Surprises all round
Trip Start
Jun 29, 2006
1
10
11
Trip End
Jun 29, 2007
Sydney,
Australia
Saturday, March 10, 2007
I landed in Perth on the 18th February - just in time for my father's birthday the following day. My brother arranged a family gathering that evening. My parents and sister were exceptionally surprised to see me and we celebrated with champagne. No-one was going to expect me back as I should have been on a flight to Uganda. I spent 4 wonderful days with my family before flying on to my next surprise destination Sydney.
After braving the "red eye" flight to Sydney which is a horrid three and a half hour flight departing at 00.15 and arriving at 05.30, in which it is impossible to sleep more than 2 hours before you start a full day
1. Dad's Birthday
. Bushy met me at the train station and I managed to steal a few more hours sleep on the couch at his hotel. Brad was in town to play on the Frantic Boat Party on Sydney Harbour on Saturday 24th February. Bushy had arranged to meet Brad in Bondi that afternoon. After a wonderful lunch involving a surprised Andy Mclennan (and me), we drove on to Bondi to surprise Brad. He really had no idea - it was fitting that it was Bushy that had brought me here as it was Brad that had brought Bushy to the Sunshine Coast for my surprise just last month ;)Brad and I stayed in the heart of Bondi at Marty and Christina's place which is a hop skip and jump from the beach. We enjoyed a great catch up that night with plenty of gin & tonics and pizza. There were many friends that came from Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane to see Brad. We met up with a number of people on the Friday evening for drinks at a local bar and even managed to fall into bed at a reasonable hour.
For the first time ever, I managed to go to a boat party without a hangover. I was very proud of myself! Brad, Steve and I headed down to the boat at 08.30 to help set up. By 10.30 we were picking the party up from Darling Harbour including many old friends including many we didn't know were coming, and headed out on the harbour for one hell of a party ;)
We docked in the late afternoon and headed straight for the after party which was held in a bar that's outdoor area looked out upon a shopping mall thoroughfare. Very strange, especially with a huge number of smashed people running around! Everyone had a great time - Marty, Tim, Steve and Brad played and there was much reminiscing about a time around 8 years ago in London when none of them mixed but each had aspirations to do so
10. Steve and Christine
. The boys thoroughly enjoyed mixing together. After that it was back to Steve's house for some further partying, before we finally let the neighbours get some sleep around 3am. What a fantastic day ;)Brad was flying back to the Sunshine Coast the following afternoon so we had a fine day at Steve and Kat's jumping from steam room, to pool to spa and chilling out on the couch. We dropped Brad off at the airport which was a very sad goodbye and went back to chilling on the couch. Bushy was still in town until Tuesday so we hung out whilst Steve and Kat were at work. My flight back to London was booked for 18.05 that day, but keeping with the tradition of the journey till now, I changed my plans last minute after a call from Brad and 5 hours later found myself at Maroochydore airport!
I spent 8 magnificent days with the man of my dreams in which we had a huge night at a gig of Steve Hill and Technikal's in Brisbane, babysat his niece little Beth and pretty much just chilled out. On Wednesday the 7th March I boarded a plane bound for Sydney, connecting with a flight to London.
