The lead-up to Saturday's day trip was very hectic, as I was so busy with organising transport/car-pooling - & on top of being extremely busy at work & there was the Sunday School prep as well. After emailing out the passenger allocations, I still received some replies which necessitated shuffling around the original passenger allocation. It was so frustrating, & the truth was, I did respond to the stress in an ungodly manner, & said a few bad words along the way (although I did tone down to a few friends who I did tell about my stress). I hope I won't react the same way next time.
The other thing I was sweating on in the lead up to Saturday was the weather. The Bureau of Metereology indicated a fine weather forecast for the weekend, but I didn't want to take anything for granted. So it was a relief when Saturday arrived, that the weather was ok, even though there were still a few dark clouds in the sky.
After picking up 1 of my passengers, I was caught in a traffic jam on the Centenary Highway, on the way to pick up the remaining passengers. So, I turned around at the roundabout just before the turnoff to Moggill Road, & took the "back route" via Oxley & Sherwood to get to the other passengers. Then we set off to Glass House Mountains.
TC looked at the refidex maps I flagged, noted that we were travelling all along Bruce Highway before turning off to Glass House Mountains, & didn't bother looking at the refidex afterwards. This complacency would cost us, as we would then miss the Glass House Mountains turnoff. I did actually see that turnoff (which said Glass House Mountains tourist drive), by which time I had already passed it. Initially me & TC thought that wasn't the one, as we were expecting a big brown sign that says Glass House Mountains Road. After driving on for ages & not getting anywhere, Rachel called & after TC spoke to her, we realised we had overshot! So we had then had to work our way back to Mt Tibrogargan. We ended up being 15-20 minutes late (we were meant to be there by 12pm) which, all things considered, was not a bad effort at all. At least we still arrived before Nigel & Phuong!
Anyway, the Clayers & friends had just started eating when we arrived at the picnic area. So we delved into the food. I grabbed more than my fair share of TC's curry puffs! Yet still, there was a few left-over curry puffs. In fact, there were left-overs for just about everything which didn't surprise - so plentiful was the food quantity that I knew all along we wouldn't be getting any food shortages on this occasion.
After lunch, we set off on a 3km bush walk along the Mt Tibrogargan tracks. The walk took quite a while - more than 1 hour, probably a bit under 1.5 hours. So by the time we got back to the picnic area, it was a tad after 2:30pm. That meant we had more time to kill as we planned to depart at 4:30pm. So after a brief rest, TC brought out his soccer ball, & after kicking the ball about, most of the boys played a soccer match (of sorts). A couple of the Clay sisters (Rachel & Belle, on opposing sides) joined in as well! Initially I wasn't too sure about whether or not to play, but after seeing the boys kicking about, I joined in. Then the match started - it was basically a team of mainly Clayers versus a team of mainly non-Clayers. It was a shame the amount of trees (& the picnic tables) meant the playing area was not big.
The soccer was fun, even if it was all too apparent that I had zero fitness. I should have paced myself instead of going hard early. I even tried hard showing off, & I did manage to get past a couple of people, but on the whole, I'm just not very good at football. After a while, I took myself out of the game due to exhaustion (didn't want to throw up). I tried to get Sam & the other ladies (Maria, Catherine, Phuong) to join in, but they declined. People like Sean, Wong, TC, Ivan, Kwang & Nigel played longer than me - maybe they had better fitness, or perhaps they paced themselves unlike me. Sean, in particular, looked a class act as he constantly dribbled past opposition & is difficult to shake off the ball (unlike me). TC, too, is reasonably good in football.
Who won? I dunno, as I think both sides scored roughly the same amount of goals (we used soft drink bottles to mark the goal mouth). It would have been what, 5-5, 6-6.....oh well, it doesn't matter. We stopped for the "half-time" break at around 4pm, & had a rest at one of the picnic tables. We chatted, & ended up not starting the second half, as 4:30pm was fast approaching (plus a few people may have been tired).
We left for Brisbane just after 4:30pm, & headed for dinner at 6:30pm at Little Taipei near Market Square in Sunnybank (at Sean's suggestion, we made last minute change of plan from Sunnybank Plaza foodcourt). Since my car arrived just before 6pm, my passengers took the chance to do some shopping at Yuen's Market. Then we headed to Little Taipei. Alison (who's in Brisbane for a break) came with BT, & the Clayers were delighted to be able to catch up with her. I had the roast duck with rice, & complained that the duck meat was not as much as I would have liked. Despite that, I ended up being full, as I managed to order myself two pearl ice drinks from TTT (wintermelon tea & longan red tea).
After dinner, the Clayers went to check out Sean's new home. It was really superb & modern. Seeing how fabulous the place is made me want to buy a home for myself, & this is something I would have to give serious consideration to. We stayed on for a while, & some of the Clayers got into some games. Me & my passengers left earlier than the others. It was a long, tiring day, but it was time well spent with brothers & sisters in Christ.
There were some funny moments & lots of laughter during the day:
- The group photos taken at the Mt Tibrogargan picnic area, just before the 3km walk. There was one with TC putting the two-fingered "rabbit ears" behind Nigel's head. There's another one where I caught TC's hand about to do another "rabbit ears" on Nigel, but the photo taken showed TC's fingers about to tickle or jab the back of Nigel's neck. It looked so funny, that I was laughing myself uncontrollably.
- Nigel imitating the "gday mate" accent when walking past some Caucasians during the 3km walk (obviously he assumed every Westerner he saw was a Caucasian Australian).
- The "monkey" joke I shared with Nigel, & the "koala" joke Nigel shared with me.
- Nigel (& myself to a lesser extent) trying to speak & imitate Mandarin. It all started when we walked past a signboard which had Chinese on it, & it continued at various points during the walk.
- The jokes about our 3km walk disturbing wildlife.
- There was one moment during the soccer game, where I had my feet on top of the ball & Rachel (who was in the opposing team) was approaching me. Then my foot lost balance with the ball, & I slipped & fell flat on my backside. Bump, just like that. All that without even being fouled by Rachel or anyone else. Everyone laughed, but I wasn't mad at all, just a little embarrassed, & I managed to see the funny side that I laughed myself. After the game, some of them reminded me of the fall. TC told me he saw the look on my face just as I was falling & wished he had captured the whole incident on videocam!
- TC kicking the ball into someone's face during the game.
- Nigel with his usual soccer playing style of barging into the opposition.
- Wong running so hard & going hardcore during the match - & he played with slippers (albeit those slippers with straps).
- Me taking myself off shortly after that falling incident, as I was so exhausted & sweating like a dog.
PS: I didn't take any pictures with my digital camera, as it died at Hung's 30th birthday party & it's now being fixed. I did take a few pics (& only a few) with my mobile phone camera, but I haven't figures out yet how to get pictures from mobile to my PC. Never mind....
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