Philips 66th Birthday

On the 22nd January 1956 the love of my life was born. His entrance into this world was quite noteworthy as his delivery was by Dr Lady Phyllis Cilento, a pioneering great in the medical world and also the mother of the actress, the late Diane Cilento.

Philip wanted to keep his birthday low key but I had other thoughts on that.  Let's face it, we don't know how many birthdays we will be able to celebrate! I had found a company called Amazing Co who put together Mystery Picnics were you are given a bunch of clues to solve. The solved clues were places where you picked up food to add to your picnic "hamper".  It sounded like a lot of fun.

I invited ten of our bestie friends to join us for this adventure.  Some of our guests drove quite some distance and the first of the couples arrived on Thursday then another couple on Friday.  The other four lived locally. I asked that everybody meet at the Pier Carpark in the centre of Cairns at 10.30 on Saturday to solve our first clue.  The forecast for the day was scattered showers.  I was a little disappointed to wake to this forecast but as it turned it we were very thankful for the overcast conditions.

Our first clue was quickly solved by my very clever friends and we made our way to Mooz Gelato and Juice Bar where we were given a menu to chose our own juices.  They were delicious, healthy and very refreshing.  While drinking our juices we solved our next clue that took us to Pantry 15 on Grafton Street.

Mooz Gelato and Juice Bar

At Pantry 15 the rain really pelted down so we were grateful to sit and wait while the chef prepared our hamper addition that was an Indian Cauliflower and Tofu dish with Pappadum's as a side. This was a hot dish and in hindsight it would have been better to have this clue at the end rather than the beginning as it was difficult to keep hot. 

Our next clue was a little harder to solve. The clue was that it was an anagram and the two words we were given were OVERPAID ROOMER. We had to google what an anagram was 😊. The last word was Italian for "love". The answer was Provodore Amore! I still don't get it.......

It was around a kilometre walk to Provodore Amore and the rain did not let up.  Fortunately we all had umbrellas but our shoes were all soaked as the gutters we crossed at each intersection were flooded!  At our destination we picked up two huge boxes full of antipasto ingredients as well as the wine that I had pre-ordered.  We found a coffee shop next to our stop and all sat down, ordered coffee and set to work on our next clue.  This time it was a wheel of fortune where we had to fill in the missing letters.  It was not too difficult to work it that it was Victors Gourmet Delicatessen.  A quick google search and we were disheartened to see that it was around a 1.5km walk to this destination and also that they were closing in 20 minutes.  I decided that it was easier to leave everyone to enjoy their coffee while I made the dash to this place.  My dear friend Karen decided to join me.  

I rang the establishment and told them that I was on my way and please to hold their closing until I picked up the picnic hamper addition.  Karen and I walked very fast but didn't seem to be getting any closer.  At one of the traffic lights while waiting for the walk sign I spotted a taxi waiting at the red light.  I asked if he was free and he was!  We jumped in and headed to Victors that was only 200 metres from where we were. The taxi waited as I quickly ran inside to collect our goodies - Chocolate Dipped Almond Bread and two varieties of Halva - and then he drove us back to the coffee shop where everyone was waiting.The taxi was the best $10 I had ever spent!

As soon as Karen & I arrived back we solved our final clue that was also our final destination.  This tested everyones spelling ability but the answer was Esplanade BBQ Sea Eagle. So off we set again, still in the pouring rain, to find our picnic table.  When we reached the Esplanade we realised that our designated destination was the opposite direction to where our vehicles were parked so we made the unanimous decision to walk back towards the car and look for an available undercover table.  This was harder than it looked but we eventually found one.  It was still raining but had eased slightly so it was quite comfortable to be finally able to sit after our long walk.

As we laid out all our collected food items we were quite pleased with the quantity and quality.  We were all a little dubious about the Cauliflower/Tofu curry but it turned out to be the crowd favourite. We opened the wine and those that brought beer enjoyed them.  

Our final picnic destination

We all agreed that it was a lot of fun and we were very grateful for the rain because if it had been hot and humid as it had been for the past few days, it would have been very uncomfortable. We probably walked around 4-5 kms but as we chatted all the way it didn't seem far at all.  I will however tell the company that it would have been much better to walk in a circle to solve the clues and return to your original destination.

After lunch we made our way back to our place at Palm Cove for Birthday Cake and of course the "happy birthday" rendition. It was lovely to have our friends join us for this special occasion and I hope that together we can enjoy many more.