It’s been raining in Melbourne tonight

Cyclone Yasi coming to visit us….come again another day?  Or not…

(see the waves breaking around the playground!)

Yuckiness

I’ve been sick for the last few days, sitting on the couch staring blankly at the TV.  I think I am on the way to well now, thank ****.

Here’s a few shots I took of the clouds after the tropical rains we had tonight, for all of about 15 minutes.  The first one almost looked like a nuclear explosion.

The Prom

My Beau wants me to make this site more carnivorous.  I’m not sure.  While I ponder the possibilities here are a few shots of our time at the Prom.  This time with a little rain but without the adventure we are used to.  It was lovely.  My little automatic serves me well

Our days were spent warm but sometimes wet, making our way around the coast by foot.  The tea trees tinkled in the wind and all else that we could hear was the low growl of the waves and the tweetering of the birds.  It was refreshing to be so removed from everyday life.  Back to a simpler way.  Also, we got to retreat to the van to dry off.  A mobile lounge room.  Most nights were spent drinking vodka and playing cards with the music low in the background.  I’m feeling relaxed and grounded.

on the blacks

this afternoon a friend and I braved the cold to do laps of a bitumon at a motorbike licence training facility to get our full motorbike/scooter licences.  I get extremely nervous on physical tests.  Written tests are no problem because I usually do well, but the physical tests, like car driving and bike riding, I freak and loose all memory and ability.  I hoped this  time would be different.  We spent two afternoons of practicing the skills and I became so good at it that the instructor used me as an example for another scooter rider on how to corner.  The glory did not last long.  By the time the test came around it was pouring and we were riding through a lake of water that sprayed as we went.  I felt a little afraid of braking and corning but told myself that if I could do this test in the wet, I would be ok on the road in bad conditions. 

So the time came to do the test.  The instructor, who was the same guy that trained me for my L’s, asked me to go first and I refused lightheartedly.  He decided to put us in the same order we were lined up.  As each person went through the 3 minutes of exercises I felt the nerves working there way into my torso and arms making me completely stiff and empty brained.  When it was my turn I was so stiff that I couldn’t turn the handlebars so completely stuffed the turns and then became completely terrified of the turn and stop light exercise but for some reason I redeemed myself a little then.  When I had finished I sat next to the tester shaking my head while he calculated my score.  He looked up and I said “Nerves can really make a difference, hey?”  He nodded and held out his hand to shake mine.  I had passed.

No more need for L’s on the beast.

Now to dry off and celebrate (and relax).