EVEN PARADISE NEEDS RAIN

WEATHER: Wet, wet, wet

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Relaxing ocean side

BUMMER OF THE DAY: It’s raining

BUYS OF THE DAY: Haven’t bought a thing except lunch all day

WORD OF THE DAY: It’s raining

I woke before my alarm this morning.  I wasn’t going to miss the breakfasts here, that would just be plain lazy!  The sound that woke me was of the ocean crashing against the beach.  Is there a better sound to wake up to? The sun was out, so it looked like it was going to be a promising sunny day.

Breakfast was loaded with a lot of fresh fruit, fresh juices, an omelet man and some hot foods including sausage and potatoes.  The restaurant is an open air affair, so if you didn’t watch your plates, cheeky birds would come in and try and have a nibble at your left overs.  The view is still amazing from here if you get the right seats, so it was great to kick back, sipping my tea and really appreciating where the hell I was.

Well in one hour it is amazing how the weather changes.  Big black rain clouds rolled in and they dropped what everyone hoped were some showers to then move on.  Well the good news is that the rain stopped, but the big black clouds hung around all day.  It was Sunday, so no shops were open, so it was an excellent day to sit on my verandah, with an IPod in one ear, the sound of the crazy surf in the other and a book in my hand.  I stayed like that for over 3 hours before getting a cramp in my hand from holding my book, so I booted up my computer and decided that I needed to rattle through all my photos and update my Bernstar jumps and the Photo of the Day which I am embarrassed to say is stuck on the 15^th April.  Yes I have to pick a photo each day for the last 5 or so months.  What a job right!  But luckily I am organized and they have been saved in trips and then days, so it is just a time factor of looking through them all to select one for that day.  It is actually a good exercise for me, as it gives me an opportunity to go through my trip from the start, the people I have met, the friends that I have made, family I have made and destinations that have been visited.  I have been very lucky and it made me feel great on all that has been achieved and also with time on my hands to give a moment on the reflect on how I could be here in the first place.  My mum wasn’t a beach bunny by any means but she would have enjoyed the relaxation time and the peace and quiet to read books.  She loved reading and was one of those funny people that if she liked the book and was halfway through, she would read the ending and then continue to finish the book.  Crazy and this is the same woman that wouldn’t go to the movies to see Titanic because she knew the ending – go figure!!!!  I still miss you every day mum and hope that you would be proud of all that I have done.

A late lunch at 3pm got me a chicken basket and a table right near the glass fence they have running around the bar.  There were schools of fish all swimming right near the rocks, even with the water thrashing around; I guess when you in there, for them it makes no difference.  There were some people brave enough to go in for a swim and the force of the tide going in and out was close to what I would call fierce.  It would sweep them out about 10m and then the incoming wave would rip them back into shore.  It was too rough for me, I rekon I would have got swept out to sea if I got in there.

The rain then came again and set in for the rest of the afternoon.  So it was spent watching some movies, a walk on the beach (between showers) and more photo logging.  What else can one do when it is raining in paradise?  Time clicked on, the movies kept rolling, and the next time I looked at my watch it was 7.30pm.  So I decided to do what I did last night and I changed into my jimjams and tucked myself into bed and skip dinner for the second night in a row.  That is late lunches for you.

So with the rain now pelting down, thunder clapping above the bungalow and lightning flashes outside my glass windows I fell asleep to those sounds and of that crazy, angry ocean – it was all quite calming and I can’t remember the last time I fell asleep to the sound of rain on the roof.  It has been months and it made a nice change.  It reminded me of the wet season storms that we used to get in Darwin.

Even Paradise Needs Rain ……….