Yip Yip Yip Yip. I can’t believe we’re actually here, finally. The flight was delayed due to insurmountable technical difficulties (no sound on the video which doesn’t bother me since I’ve not seen any TV in 14 weeks and am not missing it a bit, but Ruby’s gagging to watch the Simpsons movie). Arrival at the airport was the usual palaver, declaring anything made of wood, any food….we declare the biscuits and the wooden motorbike we’ve bought as a Christmas present, both of which are subjected to careful scrutiny, and then the bags are scanned. We’re interrogated as to what else is in the bags as they haul off the book bag and Will and I look at each other blankly. Did we read the declaration? Yes. Did we understand it? Yes. Do we know what’s in the bag? Ummmm, some books. Homework. Pens. Nope. Three bamboo recorders, some Kampot pepper and a wooden frog. Busted. Shit, we’d completely forgotten about those and now we’re going to get a mark against our names so that any time we come into Australia, we’ll be subject to extra close scrutiny and fined if we fail to declare anything. Closer scrutiny? It’s already so close, I’m figuring next time I’ll be strip searched. Must make sure I’m wearing my Agent Provocateur. Ruby’s saying “mum, what about that puppet of mine that’s in your backpack, that’s made of wood” and I’m kicking her in the shins to shut her up.
We didn’t arrive until 2am at West Beach Lagoon, our apartment on Scarborough Beach (known as Scabs to the locals) so wake up unusually late and hungry the next morning. A walk along the beach front for brunch where we discover fish and chips costs £11. About turn and into Coles the supermarket where we find that blueberries are £3.50 and limes are 75 pence each. Enough shopping for the next 2 days meals, without any alcohol, sets us back £80. Lucky we hit duty-free in Hong Kong.
Scabs beach is gorgeous. A long sandy stretch of clean sand, turquoise sea full of surfers and kite-surfers…and a wind that whips up the sand and blows it really hard onto the back of your legs. Three months travelling through South East Asia with hardly a tear, and here we are, just stepping onto our first Aussie beach and both the kids are screaming and crying because the sand is stinging their legs. I can’t help but laugh and this only makes matters worse. So I laugh again. We’re off the beach quicker than you can say G’day Mate and back to the safety of our apartment pool and two plates each of long-awaited pasta, pesto and tuna for the kids dinner.
We originally planned to hire a camper-van and drive off down to the Margaret River (wine country) but, since we’re heading into high-season here, we can’t get one unless we take it for 10 days, so instead we’re picking up a car tomorrow and we’ll hopefully find hotels along the way. I’m excited about getting a car and taking each day as it comes rather than having to book hotels on the internet in advance. Everything feels so easy here compared to the last 3 months; being able to buy food in the supermarket, cooking the food you want to eat, having an English speaking person on the other end of the phone when trying to book anything, even doing your own cooking (tonight, it was prawns cooked on the barbie at the side of our pool…) and doing my own washing in the laundry room. Not sure how long that particular novelty will last.
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