Nope, I never learn

Remember DD’s birthday present fail? You know, that weekend I took him to the Blue Mountains to see one of his favourite comedians, Kitty Flanagan, perform … but got the time wrong and we missed it …

Well, I wanted to make it right. There was just one big problem: Kitty wasn’t performing again anywhere near Sydney in 2017.

So I talked DD into flying to Brisbane last weekend to see her. Yep, Brisbane. (The day before we left, tickets went on sale to Kitty’s Sydney shows … in February. My life.)

I also decided I wanted to see the baby whales splashing in Hervey Bay, so I booked tickets to see that too.

Both. On. The. Same. Day.

Crazy, right? What with Hervey Bay being three and a half hours drive from Brisbane and all.

Somehow I convinced myself the whole three-and-a-half-hour drive thing was no biggie.

DD has since noted that he will be organising our next adventure because I can’t be trusted.

Anyways … let me rewind to last Friday morning when we almost missed our flight because Charlie the Moodle had a bit of a health crisis and needed to be rushed to the vet. Well, that makes it sound a bit more dramatic than it actually was – he only needed to be “rushed” to the vet because I had a plane to catch.

I almost had an aneurysm at the vet clinic as they took what felt like FOREVER to examine and treat him.

And then I came as close as I’ve ever done to hyperventilating as we dashed to the airport. I was verging on hysterical in the car.

You can imagine how cheery that made DD. He hates it when I get panicked. Anyways, we made it onto the flight with at least five minutes to spare and flew to Maroochydore to begin the loooong hike to Hervey Bay. DD pretended to be asleep the whole flight so he didn’t have to deal with my chalky face, shallow breathing and twitching.

I’d also decided I wanted to watch the sun set at a famed spot called Carlo’s Sand Blow because, what the hey, it was only a one-hour detour off the highway …

And I reckon we would have made it to Carlo’s in time for that sunset too, if DD hadn’t decided it was vital that he find a bakery selling sausage roll in Noosaville … or maybe Noosa … or finally Noosa Junction.

He, on the other hand, reckons we’d have made it for the sunset if I’d checked the directions properly.

Tomayto, tomahto …

Anyways, we scrambled onto the amazing Carlo’s Sand Blow (see pics below) just in time to see a tiny sliver of red sun disappear below the horizon.

Sad face. Long trip back out onto the highway for the remaining slog to Hervey Bay.

Geez I was popular, especially since DD had forgotten to put me on the car rental agreement, so he had to do all the driving.

When we finally arrived at our hotel we tottered next door for some suburban Chinese by the sea. Love a bit of suburban Chinese. I had a long, animated chat with the owner about moon cakes before finally letting DD crash out in preparation for our 8.30am whale watching cruise. We almost didn’t make it onto that either because we dithered and dathered and my sunglasses broke and I went searching for new ones.

There were no freaking whales for the first two hours, which was a bit harrowing. But finally we got to see some bubbas frolicking and it was so magical I almost cried. And then we got to see some sea turtles (attempting to) bonk in the sea, which was quite something and must make them almost cry (in frustration).

And then DD got to drive to Brisbane.

Kitty Flanagan was so, so, so funny that my stomach hurt. You must go and see her if she’s in your neck of the woods and you don’t mind a lot of sex jokes.

I think she’s a kindred spirit. We both think Cirque de Soleil is awful and tell very innappropriate stories about ourselves.

After the show DD and I had a drink with Kitty’s muso sister Penny, who is an old colleague of mine. We’d never actually met in the flesh before because we were cyber colleagues. She writes funny articles like this one about being socially awkward, we were very careful not to clunk noses when we said hello for the first time.

Penny is also an old favourite of DD’s from her Club Hoy days, so he was pretty stoked.

I may have been a bit too hyper (being secretly socially awkward) during our drink because Penny texted the next morning to say she hoped I wasn’t feeling too dusty … I’d only had three drinks … Actually, I DID feel pretty dusty, but it turned out I was coming down with a cold, most likely from completely overdoing life for a week.

I spent most of Sunday morning in woeful tears being consoled by a patient DD before he packed me off on a ferry ride along the Brisbane River to an amazing place called Eat Street, which features heaps of colourful shipping containers turned into multicultural food outlets with live music and fairy lights and stuff.

It was awesome, even with a cold.

And then we flew home and went back to work and felt like we needed to have a holiday to get over our holiday. But geez I loved those whales and Kitty and DD …

The fairly happy snaps:

Arriving for the last sliver of sunset.

The view looking east to the sea.

I was determined to climb down for a look …

But geez it was a struggle getting back up.

Arty boyf sunset shot.

View from Hervey Bay hotel room of our whale watching boat … convenient!

Mum and baby whale swimming alongside our boat.

Baby whale at play.

Boat selfie.

I was equal parts horrified and dazzled by our budget Brissie hotel room, which featured the shower recess actually IN the room … not much sound proofing in a glass bathroom …

Kitty was playing at Brisbane Powerhouse, a gorgeous venue beside the river.

The poster for Kitty’s must-see show.

Penny and I after the gig.

Walking into Eat Street.

Shipping container food stall.

Cool food stall selling weird food.

I may have been sick, but I wasn’t about to let free wine go to waste in the Business Lounge.

I was supposed to watch this sunrise with DD on the Monday morning, but I was too sick for the journey, so I stayed at my sister’s place instead.