Tuesday's musings

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Cyclorama, which is copied (the idea at least) from the Alice Springs Diarama.  It depicts the history of the Bligh mutiny and settling of Norfolk Island. I was really impressed with it so have teed up with the office lady to bring my gaggle through in the next few days and she will arrange a discount. Had a lovely cuppa in the cafe after and then back to the hotel where I went to the pool for a refreshing swim, then into the spa for a laze, then back to my room for a shower and to get ready for the 5 p.m. Meet and Greet. What a fun time we had at the Meet and Greet in the hotel reception foyer. One of the staff was playing an electric organ and he had a beautiful voice. He was singing lots of older tunes which we all knew, plus a couple of more modern numbers thrown in for good measure. Our golden girls were all up dancing and we even had a conga line at one stage with the local islander receptionist leading the way. I ofcourse, had to show them my John Travolta moves, and had them all in stitches performing a cha cha. (Hurtful!!!)

We were provided with free drinks and nibbles, and as there were only 2 other couples outside our little group there, we did take over a bit.  The staff were clearly having as much fun as we were as it was supposed to finish at 6 p.m. but our singer was still going strong at 6.25 with no sign of stopping.  I left to go up the street to grab a take away for my dinner.  Not sure what time it wrapped up but my gaggle were all back in the foyer ready for our 7.15 pick up to go to ‘Wonderland by Night’

This turned out to be a quite lovely evening where we were taken to a property and then walked along a path through a pine tree forest, stopping at various designated spots along the way where the host/guide would recite a humorous poem about a particular incident, event or happening. There was always a ‘scene’ to view at each site and it would be lit up as we approached and then go back into darkness when we moved on. The path had rope lights along the edges so we followed those lights. The fellow reciting the poems had a good sense of humour and ad-libbed a bit along the way.  Turns out that it was his father’s poems that he was reciting to us. We had poems about mum doing the laundry, using the outback dunny, milking cows, blaming siblings for our misdeeds, visiting grandparents, and so on.  Eventually we got to a spot very much in the middle of the forest where we all had to face one direction and then close our eyes.  When we opened them we found ourselves surrounded in a fairyland of lights throughout the trees.  Different childhood stories were depicted at different sites.  It truly was beautiful.  Don’t think my photos will do it justice. They have only just opened this section up so not many had seen it yet. The local pre-school group were being brought through the next night, so I can only guess at how jaw-dropping it will be for many of the littlies. We then ended our tour in the ‘tin shed’ where we had a cuppa and cake for supper.  Back to our hotel and time for bed.  Another lovely day had by all.

Up bright and early next morning as 8 of us were off on the Culla and Co. Tour where we were conveyed in an old carriage, pulled by 2 beautiful Clydesdale horses.  We were on roads, dirt tracks and in paddocks to end up at Steeles point where we had breathtaking views of the coast and then morning tea of sandwiches, biscuits and a cuppa. Culla was a delightful old fella who had a great sense of humour and treated us to a great morning.  I got him to drop me back at the Cyclorama on the way back to the hotel so that I could book our group in for tomorrow morning.  Have geed up with the cafe next door to put on a Devonshire tea for our group after we’ve gone through the Cyclorama. Wandered back to the hotel and then set off down the street for a toasted sandwich and cuppa at the Olive cafe. I inevitably bump into some from our group while out and about so always have to stop and check what they are up to and make a fuss of them. Each asks about where we are having dinner tonight as they clearly like eating as a group so after tossing around a few ideas, most seem to want to go back to the RSL club. So we’ll give that a go again but won’t get sucked into the raffles though...) I then book for 10 of us and in the interim have a visit from JL wanting to know if it is happy hour yet. Funnily enough it is!!! So we have our drinkies on our balcony and very much enjoy the opportunity to debrief the day.  I find out that Big W has been at the same table as JL during lunch today and when JL’s hot chips in a bowl are delivered to her, Big W, without asking, helps herself to a chip and then dips in the sauce.  Not content in stealing one ship she has a second and dips in the sauce and then lo and behold, double dips the same chip into the dipping sauce.  Everyone at the table has apparently gone silent and their eyes are getting wider. Thankfully I wasn’t there or I would not have been able to stop myself from slapping Big W’s hand and telling her off! JL ate a few chips and then told Big W she could have them, but Big W said she didn’t want any more as she had had enough... Give me strength!!!

Anyway, we are still managing to find plenty to laugh about and at 6.30 made our way back to the hotel foyer to find our gaggle all waiting for us.  Some had elected to go elsewhere for dinner, and that was fine by us, but our 8 ‘regulars’ wandered across the road with us to the RSL club and we had a very pleasant dinner there once again.  More laughs had by all and having criticised little M throughout our trip so far, for how heavy her hand bag is, I made her empty it out to find out how many house bricks she had in it. Lots more laughing with one of the ladies offering to let me go through her handbag but I told her that I hadn’t had my shots yet so didn’t want to put my child bearing future in jeopardy.

Clearly we were having a great time and one of the locals came up to us, introduced himself and wanted to know who we were and what we were up to. We explained that we were from SA Police Legacy, blah, blah, blah.  He chatted for a while, then went back to his drinking group, only to then have a woman come up to us to introduce herself as one of the local NI police. Her first words were, ‘So, you’re all the widows group????”. We re-explained who we were and she then became our new best friend having heard the word ‘police’ in our title and has invited us to visit the police station for a look around in the next couple of days, which was really nice of her. Eventually we decided that it was time to head back to the hotel which we duly did.  Another great day and a bit sad to realize that we are on the downhill run of our holiday.