Brisbane & Byron Bay

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September 4th 2006

Published: September 15th 2006

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RTW2006

Brisbane

For once a Lady Luck was on our side - arrived in Brisbane just in time for the opening of the River Festival, which meant aerobatic plane displays, F111 fighter jet flyovers and fireworks. I also discovered the addiction of Cold Rock Ice Cream.... take 2 scoops of your favourite ice cream flavour, mash in a selection of your favourite sweet (from mars bars and tim tams to gummi bears and fudge) and you get a home-made effort at a McFlurry...abosolutely divine.

There was plenty going on in the city, and who was I not to join in, especially when they had an AFL kicking competition to win a mini-AFL football signed by none other than the famous Jason Ackermanis....yeah....eh..whatever. Let it be stated for the record I was wearing flip-flops and a skirt, not exactly regulation footy gear...and it was no surprise when the ball lamely fell off the side of my foot and limped to the side of the posts...embarrassing more for the fact that wee 6yr olds in the queue ahead of me managed a better effort!

Byron Bay

The east coast of Australia is dotted with small towns...which all begin to look

Easternmost point

the same - lovely beaches, nice holiday-town quaint feel with restaurants and surf-shops...same same.. and Byron Bay was no different, except that I met Nigel Curtis randomly in the middle of the one-street town also working his way down the coast! After a quick catchup on goings-on, I went on to book my surf lesson...and what fun that was! Managed to stand on the board at the first attempt (pat on the back), and after an initial few pushes from the instructer, was catching waves on my own by the end of the lesson. Now let's be straight here, I wasn't quite Kelly Slater standard, and a calloused hand and grazed backside from all the falls in the sand will confirm this, but it was a great experience, and very addictive, so can't wait to get some more practice in.

The price of junk food here is ridiculous, with large pizzas at AU$5 (that's 3euro!) it's no wonder the country is suffering from obesity when fast food is cheaper than Woolworths. This coupled with large 150g Dairy Milk bars at euro1.20, I'm lining myself with blubber in anticipation of the winter months at home when I return!

The

Wait for me Tadhg!

Odyssey

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DAYS

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HOURS

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MINS

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SECS

Until All-Ireland Final/ Bankruptcy

Well it's final, the tickets home are booked. I'll be winging my way home courtesy of Quantas Airlines, so everybody is to keep their social calender free for that weekend, as I'm sure to be found roaming the fleshpots of Dublin over the weekend! Otherwise, I'll (hopefully) be somewhere in Croke Park on the Sunday (anyone with a spare ticket, please let me know!), so keep an eye out on the big screen...

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