A discombobulating start to the year

The start of the year is always a bit disruptive with various businesses taking different breaks.

That's all well and good - until it affects me!

First up was the cafe next door. I assumed it'd reopen in the first week or two of January. I'd arranged a couple of catch ups there with colleagues and when it didn't open, was forced to relocate. Frustratingly, there's no sign to say when they're reopening. I figured they were still in business as there was painting equipment on the floor and am contemplated sticking a sign, facing inwards, to ask what's going on and get them to call me.

Next is the car wash over the road. My car is filthy. I always pre-purchase my car washes there and probably have about nine left. The sign said they'd be reopening on the 12th so figured I could hang out until then. As the 12th approached, the sign now said:

(In fairness, they did spell 'until' correctly!)

I tried calling - I think they've taken the phone off the hook as it's continually engaged. The shade sails have been removed so I was hopeful they were just renovating. However, Geoff's heard a rumour around the 'hood that they've shut up shop. Damn!! What about my nine car washes??

As I type, Sass is cleaning my car - for cash!

More karma

Elle had been home from Sydney for less than 48 hours and I was already asking her, repeatedly, to tidy up after herself. In particular, her room, that in 30 seconds had gone from show-room perfect to looking like we'd been burgled and ransacked.

Naturally, she ignored me.

Actually, that's not true. She may have rolled her eyes and told me to stop nagging.

So, I was working in my study above the shed yesterday and heard someone yelling in a high-pitched voice 'Mum!! Mum!! Mum!!" I initially thought it was a toddler, then Elle, then maybe a toddler... then my phone rang. It was Elle, and through sobbing, I gathered she'd injured her foot.

I ran down to discover her face down, across the debris strewn on her bedroom floor, with this bit of a belt stabbed and stuck deep in her heel.

Ouch.

Take me to a hospital!! She screamed. Oh for goodness sake....
I'm just going to pull it out - are you ready?
NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I realised surprise was my best approach so without warning, wrenched it out.

I ran to the recently tidied medicine cabinet and got some gauze and a band-aid.

Is there lots of blood? Elle asked, still face down on the carpet.
Not really. It was pretty much a clean in and out, I calmly replied.

Furthermore, I managed NOT to mention that had she tidied her room like I'd been asking, perhaps this wouldn't have happened - at least I didn't say anything, or laugh, for at least a couple of hours 😂

Lady Elliot Island

Ever heard of it?

Neither had I, but on looking for a place to see the Great Barrier Reef, it seemed to be the place to go. Being so far south, the impact of Cyclone Debbie and bleaching has missed this spot. This is it - and yes, a large chunk is taken up by the airstrip.

We booked in for three nights in an eco-cabin before Christmas.

I'd heard it was renown for bird life so reminded myself 100 times not to forget my binoculars.  It turned out I didn't need them. December is breeding time for these guys and, they're literally everywhere. Some poor unsuspecting tourist had the bacon taken off his plate and breakfast! If you don't care for birds, this isn't the time of year to visit, but apparently, they all disappear in February.

Bird's eye view of the birds

No binoculars required!!!

The real attraction is the snorkelling. We saw a Spotted Eagle Ray (no Mantas, unfortunately), large reef sharks (about 2 metres), a mother of a stingray - perhaps nearly 2 metres across, nestling into the sand, a huge moray eel, a row reef squid that were eye-balling Elle and me in some kind of surreal Mexican stand-off, a massive grouper, trumpet fish, batfish that look like super-sized angel fish and hundreds of others. And each time, we saw turtles! Some as small as a dinner plate but most the size of an occasional table.

A whole row of these guys was just.. so...weird

Eagle Ray - they're big!

More of these than you could point a stick at

It was the egg-laying season for the turtles so a night walk along the beach was less about possibly seeing one and more like how many. They were very busy girls!

Gorgeous sunsets

To quote another guest;
"Turtle, crab, sunset - I don't know which way to look!!!"

Hermit crabs aplenty on the beach in the evening

I BYO-ed champagne. They were happy to provide glasses!

If you like a nap when you're on holiday, be warned, the eco-cabins (in fact, I suspect all the cabins) get very hot in the afternoons. There's no aircon, but they do have a ceiling fan - which changes it from being in an oven to being in a fan-forced over. Sass tried napping on the deck out the front, but baby birds kept jumping on her!!

Anyway, if you like a bit of what nature has to offer, I'd recommend it.