flying goannas

I think I should have titled my blog “First day: mostly driving”.

DSCN2866

And, indeed, on this 4 day break, my first day was mostly driving. 6 hours from home to Lake Monduran where I had a cabin booked. A cabin that, according to the brochures, sleeps 5. But let me tell you that if there were more than 2 adults in there it would be very, very cosy indeed.

When I originally took a couple of extra days off work I didn’t have any particular plans. And, yes, I could have vegetated at home and been quite happy. But with 5 days off I just felt like going somewhere.

I priced flights to Tokyo, which were very reasonable but the return flight times didn’t work well for me.

I priced a trip to Uluru, which was not very reasonable. I can fly to Europe for less than the price of the flights to Uluru. And people wonder why we don’t travel in Australia.

***

Last year we were supposed to spend a few days catching up with a childhood friend and her husband. We’d had a cabin booked at Lake Monduran but we had to cancel. The cost was non-refundable but we did have a credit. I’d been trying to work out how to use it and decided that this was the time. 4 nights alone in a lakeview cabin sounded just lovely to me.

And it was.

DSCN2877

After the first day of mostly driving I arrived in the early afternoon and settled in. That’s it. I didn’t go for a walk or do much of anything except start a new book. My first ever Maeve Binchy novel – Whitethorn Woods. I quite enjoyed it as light reading though I felt some of the loose ends could have been tied up a little better.

And then there was the sunset over the water.

DSCN2896

It wouldn’t be quite true to say that I didn’t leave the cabin on the 2nd day. But almost. I went as far as the car. But mostly I spent it on the little porch soaking up the winter sun and reading. And maybe having a little wine.

And then there was another sunset.

DSCN2937

Day 3 was a whirl of frantic activity compared to yesterday. On the map they gave me when I checked in there is a walking track leading from the lookout to a lava flow. This sounded like it might be interesting so I walked up to the lookout via the road and admired the view. I then spent an unnatural amount of time looking for the walking track but gave up and headed back down the road. Then I saw some rough steps going off into the trees and decided that must be it. And I suppose it was but it had been a long time since anyone had walked it.

After battling orb weaver webs and cobbler’s pegs for more time that was really sensible I gave up and headed back. If I’d been dressed for a scrub-bashing hike and had been wearing some decent boots I might have pressed on but not today. I’d only wanted to go for a walk.

Cobbler’s pegs, in case you don’t know, are irritatingly clingy. Almost as clingy as cobwebs.

And orb weavers, though harmless, do tend to spin large webs across places you want to walk. Webs that will definitely make you do the spider dance if you walk through them.

On the way back, a pretty-faced wallaby sat and watched as I walked past. I took out my camera to get an up close and personal shot, only to discover that I’d left the SD card in the computer. I didn’t know until then that wallabies can laugh. But I’m pretty sure this one did. It didn’t even bother to hop away as I walked past.

But I think it did feel sorry for me because it brought its whole family down in front of the cabin late in the afternoon and I managed a few shots.

DSCN2941 DSCN2971

Oh, and look, another sunset.

DSCN2978

Day 4: After yesterday’s frantic exertions I thought I’d better rest up and read another book. I got up early to take a photo of the sunrise (just for something different) only to discover the camera battery was dead. I could only laugh. Never mind, there’s always tomorrow.

So I had breakfast and started on “The Little Breton Bistro”. It’s pretty depressing at the beginning but gets better as it moves to Brittany and a few places near where we’ve stayed.

I was determined to leave the cabin again today. So I went out to the car again. And I took some photos of the window awnings which I think would work very well on some of our windows. But I didn’t want to overdo it so it was back to the porch to look at the lake through the trees and listen to the barramundi splashing in the lake and to the birds.

It was a bit cooler today – only 23° at 11am with an expected top of 24° and a slight breeze off the water, so I didn’t discard my dressing gown until 10am and sat in the sun in my nightie and Ugg boots until the breeze got too cool and I put my dressing gown back on again.

A couple of visitors came to say hello.

DSCN2881 DSCN2911