Sue and Paul Connolly: Kilarney...... Susan you are going nowhere and Paul becomes a groupie.

After all our little detours along the way it was around 6pm before we arrived into Killarney. Somehow I knew we were not going to fluke a bed here at a little B and B. IT was madness with heaps of tourists like ourselves gathering in the centre of the town. Finding a car park we decided to walk the streets looking for a bed. After a lot of disappointments we walked into Tatler Jack's, a pub with lots of people drinking and eating which was a good sign for being a popular place. The price of the rooms were very cheap and I should have known by this it was going to be budget accommodation. All I can say is the sheets were clean, the bedspread was covered in cigarette burns, and I think a bird or two at times had taken shelter here when the window had been left over. All worked out well as we spent very little time in the room as we were too busy occupied by other things that happened on our first night.

Off to the tourist office to book a tour for the Ring of Kerry the next day, and Paul found out where the famous Liam O'Connor was performing as this was a must do on his list. If you know who Liam O'Connor is skip down to the next paragraph. I sure didn't know who this guy was however we were off and running to the venue he was playing at. Purchased the tickets, front row seats on the side of the stage, lights out, video of Maureen O'Hara introducing Liam to the audience, around of applause and then a figure in a black leather jacket with Celtic designs, velvet black pants and playing an accordion steps onto the stage. The crowd goes wild, whistling and calling out. I turn to my right and it's Paul happy to be seeing the Guinness Record holder who has the fastest key stroke in the world playing just for him. I didn't realise then but when I look back Paul was showing the first signs of becoming a Groupie. The show was very entertaining with Irish Dancers (with one being Liam's daughter) a solo singer and the band which consisted of a keyboard, guitar, fiddler and a drummer (Liam's 15year old son). After the show Paul says he wants to hang around and meet Liam (groupie trait) and let him know that he came all the way from Australia to see him. The long and the short of it was complimentary tickets for the next show. The groupie was pretty pleased with himself and I was pretty pleased that he was pleased.

After all this excitement we decided to grab our overnight bag from the boot. I had tucked my passport into my case in the boot as I didn't want to carry it around with me at different times. Anyway I thought this was a good time for me to retrieve it from my case and pop it back into my little satchel that I wear over my shoulder. In between asking Paul to hold my passport and him giving it back to me it wasn't until we got into our room I noticed that I didn't have it. We went back to the car unpacked my case searched through the boot retraced our steps but to no avail. Went back to the hotel room searched through our overnight bag, went back to the car repeated what we had already done and came to the conclusion that my passport had disappeared into thin air. All I could think about was that there would be no trip to Portugal. Maybe I would be stuck in Ireland...... I could live with that.

We found the Garda headquarters and to our surprise the front door was open, however, we could hear lots of screaming and carrying on coming from an office in the back. We worked out that the officers were keeping an eye on the school leavers by way of CCTV as tonight was the night that all the leavers had received their results and were celebrating in downtown Killarney. Eventually an officer came to the desk and took down a brief statement from me and said that I would need to go to the Australian Embassy in Dublin. Paul and I walked out the door resigned to the fact that our Ring of Kerry tour was off and that we would be having tea and scones with the Australian Consulate in Dublin. I imagined for a split second that I heard my name being called out by the Garda but continued on down the steps. "Susan Connolly, Susan Connolly we have found your passport" whispered the wind, turning I noticed that the Garda was indeed chasing us holding up my missing black crocheted bag. "See how efficient we Irish are. Your bag had been handed to a security guard at Scott's Hotel". There are very few occasions that I get down on my knees and look to the heavens and thank the Cod Almighty - but this was one of them. To help ease the relief we continued to party at Tatler Jack's to the wee small hours of the morning.

The anticipation of being on the bus touring the Ring of Kerry didn't last long as the rain was there to greet us first thing the next day. The Paddy Wagon tour was Paul and I, along with 50 other tourists looking out the bus window and seeing absolutely nothing but grey wet windows. The funniest comments were from the bus driver who kept saying "Take my word for it there is a nice view of a lake over there, or a nice little beach down there". The back of my eyelids won out in the end and I resigned myself to the fact it was probably going to be wet and miserable most of the tour. First wet day in 6 weeks and I thought that this was a fair enough trade off for getting my passport back.

One of the first towns on the ring depending which way you go is Killorglin where they have a Puck Fair Festival at the beginning of August. This fair dates back to the early 1600's where a Billy goat, poe or puck is made King for the duration of the event. He is apparently hoisted up on a pedestal with his horns ordained with ribbons. The horns are engraved to enable another puck to be chosen the following year, sharing it around from one goat to the next. I think the mall in Geraldton could do with a little festival like this and we could all nominate a "two legged" puck to sit up on a pedestal. Maybe this could be incorporated into the Sunshine Festival. Tour concluded, we were off to see the man with the fastest fingers in the world again. Definition of a Groupie = Paul Connolly.