Well...shit (KI day 5)

Kangaroo Island is bloody beautiful. The beaches are like a dream. And then there's Flinders Chase National Park which is home to Admiral's Arch and Remarkable Rocks, which are, to say the least, remarkable. They are these huge sculptural geological beauties which really make you marvel at nature. And life. And everything. 

Admiral's Arch is also incredible.  Although visiting on a day so windy you could basically lie on the wind at a 45 degree angle made the walk somewhat unpleasant, seeing the coast in those conditions was pretty spectacular. The wild wind and sea, a bunch of seals just chillaxing amidst it all.

And the fish and chips down here, though terribly expensive, are among the best I've ever had.  Oh sure, when you try to make a phone order the phone just goes to the owners mobile who isn't at the shop and just tells you to walk down there and order. And she's right, it is quick. And it's effing worth it. 

When we arrived on Sunday after the 9-hour drive, the brown hotel room, the $200, 45-minute ferry ride LB and I were saying, "Well this is nice, I can't imagine we'll ever be back here." By Wednesday it was "Next time we come let's camp for two nights here, book a house there..." 

So I get it. Kangaroo Island? Oh its beautiful. 

Sunshine and isolation (KI day 3)

Well on Monday the sun came out and the skies were blue and I can assure you this really helped show Kangaroo Island to its full advantage. We saw some beautiful beaches. I mean the coast is really beautiful. Check it out:

But if I'm honest on Monday I didn't think it was any more beautiful than the beaches of northern NSW. But on Tuesday we travelled further afoot, down the beaches of the south coast. And shit you guys, these beaches are something else. Fine white sand. The sea a colour that looks photoshopped. Blue-green and crystal clear. They're bloody beautiful.  And on top of this there's the lack of people. You don't see empty beaches like this everyday and that is pretty goddamn special. And the kind of beauty I couldn't really capture on my iPhone.

And on top of this there's the Ligurian bees. As K mentioned KI has a population of them but not just that, it's a pure population with no other honey bees on the island and you're not even allowed to bring honey here lest you pollute the population. We went to a honey farm where we tasted some fine honey and even finer honey ice cream. It was fan-bloody-tastic. It had this beautiful creamy flavour and texture and it wasn't too sweet. It was so delicious I wanted to go back for more yesterday.

But everything is quite far here and you can't just go out of your way for honey ice cream every day. According to the designated driver. So I just had a mini Magnum for desert. It was as good as the Clifford's Honey Farm honey ice cream. I'll be thinking about that for a long time. 

Pretty pretty (KI day 1)

Everyone I told that I was going to Kangaroo Island would either say "Oh, it's beautiful!" Or "It's meant to be beautiful!"

On Saturday we left Melbourne. Me with a motherfucker of a headache, LB with a cold and the mood of a person that's been running around since 7am plus some the night before and Baby, Newbie and Whoopsie with the respective constitutions and temperaments of 6-year-, 3-year- and 4-month-olds, none of which were made for day-long drives.

So we drove for 9 hours with many tears and not as many laughs and stayed the night in a very small, brown motel room in Victor Harbour which the children thought was fantastic and I kind of loved because it was stationary and had comfortable beds and gave me that sense of being anywhere and nowhere which is one of the joys of a shitty motel.

Yesterday we caught a ferry over to Kangaroo Island under grey skies and periodic rain and somewhat underdressed and to be honest Penneshaw, where we docked just seemed like any small Australian town. We've driven around a little and it seems nice. Cute old stone buildings all over the place, some nice vistas and beaches. It's totally pretty. I've seen heaps of pretty places before though.  But behind where I write this is a whole island yet to been seen, so I guess today will prove just how deserved this reputation is. 

Sunshine revisited

You didn't have to be in NSW last week to enjoy some sunshine. Although today's forecast of 38 is beyond what I like in a summer day, last Thursday's 32 was just about perfect. I'm not saying I like day after day of 32s but a few now and again suits me just fine.

Last Thursday evening on that hot day I took the kids to the pool. As we were walking out the front door my next door neighbour was walking out her from door with her 2.5-year-old on their way to the pool too, she met her partner there and half an hour later LB showed up with another neighbour's 3-year-old son and as the sun lowered in the sky hitting everything with that yellow summer's evening light I felt like I was in a god damn Tim Winton novel. In the best possible way. I mean, is this Australia or what!? The neighbours all at the pool, sharing responsibility of watching the children as they frolic in the water cooling themselves in the golden light of summer. It was so idyllic, I could barely believe it. My neighbours later had Jimmy Grants delivered by Uber Eats to the pool, and although I can't imagine that happening in a Tim Winton novel it really did add to the feeling that life can be pretty sweet.

I know I complained a lot last week, about my pregnancy weight and politics but the truth is I'm mainly a glass-half-full kinda gal. I may whinge about a lot of things. I may draw conclusions about people I don't know, I may complain about people I do know. I may lament not having a good wardrobe or money or a satisfying job. And I'm sorry, because all in all life is pretty good most of the time. I know that the light of the lowering sun is pretty special and can not be replicated any old time and I know that not everyone gets to live in an awesome street with neighbours who become friends and have similarly aged children, but hell guys, a sweet evening at Fitzroy pool really makes you see the good in life. As long as these 38 degree days don't keep up I've got some pretty good feelings about this summer.

I've even planned my summer look, despite Pickle being too distracted to even ask about where my summer look is headed. But more about that some other time.

The grey lining

I was watching this show the other night that kept showing footage of Trump  "mocking disabled reporter". Now that was some totally fucked up shit. One of the many, many, many things you just can not believe happened. But the thing that made me feel good when I watched it was that I would bet my life that if that had happened in Australia, if some political candidate did such a thing here they would have been gone petty much instantly. Their party backing gone, instant dismissal. Gone. I mean there may be a strong undercurrent of misogyny in this country and some fairly overt racism but at least there is a sense that you've got to at least treat individuals with respect and generally not make fun of people. Unless you're a cartoonist. Then you can make fun of anyone. And get paid. But you definitely can't do that if you're a politician. If you're going to say fucked up shit about people as a politician you have to couch it in moderate language. Or at least not act like an 8-year-old kid teasing someone. Sure politicians here can create policies that are racist and mean (no entry ever to people settled elsewhere if they've attempted to arrive here by boat anyone?) but at least you can't mock the disabled. I'm pretty sure. Yay Australia. I guess.  

Haiku Thursday revisted (AM)

Some feelings can only be expressed through haiku.

Ah, nuts 

Hey, Kevin, go back 

To oh seven, when you were

Good for something. Dick.

Friday Favourites: Ugg Boots (PM)

Oh man! Ugg boots! I effing love my ugg boots so much! K actually gave me my first pair for a birthday many years ago. Eleven years ago in fact. I'm pretty sure it was because I was always going on about how jealous I was of hers. Those ugg boots are long gone, probably because they were made in China (assumption not fact). But that was me gone. A life without ugg is a life half lived.

After the death of that first pair I moved on to the real home-grown variety. At the moment I have a black pair. I bought them because once at an old job someone wore a pair of tall black uggs to work and they didn't look like uggs, they just looked like cosy black boots. I always imagined doing something like that, but I'm not crazy. Having black uggs does mean I can unashamedly go to the supermarket in them though, so that's something.

Me* in my ugg boots

Oh, how I love ugg. A Friday Favourite, an everyday favourite, UGG!

*As played by Kirsten Dunst.

In praise of holidays (PM)

Yeah, holidays rule.

I think this boat we saw near Hobart on our last holiday said it best.

But home is lovely too.
Sometimes it looks like this:

And that's pretty nice.
And Pickle is on board for a picnic of sorts after work tomorrow night, so that will be nice?

In praise of holidays (AM)

How good are holidays?! Mine is basically over now. By the time you read this I will be sitting in a car for a day-long drive. But last night, my holiday's last night, I was just reflecting on how good holidays are. Sure this may be a stupid, self-evident statement, but, sheesh, I've been on holidays, my brain is in a weird place right now. 

Last night, after a day at the zoo and a good run along Sydney Harbour and a refreshing shower I just felt pretty damn good and reflected on this as we went out for dinner.  Holidays aren't all beer and skittles of course. On this one Baby has been sick, we didn't get to go to Wet 'n' Wild, and we had to eat two meals at a small-town bowling club within 48 hours. One of which took about 2 hours  between ordering and serving and both of which pretty much tasted of wilted mushy nothing. And I lost a shoe. A favourite shoe. But! We saw two adorable cuteheads get married, spent lots of time with beloved people, got sun, surf and sand, went to a zoo where you can look at bongos and with the turn of a head see the Sydney Harbour Opera Bridge, and ate a frozen banana. Imagine if those things happened at home. It would probably feel like a normal week with a couple of highlights, but on holiday it feels like a really great holiday! Like all the annoying things didn't exist and a great holiday has just been had. 

I don't know you guys, I just feel like this holiday thing maybe something special. 

One track mind (AM)

There was a time in my life (a time when I worked a 40-hour week in a boring job) when I thought about little else than what I was going to have for dinner that night. By 11am I would have already decided on lunch and was contemplating, probably settling on dinner. I guess you could say that I still think about food a lot, and eat a lot, and cook a lot. But I guess things have changed.

You see readers, in our late-hiatus Miss Soft Crab meeting, a really productive meeting held over butter slathered roti and Asahi, K and I decided that we would dedicate a day to food every week here. We'd talk about stuff we'd cooked, stuff we'd eaten, stuff we'd thought about cooking or eating. You know food. But shit you guys, I've been busy. I know it was only two days ago that I told you all what a relaxing break I've had. But things have changed guys, I went back to work, then I had to plan a holiday that includes going to a wedding. These are difficult and time consuming things. And right now, right now while you are reading this, well I'm in Queensland. I'm on that holiday! And there is only one thing I can think about eating.

I had actually forgotten about this until LB mentioned it the other day, but in Queensland and northern NSW you can go to fruit farms or road stops and buy chocolate-covered frozen bananas. And since LB mentioned this I have thought of little else.

We only got here last night, and so I haven't eaten one yet, but as soon as we get in the car to head south I'm stopping at the first chocolate banana stand I see.

Maybe we'll hit Wet 'N' Wild first, or a beach, see some beautiful countryside. I don't know yet. But what I do know is that I better have a banana in my hand come the end of the day.

Are they even that good? I don't know. Maybe I just like them because they speak of the tropical north and early holidays LB and I took. I don't know, I don't care, I just want me a banana!

Haiku Thursday (AM)

Bruny Island

You are so beauty

full to me can't you see-ee

ee-ee-ee-ee-ee

May

Hectic May, you just 

Won't quit. Hope your buddy June

Won't follow your lead

Eeek

Difficult times lead

To miscommunication.
How embarrassing.