Aussie from the past

SYDNEY, AU - - Would anyone out there be surprised to hear that I got an email from Tour Guide about a month ago through Facebook? If you don't remember the situation, let me refresh: we stayed in touch after I left Australia via Skype, email, texts and the occasion phone call.
We seemed to get pretty close (if you consider being in daily contact getting close) and then he asked if I would ever consider leaving Chicago? This question was followed pretty quickly by the off-hand comment that he had recently gotten drunk and slept with a female friend of his!!!
Needless to say, we fell out of touch soon after that conversation. I even deleted his Facebook friendship.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. He emailed me to let me know that he had taken a job in Tasmania (another state in Australia, one that's an island south of the mainland) and would be moving from Darwin to 'Tassie' in October and I would be welcome to visit him while I'm in Australia.
I was curious as to why he contacted me, so I texted him while I was in Port Douglas a few days ago. We arranged to have a direct phone call and spoke for over 2 hours!
Apparently, our 'falling out of touch' was his way of running away from me because he felt like he might've been getting too close to me and we both knew the situation was impossible. Instead of discussing it and agreeing that nothing could come of our 'relationship,' he re-directed his desire for me to this other woman and in the process, lost both women.
He invited me to come to Tasmania this weekend (pretty much now, as I'm writing this on Friday afternoon). I was pretty sure it wasn't a good idea, but an ocean provides a pretty good buffer from trouble, so I checked on flights just for the hell of it.
The travel gods must have felt it wasn't a good idea either because the flights were CRAZY expensive!!! Tour Guide even offered to pay my way back to Australia if I flew down to Tassie, but the cost was really too much and the flight times didn't make for a good plan anyway.
So where does this leave us?
I'll keep you posted.

Fashionistas Down Under

SYDNEY, AU - - Okay, I'm not one of them. And BOY! did I feel out of place shopping along Crown Street in Surry Hills (suburb of Sydney). You know you're in trouble when you don't have nice enough clothes to wear to GO SHOPPING for nice clothes!
Actually, I headed this way (about a mile southeast of the central business district) to seek out a restaurant called Spice I Am, a lovely little storefront Thai place that Rachel Ray mentioned on one of her travel shows.
I've never seen so much leg on one street! Apparently, the spring fashion in Sydney is to wear (essentially) a bag that just barely covers the ass and then either ankle boots or gladiator sandals with it. Fortunately, most of the girls wearing this style look good in it, but I think they might look a bit better with a dress that shows off their figure a bit more. Okay, sue me, I'm old!
Yes, I did end up helping the Australian economy (that's doing just fine, thank you!) with several purchases from little boutique shops and a few vintage stores. I LOVE vintage jewelry and purses! I even bought a baseball cap that's angora and lambswool. Fabulous!!
And I DID find the restaurant so it's time for an early dinner!

You take your entertainment, I'll take mine.

PORT DOUGLAS, AU - - Every time I try to read a book on my balcony, one of those rainbow lorikeets screeches past & reminds me that nothing in print could be as captivating as the show Mother Nature has set in front of me. A flash of red, yellow and green. There goes another one, careening from one coconut palm to the next.
Golden palms, foxtail palms, lipstick palms and fan palms...my buddy Wolfgang (former owner of the apartment building where I'm staying) taught me the names of these beauties.
The breeze creates a swooshing melody that's so soothing but at the same time competes for my attention with the insistent roar of the not-too-distance waves at 4 mile beach.
Who needs a book?

File under 'So You Think You're All That'

PORT DOUGLAS, AU - - In an effort to get some sun on my shoulders and even out the 'farmer's tan' I got in Sydney, I put on a tube top and went to sit on my 2nd floor balcony (although they call it first floor here). Anyway, I stood up to get a better view of my beautiful surroundings and leaned over to cross my arms on the railing.

Two young guys were walking past on the sidewalk across the street and they both looked over at me and smiled. Do I smile back? Wave? Before I could decide, they were gone.

And then another guy was getting into a taxi in front of my building and he looked up at me...a few times.

Hmm??? What's this about?

Then it hit me. From their position, at ground level, they probably couldn't tell whether or not I was wearing a top!!