Tuesday 20 December 2011

snobs in paradise

As Maria blogged yesterday, one of the striking things about Nambucca is the total absence of catering for urban tourists that you normally find in these little coastal towns. That Chris Liley chose to reference Nambucca in his 'Angry Boys' was a clue.



I'm sitting at one of the tables outside the tourist park cafe; and 'yes' they do have a coffee machine. There is kitch junk from the 70s all over the shelves, mixed lollies along the front counter and you can buys ice cream in a cone, the (stale looking) cones still sitting in an unsealed box on a table out in the shop.

Seems like most of the stores in the main shopping strip are discount stores or op shops. Our neighbours from Brisbane, who have been coming for 10 years, and her parents for another 21 years before that, tell us that security is a problem. We have got great sites that back onto the slightly elevated walk way along the river mouth. He looks at me and says, anything of value lying around WILL go. Apparently the kids come through during the day to scout things out, then come back at night, posting guards at strategic points while others execute the mission. I hope he is exaggerating ... but just in case we decide to put up the back wall of our annex to provide some visual protection for all our surf gear.

One of the approaches to life we've tried to cultivate is to immerse ourselves in the moment, appreciate what is rather than what is not. The watershed moment came for us in Crazy Clarks bargain store yesterday. There we were, like real city slicking snobs, having a good ol' laugh at the unbelievably bad trashy Christmas decorations; plastic Santas that light up and play music, etc etc ... you get the idea. When in Rome ....

So, decorating our yurt is going to be fun this year.