(this happened on)  Thursday 21st May 2009

The Gap Year Gang Go In Different Directions (But Not For Long)

I swear it looks like a PIG

Today instead of combining the stories I am going to keep the stories seperate, first mine and then followed by Soifa’s.

Alans Day

A lazy day, nothing planned. So we got up around 10:30am, The girls went off on their own and we boys were just chilling around the house. Then Glenn suggested we go and check out an Aboriginal cave.

We drove just a few roads away and parked at the end of a Cull de Sac, we walked between a few houses and  through some small forested area before the cave was in front of us, there were no signs anywhere on the approach road, or where we parked, there was a sign at the cave itself, so I guess unless you are a local or like us accompanied by one, you may never even know it is here.

The cave itself was more of an overhang of rock, but you can easily imagine the aboriginals staying here, it provides perfect shelter, has no issues with light as it is open along it’s length and was perfect for food gathering as the river (now a large lake) was a short distance away.

It was a very peaceful area and yet less than five minutes walk from peoples houses.

Glenn then drove us down to Burrill Lake and parked up by the Ulladulla Water Ski Club, club house. We just stood and chatted while marveling at the view, the lake is massive and where we were it is surrounded by trees, all you hear are the birds and the water lapping.

Whilst we were there Stefan excitedly exclaimed that an Octopus was attacking his foot, I quickly moved along to watch this beautiful creature it was following us along the waterline, I am fascinated by them as of course we now know how intelligent they are and the night before by co-incidence we had watched on You Tube a giant octopus in an American aquarium (Seattle?) grab a four foot shark as it swum past and killed it, apparently the aquarium had put the octopus in the tank as they thought it would be safe due to it’s intelligence and ability to camouflage itself, I guess the octopus was taking no chances and getting rid of the threat. Apparently the first the Aquarium knew about this was when dead sharks started turning up in the tank, eventually somebody staged a vigil at the tank and witnessed the shark getting killed by the octopus. Cool.

After a good time by the lake we went into town, checked out a few fishing tackle shops, big business. Funny how different counties treat different things. Rugby League is the big sport here, Rugby Union a poor relation, the same with fishing, course fishing is frowned upon and carp are considered a pest, if you catch one in Oz you are not supposed to return it to the water, they also don’t like the taste. In the UK course fishing is very popular and certain anglers specialise in catching carp and consider them a magnificent creature and of course they got to the be so popular in the first place as the monks used to farm them for eating, Vive la difference as they say.

Glenn then said we needed to go to the pub as we should do so at least once before leaving town. The bar was pretty rough in a good hearted way, typically for an Aussie bar it had a TAB (bookmakers) and Pokie lounge (fruit machines) it also had superchilled beer, very nice.

The place was also a fishing headquarters of sorts and the walls had pictures of locally caught fish and details of what had been caught recently everywhere. By the time we left I already felt quiet a buzz.

The ladies cooked mexican tonight and it was very nice, Glenn kept the beer flowing and I was very piddled, this resulted in me losing half of my pot on Facebook Zynga poker, don’t gamble when drunk, thank god it’s only toy money.

Sofia’s Day

Shopping day for Nicky, Sasha and I to try and find some winter clothes. I was lucky enough to find a big black cardigan, a skirt and some black pump crocs. Sasha got some black trousers, she also found a `roxy (quicksilver) pull along  bag and a wooly hat at the same time. Sasha tried on so many jackets but still came away without one. Nicky got herself a pair of Quicksilver flipflops (thongs), we got some little charms to go through the straps on them.

We visited Charolotte at work, we also saw Alan, Glenn and Stefan sneak into a pub on the other side of the road, we waved like crazy but they were oblivious. We got an apple pie for pudding. All in all a very successful shopping trip.

I made Mexican for supper with lots of help from Nicky, Sasha and Charlotte went out late.

Nicky and I played Pictionary with Basty and Jack, we won hands down.

Alan and Glenn were beyond merry and well into naughty and fairly argumentative.

Stefan being mean thumped Basty and had him in tears, I was so pissed off with him that I went downstairs and gave him one back and then a few more for luck.

He is a man and not a 13 year old boy and he really hurt Basty, they only have two days left together and I don’t want Stefan to be a bully (he’s a hefty man now) it’s a good thing he would never smack me back.

Stefan was up all night again, I caught him on his computer at 2:30am he was reading about Lord Admiral Cochrane, in 18 short months Admiral Cochrane ran aground and wrecked 52 ships of the enemy in his ship ‘The Speedy’ quite impressive.