Busy busy22:30 Nov 17 2007
Times Read: 762
Finally, MM arrived in Australia!
It was only a 4 month count down; the current count down is now 6 months :(
Nevertheless, it felt like a long time.
So I drove down to Sydney, stayed at The Marque, they gave me a super nice room :)
Up early the next morning and caught the train to the airport. It's only about 15 minutes in the train. Made my way up to arrivals. Waited. And waited... And waited some more... Finally his flight disappeared off the screen altogether. I wondered had he been detained for questioning, like I was at Heathrow.
Finally I see him striding down, looking at all the expectant faces for mine, he spots me, and I can't hide my smile as I move to the front. I put my arms around him and he reciprocates and it's just like we've never been apart :)
We weave our way out of the airport, take the train back to Central and walk across to the hotel, talking the whole way of his flight and other small talk.
After MM has taken a shower and relaxed for a few minutes I drag him out into the busy Sydney streets, first stop the Queen Victoria Building. We window shopped and basically enjoyed each others company.
We wandered back out to the street and kept walking. Found ourselves in the Centrepoint Tower Building. Unfortunately it was an overcast day and sprinkling with rain, so we didn't bother to go up to the observation deck.
From here we decided to take the train up to Circular Quay. The Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge the attractions here. After snapping a few obligatory pics we took a ferry across to Manly, one of my favourite places in Sydney.
Once we disembarked from the ferry in Manly I took MM down the esplanade where we stopped for fish and chips at a restaurant for lunch. Whenever I go here to this esplanade I always have to have an ice cream, there's a great little ice cream shop, with chocolate dipping and cream on top, and all the flavours of ice cream and gelato you can think of! So of course that was the next stop. We enjoyed the view of the beach and out to the horizon beyond while I polished off the fabulous ice cream.
MM was beginning to feel quite tired by now so we decided to give Darling Harbour a miss for today and head straight back to the hotel for a nap before dinner. Back across by ferry and train to Central. I just had to make a stop at my favourite shoe shop to pick up some shoes I had been eyeing off since I had arrived the day before ;)
It was quite late by the time we went out for dinner. Almost half 10. Of course no restaurants were open, no pubs were doing meals any longer, the only choices we had were McDonalds and Kentucky Fried, so MM took me out to dinner at Kentucky lol
The next day we headed down to the Paddy's Markets for a couple of hours and lunch before we headed back to Orange. It’s a 4 hour drive, but very scenic.
The first person he met was my sister, she lives with me and she was home when we got in. I had organized some friends to come around for a few drinks to celebrate my upcoming birthday. So MM’s second day in Australia, his first in my home town, he was subjected to my closest friends lol. Everything went well. We did venture out to a pub but found MM was too affected by jetlag to enjoy himself and I myself was tired from the 4 hour drive from Sydney earlier that day.
The next day my parents had arranged for my closest friends and their families to come to their place for a BBQ, again to celebrate my birthday which was the following day. MM met my parents, my aunt, and a couple more friends along with all their children. I call it the “Children’s Party I had for my 30th”. All the kids had a great time, the sun stayed out for us, although it was very windy and a tad cold.
Later that afternoon MM and I went up to Mount Canobolas for the view over Orange and surrounding districts. Ren, one of my closest friends, and her family met us at the top, with intentions to take photos, only to discover once there, that she had left the battery to her camera at home on the charger! It was absolutely freezing up there anyway so we skedaddled back to town and the warmth of home.
My birthday! Sleep in… mmmm. Took it easy, most of the day. Well, took MM clothes shopping for the Melbourne Cup the following day hehe. Any excuse to see him all dressed up like ;)
Ren offered to take some photos of MM and I, a large print to be presented to me as a birthday gift. So we went to Cook Park and had some fun with posing and playing around.
We went to dinner with my family later that evening; my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, my sister and her boyfriend. My brother was already half cut by the time he even arrived… Nevertheless, we had a nice meal and relaxing evening at the Canobolas Hotel.
Race Day: absolutely freezing! It’s usually raining Melbourne Cup Day, but not today, today was just lashed with chilling winds. Imagine all those silly little girls (me being one of those) all dressed up in skimpy or strapless dresses, gorgeous hats and heels, all freezing their little (and some rather large) butts off! Ah well, the things we do for fashion! MM and I ended up losing more than we gained, although we did back the second placed horse in the Big Race. Apparently the odds weren’t much good lol.
We ended this day with a lovely meal at my favourite restaurant, ProVista Woodfire Pizzas. Mmmm the best gourmet pizza, pasta and salad in town! Hopefully MM was as impressed with the food as I always am! Pear and walnut salad in balsamic vinegar, Italian sausage pasta and Kumara pizza with pine nuts… mmmmmmm….. Not to mention the nice bottle of bubbly we had with our meal and the dessert of lemon tart we shared!
Off to Jenolan Caves the following day, a 2 – 2 ½ drive away from Orange, halfway to Sydney. It rained the entire time we were there, but that just made it even lovelier as everything was so green and fresh :)
Our first day we only had time for a quick walk around the Blue Lake before we were booked in for dinner. Somehow we ended up taking a different route and had to rush back, mostly up hill, to make it in time for our reservation lol. At least we made it back with enough time to freshen up and grab a bottle of bubbly to take with us! By the way, the Blue Lake is beautiful!
Jenolan being a village, has only the one restaurant, so naturally they charge the highest prices for the meals, which were well presented, but still over priced for what they were. The 4 choices for entrees, mains and desserts each, made it a bit hard to decide with full satisfaction what to have, but all in all I enjoyed my meal. MM however had a different opinion of his! The dessert though, was not a let down… sticky date pudding mmmmm :)
Nice open fires were lit throughout the lodge and in one lounge area we found chess set just waiting for someone. Not that I have played for years, but I thought it would be a good idea to challenge MM to a game. After he warned me on more than one occasion of my impending doom, he finally won the game, rightly so! The next evening we enjoyed another 2 games. Well, the first of the two only took 5 minutes and I didn’t really enjoy it at all to be honest, but the second was much fun, once again.
The next day we had two cave tours booked, the Lucas Cave in the morning, a break for lunch and the Imperial and Diamond Caves in the afternoon. We both learned a lot of history and general cave information.
A self guided tour of the Nettle Cave was included free with our room booking so we did that one the next day, right before we left.
My aunt had asked us to dinner the night we arrived back in Orange. As we got in in the afternoon sometime we decided to go to the cinema. Death at a Funeral was hilarious! British comedy at it’s best. We’d recommend it if you need a good laugh! The BBQ dinner at my aunts was enjoyable.
Shopping! I did a whole heap of Christmas shopping the next day, good, aren’t I? Getting in early and all :) hehe. MM and I went to my parents for dinner that night. As my mum has recently had surgery on her shoulder and it is in a sling, my dad was volunteered to do all the cooking! The meal was very nice. My dad had his chance to interrogate MM and my mum had her chance to quiz me lol. We went home and packed for our trip back to Sydney the following day :(
Another 4 hour drive. We stopped on the way at the Talisman, a metal work shop on the highway to Sydney. They have lovely mirror frames, clocks, candle holders and jewellery, all hand made from metal. Once we arrived at our hotel in Sydney, we went down to the Queen Victoria Building again, for shopping and then back to Paddy’s Markets. We had a craving for BBQ pizza and so headed to dinner at the nearest Pizza Hut where we stayed for about 3 hours; over the all you can eat menu and a bottle of wine! Much fun for our last night together.
The next morning was a very early start, 4.30am, to ensure we were at the airport with plenty of time for checking in. Once that was all done, we sat for breakfast, looked at some of the shops and cuddled and tried not to get too upset. Impossible. I couldn’t hold back my tears and the sense of loneliness that I knew would envelope me as soon as MM walked away from me. Finally the moment came; we cuddled for a long while, not able to say anything. After a few mumbled well wishes and heartfelt words he was gone.
I pulled myself together enough to get out of the airport, take the train back and get to the hotel. I collapsed into the unmade bed, the tears falling freely now. Managed to get an hour more of sleep before checking out and heading back to Orange on the loneliest drive I think I have ever had to do.
Back home everything reminded me of the emptiness. I unpacked and it reminded me. I tidied up and that reminded me. I put things away and that reminded me as well. I spent the rest of the day and evening crying, no matter how much I tried to rationalize the situation, the tears came. The next morning, when I woke up alone and realized I was back to the same old same old, up at 5, off to work, relying on internet and phones to keep us in contact, I couldn’t help but cry just a little bit more.
Work kept me busy. The day went by. I made it through alright. And the next day, and then the next day.
The new count down has begun.
6 months.
Easy.
*sigh*
COMMENTS
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Juno
07:47 Apr 14 2008
is that the MM that i think it is??
honeybah
11:13 Jun 13 2008
If your MM has deleted his account now, then yes... probably lol