10 day swirl....

PPinP's blog has been severely curtailed I know for the last 10 days.

It has been a swirl....

Paulette arrived - sister of one of my best friends Beatrice. Bit of a leap of faith having a stranger shack up for 10 days... but after the whirlwind I am now sitting here, missing her and just feeling all the dust settle.

She certainly had a no frills tour of Oz... which included:

On her first day she went on an extremely informative tour of the Daintree rainforest, and then met up at Mossman Courthouse where I had been losing the will to live after a stream of aboriginals were paraded in front of me and where 6 hours later I was finally given my punishment. Banned for 1 month plus fine for drunk (if you can count a thimble full of drink.. drunk!) driving. So she had an aboriginal themed day. Not many get to sit in a real Australian courthouse (mmmm now that's an idea).. It's certainly an interesting way to get a feel for the culture of the place.. from the bottom up type of perspective.

We explored the best resort and beach in the area.. and ended up at Turtle Cove.. after an argument where she emphatically thought that rainbow flags meant it was eco friendly and I thought that maybe it indicated gay friendly. We went in to find out. Seeing the noticeboard with the first poster advertising Lesbian Fest and not Eco friendly ways to carve a pumpkin we know who won that one. But we did end up there in a beautiful cove and if you ignored the naked male bums on the sunchairs it was beautiful. We even got into character with the odd 'darlings' to each other.

Another day spent organising a tow truck as the car overheated whilst Paulette was driving back and was abandoned about 20 km away. So the next day we went to rescue it with Paulette and a new friend, Len. But due to the 'small print' in the recovery breakdown contract, we ended up on the side of the road for a couple of hours. All brightened up by seeing 3 turtles with a juvenile swimming around (don't think there is a name for a juvenile turtle).

Why is it I always seem to end up with cars that

like to flash their insides... Another titillating car...

just can't wait to get it's hood up and show off its insides!

We snorkelled on the Low Isles, sipped wine on a yacht and she experienced the joys of diving and the not so joyous experience of seeing how much everything costs here. With the largest 'How Much!!!' for $19 for a plate of pate and toast in a restaurant!

As for Louis, the 23yr old hunk that I was supposed to meet at the airport -- but he missed his plane!..... Watch this space, after many see you laters... and laters.. his ardency seemed to wane off .. his last message the day before he was due to return was "Be good to hear your voice".. as it then trailed off into the stratosphere.

Funnily enough the phone went at about 2.00 am a few days ago and on the other end was Matt (see previous blog for pic). Seems the special vodka that he had been imbibing activated those special ‘remember Penelope’ brain cells. We had a chat .. eloquence is not my forte when being woken up in the wee hours. He has also disappeared now back into the stratosphere... I'll just have to wait until his next special vodka session!

My last date was with Alec who is a pilot– a charming 29 year old.. who either has the hots for me or is desperate.. Trying to work that one out. We met up and he was very keen on going swimming.. so we had a lovely wallow in the Sheraton pool. In a little shallow secluded area he started to give me a massage – then sat on my back for better positioning. Afterwards I didn’t want to turn over – rather a suggestive position so I pulled myself along like a creeping crocodile… When I asked him why he hasn't a girlfriend.. he said because all the local girls here only want to go out with a tradey or someone who works on the mines and has a ute (a car front - van back type of set up). When he tells girls that he is a pilot they aren't impressed.. how funny life is! Well, that leaves all the interesting, intelligent men out there looking for someone! Ah.. don't you just love niche markets!

After his last text ‘we should have a sleep over’ I haven’t replied. All seems a bit too full on. He is not unattractive and he is totally ‘there’ and a real sweety, but just not sure. Aaah don’t you just love indecision. Well, I suppose that is me at the moment.. confusion.

Alec in job mode....

So here I am sitting here after her visit and missing her vitality, energy and think that sometimes in life it is good to put oneself out on a limb. It has been a lovely experience for us both to explore the local sites together. Also through her I have made new friends which I will talk about more in further blogs. So, methinks I had better now knuckle down.. got to finish my marriage celebrant studies and start getting on with my other projects.

Kitchen is now finished and the small bathroom is now a shell... just a word.. if you do buy a shower unit from China that is $400 cheaper than here. Just be aware that the taps are not a standard distance apart. So now have to pay a plumber $200 to change the width of the existing taps.. aaah, life is always full of one step back to go one step forward...