Oops, I seem to have suddenly turned 30!

I am Sailing!
Originally uploaded by LinsB.

Thirty, flirty and thriving. Yes, that is now me. I must say it suits me. Not only have I suddenly become thirty but since doing so I have also become a very good windsurfer and an excellent driver. I am very excited to see what other things I have also suddenly become good at.

I discovered my ability to be good at windsurfing when Toby bought me a beautiful brand new Starboard Go and a gorgeous sail, which just happens to be the same colour as the board: A girl has to look good when she's out on the water. Somehow, I just seem able to sail this board and I'm confident that in no time at all I'll be bumping and jumping (just as soon as I find out what that actually means). See, I even have photographic evidence!

I am having a great birthday. I say "having" because I just know it isn't over yet. On my fourth day I acquired a box of Roses and a Pet Rock (1975 fad) which I have named Rosa as the original rocks were Rosarita Beach stones. I spent the afternoon trying to train her. Like the original rocks Rosa is very good at sitting and staying but she won't come when I call her and she's no rolling stone. I tried to give her a helping hand at rolling over but her eye fell off which distressed her no end. Luckily I managed to fix her up with some blu-tak and now she looks much cleverer than she did before. It is now the 7th day of my birthday and yesterday I received a fun "snow scene" photo frame with photos from our camping trip to Swanage in August and an Aussie-style rubber duck from Cheryl and Scotty. I haven't named the duck yet.

I had a great birthday out on the water with my beautiful new board. Then I grabbed a few bits n pieces for my 1975 party on Saturday night before heading out for dinner with Toby at a lovely place right on the bend of the river, called Picnic on the Rocks. After torrential rains on Thursday and continuous raining on Friday it wasn't possible to sit outside and enjoy the sunset as we'd hoped. It wasn't even possible to see the sunset. Which saved me from being mercilessly attacked by evil mosquitos. Every cloud and all that.

Anna came to visit me on Saturday and, poor girl, if she'd been hoping for a relaxing weekend in Queensland she sure didn't get it. I immediately put her to work moving furniture, then Toby got her peeling potatoes. She kept trying to escape to the shops but she didn't know where they were so couldn't. Eventually we got everything sorted out and meandered down to the beach with a box of toys for the start of the party.

We spent the next few hours drinking champers, swimming, sunbaking, playing beach cricket, frisbee and some crazy velcro ball thing and building sandcastles as the first of my guests started to arrive.

Eventually we dragged ourselves back to the house just as the second set of guests started to arrive. I switched on the groovy disco music and flashy lights, threw the chilli on the stove and then ran off to get showered and into my groovy disco gear. When I emerged 15 minutes later I didn't recognise my own house. It was absolutely full of people wishing me Happy Birthday, thrusting gifts into my hands and asking me where they could cool their drinks. The whole evening is a blur, the main memories of which are fighting my guests to get from the kitchen to the dining room and back again (why is it that people love to stand in doorways at partys?), dancing to mad 1975 music, blowing bubbles with Zoe (who was hilarious when she gave me my birthday present as she insisted on unwrapping it for me), losing my drink repeatedly, saying hello to people, saying goodbye to people, getting a surprise birthday cake (beautifully decorated by Toby's mum) and making a crap speech demanding that everyone dance despite the ever-present danger of losing one's hand to the low ceiling fan that was spinning around like a ballerina on speed.

We had some great efforts at the 1975 theme. We had some hippie chicks, some groovy gals, disco divas, drag disco divas, a couple of romans with MCMLXXV across their chests, Bjorn Borg, a hooker who charges $19.75, a Jaws theme (with, sadly, half-eaten teddy bears stuck to their t-shirts) and the Black Knight from Monty Python's The Search for the Holy Grail, whom everyone thought was Ned Kelly and who insisted he couldn't help serve the food, although he'd love to, as he only had one arm, having lost the other in a fight with a guest who insisted on passing from the dining room to the kitchen despite the knight's cries of "None Shall Pass!".

I have to thank all my lovely Australian friends for making it such an amazing birthday and ensuring that I didn't get homesick at all. It was great. And thanks to all my wonderful friends and family overseas, whom I miss dearly, for remembering me, sending me cards, gifts and text messages and for making my birthday last almost a week (and still going!)

The party (and some more windsurf) photos are on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/79031873@N00/sets/1281005/ If anyone wants a full size quality image just send me an email and I'll mail as large a size as I can.

I'm off to Christchurch in New Zealand next week for a conference so I may be a bit quiet for a little while. I'll fill you in on what's happening down-under just as soon as I can.