Holiday Update #10

Wednesday 16th July

Another lazy morning of pottering around before jumping in the car to go and check out some of the galleries. The weather had cleared a bit so the drive along the scenic route was quite pleasant. I stopped at a couple of different galleries but nothing really much interested me and, once again, the prices were aimed at the considerably more affluent tourists.

The one place I did want to see, called ‘Wood be Good’, was a gallery of handmade wooden furniture with a sculpture maze. After driving up and down the stretch of road it was supposed to be on, I finally noticed a very small sign for ‘Wood be Good’ with any even smaller sign underneath it saying ‘closed’. Apparently it had closed the week before I got down to Margaret River. At least there were other things to look at.

I ended up driving to Yallingup to have a look around. There was a lookout with a bench overlooking one of the beaches, so I sat up there for a while and just watched the ocean. It was very calming but at the same time rather overwhelming to think about the power of the waves and the vastness of the ocean. It made me feel very small in the grand scheme of things, which was actually kind of good in a way, because it helped me to regain a bit of perspective on the things that are troubling me.

After it had rained on me one too many times for my liking, I went to Dunsborough for some lunch, some much-needed petrol (182.9 per litre!) and a drive out to the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse. It’s another thing that has changed heaps. The last time I can remember going to this particular lighthouse, I was about 10 or 11 years old. (I suppose you have to expect things to change in 25 years!) I decided against doing the lighthouse climb... my knees were still recovering from the Jewel Cave … and the whale watching platforms were a 3.5km hike away in the rain. Call me a wuss but I didn’t want to get soaking wet on the off chance that there were some whales way out to sea.

I went back into Dunsborough township for a wander around the shops and found a lovely little bookshop. I happily browsed in there for a while and found a book full of retro (1950’s) pictures with some rather more modern sayings attached:

“You remind me of my husband, except you’re not buried in the backyard.”

“Your proctologist called. They found your head.”

“My mother doesn’t just enjoy guilt trips; she runs the travel agency.”

“If size doesn’t matter, why aren’t there any four-inch dildos?”

“Does my fat ass make my ass look fat?”

“I understand the concept of cooking and cleaning. Just not as it applies to me.”

And my personal favourite:

“What we have here is a failure to give a s***.”

After deciding not to buy the book, as I had already memorized the ones that appealed to my warped sense of humour, I checked out a couple of other stores where I got a head start on my Christmas shopping. By the time I had finished paying for everything, it was getting rather dark and the rain had started again, so I headed off to check out one last gallery. Unfortunately I missed the turnoff to it so I just kept going until I got back to the house. Not bad for a little afternoon jaunt … only 110km round trip.

Soup for tea and another late night.