Home Again

[mimi_sardinia]

So, I'm home. Sorry if I don't have any photos yet, I turned my phone off on the plane and couldn't remember the PIN for it, so I have to visit the Telstra shop and get them to unlock it.

So, I haven't weighed myself yet, but I suspect that I may have lost at least a couple of kilos because in the last week I have done lots of walking.


First off, getting to the airport to go down involved walking up the bus stop (we have a long driveway, then down the footpath to the bus stop - not really far, but I was lugging my suitcase), then, because it was an early bus, we went into the city bus stop, so we had to walk from there, up two blocks to the George Street bus stop for a bus to Roma Street station, to get on the airtrain, then have to walk from the airtrain station into the airport itself (not very far either).

Then finding our way out to the pick-up spot at the Sydney airport.

Keep in mind, my bag ended up weighing 21 kilos. Luckily the bag has wheels.

So once we had the bags dumped off at the house, we went around to do some shopping, because my brother is infrequently employed, so often doesn't have a very comprehensive pantry, so Mum wanted to comprehensive it up a bit.

I, wondering if he ever found the potatoes and onion I left there last year, checked the vegetable bin, and would you believe, there was still two [somewhat overgrown] potatoes and a slimy onion. They went in the bin.
(I also found a partial tin of chicken stock powder and a small can of curry powder that may have been there for a year too, but those were still edible).

I also took the time to visit Target and buy a Kre-O Jazz and a Topspin, and stop by the really great chinese place in the food court that sells pre-packed trays of stuff. Damn good food, ended up divided between three plates as dinner for myself, Mum and Grey. The BBQ chicken from the supermarket deli ended up as dinner the next night, along with salad.

Also, deli turkey, on one's favourite bread, with cranberry jelly makes for nice sandwiches.

Next day, I think we shopped again, because the first shopping trip was only for everyday food, so the second trip was for Xmas dinner stuff. I went and looked in the Mount Druitt toy shop and got Kre-O Mirage. That shop is a tad more expensive than going to Target or Kmart.

Xmas Eve Mum and I went to see if we could find Adriano Zumbo's Manly store, but we couldn't find it. We did wander around Manly a fair bit, wandered around the city centre a bit, rode to Manly and back on the ferry. Mostly it was calm but the trip back had a little bit of rockiness to make it a bit fun.

I went to see Nanna on Xmas Day, not much in the way of presents, mostly just chocolate, but I tend to think I covered the whole present thing on my own anyway.

Went with Noddy and watched We Bought A Zoo - good movie - and was reminded of why I like Starbucks iced tea better than Gloria Jeans. Did a lot of walking because Noddy wanted MacDonalds and the shopping centre itself was closed, even if the cinema was open.

Hmm... a bit more shopping on the 27th, we went to Kmart, I bought Kre-O Starscream, Roadbuster, Specialist Ratchet (who is red with white highlights, instead of the other way around), and a couple of series 4 Lego Mini figures.

Yesterday, the 28th, we were planning to go to Taronga, but went it actually came to it, we weren't able to get going early enough to make a zoo trip work properly. I still wanted to go out for a while though, so when I did get up, I went out on my own, into the city centre, wandered around, found my way up Sydney Tower (the world's biggest Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket, according to an old taxi driver's tale Dad knows), bought a cheap sarong (for Tie Rack sarong, which yes, is way too small for fat ol' me to wear as a sarong, but I can use it as an over-sized scarf), failed to get any Starbucks, did get shashimi, stopped off at Paramatta on the way back, bought four series 5 Lego Mini figures in Toys R Us, bought chocolate at a self-serve bar, failed to get back down to Bread Top (Japanese-style bakery) before it closed, and headed back to Mount Drutt (a nickname I picked up from Dad).

I finally got my dose of Starbucks at the Mt Drutt store, after buying another pile of Chinese takeaway that ended up as dinner for 5 (both Dad and Noddy were at the house).

I also spent a while that evening around at Aunty's house, got to see my youngest cousin (first cousin at least, I now have several first cousins once removed - kids of my first cousins), and my Aunt had videoed the Doctor Who Xmas special so I got to see it a second time. I also took the time to transform Roddy and Shocky into their vehicle forms.

Then I spend a while trying to work out how to fit everything in my bag again, even with Starscream, Mirage, Topspin, Roadbuster, and a decorative boomerang (bought in the Sydney Tower gift shop), as well as some stuff I took down in my backpack bag, in amongst my clothing, including Roddy wrapped in my brand new navy blue sarong.

Then there was, today, a bit less walking than we had on the trip down, because Mum and I got a bus that totally bypassed the centre of Brisbane, and went all the way through to Eight Mile Plains before we got off and caught the regular bus to Springwood, and then the bus that goes by our front gate.

I slept for a few hours because today has been long, on top of several days of lots of walking. I have still to reconstruct my Kre-O mechs again (which I pulled apart to fit them into my bag a bit better).

I am currently listening to Doctor Who series 6 extras - currently I am listening to the commentary for "The Doctor's Wife", which is the Neal Gaiman episode, with Neal Gaiman doing the commentary.


Once I have the phone working again I'll post some of the pictures I took.