Tim's Birthday Barby and Goldfish

Happy 40th to my cousin Tim! What better way to celebrate than a massive barby and cold beers.

I got picked up at the hostel on Thursday by my aunt Sue as she went to get my great uncle Jim from the airport, just one of many relatives I had never met before now that I would meet over the course of the weekend.

The next day, Friday, uncle Michael went to collect the marquee he'd hired for the do. Jim, Mike and myself would spend most of the day putting the two tents up. Thursday morning was also the time that Tim, Maree and their toddler Emily arrived from New Zealand. Tim had no idea such an event was taking place and he seemed genuinely surprised that so much effort had gone into his birthday bash (about 60 people were due to attend). As we put the tents up, the kitchen was full of food being prepared. Of course once the tents were done Tim and I went to the golf club for a few beers with Tim's mates, whom I had met a few months back. Good times, then back for some Chinese and to say hello to David and Mindy before toddling off to bed.

Saturday, and after putting out the tables and chairs guest began arriving. I didn't know many of them, but there were a fair few that happened to be related (some links were a bit complicated, but in a nutshell my uncle Mike was adopted by my nan's (Agnes) parents, once you know that it's pretty straight forward) So I met a cousin, Michael, who is my nan's brother's (Arthur) son... Wait? Is that right? Anyway, he lives around Sydney way and works in Bondi (small world and all that). I also met a few other cousins who I think were from Sue's side of the family. There were also Tim's other cousins, who by default were my cousins, and after trying to work out our various family titles we just opted to say we were cousins.

Good thing we aren't from Norfolk.

A long hard day of eating and drinking and chatting away, not a bad way to have a 40th birthday. So on Sunday I got a lift back to the hostel with a case of beer, some pasta and some leftover burgers. Jolly good.

I had been away from the hostel for quite a while, in fact I only stayed there once since Tuesday, and nothing had changed. The cockroaches seemed to have grown a bit though,

They grow up so fast.

I think I will be leaving this place soon, not because of the roaches (those guys are kind of friendly if you give them a chance) it's mostly because of the way the prices will sky rocket in December, but for now I'll talk about Sunday night. I went out on Sunday night, but it wasn't just on a whim, it was to bid farewell to Christophe. So starting at the Cross Hotel (after waiting forever to leave the hostel) myself and a lot of other people (mostly French) had a cheeky couple before crossing the road to Goldfish. I had only been there once before, by accident, but this time I was impressed as a semi-live band played and they were pretty good. So with the music blaring, the usual shenanigans took place...

But it wasn't long before the group began to disband and return to the hostel. A nice little footnote to what has been a most excellent week. So to play us out, here's 'That Band From Goldfish Last Night', take it away...