Annex of Gold: Truth in the Sea

Well I sit here in the Gold Coast terminal on Lynelle’s laptop, trying to type and listen to music at the same time so that I can get a post typed out before I actually leave the sunshine state. I think I’ve really managed to enjoy myself for the first time in a long time. This holiday was one that I needed to go on, and one that I think I’ve really enjoyed I think. The first few days were a little laborious, having to basically babysit two elderly women as we wandered around the Goldcoast, but I believe that I managed to savage a portion of my independence on the last couple of days that I was here and got some really quality time alone with myself.

The day that we got here it was raining, and I found myself thinking that this was pretty much typical of my luck. I figured that I got myself up here to the Gold Coast only to see the rain that we were so desperate for up home. The resort actually looked a lot different to what I expected it to, and was really nice, which figured, because I figured that with it raining the entire time I was going to miss out on it. I saw that the surf was less than a minutes walk from my room and I think that only sort of bought the depressing reality home. I was crammed into a fairly small room with two middle aged women, one who was probably slightly under my intelligence and the other was nearing dotage and this was not going to turn out well.

We arrived late on the Monday and as night fell we were caught in a massive tropical rainstorm, one which washed through the entire Gold Coast. During that storm, I felt a lot of the negativity of the trip leave me, being washed away with more rain than I’d seen in a long time. I think that was when I realized that this trip had a spin on it that I was as yet unaware of.

The next day we caught up with one of my grandmothers friends friends, another elderly woman who when I first saw her just looked like an ultra-modern version of my grandmother. I wrote her off almost immediately because we had been window shopping for an eternity in the largest shopping complex in the southern hemisphere. I wasn’t in the mood for another old woman. The day continued with little interest, looking in a variety of shops that were far too expensive to even consider. I believe by the end of the day I was about ready to pawn my legs to the Russians for a few dollars.

On the trip home, the new lady surprised me by commenting out of the blue that Mercury was in retrograde this week and she had managed to stuff up some tickets because her organizational skills were out as a result. She then proceeded to give my grandmother a run down on the elemental houses of astrology, something that rattled me a bit. This was yet another sign that my holiday had a purpose, but another one that I completely ignored.

Wednesday saw a trip to one of the theme parks of the Gold Coast, Sea World. Theme parks are a lot of fun when your not babysitting older people and that became an issue as all they wanted to do was look at the shops and the occasional show. I don’t think I did much more during that day other than follow around two old ladies who really couldn’t have been bothered doing too much of anything.

Thursday bought financial independence, and what a difference that made. I was pleased with the fact that I had some money to my name, but this was marred by the fact that we were taken to Movie World by the new lady again. She gave me a really interesting lecture on the state of the Solar System at the moment and seemed really surprised when I expressed interest and knowledge in what she was talking about. I found out at that stage that she was a lecturer on Astrology at Griffith University here on Main Beach, and was extremely knowledgeable on these things.

Movie World sucked so hard, everything was closed, but I had a decent time. The one ride that was open was extremely deceptive, and was an indoor rollercoaster which took you through dark passages with rave lights, it was really quite impressive. My grandmother nearly got attacked by this Lebanese dude who wanted to pick a fight and the new lady mouthed off at him for being rude. I got there just before there was a major altercation and luckily for me he was kind weedy and backed off. It wouldn’t have mattered I swear, if he had lifted a hand like it looked like he was going to, I’d probably be in jail right now.

Thursday night marked the beginning of my holiday. We went over to Joanne’s parents place for afternoon tea and I was pleased to find that Jo’s dad was probably the most intelligent man that I had encountered in a long time. We talked for about an hour while the ladies did their thing and covered all the topics under the sun. Apparently he hadn’t had so good a talk for a long time and was pleased that I could keep up with him, which made me laugh a little. It was good.

Thursday night, when we got back to the resort, I had this insatiable urge to go to the beach. The sun hadn’t quite gone down and although my grandmother said that she wanted to go with, she chose not to. I spent almost an hour down by the beach, just hanging with myself and taking some really lovely photos. I also managed to get some Krispy Kreme donuts to eat and made a really lovely call to Jassi, which was oh so much fun. Unfortunately for him, the couple of donuts that I saved were found later by a hungry bunch of older people.

The next day was really good, Friday, my last day on the coast. We had a lovely breakfast at the resort and then went into town. I had a number of plans for the town trip but Nan quashed them all and made me stay with them so that they wouldn’t get lost. Luckily for me, she let me stay in town, when, after an hour, they both decided that there was little there for them to do. I got to do a bit of my own brand of window shopping, and went to a museum and the beach. It was really nice. Independence is a wonderful thing.

As soon as I got home I managed to convince them that I needed to get to the beach and even though it was really stormy, off to the beach I went. It was amazing. I spent almost three hours up in the foot hills between the beach and the resort on a profoundly internal journey that was instigated by a single black crow, which kept leading me down twisting paths in the sand dropping feathers that were far too old to be it’s own. A moving ceremony on the beach after this ordeal made the entire trip worthwhile and I waved a lot of things goodbye. I returned to the room tired and fulfilled.

Unfortunately, I made a blunder, we were going out to dinner Friday night with my grandmothers friends family. The blunder stemmed from the fact that out on that quest on the beach, I had completely written off my shoes. I had only bought a pair down and my grandmother was having a fit because it was nearly evening and we weren’t near any shops. A little bit of quick thinking saw me buy a pair of promotional flip-flops from the shop upstairs and I added these cumbersome footwear to my arsenal.

Meeting Dixie’s family was a real treat. Her son, Rowan, was a nice enough guy, but his wife Tracy and I hit it off immediately. We talked more or less non-stop through dinner and right up to the time they dropped us off at the airport. In any case, we’ve been called for boarding, so I have to go for now. I’ll see ya’ll in New South Wales.

Ok, so I’m flying out over the country of New South Wales as I write this next part and I have to say that just having the opportunity to do this is pretty special. To be able to look up from the screen and realize that I’m actually thousands of kilometers in the air is amazing.

Today has been pretty heavy. I woke up early, something like 7am or something and immediately went straight for the each so that I could see it all before I left. My grandmother and I both trekked out there by about 7:30am, before my morning shower or anything of the sort. I was bleary eyed and quiet, and we intercepted a staff member from the resort just as we were getting to the beach who informed us that the entire beach was totally infested with poisonous blue-bottled jellyfish. I was wearing said flip-flops from the night before and I just looked at her and went “great”. Unfortunately, the staff member was not lying and the corpses of the spastic little creatures that live their entire life to kill other species on this planet just littered the beach. I mean, humans really already have the monopoly on that job, so give up. I mean god.

In any case folks, that’s been my holiday in a nutshell. I’m coming back to a very different home than I left and I’m now moving forward with an intensely positive attitude. Now, before you go getting a big head Jassi, this is not the epiphany that you were talking about when I called you on the beach with donut in hand, this is something that was gifted to me by another source, one very special.

Such is the way of things. Bring on 2007 I say, there is a lot to be done at the moment, and I’m really ready for it. I learned a lot last year, and it’s time to apply it all to the year ahead of me. I’ve got to learn from the years behind me, or all this extra time is for naught.

Take care all, we’ll see you all soon.

My god the view is truly amazing up here.

"There is no drop of water in the ocean, not even in the deepest parts of the abyss, that does not
know and respond to the mysterious forces that create the tide."
-Rachel Carson

FallenPhoenix