the plankmeister's interweblet

Sunday, February 17, 2002

Brisbane : Australia

This morning I had to get up brutally early (8am) to get on a tour to Australia Zoo. Me and Jenny were both up and ready though, which surprised me as I was sure I was going to oversleep... The tour itself wasn't as good as I thought it would be. Our first stop was at some strange little place for morning tea with some 'damper' which is basically bread without yeast. Quite nice though! There was this really quite strange bloke there called Steve, who holds the world record for driving a horse-drawn carriage. He drove a team of 24 horses! Quite a feat. He was full of himself too... going on about how he'd done this, done that, done the other... and was full of advice on life, supplying such gems as "The past is behind you, the present never lasts long enough to worry about, and the future is unwritten." Or some such equally profound statement. Genuine bloke though! Next stop: a field. Not just any field though... a field full of ikkle baby pineapples! They're so cute! Ikkle fings all made of fluffiness!! Then we drove through the glasshouse mountains (more like big hills really) to our ultimate destination; Australia Zoo. The tour guide took us on a whistle stop tour of the place, ending up at the Croc Demo. Absolutely incredible! Just like Stevo on TV's The Crocodile Hunter, the guys doing the demo were baiting the big croc and making him leap up the bank and launch himself in the air to grab huge chunks of meat out of the keeper's hand. Quite remarkable to watch! After the demo, we wandered round a looked at 'roos, koalas and other Aussie animals including what's possibly the longest snake in the world. It must have had a girth of about 4 feet! It was HUGE! Having a good laugh with Jen, but neither of us has mentioned the other night, and there's no signs of anything happening either, so I guess it was just a drunken mistake. Oh well. Damn shame cos she's an incredibly funny girl who makes me laugh all the time with her spontaneous crazy antics. **sigh** The search continues...Jen bought a little Steve Irwin "Talking Wobbling Head Doll" that speaks little phrases when you press a button. Legendary quotes like "Crikey!" and "Isn't she gorgeous!" And his head's on a little spring and wobbles about. Superb little souvenir! After we got back from the tour, Jenny gave me an "adjustment." Now don't get excited... it's not what you think. Jenny is a chiropractor, and "adjustment" is the term used to describe the corrective beatings administered to vertebrae and joints and the like to align them correctly. Oh. My. God. My back and neck crack like someone walking down a gravel path as she twists and grabs, and I can't help but laugh as the almost persistent back and neck ache I've always been aware of disappears. I try to stand up but I feel all giddy! HAHAHA!!! I couldn't stop laughing. My neck and back feel incredible! I'm not "aware" of them like I always normally am... the ache and pain is gone! WOOHOO!!!! I can't thank Jenny enough! I'm going to be a regular visitor to a chiropractor from now on! Before we all went out, Steve and Eddie decided it might be funny to wrap their heads with sellotape... Got some very funny photos of that. Then they decided it might be a good idea to tie up Stu with loads of tape. Got some photos of that too! Looks hilarious... He was struggling like a goodun but we managed to get him well tied up! Afterwards, me, Jen, Stuart, Justin and his mate Barry went to the casino, and that's where my night started to get expensive. Even though I didn't spend any money at the tables! After a few drinks at the casino, in which Justin and Barry headed off to the DUB, Me, Jen and Stu followed them back and went Downunder. I didn't really pay attention to the price when it was my round and I was buying 'cowboys and other drinks each round. Tonight must be the only night in history that 'cowboys are not on offer. Normally they're $3 but tonight they're $5. 50! And I've been buying them like there's no tomorrow!!! It's no wonder my eveniung ended up costing me $75! And I wasn't even drunk! Boohoo! A while later, and we head up to the roof to chill out for a while. Jenny's leaving early tomorrow though so she goes to bed and we hug goodbye (even though I'm pretty sure she tried to kiss me goodbye... but I didn't embarrass myself by returning the gesture and getting it wrong and looking like a twat) and Stuart and I stay on the roof chatting to 2 girls, Natalia and Michelle. Natalia turns out to be just as bonkers as me and Stu and we stay up for a couple more hours talking about shite. Gotta get up early tomorrow cos I wanna say bye to Jen again before she leaves.