Sunday, November 16, 2008

Byron Bay Day 2: Rain keeps fallin’, rain keeps falling’ down…

Well, it’s still raining. It will stop intermittently, but the cloud cover is constant, and when the rain works up, it’s going for ages. Hopefully, this won’t be a repeat of our second Noosa trip where the monsoonal rain pinned us inside to the breaking point.

Today was moderately uneventful, but in a good way. Wandered into town, had a look around. Tanja bought her first pair of sunglasses in ten years (Fendi, very nice), and I got a sticker for my laptop that says “Slap the Goon: something this bad needs to be slapped!” (for those who don’t know, “goon” is horribly cheap Australian cask wine, and “slap the goon” is trying to build awareness that Aussie wine is more that goon, something I heartily approve of). Next stop was the bookstore. I got the new Terry Pratchett book “Nation” and the Greg Duncan Powell beer guide that I’ve been eyeing for two weeks. Tanja got two fiction books set in ancient Egypt (which she explained is her reading comfort food). Then we went for our massage.

Tanja went in for hers, while I sat on the beach and read my beer guide. Turns out Knappstein is highly rated. Good choice, me! Tanja came out of her massage all rubber-necked, and then it was my turn. I can liken the experience only to being put through an automatic car ash, but in a good way.

Of for lunch to a café called One One One. It’s slogan is “A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou.” I argued that it should be “thee” instead of “thou”, but Tanja assured me they have it right. Lunch for me was a massive but incredibly tender steak sandwich with roast tomatoes and a green relish (and when I say big, I mean it was the size of a toaster), complimented with a glass of NSW 3 Bridges Durif. The wine was almost a bit big for the steak, but it was a nice glass anyway. Tanja had an equally big roast pumpkin sandwich with salsa verde and ricotta with a glass of sangiovese rosé. Followed it all up with coffee for me and chamomile tea for Tanja. Oh, and a slice of spiced chocolate and nut torte with crème fraiche for us to share.

Quick stop for more supplies at organic grocer, Woolworths and butcher, then back to room. Tanja was the one napping this time, and I finished the run of Invincible I had on the laptop. I’m sad because I have no more.

A lady in the shop said we’re in for a whole week of rain, but I hope she’s wrong, so we can avoid the despondency of the Noosa trip. Or are we doomed that each time we re-visit a place, the weather will be wretched? You decide, gentle reader!

PS: I’ve figured out that I can plug in my iPod to the USB jack of the stereo here. Only issue is that you can just hit play, and it plays the songs by filename. So it’s a crapshoot what it’ll play next. I’ve actually heard a few songs and I have no clue what they are. Seems I should clean out the ‘Pod more often. Hey, I have 13000 songs! I can’t remember them all!

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