It was a dark and stormy night.
Actually, it still is. That’s why I’m sitting here, cross
legged on the bed in my pajamas, recording my most recent adventures, kicking off the blog Where in the World is Karen Eileen Carmen.
First port of call: Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Until very recently, this adventure has been a joint venture
with my little brother (okay, okay, so he’s like ten feet taller than me, I’m
still the older!), recorded on the blog
theadventuresofbenandkaren.blogspot.com.
It was an amazing
adventure.
Yesterday afternoon, Ben boarded a bus headed for
home to continue his adventures in the Northern Hemisphere. He’s been in
continuous transit since he left Byron at just after 5 pm yesterday which would
put him now, at 9:30 pm today… just about halfway there. I walked with him to
the bus stop yesterday dressed for a run. Don’t get me wrong; I’m excited for
both of us, Ben for his continuing adventures and me for mine. But it’s sad to see this chapter come to an end. And so I did
the only sensible thing to do, and went for a very long run.
My feet took me to the sea.
I ran the blocks through town from the
bus stop to the shore and across the loose packed sand, carrying my flipflops
in one hand and a flashlight in the other. The surf was huge, making the
serious surfers happy and the sunset spectacular. I ran and watched the sunset
and the sea, headed for Captain Cook Lookout, a jut of land over Little Wategos
Beach, officially kicking off my Cetacean Spotting Season. Rumor has it that
the dolphins like to hang around Little Wategos. And records have it that the
humpback whales coming north from Antarctica to breed will be passing by Cape
Byron, the easterly most point of the Australian continent, migrating from May
through November. The first of the whales have already been spotted from the
lighthouse, and so this is largely my objective here in Byron; spot the whales
and watch the dolphins. Inauspiciously, I saw no cetaceans or large sea life of
any kind on my run yesterday, but it was a beautiful night all the same. Warm
and clear (at long, long last! There has been oodles, buckets, and scads of
rain these last few weeks), the waters around the lookout point darkened and, after a bit of a chat with a visiting Colorado-native-former-wrangler-computer-professional, I ran the rest of the way to the Cape Byron Lighthouse to watch
the stars.
As day fades to night here, the stars gleam through the navy
blue sky, its colors rich over the sea. First Venus shines through to herald
the night, and the others follow suit. Soon the Milky Way shines through, a
vast carpet of shimmering light so brilliant it seems you could walk on it, if
only you could turn your feet to the sky.
It was a gorgeous run.
I found myself back home and fell asleep.
At eight this morning I was at work, but not before walking
up to the beach and watching a few minutes of a surfing contest taking place
between the Main Beach and the Wreck, our local shipwreck. Ben and I spoke to a very informed older
volunteer at the lighthouse a few weeks ago who knew everything there was to
know. Apparently the shipwreck in question was a courier of goods and staples between Byron Bay and
Sydney back before the roads and railways were good enough to make transport
efficient by land. It got caught in a huge storm by the pier and smashed. The
locals saved the crew, but taxes hadn’t been paid to the land authorities on
the parts of the ship that came from overseas, since the ship had never been brought in to
land. They wouldn’t permit the salvage without collecting the tax, and so
there The Wreck remains to this day, providing a haven for fish, a great surf break
for surfers, and a bit of the tiller sticking up out of the water that local
kids climb on. (A few years back, a couple of high school girls
played hooky from school, swam out to the Wreck, and were treed up on the
tiller by sharks who circled below until they were rescued by the surf lifesaving
boat, but not before being plastered all over the east coast evening news! This
is in no way a deterrent to continued climbing on the Wreck, or to Ben and
myself snorkeling there. But we kept a weather eye out just in case.)
Anyway, I worked until about four today, then knocked off
and headed for the Beachie (The Beach Front Hotel) to see a Melbourne duo
called The Pierce Brothers. They played a set at open mic night at the Buddha
Bar on Wednesday night, and totally rocked my socks. They started tonight at five,
which was perfect, because I had a very important post-work errand to run:
Project Giant Umbrella.
Back in the day, when it was still summer here and it rained
in between bouts of fierce sunshine, I bought a little four dollar folding
plaid-patterned umbrella. It was whimsical, it was plucky, it wasn’t the
sturdiest but it had heart, and kept me dry enough… for a time. Then the Season
of the Rains arrived in force, weeks and weekends and weeks of endless deluge,
with days on end without enough sun to properly dry one’s soaked clothes. Now I
understand why tropical natives don’t wear much. It’s not just because of the
heat; it’s because you’d NEVER dry out, and soggy pants are not a thing to be
borne for long.
And so I went to the Rainbow Shop (guess what they sell- on
t-shirts, headbands, wall hangings, umbrellas, you name it), and bought an
umbrella the size of a tent. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but it’s
large, and sunny, and many colors, and most importantly of all, keeps the
raindrops from falling on my head, or anywhere within a several foot radius of
my nice dry self.
So, umbrella in hand, I went back to the Beachie, bought a
happy hour XXXX Gold (my favorite Aussie beer) on tap, perched myself at a bar
table on the outdoor patio with an umbrella only slightly bigger than mine
overhead keeping the storm off my table and, more importantly, off my beer. From my
perch, I could see the sea to my left, the huge rolling breakers catching the
colors of the darkening sky under the stormy yellow clouds, and the stage to my
right, where the Pierce Brothers were setting up.
Two boys from Melbourne, the Pierce Brothers are a musical
force of nature. Sitting on barrels turned into stools, one plays the guitar
like it’s a part of his body. The other plays the guitar sometimes. And the
harmonica. And the didgeridoo. And percussion, sometimes on a bongo drum,
sometimes with his hands and sometimes with stick, and sometimes drums on his
brother’s guitar, with his hands or the sticks. And sometimes, most amazing of
all, he wraps an arm around his brother’s neck and they BOTH play the same
guitar, or he holds the harmonica for his brother to play (while he continues with the guitar) while ALSO playing the didgeridoo. Folk/rock and definitely
Australian, their sound and energy are a joy to watch as well as to hear.
After an amazing performance, and a dinner of beer and free
happy hour bar snacks (read: meat pie and sausage roll. Aussies know what they
are about with beef.), I had a very rainy walk home. But that’s okay; I carry a
smile on my lips and a song in my heart and a big flippin’ rainbow umbrella
over my head.
No comments:
Post a Comment