East Coast Expedition: Brisbane Back to Airlie Beach

Jan 29, 2011

I wasted no time getting my behind back to Airlie Beach. I took at 10:00 am flight from Brisbane to Hamilton Island (one of the Whitsunday Islands) where I caught a ferry back to the mainland. When I arrived I had a message on my phone from Mick, the skipper of Tongarra. He said he had spoken to Andy and that it would be fine if I came out on the boat as a volunteer (whoopie!). The only issue was that there were two cyclones (hurricanes in our lingo) making their way towards Airlie Beach, and he wasn't sure yet if they would be sailing.  We just had to sit tight and wait and see what move mother nature made. She can be rather unpredictable, so there was a chance she would strike with fury or simple pass us by untouched. Only time would tell.

In the meantime, I reunited with my children from Fraser Island. I joined Kit, Joe, Nicola and Olivia at the lagoon where we lounged by the water and rested in the grassy field. They were so cute. They told me that they cheered on the bus when I told them I was coming to Airlie. It felt oh-so good to be together once more. We spent the first part of our evening at Magnums, an outdoor hostel bar, where we played the most amusing guessing game. Each person at the table wrote down a name of a person or character (famous or real, human or non-human, living or dead) on a piece of paper and then passed it to the person to their right who stuck the the name on their forehead for everyone else to see. Then we each had to guess the name on our forehead by asking yes/no questions. I know it doesn't sound all that exciting, but trust me it was ridiculously fun way to pass the time. Of course, the company added to the fun factor, but I'm certain it would still be fun playing with complete strangers. The name on my forehead was "Jesus." I was the second one to guess correctly, but it took what felt like an eternity to get it. I was stumped for a good while. I had narrowed it down to a dead historical figure which leaves, well, a lot of options. When in doubt, guess Jesus. It worked for me. The other forehead names were: James Bond (I came up with that one), Bilbo Baggins, Frosty the Snowman, Paddington Bear, and Lord Voldamort.

Lil spit is all you need to stick the paper to your head. Hah

Next we went to KC's where we dined on $10 dinners before heading over to the Phoenix Bar for a night of dancing. We danced liked maniacs to the Aussie techno beats, shaking our groove thangs and tapping our happy feet. Poor Kit, with his blonde hair and blue eyes, was quite popular among some of the other male patrons (if you know what I mean). Each time he got hit on, we would look at me and pipe, "Save me mommy!" It was hilarious. I would shuffle my feet in his direction, throw him my imaginary fish line at him, and reel him away from the prowling bystanders. Momma bear always protects her cubs. That evening I was on chaperon duty, interjecting whenever things got a tad uncomfortable. Of course, it was all in good fun. And fun we had.

Dinner at KC's with Patrick

Me, The E-team and some other English lads in Airlie Beach 

Then that dreaded time came to say goodbye to my children-- again. I barely survived the first time. Round two was no easier. Kit, bless his soul, told me that he was going to be homesick back in Melbourne because he would be missing his mummy (me, not his real mom although I'm sure he misses her too). Doesn't that just melt your heart? Mine was dripping on the floor. This was definitely the last time I was going to see my darling E-team in Australia. They were catching an early flight from Airlie Beach back to Melbourne where they worked at a high school as gym teacher assistants. A trip to Melbourne wasn't feasible for me, I was running out of time and money. We made promises to come visit each other in the near futures. Until then, we made a pack to stalk each other on facebook. What would I do without that piece of social media genius? Thank you Mark Zuckerberg, you are keeping my family together.