Surreal Cereal Aussie Style

Step into my Office

Here's me hard at work in tropical (rainy) northern Queensland. It's like freakin' Costa Rica here with the small mountains, palm trees, freaky birds and the humidity but it's not all that warm yet. Sun hasn't been out yet.

I shot my first panorama from inside of the pool. It was a swim up bar. I snuck a piture of me with the drink while my contact was hiding behind the post, thinking I was working hard. Hee Hee. All in a days work. Palm Cove is pretty isolated. Went to a Greek restaurant the other night and everyone stared at me as I ate by myself. Whatever. Get over it already I felt like sayin'. Still lots of screaming brats at this resort but not as bad as before, must be low season. I must remind myself that I was once a screaming brat at an Outrigger in Waikiki. Still a screaming brat I guess, just slightly taller now.

Long Black and Flat White

No ladies, it's not what you think. These are Aussie terms for coffee. A long black is an Americano, a short black is an espresso. A flat white is a latte without the foam on the top. The beer is pretty good too. My two faves are Victoria Bitter and James Boag a Tasmanian beer.

Keep Left Right?

Keep left. Keep left. This was my mantra as I drove my rental car from Coolangatta to the Hyatt in Coolum, about a four hour journey. It’s the first time I had to drive on the left and of course the first thing I had to do when I left the rental car lot was to drive through a traffic circle! Well, four traffic circles, a few lefts, a few rights and a little tour of the burbs after a wrong turn and I made it in one piece with no structural damage to me or the car. Impressive. This Hyatt Resort is the most spread out I’ve seen. It has nine swimming pools and an Australian PGA golf course. My room is part of a villa that faces the driving range. My contact is going to give me a golf cart to drive around in! There’s supposedly wild kangaroos on the course so I hope I see some of those. I had a late lunch of lamb on home-made angel hair pasta. Fantastic. My contact says they have their own pastry chef. Great. So much for losing some weight on this trip!

Coolangatta to Coolum to Mooloolaba

I’m not making this shit up. Crazy natives and their crazy ass names.

That’s me again (as usual) by a fountain in the back of the Outrigger at Coolangatta. I still have rashes from surfing. And the roo, that’s Joey my neighbour. Walked outside the back of my hotel room to find him peering out of the bushes.

Again, the Hyatt here at Coolum is pretty nuts. Nine pools, nine tennis courts, an Australian PGA golf course and Mount Coolum, a nice hike as you can see. But it’s full of screaming kids everywhere you go. When I went for dinner I asked the server to seat me somewhere away from the kids. Mid meal I had a kid puke his guts out right beside me. Projectile. Impressive. Made me stop eating my lasagna for a bit. One of the other tables looked at me and laughed. “That’s what happens when you feed little kids wine” I said.

Next stop Mooloolaba. Moo-loo-loo-ba. Mooloolaba. Mooloolaba. Lo-lee-tah.

Mr.Jones and Me

Stinkin’ film crews. Just can’t seem to get away from them. I was supposed to start shooting a month of destinations, tourist attractions, 60 locations in 30 days all over lovely Queensland but it’s been canned. My liason, Queensland is apparently too busy with locations scouting for Indiana Jones 4 to help me out. Crap. Not paying money to see that one boys. I mean Lucas hasn’t done a really great movie since American Graffiti and Spielberg hasn’t done are really great one since the first Indiana Jones. Schindler’s List wasn’t that great, come on. There’s my rant. I hope the don’t have another bratty kid saying, “You’re crazy Doctor Jones. Crazy!” What do I care, they ain’t gettin’ my hard won casholla.

Surfin'

After work yesterday I took an hour and a half lesson from a former pro surfer here in Coolangatta. It's the third time I've gone surfing and this time I returned without any visible scars, well a small scrape on the knee, that doesn't count. I've heard it's the most difficult sport to learn, not sure about that, it is very difficult and requires a lot of flexiblity. My longest wave, yes standing on the board was ten seconds! My new record. My muscles ache in weird places. Gotta go out again later ... board and a wetsuit for $25 AUD. Yes a wetsuit, it's winter. Sort of.

Day Three

Day three at the Outrigger on the Beach at Salt. I finally met the GM of the hotel in the lobby. I just happened to be in my wet suit holding my surfboard that my contact arranged for me. Great timing. I explained how I was ahead of schedule, blah, blah, blah, he smiled and was fine with it. Went surfing for a couple hours and got a nasty bump on my nose from when my board smacked me. It was my second time surfing. Stood up for exactly one second. Wahoo! I also managed to catch a few waves while lying on the board. I’ve heard it’s the most difficult sport to learn, I believe it. But the whole point of surfing is to relax and have fun, and I did. My whole body aches, God bless Advil. I think I’d like to live somewhere where I could surf every day. Australia? Got to get used to walking down the halls on the left side, I keep running into people.

More Vino for Deano

Another hotel, another bottle of wine. Another hotel, another new razor. This is how I measure time. This time it’s a bottle of 2003 Currency Creek Estate Shiraz. Dionysus has blessed me again.

Collateral Damage

My contact at the Hyatt Regency Sanctuary Cove was gracious enough to supply me with a bottle of Stony Peak 2005 Shiraz Cabernet upon arrival. Australian Shiraz, my fave! How did you guess? I managed to try it for free a few times at the Regency Club which I had access to for the first time. Basically free breaky and pre-dinner drinks. And a kick ass espresso machine.

The last night of my stay my contact was entertaining some potential clients and I was invited to join them all for a yummy five-star dinner. Collateral damage. The shiraz was flowing like a Vancouver winter rain. I had the wood-oven roasted field mushroom topped with marinated feta and greens (again) and the wood oven beef. I had the wood fired duck last time, wicked, time for something new. It was interesting to see my contact at work. The couple were Canadians now residing in Australia. The woman works for the UN. I asked her about the movie, “The Interpreter” and she said it was quite accurate except that there’s more peeling paint. Rich people are great to get wine tips from. “Anything McClaren Vale or Xanadu” she said. Note to self.