Last night we went for Indian food on Darby Street near Jim's place in Newcastle. I have hankered for Commonwealth Indian food since the last time I was in Britain and I've been delighted to find the Australians, like the British, have found a delicious way to bastardize this cusine. Indian food in the Bay Area is excellent, and a great deal more authentic, I trust, than the "curry shops" that are found in the Commonwealth. But there is something about chunks of mystery meat in sauce over rice that just goes down so well with big cold pints of beer. Maybe the epicurians of the world turn their nose up at this ritual, but after our first Indian meal in Cairns, I could happily eat out on it for the rest of our time in Australia. They were playing a Bollywood film on the tv inside the restaurant and Laura was transfixed. Ever since Oodles had her Bollywood party, Hoov has become quite the enthusiast.

Then we went to the pub across the street, The Delaney. The Delaney is one of those huge pubs that seems to have multiple bars in one. In the back, near where we were, a two-man band belted out covers of popular tunes from the 70s and 80s, and although they played well they tended to stick to a pretty depressing selection of tunes. We were hoping that we finally had enough energy for a decent night out, and we were determined to have it, no matter how tired we were! Unfortunately, I never finished the pint I was holding, nor did Jeye. Katie had already sucked down two G&Ts by the time we got around to taking the photo. We stumbled out, more from being tired than drunk, a little past 10.