1. Played around more with Google Flights.
I'm being very mental. I'm not planning to go for about eight years, but I'm sitting here already worried about flight prices, running into school holidays, and stinger season.
2. Decided to be annoying and share my various travel plans.
So...
The first one is we fly to Brisbane and do a week or two driving trip—either go a few hours south or a few hours north. It will probably be a matter of choosing whether we want to go to the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast and working around that. Then we fly to Sydney and stay there for two nights—visit all our favorite touristy destinations. After that, we fly to Tasmania and do a one to two week driving trip there.
The second one has us flying to Sydney and doing a New South Wales driving trip. Maybe we'd go west. Maybe we'd go north. We've already gone south, but we went on the coast. Maybe this time we could go southwest. Then we fly to Perth and do a driving trip there.
The third one has us flying into Sydney and spending two or three nights there. Maybe it would be three, so we could use some of the time to recover from jet lag. We'd fly to Adelaide and do a drive somewhere. Maybe Cooper Pedy? Broken Hill? Mungo? I mean not all three. We'd probably just pick one. Then we'd fly to Hobart and do a Tasmania driving trip.
The fourth one has us flying to Sydney. We'll spend two or three nights there. Then we fly to Cairns and enjoy the tropical life. We'll fly back to Sydney, and like with the second itinerary, we'll do a New South Wales driving trip.
3. Loved all my ideas.
I'm afraid I'll lose track of them, so I'm going to cut and paste and put them with my list of Aussie places that are calling out to me.
4. Loved this line from A Fraction of the Whole. Stupid how we think God only hears our thoughts when we address them to him in particular, and not when we think our dirty little thoughts in everyday scenarios such as I hope Fred dies soon so I can have his office, it really is much nicer than mine.
I think there's a lot of truth to that.
5. Felt bad that I imagined trips involving every state in Australia except The Northern Territory.
What would be ironic is if that ends up being the place I want to go.
I'm not often that interested in Uluru, but I used to feel that way about the Great Barrier Reef. So...who knows.
There are things that interest me in the Northern Territory though—such as Alice Springs.
I could end up deciding to go there.
6. Remembered Darwin. We could go there and do Kakadu. I'd like that.
7. Started watching another episode of The Saddle Club.
It's gotten me thinking that I probably prefer actors who use too little facial expression than those who use too much. Another way to say it is underacting is more tolerable than overacting.
8. Realized that the Northern Territory was NOT the only state left out.
I totally forgot Victoria.
I don't imagine flying to Melbourne, really. But maybe we'd include Western Victoria in our New South Wales driving trip.
Maybe we can drive to Bright, Victoria. Is there anything nice there?
9. Consulted Lord Wiki about Bright. He says there's a lot of wildlife. I'm all for that!
10. Looked at a Bright road trip that would have us stopping at Junee, New South Wales. I think there's some kind of haunted attraction there.
11. Found the haunted place. It's Monte Cristo Homestead.
12. Started reading about Christopher William Crawley, the original owner of the Monte Cristo Homestead.
The Monte Cristo website says he was generous and well-liked by the community.I bet there was someone in town that disliked him, though. Either outwardly or secretly. I don't think anyone is truly liked by everyone that knows them.
I know this for a fact. Because if everyone likes you, I probably won't. I'm oppositional that way. And I don't like over-liked people.
13. Intrigued by what is said about Mrs. Crawley.
She ruled the house with a rod of iron and with her husband appeared to be the quintessential Victorian couple, but as was often the case, perceptions were misleading. Staff would later recount stories of harsh mistreatment by their employers, which spawned many ominous legends persisting today.
So Mr Crawley was nice and well-liked but Mrs Crawley not so much so.
14. Wondered if it is Mrs. Crawley or Mr. Crawley that is believed to be haunting the house. The history page didn't really say.
15. Had a feeling that maybe the Monte Cristo house isn't haunted, but labeling it that way and emphasizing the darker aspects of their story is a way to get more tourists.
I believe in ghosts and hauntings, but I can be a bit skeptical at times.
It kind of reminds me of the biographies on reality talent shows. You can take anyone's life and with the right editing and emphasis, make it into a sob story.
In the same way, you can take any old house whose inhabitants are now deceased and turn it into a haunted attraction.
16. Decided that unless a haunted house has me imagining I'm peeling off my face or a clown doll trying to strangle me, I'm going to be dissatisfied.
Also, why do I need a real historical home that MIGHT be really haunted when I can just go to Disney World and experience a lovely pretend haunted house?
Fiction is usually much more exciting than reality.
17. Started to watch an episode of Neighbours. I meant to do it hours ago, but I got distracted by the pool and games of Uno and Sorry.
18. Felt disappointed in Sonya (Eve Morey). Her friend Erin (Adrienne Pickering) is told to be honest about her drug addict feelings and weaknesses. Then Erin tells Sonya she was going to buy drugs but then changed her mind. She stayed strong. And she returns the borrowed money to Sonya. Sonya is cold and bitchy towards her rather than accepting and understanding. I think that's because Sonya got mugged while watching Erin buy (not buy drugs).
Well...so I'm disappointed in Sonya, but I can understand where she's coming from.
19. Happy, because Sonya apologized to Erin. Now they're having a bonding moment.
20. Loved Karl's (Alan Fletcher) advice to Erin, She's upset, because she was stood up by her daughter. She's very hurt and feels giving up drugs wasn't really worth it. Karl reminds Erin that she did the same to her daughter in the past. His advice to Erin is be consistent. Keep reaching out and expect to be stood up again. But don't give up.
I think that's the thing. If you hurt someone a lot, you got to accept some hurt back from them.
It reminds me of something that happened on Coronation Street. Katy cheats on Chaz. When he finds out, he's angry and unforgiving. Instead of doing a lot of groveling, Katy gets angry and rushes back into the arms of the other man. If she TRULY was sorry, she would have given Chaz the right to be angry for awhile.
21. Liked Kyle's (Chris Milligan) reaction to quinoa.
I'm not a big fan of quinoa either. I'll eat it, but it's not one of my favorite things.
22. Loved that Paige (Olympia Valance) is working and bonding with her stepmother Therese. (Rebekah Elmaloglou) They used to be on unfriendly terms. I love when enemies becomes friends. I have a total weakness for that.
I'm being very mental. I'm not planning to go for about eight years, but I'm sitting here already worried about flight prices, running into school holidays, and stinger season.
2. Decided to be annoying and share my various travel plans.
So...
The first one is we fly to Brisbane and do a week or two driving trip—either go a few hours south or a few hours north. It will probably be a matter of choosing whether we want to go to the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast and working around that. Then we fly to Sydney and stay there for two nights—visit all our favorite touristy destinations. After that, we fly to Tasmania and do a one to two week driving trip there.
The second one has us flying to Sydney and doing a New South Wales driving trip. Maybe we'd go west. Maybe we'd go north. We've already gone south, but we went on the coast. Maybe this time we could go southwest. Then we fly to Perth and do a driving trip there.
The third one has us flying into Sydney and spending two or three nights there. Maybe it would be three, so we could use some of the time to recover from jet lag. We'd fly to Adelaide and do a drive somewhere. Maybe Cooper Pedy? Broken Hill? Mungo? I mean not all three. We'd probably just pick one. Then we'd fly to Hobart and do a Tasmania driving trip.
The fourth one has us flying to Sydney. We'll spend two or three nights there. Then we fly to Cairns and enjoy the tropical life. We'll fly back to Sydney, and like with the second itinerary, we'll do a New South Wales driving trip.
3. Loved all my ideas.
I'm afraid I'll lose track of them, so I'm going to cut and paste and put them with my list of Aussie places that are calling out to me.
4. Loved this line from A Fraction of the Whole. Stupid how we think God only hears our thoughts when we address them to him in particular, and not when we think our dirty little thoughts in everyday scenarios such as I hope Fred dies soon so I can have his office, it really is much nicer than mine.
I think there's a lot of truth to that.
5. Felt bad that I imagined trips involving every state in Australia except The Northern Territory.
What would be ironic is if that ends up being the place I want to go.
I'm not often that interested in Uluru, but I used to feel that way about the Great Barrier Reef. So...who knows.
There are things that interest me in the Northern Territory though—such as Alice Springs.
I could end up deciding to go there.
6. Remembered Darwin. We could go there and do Kakadu. I'd like that.
7. Started watching another episode of The Saddle Club.
It's gotten me thinking that I probably prefer actors who use too little facial expression than those who use too much. Another way to say it is underacting is more tolerable than overacting.
8. Realized that the Northern Territory was NOT the only state left out.
I totally forgot Victoria.
I don't imagine flying to Melbourne, really. But maybe we'd include Western Victoria in our New South Wales driving trip.
Maybe we can drive to Bright, Victoria. Is there anything nice there?
9. Consulted Lord Wiki about Bright. He says there's a lot of wildlife. I'm all for that!
10. Looked at a Bright road trip that would have us stopping at Junee, New South Wales. I think there's some kind of haunted attraction there.
11. Found the haunted place. It's Monte Cristo Homestead.
12. Started reading about Christopher William Crawley, the original owner of the Monte Cristo Homestead.
The Monte Cristo website says he was generous and well-liked by the community.I bet there was someone in town that disliked him, though. Either outwardly or secretly. I don't think anyone is truly liked by everyone that knows them.
I know this for a fact. Because if everyone likes you, I probably won't. I'm oppositional that way. And I don't like over-liked people.
13. Intrigued by what is said about Mrs. Crawley.
She ruled the house with a rod of iron and with her husband appeared to be the quintessential Victorian couple, but as was often the case, perceptions were misleading. Staff would later recount stories of harsh mistreatment by their employers, which spawned many ominous legends persisting today.
So Mr Crawley was nice and well-liked but Mrs Crawley not so much so.
14. Wondered if it is Mrs. Crawley or Mr. Crawley that is believed to be haunting the house. The history page didn't really say.
15. Had a feeling that maybe the Monte Cristo house isn't haunted, but labeling it that way and emphasizing the darker aspects of their story is a way to get more tourists.
I believe in ghosts and hauntings, but I can be a bit skeptical at times.
It kind of reminds me of the biographies on reality talent shows. You can take anyone's life and with the right editing and emphasis, make it into a sob story.
In the same way, you can take any old house whose inhabitants are now deceased and turn it into a haunted attraction.
16. Decided that unless a haunted house has me imagining I'm peeling off my face or a clown doll trying to strangle me, I'm going to be dissatisfied.
Also, why do I need a real historical home that MIGHT be really haunted when I can just go to Disney World and experience a lovely pretend haunted house?
Fiction is usually much more exciting than reality.
17. Started to watch an episode of Neighbours. I meant to do it hours ago, but I got distracted by the pool and games of Uno and Sorry.
18. Felt disappointed in Sonya (Eve Morey). Her friend Erin (Adrienne Pickering) is told to be honest about her drug addict feelings and weaknesses. Then Erin tells Sonya she was going to buy drugs but then changed her mind. She stayed strong. And she returns the borrowed money to Sonya. Sonya is cold and bitchy towards her rather than accepting and understanding. I think that's because Sonya got mugged while watching Erin buy (not buy drugs).
Well...so I'm disappointed in Sonya, but I can understand where she's coming from.
19. Happy, because Sonya apologized to Erin. Now they're having a bonding moment.
20. Loved Karl's (Alan Fletcher) advice to Erin, She's upset, because she was stood up by her daughter. She's very hurt and feels giving up drugs wasn't really worth it. Karl reminds Erin that she did the same to her daughter in the past. His advice to Erin is be consistent. Keep reaching out and expect to be stood up again. But don't give up.
I think that's the thing. If you hurt someone a lot, you got to accept some hurt back from them.
It reminds me of something that happened on Coronation Street. Katy cheats on Chaz. When he finds out, he's angry and unforgiving. Instead of doing a lot of groveling, Katy gets angry and rushes back into the arms of the other man. If she TRULY was sorry, she would have given Chaz the right to be angry for awhile.
21. Liked Kyle's (Chris Milligan) reaction to quinoa.
I'm not a big fan of quinoa either. I'll eat it, but it's not one of my favorite things.
22. Loved that Paige (Olympia Valance) is working and bonding with her stepmother Therese. (Rebekah Elmaloglou) They used to be on unfriendly terms. I love when enemies becomes friends. I have a total weakness for that.