Adventures All Around

So. A dear, dear friend (relative, Uncle...whatever you want to call him) wrote me an email saying I haven't updated in awhile and that blows.

I don't blame him.

I mean, I know all of you (yes all two of you) wait around, checking, re-checking to see if I've updated. And for that, I am thankful.

And for you -- I am grateful.

Okay. Enough of the baloney talk. Speaking of Bologna -- I haven't tasted that nasty stuff since I was a child, and frankly, have no desire to.

SO!

Gold Coast. Still bored. No, I kid. I kid. It's actually gotten a lot better. Probably since I found myself yet another sugar-daddy. He's an old one tho...I'll let you do the math -- born in 1968.

MOVING ON.

Friday was just a normal, typical day where I hung out with myself and my computer (I love thee, computer) and contemplated getting some exercise in. I decided to take a nice long walk on the beach during sunset. It was pretty awesome.

I came home and my roommate was there, asking me if I had anything planned for the weekend.

"Hey Mariah, you have any plans for the weekend..."

"Well.."

"Ha! Not like everyday isn't the weekend for you."

Thanks for the reminder, jerk. And, incaseyouwerewondering, Yes. I did give up on finding a job.

So. We chatted it up, he told me how tired he was from the week and wanted to get an early start to Brisbane in the AM (visiting family)...but, he got the call.

Oh. You know. "The Call" - the one that says, "Get off yo ass and get out there, son!"

So. I accompanied him to a tavern in Mermaid Beach called....Mermaid Beach Tavern. I met several of his co-workers, who were all very nice and open to meeting me. I ended up chatting up a STORM with his co-worker's sister, Priscilla. She was almost 24 (acted a tad bit younger) and full of energy. She hadn't been out in 4 months.

OHDEARGOD. Help me now.

Some guys approached us, telling us they were friends with Kelly Slater, who happened to walk by as we said this. Priscilla grabs him and says, "Are you Kelly Slater?"

Granted, the poor girl didn't know who that was. And I, on the other hand, knew alll about Kelly Slater. He grew up in Cocoa Beach, duh. And I wasn't about to be bullshitted about this celeb biz. So I tell his friend, "What high school did Kelly Slater go to?"

AND OF COURSE, he runs up to "Kelly" and says, "This girl says she went to high school with you..."

Mind you -- I did not. Kelly's like 38. Okay? I'm not. The End.

So, Mr. "Kelly" walks over and I ask him where he's from. He smirks and says, "Newcastle."

Done and done.

WRONG.

He smirked as he walked away, but daymn. He was a good looking chap.

And yes. He looked pretty much like this, but younger.

By this time, everyone was ready to go home whether they were tired or hungry or whatever. Priscilla and I were just starting though. So we had her brother drop us off at a club right around the corner from where I live called, East.

That's about where you want to go after this. Anywhere, but East. The place sucked. Cost us $15 to get in and everyone was plastic to perfection. I and, no offense, Priscilla are not.

I walked into the bathroom and as I was waiting in line, this girl turns to me and LITERALLY pats me on the head and says, "oh, how cute."

WTF. Look. I'm a backpacker and I'm not going to backpack with heels in my bag. So I wear flats. Something I don't enjoy doing all ready. But I deal with. And I definitely don't need some plastic whore telling me "I'm as cute as...oh what do you call them...MIDGET."

Pretty much after two dances, we left and moved on to a place called Liars. It's a pub down the road, almost right on the water.

We walk in, Priscilla's gettin a little wild and we do a shot of sambuca. Kill me. Then some older guy comes over and talks to me, blah blah blah, and tells me I'm just gorgeous, blah blah, he needs to go to the bathroom and I escape to where Priscilla is.

Where I happen to meet -- my new sugar daddy. Mr. Victor. From Canada, living in OZ for about 12-13 years. Moved here for a girl. But. He's a graphic designer, turned copywriter and I find him fascinating. We end up hanging out all night.

After a tequila shot and then a shot some random stranger buys us, we decide...LET'S GO TO THE CASINO!

We're insane.

So hand-in-hand, Victor and I start to leave Liars. Only to hear yelling behind us.

Yes. Priscilla had enough to drink for the entire bar and *click* turned into psycho drunk. Apparently someone had said something derogatory and that was all she needed. As we walked the, oh, 10 blocks to the casino -- she wouldn't STFU.

"I'm a firm believer in woman's rights and no one should ever talk to a woman like that."

I literally had to slap her around a couple of times, shook her once or twice and told her to stop it. The more she went on, the more she was empowering that guy to say more things like that. Guys love getting a rouse out of girls, I'm convinced, especially with women who like to make asses out of themselves on the streets.

Thanks for being part of that scenario, Priscilla.

At one point she ended up fall down, shoes off, crying on the sidewalk towards the Casino. Boy, oh boy. I hadn't hung out with someone like this for a LOOONG time. So I grabbed her hand, threw her in a cab (hope I didn't hurt her) and told the cabbie, "I don't know where she lives, but just get her home safely. Ok?"

And that was that. THANKGOD.

So, Victor and I head into the Casino and got, of course, more to drink. Unfortunately we were at that "lovey dovey" stage and started making out. We had not one, not two, but three people comment on our make-out session. Including the security guy that asked us to leave as we were bothering the other patrons.

WTF. I've never been kicked out of a club/bar/casino in my life. And for PDA?!

Awesome. As my friend RJ said, "What the hell? You could be f*cking in a Vegas Casino and they'd say to you, 'Um, excuse me, but could you just move to the left a little...perfect, thank you.'"

Yeah. We're awesome.

So the next day, after much recovery time, Victor and I met up and went to the Emerald Lake Golf Course for a late lunch. But instead, it turned into more drinking. Shameful, I know.

We just hung out, chatted about life, design, OZ, Canada and, of course, the States. We ended up going to a Thai restaurant, where luckily, we weren't kicked out per se. It was closing time, so we had to leave.

Then we decide to walk down to the beach and check out the stars. (Altogether now, AWWWW). But we heard live music and that means party time. It was coming from a Surf Club (which are all over OZ, like a yacht club, except without just old people). We went upstairs, saw people dancing, ordered two beers...which we got for free.

Hmm.. How odd. Whatever.

Then a lady comes up to us and says, "Are you all right?"

Of course, I nod my head and keep walking and she stops Victor and says, "You know, this is a private function."

OH HELL NO. We just got kicked out again?!?! But this worse -- we got kicked out for trespassing!

What an awesome track record.

We proceeded with our plans, went down to the beach and then called it a night.

On my walk home, this guy approached me from across the street about places to go to. I tell him about East and the like and he said the wait to get in was ridick. So I tell him about Surfers, but advice for him to get a cab. I love how people think I know what I'm doing. That's a good sign.

We talk for a minute and then he asks me to head out to Surfers with them.

*screech* Um. I think not. Besides, I hadn't been home since 3 that afternoon. I was lookin rough in daytime clothes (cute pink skirt with a green tank top). I was flattered, declined and went out separate ways.

GETTING TO SUNDAY -- maybe this is why I don't post....there's just too much to explain!

Victor calls me up asking me if I want to go to Byron.

Why the hell not.

So we head down to Byron, by way of a Jeep (so much fun). We drove along the coast and these are the things we saw:

I was told that that's Surfers Paradise in the background. How awesome.

Told ya we were in a Jeep. Check out that hair!

I didn't notice the writing on the rocks til after the photo was taken. PIMP.

There was a bodysurfing competition going on while we were in Tweed Heads -- the very last town before NSW (We're still in QLD at this point).

Then, we explore the very small, but beautiful town of Byron.

Luckily, we didn't get kicked out of any places, but I did eat a lot of fried food.

Too much fried food.

I'll break it down for you --

In Byron we ate at a place called Fishheads and had a fried seafood platter. Seafood isn't that great fried IMO. But whatevs. I counter balanced it with a nice healthy salad.

Then we had a beer at this really lively place -- but I can't recall the name. It was Sunday Funday for sure there.

We drove back and went to the Surf Club in Broadbeach -- Kurrawa Surf Club. I came here with my roommate on Thursday and the girl made me sign in, but didn't check ID or anything. She could've cared less.

So I start filling out the form with my name is Maria Ketch and she says she must check ID. Ah, well shit. So I rip it off and she, very sternly, asks me for the pass so she can throw it away.

Freak.

So I write on there my details and I put FL, USA. And it went a little like this:

"Put your address there."

"I did."

"No, we need your address."

"Last time I came here, they asked for just where I'm from."

"Well, put USA there."

"I did."

"What does that say, I can't read that..."

"U.S.A."

"Well, put down the state."

"I did."

"What does that say?"

"Florida"

"No. That says FL, I don't know where FL is. If I'm from Australia and I put AU, no one will know what that means."

"But FL is Florida. I'm from Florida. On my license it says FL."

And that's when I thought I was going to get kicked out. But instead, we didn't and had more drinks and more fried food. But we had oysters too. Yum. Now, those were good.

I called it a night -- too much time with fried food, beer and Victor. I needed some me time.

But all in all. A damn good weekend. Damn good.

Funny thing -- I'm going to Byron on Wednesday. But don't tell Victor. I said I was moving on up the Coast on Wednesday.

Why, you ask, why Byron?

I'm meeting my Sydney boyfriend, Mr. Ross. YUP. We're traveling up the coast together.

Who would've thunk it?! Not I!

More to come...pictures included!