Winter wonderland

Thursday morning I awoke to the cacophony of Australian birds like the ones below. 

These are the kinds of birds that visit C's balcony.  How cool are they?  Answer: very.

After two flights, a four hour stopover in LAX (quite possibly the worst airport I’ve had the misfortune of visiting, and I’ve been to airports in Kenya, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic), and more than 17 hours in the air, I emerged in Toronto.  The sun had set.  It wasn’t 6:00 yet.

This morning, I awoke to the kind of silence only heavy snowfall can bring. It’s a calm, insulated silence. One that is only broken by the whoosh of wind rustling the bare tree limbs, and the rumble of snowplows.

A tug of the blinds revealed a scene straight off of a Hallmark card, or an ad for snow tires.

This shot isn't the best -- It lacks some perspective, no?

Thanks to global warming, white Christmases are no longer a given, even in Canada. But this year, old man winter is certainly delivering stuff.

There have already been a few “snow days” – mornings where the weather is deemed too dangerous for school buses to venture out. There is a good three feet of snow on my mother’s front porch, and an astounding five or so in the back yard.

Ahhhh...there's some much-needed perspective. Now do you see what I'm talking about? 
That there is my sister, Val and Chevy.  They are both awesome.

The dog’s house is under a foot of snow.  My mom dropped her GPS somewhere between the car and the house and hasn't see it since.  It'll likely make an appearance some time in April. The other day, they had to send in a helicopter to rescue some people stranded in their cars during a blizzard on a highway not too far from here.

They don’t call this neck of the woods the snow belt for nothing.

If I knew I had another four or five months of this to go, I’d likely be gnashing my teeth, moaning, you know: lamenting bible-style.  But with only four weeks here, I’m saying “bring it on.”

What we had to drive through to get to town this afternoon.

Macro Chevy!

Being Seduced by Sydney

Oh Sydney, you gorgeous enchantress you (insert sigh of contentment here).

Your sand-fringed beaches beckon me. Your undulating harbours delight.  Your parks and green spaces charm me.  Your lovely climate soothes me. Your myriad of shopping centres entice. Damn you Sydney.  You had me at Hello.

How lucky I am to be in this utopian city again. It’s a place that is no less beguiling the fourth time around. 

This time, I’m lucky enough to be visiting a very good friend of mine, who we will call C.  C has been living in Sydney since July and has been extremely welcoming to the road-weary traveller crashing on her couch.  Having been here a few times before, I’ve run most of the tourist attractions that interest me (Tauranga Zoo, the Opera House, the aquarium etc.) and after two months of hostels, I’m almost shamefully happy to just sit around an empty apartment all day and watch TV and occasionally cook.

Me with some sort of building in the background.

Hyde Park.

That’s not to say that I have been completely sedentary and loser-ish this past week.  I have been keeping somewhat busy. I’ve spent time rediscovering some familiar haunts such as the Botanic Gardens, Darling Harbour and Hyde Park.  I’ve visited a few of the many beaches.  I’ve avoided buying anything beyond essentials (this is a major accomplishment on my part.  The stores here are both plentiful and oh-so-pretty.  It really is a shoppers’ paradise).

Sydney skyline from the Botanic gardens

A few highlights of the week:

•  One night, C and I attended a get-together of Québecois living in Sydney (we figured being franco-Ontarian counted) at a pub in the trendy area known as The Rocks.  It was heaps of fun (as the Ozzies say).  There were about 25 or 30 people at the gathering and it was great to be around the Québécois humour for a while.  It was also so strange to hear people speaking French with a Canadian accent then with an Australian accent in English – many of the people had learned to speak English here and therefore had the distinctive Aussie twang. 

My first weekend here we somewhat spontaneously headed an hour and a half south to the city of Wollongong.  There we hung out on the beach, explored the downtown, and took in some of the local colour at a rather seedy pub where we both enjoyed a drink and spent the night (hotels/pubs/pokies/bars are common here).

One of the lighthouses near Wollongong beach.

Last weekend we headed north to Newcastle, a city that, for some reason, Lonely Planet named Australia’s place to be.  Newcastle does have its charms, mainly of the beach variety, and the YHA where we stayed was top notch, but the city itself was a bit odd.  Though there are a reputed 400,000 inhabitants, there was no obvious downtown.  Big buildings were scarce, and much of the areas we visited were a bit run down.  No matter, we enjoyed ourselves immensely at the beach and (mainly) avoided sunburns.

Wollongong beach

• 



The huge ocean baths in Newcastle.  They're basically ocean-fed pools next to the beach.  The water is calmer, warmer, and there`s no chance of sharks! They're fairly common at beaches here, but these ones are huge.  They.re actually the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere. 





The main beach in Newcastle

• I went snorkelling at Clovelly beach, a narrow strip of sand and surf between much more popular Bondi and Coogee beaches.

Clovelly beach.  While "snorkeling" (swimming with goggles) I saw quite a few fish, including a particularly nice blue one.

It’s a strange time to be here.  Not only is the Christmas paraphernalia out in force, but so is the Oprah mania.  The talk show queen is in the country officially to film two shows, and unofficially to promote tourism in Australia.  The government actually shelled out $3 million to bring her and some 300 of her viewers here in the hopes of boosting tourism.  Her antics have been dominating the news here for the past week.

The temporarily renamed "Oprah" house.  I feel bad for first-time visitors to Sydney whose view of the iconic building is marred by the stage and all the other eyesores.



The famous Bondi Beach. If you're needing a knock to your ego, this is the place to go. The beach is thicék with hard and bronzed bodies. 



Sydney Harbour bridge.

As you can see, I've been wandering around a bit barefoot here too. In the distance you can see Bondi.

A stunning cemetary overlooking the ocean between Bondi and Coogee beaches

These are a few of my favourite things that I can't have here.

In a very short week, I'll be home and I must say, I'm excited.

Of course I miss the people most of all -- family, friends and, it goes without saying, Chevy the dog.  That's a given.

But loved ones aside, I miss a few other things quite a bit, and I plan on indulging in them at least a few times over the month I will be at home:

• Baths  Showers are good and all, but there's nothing like soaking in warm water and reading a book or even having a glass of wine.
• Sleeping on a real bed    Two words:  Bunk beds.  One number: 31 (years). The two should not mix.
• Tim Horton's hot chocolate and coffee  I will very very likely be scratching this itch within an hour of landing in our fair country.  Sweet.
• marshmallows  It's not that I'm a huge fan or anything, but the marshmallows here are just odd and fake tasting. 
• Poutine  It is a crime that this has not caught on elsewhere, but to be fair, no one makes cheese curds like Quebec (actually, does anyone even try?)
• Air popped popcorn and Kernels  I don't think my love of puffy deliciousness is a secret. It was generally the main component of one meal a week back in Canada. I think I'm suffering from withdrawal.
• Butter tarts  yet another delicacy that hasn't gone global for some unknown reason. Shame.
• Maple Syrup  self explanatory.
• Chips of the all dressed and cheddar variety  They have lots of very good chips here (or crisps as they say in NZ) and in flavuors we don't have in Canada -- Lamb and mint, chicken, balsamic vinegar and onion, sweet and tangy, etc.  But no all dressed or plain cheddar (or dill pickle for that matter, but I don't like them anyway, so I'm OK with that)
• Sandwhiches from La Botegga in Ottawa  Take the best sandwhich you have ever had and throw it to the ground, stomp on it, spit on it, and turn your back on it and walk away to La Botegga and get yourself the most mouth-watering square of cheese, meat and bread you will ever have.  mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
• Pizza from either Picollo's in Lafontaine, or Lorenzo's or Collonade in Ottawa  This part of the world has tons of great Thai, Indian, Japanese, Turkish and Cantonese food.  But for some reason, pizza eludes them.  The crust is dry and bland.  the sause uninspired.  Cheese is woefully scant. Oh, the humanity.  I want a slice (or 5) of pizza dripping with greese and tastiness. 
• President's Choice fizzy water  It's so good, so healthy, and so cheap!
• My mom's granola and soup
  (not together, obviously).  My mom may not know how to glaze a ham to perfection, or how to braise a lamb shank (she's a vegetarian), but the woman makes the best granola and soup.  Bar none.
• Christmas cookies, both the baking and consuming of them  Sugar cookies, shortbread, ginger bread, and -- a personal favourite -- peanut butter balls.  You will be mine.  Oh yes, you will be mine. 

Feel free to enable me in this endeavour.  As you can imagine, I will very likely be putting on 10 pounds or so over the month.  Be warned.

It’s beginning to look a lot like (bizarro) Christmas

I keep having to remind myself that Christmas is a scant few weeks away.  It’s not that there aren’t reminders – stores of every ilk are hawking their wares with a festive spin (“It wouldn’t be Christmas without a new set of patio chairs!”  “Dingo’s World of Socks: For all your Christmas needs” “Get all your Chrissy prezzies at The Athlete’s Foot”). 

Decorations drip from awnings, tree limbs, and window frames. There was even a Santa Clause parade in Auckland last weekend (I missed it) complete with floating snow man (which makes absolutely zero sense given that it’s currently in the mid-twenties there).

Despite all this, I find it impossible to get in the festive spirit.  It’s just too weird to have Christmas lights when the sun doesn’t set until 9:00 pm. And that there are huge fake pine trees decorating building lobbies and public spaces when all the other trees around are fully covered in leaves, and many of them are palms. And that I’m traipsing around in sandals and sporting a rather impressive tan.

Well, in a short week I’ll be back in the land of REAL Christmas. You know, snow, darkness, cold.  Somewhere where the sight of someone in a fur-lined red suit doesn’t make you itchy.  Where “Let it Snow” and “Jingle Bells” and “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” make sense.

But, I guess “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas” fits for once.

Let's have a look at what Christmas looks like down under:

Decoration in a swank Sydney shopping centre.

Kitchiest Christmas tree ever in Darling Harbour

The coolest Christmas tree in Auckland's Western park.  It was basically strings of lights -- 350,000 of them. Every night there was a light show and there were bean bag chairs set up beneath it so you could lie at the base and watch.  I did for 30 minutes.  It was trippy.

The huge Whitcools Santa and his reindeeer. I guess he's an annual fixture. Two years ago he had an inexplicable wagging finger.  They've scrapped it, unfortunately.

Time travelling to a few days ago when I was living the good life on North Stradbroke Island

(I'm back in Auckland where the Internet is fast and free (yay!) so I can finally post what I'd written some 4 days ago.)

Ahhhhhhh…North Stradbroke. 

A bit of geography: North Straddie (as the locals call it) is the second of two large sand islands that lie just east of Brisbane.  It’s fairly easy and cheap, if not quick, to get here via public transport.  From downtown Brisbane you have to take a subway train for an hour ($6.40), then grab a bus from the train station to the ferry terminal (free with subway ticket), then take the ferry for half an hour ($17 return), then another bus from the wharf to the hostel ($4.50).

It’s less touristy than its neighbour, Moreton (where I was last week), but still attracts a fair bit of visitors, especially during the school holidays (which, unfortunately, includes this week).  It reminds me of Balm Beach in Georgian Bay – lots of cottagers and daytrippers who come over from the nearby big city on weekends and holidays, but not so much that it’s become tacky (like Wasaga).

And for good reason.  North Stradbroke is AWESOME. 

I warn you now, my pictures really don't do this place justice. 

I’m almost reluctant to talk about it too much cause I would hate for the “secret” to come out and ruin this little slice of paradise.

But you can keep a secret, right?

I was here last year for only a night or two.  Despite the short stay, it was a highlight of my three-month trip. I’m delighted I’ve been able to come back so soon, and I’m absolutely thrilled that it’s just as amazing as I remember.

Frenchman's beach

The water here is beautiful – impossibly turquoise, as clear as can be, and only steps away from where I’m staying.

(I'd made a snazzy little video showing just how close it was.  I walked from the hostel to the beach in under two  minutes.  Unfortunately, loading the video was taking more than 15X the time it took to make it.  And, though I'm not a busy girl, I do have things to do,so, no video for you. Sorry.)

The beaches are plentiful – most of the dwellings are on one section of the island called “Lookout Point” (why is it called that, you might ask. Well, more on that later).  In that one area there must be 3 km of clean, sandy beach front.  And even with the holiday in full swing, the beaches are anything but crowded.  Of course, there’s a greater concentration of people gathered around the lifeguarded areas (the waves are pretty strong), but if you’re just looking to sit in the sand with a good book, chances are you’ll be doing it in near solitude.

Cylinder beach

So what have my days been like? 

Slothful.

Sinfully slothful, in fact.  Decadently, deliciously, blissfully so.

And as I approach my second month anniversary of unemployment, I can hardly say I’ve earned it…but I won’t lie; it’s fantastic.

At about 6:30 or 7:00 I’m roused from my slumber by the less-than-dulcet tones of a gaggle of excited scuba divers who are preparing for the morning’s dive just below my window.  It’s a bit annoying, mainly because I’d love to be joining them, but given that I’m still ever-so-slightly congested, it could result in a painful – if not damaging – experience for my ears.  Oh well.  There’ll be other opportunities I’m sure.

 The “early” morning wakeup calls are rather nice though, since I’ve been able to participate in the morning yoga classes offered up the beach.  By 7:40 I set out for my 20-minute walk to the yoga site.  After an hour of yoga, I stroll back to the hostel where I make myself a big breakfast, then throw on my bathing suit, pack a bag with some essentials (sunscreen, sunglasses, water bottle, snack, blanket), slap on my big unfashionable hat and either head on out to the beach just outside the door to make camp, or make my way into “town.”

Bustling this is not

I use the term lightly since the downtown of Point Lookout is really just a tiny conglomeration of businesses – a bakery, a coffee shop, a pizza place, two stores selling beachwear and touristy knickknacks and a restaurant or two. It’s hardly a bustling metropolis.  What compels me to walk 45 minutes to get there is the lookout itself.  As the name states, the area just in front of the shops is an excellent lookout point.  A cliff jutting into the sea is the perfect vantage point to spot pods of dolphins, rays, turtles, and during this time of the year, whales. 

In the space of an hour on Tuesday, I managed to see them all.  Squee! (For the uninitiated, that’s the sound of childlike glee).



Dolphins!



and turtles!

and whales, oh my!



At the beach I alternate reading on the sand and tackling the waves. I don’t go out very far, since the waves are pretty strong, and though I’m a strong swimmer, I’m not used to the ocean, so I’m a bit of a coward – especially when there’s the possibility of becoming intimately acquainted with either a riptide or a shark. I did do a bit of boogie boarding (very close to shore) though, which was fun. 



Once the sun sets or clouds roll in, I usually do a bit of writing – for this blog, obviously, but also for a project I’m hoping to develop.  I also admit to vegging out in front of the TV.  Let’s pretend that it’s to study the pop culture of this country (Junior Masterchef?  Too fun).

I’m back to Auckland and meeting up with some friends from home on Saturday.  They’ll be in NZ for a few weeks doing the tourist circuit, and I’m going to tag along for at least a while.  Though I’m not entirely thrilled to return to temperatures in the mid-teens, it’ll be nice to see some familiar faces.

There was no natural place to put this last photo, so I'll leave you with it.




 



Posing awkwardly at the sublime North Gorge

Living the good life on North Stradbroke Island...

I'd love to tell you about it right now, but this Internet connection is crap and it's not letting me copy and paste my text, much less my images and videos.  I've been at it for 25 minutes and nothing is working.  So I'm giving up for now.

It should be workable once I get to Auckland very early on Friday morning, so stay tuned!

So basically, I'm just letting you all know that I'm still alive and kicking (in the surf) :)

A Whale of a good time (hyuck hyuck) on Moreton Island

Have you ever been whale watching?  I have.  Three times. 

The first two were within days of each other and in Halifax harbour.  It was on a fairly small, rusty boat, with two crew members and six passengers. The first time was a bust – the biggest sea creature we saw was a distant seal.  When I decided to give it another go a few days later, we did see the whale, but it was a small thing that popped up periodically, then disappeared back to the deeps. It was a decent experience, but hardly one to write home about.

My third foray into whale watching was in New Zealand’s seaside town of Kaikoura, which gets its name from the Maori word for crayfish, but is mainly known for its dolphins and whales. It was a slick affair.  After paying our $140 we were ushered into an air conditioned room to watch a video on whales, then escorted onto an equally air conditioned boat with plush seating for a hundred. 

We were not permitted to go outside to enjoy the view of the beautiful coastline while the boat was moving. Instead held captive inside while one of the dozen-odd crew members gave us a well-practiced shpeel on the topography of the region, and on the marine life that were drawn there because of it.  This was all done with the help of a video with snazzy graphics.  The boat rocked and roiled, and churned up our insides.  Not being able to go outside to get fresh air, my travel companion lost her lunch.  They used some sophisticated doohicky like a large underwater stethoscope to listen for the whales and then manoeuvred the boat to within a hundred metres from where they’d resurface.  We did see a whale, as promised, and it was cool.  But it all felt so manufactured.  So Disney-fied. 

Why am I talking about whale watching, you ask?  Well, yesterday, I experienced the real deal: The magical thrill of coming upon these giants unexpectedly.  I was on my way to Moreton Island -- the third biggest sand island in the world, and a tourism mecca, by the looks of it. The ferry ride to the Tangalooma resort took about an hour and a half and wound its way through the more unattractive parts of Brisbane River (the part fringed with cargo ships and boat maintenance buildings) before spitting us out into Moreton Bay.  At one point we saw a small pod of dolphins in the distance, and the recoding that was playing over the loudspeakers spoke of the plethora of amazing marine life that lived in these waters – and we could discover them on one of the cruises being offered for a “low price!” that afternoon! 

With about half an hour to go, there was a sudden flurry of activity at the front of the boat.  Someone had spotted something in the water to our left.  The captain dutifully stopped the boat and announced that what the two big dark lumps we were seeing were in fact a female humpback whale and her calf.  Pretty cool, no?  I would have been happy with that.  But we got a show folks.  The calf proceeded to do something that I never really thought I’d see in person.  He jumped out of the water, did a half turn and landed sideways (like this!).  He did this not once, not twice, but four times. How amazing is that? 

Pretty damn amazing, let me tell you.

I wish I had a picture, or better yet, a video, to show you how incredible it was.  Unfortunately, I brought my crappy little underwater camera and not my decent one, and the settings were jammed, and all I managed to capture was this beauty of a shot.

ooooooo....aaaaaaaaa

Oh well.  I remember it, and it was spectacular.

I spent the rest of the day trying to avoid spending money on the many activities they offered on the resort (quadbiking!  kayaking! fishing! segue-ing! etc!) and instead opted to take advantage of the decent weather and parked my caboose on the beach with a book.  Ahhhhhhhhhh

I did rent some snorkeling equipment and go for a swim around some sunken ships not far from shore, and there my underwater camera served me well

fishies!

Let no one accuse me of vanity.

I actually lucked out and happened to be there when a group from a tour boat was also nosing about and they'd brought some bread for the fish, so there were thousands all swimming around us.  It was great.  They were so shiny that I could actually see the colour of my flippers reflected in their scales. 

The main even of the day was the dolphin feed at sundown.  Small fish are attracted by the lights of the dock near the beach and wild dolphins come in to shore to hunt those small fish.  Some 20 years ago the owners of the resort started feeding them a bit, and it's grown from there.  It was a bit of a manufactured experience again, but still, the dolphins were wild and behaved that way.  Only two showed up last night, and for the most part they didn't want to eat the fish we were offering.  Instea they were happy to chase the live fish around and give us a show.  I did manage to get one to eat the slimy offering I was clutching, and I was glad for it, but I think I would have been just as happy to watch them from the dock.

So now I've got a day of nothing ahead of me. I may head back to the man-made beach at South Bank. There are some nice paths, a cool fountain area and some nice shops. I was there the other day, but it started to rain, so I sought refuge in a movie theatre (The Last Airbender -- not great, but not as bad as everyone made it seem).

here are some pics:

I am fascinated by these fountains.  Love it.



This ferris wheel is mostly empty.  Maybe due to the $15 charge.  (!!!!)



The "beach"

Tonight, I'm meeting up with some friends of a friend for dinner.  It'll be nice to be with some non-backpackers and some fellow Canadians :)

Brisbane is much better in the light of day and out of the fog of sickness

Despite my last melancholic post, I’m very happy to be where I am. 

Once the cold started to wane, and the weather cleared, I was reminded just how fetching a city Brisbane is. 



Pretty!

A wide river snakes its way through the city, and inviting paths flow along its banks.  Adding to the picturesque panorama is the slew of attractive and fit Aussies who use the paths as their workout grounds.  As bikers and joggers whipped by me in all their sweaty hotness, I started to regret my impulse purchase at the Krispy Kreme I’d come across (a $3.50 “cream egg donut…mmmmmm.  Expensive AND tasty).

Floating walkway.  It's pretty cool.  There are some sections that I guess swing out to let boats through (near the rich people's houses.

There are plenty of strange and striking trees, plants, bushes and flowers to gaze at.  During the day the sky is alive with birds big (like the funny-looking ibis) and small while at night huge fruit bats take their place.



The ibis' head to body ratio is OFF THE CHARTS!

The downtown’s interesting modern buildings are peppered with old interesting ones, making for striking contrasts. 

Jux...

..ta...



...po...



...si...

...tion!

The people seem nice and content.  For the most part, they’re also quite fashionable, with older women wearing what looks like designer wear and every second younger chick decked out in black tights and short skirts or shorts.  I think I stood out in my rolled up jeans and t-shirt.

What a tourist!

Though the weather at the moment is unseasonably cool, generally, I’m told, it’s really quite lovely.  It should return to its regular loveliness by early next week (Huzzah!).  I’m very delighted, since bad weather can have such a bearing on how I perceive a place.

For instance, yesterday morning when the sky was a monochromatic grey and rain was falling in a mist so light you could barely feel it, let alone protect yourself against it, I was still decidedly anti-Brisbane.  But by time the sun did break through the thick clouds at about three I was starting to sing a different tune. By then I was very happy to grab my book and my aforementioned donut and camp out on a bench for a good read.

One thing I’m still not liking about here is the fact that there is no wifi at the hostel.  Hell, they don’t even have a computer with an Internet connection (!!!).  It’s disappointing, and rather inconvenient, since the nearest Internet café is a 10 minute walk away and I’m stuck paying $4 for each hour I spend online.  I seem to remember that the public library on the South Bank has free Internet and Wifi.  I’m planning on making my way to that neck of the woods today anyway, so hopefully I’ll get a few things done for free!!!

Feeling retched in Brisbane

Make it go away.  I can’t shake this cold.  The headaches, coughing, sore throat and runny nose are really getting me down.  Physically I’m feeling awful and, understandably, it’s having an effect on my emotions. 

As the title of this post states, I’m in Brisbane.  It’s awful to say, but I really wish I weren’t. 

This reticence toward my geographic situation is likely due to many factors

a)      I’m generally displeased with the world as a whole right now.

b)      I like Auckland and I’d rather be there, where I’d made myself a few fleeting friends and had started to get the lay of the land.

c)     This hostel is light years away from cosy, unlike the place I stayed at in Auckland, which really did feel like a house.  Here, the floor of my room (I splurged and got a single tonight in the hopes of getting a better night’s sleep and aid my road to recovery) is bare concrete. 





It’s been painted, but there are areas where the paint has chipped, and little bits of grey rock keeps sticking to my socks and getting transferred to the bed.
The walls in all the common areas are festooned with rules, warnings and admonitions like “Don’t steal!” and “Don’t use the kitchen sink to brush your teeth or shave.”  It’s hardly welcoming, even for those of us not planning on stealing or taking care of our hygiene in the kitchen.  Oh, and there’s no Internet, so though I’m writing this Monday night, I won’t get to post it until Tuesday at the earliest (as predicted, it;s now Tuesday and I'm having to post this from an Internet cafe where pimply, unhealthy youths are talking loudly).

d)      I landed at 5:55 and was greeted with a darkened night sky, pouring rain, and unseasonably cold weather (18 degrees).  I was really looking forward to warmth and sun without the risk of flash rainstorms that Auckland was so often delivering.

The only real reason I’m here is that I needed to land in Australia before October 19^th to activate my working holiday Visa, and I figured I’d take advantage of the warmer climates and get certified for scuba diving.  Alas, not one of the six or so PADI centre is offering a course that fits in to my schedule, so I’m out of luck.   I now wish I’d made my port of entry Cairns (where I’d be sure to find a scuba course) or Sydney (where I could have visited a very good friend).

But in Brisbane I am and I will make the best of it.  I’ll take this time to really relax and hopefully get better very soon.  On Wednesday or Thursday I may also head out to Moreton Island where there are wild dolphins that come in to shore to be fed (though I’m a little against this taming of them).  I’m planning on heading over to North Stradbroke Island, a little slice of paradise that my friend and I discovered when we were here last year.  I’ll hopefully spend a few days walking along nearly-isolated beaches, spotting stingrays and sea turtles. I’m looking forward to it.