The Great Return

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It's eM the story-telling slacker!

But tis finally the season, hence i'm feeling all merry - cracked the first door on my advent calendar this morn - wow, you can't imagine the excitement - couldn't even see properly for all the sleep in my eyes but could taste the chocolatey goodness so all was right with the world. It's going to be a good day. Plus - it's worth mentioning that it was Woolies chocolate too - mom sent me an advent calendar all the way from home as part of my birthday parcel - she's a real keeper. This doesn't mean that Sime doesn't have to get me one as well - alas - he did not have one waiting for me this morn (slacker) so we shall have to make a special trip to the store - good thing i have the day off!


Right - so let me waffle out the update. Last time i scribbled i think we were still stuck in Childers - the fine spot where i lost a week of my life! Trevor and his tricks. Luckily we made it out - third time lucky! Yip we literally went back and forth to Childers THREE times before Trevor called time on his own Tomfoolery. But enough about Childers. All this feels like it happened donkeys ago - which i guess it did - so the brainy part between my ears is finding it a little tricky to remember all of the adventures!


Finally back on the road in our 'new' Trevor (you would never know it as he keeps all his shiny new bits on the inside!) we headed back to Brisbane to say one last goodbye to some old friends. First stop was Farmer Bill and Anne. They kindly invited us for afternoon tea - Bill was bleak we didn't stay for real 'tea' i.e. dinner - but thanks to Trevor playing the fool for a whole week, we had to speed up our pit stops. It was great seeing Bill, Anne and Gracie the blue heeler hound again, but sad to say goodbye. Was also a little strange going back to the fields - i guess us pickers will always be drawn to the fields! While in town we also went out to grub with Corinne - i was hoping she would treat us to the infamous cobb loaf but alas, like Slime and the advent calendar, she was slacking! I lie - she was tied up with exams and 5 meeelion jobs and thus had min time to bake loaves. After waving goodbye to the Corinnster we headed into Brisbane itself to spend a few days with Frida - our long strawberry picking Swede that we befriended in the fields. We ate, drank and got merry and again it was sad to say goodbye.


And then it was time to take Trevor back 'home' to Macedon. i won't bore you with all the adventures en route, however this story isn't worth telling if i don't mention the Blue Mountains and Basil the roo. Wait - there was also Wet n Wild World - that was excellent fun. i can be a bit of a wuss when it comes to theme parks so Slime figured the slide park would be the most eM-friendly. i still had to strap on my brave pants for the 'Kamikaze' which involved being stuck in a tube alongside Slime and being dropped from a dizzying height... i really can't explain it. i screamed so hard i almost swallowed my face but fortunately made it down alive to see the picture of me at the bottom - wide-eyed and tonsils for a face! Good times. But back to the adventures - first, the mountains. They're not really blue - i found that out the hard way. There i was expecting smurf-coloured peaks but it was not to be. They did have a hint of blue to be fair so if you were willing to pretend (and pretend hard) then all was good. But hey, blue or not, they were awesome. I do love me a mountain so i was always going to be stoked - but we went on some awesome walks - right on top of the peaks - you will see one of my death-defying leaps in the pics... good thing i was sporting my top notch $12 walking boots from K-mart with their superior grip! We spent 2 days in the mountains, marching along the peaks and pottering about the little mountain-town shops.


From the mountains to the sea. Slime was gagging for a bit of beach time to end off our adventure however the weather was not our friend. The long-awaited 'beach day' was spent inside Trevor, eating ham sandwiches and playing Trivial Pursuit while the rain drops raced down the windows! The day after was slightly better - we braved the beach for about an hour before it got too cold and then accepted our fate and cooked a killer curry to keep us warm! It was the 2nd Vindaloo special that my mum sent Slime for his birthday... we had bought some chicken specially for the occasion but alas, Big Jim was not keen for the fowl. Big Jim is our 'cooler' box, however Big Jim functions more like an oven than a cooler box so the chicken came out smelling more foul than fowl so we were forced to toss him and embrace the veg! It was still tasty and with many a cold beer to wash it down with, Slime's beach day was a success. Shucks - i almost forgot about Basil the roo! En route to Bournda National Park (near Eden - where we had our rainy beach day) we stopped off at Pebbly Beach. Wow - such an amazing place - giant waves surrounded by thick forest - completely wild AND with ROOS ON THE BEACH! They were quite the friendly bunch too - came right up to us even though we had min treats to offer. Basil in particular was ever so friendly - we had chats, i gave him many a scratch and told him that only if Slime was willing to stay behind would there be space for him in Trevor. Stubborn as he is, Slime refused so i was forced to say farewell to Basil. It really was quite the amazing and very special day.


And now we're back in Macedon, sleeping on Craig and Leanne's floor! It was great to get back to friendly faces again and hot showers every day instead of every 5th day! We have been here over 3 weeks now, not that I'm counting but I'm sure Craig and Leanne are! Gotta love backpackers kipping on your floor - if we don't move soon i fear i may find a snake under my pillow - Craig is Slime's oldest brother for those who don't know and is an avid python collector! No Joke - i live in a house teaming with pythons - i'm sitting right next to them as i type! They are in tanks of course but come the weekend they get to frolic outside on the grass and around the house for a wee while - just so they get a bit of exercise and have a poo!!


i be hunting jobs everyday but it's proving a little frustrating - peeps seem aware that i'm packing the PA/marketing skills but refuse to hire me cause of my pesky visa which only lets me work at one spot for 6 months. Bother. i went for an interview last week though and managed to duck the visa question so toes crossed. i also have another one next week so we shall see. In the meantime i'm sporting my apron almost every day - i have 2 jobs - had 3 but I just told the sleazy Italian dude to stick it. He gave me min hours and paid me min beans and called me Darl. Not cool. So i now work at the Meat and Wine Co. on Melbourne's Southbank - really nice restaurant except for all the cow they serve! Wow - you would have laughed yesterday - I had to go to steak training!! Good grief - plates and plates of bovine - all different cuts and temperatures for us all to sample so that we know to tell our customers how tasty our cows are - that they are happy grain fed cows which means they're tender and flavoursome unlike their pasture-fed fellows who are forced to roam while they graze which means they over-work their muscles and become chewy. It was not a good day for me. Luckily we did some wine tasting too so i got 3 glasses of super fancy wine and a piece of pork - well worth the hour's train ride into town! When I'm not sporting my apron at the Bovine Co. i'm rocking out in my waistcoat at Campaspe House - hotel/function venue. We had a wedding on Saturday eve and folk got royally tanked - even the bride was cutting loose! It was quite entertaining but after 9 hours i was over drunk people braking it down on the dance floor to We Will Rock You and my hands were covered in blisters from opening bottles and bottles of Boags Premium Draught!


On that note i'm going to sign off - it's my day off today as i said at the start - going to ride my bike into Gisborne to collect my money from the sleazy Italian and hand back my apron so he can give it to another 'Darl'! Then i'll come home and bake another cake for Craig before heading off for a spot of tennis with Scott! Hope everyone is happy and well and counting down the days till Christmas - hopefully we'll have a real home by then so you don't have to post treats to Trevor! Missing you all beastly...


Lots and lots of love
eM and Sime
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