~It's 10:12 am, Thursday morning, April 19th. As we began together in Byron Bay, so we conclude: at the Why Not Cafe, with Plucky, our trusty link to the Internet.
*It has been a spectacular adventure full of exploration, fun, and absolute scads of delicious food. Still, we have to wrap in Australia sometime if we ever want to get our Paris trip. So, we are writing one last post together and kicking off one more day of togetherness and fun.
~In Byron Bay, anyway. Ben's bus leaves the Jonson Street stop, across from the Woolies, where we came in to town at 5am months ago, at 5pm today. Between now and then, we have oodles of fun to have (including doing our last blog post). We've been pretty woefully remiss on blogging these last weeks, being rather busy squeezing every last second of shenanigans out of the days, and we've skipped some pretty key moments; sunset frisbee on the beach, the Day of The Very Cold and Windy Swim (the water was warm. the air temperature - brrrrrrrrrr!), taking ourselves out for a fancy-pants dinner (literally) at The Petit Snail, the Dinner of Subway and Cider (there's a winter cider blend here with vanilla and fruits and YUM), spotting a surf stingray while swimming at Clark's beach (and very nearly accidentally petting it), the thing with the coconuts, and this breakfast, which we can both agree is the best croissant we've ever eaten.
*Yep, it's been a great week of doing the last few things we haven't done yet (and redoing the things that were so awesome we just had to 'em again). Yesterday was our last night at the Buddha bar, which I believe we deserve extra points for going to in the middle of a torrential rainstorm. Seriously, when they say tropical rainforest they really mean the rain bit.
~He's not kidding. There were actual river-fordings in our walk to Buddha Bar where yesterday there were no rivers of any sort, huddled under a small but very plucky tartan umbrella (which has gone through it's fair share of repairs), under jackets and ponchos and wearing flipflops and shorts, the only sensible choice. Galoshes would've gone under in some of these puddles.
*Anyway, we eventually did arrive. We got a couple schooners of New Zealand crushed cider...
~... which was a surprising clear color, with a light flavor and deliciously complex and lingering aftertaste...
*and sat (in mostly dry seats under the outdoor overhang) and prepared to fight the last few rounds of the gin-rummy war we started in the airport in Baltimore.
~It's been a long campaign, skirmished out in several decks of cards and played on decks and porches and bars and picnic tables, tarmacs and buses and bunk beds, we shuffled and dueled.
*Yes indeedy, pretty much everywhere we had chairs and some waiting time, there was rummy. Which brings us to the scores.
~LET ME JUST SAY...
*Drumroll please... After at least a couple hundred hands...
~HE HAD A WINNING STREAK THAT DEFIES MATHEMATICAL BELIEF. IT WAS LIKE A MONTH AND A HALF LONG.
*....and a champion opponent throughout, Karen ends the match with 5,639 points. Applause please.
As for myself, in the final tally I had 6,221. "VICTORY!!!" oh, I mean well done old bean.
~Yes, yes, you win. Congratulations.
~UNTIL NEXT TIME. In which you will meet your DOOOOOOOM.
*The rest of the night at Buddha Bar was just awesome...
~Wait, wait, you skipped the most important part! Tell them what you sang.
*I had a grand old time singing "Anything Goes" and "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid. It was a boatload of fun and it was nice to end my time there on a chipper/silly note.
~(Hehe, note, get it?)
*After that, there was a fantastic line up of musicians and we spent the being entertained by calypso, pop, and didgeridoo music.
~Actually, those last guys claimed to be playing 'digi-harmonica' music. Seriously, they were singing, playing drums, guitars, digeridoos, and harmonicas. There were a grand total of two of them. They're playing at The Beachie on Friday at five, and in my first scheduled Australian plans without Ben, I'm going.
*Ahh, jealous.
~Yeah, well, SAD. You're the one leaving, doofus!
*Tragic but true. Even so, I am really looking forward to going home and catching up with everyone. Though, I shouldn't be getting ahead of myself. Before I actually arrive, I have the rest of the day here, a five hour bus trip, a thirteen hour train trip, lunch with the fam in Sydney, a bloody long fight to California, and then it's across the continental U.S. Nutty as it may sound, I'm really looking forward to the journey. Trains and planes, man. It's the way to go.
~Should be a great trip. LONG, but great.
*Well, chaps. It's been lovely sharing my part in this adventure with you. Thank you for coming along for the ride.
~It's been grand.
* Take care, and always remember to adventure.
All the best, Ben
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| Buddha Bar |
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| Ben walking on stage at Buddha Bar |
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| The Walk to the Beach |
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| The Great Coconut Incident |
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| The Aftermath of the Great Coconut Incident |
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| *"Smile!" ~I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, badadadum badadadadum... |
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| Our Last Morning (with super tasty croissants) |
~And so, farewell from Ben and Karen. My adventure in Oz continues for a few more weeks, at which point I'm coming to Maryland for a month for friend's wedding. Then, if all goes well, back to Oz for the whale migration, and from there, again, the world. Ben and I began this blog together, and, as he said, we'll keep it here; after all, we'll need someplace to put photos and stories of our escapades in Paris (and beyond). For me, the adventure goes on at Where in the World is Karen Eileen Carmen (at this moment, an empty blog.)
Right now, it's time to publish this, and head out for our last day of adventures together in Byron Bay.
*~Toodle Pip
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