G'Day 2007!

There is always a certain degree of intense deliberation in determining a venue for New Year’s Eve celebrations, regardless of the fact that for the vast majority of people the night is anti-climatic after weeks or months of planning. Furthermore, I have never quite understood the logic involved in establishing a range of new year resolutions (in the case of Jen…38), and then promptly indulging in a night of alcohol abuse and the consumption of 27 food stuffs you wont eat once you ‘really’ start your diet. This is of course followed by a tremendous hangover the next day, often complete with vomiting, more food stuffs you will ‘never eat again’, and a desire to see yourself as quickly through the beginning of the year as possible. It was therefore with a desire to avoid $100 entrance fees, spend time with a few close friends in a very relaxed environment, and avoid too much sickening indulgence, that we decided to disappear for the night to my parent’s property outside of Melbourne.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at things, I have a tendency to turn even the most simple road trip into an ‘adventure’, most often through acts of unrelenting stupidity. In the case of our New Year celebration, I achieved this with two outstanding acts of stupidity in the space of twenty minutes. Firstly, I managed to throw my back out upon arriving at the property. How this came about is still somewhat of a mystery, as my afternoon had been spent in a very comfortable slouched position behind a steering wheel, followed by the very energetic and celebratory opening of a beer. I followed this ‘entrée’ of stupidity with the main course…managing to lock us all out of our accommodation. Naturally, I waited for us to unpack all our supplies, load them into house, lock the cars, and place all our keys inside before closing the door. Impressive eh? Thirty minutes later, (twenty five of which were spent assessing just how stupid I was) I had broken the lock on the door, ripped a hole in the door screen, and successfully opened the impenetrable fortress. Now, with the keys securely lodged in my left ear, we had access to our traveling bar, and settled in with Rach and Dougie to watch the thunderstorms pass over us, eat, drink and merrily welcome in the New Year.

Pictured: My parent's new property...66 acres of Aussie bushland!