my trip to aussie
MELS TRIP TO AUSTRALIA
Well here it finally is for all that are waiting for it. Sit back grab a coffee or whatever it is that you drink and prepare for a novel : ) well it'll be a few pages long anyway. I'm trying to decide whether to do it by days or as I remember things and I came to the conclusion that if I just type it all out when I remember them I can then change it back into days so days it is : ) This is for everyone and I hope that it is enjoyed by all. Anyway enough babble and I'll start the 'diary/novel' for you all to read. I hope you enjoy learning of Mel's adventures into the big wide world and hopefully soon enough I will have photos developed and I'll be able to stick some of those here too. Maybe if I just wait until the photos are done hmmmm well who knows but I know I'm writing this now so here goes:
Day 1 - Sunday
Leaving from Auckland International Airport
Waking up at 4am just to get to the airport to check in was just sooo much fun I could do it everyday…NOT!!! But it wasn't so bad coz I had Jase there with me. Now that was a hard bit, having to go away without Jase (but as we will learn soon enough I was never without contact with him) looking back in hindsight I wish we had spent the extra money on getting Jase his passport and ticket and having him come with me. Then that would have been a REAL holiday - getting Jase to meet some of my friends with me. Anyway I'm supposed to be telling you all about my trip. As I was saying it was 4am that we got up and then went straight to the airport. After checking in we had time to kill so we went for a walk around the mostly empty airport with nothing open yet. McDonalds was though so we had a McDonalds breakfast at 5.30am after a very quick goodbye so as not to spill too many tears I was boarding the plane at 6am ready for our 6.20 take off. The flight was pretty good they played some movie that I can't remember the name of it but I slept through half of it anyway so I don't think that's a real important part of it. Arriving at Brisbane at 8.30am (aussie time that is it was 10.30 back home) after telling Kylie that the flight was landing at 6.30am aussie time she wasn't all that happy with me having to get up nice and early either. But she quickly recovered when I walked out of customs. Silly duffa Mel was so not with it walking out of customs she almost walked straight past Kylie and that you could say would have been typical Mel :P we were staying in Brissy that night so we went and found a hotel to stay in. After a drive around Brisbane to have a quick look first that is. We finally settled in at the hotel Ibis in um lets see if I can remember the street name I THINK it was in George St or near one anyway : ) We had a lunch date with a few people in Brisbane and so after a quick sit down and having Hayd's go through my suitcase we packed up the buggy and headed on out for Jimmys Uptown where we were supposed to meet everyone. Well unfortunately for us only one person turned up and that was MethodMan1. I don't know what happened to the likes of Kimmee and DrTallica but later on I did find out that smoils went to both Jimmys on the mall and Jimmy's Downtown and couldn't find us there so she decided that we wouldn't be at Jimmy's Uptown but we were!! So we missed out on meeting smoils which would have been cool her being my cyber sis and all. But I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles isn't it? : ) after lunch we all (we being Kylie, Chris, Hayd's and myself) went for a walk along Southbank which Mel couldn't grasp the name properly and kept calling it South Park instead!! But ah well. After the weather doing all sorts of weird stuff I manganed to find a ice-cream stand along Southbank which was a rather good thing seen as the ice-cream was NEW ZEALAND Natural ice-cream and so I made a big deal of it hehe of course : ) back to the hotel for a little sit down and I rang home to tell them I arrived in Oz nice and safetly and I ended up talking to Jase for about an hour which by the way is a major deal seen as his normal phone conversation is about a minute tops : ) so I was feeling rather special : ) Oh yeah I forgot to mention that all throughout the day I was in and out of shops buying a million souveniers - I was the 'typical tourist' as Kyl's called me : ) but I can live with that name - its just some other names that I hate :P hehehe. We ordered in room service pizza and wedges and after organising a baby-sitter kyl and I went out to the movies. We saw City of Angels which I had already seen but had promised Kyl that I'd take her when I was over there so off we went. After me almost falling asleep from exhaustion we wandered back to the hotel stopping at one more souvenier shop on the way back. We talked for a bit and then both zonked out for the night.
Day 2 - Monday
Going to Toowoomba
Well we were up sometime in the morning (I can't remember what time exactly!!) We went for another walk around the shops in brisbane and I bought heaps more souveniers and gifts for everyone back home. We went to Mt. Coot-tha and took a lot of scenic photos. Well I did anyway : ) Its very beatiful - you can see most of Brisbane from up there. Then we were on the way to Toowoomba. It was about a 2 hour drive and I was in the back seat with Haydn who for a 16 month old kid knows exactly where to grab a woman!! But I survived : ) We even drove past a McDonalds all the way out in the wop wops I found that to be quite weird considering we only got a maccas two years ago and we're in the wop wops too. But that's something for maccas to think about not me. We got into Toowoomba about 6pm and organised some food etc then headed down to the internet café. Complete addicts both me and Kyl. After our walk home I got a call from Jase and was on the phone for some time and then headed for bed.
Day 3 - Tuesday
More Shops
We hit the shops of Toowoomba and I think my credit card felt it quite hard!! Hehe. We organised the trip to Sydney and rang a few people from the payphone Dad and Dave I think it was. Oh and my sister too. That was good saying hi to everyone. We basically spent the whole day in town walking around having a look and shopping. But that's the point of holidays right??? :P I wasn't feeling all that well - I think it was a cold that I was still shaking from before coming and I went to bed nice and early to feel better.
Day 4 - Wednesday
Yet again more shops
Today was pretty much the same as yesterday just crusin around looking at the shops and mucking around. I was sick for most of the day and wasn't really feeling that well. I can't really remember much of Wednesday to tell the truth!!
Day 5 - Thursday
The day before Sydney
We went to the shops AGAIN!! Made the final bookings and paid for the flight to Sydney and organised some stuff to take with us for the flight (ie lollies :P ) We had Hayds with us and were in Grand Central staying there most the day. I managed to drag Kylie into a photo booth and we had the photo stickers taken. Both of us agree they are yukky photos but I suppose I say that to all my photos so whats new there? We were a little bit late home and suffered the consequences there. For those of you who don't know what happened well someday I might tell you but for now I'm still trying to forget it so that's all I'll say there.
Day 6 - Friday
SYDNEY HERE WE COME!!
After getting up about 4 am and showering before getting ready completely and then sitting in the cold waiting for the airport shuttle it finally arrived about 6am. Another two hour drive back to brisbane and straight to the airport. We had breakfast in the airport after going through the metal detectors and I made it beep!! That was embarresing I can tell you!! Then at 9 we were on the plane ready for take-off : ) YaY we were finally going!! After landing and walking off the plane we did what I almost did to Kylie and that is walk right past Michael who was picking us up!! He sneaked up behind us and gave us both a fright! I mangaed to get my ear stuffed and couldn't hear anything out of my right ear until about midnight that night! Well I'm sure you can all guess what we did from there - that's right we went shopping!!!! Wow your getting good there!!! LoL. We went out for dinner at LoneStar a steakhouse saloon sorta place. It was really cool the whole atmosphere and everything. Mick and I played a dirty on Kylie and got the waitresses to come over and sing her 'happy birthday' but by the time we'd both had a few vodkas she wasn't all THAT fussed. She called us a few names but we all got over it. After that we went back to our FLASH hotel in Elizabeth Bay and as we found out later it actually might as well have been in Kings Cross as that's what our view was of!! Then came the glorious part….Sleep!!!!
Day 7 - Saturday
Meeting everyone
We got up and had maccas (yes I know we'd all but been living on the stuff since I'd been there) for brekky in Kings Cross and were going to organise a trip on the harbour seen as that's what I wanted to do but realised that to make it to meet everyone we wouldn't make it and put the cruise off until tomorrow. On the public transport of Sydney was an adventure all in itself. I mean I've been on trains before but this was totally different. Its all automated tickets etc and back home we actually go to a person and ask for the tickets but it was still cool. We got into the heart of Sydney a little early and I bet you've already guessed what we did to pass the time. That's right!! You're all so clever!! We went SHOPPING!!!!! LOL . I rang my sister to find out what it was she wanted for mum for a xmas pressie coz I'd lost the piece of paper and in the end we never made it to the jeans factory so I didn't get it for her but ah well. So after a bit more shopping we headed towards the Sydney Town Hall - the meeting place decided upon by stinky as 'central'. When we got there Jason and Ali were waiting for us so we started saying hellos and the usual jabbering. Then for some reason we must have pissed off the gods coz it started raining so we moved under shelter and started taking photos and taping on the video camera (note from Mel - after finally viewing the tape theres nothing from the steps on it) I happened to notice two guys over the other side staring at us and clicked that it was Steve and Mike aka stinky and sneezy. So finally we had everyone there that was supposed to be and we kept on taking photos and being general idiots. Then of course came the hunger pangs so we headed off to McDonalds. LOL what a bad idea that was for me. In the middle of maccas after ordering and all holding our trays we were looking for somewhere to sit down when I managed to turn slightly and unbalance my tray. And yes my drink went flying off all over the floor!! Luckily Mike got me another one and the maccas crew did the clean up (we got a pic of the 'site' after they'd been there and when i fix the scanner there will be lots more pics for u to look at) So after the incident with my drink we found a place to sit that could fit all 7 of us and started to act like little children! we were throwing chips at each other and going thru each others bags, we managed to take a photo of down Kyl's and my tops and of course the littler of the children played in the playground *shaking head* what memories I'll have of this visit to maccas for the rest of my life :) After we'd all decided to grow up a bit (note I said BIT) and made a complete mess of maccas we packed up all our stuff and headed back outside to daylight. Standing on the footpath not knowing what we wanted to do we headed towards the direction of the movies maybe to go see one. Notice I said maybe... well we didn't make it there we ended up in a time-out arcade place. So we had a brilliant time there playing air hockey and there was a car racing game that fit six of us on (and if my shady memory serves me right it was stinky that won - but I'll have to check on that next time I talk to him) and then of course we found a photo booth :) The picture through the link pics is one of the ones that we had taken notice the name of it us-syd.jpg. So after spending an hour or so in time out we went back out into the daylight again and headed down to (see my memories gone and done it again) I THINK it was seaworld (but it was some theme park like that anyways) where the tiny teddy factory was. LOL 7 young adults ranging from 16-22 let loose with buckets of tiny teddys and an escalator near by is a sure recipe for disaster. And you can bet we made a mess :) The guys started throwing the teddies into the water and the security guys came over and they were warned :) So off we went for another little walk and came across a guy selling carictures and me being me had to have one so while I sat there doing my pose everyone else was doing a brilliant job of who could make me laugh the most. We walked back towards the hotel and at that point we lost Ali. Lost I say as in she had to go home we didn't really loose her!! I might be a blonde kiwi but I can proudly say I've never lost anyone before! So then there were 6. Back to the hotel we went with one thing in mind - having a few drinkie poos. Well I must admit that one member of the group had just a lil bit too much combined with the excitement of the day and leaned out over the railing of the balcony and decided to give a police car a lil pressie! This person shall remain nameless only if you think about it I'm sure everyone knows who it is - female not from Sydney - did I give enough clues there?? After sittin in the hotel room for a few hours swapping stories and going through each others wallets to see what was in there - none of us had much money so we looked at all the cards etc. We then decided to go out for a night out at Kings Cross. Only not all of us wanted to go out so the four of us that did got ready and left the other two behind to watch tv. After going out into the rain (yeah the gods still musta been mad coz it rained all day) getting soaked to the bone we found a club that wasn't selling what most of the others were (we were in Kings Cross - you figure it out) silly duffa Mel only had her NZ drivers licence and in NZ we only had paper licences with no photos! so I got turned away :( after walkin thru the rain and being turned down I had had enough and wanted to go back to the hotel room where Kyl and Steve still wanted to go out so we got a cab back to the hotel to drop off me and Mick while Kyl and Steve went out. Back in the hotel room where it was nice and warm and dry I got changed and lay in bed watching tv with the others. We had totally pulled apart the room (as you'll see in the pic's) coz there was 6 of us sleeping in there!! but I only paid for 2 people (me and kyl) so we were rather lucky bout that part. When Kyl and Steve got back we were sitting up till all hours talking away and having the obligatory pillow fight that comes when you have children in a hotel room. I think I fell asleep not too long after the fight finished and I have no idea when the others did.
Day 8 - Sunday
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Bad - the phone call to NZ where I told Jason that there was 6 ppl in the hotel room; Good - going on my cruise; Bad - saying good bye to everyone after such an awesome weekend; Bad - missing our flight by 5 mins; Good - maccas while we waited!; Bad - not sitting together on the next flight; Bad - not seeing anyone at the airport in Brisbane like we'd planned; Good - not missing our bus to Toowoomba; Bad - falling asleep on the bus while holding a half full can of coke in my hand; Ugly - getting home and the next day
Ok for those of you who know what happened here then you know but for personal reasons I'm missing out Sunday night and Monday - all I'll say is that I'm now in Brisbane staying with friends of the family and I was going home early.
Day 10 - Tuesday
In Brisbane with the Chappel/Lloyd family
WoW what a big and beautiful house! It was like staying in a castle!! Everyone was working 'cos they didn't know I was coming so I had a sleep in (bliss!) and went to meet Kaye at work for lunch and then did some more shopping!! (and even after I got home I STILL wasn't shopped out!) we had a beautiful home cooked dinner (no maccas for once!) and went to bed
Day 11 - Wednesday
Going Home
Had another early start to get to the airport on time for my flight. Anna dropped me off and we said goodbye at the airport then she had to go to work. Spent two hours in the airport waiting for my flight to be called did some MORE shopping at duty free for some pressies for everyone and some souveniers for my scrap book. While I was waiting I did a survey and got a lil gold kangaroo pin :) I got back to NZ lunch time and while I was waiting to be picked up (go on guess what I did - I dare ya too!) I had maccas! LOL
Conclusion to my now novel (its too long to be a story) is that we spent a few days in Auckland having our own holiday and went back home on Saturday afternoon after having my car repaired coz it was a hunk a junk!
OH MY GOD ITS ALMOST TWO YEARS LATER AND I FINALLY MANAGED TO FINISH THIS DAMN THING!!!
I think it needs some updating tho. First off I am no longer with Jason (not that its heartbreaking anymore - for those that know the story will agree and those that don't maybe one day I'll tell ya if ya ask nicely) And second off I'm back at home hence being on the net but we all kinda knew that already hey.
Well boys and girls that was my trip to aussie! I hope you enjoyed reading all about my adventures and now that I'm planning on going back in 2001 I'll have to update this page again after that trip!