d.b.d.ray

Exciting news...

2007-08-09T20:35:00.001+10:00

I am going to NY and LA!

I have finally paid for my ticket, so it's official : )

25 more sleeps.

3 day bday celebrations...

2007-08-05T18:17:00.000+10:00

Well, despite the fact that I feel like I have been spending most of my waking hours working, I managed to stretch my bday celebrations over Friday, Saturday and Sunday - quite an impressive achievement.

Friday was drinks and pizza at Bligh after work. We also tested out the new dance floor that has been recently installed at the bar. Unfortunately, there were some incredibly bad dance moves (not ours) during the course of the evening.

Saturday involved more pizza at Il Goloso at Haberfield. We were meant to go to La Disfida, across the road from IG. LD however, does not take booking and assured me, when I called them, that I would have no problem getting 11 people in if I got there at 7. Unfortunately this is not the case. Anyway, after Lou and Parish very kindly checked out a couple of the other restaurants (while I was running late), we settled on Il Goloso. I had a really wonderful evening - hung out with a heap of friends, fab pizza, great looking (and tasting desserts). The bonus is, no corkage fees! Pics of the evening of festivities are here.

A couple of people have strongly recommended La Disfida's pizzas, so I will definitely have to visit them at some stage.

And finally, Sunday was lunch at home with the folks. Mum made a wonderful prawn pasta and poached pears. And as usual, the birthday cake and cannoli came from Sulfaros : )

Quote of the day

2007-08-04T12:34:00.000+10:00

A couple of friends and I try to email each other a "Quote of the Day", on a daily basis, as the name indicates, depending on how busy we all are.

We get these quotes from desk calendars, from books, I steal some from the chalkboard of the palms cafe and sometimes we just make them up.

Some of the quotes we circulate are really quite thought provoking or relevant at that point in time ... others are just very funny or silly.

So I have decided that some of these special quotes deserve a page of their own...

"When you feel that nobody loves you, nobody cares for you, and everyone is ignoring you , you should start asking yourself...am I too sexy?" JR
"There are flowers everywhere, for those who bother to look." Henri Matisse
"You can never have too many handbags or too many friends. Or too many frinds with too many handbags." Hallmark c/o of one of my friend's birthday cards :)
"To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so." Walter Scott
"Why is it, that no matter how busy we are, we always find time to worry?" PK Shaw
"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present." Marcus Aurelius
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely", Auguste Renoir
"Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions", Coco Chanel
"Remember happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think." Dale Carnegie, c/o the coffee stand out the front of the office
“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” Pablo Picasso
"Have a vision not clouded by fear." Cherokee Proverb
"Trust your hopes, not your fears." David Mahoney
"I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them." George Bernard Shaw
"The severity of an itch depends on how accessible it is to be scratched." AP

Babes & Books x Kaths Baby Shower

2007-07-22T20:50:00.000+10:00

The book club girls caught up again yesterday for a combined book club and baby shower for Giles' impending bubba.

The book this time was a pick by Mars: "Silent in the Grave" by Deanna Raybourn.

Of course, there was some highly intellectual discussion about our favourite bits of the book: Soph and I shared our favourite bits of the book - see pages 373 and 224 respectively - definitely worth a read!

The book was great for one liners and it also had the best opening lines of any book I think I've ever read: "To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor." : P

The baby shower bit was great too - we did our standard baby shower things: guess the girth (which I did atrociously at - sorry Giles); baby trivia (blitzed by Ms D - in her words "Find me a man, I'm havin a baby!") and matching baby photos with grown up book clubbers! Giles scored some wonderfully funky baby gear (red stripes is obviously very in for the junior crowed - Giles junior is guaranteed to be a very hip baby!).

Pics of the fun event are available here (btw my book club album is getting a bit unweildy - so you need to go to the end of the album to see the pics & it goes over two pages : ( ...I'll have to do something about that at some stage)

Eurotrash .. I mean Eurovision

2007-05-13T20:06:00.000+10:00

This is the first year I have watched Eurovision without PB (I just got back home from dropping him off at the airport - he was over for mother's day).

I have decided its much more fun when we watch it together and bag it out. And there is soo much material we could have a go at - the songs, the the clothes, the make up, the presenters (and of course the voice over man), Finnish singers channelling Evanesence and Irish singers channeling Kasey Chambers and some 70's hippie at the same time...

Happy birthday to db-dray!

2007-05-13T16:40:00.000+10:00

I only realised, after the fact, that I have managed to keep my Blog, and my flickr site, going for a whole year!

Pretty impressive, seeing as a year ago, I thought the blog thing was way too complicated ...

However, once again, I haven't posted for about a month (bust at work and having too much fun generally), so, at the request of AB, I'm going to be doing a monster post after this one!

Happy easter!

2007-04-08T14:57:00.000+10:00

I have had 3 blissfully work-free days so far...

I have spent it sleeping in, bumming around, shopping with mum and PB, reading and watching DVDs. I hung out w M on Fri nite - we were a bit nanna-ish and just had a cuppa and chilled at her place, and I caught up with SMC and Mesiti, which was good, as I haven't seen those two for what seems like ages.

PB is back from Melb for the break, so we're going to spend some sibling quality time together tomorrow at the races.

Definite highlight this week will before Weds - I have a day of leave to go to Ladies' Day at Randwick - YAY!

*ahhh* happy days!

Big weekend...

2007-03-18T22:58:00.000+11:00

Well, Im pleased to say I just had a weekend jam packed with fun...well, most of it. I did some apartment viewing yesterday, which, of course, was more depressing than fun, however the rest of the weekend was great!

Started off by seeing The Singer, which is showing as part of the French Film Festival at Palace in Leichhardt. Not too bad...its about this older washed out (older) "crooner" who tries to pursue this younger woman...however I dont know whether I'd actually recommend it - maybe I judt dont deal with not-happy endings very well.

Then, after some consideration, I decided that I would take up a friend's invite to catch up for a St Pat's Drink at PJ Gallagher's out is Parra (yes, Bel, athough I did say yes strsight away, I did have a think about it afterwards). Anyway, I am REALLY surprised at what a great time I had there.

There was quite a mixed crowed: people who had just come from the races (some classy looking, and some not so classy looking), people out for a St Pat's drink, some older guys who looked like locals, some major skank sorts (I bumped into a girl in the bathroom who had some serious silicon happening - at one stage she patted her very bare (and big) chest, and it actually rippled like a waterbed - just wrong), anyway, I digress, and then there were also the leprechauns. So yes, a very diverse crowd.

The music was also great - lots of old stuff - the sort of stuff I used to rememebr hearing on 2WS, which always used to be on the radio at home in the mornings before we headed off to primary school. I am not generally known for getting up on the dance for and dancing in a sober state - however thats exactly what happened - and didnt stop till we decided to leave at about midnight. I suprised even myself.

Then Sunday, I did the Bridge Walk. We started at North Sydney, slowly meandered across the Bridge, whilst being subjected to hideous flourescent yellow baseball caps and blowup Bridge hats (see pics here). Despite the very tacky, old style Hollywood epic type music
that was blaring through loudspeakers along some sections of the Bridge (and the guy who stood up on a barricade and spontaneously burst into song, singing Happy Birthday), it was actually a pretty cool afternoon. We then hung around the National trust House, which was cashing on on all the people around, and then tried to find something to eat, which was a lot harder than we all expected. We felt like Japenese, but the places we know of were not open...so we had to trek from Circular Quay back up to the Rocks, after we decided on a pub dinner at the Lord Nelson.

So yes, all in all a GREAT weekend.

*postscript my legs were killing for about 4 days after the Bridge walk

Book Club & Reading List 2007

2007-02-24T19:17:00.000+11:00

Being the nerd I am, I decided it was time I started up 2007's reading list. A quick review of my reading list, confirmed that I am definitely NOT reading enough fun stuff ... hopefully I'll be able to do a bit more fun reading this year.

Book Club Reading List:

[Feb 07] Drylands by Thea Astley;
[Apr 07] Stone Cradle by Louise Doughty
[July] Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
[September] Kite Runner

And stuff I read in between:

Mafia Wife by Lynda Milito;
The Debutante Divorcee by Plum Sykes, yup, seriously high brow stuff;
The Yes Man by Danny Wallace, a recommendation from Parrish - moral of this story is "say yes more" and you never know what good things will come your way!
Ines of my Soul by Isabel Allende (I found this kind of hard to get into and am still trying to finish it...I don't think its a train book - more of a "to-be-read-over-the-weekend" sort of book;
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven). This guy is a really amazing, sensitive writer. I read the majority of this book whilst training to work, and had to read with my sunnies on, as bits of it are real tear jerkers...B lent me the book, however, I love it so much, I'm getting myself my own copy. It's a great book to help you get some perspective on life.
East West by Salman Rushdie;
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri - an absolutely fabulous read!
God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - takes a while to get into it

How long's it been since high school?!

2007-02-18T19:12:00.000+11:00

I was out with one of my friends from clerkship days (which seems like AAAAGES ago, especially after having the new clerks in over christmas), and anyway, we were having a chat about her High School reunion, which is due in October.

I asked her what year reunion it was. When she told me it was her 10 year reunion, I was astounded - "Are you serious?! What year did you graduate from highschool?!" Her response: 1997. Just like me.

I cant believe its been 10 years.

Underground...

2007-02-18T19:08:00.000+11:00

...is where I've been since work started up again this year!

I had one of my friends comment that I hadnt blogged for a while, so I thougt I might log on to see just how long it's been. It had been so long that I'd forgotten my username AND my password. Not good. Anyway, am back in...

I am managing to keep my gallery (see left) more up to date than my blog - well excpet my Melb pix - we went to Melbourne in the new year, and I still havent had a chance to put them all online. There are too many!

A new play thing

2006-12-31T01:22:00.000+11:00

I finally got around to buying a brand new laptop to replace my poor (and very beat) up laptop. In its defence, my old IBM has served me very well - I originally got it back when i started law school (ie 2001-ish), so the poor things been around for a while. Plus, I probably wasnt the most attentive owner ...

I made the most of the end of year sales and have now moved up to a swanky looking Compaq V3142. Alhtough I'm loving the speed at which this thing operates (my old IBM processed at a snail's pace), thre are a couple of things that are really pissing me off about my new toy at the moment:

I have never been a mouse kinda person - Ive always used the little mouse button on my keyboard... however this computer only has one of those thumb pads whicih is sending me around the bend;
the location of the backspace and delete buttons are switched around; AND
the home, end and page up and page down are in totally different locations...

Thanks to the above, according to pb, Im looking like a bit of a nanna when Im typing away, desperately searching for the key I'm after!

A new low...

2006-12-29T16:01:00.000+11:00

Mrs B and I were out and about recently and bumped into one of her old friends, who I don't think mum has seen for ages (and who I don't recall ever meeting - although she recognised me, so I assume I've previously met her).

Anyway, after the standard chit chat, she asked me "So, have you started working yet?" : 0

I actually haven't had anyone ask me this in YEARS.

As it turns out, she thought I was around 18 (and quite possibly still at uni). This means I look almost a decade younger than I actually am, which would be a good thing if I was fifty - but is not such a great thing at this point in time. The most recent age guestimate I was subject to (prior to this) placed me at around 23, which was not too bad.

So 18 is now down as my new low. Yay.

Champers

2006-12-15T22:46:00.000+11:00

I've been lucky enough to manage to quaff quite a few exy champers over the couple of months...and not always at my total expense, which is always bonus.

Of course, the gals and I managed to score a bottle of Moet at the Races in November...

We had work practice group drinks at Hemmesphere and I got through a couple of glasses of what has to be the most amazing champers I have ever tasted: Billecart - Salmon Rose Champagne NV. At $163 a bottle I'm not surpised it tasted that great. It made the Bollinger taste pretty ordinary : P

Like one of our clerks said, maybe one day I'll be a partner - and when I do, Billecart will be end up a standard drink : P

Melbourne Cup

2006-11-08T23:50:00.000+11:00

After much coaxing from Thommeny and Bairdling, I agreed to take a day of annual leave and go to Randwick for the Melbourne Cup.

The day was great!

We had to get off to an early start, as Ms T wanted us to get to her place bright and early (8.45ish). After a couple of wardrobe changes I (painfully) made my way to her place near Central. One thing I learnt about wicker picnic baskets is that, although they look, great, lady like, etc etc, they are a pain in the ass to carry around, especially when you are carrying a fragile hat in the other hand. So yes - the short break from Central to Thommeny's place was great : P I ended up there in a bit of a sweat.

Ms T, being the super organised event planner that she is, allocated each of us certain food to bring, so as you can tell from the pics, we did not go hungry. In fact, are table was the ency of many a passer by. We even had food left over - so much that when the girls went to place a bet I was left with strict instructions to try fob off as much of the food as I could to (preferably attractive) men. I think I succeeded (I should have taken some photographic evidence.

We spent the day doing the following:

drinking champers;
placing bets;
more champagne;
people watching/critiquing hats, clothes, shoes;
taking photos...

Highlight of the day was accidentally being given a $100 bottle of Moet by the waitstaff, when in fact we'd ordered and paid for something far cheaper. This was followed closely by getting a photo with PornStar. I told my brother that Pornstar and I were dating. He didn't take that pretty well ... it was very funny.

A picture says a thousand words, so here they are.

Live 'n Local

2006-11-05T00:17:00.000+11:00

Going to a concert and being surrounded by tweenies is guaranteed to make you feel twice your age.

Apart from that, the Veronicas, After the Fall and Evermore were great!

Pics are here.

Sugar hit!

2006-10-29T00:05:00.000+10:00

Seeing as it was getting so close to the end of Good Food Month, and I still hadn't had a sugar hit, and as I hadn't yet taken mum for our annual sugar hit together, I decided I should take Mrs B for a nite on the town.

After consulting the GFM website and narrowing down our options to all the hotels with dessert sampling platters, we decided that to go to the Intercontinental.

The Intercon was serving a dessert plate by Karl Beil which had pistachio & praline pyramid with red currant Drambuie salad, Chestnut & sago cone with malibu couli, and Cherry cheesecake slice on Kirsch compote. The accompanying wine was Orange Muscat Aperitif.

My favourite was the sago cone; mum's was the pistachio and praline pyramid (which I found too rich and creamy). I'd actually never had sago before - its got quite a nice texture, with all the little beads of sago.

Let's Do Lunch...

2006-10-26T21:51:00.000+10:00

As work has slowed down a bit over the last day or so, I decided I should make the most of Good Food Month's Let's Do Lunch and head off to one of the swanky restaurant's in the City for an equally swanky lunch.

I had really wanted to go to either Aria or Becasse, which are standard places we (that's the royal, "law firm" we) take our clients. Unfortunately though, Im not quite yet senior (ie important) enough to be joining clients for exy lunches on the firm...

Becasse was too far away from the office and therefore out of the question, and Aria, unfortunately has a system where they have two lunch intakes - in at 12.30 and out at 1.15 and in at 1.30 and out at 2.30. I thought this was kind of unimpressive - everyone knows that the poor folk who work in the city have standard 1-2pm lunches. Plus the 2 session thing reminded me too much of a cattle call (I am a notoriously slow eater, and the last thing I need is someone tapping me on the shoulder at 1.15 telling me I need to finish up my gourmet lunch because the next round of diners are on their way in).

So next on the list, due to proximity to work and swankiness-factor was Wildfire, which from what I've heard, is known for its seriously overpriced steak. Previous to lunch today, I'd only been to Wildfire once - for work, looking for a client (that I had never met before and so couldn't recognise), so they could execute some documents. Plenty of fun. Today's visit was far more enjoyable.

Wildfire was offering Tasmanian salmon fillet served with quandon berry, fennel casserole and almond sauce, served with Brown Brothers Sauvignon Blanc, 2002 or James Squire Pilsener and post dinner coffee. The almond sauce was pretty interesting - I've never thought about combining almonds (or any nut for that matter) with salmon...and it had slivered almonds sprinkled over the top which added a nice crunch to it...I would have taken a pic, but I felt that whipping out the camera at this place may have not looked that great.

Bye Bye Pierre

2006-10-13T09:23:00.000+10:00

Well, pb has left Sydney and gone to Melbourne for his 2 year secondment with PWC. So bye bye pb.

There was initially a bit of confusion amongst some of my friends as a result of someone (who shall remain unnamed) who obviously wasn't listening properly when I told him about pb's impending departure - as a result of this word got around that I was going to Melbourne.

Anyway, as a result of pb moving, my mum, as well as my dad, are now computer literate, which is pretty impressive. I received my first email from mum this morning when I was at the office...asking me whether I was going to go out tonite : )

I wonder if she'll post a reply to this blog : )

Eat myself silly...

2006-10-06T22:34:00.000+10:00

October is the foodie highlight of my entire year because its Good Food Month!! And the icing on the cake, so to speak, is the Sugar Hits (especially the sample platters - why have one dessert when you can have three?).

Seeing as we're not even a week into October, and Ive been working too late anyway, I haven't had a chance to make it any of the Hotels for dessert. However, I gave myself an early mark tonite and I made it to the Night Noodle Market. I particularly wanted to go this week, because, for some reason I was under the misapprehenson that it was only on this week -but it's actually on every week nite up to 20 October.

I was absolutely ravenous by the time I got there. I had been really keen to get something from Yai Thai - I've had Yai quite a few times before (always delivery to my office when I've been working late), so I have been really keen to try it in a non-work ambiance! But unfortunately they only had a couple of noodle soups, which just would have been too difficult messy to eat (not spill on myself) while sitting on the steps of Hyde Park, and a couple of spicy meals, which were not an option as I'm not very good with spicy food.

Seeing as I was ravenous, and as we managed to "slide" into the Phat Boys queue quite nicely, I ordered from Phat Boys' next door and got the Basil Chicken with rice. I was a a bit dubious about it - basil has always struck me as being a bit of a euro herb as I've always associated it with Italian food and my mum's cooking - definitely not Thai food. However, the meal was great! And they do really generous servings as well - I had thought about getting a dumpling (?) with it, but changed my mind when my meal was dished up.

Plus I had to leave time for dessert - those tiny pancake-y things with chocolate sauce and strawberries that seem to be all the rage at outdoor events (I can remember how to spell their name).

I think this is the second year that it's been at Hyde Park - it previously used to be down at the Botanic Gardens. The set up this year was a lot better than it was last year - there were definitely more tables - although we ended up eating on the steps. The one thing I prefer about having it at Hyde Park, is that Hyde Park is a bit more interesting - with the fountain, paved paths, the avenue of ancient figs trees (which are eventually going to disappear : ( ), the church in the background and the steps to sit on. They had also strung up rows of red lanterns and brought in a few of those large Japanese-style garden sculptures to get eveyone in the noodle mood.

One thing I've noticed about outdoor foodie events in Sydney - dogs! They're everywhere. People bring them along with them. Saw an absolutely HUGE black dog ... who had a collar with diamantes on it : P There were even a couple of dogs who decided to eat out sans owner tonite ...
Pics (when I download them) will be here.

Neighhh!

2006-09-30T21:40:00.001+10:00

A bunch of us donned frocks, fascinators and hats and got in touch with our inner princesses at Royal Randwick today .

We were in plebs today - wasn't too bad. We got a nice patch of lawn at the far right of the course and planted ourselves there for the majority of the day, only uprooting ourselves to (i) place a bet, (ii) re stock on the champers or (iii) check out the *ahem* form (its amazing how, as you move from one end of the track to the other in plebs, the sort of people you see changes!)

I just love the buzz at the races - the people watching, the horses, and just hanging out in the sun with a glass of champers. There were some amazing looking people out and about. There were also some very ugly shoes around too - even one of my guy friends noticed how some gals were having issues getting the whole shoe/dress co-ordination thing happening.

The AJC has put a Punting Guide for Princesses on its website. It's pretty good. I really should have had a read through it before I went today - I haven't been to the races in so long that I had to have the basics of a "place" bet explained to me by one of the TAB ladies - which was kind of embarrassing.

Pics of princesses and horses are here.

ARRRR!

2006-09-20T09:52:00.000+10:00

I just realised we all let International Talk Like A Pirate Day slip by without even an ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Maybe next year.

Into the kitchen ...

2006-09-10T13:28:00.000+10:00

It was with trepidation that I made my first foray (for a long time) into our kitchen as solo chef (as opposed to assisitant, photographer, or general nuisance), to test out a recipe from one of my new recipe books: "500 Cupcakes", which was an impulse purchase from Peters of Kensington.

I used the recipe for the Raspberry and Coffee Muffins, but as we didn't have any raspberries, I improvised and made Strawberry, Date and Coffee Muffins instead.

I had my "finished" batter and it was all going smoothly till I realised I had a block of untouched butter on the bench...the book listed butter as an ingredient, but then made no mention of it in the method section!! So I had to melt it up and add it to my ready batter. I also wasnt sure how much they would rise when they were cooking, so I didnt put as much batter in each cupcake as I could have. Still, was all good.

Even my mum was impressed - and she is a tough judge!

Il Locale

2006-09-07T22:07:00.000+10:00

Meighan and I had dinner at Il Locale at Haberfield last nite. Although it's pricier that the other restaurants on Ramsey Street, we thought we deserved a treat: I have now finally finished the grad program at work and Meighan has had a very successful month with her new health and fitness regime. I've also been wanting to eat here for a while, as its always buzzing with people at dinner and lunch time whenever I've happened to be driving past.

We ordered the Seafood Platter for One (M) and Spaghetti with Lobster and Broccoli (me).

Here are the results of our amateur gourmet food critiquing:

Seafood Platter for One
What was it:
Octopus, prawns in shell, calamari tube, pippies, mussels and other miscellaneous crayfish (no veggies) with broth served on crusty Italian bread (to soak up the broth from the stew).
How much:
$28
Comments:
The presentation of this meal was very impressive - a very deep white bowl brimming with seafood - prawn antennae, mini octopus tentacles - so it was off to a good start. As described above there was a whole myriad of seafood in there. The seafood and stew, which M was pretty pleased with, was served on top of a couple of slices of crusty Italian bread (at the base of the bowl), to soak up the seafood broth. I sampled a bit of the brothy bread, and it was pretty tasty. M found the meal really filling and didn't finish off all the bread and both at the bottom of the bowl. She thought it was pretty good value too, compared to my meal.
Rating:
Credit - probably a high credit from M's feed back

Spaghetti with Lobster Tail and Broccoli
What was it:
Bowl of spaghetti with half a lobster tail with soft cooked broccoli in a pink cream sauce.
How much:
$25
Comments:
This was my first foray into the world of lobster (believe it or not) and I was totally unimpressed by the tiny half tail. When the menu says "lobster tail", the implication is that you will get a whole tail. Have they not heard about misleading and deceptive conduct? The meat was also a bit dry. As the menu didn't mention anything about the sauce in the description of the meal, I assumed it was a tomato based sauce - I was unpleasantly surprised by the pink cream sauce, which wasn't in the menu's description (I'm not a huge fan of creamy sauces) so that was another no no. The broccoli was a good addition as it cut through the creaminess a bit, but if it had not been so soft cooked and bit crisper, it might have made the meal a bit more interesting.
My mum's pasta kicks ass compared to this meal.
Had they asked me what I thought about the meal (as often happens when they clear up), I would have griped to them. However they didn't, so I didn't.
Rating:
Pass, and I mean bare pass, like 55/100

We spent a fair bit of time eying off everyone else's meals (in their defence, everything smelled great), and as the fish and meat mains looked pretty impressive, as did the pizzas, we came to the conclusion that maybe these people just don't do pasta very well. However, this SMH review, makes me think the whole menu might be a bit hit and miss.

Desserts were all around the $12 mark, which I think is a bit much, particularly as you can just go across the road, as we did (to Dolcissimo) and get some great desserts for a lot less.

Would I go there again? Probably not.

SYD - BNE - ROK - GKI

2006-09-03T08:32:00.000+10:00

Well, I just came back from my trip to Great Keppel Island and I had a FABULOUS time!

Woke up at 4.30 am-ish on Tuesday to get my 6am flight to Brissie. The only downside to going to GKI is that you have to get 2 flights, and then a coach and a jet cat (or alternatively charter flight, but unfortunately, the charter flights only take bookings for a minimum of two people) to the island itself.

I was initially a bit disappointed with my room, simply because it didn't quite live up to the picture on their website (they made v good use of "mood lighting" ), but really, it was actually pretty good, and best of all...the beach (and pool, for when I was feeling lazy) was literally a minute from my doorstep!

I had to share my balcony with two possums. The first time I noticed the possums, was when I was going to put my towel out to dry on my first day and one was clawing at the flyscreen door, trying to get in. This was kinda disconcerting. I was held hostage in my own apartment by a feral possum :) They actually were ok to live with, and so long as I kept the door shut I was fine (one of the guys who was living a couple of apartments down from me got bitten on the toe - I didn't see what happened, but only heard the commotion, and it was pretty funny).

The weather on Tuesday and Wed was absolutely glorious! Lots of sun!!! Needless to say, I spent most of my time outdoors, either in one of the pools, or lazing about on one of the beaches reading or just laying about. I did a bit of snorkeling too, and *drumroll* I even did a bit of "bush walking" to Shelving Beach, one of the more isolated beaches away from the resort. This reminded me why I am not too huge a fan of bushwalking.

Apart from the breakfasts, the food at the Resort Restaurant isn't really that great. Lunch is v boring, and they only do buffet dinners. The muzac they play there is a bit ordinary (all that Mix sort of stuff) - and they play the same stuff - the 3 times I walked in there for lunch, Bic Runga's "Sway" was playing. Major groundhog day moment each time.

However, there is small pizza place, not associated with the Resort that makes unbelievably yummy pizzas. I had their Capri pizza 2 of the 3 times I visited them - nice thin base (not oily- bonus points), tomato sauce, mushrooms, spinach (silverbeet, not that English spinach, raw and sliced thinly, including stalks) and fetta cheese (it comes with onion, but I ordered it without). I never thought I'd say this, but Young Alfreds' - you have competition. They were playing one of Neil Diamond's "live" concert CD's one nite - so funny - my parents were (are) big Neil Diamond fans and he used to get a lot of airplay at our place when I was a young'un - so that was kinda cool...nice and nostalgic.

The great thing about the Island is that everything is close, and they really do have everything - one nite I takeaway-ed my pizza, then picked up a "takeaway" champers & OJ from the Wreck Bar, and planted myself by the pool beneath the Sunset Bar, where they happened to have a live acoustic due performing - bliss.

Thurs and Fri were proof that the slogan "beautiful one day, perfect the next" does not hold true - we had 2 full days of constant tropical rain. So it was just me and the possums on the balcony (joined by some lorikeets), reading. It cleared up on Fri nite, so I went out for dinner and had a chat with a couple who drove up to Qld from the nthn beaches in Syd, saw a movie at the Sunset bar, and then topped the nite off with a drink with some other guests at the Wreck bar. Till 3 am. : )

Yesterday, Saturday, was my last day : ( I was a bit bummed about the relatively early check out time (10am). But I was determined to squeeze as much sunshine from this holiday as possible, so after a coffee on Fishermans Beach in front of my place, I then wandered off to my fave beach there, Putney Beach, and lazed about reading (I havent enjoyed reading this much in AGEESSSSS) till it was home time:(

I have to admit, I am a fan of the whole traveling solo thing. Its really not as bad as I thought it would be. It has some downers, like eating alone, having to apply sunscreen on your own (I realised this morning I missed a few spots), not having anyone to take photos with /of you, and getting a bit freaked out when I was bushwalking (there were a couple of really steep rocky bits and I kept on thinking - what happens if I fall and sprain an ankle while I'm out bushwalking - no-one will miss me!!!)

However, the big bonus is that I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Which was really nice. It also helped that most of the other guests and staff were pretty friendly, so I wasn't a total nige!

Whoever said a change is as good as a holiday had it all wrong. Sometimes, nothing is as good as a holiday.

Happy snaps are here.