This week I have mostly been trying to sort out my blogging, so this week was actually 3 weeks ago when I was back home in Aus, primarily to catch up with the world's worst punters for a Punter's Club trip to Cairns. I was pretty excited by the prospect of drinking reasonably heavily with old friends and also curious as to what would happen when you crossed the streams of two blogs with the coincidental meeting up with Brad and Graz the fish killers. Jaeger bombs as it turned out is what happened.Heading to Cairns after nearly a year since our last visit home is not a gentle easing back into Aussie culture, it is like being smacked in the mouth with a sackful of beer and pies. The Cairns Cup was a day dominated by the letter B; Beer, Bosoms, Betting, Bosoms, Burgers, Bosoms, Beer and Bosoms. While the punting was predictably inconsistent we did manage to not have to spend any of our own cash and had a mighty fine day. A spate of pregnancies and an out of form Ned meant we had a quieter day than usual. Not so with the locals; they were well and truly on it.
By 4:00 in the afternoon, sober people were rarer than an original idea from John Howard. The highlight had to be the fashion parade, where people were plucked from the crowd on to a stage because apparently they dressed nice, prompting calls from the crowd for the nice looking people to display their genitalia. This was followed by the unexpected arrival of a girl who fell over the fence landing at the feet of the judges. Surprised, scared, disorientated and perhaps just a little drunk, she started pushing the judges around. I can't explain the logic, but her boyfriend came to the rescue only to be given a big shove as well. The most obvious recourse in front of a large crowd was to walk away, instead he pushed her back, right into the roses as it happened. He was escorted out by security, while she picked herself up and unable to correct a lean to the right she disappeared out of the winner's circle and on to the track. Outstanding effort and my fondest memory of the day apart from Reidy picking a 17-1 winner and the Punter's club reunion.
A trip to the reef is mandatory when in Cairns, so off we went the next day. I saw three turtles before we hit the water due to crook guts, but the real thing ws far more impressive. We also spotted a sting ray, but declined from cutting its tail off like some of the les intelligent Steve Irwin fans.Then it was down to Sydney for a flurry of catch ups, dinners and the odd drink. Thanks to all that fed and watered us, great to catch up. Finally special mention to Orietta who crashed her car just so I could write about her crashing her car.
