This one’s gonna be a long post all; so i’m going to pre-date the blog entry and create a new entry for Fraser Island.
During my time in Ipswich, I spent quite a few hours in The Settlers Pub (owned by Pam) [aka Old Mother Hubbard] with Tom and having a good laugh with him over a few pints. I was staying with Mick and Marty at Marty’s house as previously mentioned and had a good time with the lads. Ipswich Cup Day was great (let us forget those Jägerbombs eh Penny! *insert hangover here* *insert thanks to mick for picking me up [literally] at 3am*) not to mention being $40 in front!
It was Tom’s birthday during my stay in Ipswich and we celebrated it in the Settlers with a few bottles and a bit of food that Carla and the other staff had sorted out for the crowd that was in there. At the weekend (I think it was weekend it was that long ago!) we went out for Tom’s birthday to ‘Brothers’ – a large venue that serves food, drinks & pokies all night long. This night was the first time I would be meeting Jill & Dean and on first inspection they both seemed quite nice – they even bought me a present (*nudge* Elaine)! A little later in the evening a cake arrived for Tom and a smaller chocolate cake was brought out for me! (Thanks all!)
Gary, Deanna, Mick, Libby and I went to the Brisbane casino one night – had a very nice meal – Red Emperor I think and then proceeded to lose some cash there – good fun!
I met back up with Rens who I originally met in Melbourne and did The Great Ocean Road with; hung out with him for a day just chilling in Brisbane centre. Gary picked me up from the city and we went back to Deanna’s for a pork roast (mum: it was good but I’m missing that sunday dinner; the six-pack isn’t!).
After spending some time with Mick and Marty it was time to leave and head further up the coast. I travelled with Tom from Ipswich to Maroochydore on the Greyhound bus and we met Jill, Ethan & Cooper at the petrol station next to the bus stop. When I met Ethan he was fairly quiet and he shook my hand in greeting me, Cooper was very shy too [ ...to start with!]. Tom was winding them both up as soon as we got there and it soon ended in tears with Tom & Ethan getting ”the shits” with eachother. A funny but equally serious situation to watch!
Jill and Dean’s house is very nice indeed; very spacious, clean, comfortable and modern. The outdoor pool is also great when the sun is shining – couldn’t keep me out of it – even when it was ‘cold’ (!).
The Island that they live on is full of kids and they all play outside at the communal park or right on the road (cul de sac’s mainly so its pretty safe). One of the lads Daniel liked playing football and played for a local team, so I was more than happy to kick a footy around with him ‘until the street lights came on’ or until his mum shouted him back home! Kept me occupied at least. One day I woke up (at 8am!) only to find him and another one of Ethan’s friends (Trent) knocking on the door to see if I wanted to play football – let me get another 2 hours sleep first!!!
Cooper picked up a sickness bug (in what was meant to be the last few days i was staying with Dean & Jill) and it managed to transfer from him to Jill to Ethan and Me. Cooper seemed to bounce straight back from any sickness; each time he vomited he would be running around the room again… not the case for me and Jill… it completely took us out for a day and took a good few days to fully recover.
I ended up staying a few more days before finally getting a Greyhound pass organised heading towards Cairns; first stop; Hervey Bay.
Thanks all for putting me up up with me.