Monday 22nd August

Today it rained non-stop all day and when it rains in aus...it pours! The locals all seem really grateful for the downpour as the grass was starting to look a little dead. Gaz and I went to the bank first thing this morning to take out some cash to put the deposit down on the house we are getting. We also managed to pick up our Westpac debit cards so we officially have a joint bank account now! We then headed straight to the estate agents to sign contracts for the house and by 11am everything was complete. We strolled to the car dealer around the corner and took 2 of his cars for a spin. One car we knew straight away when we sat in it that it was not the car for us...the second car i was drawn to on the forecourt and it seemed ideal - 2002, 84,000km, full service history, 3 year warranty which covers everything and for only 6 grand...the catch? it used to be a police car so we dont know how well it was treated. My mum did point out that all police do around here is sit around STOP signs eating cake and pull people over who dont pull to an obvious halt (reference to my brother who got fined for not completely stopping at a STOP sign). This could be why the car has done hardly any miles! nevertheless, there was something about the car that gareth and i had a negative gut feeling on which stopped us putting a deposit down there and then.

My horse riding lesson got canceled due to the bad weather which i was gutted about as im itching to get back in the saddle! I popped in to work to make sure everything was in place for when i start on monday (sooner than previously anticipated) just because we are getting settled here rather well.

In the evening Gaz and i sat in the jacuzzi before heading out for our celebratory meal on signing for the house. As Gaz left it to ME to decide where to go, it was obvious from the start the meal was going to be rubbish. We tried to go to the Hervey Bay boat club but it was so busy in there, people were quing for tables! We felt it rude to walk straight back out so we grabbed a quick drink, had a play on the pokies....lost on the pokies...and left. I drove in the pouring rain to the Esplanade where we stopped at an Indian restaurant. There were only 2 tables of people in there but we thought we would give it a try.

What a disaster! firstly we could hear the packets in the kitchen opening and the starters being placed in the microwave and then when the curry came (which Gaz reckons tasted like a warmed up curry he used to have in school),  i looked at mine in disgust. I had ordered a lamb saag...something i often have back home so i am fully aware it is cooked with spinach...what i didnt realise was that in Aus, they puree the spinach into the sauce so it came out as a dark green cow pat looking monstrosity which tasted of metal. I managed to eat half of it but tried not to regurgitate it onto the table. What topped the meal off was i said to Gaz, "my coke tatstes strange?" he tasted it and agreed. His coke was fine (it was within the sell by date) my coke had lost the sweetener taste (it went off in June 2011!). We mentioned to the waiter he had given us a gone off can only for him to apologise, go back to the fridge and pull out another can, place it on our table...only that one was gone off too!!! We brought this to his attention and he said they were all going to be like that so we had to settle for a can of full fat coke. He did it as though we wouldnt notice the second can tasted gone off aswell lol.

I dont think Gaz and i will be heading for any indian restaurants in a hurry.