3 months in a leaky boat

or perhaps I should say 3 months is a little late but then it is my party and I’ll cry if I want to.

Yesterday, I had a party. There was rain, friends, food, fairy lights and good times. Leading up to yesterday evening I knew it was going to rain at some stage but I was wishin’ and hopin’ that it would hold off. It didn’t and it rained as people arrived and it rained as we ate nibblies and it rained again as we had dinner. By then all I was wishin’ and hopin’ for was that it would clear for dessert so we could bathe in the speckled light of 928 fairy lights strung up on the verandah. It did clear and we then finished off the night in a magical atmosphere on the verandah under the sea of fairy lights. As we eat the leftovers and take photos of the food I will post them. I can say now though that I was happy with the food and Karl’s Sangria recipe is very very very nice indeed.

I wanna sit and talk and laugh with you all
Dinner time

sugar and spice and all things nice
This was my birthday cake, but we didn’t sing Happy Birthday so is it still birthday cake or just a celebration cake? Hailing from the wonderful pages of the Dec 03/Jan 04 issue of Delicious is this very yummy Rosewater Cream Berry Meringue Stack. Raspberries, Blueberries, Strawberries, Cream and Rosewater, need I say more?
Rosewater Berry Meringue Stack

Out on the patio we would sit…
Under the Fairy Lights

We’d watch the lightning crack over canefields
926, 927, 928. 928 Fairy Lights!

singing hail, hail, the gangs all here
From the school girls to the Indo Girl, to the 2nd year girls and then the 3rd year girls, these are the girls (plus a few absentees) who have in some way or another had an in influence into me growing into who I am today.

side by side one for all together we grew
Five years in bottle green, soccer/cricket/football games, sitting on the hill, playing music, doing group assignments, laugh central. Where else but in high school do you form a group of friends where the girls all have boys names for nicknames and are still used today? Fred/Candy, Doug/Kaliope and Guido/Dina and myself as Bill, I don’t think those times will ever be forgotten.
The Girls

Hey Joe
Concerts, Movies, and lots of chilling and chatting. One year of Indonesian together, four years and counting of fun filled adventures and laughs.
Indo Girls

they’re fun to have around
Really where do you start? The sweet little Nural who is both a 2nd year and a 3rd year girl who can always say something cute or Andrea, the girl who is me but not me (in her own words) or Rachy Rach (Marky Mark/Richie Rich) who is always up to having a rant about something and a good time.
2nd year girls

one and one and one is three
Some say she’s from Mars, I just say she does Law, Swinin’ down the street so fancy free, I just say she always has a smile. Clare and Georgie, the perfect pair to share my last year of uni with and the laughs have just kept coming since exams have finished.
3rd year girls

It wasn’t so much a 21st birthday party 3 months late but a celebration of where I have come from and where I am going now, a celebration of the end of schooling for the current time, for the girls who have I have met along the way and for the old to meet the new and to kick back and have a nice time.

Well the clock says its time to close now
I know I have to go now
I really want to stay here
All night, all night, all night

(3 months is a leaky boat is of course a of course a play on the title of the fabulous Split Enz song Six Months in a Leaky Boat)

(and big props to anyone who knows any of the the songs where the captions come from)

Hello Mr Drive-In

Several months ago as I was driving Sam home from her 21st present, she told me what I would need to do for her present to me. Which was basically just keep a night free, well with uni over for the year, I thought last night was a perfect night to take her up on the offer. I was then told that we had to be there are 6:30pm and it would take about 1hr to get there, so I sat and thought “I wonder what she has planned?”. On Monday when we were chatting Sam told me that I could wear whatever I wanted as there was no dress code. This got me thinking more and then the rest of the family popped in with suggestions as to what we could be doing. They ranged from going to the beach for Fish and Chips, actually only going 5mins down the road because Sam told me 1hr to confuse me, not actually going anywhere but just cruising the streets in Sam’s little Festiva or going to the Yatala Twin Drive-In.

My last guess was what we ended up doing. Many many months ago Sam and I were chatting and it came up that I have never gone to a Drive-In and she filed that little piece of information away for a later date :). Before we made the drive down we stocked up on a variety of different sugar sources to ensure that we would have a night of sugar induced hysterics, which we did of course end up having.

We were unsure of what the traffic would be like on the way down so we left a bit early and ended up having a long snack stop at Yatala Pies waiting for 6:30 to come around which is when the gates opened. We were both unsure how many people would be there since it was a Tuesday night and were quite surprised at how quickly the place filled up. The first movie we watched was Borat which was a total crack up and then A Good Year which was a decent yarn. Then it was home time and we cruised back up the M1 home with plans of future road trips we should do. Thanks Sam for a fantastic 21st present πŸ™‚

good to graduate

Well final marks came out the other day and all my fears of failing a subject in my last semester were quashed as I passed all my subjects remarkably well. This all means that my graduation status now says approved so in 2.5 weeks I will get a piece of paper that says I can now enter the real world πŸ™‚

It also means that I need to get kicking on my graduation dress as otherwise I will have nothing to wear underneath my robes πŸ™‚

Pumicestone Passage Kayaking

Mum and I had the most enjoyable weekend away. Though in saying that on Sunday arvo we were well and truly buggered. We were lucky to have the tide running with us on our way up to Mission Point on Saturday morning but returning on Sunday was a different story. It was just a matter of keeping paddling and setting a point ahead of you to reach. I don’t know about Mum but I know I spent a fair bit of the way home after lunch on Sunday just counting my paddle strokes up to 100 and then starting again. On Sunday arvo I think I was more than happy to never set foot in a kayak again as I just ached all over but when I woke up on Monday still slightly sore I was just about ready to jump back in the kayak and do it all again. Though I still reckon a little outboard on the back would be handy at times or perhaps just a sail.

One bad/good thing that came out of the weekend was the realisation that I really need to see someone about my feet as they constantly ached from using and resting them on the rudder peddles and now two days later they are still burning and I can only get some respite by wearing my Teva thongs which I have done 24/7 since getting home. Although I am all for getting a double feet transplant though I don’t think they do them yet. mmmm.

The weather was just magical, sunshiney days and a mild evening with not too many mozzies about. Spotting sting-rays, turtles, fish, sea cucumbers and various birds of prey in the water, the sky overhead and on the bank was great fun. As well as just chatting with the rest of the group or absorbing what people were saying.

All up we paddled about 50km which was a large step up from our previous paddling trips and was good training for a proposed trip next year of paddling across Moreton Bay across to either North Straddie or Moreton Island and then back.

And now all you are really after, which is of course the photos :).
Paddle!resting
Looking North
Shell and Sand
The Glasshouses
Hello Mr Web
Camp
Mangrove Helen Nest
Morning tea break
The Blue Dagger Pelicanus conspicillatus Mum exploring
Mum and I

Kayaking away

Well I did my last exam today πŸ™‚ Now I just have to wait to get all my results back and graduate πŸ™‚

Mum and I are going away for the weekend with NPAQ, to spend some time sea-kayaking the Pumistone Passage from the Bongaree boat ramp at one end of Bribie Island up to Mission Point for lunch and setting up camp before further exploring the passage in the afternoon.

It is shaping up to be a fantastic weekend away, well apart from the 99.9% certainty of been eaten alive by sandflies and mozzies no matter how much DEET you have on.

This shows the general Bribie area.

Anyway time for bed as we have early start in the morning and I can’t wait πŸ™‚

Study. Avoid Study.

There is really nothing that exciting to say as at the moment it is Study Week and all I have been doing is studying and avoiding studying by watching a couple of movies (Kuch naa Kaho was by far the best and Beautiful People came a close second), making biscuits, playing a few too many games of spider solitaire and that is really about all.

Study. Avoid Study. Study. Avoid Study. Repeat ad nauseum.