Can you tell what it is yet? Yes a skank party?!

---

Had another leisurely lay in, and Charlie made me a brew and bacon and eggs for breakfast (good lad!) we went to the local Saturday market here in West End which is really good for cheap fruit and veg etc. There were also loads of food stalls which smelled lovely, there was every kind of nationality that you could imagine, lots of coffee stalls, and a few fresh fish markets with lots of variety to choose from- most of it caught locally. I think it was a hungarian place that made this flat bread filled with cheese etc that was cooked with an iron. Charlie said they'd once tried to do the same at home by wrapping their tefal in foil, but it didn't produce the same effect ( no shit) We stopped at one African clothes stall to chat to one of Charlies friends who was from Ghana. as he lived there for a couple of years he picked up some of the lingo, and whilst chit chatting in what sounded like a series of grunts and weird noises, I just smiled and nodded-looking clueless as ever. We bought some apples from a stall (which sounds ridiculous writing about now) but they really were the- best-apples I have ever tasted. We had kind of mini brunch, chomping our way through all the samples. I thought of you Joanne, as I know how much you used to eat apples! We bought some ready for our day trip, and wandered back home via a coffee stall. The market, like most things here in Brisbane is a very social place. A lot of people sit on the hill eating and drinking, chilling out, watching a band and leisurely doing some shopping- it beats tesco when it comes to a pleasant shopping experience anyway.

Back at the ranch, I made us some stuff for a picnic as today we were going to Glass House  mountains which I am told is very nice and scenic ( perfect for a geek like me ) we got on the road, with the sun shining and the music blasting. I wish I'd have gotten a photo of it now, but we passed it too quickly, however it did make me chuckle to be on Bruce Highway, and then Steve Irwin Way (god rest his soul) as we passed Australia zoo, with a bigger than life-size cut out of him on the other side of the road with the caption of ' crikey'
We got to the mountains and went to the viewing point for photos. They weren't mountains as you'd imagine them, oddly shaped and they were quite spread out, and apparently formed from lava plugs. Named Glass House in 1770 by James Cook, as he thought the peaks resembled the Glass furnaces in his hometown in Yorkshire-home from home eh?! We had a walk along one of the trails, but didn't see any wildlife. There were lots of eucalyptus trees, and the weather was nice- not too hot, which I imagine isn't a pleasant experience in summer. On the way back to the van, parked up next door was a camper van with the words spray painted on the back "Hi...I'm a virgin conversion machine" which had me in stitches. Probably being driven by a group of lads having the road trip of their lives ( or hoping they were!)
We went to the visitor centre and bought a couple of postcards, and got a map to see where could be a good spot for a picnic. We headed back to the first mountain we'd passed- Mount Beerburrum and tried to head up to the viewing point there. The road wasn't really a road though, more of a dirt track so we decided to abandon the van and walk the rest of the way. We found a spot which Charlie declared- this looks like a good place for some lunch, so we set about unpacking the food. When he next said " it also looks like a good place for snakes" I ate a bit more quickly and flinched every time a bit of grass touched my leg.....

We set off back, and picked up some beers on the way to have as we watched the sun set from a place called Kangaroo Point. It overlooked the river and the city, and was quite a lovely view. Back home I had to have a power nap, all that fresh air had taken it's toll. Well, nap turned into more of a 2 hour conk out, and Charlie woke me up to say the food had been barbecued and was waiting out back. Some more friends had come over, and I felt a bit bad as my brain wasn't still fully functioning to normal conversation level, and I'm rubbish with names at the best of times. Now, despite their lack of cleanliness and organization, these buys know how to cook, and the kangaroo in bush plum sauce, although not something I'd normally have (!) tasted fab, along with the fish in a nice spiced marinade.

We moved to the porch where yet more friends dropped by, and drinks were swapped and shared, before we got changed and headed out to a warehouse party. Now, Charlie had heard about it, and on showing me the flyer advertising this 'skank' party, I was a little bit dubious about going. Anyway, I thought Sod it, I can always come home if I don't like it. We made our way to some warehouse, paid the nun an entrance fee (yes i did say nun) and with closed legs and an open mind decided to give it a whirl. The decor was at least very imaginative, with the legs on the first table I saw being exactly that- legs- that must have come from a shop dummy or mannequin of some sort. They were good legs nevertheless. The base of a lamp was made out of Barbie doll legs, and there were various body parts of mannequins dotted about the warehouse, I felt like I was in a bad dream, or a Chapman brothers exhibition I'd once seen at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Never mind though- there was always the cage on the dance floor to distract me from such oddball decor.... I have to say the toilet was one of the nicest I've been in, with kitschy wallpaper and Elizabeth taylor pictures everywhere. The flower arrangements were real and fresh and looked expensive, which was weird considering opposite was a 'private area' with a door made out of a rubber like curtain...  I met more friend of friends, one mad head from Manchester who'd ditched life up north to come and stay with her mate here for a year, and another couple of nice people, one girl who was half Turkish, half french raised in Italy, working in Oz living in Briton (no- I couldn't keep track either) I was ready to call it a night at about 3 am, so we made our way back home from my first, and probably last skank party. Still, what is it they say? Try everything once?! Crikey indeed.

---