So when I say "I'm going home" I really mean my second home at the Sunshine Coast - the place we spent at least a month in every summer from about the age of 7. And I've been coming here for summers ever since. Alex is now a central place for all of us - my parents spend a month there, we visit for a few days, or stay for Christmas every second year when it's not Bendigo's turn to snaffle us.
We are creatures of habit when there. We have breakfast on the patio every morning, early, before anyone else is awake. This year I brought my own granola, and ate it with fresh fruit, including my parents' homegrown mangoes. Man, they were GOOD.
Mum and dad usually swim at the Mooloolaba Spit, which I think is crazy when Alex Beach is right across the road from the unit. But the first morning we went there too, very early, and you know what? It was good. Lacking serious waves, but good.
(This is not my mum and dad.)
We had fish and chips at the Spit one night. Canberra fish and chips, indeed fish and chips from anywhere, is pretty crappy compared to the Sunshine Coast version of it (sorry but it's true).
When I was at university, I worked one day a week as a nurseryman at a palm and cycad nursery. One of the most fascinating plants we grew from seed was Pandanus. My fascination with them continues to this day, which is lucky as there are a gazillion of them on the coast.
And my favourite part - the seed.
We came back to Canberra very relaxed, but I also came back a bit sick. I've had laryngitis - and absolutely no voice - for two days. It's also slowed me right down in the Christmas preparations - this week isn't my week for being Wonder Woman. I baked my last cake tonight (that makes seven cakes, people), but I don't think there's going to be a 2012 Christmas Skirt.
Unless there's a Christmas miracle and I gain an extra 10 hours sometime between now and Sunday.
This would have to be one of the best parts of Queensland - glad you can enjoy it each year. But...would have to throw fish and chips on the side of Noosa River into the ring as being on-par with your beautiful ones at Alex Heads.
ReplyDeleteI collected those very same Pandanus seeds along the shore of Rainbow Beach one year, and still have them in a display - once they dry out and brown up they have an amazing texture.
Hope you get well very quickly to enjoy Christmas, if not sit back and let the others do the work this year...J
What a beautiful part of the world. Sorry to hear you're battling sickness. What a crappy time of the year to be sick. It is lovely to see you having some nice holidays/breaks though.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to seeing you in my hood real soon.
Mmmmm fish and chips. Now I want fish and chips! Looks like a great place, sorry you can back unwell, hope it clears up soon.
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