January 22, 2005

Knackered

Umm, well... I didn't do very much today on account on the previous couple of nights. Sheona was a little dazed by the time we woke up in the afternoon and she suffered from memory loss. Even the photos and videos of the previous night didn't produce recollections past a certain time.

I tried out some chicken kebabs and lamb sausages cooked on the BBQ by wedging them into a couple of sandwiches. The chicken kebabs were very good.

Jamie and I played a few games of pool. He is good at the games as he has had a pool table around for most of his life as his parents make pool and snooker tables.

Sheona sorted through some photos for her online gallery and I sorted out some business with Lydia at the internet cafe in Epping centre.

In the evening we watched "Intermission" before going to sleep, sober for once.

Posted by Nahoo at 08:36 PM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2005

Birthday II

One day wasn't enough time to fit everything in... so we did a second. Tonight we were going out to Kings Cross and everyone was invited.

We woke up quite late (the afternoon) to a BBQ breakfast with marinated T-bone steaks and salad. I was had a few games of pool with Jake and Sheona in the garage.

It was already 11pm before we made it to the Cross. We toured the sights, smells and sounds of the main street. Pimps were stopping our group to tell us that they can give both the men and the lady (Sheona) a good time in their respective establishments. Keiran and Dane were hooked in for a while before we moved on to the Kings Cross Hotel opposite the famous neon Coca Cola sign.

Posted by Nahoo at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)

January 20, 2005

Birthday in the park

We did Sheona's 23rd in the park and there was chilled champagne from icecream tubs.

It wasn't going to be a normal birthday for Sheona this year. I think we did it in style, starting the day with Bollinger Special Cuvée in Royal Botannical Gardens, round the corner from the Sydney Opera House. It was pretty surreal and some of the photos we took there give a good idea of how it went.

In the afternoon we continued with a second bottle of chilled bubbly at a Chinese restaurant overlooking the harbour. By now we were full of food and full of champagne. Sheona was going to introduce me to The Rocks on the opposite side of the harbour, but we didn't make it that far. I think she fell asleep on the grass in the park there. I played with my phone camera and video, see what I could achieve whilst laying down.

The day certainly wasn't over, we finished off the day by returning to central Sydney and touring Darling Harbour, or mainly the bars located there. The final day of the Bicardi festival had already kicked off at Cockle Bay, so we started there with two of Sheona's friends, one she had known at work in England and his Finnish girlfriend. I think Sheona managed to drink quite a bit before the day was out, I carried her most of the way to the Town Hall train station because her feet hurt. It would be my turn for pain tomorrow...

Posted by Nahoo at 02:35 PM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2005

Maquirie and Manly

It is the 20th January and I have just arrived at Sydney International Airport. All my toiletries were moved from the heavy hand-luggage (10kg at the start) to the main luggage so I handn't shaved or washed properly since leaving London 30 hours earlier. The time of arrival was 12 hours ahead of when I thought it would be, 7am rather than 7pm, so Sheona was still asleep rather than waiting at the Arrivals lounge with a fake name sign (I still don't know what she would have written).

In order to make my way to Sheona's house, I asked the ticket office at the train station for the location of her road - it was only 1000m from the train station. As I paid with my card, they asked me: "Credit?" and I replied: "What?". I soon found out that everyone asks what type of card (Cheque, Savings, Credit) everytime I showed the thing. As time went on, I just want to tell them that of course its a credit card, what else does it look like and why the hell is it so bloody important anyway?

I knew Sheona was at home as her red Celica was in the drive-way. At least she wasn't at the airport after calculating the real time of my arrival. I knocked on the door for a couple minutes before she arrived in a pissed off mood. I think she was about to shout at me, but I quickly said: "Hi Sheona!" before anything happened? As her eyes cleared she asked: "Noah, is that you?" in a puzzled way. I was showed around the house, her room where everything lay on the floor and the garden in the rear with a tired looking dog called Ben.

Sheona introduced me to the local shopping center: Maquirie where we tried out a boost drink that made your head freeze. There was a shop called "Athlete's Foot", unfortunately named after the stinky foot disease.

In the afternoon we went to Manly beach, north west of Sydney. It was strange to be walking along the beach in summer so soon after experiencing a cold Brighton. The jet lag had some mild occurrences while I ate lunch, my concentration kept on slipping, but otherwise it wasn't as bad as I expected.

Posted by Nahoo at 09:04 AM | Comments (1)