I love how non-busy Fridays before a long weekend have an assumed finish time of 4 or thereabouts. I absolutely made use of it this weekend and so did not rush to get everything in order for our weekend in Berry. So much FUN. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard that my stomach hurt. Or drank so much cider. Or saw a humongous junk food stockpile. Or played poker with a buy in. And trash talked so much. Wow, these guys have no boundaries.
Friday evening started with a liquor stop and snacks. Me being the "accountant" (so I was told many times this weekend) said it was cheaper to get a case of cider rather than 2 packs. We ended up spending $55 for 5 packs of 6. Score... that's over 33% off compared to a 6-pack! Got chips, raspberries, pretzels, bananas and pineapple M&Ms (they're ok, and ok to give it a miss too) and on our way. Huge advantage for me in terms of travel time as we were already on the south side of Sydney. And this is another reason why I prefer to go down to the south coast rather than the central or north coast. I don't have to add an additional hour in traffic to get out of Sydney.
So we made it in roughly 90-100 minutes. It was a really easy and smooth drive. No much traffic at all and it was just on nightfall as we got there. Perfect. And the place was so gorgeous. Just the right size. Nothing like huge parcels of land. Large property, 3 bedroom house, vegie patches, apple tree, bee hive (for honey) and yabbie dams. And yes, we laid yabbie traps and caught about 20 for dinner. YUMMMMM.
Friday evening started with a liquor stop and snacks. Me being the "accountant" (so I was told many times this weekend) said it was cheaper to get a case of cider rather than 2 packs. We ended up spending $55 for 5 packs of 6. Score... that's over 33% off compared to a 6-pack! Got chips, raspberries, pretzels, bananas and pineapple M&Ms (they're ok, and ok to give it a miss too) and on our way. Huge advantage for me in terms of travel time as we were already on the south side of Sydney. And this is another reason why I prefer to go down to the south coast rather than the central or north coast. I don't have to add an additional hour in traffic to get out of Sydney.
So we made it in roughly 90-100 minutes. It was a really easy and smooth drive. No much traffic at all and it was just on nightfall as we got there. Perfect. And the place was so gorgeous. Just the right size. Nothing like huge parcels of land. Large property, 3 bedroom house, vegie patches, apple tree, bee hive (for honey) and yabbie dams. And yes, we laid yabbie traps and caught about 20 for dinner. YUMMMMM.
I really really enjoyed doing nothing and not that much. Throwing money into a kitty for provisions and a ton more alcohol (we had to go to the bottle-o another 2 times for more cider, beer and wine). We got roadside homegrown vegies and visited the local butcher for meat for a BBQ. We went to the local award-winning bakery Saturday morning for pastries and single origin coffee. Then beach. Then the local town for gelato and shopping. Them chilling for a bit, monopoly deal, more drinks and chips, tomato picking and more drinks. Oh and then, David said we should check how the honey was doing so we got an educational and got to suit up and check out his bees. It was so cool!!! Evening's BBQ was awesome but the evening's entertainment i.e. FIREWORKS was AMAZING. If only I had more... We set up wooden planks at the end of the property towards the hills. So glad we had glowsticks to see each other otherwise it would have been pitch black! Everyone had turns lighting the fuse and then running for our lives (it was not as dangerous as it sounds) - so so so hilarious. All you can hear was "run run run" and screaming.
The cake was good too... :P
Sunday was sleep in. We had sourdough, avocado and eggs for brekkie and more beach time. Only some of us went to the beach and it was really really HOT. I think I used a quarter bottle of sunscreen to make sure I didn't burn. But my tan is working out well. Perfect for Hawaii!!
One thing that was had to manage was 9 people sharing one bathroom. We blocked the toilet and required the services of a plumber. Luckily it wasn't anything serious. Just a bunch of city slickers using too much toilet paper and not knowing how a septic tank works. Lesson learnt but not after trying to use a plunger and a coke bottle to fix it ourselves. Lol lol lol... I think the girls should get points for trying. The boys didn't try at all.
One thing that was had to manage was 9 people sharing one bathroom. We blocked the toilet and required the services of a plumber. Luckily it wasn't anything serious. Just a bunch of city slickers using too much toilet paper and not knowing how a septic tank works. Lesson learnt but not after trying to use a plunger and a coke bottle to fix it ourselves. Lol lol lol... I think the girls should get points for trying. The boys didn't try at all.
I think we just lounged Sunday arvo. A bit of a nap and then we went out for dinner at the local fancy restaurant called the Hungry Duck. It was okay, I think Sydney fancy is better but it wasn't that expensive. Around $40pp. We were the token asian group with one Caucasian.
Then the shit got real.
Everyone was in for an epic game of poker with a $50 pot at stakes. I was an amazing dealer. And also bar tender. And cake server.
As expected, it was the boys fighting it out. They had a bottle of Canadian Club AND a bottle of JB Devil's Cut. It was disgusting. As we didn't have enough chasers, they were drinking TRIPLE shots out of a mug. A mug!!! Like it was tea and coffee. OMG... needless to say, yes they were disgustingly drunk and they all passed out afterwards on the ground hugging their dogs (or a pillow). Funniest thing ever. The game took around 6 hours... I think in the end a couple of the girls went all in just to end the game sooner! But there were a couple of very exciting rounds where it was Flush vs Full House vs 4 of a kind...
So we had another sleep in today. Made pancakes for brunch with lemon and sugar, banana and maple syrup. So delish. We all helped clean up the house (I think its so amazing to have a fully stocked pantry/fridge for a holiday house) - vacuum, making beds, putting the furniture back, dishes, etc and it took no time at all. Left around 12:30 as planned and traffic was already backed up into Berry so it was slow going for the first 20 ks. It probably took around 75 minutes to get out of the area before we were travelling at normal speeds. I feel so relaxed and not tired at all and totally not looking forward to work tomorrow. On the bright side, its another 4 days until my next holiday!
Happy Australia Day everyone! Thanks for an awesome weekend.
