Stan's 40th Birthday!Aug 13, 2010
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Josh 'fishing'
Joel fishing
Before the ride
| Today was Stan's day. We started with him reading some gorgeous cards the kids had made with references to our Kimberley travels - and in Josh's case also some harsh jokes about how old Stan is now. He also got to wear a badge declaring "It's my birthday" which helped garner him some extra Auguris during the day. Then I cooked up some bacon and eggs - yes, I COOKED BACON! Then we went off for a fish at the jetty. The fishing expedition looked more promising this time and we certainly saw a few good-uns swim by, but swim by they did... Then we came back to the van and the kids had a little play with some park friends while we had a read and rest, I washed some clothes, and made lunch. The kids were with Stan having a swim when I was going to go off for a refreshing shower before evening - but decided instead to join them - clothes and all - in the pool, which was a much more fun idea. The camels were awaiting, and we had a 1/2 hour ride just before sunset. Joel and Stan rode on the first camel who was called Horris. He was the alpha male and demanded to be at the front, confronting any camel who tried to usurp his place - and that was across all three tour companies. Josh and I rode behind on his Daddy - Thomas, who was a star, being the lead camel in a scene in the movie Australia, and having travelled twice across every desert in Australia. At 40 (same as Stan) he is the oldest camel working the walks in Broome at the moment. In the wild camels usually live to about 25years, but in captivity to 40 or 50, so he is near retirement, but doing very well for his age. We had a lovely ride which included a bit of unexpected extra education for the boys when we encountered the nudist beach. Nothing intimidating here for Stan or myself - so good. We watched the sunset again from the grassy knoll - but this time accompanied by cheese, bikkies, dip and bad wine. Then we went to Matsos for dinner. Stan tried a Mango beer which was surprisingly Mangoish, though Joel thought it was just beerish. I had a curry mix, Stan had chicken tangine, Joel had grilled fish and chips, and Josh had CAMEL sausages which he liked. After a McDonalds icecream we went home to a birthday song with matches on a quickly decorated rocky road slice. MUSINGS: Holidays/Travel always feel more like real life to me than 'real life'. I think it's that whole 'mindfulness' thing. There's a lot more downtime. I tried to have a regular regime of meditating every day whilst away and the plan sort of fell away, but really there are so many situations when you travel that absolutely DEMAND mindfulness. And whilst it is true that a contemplation as you walk amazed through the Bungles does dissipate quite quickly and considerably when you lose a kid at Cathedral Gorge, it returns again when you watch the sunset at Cable Beach, or sit unsuccessfully fishing, with blue blue water, white dunes and red cliffs as your view. And it's not that you CAN'T watch a sunset or fish or bushwalk in 'normal life', it's just that you don't so much. |
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