Orange Charger

So it's been ages again since I last updated. I don't know why. I guess a lack of time?

This is proving to be a bit of a difficult post to write. I'm not entirely sure why. I'm pretty tired today. And I've drunk a couple of beers. The beer usually makes me want to write and write and write. But not tonight. Tonight it is just sending me to sleep.

Friday night I had to get out of the house. There were a few of my Mum's friends over to go through her clothes and things. To see if there was anything here that they would like to keep. Either as mementos or just to wear. I thought that it was going to be a little bit heavy, and I didn't really want to be here for it. So I wasn't. I'm not opposed to the idea, I think that it's a good one. I just didn't want to be present, I sort of felt that it would be a little bit morbid. I'm not too sure how the night went, but I'm glad that I wasn't around for it.

So in order to get out of the way for the night I took Ria up on her offer to head off to Woodgate, the place that we spent Easter at this year. Her parents were there again for the start of the school holidays, so we headed off on Friday night so that I wouldn't have to drive there in one hit on the Saturday morning. We got as far as Gympie and checked into a motel there. I think that it was called the Hilltop Motel. It fulfilled our needs. They even had an excitable dog called Molly. She was a Shih tzu Maltese cross. We had Brodies for dinner. I got excited when I saw that you could buy 10 chicken wings for $3. When they were I handed to me I noticed that the bag was extremely cold. That wasn't what I expected. Still, I rolled with the punches and took them with me. They were actually pretty good for cold wings.

A Fish Called Wanda was on the television that night.

Ria and I woke early on Saturday morning and hit the open road fairly early. We hadn't had breakfast and were searching for a service station at which we could buy our breakfasts. We were searching for a Mobil in particular. Unfortunately we didn't find it. We did find a fish and chip shop that was open though. The guy in there cooked us some breakfast. Ria had bacon, eggs, tomato and toast. I had toasted ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches. I also had a serve of chips. The guy seemed to pour his heart and soul into our meals. He looked like he really tried hard. It was pretty good. I was disappointed that mine hadn't been cut in to smaller triangles. He had made only the one diagonal cut. Ria's was okay. The tomato was cut a little thick for her liking though. We each had a large mug of coffee. I was destined to stay awake for a while. Seeing as I was driving, this was a good thing.

Last time I went to Woodgate I forgot to pack my toothbrush. Do you know what I forgot to pack again this time? You're right. My toothbrush. I wasn't upset about this though, because I bought a toothbrush from the service station near the Woodgate turnoff. And it's a great toothbrush. And now I had an excuse to get a new one, because my old one was starting to look like a shaggy dog. My old one was lime green. My new one is orange. It's fucking sick.

Ria and I arrived safely at Woodgate around 10:30 I think. It was just as I remembered. A beautiful part of the world. Very relaxing. It was good to see Ria's family again. We just hung out all day. Down on the beach. Under the shade of a tree. Reading books. Swimming. Reading magazines from last year. Good times.

Later on in the afternoon Ria's cousin's arrived and this was good too. Those boys have a lot of energy.

For dinner we went up to the pub and had a steak. I had several beers. It was good. We walked home and I went to bed.

Next morning I woke up and ate some pineapple for breakfast. Then I walked with Ria up the beach. And then back again. On the walk she collected some shells and I tracked some mystery animal. We tried to guess whethere the tide was coming in or out. It was coming in. It was lovely.

This was all before 9:30.

At 10 am the inaugral Woodgate Markets kicked off. Apparently they will be held on the last Sunday of every month if anyone's interested. Apart from some nice seafood and vegetables, the rest of the items on sale was crap, or close to it. It was on the grounds of the pub though, so I guess you could just get drunk. Whatever.

After scoping out the markets it was time for another swim. It was terrific. After the swim we air-dried whilst reading in the shade on the beach. It was lovely.

I know that I harp on a bit about how it was all lovely, and nice and relaxing, but I can't stress how relaxing it really was. I could have stayed all week. It would have been great. There's nothing to do, and there's no-one there and it's fantastic. Just really nice.

For lunch we had prawn sandwiches and then, unfortunately, it was time for Ria and I to pack our bags and head back home. So we did.

The trip home was almost uneventful. We listened to a Manpower compilation a couple of times. We stopped at the TramCars bakery in Gympie. Looked at some geese in Gympie. Got stuck in traffic near the Bribie Island turnoff and then finally made it home. A little tired, but still in one piece.

Louise, the director at the child care centre, is away on holidays for the next two weeks. This means that I have to pick up a few of her duties. That's okay though. One thing that was accomplished today, that isn't one of Louise's duties, was putting down new turf. My brother David did a great job, and I'm hopeful that this turf goes the distance. For a while at least. It was hot and hard work, but the lawns look great now. We just need to keep the kids off of them for the next few weeks and be diligent with our watering and they'll be good enough to host a grand final.

Tonight I have enjoyed a hot curry that my brother, Stuart, cooked. He says that there was no chilli in it, but it's a little bit spicy. Suspiciously spicy. I am now tired, and ready for bed. So I might go there soon. This will mean that I won't get to see Oz though. I think that I'll live.