and there was this time Stephen, Shyla, Sonia and I took a 14-hour flight down-under all the way from good ol`e sunny Dubai…........ have to say that the emirates flight attendants were most co-operative (not just attractive) and of course, we cooperated very well with them....... helped them clean..... I mean, clean out a galley of Bacardi totally before shifting base to the next galley.......… didn`t quite realize that 14 hours was really quite a long time......… I guess the Bacardi helped both of us …. Needless to say we were in “high spirits” .. as in “high” in the sky and in real good “spirits” `cause the company was fantabulous :)
We had a good landing and spent the days in Sydney lazing around.....… incidentally I recollect this was Stephen & Shyla`s first landing for their Auz residency. Good on them! Lazed around, did the touristy things and hit the bars, pubs, casinos etc… of course one nite Steve disappeared for a few hours and made some serious bucks at the star city casino too
and then we did the Sydney – to – Melbourne drive......… and that was awesome – very scenic and kool. Had an amazingly brilliant and relaxed time. And some where down the road, when it was dark almost decided to shack up and checked into a motel with chalets on the beach in a small town called “Tuross Head” …. Simply a slender piece of land jutting right into the blue Pacific to form the Tuross Head - between the twin lakes of Tuross and Coila to be technically perfect in my description The small town is situated approximately midway between Batemans Bay and Narooma if you really wanna know the details,,,,,,,….
Well, dumped our luggage and headed out to the one and only watering hole out there… their main club house.... wow, what a club..... every one knew everyone obliviously and they were a real welcoming bunch…. Initially sipping on the VBs and Toohey`s and standing around, we were accosted by quite a few friendly locals… ofcourse after the polite bits of conversations about the weather and the drive, all most everyone would pop the question – where are you folks from? Pakistan? Found that to be pretty weird as normally these Auzzie dudes and gals are quite sensitive about asking these things as in the land down under you aren’t even required to incorporate gender, race, age etc on a credential document or resume as that could be sonsidered discriminatory..….
Hey by HumukItis, they were quite disappointed that we were not a bunch of Pakistanis.....…. Then one of the dudes seeing our faces came out with the truth…. They were really hoping we were Pakistanis, `cause on that day, Australian Cricket Team had made mince meat out of the Pakistani Cricket team – 56 All Out would you believe that? I`m pretty sure it was a day most cricketing fans (except the Pakistani cricket fans), would never forget …. They just wanted to get hold of some Pakistanis to take the piss out of them, of course in a nice manner we hope.....….
Anyway as the night went along and the sun dipped and the moon rose up in the sky and we ended meeting almost every one in that club as every few minutes some one would pop by and join the group and get a round of piss.....…. Gosh we were really a big group by the time it was closing time and we stayed over an hour after they closed the club and around 3 am, we went along with a nice couple who insisted that we join them in their beach mansion to continue the party...... well, steve and I like the rest of the CLEF dudes are never known to turn down such options and invites :) ........ and so, we did go along.....…. I recollect we did drink till wee hours of the morning and somewhere around 5 or 5,30 am kindda hobbled over and went back to our shacks…. Hey hey, I remember that the guy there did come out with some crazy honky tonk stuff about Sam and Shyla burst into tears remember Shyla?
Well, we did wake up to the sound of the sea and had a good watch of the dolphins playing in the sea by the beach side before driving off towards Melbourne…......... Hit Melbourne and … phew, that’s another story................….
Hey Amal,
ReplyDeleteIs Sonia reading this? Coz I have a question. The Air Hostesses were not just cooperative but attractive??!! Steve and you were pretty wasted by the end of the flight. Steve gave me one of the hostesses’ phone number – for safe keeping! Steve said, ‘She is staying at the Stamford!!’ Ofcourse, I duly gave it back to him as soon as his hangover was over! And the next thing was ‘OK – Let’s get an Aussie number so we can call her ;)’ I agree – you guys never turn down an offer! Such good Samaritans!
Tuross Head was awesome as was the Great Ocean Drive and Sydney Bridge Climb. Do you remember the first lunch we had in Sydney at Jacksons on George!
I also remember your lil tantrum – where you wanted to go to the Taronga Zoo and the 3 of us didn’t, but finally gave into your will...
Plus there was the time when this bird chose to poop on you amongst all the people in that crowded square!
And yes, I remember the lady who freaked me out, who claimed to be a Psychic. She said, a man in my life other than Steve would pop it before the end of my Australia trip. And the only other man in my life is Sam – jeez weird lady!
Here’s some pictures from the trip, to compliment your memories blog!
I should hope we were wasted as we did consume all the miniature bottled baccardi in the 2 galleys :) was a great flight.... and an awesome trip....
ReplyDeleteYup. Forgot all about the brigge climb... I must find some of that pics... its around some place... will do!
Yup. Zoos or rather animals are a passion. So did do allmost all the game parks in Kenya.... don`t remember the bird poooping convenientgly as I suffer from a discease called se;ective-memory loss. Trust you understand :)
Kool bananas!!
Amal and his penchant for zoos stems way back to his diaper years when the only zoo close by was in Trivandrum and that's where his parents would make the annual pilgrimage there to introduce him to his lot. I was forcefully instructed to go to that awful Taronga Zoo in Sydney when I visited them.
ReplyDeleteBirds pooping on him is a common occurance. Its the spirit of all the waiters and waitresses who get transported in the birds and they let fly their disdain.
Loved the pictorial post Amal, great job!!