Attack of the jumbo prawns

So our lovely friend Gina celebrated her milestone 21st birthday last week, Aussie-style!

She picked a beautiful restaurant that sat on the harbour called Scratchley's on the Wharf. http://www.scratchleys.com.au/.
We had an amazing time, but lets just say the dinner was quite the experience. First of all, we were all rather excited to have an actual GOOD dinner, so we had been looking at the menu for days, evaluating every available option. I personally decided on the Mahi Mahi-- my favorite-- and I must say, I was pretty excited. Well, when we arrived, the Mahi Mahi was not on the menu! I then decided that you cannot go wrong with shrimp, so I decided instead on the Prawn Salad. Prawns are the equivalent to our shrimp. It sounded like a normal meal to me. We all ordered, Gina and Danielle played it safe with the chicken schnitzel, but Tori and I went for the prawns. We had to do it.

Our meals finally came out, and needless to say, there were some looks of horror. As the waiter laid my entree in front of me, I found myself staring face to face with four jumbo prawns! Their little beady black eyes were taunting me and their mile-long antenna things (aka feelers) were going in every direction. Being a rather picky eater, and new to seafood might I add, I tried to hide my panic. I simply asked my Aussie friend, Jess what this was. She blatantly answered, "your meal." I told her I ordered prawns (for some reason I thought they were baby lobsters), and she said those are prawns. I then frantically asked what the heck a prawn was and she lost it.

Luckily, my best mate Tori stepped up to the plate, being the motherly figure she is. She timidly offered to switch meals with me, because lucky for her, her prawns were peeled and not staring back at her! After much discussion, I decided to switch with her, but only if Jess peeled the prawns for Tori. In my defense, Tori was just as freaked out by the meal as I was. After Jess peeled them and they looked like normal American shrimp, I told Tori she could have her dinner back. We switched back and all was finally normal. This little dinner fiasco was pretty entertaining, and I honestly do not want to know what we looked like to everyone sitting around us. We were laughing so hard, I'm just happy we didn't get kicked out on Gina's birthday! Gina and Danielle loved their chicken, and after the eyes, shells, antennas, and little claws were gone, I enjoyed mine as well. However, Danielle taunts Tori and myself every night before bed, telling us the prawns are going to attack.

 After our dinner date, and Gina had her first cocktail, we walked down the harbour and climbed the Queen's Wharf Tower. It is a 30 meter high tower, containing 180 steps and we conquered it in heels. Talk about champs!

At the top of the tower, you get to look out and see all of Newcastle city and look at the stunning views the harbour has to offer.

After our little voyage, we went out to Finnegan's pub to dance the night away with Gina. We had an absolute blast and I'm so happy I got to spend a special night with a special friend!

Happy 21st birthday, Gina!