Tuesday

Tuesday night in Townsville is known for cheap drinks and a crazy nightlife. It's a college town, so I saw hoards of loud Caucasians that I forgot existed! I felt a wave of nostalgia pass. 

We started off pre-drinking at the mess hall on the Royal Australian Air Force base with some of the other officers Joe is working with. Unfortunately, no one else was nice enough to bring their wife along, so I hung out with the guys for the whole night. They were great guys though! 

There was a rugby game on TV and we asked a random Australian in uniform a question about it. Side note: everything I've experienced here has led me to believe Australians are the friendliest people on earth. I try not to take superlatives lightly, so believe it! The guy came right over to our table and explained the answer to our question, then we asked him to sit down and he brought over his "mates" for a lively conversation. 

I learned about some of the other officers' experiences in Djibouti, Afghanistan, Iraq, and a few other places described as complete hell holes. I guess combat zones don't exactly develop a strong sense of appreciation for culture? The Australian flight officer was telling us crazy stories about a bisexual, transvestite Japanese pilot named Crazy Rose who was very interested in him. Brilliant. We stayed at the mess hall drinking for a lot longer than we'd planned, but as we were winding things down there, the flight officer asked if I'd been "patched" yet in Australia. I had no idea what he was talking about, and he ripped the velcroed Australian flag patch off his shoulder and gave it to me! 

Patched in Australia!

We went out on the town with maybe six of the officers and hit up Mad Cow, Molly Malone's, and a few other great scenes. At one of the first places, the guys decided to sing karaoke and decided on Sitting on the Dock of the Bay. They did a great job and all the Australian girls were crazy about their accents! I stayed back and took pictures. Joe is always ready to pump a jam, so he continued pleasing the ladies with MGMT's "Kids" while the undergrads went nuts dancing.  

All these handsome Marines missed their wives in lonely ol' Townsville, except for mine!

Serious style points

I had a great night out with these guys and I hope we entertained the Aussies. This group of officers came out first to plan exercises, but the Australians didn't know that a few weeks later, there would be thousands more Marines and Sailors invading their town and drinking their beer. I'm so happy I got to spend time in beautiful Townsville!