Surviving Alice Springs: Night Fever

If you're moving to Alice Springs you may be concerned that there is a lack of entertainment options. Of course, the options are a fair bit smaller than your usual major city, but they are there, and they are fun. In the name of science, my husband and I hit Alice Springs at the weekend to see if it was possible to have a great night out in this small town. An empty wallet, tragic photos and raging hangovers the next day suggest that it is in fact possible!

First stop for the night was dinner at Sporties. It sounds like it would be an amazing sports bar, but it's actually a restaurant. Everything was absolutely divine. The people serving us were all lovely, and oh my god the food was incredible!

Yeah, I maybe kinda forgot to take a picture and started eating it.

That there fine specimen was the deliciously named "Beef and Bugs". Scotch Fillet and Moreton Bay Bugs with Rosemary and chilli. At $39.90 it was probably the most expensive meal on the menu, and you know what? Worth every cent. I'm drooling right now when I think about how amazing it tasted. A word of warning though, they under-cook their steaks, so if you're a person who can't stand blood, you may want to order yours very, very well done. My only other gripe? Sporties did not have the AFL on when we got there! It was odd, but soon rectified.

Next on our list was Uncles Tavern. Cheap beer, pool tables and some rocking old school pub music. My inner bogan was pretty happy here! At $11 for a schooner of Carlton Dry and a stubby of Jack Daniels, things could have gotten very messy had we stayed. Sadly, they were only showing the free to air AFL, so I demanded we move on to the next pub in hopes that they would be showing the West Coast vs Hawks game.

Just down the road is the Rock Bar. It's a backpacker haven, with cheap specials, awesome staff and Facebook status updates that always make me wanna hit the pub -- not that it's too hard to get me pumped for booze! However, I'm pretty dirty on this place right now. They were showing the West Coast game! And then, in the ultimate insult, they turned it off in favour of rubgy. Rugby! I was so horrified that we decided it was time to hit up the next establishment on our list.

Of all the things to photograph, why this? 

Oh, Monte's, you are amazing. Lots of seating, both inside and out. Awesome, quirky decorations such as mannequins, unicorns, chandeliers and life sized marching toys. Your staff were awesome and your beers were very hipster. The Leffe Blonde with Captain Morgan shots did a real number on my lovely husband. Needless to say, we were pretty messy by this stage and so this place definitely gets the seal of approval. (Eden, if you're reading this, sorry for thinking you were telling me you were eating and we should look away, when really you were just introducing yourself. I totally understand why you were quick to leave!)

We ended the night at the Casino. I could write an entire post just dedicated to my love of Lasseters. Sports bar, nightclub, awesome outdoor seating, gambling and cheap booze. What's not to love? We even stayed the night there this time around, which was a very wise decision -- mostly because when it came time for bed, we could barely walk, let alone co-ordinate ourselves enough to organise a taxi.

Long story short, we went out in Alice Springs and didn't get stabbed, mugged or murdered. In fact, people pretty much avoided us, probably because my husband was wearing his "Fear Hogger" World of Warcraft T-shirt. We managed to make a few friends for the night, and had we stayed away from the Roulette Wheel, it probably wouldn't have been too rough on the wallet. It was a good night indeed!

Now, let's hope the other photos on my phone never see the light of day EVER...

Smells Like Team Spirit

Pop the champers, it's a miracle!

After months of fruitlessly working on projects that I end up ruining beyond repair with my incompetence at crochet, I finally have a complete piece of work in my hot little hands! The Team Spirit Hat I was working on for my Dad is now a reality. I won't lie, I'm pretty freakin' proud of this abomination!

As you can see in the image above, it's not exactly beautiful. I still completely fail at crocheting in a straight line, so it was nothing but sheer determination and the creative use of cotton thread that saved this bad boy from the rubbish bin. The pom pom really makes it.

Overall, this project took me three weeks of crocheting. I made a point to sit down and work on it whenever Dad and I's AFL team, the West Coast Eagles, were playing. Not only is this hat the walking dead, but it must be some kind of  voodoo charm of awesomeness as well, since we've sailed through each game so far. Crochet and witchery. Damn I'm good.

Sadly, my crochet days are over for the moment. Where this beauty took me three weeks, Casadella knitted a beanie in something like 6 hours. It can't be avoided anymore, team. I need to suck it up and get some of those circular needle thingies and learn how to knit properly.

Someone pass me the vodka.