Time Out

Today was a cruisy, pottering kind of day, (think Johanna is writing about it) helped along by not 10, but 11 hours of sleep last night! It was the kind of ‘slow’ day that aids rest and renewal.

As we were driving yesterday I was listening to some music by Juzzie Smith (last time we were in Byron Bay we bought his CD after hearing him play at the local market). I listened closely to the words of one of his songs as I peered out the car window, marvelling at the great grey expanse that was the sky. There was so much of it, 360 degrees of low lying grey rain clouds, soon spattering drops on the windscreen. The song I was listening intently to is called Time Out. The words felt so apt for where we are at the moment, bruised and weary from a tough year, and yurting is our way of taking time out – finding that rest and renewal that our bodies and soul are telling us we need.

I’m Taking time out to let go, body is down, let it go, I can feel, feel the light rise…

I’m taking time out to let go, body is down, telling the soul, I can feel, feel the light rise…

Feel your feelings, honour all your feelings…..Taking some time out to let go, let your emotions go, let them go, feel your light rise…

I’m taking time out to let go of all the beliefs that I’ve been told and now I’m free to breathe my breath, my own breath…

(Some words from Time Out by Juzzie Smith)

Having some ‘time out’ each week is helping us let go, fill up and feel the ‘light rise’.

Tomorrow we will head back to Melbourne at lunch time, Colin has a late afternoon meeting. With some luck there will be waves to surf in the morning, Johanna is keen now she can keep warm (new wetsuit). Unfortunately Colin is still not feeling well, he may have to continue to give the surfing a miss. One consolation – there is always next weekend…..

In the water

An early night, a late wake-up. After a near 12 hour sleep we were ready to get up and take on the day.

In the morning Mum and I did some shopping while Dad did some work.

After realising that they’re weren’t many shops in Ocean Grove and we had already looked in all of them after about an hour and headed back to the caravan again.

We decided to go out for lunch, as there are so many nice little café’s in Barwon Heads we had a plan to visit a different one each weekend. We went to a little one called “the bean pod.” Me and mum shared a chicken casalinga and then shared some pancakes with stewed cinnamon apple and ice-cream. Dad had a breakfast burrito.

After that we returned to the caravan to quickly go to the toilet and so Dad could take his medication for his cold and then we went to buy stuff for tea, we decided to have fish and home made chips. (Dad is cooking now)

While we were out I decided that I wanted to have a full length wet-suite because the water is too cold to wear my short wet-suite here. We looked in a couple of surf shops along the main road. When we went into Strapper we found a good deal, a really good quality wet-suite for about half price on the bargain rack. This would keep me nice and warm.

So of course when we were back at the caravan at about three I was straight to the beach for a surf in my new wet-suite. It worked like a charm, didn’t feel a single bit cold the whole time. I was the only one in the water on the whole beach, I guess since the waves were still small.

It was one of my first times surfing by myself (without dad pushing me onto the waves and stuff) and I hadn’t surfed since Byron Bay in the middle of the year. I caught a couple of good ones so I thought I went pretty well.

After that I was so exhausted that I lied in the shallows and mucked around there for the next twenty minutes or so.

I had a wonderful time. When we got back to the caravan, the sun was out so we decided to not have showers straight away and just sit in the sun and relax for a while, we did this and then went off to have showers.

The showers here have a thing where you have to push a button before you turn the taps on or else the water won’t start and then the water turns itself off after five minutes (and won’t turn back on again for another five or so minutes)

After being in the cold ocean I was ready for a nice hot shower, and when I turned the taps on and the water was only luke warm, I turned the hot on a little more, no hotter, turned the cold down a little more, no hotter. I decided to carry on my shower or else the taps would go off. I finished washing my hair and then fiddled with the taps more, turned the hot way way up until it couldn’t go further, a little warmer. Turned the cold way down, ahhhh hot water finally. And then the taps turned off.

Mum and Dad are serving up tea now, it has been a great day.

Why oh why

In hindsight, I’m not sure what insanity possessed Colin and I when we agreed with Zac and Rachel. They preferred to travel to Ocean Grove after the wedding on Saturday night, not wait until Sunday morning. So it was that we found ourselves heading south at 12.30am. I guess 2.30am is a usual bedtime for them on a Saturday night, not so for us! The situation wasn’t helped with Colin suffering a bad head cold, having to detour through part of the city rather than skirt the edges because the domain tunnel was closed for maintenance and once we finally fell into bed at 3am being kept awake by the tarp flapping loudly in the wind. (Colin did the manly thing and got up and took it down)

It was only the promise of some surf that got us all up at 9am. We walked to the beach to assess the situation and oh that fickle sea was flat as the proverbial pancake – despite might I add a positive surf forecast the previous day. We had a quick breakfast, loaded up the boards and went in search of some waves. It was amusing to see others doing the same – vehicles with boards strapped on top cruising the coast searching for those elusive waves; surfers standing wistfully at lookout points watching nothing but a ripple on the sea, disappointment in their steps as they head dejectedly back to the car.

Zac and Rachel were philosophical about the situation despite the fact that they only had today to surf.  Zac took the opportunity to study for exams while the rest of us headed into Torquay to look at boards for Rachel. A couple of hours later the decision was made, the sale complete and Rachel the proud owner of her very own surf board. She lovingly waxed it when we returned to the caravan park. Unfortunately it won’t be christened until next weekend, she and Zac headed back to Melbourne after dinner – they both have exams this week.

Colin, Johanna and I are waiting longingly for bed. 8pm seems a bit early though, so we are trying to keep ourselves awake a bit longer. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, we have no plans, we’ll see what unfolds; right now ten hours of sleep seems like heaven. Hopefully tomorrow will see both Colin and Johanna feeling better.

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There is a simple joy in discovering keyboard shortcuts. As a relatively new user of Macs, I'm picking up little time savers gradually.

"Annie's Provedore - around the corner in Barwon Heads"

Our current yurting experiment feels a bit like toggling between modes of life. This morning I contented myself with working at my laptop with the Barwon River just a short cast away (made the bate purchase today ready for my attempt at the fanciful fresh flathead for breakfast caper) while Maria and Johanna walked and rode. The onshore breeze made a mess of the swell so I left my freshly waxed longboard in the bag today. After a quick walk to suck in the sea air I did a phone meeting for an hour before Maria and Johanna showed off one of their morning discoveries for lunch ... Annie's Provedore. Now I'm a sucker for a good cafe deli and Annie's just around the corner from our site in Barwon Heads is an absolute cracker. The floor to ceiling shelves are packed with sauces, relishes, oils, teas, coffee etc and the baine marie is full of cheeses and fresh produce.

"Beach at Ocean Grove"

Then we hop in Pat (trusty Patrol) and home by 4:30, in time to do a bit more work before dinner, with everyone at home for a change. (toggle)

"back in Melbourne"

Two full day workshops, then Anna and Michael's wedding on Saturday before we toggle back.

"Beach at Ocean Grove"

Alive

Layers of grey clouds pushed by the wind sweep across the skies. They deposit a sprinkle and then a drizzle of rain, sometimes the sun peeps through to. The wind is cold and winter jackets and beanies shut it out.  White capped waves form line upon ragged line giving form to the sea.

Johanna and I don beanies and rain coats and watch our boys surf. We walk; we ride. We get wet and windblown. Colin and Zac brave the cold, choppy sea, drizzle falling as they begin to surf and sun shining as they finish.

Windy gusts sending a seeping cold through layers of clothes, drizzly rain caressing faces and slowly dripping from hanging hair, rays of welcome warmth from a suddenly appearing sun. The smell of wax, wet suits, wet roads and seaweed…. Wet sand clumped to shoes, black gravel on the soles of bare feet, fingers stiff and numb with cold, damp jeans stuck to legs…..

Warm jackets, woolly beanies, hot showers…..

And Colin says to me with pleasure, ‘I feel alive”

The first day.

Something new, something different. Using the caravan like a holiday house. It could work out, or it could not go so well, whatever happens, it doesn't matter because we'll have a fantastic time and it'll be great to be able to take a few days off our usual lives every week.

We arrived today at about 2:00 in the afternoon. It was a pretty short drive (one and a half hours)

I was in a great mood when we arrived, ready to set up and try out our new idea. As we were setting up, we realised that we had a great spot in the park, half a minutes walk from the toilet block and right next to the Barwon River. We had a couple of trees to shade parts of the site and a nice grassy area that had a fare bit of sun on it.

After we had set up we headed down to the grocery store to do a basic shop and the hardware store (because our hose to connect the water to the caravan was about a metre to short) to get an extension to the hose.

We decided on a beef with black bean dish for tea and brought all the ingredients needed, so we thought.

When we arrived home dad connected up the hose extension, but only to find it leaked, and then burst off, a couple of adjustments and then it was good.

Then we decided on a walk along the river (on a nice path that lead right along it.) and while we were walking dad remembered a few ingredients in which we had forgotten to get which were important for the dish he would cook for tea so me and dad made another trip to the grocery shop while mum stayed back and did sudoku's/ had a snooze.

Back at the caravan dad made the lovely tea which was SOOO delicious, and then we took another walk along the path along the river before it got dark, and then back to the caravan to wash the dishes, write a blog, eat TV snacks and await Zac's arrival.

Something New

Sometimes it just isn’t a ‘good’ year. One thing follows another and then another and by the end you just want it to finish. 2010 is a year we will be happy to put behind us. Our times away ‘yurting’ have been the only light in a grey and black kaleidoscope of stress, ill-health and death.

And here we are at the end of October and we are weary, so very weary. And the yurting life calls to us with promises of rest and renewal. We can’t just pack up and leave, much as we might desire to do so. Escaping feels so tempting. However, there are the usual work and family responsibilities. So we try to think creatively, considering the needs of the six members of our family. And we come up with an idea – what about if we take the caravan down to Ocean Grove (an hour and a half away) and leave it there for a month or so and spend half the week there and half the week here. Johanna will need to come with us, she will miss some school and we will work around her dancing lessons, concert practice, grade seven transition, grade six graduation etc… The other three can come and go as it suits them and their studies for exams and work commitments. Colin can do some work while we are away and organise the rest for the three working days we will be in Melbourne. Maybe it could work, maybe it could get us through to the end of the year, maybe…..

There’s only way to find out. So here we are about to embark on something new.....

And I feel better already.