I was up a little before sunrise and the
pool looked so inviting that I went in for a quiet swim. I didn’t feel like
doing laps, I just floated around and enjoyed the water. After I got out I was
still the only one up and really felt like seeing the beach, so went for a
drive by myself. There was a half-marathon and 10km run happening on Cable
Beach when I got there (the half-marathon was under way, and the 10k run
started while I was there) so I watched people get organised for that, then
went down to the rocks with my camera and took some photos and wandered around.
I saw a fairly large crab which scuttled under a rock as I got close and I
could only see one pincer, lots of little crabs, and some great clouds out to
sea, it looked like it was pouring rain out there and the water was grey, the
first time I’ve seen it not being blue.
I went for a swim – early morning ocean
swimming is possibly my favourite thing to do. There were a few other people in
the water so I stayed close-ish to them because the beach wasn’t patrolled yet.
The water felt soft and silky and not cold at all. The sky had been cloudy and
the sun burst through while I was in the water, it was amazing, so beautiful.
I headed back to the tent where everyone
was up now and having their breakfast. We chatted and played some games, the
kids rode their bikes, then we headed to the pool. Again Tony took the kids
over first and I joined them after a while. Our friends from home were arriving today and
the kids kept asking when they’d be here, I didn’t know how far they’d be
driving today so my best estimate was somewhere between 11am and 3pm, probably.
We were swimming at around 11.15, while
checking out every new van that came into the caravan park, when we saw our
friends drive in!!! Everyone got out of the pool and went to welcome them.
Their site was very close to ours, only 2 cabins and a road in between us, and
on an angle so that we can see each other’s van/tent. I made them a cup of tea
and we helped them set up, while everyone tried to catch up on everyone’s news.
The kids (ours and theirs) were so excited to see each other and all the adults
felt relieved at having people to talk to that we really know.
The big kids went for a swim, and the 2
youngest girls played with their soft toys in our tent. The adults chatted for
a while longer, then we left them to get things organised, washing, getting
stuff out of cupboards etc (they’d had an ant infestation the night before).
After a while the younger girls wanted to swim too, so I helped them get ready
and took them to the pool, my friend joined me there. We sat and watched the
kids swim, chatting to each other and to the kids when they cam over. I had a
swim while she went and hung her washing, and played with some of the kids.
Then we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the sunlounges in the pool
area, watching the kids, talking lots, drinking tea (made by her husband). Once
all the kids were out of the pool (they’d been coming and going all afternoon)
we went back to her caravan and had another cuppa and some biccies and dip and
she showed me her diary book of their trip. The guys were at our tent having a
beer, and the kids were between sites and exploring on their bikes.
Tony cooked dinner while he was chatting,
and when it was ready we sent all the kids back to their own sites so that everyone
could eat. After dinner our friends bought their chairs over and we had another
cuppa and talked more about our trips, and about the books we’ve been listening
to and reading and would like to read. The kids played minecraft together on
their ipads, all very excited to have a large group to play with. We were
starting to wrap things up when stuff dropped out of the tree above us – we’ve
had little seeds dropping on the tent for days (Caitlin said the birds were
picking them and dropping them on her head earlier in the day), this time there
were seeds and also liquid. We shone the torch into the tree and found a bat
hanging there, very cute and a bit perplexed at having bright light shone at
him. We moved the chairs out of his way and then everyone went back to their
van. We saw them again as we all went back and forth to the toilet, then we
settled into our tent for another chapter of Inheritance.
No comments:
Post a Comment