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November 23rd - Waking up in a tent.
Ouch!! The day almost began even earlier than planned for Tom, when he awoke in such pain he felt sure he had slept through the night; convinced the street light shining on the tent was the sun, however when he checked the time it was only just passed midnight - the thought of having to lay back down was not a nice one! A few hours of broken sleep later, the alarm went off and it was 5am!! Poking our heads outside, we saw darkness was still upon us so snoozed for a little while longer. At 5:30am we headed in search of the sun and found it - just! It was quite cloudy so the sun could only just break through but it was lush to watch all the same (and we do have photographic evidence for any disbelievers)! Back to the camp site for a shower...have we mentioned the toilets yet?!? On the upside they had made an effort to kill all the mosquitos but on the downside, once dead they were not removed, thus the white tiles were almost black!!! We decided to pack the tent away before showering so that we didn't get all dirty again. If you are thinking we were doing all this rather early, we actually weren't because our luggage had to be ready for collection at 8am and reading the advise slip we were given on arrival, it said check-out time was 8am in order for the accommodation to be cleaned ready for the nest arrivals - we found this quite funny as we had brought our own accommodation, perhaps they needed time to rake the floor or something!!! Even more suprising than the speed at which we put the tent up was the ease at which we packed everything away, back into the small back from whence it came, first time! A big thank you to Janet, Ken and their boys (Toms' cousins) for lending us all that we needed in order to camp and more! P.S - Sam's lost a pair of pants, so if they turn in the bottom of one of the sleeping bags, please forward on to the following address 'Tom and Sams Campervan, East Australia', thanks! :)
After showering, the girls next to us informed us that whilst we were away Mustafa had showed his true colours - the cookie stealing b******! Luckily they shooed him away and closed our bag before he could take anymore, many thanks ladies! Now we were ready for the day and headed straight for the bike hire shop...with a quick brekkie detour on the way. It was all a bit pricey so we opted for good ole toast and jam but I was devistated when I saw a waitress walk past with a couple of Full Englishes...Sam had already seen and was holding her breath, hoping I wouldnt see cos she thought I'd get sad...I cried on the inside if I'm honest!
There was a small queue to get a bike but it wasnt long before we were being sized up and trying on helmets....sam obviously went for the pin-head pile and I tried desperately to squeeze a medium on but gave up and admitted meacon with a large...its my hair!!! Just as we were about to pay Sam realised she had a man's bike and wasnt happy, back she went and returned a few minutes later with a luverly ladies version...complete with a basket I might add! Outside I did a quick foot operation (ripped off me biggest blister and covered the gaping wound with a plaster) then we were off...I wheeled my bike past the line of small childen to avoid both injury (to them) and embarrasement (to me) before I mounted.
The first thing sam said once we were off down the road was "I've got a wobbley one!!" to which I was sure we would be heading back for another change of machine but she persevered, or couldnt stop to turn round, either way we kept going. This was sooooooo much better, we soon flew past the point we made it to the day before and moments later were stopping at Parker Point Sanctuary for a snorkel! It was a blissful little bay with a wooden stair case leading down from the road to the beach, looked like something from the movies. Once again we got a bit of a shock when our toes met the water, bloody freezing, but as we aclimatised it became bareable. It was quite funny that in the time it took us to get in as far as our knees the aussie lads down the beach arrived, jumped in, snorkelled the whole bay, got out and started sun bathing. Think they had fun watching us to be honest! Eventually we got the snorkels on (sams whole face pretty much fitted in the goggles leaving the mouth piece with half a lip and some teeth to cling onto) and had a little swim. Ten minutes and a couple of big fish later we were warming up on the sand again, think we took too long to get in maybe!
Time to remount our trusty steeds, unfortunately my plaster hadnt survived the chaifing of the first ride so the plan was to go bare footed...after a quick test we thought one flip flop on the slightly less battered foot would be better and we set off.
What happened next was both tragic and, for Sam at least, HILARIOUS...Tom fell off...and it wasnt even while we were moving, i imagine to anyone who knows me quite well this wont be a huge shock. Sam shouted for us to stop as we came to a good picture spot...i pulled up next to her and put my bare foot down on something sharp, flinching the otherway...unfortunately my other foot was happily sat on the peddle, oblivious to the situation...thus, ergo, hence, therefore...i came a mighty cropper! I nearly managed to take Sam out too, she's just too damn agile though and dodged me, allowing me to bounce off her bike before i hit the dirt! She felt soooooooo sorry for me that she offered a big hug to make me feel better but it wasnt long before her shoulders were shaking violently as she burst into a fit of laughter...thanks hun!! She found it especially funny as i had even explained beforehand that it was more than likely that i would fall off or go over a cliff or something!
The biggest consequence of the small accident was a new array of open wounds on my leg to attract the flies, they love a bit of flesh! Picture taken (it better be a good one!) and accident aside we set off again, stopping every now and then for pictures of the amazing views. The next big stop was Wadjemup Lighthouse, by which point Sam was severly hacked off with the "Fooking flies" (her exact words i think). The mighty steep hill leading to the lighthouse probably didnt help much either but the view was beautiful. After a breather we recreamed, drank some now warm water, had a chat with a Canadian Lady and nearly drowned ourselves in insect repellant! The repellant worked, but not for long as the flies returned with avengence. Sam couldnt understand why the flies were still coming as she smelt soooo strong by now that she was repelling herself! From the Lighthouse we could have taken the short route back to the main settlement by going inland but we thought it would be a waste not to take in as much of the lush coast as possible so continued onward. Our trip turned out to be a mamoth FIVE HOURS altogether and the ride wasnt an easy one as the Island is nice and hilly (they dont tell you that at the hire place)!
We ended our bike ride at The Basin Bay where we ventured into the sea to cool our tired feet, we hoped to do some more snorkeling but it had become a bit too choppy. About an hour later it was time to return the bikes and get some food, we didnt realise quite how sore our bottoms were until getting on this one last time! Returning the bikes was quick and easy however the fish and chip dinner that had been driving us round was not to be, the cafe had shut and everywhere else wasnt serving until later. We settled for a box of chips followed by a big ice cream each. To kill time before we caught our ferry back to the main land we got comfy on a bench overlooking the jetty and sang along to some classic Phil Collins...just another day for you and me in paradise. ;)
We arrived back at Hilary's Marina as the sun was on its way down and jumped on a bus, followed by a train and a short walk before home. This part of the day should have been uneventful but we happened to not only see a little dog get hit by a car but also worry our hosts half to death as we said we would get a taxi (but that was too expensive) so took alot longer than expected! Quite a day!
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