Our Internet was down for a few days there, and before that I was away for the weekend. So, no blogs for a bit plus my inbox was up to here with spam. That's the way of this here modern age, I guess!
First things first, Mike and I took the Easter weekend and went down the coast, to Bateman's Bay and Narooma. (For those of you with an atlas on your laps.) It was absolutely beautiful, rolling green hills like maybe Ireland, the sea on the side. In Narooma we chilled on the beach by the Glasshouse Rocks, these bleak massive piles of black rock on the edge of the sea, with the warm Pacific rolling in over our toes. The sand was so fine it squeaked as we walked over it.
The next day we woke up before the sun and had billy tea and brekkie on the sand, then walked a little bit down the coast where I sat and pondered a mollusc moving slowly towards --where? I never found out. I watched him for a good half hour during which he moved about a foot, making a bumpy trail in the packed grains of sand.
On the drive back we drove down to Pebbly Beach where, it was said in the guidebook, we were 'guaranteed to see dozens of wild kangaroos' lounging around, however all we saw was one, looking lazy and eating seeds off the footpath. The drive down from the main highway was 8km through a eucalyptus forest, the trees all as tall as ones in BC, stripey exteriors looking painted like camo pants, and the sunlight filtering through them forming stripes across the washboarded road. I hung my bare feet out the window as we slowed right down and stared at the 'gorgeousity' before us.
Coming back to the city is always an interesting experience, the buzz of cars and neon lights and restaurants, trains and busses, airplanes overhead, the warm night air and the palm trees, the sidewalks and alleys with broken glass, the parks and the old buildings. So much all at once. I've gotten used to this mish-mash and although it sometimes ties me in knots (so to speak) it is also a wonderful thing to watch and take part in. There are so many people! Always someone doing something, going somewhere, plans and schedules to keep to, ideas and trips in their mind. So many different faces.
Tomorrow I'm taking the train to Walcha, to spend the weekend with Maddy King, my old colleague of Mud fame. Then up the coast to see Jennie, and a little town called Surfer's Paradise, then up to Townsville and then Cairns. Then fly to Melbourne, then to Tasmania, where I'd like to do some WWOOFing, if I can. So, I'm not yet packed, and feeling that nervous feeling of "I'm so not prepared, but oh well, I guess", and starting to feel a bit sad too.
For my birthday (which is next week, but I won't be in the city) last night Mike took me to Soup Plus, a cool jazz place crossed with a basement community hall/soup kitchen, a place where I'd like to be a fly on the wall armed with a camera, the blue and red of the lights reflected well off people's faces and conversations, there were kids and old men, young couples on dates (like us) and groups of folks in their fifties drinking white wine, wearing sweaters around their shoulders. The best way to celebrate turning 20, a week early.
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