The Last Big Fling

Last weekend (14JUN08-15JUN08)I had the extreme honor of visiting Tamara Condotta! Inga and I hopped a train (a noisy train at that - some baby wanted to push the emergency button, and some teens were acting like, well, they were acting like teens and being obnoxious) - any way, we hopped a train Saturday morning and met up with Tamara that afternoon.

Originally we thought we'd hit up the beach but the weather was a bit too chilly for that. Instead Tamara took us to the largest cinema in the southern hemisphere! Don't worry, we got a photo at the entrance. We had fun discussing the Sex & the City movie on the way to the theatre. Tamara concluded that the shows were better, too. Maybe I'll have to rent a DVD of the first season after all...? Inga had seen just about every movie there was to see at the time, I'd seen a few and so had Tamara but we managed to find a movie that none of us had seen: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian! I really enjoyed the movie. Some parts were a bit far fetched, but that's what makes it so much fun - to be a kid and use that imagination! Tamara and I found it almost more comedy than drama at some parts, haha! The mouse, Dennis Rodman, lovey dovey-ness between Caspian and Susan, and the Vera Bradley dresses, pointy little friend - too funny!

After the movie Inga confessed her love for King Peter. Tamara said she had a thing for Caspian. Lucky for me I have Adam. = ) Oh yeah, we had fun taking photos on the throne of the movie display in the foyer, haha!

After the movie Tamara took us on a bit of a tour around the Gold Coast. First stop was Hungry Jack's where we met some of her co-workers. She's a vet at that place and sounds like she has heaps of fun there! Plus they have great fries. Mmmm... Hungry Jack's! Next we went to The Grand, where we met her sister and brother-in-law while they were having a nice lunch at Coconut Joe's I think it was. We also got to meet some of Tamara's close friends there. Too bad none of them joined us in going out that night - their loss!

We went to The Spit next. There was a big pier but we chose to walk in the sand and along the beach. We were "attacked" by the waves and had to "retreat," haha! It was quite lovely out there. It's supposed to be a "making out" hot spot, haha.

Next up was Broadbeach. We drove through a pretty cool strip there, and then hit Burleigh Heads - my favorite portion of the tour! There we saw DOLPHINS! It was so cool. And to think I doubted Inga, haha, although I'm not sure I buy into the "black spot in the wave" business, hehe! We have some pretty great videos from the dolphin-sightings. It was a beautiful sunset that evening, too. And we got to watch some surfers do pretty well. It was great.

For the ride Tamara had some great Aussie music for our listening pleasure: Thirsty Merc is awesome. She gave me some other CDs along with Merc, but they're Windows files and my Mac is confuzed. I'll have to get my hands on the files when I get back home I suppose.

By this time we were getting pretty hungry. Tamara took us to The Mandarin Inn, a little Chinese cafe that has AMAZING food! I ordered beef and cashew with fried rice and it hit the spot, man. So good! I just realized that I hadn't had Chinese food since America. I think the last time was with Adam - awe. So we had some good dinner conversation (boys, chopstick theft, and Chinese dining etiquette), then decided it was time for D'Murph's! Haha, we got to Dan Murphy's and stocked up on some Jim Bean (the jumbo bottle), some Mudshakes (ooooh, so goooood) and some Coke. With those items we were totally set, and upon arriving at the cashier we got a pretty funny double-take, haha.

The evening kicked off when we began our game of Kings with Jim Bean and Coke. Talk about a heck of a fun time! The three of us were laughing, and singing, dancing, getting ready for the bars, and having an absolute blast ("in my pants" haha)! We rocked out to the hits of the 90s (Vanilla Ice, E17 (performed specially by Tamara, Meredith Brooks), and Inga and I worked on our shimmying. We sang to hairbrushes, pens and Coke bottles (as our mics), and we all had nicknames: T-Dog, Ingle Bingle and Amara. I learned that Inga, too, enjoys flat pop more than fresh pop, as a side note. Before we left we got a fabulous video where we are singing Meredith Brooks' "I'm a Bitch." It became our anthem for the evening, haha.

Later Tamara's dad, Rod, was kind enough to drive us girls to the bars. First we made a bathroom stop where Inga and I toppled over in a fight for the camera, haha - something about a blue spot! = P The first bar we hit was the Bourbon Bar - Surfer's best for R&B and hip hop. I'd been missing that music scene, and I really enjoyed Bourbon Bar because it reminded me a lot of The Cactus. Inga and I got to see some people "crumping" on the dance floor, and we showed off our shimmying moves whenever we were in doubt. There was a guy crumping that night who was wearing a white mask and gloves; he freaked Inga and Tamara out a bit. He was a really good dancer, though. We grabbed a chocolate frog shot (Bailey's and Crem de Mint - delicious!), and headed to Shooters (Tamara got us free entry!). We danced there for a bit, and Inga danced with the warm guy in the blue shirt (that's all she remembers about him), haha. After we lost her for a bit we went back to the Bourbon Bar, then called Rod to kindly pick us up. He was very cool for being the DD that night. On the way to our pick-up location Inga was rejected for a photo with the Aussie policemen, and we saw the famous "clock" tower, haha.

On the way home we reflected on how much fun the night had been. Inga and Tamara pointed out that there were a number of Maori (Indigenous New Zealanders) at the Bourbon Bar. She also commented on how someone we know "met this guy on a bus, and he said 'mmmm,'" haha! We got back to Tamara's and crashed. All three of us fell asleep in Tamara's big, comfy bed, but Tamara left us at 5a to throw up and shower, poor girl. By 10a we were pretty much hang-over free, and ready for some grub. Tamara took us to Hungry Jack's! We sat and chatted a bit, then it was time for us to catch a train back to Brisbane.

All I have to say is that was one of the most fun weekends in Australia I've had. Thanks Tamara and Inga for such an amazing girls' Last Fling weekend! I love you two!

-Amanda