Saviors from South Carolina

This past weekend I flew up to Cairns. Monday was Canberra Day, and a public holiday, so I took advantage of a long weekend and a cheap fare to go back to Cairns - site of Holiday Moment #3 and #3a. The dive instructor was the reason I went back, and after this weekend, the reason I won't be going back. At least not to see him.

Note to self - a holiday hookup + a hot bod + 3 months of text messaging + an ego the size of Oz itself DOES NOT EQUAL a good time for Katie.

However, I did meet RW and AW, a newlywed couple from South Carolina that were on the last week of their honeymoon. AW and I were seated next to each other in the exit row and as she and her husband were talking I thought I detected a familiar accent. Once we started talking I realized she was wearing a Clemson hat. Yay for the southland.

We talked for the whole 3 hour flight, even though I had totally been planning on going to sleep for the whole trip, having awakened at 5 that morning to take a 3 hour bus ride to Sydney, and then waited 2 hours for the flight. But we had such a good time talking and the 3 hours flew by. They told me about their honeymoon (Rarotonga, New Zealand (Tongariro Crossing), Sydney, Cairns) and I told them how I came to be in Oz. As we got closer to Cairns I finally decided AW could be told the truth about my trip (I'd started out the conversation by saying I was going up to hang out with a friend). I told her about SF, the dive instructor. As she pressed for details, I realized I had none. I had no idea what we were planning to do for the weekend. None at all. I had 2 days in Cairns with no plan, with someone I'd had 1 brief phone conversation with in the last 3 months. It started to sound ludicrous, even to me. Luckily I had them to laugh with about it. So we landed and I shared a taxi with them into town - to their hotel.

Long story short: I hung out with RW and AW more than I did with SF. I certainly had better conversation with them and more fun with them.

We had a couple of Guinesses for St. Paddy's Day, swam in the pool at their hotel and then I left them to go meet up with SF. He was just as hot as I remembered, but there reality was shocking. For the next 2 days, except when I was with RW and AW I felt like I was in high school again. Back in the day when I had no life or interests of my own per se and everything revolved around the boy. Even if the boy was playing video games. Yes, I'll admit it. I actually WATCHED SF playing FIFA 07. It lloks like a great game, but at 31 - almost 32, my days of watching a boy play video games are LONG behind me. For the record SF, that's something you get to do when you don't have a visitor in town.

I'll spare you the gory details of the 48 hours, but some of the highlights - watching the movie Norbit on Sat night. Watching The Good Shepard, by myself, on Sunday morning while he ran out to his friend's house. Sitting in the doctor's office for 90 minutes on Monday morning while he had x-rays for a sky-diving accident he had last week (for the record, his legs weren't broken). Making dinner for him Monday night (he HAD made dinner the previous 2 nights - wait. was that in his defense?) while he sat out in the living room with his 2 roommates (did I mention there were roommates there the whole time?) speaking German. And pretending to be impressed when his FAKE FIFA team scored a goal. SERIOUSLY, it's just a video game.

So, I say again, thank god for RW and AW. I stopped by their hotel more than a couple of times through out the weekend - for a reality check, mostly. We had drinks on Sunday night (SF came but left early) and the highlight was going fishing with them on Monday afternoon. Even though it was a 6 hour fishing trip, it was no big deal, as SF had to teach a first aid course at his place that afternoon anyway. I think he had really expected me to hang out at the house while he taught it.

So, even though I've never held a fishing rod before and I did end up taking a couple of naps, I had a great time fishing because RW and AW are just great. I was totally stoked to have met them. I felt bad that I crashed their honeymoon, but as they both said, they were at the end of 3 weeks together and it was nice to focus on someone else for a while. And I was happy to get away from my reality.

However, as bad as the weekend was, I don't regret going out there. I do these things. All in the name of 'love'... looking for a connection...ever hopeful that someday it'll work out. You never know if you don't take chances. The last time I flew that far to see someone I'd met once it was amazing. And he and I are still close friends to this day. So, you just never know.

Now, I can't say I wasn't warned. My ya-yas knew the score when we met SF in December. But I'm eternally optimistic. But they were right.


Here are some pics from the weekend. Nope, no pics of SF. It was hard to get a good angle when he was sitting in front of the TV all weekend. (me, bitter? no. besides, he's not worth a pic anyway.)


Look, I can take a picture with food and keep my mouth closed. And you thought it wasn't possible.


The newlyweds on St. Paddy's Day!


RW and his Mangrove Jack. This one was NOT a fluke. And it was almost a record - 47.5 cm. And that guy had some teeth on him!


AW and I keeping the rain off our heads. It rained the 10 minutes we were docking at the end of the day, so we wet home wet. But hey, it's Far North Queensland. In the wet season. It's amazing that it didn't rain the whole day!