Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Walk down the street, 1, 2, 3, can't miss it...

18/10
I spent a lot of today being a slacker, mostly because I had done so much up until now. Marie was kind enough to agree to drive me to the airport in the afternoon. So she came to me around 1:00 pm, me still having not showered for the day (hey, I said I was being lazy), and proposed a trip to the city before our drive to the airport. I was starving and wanted to buy a "Heaps Good" shirt, so I agreed. I rushed around getting ready and packing a 2-day bag for Kangaroo Island. The Pollock family is kind enough to let me kidnap their room for an additional couple of days and leave my big pack there so I can just carry on stuff to Kangaroo Island. Marie and I set off to the city. We visited my shop first, the Urban Cow Studio, and bought my shirt. Then we strolled through the mall, and decided we were too hungry to make it all the way to the Asian market, so we ate fake Chinese at the food court. I kept distracting her with questions, so I ended up finishing lunch much earlier than her. We then walked a little further into the city. I mentioned that I had wanted to go to the casino on Friday but wasn't feeling up to it after my tour. She suggested we visit it now, since we had some time. We walked up and there was some type of well dressed bouncer. I half expected him to stop us and not allow us entry because, who are we kidding, I don't belong in a casino. But he let us past. We walked past the intimidating ruelette wheel and blackjack tables (maybe intimidating because they are manned by actual people) to the shining, flashing pokies. We each dug out $5 and decided to play the 5 until we didn't have it anymore or ran out of time. The first machines we tried with our first $2 didn't win us anything and were kind of confusing. We decided to try some differnt ones. We walked to another cluster of machines and began playing on those. I was excited to win back my original $2 and $2 more. I looked over at Marie because her machine kept making musical noises and flashing. She was looking at the machine in wonder, and fanning herself as if she might faint. She kept winning sums of almost $20 then collecting. I had my fist of dollar coins, and she had enough to cover the bottom of her bucket. Frustrated, I ended up playing another one of my coins and getting nothing, so I came out just $1 up in the end. We walked over to allow Marie to cash out (I kept my 6 dollar coins since I figured it would be too embarassing to hand him 5 coins to cash in on). He poured the coins into the scale and handed her back $59!!! She won $54 on those stupid pokies. I was so jealous, and decided I didn't need to help pay for our parking after all since she had this new found wealth. We drove to the airport after that and she was going to drop me off at the terminals, but took the wrong road and decided to park and walk me in. I checked in and thanked her, telling her goodbye and that I would see her on Wednesday. After going through security, I had about an hour to kill. I was starting to get hungry (losing money and watching others make $60 in 20 minutes works up an appetite), so I grabbed something to eat as I sat at my terminal. Regional Express, or Rex as it is known, is a very small enterprise. They can afford to be efficient as there are only about 30 seats in their planes to seat, so they can book flights 10 minutes apart at the same terminal. In fact, they were about 15 minutes early in boarding every flight, including mine. We were called and simply checked off a list (no electronic scan like with Qantas). We walked downstairs to another waiting room. Then, went we were all there, we were taken out to a bus and driven about 10 yards to the plane (I couldn't help but laugh. I guess they can't let people walk on the tarmack, even for that short distance, but it was humorous. Our flight took less time that check in and security; it was about 20 minutes. I looked out the window and felt someone watching me. I looked at the seat in front of me and saw the boy sitting in that seat looking at me. We exchanged smiles and continued taking in the beauty. We landed on the tiniest runway, at the tiniest "airport" I have ever seen (but, I have Coober Pedy on Thursday, so this may change very soon). It was all so entertaining for me. This is what I have been asking for- deserted! I went inside, concerned about finding a shuttle at this tiny place. I saw I guy standing under a sign about Kangaroo Island transfers, and he was wearing a name tag, so I asked him if he was who I booked the shuttle with. He was, so I was able to book both the trip to the hostel, and the trip to the airport on Wednesday. We loaded the other people into the bus and headed off. We saw no other cars. And the road turned to dirt. Yes! We got to the hostel and there were a couple of buildings around, but no big names or anything. I checked in, which consisted of the guy saying room 4, then showing me the door that already had a key in it. Then he showed me the bathroom. And that wrapped up the tour. He asked for the payment, which since it was only 2 nights, I paid in cash. I asked about internet, he said we'd have to go to the library, which wasn't open now, but I could sit out front and use the internet "Go down this street, 1, 2, 3, when you get to Dourney, turn right, you can't miss it. Do you know where it is?" I said "yes." "No you don't," he said, and proceeded to repeat the directions. After getting him out of my room, I spoke to my roommate a little then settled in. I forgot to bring any granola bars with me, so I would need to eat something in the morning. I went out to ask about that. I found the man arguing with the woman that works at the hostel over whether or not you can sit outside the library and still get wireless. As she saw me approach, she kind of hit him to shut him up. I asked about food in the morning, he said "Go down this street, 1, 2, 3, when you get to Dourney, take a left, you can't miss it. Order the eggs and bacon." I said, "OK, so down here, breakfast on the left, library on the right." "You got it," he said. Gosh, I love him already.

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