Trolly dolly tour – The land of Oz – day 4

Day 4

I’m finally free! A very kind, if somewhat startled fella, let me out on the sixth floor and I finally crawl back into that lovely big bed and sleep like the dead …for, well I have no idea how long.

Aarron stumbles in from the club and Jo sits up wide awake.

‘What time is it?’ She asks

I look toward the window and see an orange sky painted with indigo clouds and take a guess.

‘Early?’ I say. Or it could be late.

But now I’m awake too, so we do what all self-respecting British folk do and stick the kettle on. I’m still a bit drunk and Jo is jealous because she missed our night out…so she does what any self- respecting British woman does…she has a cheeky vodka. Half an hour later we’re face- timing home and showing them the gorgeous Terrigal sunrise. A dark orange sun is rising over sparkling water and its breath taking in its beauty.

 

After a tipsy sumptuous breakfast we wander back up and poke Gingy out of his drunken haze and demand he shows us around. Bleary-eyed he protests that we are evil and to leave him alone but we are relentless so eventually he offers to ‘Take us up The Entrance’.

I blink at him confused. ‘Surely that’s not right, son? I query. Sounds like some kind of hillbilly offer!

I discover that it’s not what I thought. The Entrance is a small seaside town, so called because it’s the where the Tuggarah lake meets the entrance to the Pacific Ocean. It’s lovely, with its Victorian carousel, small cafes and boutiques and its most famous residents …The Pelicans. We stroll around and I feel a little like I’m being watched, in fact no, I’m not being watched at all…..but Gingy is.

As we sit down for coffee there are a few people surreptitiously taking pictures of us and I start to feel uneasy.

‘Um what’s going on?’ I ask.

Gingy waves his hand dismissively.

‘Ah don’t worry it’s the Ed thing’ he says, wiping froth off his shaggy red beard.

I laugh as he explains that a certain red-headed popstar was here last week and people seem to think he still is. Hmmm, now you come to mention it there is a striking resemblance.

We finish our coffee and the sea breeze blows away the last of our hangovers as we stroll down to the prom for the famous Pelican feeding.

Here are some things I did not know about Pelicans.

They are fecking massive.

They fecking stink.

Seriously. My eyes were watering with it. Its like someone rolled a giant cod in a pile of shit and slapped you around the face with it! But, it is amazing to see these wonderful birds up close so Jo and I move in for a picture. Stumpy , the famous one-footed Pelican graces us with a Pelican pose as we snap away, then promptly shits all over our feet. To say Pelican shit is unpleasant is the understatement of the year and we dash away squealing at our misfortune while Gingy nearly pees himself laughing.

More photos (Japanese tourists not so secretly snapping Gingy) then we head back as we are hit with another wave of jet-lag/ nausea/ tiredness. On the way, we see Heston sitting outside his place watching the world go by.We stop for another rib-busting bear hug and a chat and arrange to meet him for a quiet drink on Tuesday evening, then we saunter back to our hotel.

My little one face-times me and merrily waves her cereal spoon  as she tells me about her lost tooth. I promise that yes, the tooth fairy will still come, even when Mummy’s in Australia and I ache to pull her through the phone and into my arms. After the call, I pick up my shoes and head into the bathroom. A wave of homesickness hits me and there are tears in my eyes…..Not from the homesickness….but from the stench of pelican shit as I try and wash it off my shoes with the shower head. It’s disgusting. I’m jet-lagged, homesick and barfing in the bathroom. As a trolly dolly this is not a first for me. But it’s definitely something that could have been avoided if I hadn’t been bullied into this trip!

I knew coming to Australia was a bad fucking idea!

 

 

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Trolly dolly tour – The land of Oz – day 3

Day 3 – (not sure what happened to day2, think it may have been lost somewhere in Singapore).

Aarron, the happy ginger Pirate is grinning and singing and drinking coffee to keep us all awake as we drive north to Terrigal. I wasn’t prepared to feel any kind of joy today after the debacle we had just endured, but there it was. A lovely fuzzy fizzing, deep in my belly, as we drive along the coast road and into a gorgeous bay.

 

Terrigal is Cornwall-esque with its craggy rocks and crashing Blue Ocean. Small boutiques and cafes line the promenade and standing majestically at the end of a long strip of golden sand is the Crowne Plaza hotel, our final destination! We are whisked through check-in by smiley efficient staff who aren’t phased by our frazzled appearance, and into an Ocean view room with beds …beds …lovely big beds with crisp white linen….lovely big beds that we crawl into immediately and promptly fall into an abyss of jet-lagged slumber.

‘What time is it?’ I mumble when I wake.

‘No idea ?’ replies Jo.

Its dark out and we are ravenous. So we get ready to go and watch the rugby. Several pints later and Jo is wobbling, several more pints later and she is put to bed and out like a light within minutes. But I’m wired and Aarron is meeting friends, its Saturday night and the young ones are partying in the club downstairs. It takes about five seconds to persuade me to join him and half an hour later I’m being swung around by Heston, the Mauri man-mountain who has come to meet us. He also just happens to be one of the friendliest guys on the planet and we hit the dance floor surrounded by people who are all at least 20 years my junior! I throw a few more shapes then suddenly I’m hit again by a wall of jet-lag. Time to go!

I wave goodbye to the young ones and poodle off to the lifts. I follow a crowd of Japanese tourists in and bow merrily to them when they get out on the second floor. The doors slide shut and then…nothing. Ah yes, through my drunken brain fog I remember the lift is operated by a key card. The lift is operated by a key card that is currently sitting somewhere at the bottom of Jo’s handbag! Not to worry someone will be along soon….won’t they?

Apparently not! Twenty minutes later I’m sitting in a corner singing merrily to myself. This is to distract my mind from focussing on the fact that I’m about to pee myself. No phone signal means I can’t ring for help. And since it’s my first night in the hotel, I’m hammered and will have to face the staff for the next 12 days, I’m very reluctant to press the emergency button. Getting stuck in a lift was definitely not how I thought I would spend my first night here. ……I knew coming to Australia was a bad fucking idea!

Trolly dolly tour – The land of Oz

Getting there – (part 2 )

One of the good things about being a trolly dolly is that once a year I get to travel anywhere in the world for peanuts. I work hard for that ticket. Much as I love all of you lovely passengers, you can be a little testing at times, false teeth down the toilet, fist fights in the aisle, temper tantrums, breakdowns and endless requests for more alcohol and that’s just me on a good day!…but once I’ve finished doing all of that, it’s my pleasure to serve you….honest! In return I get my club class tickets…yipeee!

So I finally feel a little more settled when we get into our flatbed seats on the beautiful brand new A380 , a huge double- deckered beast with every mod con you can think of. One of my gorgeous colleagues gives me a glass of champagne and a cheeky wink and I know this will be a good journey. Jo is grinning like a Cheshire cat and by the time were over Paris she’s armed with two double brandies and feeling fine in her brand new lounge pyjamas. She has her films sorted and her fluffy socks on and is as happy as pig in the proverbial pile of poop. It’s not till were somewhere over Malaysia, many, many hours later, that her hangover kicks in. Still, she’s happy enough, if a little time-fucked and we start to feel the disorientation that comes with jet –lag. What time is it? What time is it back home? What time is it in Sydney? What time is it on mars? We have no clue, neither do our brains….but let’s just solve the problem by drinking more champagne…hurrah, problem solved!

As the plane touches down she gets tearful. I can understand. She hasn’t seen Gingy for two years. She explains this to Morag the passenger next to her. Morag hasn’t seen her daughter either and she too begins to cry. The baby in front begins to cry. The trolly dolly, who’s been on her feet serving us champagne with good grace and cheerful smile, begins to cry. It’s a snot fest as the wheels screech on the tarmac. We are here, Sydney…we made it!!! Now, what time is it?

I’ll tell you what time it is…it’s 6am! Early morning and freezing. So much for the Sydney sunshine! But the glow from us all is blinding, and not just because of Gingy’s bright red head hair…now complete with bright red backpacker’s beard! He looks like a Pirate! But a very, very happy Pirate as he hugs us both with such ferocity I fear I may have cracked a rib.

We are tearful, and buzzing and happy and tearful and buzzing and cold. It’s bloody cold outside.Did I mention that? I unzip my case and grab my coat as Jo makes the call to the hire car company…no answer? Hmmmmm must be a problem with the phone, foreign countries tend to play havoc with phones! So Gingy tries on his …no answer. We have champagne jet -lagged brain fuzz and can’t quite puzzle through problems so we stomp back inside and hassle someone who has no affiliation with our hire car company whatsoever. They’re kind and patient and obviously completely unable to help us.

We get caffeine and try again. Success, the wicked witch of the West answers… and tells us she has no paperwork and we will have to wait till 8am for the office to open, then promptly slams down the phone!…

‘What time is it I ask?’

‘6am’ says Gingy.

There are many, many expletives. And then we sit there like stunned deer for two hours drinking coffee to combat the champagne hangover now buddying up with blinding tiredness…just for fun.

08:01am . Back on the phone.

‘ Where’s our car?’ I snarl

‘ummmmm?’ comes the reply then, ‘ we will ring you back.’

WTF? Another half hour.. ‘shuttle bus is on its way.. Stand at point x which is half a mile away and in the coldest spot in the world, we will pick you up.’

One hour later I am smurf-blue with cold. There are many, many more expletives and now, one taxi ride later, we finally get to the car hire office. Yet more time passes, more expletives, some apologies and one slightly dodgy looking rustbucket appears. We pile in…get 40 yards down the road and it packs up. We pile out, back to office, more expletives, one very large swanky SUV appears and we all pile in. what time is it? No one knows.

And off we finally go, onwards to Terrigal, about an hour’s drive from Sydney…I don’t know if its Friday or Saturday, I am cold tired and ravenous. I knew coming to Australia was a bad fucking idea!

 

 

Trolly Dolly Tour – the land of Oz.Day 1

A day by day account of a trolly dollys trip to Oz!

 

‘Please, can we go? Please?’ That’s my sister with her best whiny face on begging me to go to Australia.

‘Aw, God no. No. it’s too far. I can’t afford it. It’s not exactly Paris. No.’ That’s me point blank refusing to go.

So why do I find myself en route to Australia?

I have yet to work this out, but en route I am, with one very merry sister who is about to see her son for the first time in over two years. She owes me……big time! I’m not a reluctant traveller, I’m a trolly dolly . Cabin crew. Dragon with a wagon. Tart with a cart. Whatever you wanna call me. But the point is, on my holidays, the last thing I wanna do is get on a fecking plane! Let alone, two planes…..let alone for 24 bloody hours!

I go back to the original question. Why do I find myself en route to Australia? I put it down to bullying….and love …for both my sister, and for my lovely nephew (gingy, so named for his copper curls…let’s just say we’re not a family best known for our originality), who I also really want to see and who quite selfishly went on a backpacking holiday…and forgot to come home! ..but mostly, it’s simply sibling bullying. She knows I can get the tickets for a song…she knows I’m the only one who will put up with her snoring for two weeks…and she also knows that once I stop whinging I will love the whole experience.

So we are off!

You can follow this travel blog as we go,

I hope you enjoy it!

 

Getting there (part 1) – Day 1

Jo is like a jumping bean!

Its 7am and our flight isn’t until 8pm tonight. She’s fully packed, breakfasted and ready to go as I wander downstairs, bleary-eyed and slightly heavy- hearted.

My youngest is chomping through her Weetabix, transfixed on Cbeebies with no grasp on quite how long it’s going to be before she sees mummy again. I go over and hug her and she pushes me away smearing Weetabix across my forehead.

‘Gerroff mummy, I’m watching telly.’ Clearly not traumatised by my forthcoming trip then! The eldest spends the next hour clinging to me like Velcro though, and I feel justified in my tears when I finally wave them off to school….. But then the excitement kicks in and I relent.

Jo has asked for the last hour ‘Can we go? , Can we go?’ like a kid on a promise to the circus. We have to drive to the airport a two hour trip and she wants to experience Terminal five Do the shops. ALLLLL the shops she says. So off we go, five hours earlier than we need to and I’m not overly impressed. As with Planes, airports are my least favourite place to spend time in.

Light spots of rain dust the windscreen and she chats on about the trip, the kangaroos, seeing gingy, the koalas, seeing gingy, Sydney city tours, seeing gingy, Byron bay, seeing gingy. You get the picture. She’s a little animated! I’ve seen less twitchy cokeheads!

I need caffeine. And a shot of misery to settle her. So I pull into the services and make my way through the greyness of the motorway travellers for a pee and large bucket of tea to keep me going. I steer her away from the coffee for fear she will enter the stratosphere if she gets any more animated, then we trudge back through the now heavy drizzle and get back in the car.

Not ten minutes later we hit a jam and slow…then we slow a bit more…then finally come to a grinding halt.

‘Aw no’ she moans. ‘S’okay’ I say, ‘it’ll clear in a minute .It’s not like we’re gonna be late. We’ve got six hours!’

One junction. Four hours. That bucket of tea pressing hard on my bladder. One fully traumatised sister employing breathing exercises to stop the panic attack that’s threatening to suffocate both of us, a tempest of epic proportions raging outside and an overturned lorry that’s covering Both sides of the motorway. My lip chewed into mincemeat as I fight the urge to screech ‘I knew going to Oz was a bad fucking idea!’

Despite the cabbie from the carpark driving like a tortoise on Tramadol, the raging storm, the traffic jam, the Heathrow queues, the gritted teeth and nails chewed to down to the quick…we finally made it through security prepared to run like Olympians to the gate.

Then up there, flashing red, ‘Delayed’. Two hours…. And I take a deep breath and head to the bar for the first of many stiff drinks. Our journey to Oz has begun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Dad, my Hero

‘Alright, bonny lass.’

It’s the same greeting my Dad has given me since I could toddle into a room and toothlessly grin at him. And it will always be the same greeting. Because no matter how old we both grow, I will always be his little girl.

‘Cute’, some might say.

‘Nauseating,’ say others.

I can’t help it. My Dad is my hero and I am his princess and this has never changed, no matter what the shit-fan of life has thrown at us.

Like most daughters on Father’s Day I will be presenting him with a crap card, (farting gorilla) and an even crappier gift (golf book/Tobelerone…the small toblerone not the massive one that’ll cost him a trip to the dentist for a new set of gnashers). And I will do this despite the fact that, to be quite honest, there is no gift or card on Earth that can quite convey what this slight, balding, wry, old man means to this grumpy, stressed- out, middle-aged mummy.

Thing is my dad is the Carlsberg of Dads. He’s not bigger than your Dad. He’s not an athlete or a professor or an astronaut or a Nobel Prize winner, but he is everything to me.

He’s the guy who lifted me on his shoulders for salty walks along the promenade. He’s the one who taught me the names of all the Capital cities of the world. The person who took me fishing on the rocks and told me not to cry when I skinned my knees, cos crying was for babies. He’s the man who warned me , to no avail, about boys , the one who told me to wear something more appropriate, to be home on time, to not cheek my mother, to get that stuff off my face.

He’s the man who paid the tuition then didn’t get mad when I dropped out, the one who never wavered when I asked, yet again, for the money I needed because Id left yet another job. He’s the one who said it would be okay when I got pregnant to a man I barely knew and He’s the man who held me for hours and hours after Cancer took my mother and I wanted it to take me too.

Now, he’s a Grandad to my two giggling girls and he’s the one who smiles at me and says ‘look how it all turned out….I knew you’d be okay bonny lass’.

And if my Dad says that, then I believe him. Because he’s the man who is steadfast and true and will never ever let me down. So, on this Father’s Day, Dad, I hope you know how much you mean to me and that you are my hero…. And I promise to try and be good from now on….honest!