Schooners, Pubs, and Leaches, Oh My...

July 7th, Pub Crawl!  Headed up to Eungella (a rainforest filled state park), we started a pub crawl at 10:30AM.  Regardless of the size of the small town surrounding McKay, each had a fairly substantial pub.  We arrived at the first pub expecting to be the only patrons, but this certainly was not the case as a few miners or cane workers were in for a schooner after a shift.  Each pub was distinctive only in the venue, each had a bawdy bar maid, served food, and carried XXXX beer.  Seeing a kid wander through with a parent was not uncommon.  Each pub also had a hotel attached and sported State of Origin posters and flags.  Thankfully, Queensland had recently won State of Origin Rugby, much boasting and bragging was required.  Poor Rachel, the only New South Wales cockroach of the group, took heaps.  She was a good sport about it.  

Lunch was at the Pinnacle Pub, which boasts the best meat pies and can actually back up this claim.  The pies were heavy and hearty and absolutely delicious.  Chips were served with brown gravy and did nothing to lighten the meal.  I moved from a pot to a schooner to wash down this heavenly concoction.  

We then went to a pub right before Eungella which afforded a beautiful view of the Pioneer Valley.  

From there, on to Eungella State Park, and a cabin right next to a platypus viewing station.  We had opportunities to view the ever elusive platypus in it's natural habitat.    

Mother nature must have had a few extra parts and arranged them a'la Mister Potato Head style to come up with this odd creature.  Many Aussie's were quite impressed we had the chance to see these weird animals in the wild.  

We saw flocks of noisy cockatoos numbering in the hundreds.  Caroline's bird Maulder is cute when he squawks and squeals, but when multiplied by hundreds, the charm of that cacophony wears thin quickly.

We stayed in a cabin, had dinner the State Park restaurant, and proceeded to enjoy each other's company with an evening of drinking and debauchery.  Of course, I went to bed at an early hour, but enjoyed the confines of a cabin filled with drinking friends.  A few lessons from the evening:  Rachel and Erin can't hold their liquor, Bill is an obnoxious although somewhat funny drunk, and your friends will turn on you like rancid meat when they've been drinking.  We managed to blow off the steam which builds when traveling in a large group.  No serious injuries, just a few mental scars.  A successful evening.

The next morning, Rusty and I went on a long walk through the rainforest.  The rain pattered down on the both of us as we made our way up the mountainside. 

 On the way back, I pointed out to Rusty several wet leaves stuck to the back of his thigh.  It turns out, Rusty was hosting several blood sucking parasites, yes, leaches!  We scraped off the two we saw, and returned to the cabin.  Rusty found another under his sock line, much to the squeamish squeals of our hung over companions. 

A quick trip down the mountain, and a rest at Donna's place before dragging ourselves back to the McKay airport where the local time is 1982.  We went back to Tracey's and decided the wounded weary travelers would like dinner in.  Art and I cooked a feast of kangaroo, putenesca and salad.  After a week of meat, we needed some salad and spicy pasta to even out the palate.