A Kominar Chronicle: In the beginning… 

I am in the midst of enjoying my longest birthday ever! Not only because my birthday-wishers cross the globe and span timezones, but also because Nadine and I started celebrating some 2 days ago. It is a long and harrowing tale so follow me…

May 5

We drove into Manly beach and took the ferry into the city. The city ferry is a cheap and excellent way to see Sydney as the waterfront should not be missed. The boat docked in at Circular Quay right next to Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. We took a stroll through the Royal Botanical Gardens and watched the busy city take a break and relax.
It was a big day of public transport, after landing we caught a train and then a hoped on a monorail which took us closer to our final destination. Nadine was very good about keeping the events of the day secret from me but was forced to play her cards early when faced with the prospect of lugging our luggage around the city any longer.

We dropped off our luggage and meandered over to the National Maritime Museum. There were 4 main boats to see, the James Craig, a cargo trading ship; the Endeavour - Captain Cook’s ship; HMAS Vampire - a Navy Destroyer; and a submarine. As we arrived in the early ‘arvo’ (afternoon in Aussie slang) we were on a tight schedule to see everything in time. It was an lesson in patience and smooth talking to handle the talkative volunteers and keep on schedule. Pondering the party possibilities, I’ve come to the realization that I would like to own a boat later in life, preferably a pirate-type boat. The massive guns of the destroyer may be impressive, but I’d take the pirate cannons and soirée with kegs of rum any day.

The fabulous Star City casino was to be our hub for the night. It would provide accommodation, entertainment, and libations a plenty. Come dinner time I was thankful that we were guests of the casino hotel. Privileges included skipping passed the hordes of people lined up for the scrumptious Garden Buffet. After stuffing our gut, it was time to be entertained! We had tickets for Priscillia: Queen of the Desert (The Musical), and I have to say that I was not disappointed. Mhairi led me onto the movie before I came to Australia and I wasn’t quite sure what to think of it. Was I to think that all of Australia were cross-dressing entertainers? No. That’s silly. But some of them are, and when they sing and dance with an orchestra, ridiculous costumes, and in the Lyric theatre, they do not fail to entertain. Nadine and I indulged in specialty themed cocktails during intermission.

The rest of the night was filled with liquor and gambling. Happy Birthday!

May 6

We came back to Nadine’s parent’s house on this day. Starting with some yard work I did some hard labour cleaning the yard, next came lumberjacking chainsawing firewood for the winter, then came the horse shit. Caught off guard by that remark? You shouldn’t be, it’s the truth! At various points of the afternoon I was either smelling of, standing near, stepping in, or launching over a fence horse poo. But what does this day have to do with celebrating my birthday? Well, the stench, the aches, the scrapes, and the bruises were nature’s way of telling me that I’m getting old and smelly. Thankfully, the Austin family had a much nicer gift in mind to help celebrate my birthday early. True to Austin/Aussie family tradition we had a birthday BBQ complete with double-cake. Black Forest and Banana Cake, yum. Happy Birthday!

May 7

Finally, it’s my true birthday! So I celebrated in style by debugging excel worksheets and general help-out-ery out at the Austin family business. Nadine bought me a shiny new 2gb USB key to soothe my ‘nerdish tendancies’ and my desperate need for another usb key. After perusing my facebook well wishes, we dined on delicious Indian curries and breads and posed for a final, classic birthday picture. Happy Birthday!

24 Birthday Slideshow

Enjoy a photo-slideshow of some pictures of my celebrations!