. I got to see all of about 5mins of it due to Isaac's continually loud questions, so we spent most of it outside. At this point I should mention this was the wedding of Tara's dear school friend, Diana. The only people I knew at the wedding were Tara, Isaac and Elijah and Diana. It's pretty weird not even knowing the groom. If you know me you'd know the first thing I would have thought of was "who am i going to be sitting next to on our table at the reception". It's daunting when you know, definitely, you won't know anyone on it.

Several hours later my question was answered. Our tablemates included Marcus, a minister of 40+ years, Trish, who looked like Maxine McKew but I was still sure I knew her and Helen, one of the friendliest people ever. The average age on our table was 50ish, with Tara and I helping keep that under 60. Good people though.

The reception was great. Great food, some great people and some great speeches. My favourite part of receptions outside the food is the speeches, and while it was weird listening to speeches from people you'd never met about people (except Diana) you didn't know, it was still entertaining. Several of the speakers (about 3 of the 8 or so who spoke) were experienced ministers and speaking was obviously a gift. Picked up some good material to steal for any future wedding speeches I may take part in. The groom, Peter, spoke really well and said some lovely things. Even though he quoted Jack Johnson, his speech was one of the best I've heard from a groom. Funny AND romantic.


SUNDAY
Got up early and solved my dilemma about how to return the hire car and get to Surfers by 10am. Decided I'd drive the family to Surfers, drive the car back to the Airport, then train it back myself. Long story, but one of the issues was the "dropping the car off to a different location which is a real pain for us so we'll charge you $100" fee which i couldn't stomach. Man the banks have nothing on car hire companies. Just before we got to Surfers we rang and asked naively about returning the car to Surfers, to which they said "no problem". No charge! The first of several blessings we were to experience on the trip which saved some nice $$$.

Got into Surfers, returned the car and was told they'd refund the $330 in 5-10 days. Couldn't be bothered arguing, but let's just say I won't use EUROPCAR again. (I bet they'd regret that if they knew who I was and the potential audicence of 6 billion this blog is accessible to). After this we got set-up, looked around, did our shopping and laid low.


MONDAY
Pretty easy day. Headed to Cavill St Mall, had a wander and settled on some seafood for lunch. I become transfixed on watching the restaurant owner. He was a machine. He inspired me to own a restaurant. Great service and was watching over his staff like a hawk to make sure they properly serviced all customers. Then hit the shops. I bought some fake basketball boxers from a fake gangster shop. The lady annoyed us both so much by continually telling us how much stuff cost and how good it was that we didn't buy anything else out of spite.

In the arvo hung by the pool, then spent the night in. I got to watch "On The Couch" and a Crowded House doco so I was happy.


TUESDAY
"Dreamworld" day. Headed early over to "Dreamworld" where I'd never been before. To our surprise the place was pretty quiet, we assumed just because we were early. Nup- was quite all day. Never had to wait for a ride. Isaac loved it,he hit the rides hard and loved the animals. Pretty sure his two favourite parts of the day though were the lollipop we got him and the bus ride there. I on the other hand couldn't believe my luck with how quiet it was. Day capped off by me winning a stuffed toy for Isaac on the basketball game. Sure, i think the girl had just had a quiet day and was being generous, but Isaac was loving it.

At night got some take away from the little man in the booth near our motel. His name is Danny and we've struck up quite a friendship. He's passionate about his take away. Think I'll be going there again real soon. It couldn't be closer, is cheap and serves most of my favourite foods ie burgers, fish and chips and Chinese. Danny would have to be in my top 2 restauranteers in Surfers.

After dinner had been eaten and the boys went to bed, Tara and I sat and had a little chat on the balcony outside enjoying the great view, then came in and watched an awesome show called "Millionaires Mission". Amazing on so many levels. Basically a bunch of British millionaires have gone to Africa to help with some projects. Strangely their way of working isn't going quite as well for them here and it's fascinating watching one people group trying to impose their principles and beliefs on another people group and trying to achieve something. Check it out.


That it's for now, stay tuned for more exciting upcoming adventures including tomorrow's breakfast Tara booked us in for. It's free........all we have to do is listen to a property seminar message for an hour. The last time i went to one of these with Andy and Murray in Florida in 1998 I'd made them give up within about 13 seconds. Can I do it again or even beat my record? Check-in in a few days to find out.