Another early start for me as I wanted to walk to the secret beach – 35 minutes from the Peacock Villa and a fairly steep uphill climb towards the end. It was pleasant enough – only two other peeps in evidence and I lingered a while in the rock pool with waves washing in fresh water to keep the yellow and black small fish interested. Dogs watched.
On the way back up I cut back up through the shortcut staircase and emerged alongside the buddhist shrine which was blaring music to compete with the bread bearing, abba playing, tuk tuk.
Views opened over the Marissa marina on the way back and then I was wending my way back down into town again, wearing my mask to comply with the locals including the school children but wishing I didn’t need to. And also making sure I didn’t become a victim of bat droppings…
I scooted through to the end of the beach and took my deck shoes off which were still giving me blisters despite the precautionary plasters.
No ATM I came to was working and I started to feel a little apprehensive as our cash reserves had dwindled. Heather was up and yoga-ed by the time I got back and at around 8.30am we went down for breakfast. This time the fruit selection included a prickly custard apple – to my taste but not to Heather’s. We also had omelettes today.
We set off afterwards in search of an active ATM and found one that was working on our third time lucky – then sensibly deciding to take out double amounts here just in case. After a quick shop in the supermarket for tonic and cashews, we wended our way down to the western end of the beach, where we found newly opened Oh La La offering an excellent iced coffee latte and then a surf cafe offering free loungers where we settled in for a long shift.
The surf was more sophisticated down this end of the beach and the prices slightly higher – there was a slight smell of onions and garlic in the air as the french have taken possession of this family friendly area.
Another tough few hours passed with the obligatory gin and tonic which was more like a gin, bitter lemon and lime at lunchtime and I had devilled prawns again – just six this time, but tasty under the trees set back from the waters edge.
We watched the surfers – the father teaching his two year old, the local dog came and burrowed under Heather’s lounger and before we knew it, the rain clouds had gathered and we saw that a storm was brewing in the distance. I swam in the light rain and monkey’s wedding – there is nothing like it, although the lightening and thunder overhead was a little off-putting.
We escaped at around 3pm, taking a tuk tuk back to the villa via the wine shop.
A few hours passed and the storm intensified until it became epic. Gathering our rain gear we ordered a tuk tuk and set off for the local wood fired pizza establishment called Deluna – number 2 out of many local restaurants on Tripadvisor. There we enjoyed a very fine pizza and bottle of wine, sheltering from the thundery storm that seemed to be just overhead. Not negotiating too hard for the return journey, we got back dry and settled in for the evening, with the photography two group meeting only a few hours hence.
We have booked some whale watching so I won’t want to be too late this evening – up at 5am tomorrow for a 5.45 pick up!
Despite the power cuts and intense storm the zoom photography meeting went ok – just. My connection wasn’t brilliant and indeed cut out completely at one point. I brought the meeting to an early close. The rain carried on falling heavily most of the night but didn’t keep either of us awake.
The Lawsons on the Loose 