Lava Reef Zone

So on Tuesday I'm off down south to Culburra Beach to relax before the beginning of my final year of uni and to forget about the current financial tsunami that is still sweeping the world. I'll be gone for 5 days to enjoy surf, sun and sand, then straight after I come back I have a wedding reception to go to at Maxims. It seems to be an unspoken rule that if you're Viet and you need a wedding reception place, then go to Maxim's. I can almost recite the menu from my head. (Fried rice was near the end wasn't it?)

Anyway organising this trip was a little more difficult and troublesome. Mainly because there was more democracy involved. A lot of time was spent asking people what they wanted and how about this or that. So I spent quite a bit of time sitting around waiting for email replys that may or may not arrive. Lesson learnt: Tyranny is the only option, don't give people a choice (or at most give them an illusion of choice). Kinda sucks as well that out of the original 16 people, only 9 can make it. It felt disappointing that after all these questions about "when is the next road trip?", quite a lot of people pulled out or were unable to make it. Lesson learnt: confirm people are going by taking as much as their money as possible early on, so they are committed for fear of losing money.

Still, the trip will be fun. I won't be taking the tried and tested Ford Falcon stationwagon, because it's has definitely entered old age and now suffers from a wide range of differing illnesses with mysterious causes. For example, the transmission occasionally leaks oil despite it being replaced with a reconditioned one and the workshop attempting to plug the leaks twice. The aircon died, and has not fully recovered because 1/3 of the air goes to the windscreen regardless of knob position, and causes engine overheating. Maye too tried and tested. So I'm taking the Toyota Landcruiser Prado, which is taller, but actually a bit shorter than the Falcon. It's going to be...interesting.

As always on such a trip, when we safely get to our destination I will have a suitable alcohol brevarage to consume. Unfortunately, the most interesting whiskey I've seen so far is unavailable in Australia.
A man's drink if I ever saw one.