Monday 16 July 2007

Go Ahead, Make My Day!

One thing I forgot to mention in the last post (and the blogging page doesn't seem to work 100% on this crappy machine, so I couldn't amend it!) was that on the way back from One Tree Hill, the trees and sky were filled with bats.

Unfortunately, I only took video of them, and it was so dark that it's next to unviewable. I might make the trek up there again tonight and take some stills.

Anyway, day two started out with me waking up at 0530, all keen to get some shots of the view from our balcony of the sunrise. I took a number of shots and video at at least four different times, with the recordings being separated by about ten minutes. So, lots of piccies to post when I get home.

Went down for breakfast to discover that the hotel had no record of the fact that it was included in the package, so I had to pay; very annoying, but I'm sure I'll get reimbursed once it's sorted out.

Michael went off to attempt to get involved in some windsurfing lessons ... far too energetic for me, so I popped back down to see what the marina looked like in the daytime.

On the way back, he called me to say the windsurfing had been cancelled .. something to do with the tide being too high ... so we decided to go off to "Target Sports" to do some shooting.

I opted for something fairly sedate ... a .22 rifle. I didn't do too badly, but I doubt anyone will be calling on my services for sniper training anytime soon :-).

Michael went for the bigger handguns: .357 magnum, .44, Glock and one other I can't remember. He was about 20m from where I was shooting and I could still hear a serious "thud" each time he fired off a round!

After that, we both had a go at clay pigeon shooting. Michael did pretty well; I think he hit with somewhere between eight and ten of the twenty five shots. I, on the other hand, connected with only five ... along with accidentally firing one round into the ground and forgetting to orient the gun off to the side when ejecting one set of empty cartridges, which narrowly missed the instructor.

Michael spent the afternoon snorkeling and going to one of the scenic lookouts. I went to the Bougainvillaea Bar, which looks out over the water, and had a Mud Baby, which was very similar to a Mudslide.

Then, I took a bit of a walk around, ending up back at the Marina Tavern for a quiet schooner of Stella. A bit more aimless wandering, then I grabbed a six pack of Beez Neez and spent the early evening battling Friday's DA crossword.

When Michael returned, we went off to the Red Emperor for dinner ... after he'd popped over to the sports centre for a sauna (shared with some Finnish chap who apparently cranked the temperature up somewhat higher than Michael had ever expected to experience!). One Long Island Ice Tea and a Boags, plus Banquet B, slightly modified to replace the Lemon Chicken with something decidedly more spicy.

Back to the room for another Beez Neez and a chin wag until Michael decided that was it for the night. A perfect time to pop downstairs to do this blogging, since there are no other guests mad enough to be using the PC at this hour :-).

Later today, I plan to check out the Koala Gallery and native animal sanctuary in the morning and go off on the Reef Viewer cruise in the afternoon. More on that later, gentle reader ...