Alan

I wouldn't like to take your name in vain without at least informing you that I had done so! I have recommended, to an American couple on their second honeymoon, that they get in touch with you for advice and perhaps accommodation. The thread is on www.tripadvisor.com.

pat_woolford

Alan, consider yourself forgiven and thank you too. But have missed your contributions here of late, thought you may have fled back to India.

Alan

Pat, I look in here practically every day, but where have all the good questions gone? (By "good", of course, I mean questions that I know the answer to!) I say, bring back Andrew586756453 and let's get some in-fighting going on!

LN

Where has all the in-fighting gone?? Where has all the good questions gone??

We all know the answers!! Where is Alan now?

It's quite nice that you are recommending Pat's place as we've all gotten quite attached.

We've missed all your great banter and recommendations Alan. Please return to our site. There's so many looking forward to your replies: Liz, Neil,Mucky, LN, A/D, Pat, Melodie. Come back again with some of your recommendations as they are seriously needed.

Are you certain that you want us to return to your homeland???

lizF

Well I have done my best to start a good fight today by saying that Rockhampton is one of the most forgettable places in Australia, that the GOR is not up to its competitors and that Melbourne is not an International destination.
I don't know what else I can do LN.
I miss Alan too and am miffed that he has wandered off - a bit like a straying husband really. I mean, I write to him and let him know that I am coming to his part of the world and he runs and hides till I have gone then tells me he had computer problems......well really I can take a hint!!
Having said all that Pat is the best when it comes to knowledge of the far north and Alan was well advised to suggest her.
I have scrounged up about 4 bras to send to Pat so that hers can be put away from her dog but the dog can still have fun with them. Hi Pat :0)

pat_woolford

G'day Liz, Poor old Rockhampton whose claim to fame is a couple of giant concrete bulls at the town entrance. From time to time the bits that make them bulls are stealthily removed at night - there's not a lot to do in Rocky. But for those interested in colonial architecture there are some lovely old Queenslander buildings and homes, built by the wealthy beef barons of yesteryear.

Geordie

I'd liked to defend Rockhampton but it is difficult, I seem to remember disembarking from the plane and being greeted by a sign 'Welcome to Rockhampton the Beef Capital of Australia' that about says it all.

Although I did spend a very enjoyable week at nearby Capricorn Resort in Yeppoon. For any golfers out there, they really have an excellent 36 holes of golf partly designed by Peter Thomson.

Geordie

Alan

I haven't gone anywhere! I haven't gone anywhere! I'm here every day.... this is all I do, I don't have a life! It's just that I don't know how to answer questions like "What's the most beautiful place you've ever been?" or "Have you any suggestions of day trips from Melbourne?" (well, actually, yes, I do: I'd go to Sydney). At least on Tripadvisor somebody asked the other day if there were any flies at Uluru around Christmas time! I smiled the whole time I was typing the answer.

I recall that, years ago, my uncle used to write a weekly column for the Sun-Herald in Sydney; one of those "write-in-with-your-problems-and-I'll-solve-them" type things; towards the end of this column's life, nobody was writing in any more, so he used to divide his time between writing fictitious questions for the first half of the week and then answering them in the second half! Maybe that's what I'll have to start doing here at Fodor's. Here's a good one to start: "We are two ladies in our mid-seventies coming to Australia for the first time. We want a place that's serene and easy-going, where we can commune with nature. Our travel agent has suggested a place called Surfer's Paradise. That sounds lovely.... is the last two weeks in November a good time to stay there?"

lizF

Dear two ladies in your mid-seventies:
November will be wonderful for you both in Surfer's Paradise as you will be there for the schoolies sex and surf marathon. You will be able to participate as well as there is no bar to age and as the younger ones are so blind most of the time they won't be able to tell the difference anyway. You just need to bring your uppers, downers and condoms and make sure your health insurance is up to date.
Have fun

lizF

Now I "know" Alan is not talking to me.

margo_oz

probably out enjoying the sun - bloody lovely here!

margo_oz

back again!
I must agree with Alan about teh questions.

All questions seem to relate to other countries, or places I've never visited.

Keeping an eye out, though - heading for North Island NZ in October - and may look for advice.

Alan

Liz, you are as funny as ever!

You seem to know all about the sexcapades in Schoolies' Week.... have you some personal experience, then? Perhaps you were the skinny-dipping oldie who tried to join in with the "half-blind" schoolies a couple of years ago.... I recall that one of the boys, more conscious than his mates, was overheard to comment, "I don't know what kind of swimsuit that girl is wearing, but it sure could do with a good ironing!"

lizF

Now Alan - you know only too well that I don't have wrinkles as the celulite has filled all the gaps and you must admit that a balloon does not have wrinkles!
I am one of the ( too few of us) oldies who think that Schoolies should be banned, that the parents are out of their dementing minds allowing their kids to have this sort of "coming out".
In my day we were all too busy working to spend that money and time on what is nothing more than a sex and drug capade and any parent who thinks otherwise should take a good reality check on themselves.
But I "forive" you your comments!!!
I have told my Grandson, who thinks that he is going to schoolies next year, that I will go down to Surfer's Paradise, rent an electric wheelchair, tie a large sign on it saying that I am Jacob ...... grannie and follow him around until he cannot stand it anymore and goes home, both of his uncles has said that they will go down there too and his mother will have to go on tranquillisers.
Surfer's Paradise is not for locals here just as Kings Cross is not for locals in Sydney.

lizF

For those of you who are not Australian when we talk about being "blind" we are meaning blind drunk - not unseeing. Sometimes it is used to infer that someone is "off the planet" on drugs. We also use the term "plastered " or "blotto" when referring to drink.

LN

Hi Liz

Here in the states we also use the term "plastered" and sometimes "Blotto" for too much to drink.

Melnq8

LizF -

I'm American - your reference to blind is pretty clear read in context. I assume "schoolies" are like our Spring Break in the US? When many college kids head for the nearest beach to participate in tan line competitions, drink themselves silly, trash their hotels, and make complete fools of themselves???

I witnessed Spring Break a few times on South Padre Island in Texas - not a pretty sight.

pat_woolford

Melnq, Tan line competitions? We're lucky if they remember to wear anything!

Liz, up here in Cairns, every year some parents try to make Schoolies Week at a venue somewhat closer than Surfer's, so they can keep an eye on their little darlings. Of course the kids won't be in it and Mum and Dad shell out what is quite a lot of money which these kids demand and expect, and unfortunately get. Last year there were mobs of them hooning through the streets here, drunk before they even got to the station to take train to Brisbane, just glad I wasn't a passenger for about 30 hours of hell.

wlzmatilida

LN & Everyone,

OK, checking in! It's nice to know I was apparently in the group of the "missing". Actually, the aforementioned group, Alan, LizF, Mucky, Pat, Neil, AndrewDavid and I have all formed an Australian Commune where we sit around singing "Kumbaya" or "Waltzing Matilda" as the spirit moves us while partaking of billy tea and damper. Please send donations as those of us not from Oz need them to finance our next trip Down Under.

I have been absent (though checking in like Alan, although I do have a "life", such as it is); I agree..questions have left me cold, or felt someone else answered them very well and further imput was not needed.

That, and the fact that I was on a Whitsundays famil with my wholesaler and Tourism Whitsundays at the end of May left me going "flat out" since returning.

Thanks for the recent post though, I will cross off Rockhampton as a future destination!

It's this kind of information that's helpful..that and the mental image of Pat's dogs playing with bras, which I was unaware of previously.

Margo -- I was just in NZ for 3 weeks in Nov/December, and would be happy to share experiences / recommendations, etc. with you - please feel free to email me.

Regards,

Melodie

lizF

Using Alan's words "please forive me" for trying to explain what you already knew with regard to oft used words.
With TV now I am never sure what is Australian, what is American and what is an English saying anymore.
Melodie, Pat's dog does not "play" with bras, she is obsessed with them. You cannot get the bra off her because as far as she is concerned it is her bra and no one else will have it! Gone Troppo I fear!