A dinner and a lunch

So, on Saturday night, we met Selena, her hubby and their kids for dinner at Solider's Point Bowling Club for dinner.  This was my first trip to this bowling club, which is about 10 minutes away by car.  The dining room has large glass windows along one side that open into a large fenced area.  Inside the fenced area, there is a playground and a grassy area.  The bowling club also has a kids' club that is available to members so I joined for $7. 
We got there at 6 and let the kids play outside while we chatted and enjoyed some wine.  Then we ordered kids' food and let them eat.  After eating, we hustled them down to the kids' club where a lady babysits them for members for free.  It seemed a little dodgy as it is a room with a tv, some video games, craft supplies and some toys.  Selena and I decided to come back and check on the kiddos in about 15-20 minutes.  We ordered our food and then right before it showed up, we checked on the kids.  They were so busy that they didn't even notice we were there.  Okay, no problem, we'll go back to grown up time.  We got to eat dinner with NO kids with other grown ups!  Yea!  That is the one fantastic thing about many Aussie restaurants.  If they are family friendly, then they tend to have some sort of play area set aside.  This went a step further with the kids' room.  We stayed way late and finally collected the kids at 9!  Our boys raved about the kids' club and can't wait to go back.  Love it!  Best $7 I've spent all month!
This morning I had a doctor's appointment.  It was a 10:00 am appointment so I had time to walk the boys to school and then walk back home again.  I then got in the car and drove to the doctor.  The medical centre is right next to the school, but I had some errands so I wanted the car for after the doctor.  I didn't get done until after 11.  After the doctor, Selena wanted to head to Raymond Terrace to look for some school uniform pants.  Mondays are the only days were both she and I have no kids.  There is a chain of stores called Best & Less that sells uniform bottoms for much cheaper than the uniform shop.  So we went there.  It was her first trip to RT and there's not much in it.  She got what she wanted and I got what I needed.  Of course, then we had the rest of the afternoon.  How about lunch?  Okay, hmmmm, lets' go to hubby's place.  Okay.
You see, Selena's hubby is a chef and is the general manager of a trio of restaurants at a local resort.  The resort is a very nice place, very new and feels pretty posh.  The resort has one of the largest pools in the country.  If you look at their website here, you will see a picture of where we ate.  The picture of people eating outside by the giant pool...that's where we sat, right by the pool!
The only time that Selena has eaten there is with the hubby when he wasn't working.  He was working today, but wasn't busy at all.  We ordered our lunch.  I had the chicken, avacado and lettuce wrap and she had the smoked salmon, cream chesse and lettuce wrap.  Her hubby also brought out some fries and a seafood sample platter and some wine.  I've never been a big seafood eater as we just didn't have it growing up and I haven't been exposed to a lot of different stuff.  On the platter was prawns, fish, octopus, smoked salmon, mussels, and oysters.  Well, I've had prawns and fish before...  I was very proud of myself because I tried everything!  I even like most of it.  It was all very fresh and nicely cooked, nothing was battered and fried. Oysters were weird and a bit slimey.  Mussels were okay, but I really liked the smoked salmon and the octopus.  Lunch was so wonderful.  The weather was the best, the atmosphere was great and it was just two ladies having a good time.  No kids, no worries.  And at the end, we only paid for our wraps and that was even at a 20% discount.  We won't do it very often as I'm sure her hubby wouldn't like it, but it was good fun.  Next Monday, we plan to do some walking somewhere.  We just have to figure out where.