Australia Says 'No' to Photos

We were cruising the streets of Daisy Hill last week when we came across these placards displayed in a front yard. Having been set firmly in tourist mode for the past two years (which involves viewing things in a flippant, jesting kind of way) I resolved to take pictures of the signs, because they made me laugh. So, after we parked, I walked back down the street and started clicking away in the most covert way I knew how (looking straight ahead as I walked, clicking shots on the side). In retrospect, I should have spent a little time staking out the property, but how could I have known? After I took the last snap I heard an aggressive voice call out, "Hey! You want a picture of me with the sign mate?"

The owner of the placards stomped out of his carport, brushing aside his punching bag as he came. I toyed with the idea of running, but, taking into account the oppressive humidity, my foolhardy decision to wear jeans, and my propensity for nose-bleeds, soon decided against it. Besides, he had a dog, who had made much wiser wardrobe choices.

"Oh, Hi there," I said, as if he just had offered me scones.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Julian Lewis" I said, as if it carried some kind of meaning. It did not.

He went on to grill me about every aspect of my life, convinced I had been sent by Education Queensland to document his public demonstration against the primary school across the street. I told him I had not, and soon provided him with enough detailed information (withholding my mother's maiden name) to satisfy him that I was probably not a spy. My shaken and stirred manner probably supported the argument.

I asked him what he was protesting about, and he said he had been laid-off unfairly as the groundskeeper from the school across the road. He was not eager to talk about the reasons for his dismissal, so I chose not to push it.

We left on good terms, though I really regret not taking him up on his initial offer to photograph him with the sign. Still, I guess if I had, I might have been typing this story with a pencil in my mouth.

Space Invaders

After 26.5 hours in the air/airports, we arrived back in Australia. Pre-flight I was stressed about trying to balance when I should sleep to reduce jet lag with how many movies I could get in without being stuck in the middle of one when the crew switch off the system for landing. I really shouldn't have worried. When everyone else started happily watching their first movie, I realised to my horror that the screen on my in-flight entertainment system wasn't working. The look on my flight attendant's face when I told him of the problem informed me that I would just have entertain myself for the next 13 hours until they could get an engineer in to fix the problem.

With little else to do but sleep, I spent some time glancing around the cabin, feeling very fortunate that I had narrowly missed sitting next to the Ogre that Julian and I named 'Space Invader'. He was ticketed to sit next to me, but switched seats with another couple at the last minute. He enjoyed reading newspaper spreads, putting elbows on both armrests, and putting his feet up on the wall in front of him so that no-one else could get past. Most unfortunately, Space Invader did claim his rightful seat for the second leg of our journey. Every time I started to drift off to sleep, an elbow would hit my ribs, or a blanket would be flicked in my face when he moved. And given that he did not speak any English, and clearly didn't understand body language, I'm not sure why he tried to initiate conversation every time I pressed play on my ipod.

From time to time the Ogre's wife would come and visit him, calling out over Julian and me, to have conversations. It didn't matter that we had been asleep. She even stood on Julian's foot at one time while she was loudly conversing in french.

I'd like to say we got our own back on that flight, but life doesn't always work out that way.

Australia Wedding

As many of you know, Julian and I flitted back to the land of Oz in August for my Sister Abbie's wedding. After a grueling 2 nights with no sleep, we were happy to be greeted by our much loved family for a truly jam-packed 10 days, involving hens nights, dress trials, cup-cake making, and general wedding preperations. (Okay, so Julian wasn't involved in all of those things).



We made four different types of wedding cup-cakes, white chocolate, dark chocolate, caramel and fruitcake, and boy were they delicious.



The wedding day was as good as it could have been, with the torrential rain and cyclonic winds politely pausing for all the important moments. It was such a great opportunity to enjoy great company and great food at the same time as celebrating a new addition to the family.