i figure it's been over a month since my last post. and since the laptop's been fixed (again) i really have no excuse.
u may wonder what i've been up to in the past month.
the main things i've done include a trip up to brisbane to visit the family, Jawsome bought a car while we were up there. there was a heap of running around to go with that, but eventually (after an extra day) it was finished and we could drive it back home.
we left brissie about 4pm. got back home at about 1.30/2am. and then i had to work 9-6 that day.
yeah i was so wrecked. took me a week to catch up on sleep.
the next weekend, the Teen arrived. i picked up the Dark Twin (one of Jawsome's sisters) and we headed off to the airport, which is a good 2 hr drive away. luckily i got to take the new car, or as we like to call it, Da Supra. with emphasis on "Da".
the Teen looked as if she was going to fall asleep on the way home. which is funny cause there's not much room in the back of Da Supra. and now that i think of it, Jawsome has named Da Supra. i can't exactly remember what he's called it. it's some old fashioned name. him and the Housemate have a list of really awesome old people names. like mavis, daisy, pearl, gertrude, etc.
yeah, they have a whole list. it's funny some of the ones they come up with. but he's called Da Supra one of those names.
anyway, back to my story......
so the Teen arrived on the saturday, that afternoon we got dragged off to play with Jawsome's family. he doesn't get to see them all very often, so it was an early christmas. and even Teen and myself got a little something. she got licorice and i got a jar of bo-peeps. i was set. Teen learned how to peel prawns. she was quite pleased with herself. and the family got her to take the family happy snaps. which i had to be in. i hate photos.
on the tuesday, we went off to Jawsome's parent's place to await the arrival of Jawsome and one of his mates. we left Da Supra at the parents and all piled into my Shitbox and started on our merry journey to Moonin Brook.
we met up with a motley crew of Jawsome's mates who now reside in newcastle. they had brought a total of 3 cars, making us now a 4 car convoy. many jokes were cracked about big rigs and the red leader.
to get to MB, we had to go over the barrington tops. in winter, it snows. and i found out after we had returned, that it had in fact snowed the weekend before we set out. which is odd cause it was late november at this stage.
i'll be able to post some pics i took along the way once i finish this post.
Jawsome took over the driving from glouster as apparently it was mostly dirt, and very steep. and he had been going to MB since he was 13.
it was a fairly hard drive. we had to stop part way to let out brakes cool down. and it wasn't just us. the whole convoy had hot brakes. so we stopped for about 5 mins and just had a big laugh about everything and cracked some more big rig jokes. there were 5 guys and 4 girls at this stage. so go figure.....
once we got over the first set of hills it was smooth sailing for a while. then the car in front of us stopped, his engine was getting too hot. the guy behind us drove like a grannie so it was up to us to chase down the first car (we shall call him Red Leader, purely because he was, in fact, driving a red VW golf, and he was in front....) and told him of the situation. it took us about 5 mins to catch up to him. and considering it was all uphill and we were in my shitbox, it was a pretty impressive effort. and my engine temp mever got hotter than halfway. take that 6cyl ford!!!
we stopped and chatted with Red Leader for probably about 10/15mins, and then the others caught up to us, and we set off on our final leg of the journey.
there were so many shenanigans on the way that i can't even begin to type them. one such shenanigan involved Jawsome's mate travelling with us (we'll call him Sasquatch cause he's bloody tall!!!) almost going through the back of my seat cause Jawsome was being silly. we had to dodge soooo many potholes that it ended up being a game. but we did have Red Leader in front, going through all the potholes, so we just kept an eye on him and dodged the ones he hit.
when we finally got to MB, we unpacked the cars, chose our rooms and put the food and drinks in the fridge.
there were 3 rooms in the main house, with a double bed and a single in each, and the outside room had about 10 bunks.
we were told it was a old schoolhouse. Teen and i stood inside the old schoolroom (with the bunks) and we both revealed later that we both had a weird feeling about that particular place. the main house felt fine, but the bunkroom jsut felt odd. once Teen posted pictures of it on her myspace, she got a message from my best mate, Glamourcide. turns out she'd had a dream about that place (she's never been outside QLD) and she was in the bunk room and it felt bad and she woke up in a cold sweat. it's pretty freaky when that shit happens. cause i had a dream where something happened to her but she was pregnant at the time. turns out she was, but hadn't told anybody. lol. she was pretty spooked when i told her.
but anyway........
within half an hour of arriving, the boys set off to work. about 100m from the main house is the brook itself. and over previous years, the kids had started to build a dam everytime they went.
this time though, there were about 6 people working on it. and by the 2nd day, they had made it to the middle. they've never managed to do that before. i even helped. it was bloody cold! and the rocks were heavy, but it was still fun.
the entire time there pretty much revolved around the dam. Red Leader was determined to finish it. He even wanted it higher. maybe in the future we'll be about to get more people, cause the place sleeps about 20, so we should be able to get it all finished.
some other things that we did included playing (or watching) the james bond monopoly. everyone had started drinking before they started playing so there were lengthy debates about stupid things, and amalgamations that weren't legal and things of that nature.
also, i managed to convince the Teen to take my car for a bit of a spin. we didn't get to go very fast, we didn't get out of first gear i don't think. but she had to reverse and she went quite well. only stalled once. and that was when we stopped. she just didn't have the clutch in far enough. but she still did well.
i forgot to mention that while we were out there, we had no phone signal, and there was no tv.
Red Leader brought his computer (not a laptop, his WHOLE computer) so we at least had music.
one of the days, we took a trip in to scone to pick up some other supplies. that was an alright drive. it's about 50 kms to scone from MB.
Red Leader and a few of the others decided to stay an extra day, but a the Teen had to fly home on the friday, we left on the thursday. Sasquatch came with us, as he lives not far from us. on the way back up the hill, there was a snake in the middle of the road so we stopped. Sasquatch jumped out for a closer inspection. the snake decided to warn him not to come any closer, and as Sasquatch turned to leave, it raised up and started swaying like it wanted to strike him. we called out and Sasquatch looked behind him and decided not to stick around. he scurried back to the car and the snake slithered off. we were informed that it was a king brown.
there was much giggling on the way back over the tops, as this time we didn't have Red Leader to find all the potholes for us. and with Jawsome driving, we of course managed to find almost every single one onteh way down. it was fun though. and it felt like he fixed my wheel alignment. lol.
once we got to the peak, it became very cold and misty. we slowed down a little to look at the scenery. i joked that i half expected a small dinosaur to come crashing out of the bushes beside us. it really did look very eerie.
we got to the last turnoff on the dirt road section. i nodded at Jawsome and motioned for the Teen to hold on tight. Jawsome spun the wheel and we drifted around the corner and spun a bit further then Jawsome expected. but there was heaps of room and no traffic. u could see for miles pretty much. oh, and Sasquatch went sprawling across the backseat. well, as sprawled as someone wearing a seatbelt could do anyway.
the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. we stopped at the parent's again and gave them their chairs back, then Jawsome took Sasquatch home in Da Supra and Teen and i went on our merry way back home.
early the next morning i had to take Teen back to the airport in newy. another 2 hour drive. i bought her breakfast at HJ's. it was good. i will admit i was bummed to see her go. i wish i had more time to show her more of forster.
lately i've been doing some crafty stuff. i've finally painted 2 of those little canvas squares i bought whilst in adelaide in april. i still have 2 more to go. i know what i'm doing on the next one. it's going to be the southern cross against a navy background. the first one was emily the strange (drawn freehand thankyou very much) and the second was a pink superman logo against a black background. also drawn freehand. w00t for me.
ooh! the other day i was driving to coles to look for something crafty to do, when i stopped for traffic at the maccas roundabout. a motion out the corner of my eye caught my attention.
it was a huntsman. with a legspan the size of my hand. it was on my side mirror.
and of course, being summer, the window was down. it ran side, then onto the mirror, then inside again.
i was tempted to stall teh car and run outside...... but thought that would look stupid, not to mention possibly cause an accident.
i kept my eye on it the whole time and i reached down and grabbed one of my work shoes (knew i kept them in the car for a reason). i waited until it ran to the mirror again, then i smashed that little critter for six. i heard it plop on the median strip, and then i floored it and i will admit to speeding after that. i did 100 in the 60 zone down the road until i got to the coles carpark. where i promptly locked the car and ran inside for a bit.
u know when u get to that stage of terror where u feel like u could either faint, puke, cry or scream??
it was like that. and i was almost crying and feeling rather faint.
it was that big that i could see the hairs on it's legs. gross.
but on a lighter note, yesterday i paid a visit to the Light Twin (Jawsome's other sister) and we had a girlie day, just watching tv and doing some washing and cooking stuff.
we made apple and cinnamon muffins, a rich chocolate fudge, and Jawsome's fave, mini quiches. we wanted to make a double batch, but only had enough for a single. but it's ok. they were eaten within 20 mins of me getting home. but that's only cause Jawsome wasn't home when i got home.
and i believe that pretty much brings me up to date with everything.
except for me going to gladstone next week. i'm looking forward to that. seeing Glamourcide is my main non-family priority, but i'm also gonna catch up with the old school crew and we're gonna have lunch at maccas. cant' wait to see everyone's kiddies.
best part is when i give them back to their parents.... lol
MB pictures to come.....
the entrance into the main building is on the left, near the post, and the entrance to the schoolroom is just behind the Red Leaders car.
